Vote YES on Proposition C

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

March 25, 2021

As we close out Women’s History Month, I think a good reminder of systemic inequities that prevent everyone from having a seat at the table is needed for the passage of Proposition C.

This proposition supports eliminating the requirement in Lewisville’s charter that residents of the city, who serve on the city planning commission, own property.

Let me say this clearly, “Yes, the residents of Lewisville should vote for Proposition C to allow renters and non-property owner residents to serve on the Planning & Zoning Commission.”

Proposition C proposes to remove the words “and own real property therein” from the City Charter Article 8, Section 8.04. As a result, the passage of Proposition C would remove the requirement for a Planning & Zoning Commission member to own property. Commission members still would be required to live in Lewisville.

The current charter requirement means residents living in rental properties are not eligible to serve on the commission that makes decisions about land use and development.

As a result, residents who live in apartments or other rental properties are excluded from decision-making that affects renters. In Lewisville, this means that most residents are excluded. More than half of Lewisville’s residential households are rental properties. Per the 2020 Census, 62% of Texans own their own homes. In Denton County, that number is even higher at 65%. However, that number falls dramatically in Lewisville, where just 43% of residents own their homes.

From a historical point of view, and in keeping with a Women’s History theme, Texas women were not allowed to conduct legal transactions, like purchasing property, or starting a business without the approval of their husband until 1967.

In 1967, Texas trailblazer Louise Raggio, a Texas attorney and SMU graduate, spearheaded changes to the Marital Property Act that affirmed the right of women to be property owners. Raggio’s work laid the foundation for women now to enter the political community on the same footing as men. That equal footing, however, takes time to build. Not that long ago, that Texas law put limits on women of my parent's generation, and it still takes time to build property equity.

Cities are managed by committees like the Planning & Zoning Committee. When a city’s laws limit who can participate in city decision-making on the basis of status, the city creates a limited and unrepresentative political community. When the status of citizens is discriminated against in the current laws, those laws carry forward past discrimination and must be changed.

Vote “Yes” on Proposition C. Move Lewisville Forward Together.