Oak Cliff voters face a dilemma at the polls this May. Redistricting gave Pleasant Grove its own council seat, which is good and just for that neighborhood. But it took one of our Oak Cliff seats away, so Oak Cliff voters must choose between two incumbents.
Delia Jasso and Scott Griggs, both effective and popular representatives, live in the new District 1. They are the only two candidates on the ballot for District 1 this May.
Griggs unseated Dave Neumann two years ago after taking on some battles the former councilman had neglected. Even before Griggs was elected, he stood up against the city on gas drilling and its plan for permanent supportive housing at Cliff Manor. Here is a list of Griggs’ accomplishments since taking office.
Jasso served on the park board for seven years before her election to City Council in 2009. She is popular among constituents in the Bishop Arts District, where she has acted fast to help small business owners through city bureaucracy. She has championed Jefferson Boulevard improvements. Here is a link to Jasso’s campaign website. She also has a very good monthly newsletter.
What’s really unfortunately about this political match-up is that Jasso and Griggs often agree, along with term-limited Angela Hunt, on issues such as gas drilling, in opposition to the majority of City Council. One place Jasso and Griggs have disagreed is whether to build a second Calatrava bridge. But they have similar backgrounds as advocates for progressive infrastructure in our neighborhood. Both candidates are very Oak Cliff in their way of thinking utopian first and then working their way through budgets, bureaucracy and politics to make our big ideas a reality. It’s a shame to lose one of them.
