Paul Meltzer: Ready to get to work for you

With undeveloped land rapidly disappearing, we must act now for the bigger Denton to have accessible green spaces connected by off-street hike and bike trails, with protected watersheds. We need to actively engage the development community and communicate our goals, so compatible projects come forward. Wildlife corridors need to be mapped now or we will lose the chance to do it.

Small area plans are underway for Southeast and northeast Denton. More are needed, pressingly for District 3, Denia. It’s ringed by new projects, guided by an out-of-date 20-year-old plan.

To empower sensitive neighborhoods under pressure from development, the council should investigate a community benefits ordinance, so they can not just be heard but also reach binding agreements.

We need a breakthrough on street repair and construction, minimizing project time from start to finish.

We passed an 11-point affordable housing plan over a year ago. Now we need action.

We need to get back on track with the five nonprofits that brought in proposals and get going on a supervised tiny home village with connection to services.

We have a community-led proposition deprioritizing cannabis arrests. It needs to be enshrined in ordinance. And we need to reach out to police chiefs from other Texas cities who have successfully implemented similar policies — Elgin, Harker Heights and San Marcos, to name a few — to learn what has worked best within the framework of state law. Then we need to execute on the clear guidance of our community.

To take pressure off residential property tax, we need to develop Denton’s most obvious sales tax opportunity — a downtown that is thriving and lively despite a third of the Square being dark, confined to little more than one square block. We need to investigate public-private partnerships to overcome hurdles and fill in the dark spots with anchoring performance spaces and opportunities for local small business. And we need to finish the job of getting the area south of the Square out of the flood plain to extend the experience of the Square.

Our future growth and sustainability challenges demand we plan for increased renewable energy supply, water and wastewater conservation and processing capacity, and efficient multimodal and public transportation.

And to keep up with our growing demand for first responders, we must reach out to the county and state to help address the glaring gaps in basic mental health care in Denton. Leaving people in a constant state of crisis creates a simply unsustainable and growing driver of police and EMT call volume.

I am ready to get to work for you — with professionalism, focus and a clear sense of direction for Denton. I ask District 3 voters to give me that opportunity and support me with your vote May 6.