REAL ESTATE REPORT area home values

The Store In Lake Highlands

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2018

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TheStoreinLH.com

City View Antique Mall

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ROOSTER HOME & HARDWARE

Opinel knives have arrived! Developed in France in 1890, still the same. Simple, sturdy, efficient and easy to use. Essential to the outdoors, Opinel’s are used everywhere from garden to table.

10233 E. Northwest Highway 214-343-1971 roosterhomeandhardware.com including a Hispanic-opportunity district. That seat is now held by Ana Reyes.

Date filed:

2013

Defendant:

Grand Prairie ISD

Lawsuit: Challenged the at-large system that elected an all-white male school board in a district where more than 60 percent of the student body is Hispanic.

Date resolved: Settled in September 2014.

Outcome: The board now consists of five single-member districts — two of which have a predominately Hispanic population — and two at-large seats. David Espinosa, a Latino candidate, now represents Place 5, and Gloria Carrillo was elected to Place 3.

Date filed:

2015

Defendant:

Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD

Lawsuit: Challenged the at-large system that elected an all-white school board where about 55 percent of the student body is Hispanic.

Date resolved: Settlement announced in September 2015.

Outcome: Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD now has a cumulative voting system. Plaintiff Guillermo Ramos replaced Trustee Nancy Watten on the board, and Candace Valenzuela was later elected.

Date filed:

2015

Defendant:

City of Grand Prairie

Lawsuit: Challenged six single-member districts and two at-large districts that allowed for an all-white city council and mayor, despite the city being about 44 percent Hispanic.

Date resolved: Settled in July 2015.

Outcome: The city redrew boundaries to include more Latino voters in Districts 3 and 5.

Reporting by Elissa Chudwin

going in with guns blazing.

Pearce feeder pattern along Campbell Road.

The three in Lake Highlands likely would be drawn into the same district, as would the Pearce three. They could run against each other or decline to run for re-election.

Though Justin Bono doesn’t agree with Brewer’s assertions, and RISD answered the voting rights suit by denying all of the allegations, Bono indicated this past summer that the district isn’t going in with guns blazing.

“We’re working diligently with our attorney, and we’ll hopefully find an outcome that is both agreeable to our board and to all our stakeholders in the district through this process,” Bono says. “At any point in time, there are twists and turns in litigation. It would be inappropriate to discuss thoughts on litigation because it can change at any point in the process.”

Brewer says he refuses to settle unless the solution “provides adequate opportunity for representation from those parts of the community that have no representation now.” New electoral districts that accomplish this goal are not only possible, he says, referring to the maps his firm drew, but also required by the Voting Rights Act.

“When we file a lawsuit like this, what we’re hoping to do is effect meaningful change. We hope that can come through conversation and collaboration on what type of system is needed,” Brewer says. “But unless that occurs, we prepare for the worst, and the worst is not a bad alternative: We get ready to go to trial.”

School-board elections cheat sheet

At-large (current system): Members are elected to represent the entire school district. As a result, they can live anywhere within Richardson ISD’s boundaries and run for any open seat.

Single-member: Richardson ISD would be divided into districts, and members would represent the area in which they live.

Cumulative: Similar to the at-large system, candidates can run for any seat. The difference: Residents could have as many votes as there are available seats and cast them however they choose.

5/2: In Richardson ISD’s case, 5/2 voting would mean that two minority districts would be drawn, and the rest would remain at-large.

By GEORGE MASON