CMC Conversations
These Podcasts of CMC Conversations present timely and topical conversations with special guests.. Hosted by Charles McCullough. these recorded archives also air live on CMC Radio, a service of CMC Communications Broadcasting, at cmcbroadcasting.com at Listen Live.
CMC Conversations
CMC Conversation - DINAH CARPENTER on herCampaign for LCCC
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CMC Conversation - DINAH CARPENTER on herCampaign for LCCC
CMC Conversation Radio PODCAST
It's an hour to speak with Donna Carpenter. This morning it's a TMT. And that's good. Link to the Discussion. Mr. Carpenter's campaign begins right here, right now. TMT radio services. TMT Communications Broadcasting. Good morning, Donna. Let's uh start first of all by discussing your tenure on Houston City Council, not as a full council member, but you certainly attended a lot of sessions assisting as a consultant in a way. Let's describe your beginnings in Houston and how you're transferring that down here to service in Lake City.
SPEAKER_00Yes, thank you so much, Charles, for having me. It's an honor to be here with you today. And that is correct. I was an intern on the Houston City Council during the Brown administration. And at that time, that gave me firsthand experience as to the inner workings of big city government from the inside out. That's a very valuable experience. I learned firsthand how to navigate residents whose car has hit that pothole one more time and how to take care of work orders for people who are tired of that street light being out and fielding emails from residents who are just, you know, have concerns. So I'm used to and have uh a wealth of knowledge and experience in dealing with council issues.
SPEAKER_03Uh yes, ma'am. Uh Dina, what are some of the issues that uh prompted you to decide to get into this race for League City City Council?
SPEAKER_00Right. Well, I'm a lifelong advocate for justice and community service, and I'm committed to ensuring that the voices of League City residents are heard and respected and represented fairly. So my background in League City uh includes being a director of one of our larger HOAs, the Britney Lakes uh HOA. We 1,300 families, 1,300 families. And uh in as you pointed out, there are differences with uh in the league city council. We have an at-large structure, meaning any council member in within League City Council can represent any resident, any place within League City. And that I'm an at-large director of the HOA. In other words, I don't uh only provide service to residents who live a couple of streets over from me, but anyone within the community. And I bring that experience and I transfer that same style of leadership onto the League City Council.
SPEAKER_03Yes, ma'am. So even though we're talking about position one, correct uh where you are uh on the ballot uh for the November 3rd election with early voting starting in less than a month now, but uh uh the position one or any position is almost in its own way functions as a so-called at-large position. So you can actually uh be very helpful anywhere in League City in any of the uh uh positions.
SPEAKER_00That's right. That's right. I represent all of the cities citizens of League City, and I want to protect League City, Charles. I moved here originally in 1991 when League City was not didn't even technically have city status in spite of the name League City. It was only 47,000 residents when I moved here in 1991, and it was considered a township. Today we have burgeoned the the population has exploded to over 120,000 residents. And with that have come some of the issues of expanded population, and I uh can bring my wealth of experience and knowledge uh to bear on alleviating some of those problems.
SPEAKER_03Among the serious issues uh facing Leak City, and that really have faced Leak City, especially since Hurricane Harvey, include flooding. Uh, let's discuss um where you would uh direct your first uh year of service, say, in terms of addressing uh hurricane preparedness.
SPEAKER_00I'm so glad that you brought that up, Charles, because that is my number one platform on which I am running. Uh I want to mitigate blood risk. I I'm wanting to follow up on the core of engineers' initial conceptual study to build a berm of sorts along Clear Creek. What they that initial uh what work has been done and it was issued to be done after Hurricane Harvey. And the only reason it has not been implemented is because of money. And what it would look like essentially would be a system of it would be a berm, so to speak, with a system of levees and and uh storm locks, and it would they would have Archimedes screw pumps that could pull that water up and over into clear lake and on out to Galveston Bay.
SPEAKER_03Archimedes. Wow, you're bringing something from ancient Greece and Rome. Hey, they had the technology then, it will work now, I imagine.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, Charles. And actually, that technology is at work. The reason that I feel so confident that that can be done is because, first of all, we did it in 1900 when the seawall was built, when the the citizens, I mean, the Galveston was destroyed, and they raised the city literally 17 feet and and built that barrier to protect Galveston. We did it again when we built the Texas City dike to protect the Texas City ship channel from being getting sludge and mud in it all the time. There, if you ever go behind the curtain of the dike onto the backside, you'll see massive Archimedes screw pumps. Now, most of the time, 99.9% of the time, those screw pumps are not on, they they are off. However, during a rising water situation, those pumps are turned on and that water is pulled up and out into Galveston Bay. We could do the same thing on Clear Creek. Uh however, that is money that the city does not have. But I would work with state legislators and federal legislators to bring that to reallocate those funds to protect our coast.
SPEAKER_03How would you go about doing that kind of thing?
SPEAKER_00I would work with them. Uh I would function as a city council, a type of lobbyist. First of all, I would reason with them. The money is being spent. When the disaster strikes, we end up spending millions of dollars to repair homes and businesses and uh industrial facilities that are inundated with floods. So why not uh you know prevent it from happening in the first place? Take preventative measures the way they did with the Texas City Dike, the way we did with the the Galveston Seawall. It has been done. It has been done in Denmark. Denmark built a massive coastal barrier. You've heard about the Ike Dyke. Okay, that would protect the entire, very important coastal area, including the Houston Ship Channel. Now, I'm running a local election, so I'm not advocating for the Ike Dike right now. However, that would protect not only League City but the entire coastal area. For my position, I would be focusing on protecting the citizens of League City. I don't ever want to see the type of devastation that we saw with Hurricane uh Harvey.
SPEAKER_03You had mentioned uh a couple of uh minutes ago, uh, Ms. Carpenter, the fact that League City's population has tripled since 1990, uh similar to Pareland. Uh how do we find and upgrade the kind of transportation uh modalities that can meet that burgeoning population swell? And is the Gulf uh Coast Transit District part of that uh uh formula?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, and and as I said, uh we've seen exponential uh growth uh in population in Leeds. League City was originally designed, Charles, as a bedroom community, and it's still largely that. What I mean by that is we are residential heavy uh in contrast to our neighbor our neighboring cities like Webster. Webster is an upside-down city, meaning they have more businesses than they have residences, and they're able to uh you know, they have a better uh tax base, uh, the businesses can shoulder more of the tax from the residents. In League City, residents pay all of the taxes. Now, back to transportation. Most of the citizens of League City commute outside of League City because again, there's more we're a city that's uh mostly home. So as we commute in and out to work, it creates massive traffic issues. And if you've been through League City lately, you you have a sense of what we're we're talking about. Uh we did our best to alleviate some of that with the building of uh Highway 96. We anticipate that we will have uh some more relief once the Grand Parkway 99 is extended down the south of League City. But for right now, something that we can do is we can work with a system that is already in place, the Gulf Coast Transit District, as you mentioned. The Gulf Coast Transit District is already right now today servicing other parts of Galveston County as well as Bozouria County. And so all we need to do is for whatever reason, League City never got fully integrated into that. As a city council member, I would be working to make sure that we're brought into that fold. It's the same, I mean, you're gonna have less traffic congestion if you're riding in a bus or a van. And I don't mean massive buses like the city of Houston, but I mean, you know, 16 passenger buses or or or 16 passenger vans. And the beauty of this uh Gulf Coast Transit District is you would be able to, it would be like taking an Uber, but instead of paying $20 or $30, you'd pay between $1 and $4. And it would allow the citizens of League City to move more fluidly across the city and uh bring uh some and mitigate traffic congestion somewhat.
SPEAKER_03Talk about the 99 tollway a moment. Those who oppose it uh feel that it will just be another construction monstrosity that could last forever with nothing ever getting completed, very similar to what uh many folks would describe uh the situation currently of the entire Gulf Freeway. Uh projects begun, road work commenced, and it just seems to never have a termination point. Where do you stand on all of these issues involving the implementation finally of the 99 tollway, which looks like it could get underway finally, I guess, uh next year.
SPEAKER_00And thank you for that question. Yes, there may be some pain points as the 99 tollway is being built, uh, and that's with any progress. And I I'm all for progress as long as it doesn't harm the residences. There may be a slight inconvenience as this is being built, but years from now, those who choose to pay the toll can use it. Those who choose not to pay the toll can avoid it. However, I think that just riding up and down on the Beltway 8, as I do from time to time, I think that that is going to go a long way to alleviate traffic congestion. And I think ultimately this will be seen as a good thing. When Galileo uh suggested that uh there were moons around Jupiter, he was almost stoned because everybody thought, oh, this is terrible, this is terrible. But I think ultimately it is going to be seen as a good thing. This is a desirable place to live, and I want to do everything in my power to see that it stays so.
SPEAKER_03Uh yes, ma'am. A current uh hot topic is Flock uh cameras. Uh, a lot of people do not know what those are. Flock, I believe, is a brand name of camera used on the towways, but uh let's discuss uh why it is uh a hot potato right now involving security issues for League City citizens.
SPEAKER_00Yes, absolutely. Thank you for bringing that up because as I have been campaigning and talking to the citizens of League City, uh I have heard their concerns about the cameras. And while automated license plate readers or ALPRs, as they are commonly called, they've been an integral part of solving crimes and apprehending suspects and returning stolen property. There have been abuses of this technology. You know, and right now a lot of the citizens feel that their right to privacy is being eroded by these cameras. While flock cameras have the potential to bring about justice when crime solving, and they have, right now I'm opposed to them because the cost to private citizens who aren't breaking the law is too high. Right now we have 55 flock cameras in League City. And when they were first when the flock company came, I I'm as I mentioned, I'm an HOA director also. I was in favor of it because they are they're cameras at fixed locations that read the license plates of the traffic going and coming. Uh however, this has essentially become uh maybe less than one percent of the flock data is actually used in crime solving. So 99 over 99% of it is just it's uh turned into a warrantless uh surveillance machine logging the daily routines of innocent citizens. Now, uh let me be clear we do uh need uh uh cameras in certain uh high profile areas, but just uh you know, logging what innocent people are doing in and out. Uh constitutional stewardship dictates uh that public servants, which I am running to become, must preserve the constitutional liberties of the citizens they serve. And I'm honored to do so if elected.
SPEAKER_03Um are you finding this to be an experience that has any surprises for you, uh challenges uh uh that you didn't expect? How are you uh experiencing your campaign so far?
SPEAKER_00I'm really enjoying being able to hear what the citizens want. And as I'm canvassing from door to door, uh I'm pleasantly surprised at how people are opening up to me. And you know, some people think, oh wow, I don't have any issues. I really love it here. And then others, you know, there's there's concern about the flock cameras. And so I want to take this opportunity that you've given me here, Charles. I want to thank the citizens of League City who have shared with me their thoughts and who have helped me to grow intellectually uh regarding the flock cameras, regarding all the issues that are besetting League City.
SPEAKER_03My guest is Donna Carpenter, League City City Council candidates. Election day November 3rd, October 20th begins early voting. Ms. Carpenter has some resources that she's been kind enough to pull together to inform us as to exactly where you can go vote, both uh in early voting uh and also on election day. Meantime, uh Donna, how can folks find out more about your campaign?
SPEAKER_00My website is carpenterforleaguecity.com. And if you would, and if you're inclined to, if you would uh please scan that QR code there on the website if you would like to donate to our campaign. And uh I just uh noticed here that uh oh now I pulled up the uh centers. So now for early voting, there will be four locations to vote. On election day, there will be seven, and I'll just list those really quickly.
SPEAKER_02Yes, ma'am.
SPEAKER_00Early voting, we can vote at the league city annex. That's at 174 Calder Drive. Some people refer to it as the courthouse in League City. You can also vote early voting at the crossings, that's at 255 North Egret Bay Boulevard, that's the retirement community there, uh near uh Egret Bay Boulevard and Highway 3 as excuse me and 518.
SPEAKER_02Yes, ma'am.
SPEAKER_00Early vote at the Public Works Operations Center that's 1701 West League City Parkway. And you can also early vote starting October 19th at the hometown Heroes Park at uh 1011 East League City Parkway. Now, on election day, you can vote at those four that I just listed. And additionally, you'll be able to also vote on November 3rd at the League City Civic Center, that's 400 West Walker Street, also at the Magnolia Creek Clubhouse, that's 4751 West League City at Parkway, and also at the Education Support Center there by the high school at 2425 East Main Street. A full list is available at galvestonvotes.org. And you just go to galvestonvotes.org, type in yours, you know, your address, and it'll show you a polling place near you.
SPEAKER_03Thank you for your time this morning, uh, Donna Carpenter. Friends, uh, Donna Carpenter, candidate for Leak City City Council, and uh kindly taking time this morning to discuss her perspectives, her issues, and how they may line up with uh your vote. Charles McCullough here, uh inviting you now, Donna, if you'd like. Uh if you have anything else you'd like to add, ma'am, why uh we'd be privileged to hear it.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I would like to add that at Like a Carpenter, I am rolling up my sleeve, and I'm going to level up with my trusty carpenter's level, and I'm going to frame the future with my carpenter square, framing the future. And I'm going to nail down solutions.