Aside from the race for mayor, the only contested race for Waco City Council this spring involves the District 1 incumbent, the Rev. Wilbert Austin, a longtime community activist, and challenger Carol Dugat, an executive assistant at The Dwyer Group and a community blogger for the Waco Tribune-Herald. She has discontinued the blog during the campaign. Election Day is May 8 with early voting beginning Monday. Below are excerpts from interviews with the two candidates, conducted by the Tribune-Herald editorial board and staff writer J.B. Smith.

Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

Q  Why are you running for Waco City Council?

A  About four or five years ago, I realized there had to be more to life than going to work, church and the grocery store. I wanted my life to matter. It didn’t seem I was doing anything in my life that was making a difference in this world. I got involved in Mission Waco and ended up being chairman of the board. I worked as a mentor at G.L. Wiley Middle School. I worked as a mentor at the Bill Logue Juvenile Detention Center. I did different things that made me feel like I was making a contribution to the community. As I looked around in the community that I had moved back to in East Waco, it hit me again: There is just something wrong here. East Waco just looks underdeveloped. I’d lived in North Waco and West Waco and here was this community that I grew up in that was digressing. I began attending the Fred Batts Leadership luncheons. One day Michael Vivio, who was then publisher of the Tribune-Herald , was speaker. I asked a question about the Trib because I didn’t see people who looked like me in the paper very much except in the obits and the crime page. He took ownership about my concern. He asked if I would meet with the editor and him at the Trib. At that time they were starting this community blog and I was asked if I would be interested in the blog. I didn’t even know what a blog was then, but it came to me that I could write about what people really wanted. So I engaged the community about what they want for East Waco. The quota had been filled on what we didn’t want. And the blog just took off because people really did want to see something for East Waco, including an extreme makeover. We’ve talked about that now for two years. I really want to see Waco be a better place to live, work and play. I’ve decided to put some legs to all that. I don’t want it to just be a nice subject to talk about. So perhaps moving into the role of a city council member is the way to make things happen.

Q  So how would you jump-start development in East Waco beyond the strides that have been made in some parts?

A  To make Waco a better place to live, work and play, we can’t have some area of our city that is dilapidated. When I was growing up, Waco was always known as the “Heart of Texas.” Well, I consider it to be a heart that has a little heart trouble. You have vigorous growth and development in one area, then you have this area that has clogged arteries. And it’s going to take someone looking at it, communicating with the community in that area, and communicating from a position where you have some influence, to ensure we’re all working together to unclog that. When I look at the city of Waco’s goals and values, they really do have some good ones. But somehow they’re not quite being implemented (in East Waco). 

Q  We have an incumbent who has experience. He’s presumably up to speed on all this. Why go with a newcomer who perhaps is not up to speed on complex issues?

A  For four years we’ve had an incumbent in there, yet we’re not seeing a lot of improvement. For four years. The city has a common objective not only of making it a better place to live, work and play, but you have to incorporate the community. I don’t see him helping make this clear to the community about what citizens need to do to work with the city to make it happen. It’s not just the city or the city council or city government, we need to work together with the community. I believe clarity is power because when people aren’t clear about something, it’s like walking around in a fog.

Q  How do you invigorate a community that is mired in poverty?

A  You do similar to what the city has done with the education initiative, only it would be a community initiative to raise the standard of living. You get all the stakeholder groups in the district, you have your businesses, your schools, your churches, your parents all working toward this objective. First, you make people aware about who to talk to, what the system is, and then use that system to make it a better place to live, work and play. I think clarity will bring us miles ahead. I’ve not seen the current council member for the district reach out in that way. For me, my goal will be to be very clear about how the system works. I see myself as a communicator. When I looked at the attributes for council members, I said, “That’s me! I am that person!”  That includes being dedicated to the interests of citizens and the community as a whole, strong commitment and team-building skills including being a good listener, openness to the thoughts and ideas of others — that is a job that has my name on it.

Q  Is the time right for a streetcar system for downtown?

A  Well, off the top of my head, when I think of transportation I think of the challenges we already have with some people out at McLennan Community College and Texas State Technical College saying we can’t get people out there to get the training. If I was going to make an investment in that area, I’d make it for people who are trying to raise their standard of education to be able to get where they’re going. So I think in that respect a streetcar system seems just a little ahead of our time, but it’s something that certainly has some value.

Q  What do we do about the historic Hippodrome Theatre? Should the city step in and take over the Hippodrome or should it be left to the private sector?

A  I don’t know that I’m prepared to answer that question.

Q  Why not? It’s not like it hasn’t been in the news lately.

A  It’s definitely been in the news. I just don’t have enough facts to support an opinion on that.

Q What misconceptions do people have about East Waco?

A  Probably over 90 percent of the people there are good, hard-working, well-meaning people who have somehow become disengaged because they don’t have the clarity they need and they don’t feel that other people care about them. A perception that a lot of people have is that those people over there don’t really want anything, that if they did, why don’t they do something about it? Safety is an issue that needs to be addressed.

Q  How are police doing in combating crime in East Waco?

A  I think there are two officers at any given time patrolling the area. When you have an area where some people who don’t have much and don’t have jobs, you can (easily) become a target for them. I think it’s going to take more than two officers. For the past 22 years, it’s been like that. We need to look at having more police available. People out at Timbercrest, which is not a high-crime area, say they never see a police officer over there.

Q  That’s probably because it’s not a high-crime area.

A  Yeah, but I think they’d like to see somebody drive through there every now and then.

RELATED SEARCHES

• Q&A with Waco City Council candidate Wilbert Austin
• EDITORIAL: Carol Dugat for City Council -- and a tip of the hat to Rev. Wilbert Austin