DallasArena.com is mystified as to why the Dallas Homeowners' League has "suddenly fallen in love" with State Rep. Rafael Anchia and invited him to be their keynote speaker at the upcoming New Directors' Boot Camp.  I think I have your answer.
 

It's not a Democrat Conspiracy, as you imply.  I've attended a few of the DHL Boot Camps over the years, and from my experience, I understand that they're designed to give neighborhood activists from all over the city pointers about how to work with elected officials, appointed officials and city staff to generate meaningful, positive changes in their respective communities.

08/16 Chip Northrup    Question is whether RA is his own man, or someone else's.   Several someone elses's.

Who better, this year, to do that than Rafael Anchia?  For the last five years, our Northwest Dallas neighborhood has been plagued with an explosion of sex-for-sale businesses disguised as Massage Parlors and Spas.

In his take-no-prisoners rag, "Crime and Politics", publisher Gary Turner gave front page coverage to this issue.  Rafael Anchia spotted the paper at a town hall meeting, followed up with phone calls and conversations with neighborhood activists, including Sharon Boyd, then took action.   

After months of painstaking work, Freshman Rep. Anchia drafted, and managed to pass, a comprehensive Bill that gave law enforcement the tools they said they needed to regulate these places.
 

But wait!  That's not the end of it.  Two months ago, eight months after Anchia's Bill became law, neighborhood activists complained to Anchia's office that things at the spas appeared to be "business as usual".  So what did Anchia do?

He immediately summoned four City Attorneys, two Deputy Chiefs of the DPD, legitimate Massage Industry representatives, a Building Inspection official  and several community activists, (including Sharon Boyd) to a meeting to discuss what could be done to help his bill make a difference to our community.
 

Things happened very quickly after that.  DPD Vice raided several spas, found illegal operations, prostitution and drugs, then began a regime of routine inspection and monitoring of the businesses that continues to this day.
 

The Saga of the Spas is the perfect example of the kind of neighborhood/official partnership  the DHL is trying to teach Neighborhood and Community activists to strive for and achieve.
 

Who better to tell this story than the man who made it happen?

Tim Dickey

Ward politics is the Devil's key to the soul of the city council.  It is how some council members got themselves in trouble in the past.  It is the bait that will get others in trouble in the future. 4/6/8