Dallas Morning News / March 10, 2002 / Annette Fuller

Grassroots idea spreading like Texas wildfire

Area groups use Voters United as model for success

          Keitha Adams and Linda Herndon of Mansfield circulated through the crowds at the Circle R Ranch last week at the annual convention of Voters United to Preserve Flower Mound.

          They took mental notes on the barbecue dinner, the socializing, and the rows and rows of donated gifts that the guests bid on to raise money for the political action committee, which has a reputation for curbing development.

          "This is what we want to do in Mansfield," Ms. Adams said, as she looked around the bustling room. The 40-mile drive from southeast Tarrant County was worth it to see the Voters United yearly bash in real life, she said.

          The two women are officers for a group formed in September called Mansfield Citizens United. They view Voters United in Flower Mound as the prototype for their own group. Both political action committees focus on promoting managed growth in their cities and making sure that their communities control development, rather than vice versa.

          "Our goal is to bring Mansfield back to the citizens," said Ms. Herndon, vice president of the Mansfield group. "We want to create a group in Mansfield as strong as Voters United is in Flower Mound."

          Mansfield is the latest of many communities to ask Voters United for advice about creating a template or tips for existing groups. Residents in Southlake in northeast Tarrant County also have been in touch recently for tips on candidate questionnaires.

          "We've made it a lot easier for other communities to begin their own groups," said Flower Mound Mayor Lori DeLuca, founder of the Voters United group, which was created in 1996. "We've taken on the developers' political clout and ensured that the residents will have a seat at the table when the decisions are made."

          Voters United has a mission to promote slow and controlled growth. It helped push through the recently approved SMART (Strategically Managed and Responsible Town) Growth Management Plan, which included a nine-month moratorium on new home permits.

          Today the group has about 3,500 members, said president Vicki Fulfer. The group's primary goal is to prevent amendments to the master plan that would increase housing density or apartments. The group mails out two fliers before each municipal election, endorsing candidates who have said they will support SMART Growth.

Growing pains

          Every candidate endorsed by Voters United has won a seat.

          Mrs. Fulfer said she has shared the stumbles and successes of Voters United in several meetings with the Mansfield group. Don't put fliers in mailboxes; the U.S. Postal Service doesn't like this, Mrs. Fulfer said. Word your candidate questionnaires with "yes" and "no" questions, or else the candidate "spin" will make all the answers murky, she said.

          The Southlake group recently called Voters United leaders to get help in wording its own questionnaire.

          The group of residents banded together more than a year ago to fight a developer's plans to build a SuperTarget in Southlake. Its Web site focused solely on that issue but later evolved to include other concerns about new development in Southlake.

          Neighborhood Southlake mostly dedicates itself to posting plain-language interpretations of zoning cases. It also provides access to city agendas and encourages people to write or speak out to Southlake leaders.

A voice for voters

          "They wanted to communicate to people and have some input on development because they felt like they were not being listened to by the elected officials," said Carolyn Morris, a Southlake resident who has supported the group.

           An opposing grassroots group has emerged in Flower Mound to try to provide counter viewpoints to Voters United. The Citizens Coalition for Responsible Government, led by Flower Mound resident Bob Weir, is backing a candidate to run against Mrs. DeLuca in the May 4 general election. Craig Bradshaw, a financial planner, former football player and brother of football great Terry Bradshaw, is mounting a campaign to topple Mrs. DeLuca from her leadership role.

          "My definition of grassroots movement is shaking hands with individuals, telling them your platform and asking for their vote," Mr. Bradshaw said. "We are going to the people with our message that we want a friendlier town."

          The Mansfield group knows that challenges to its effort are forthcoming, too, but members said they want to try to get power from numbers. The group now has about 120 members, as a result of the officers going out in the community, knocking on doors and handing out brochures, said Mansfield Citizens United president Marvin Kahlden, who is also running for a spot on the Mansfield City Council.

          Literature the group circulates states it was formed "to protect our quality of life and property values through lowering the density of residential development. This will also preserve Mansfield's most valuable assets: Trees and green (or open) space. We do not want to see Mansfield become just another concrete covered suburb."

          The group's printed material also cites recent projects approved by the City Council with as many as 702 lots on 284 acres.

          For the last few months, at least one member of Mansfield Citizens United has attended every City Council and Planning and Zoning meeting, Mr. Kahlden said.

          "We don't believe the council and the mayor always listen to us," he said. "It's pretty much politics as usual."

Mansfield Mayor David Harry said he welcomes the residents' involvement, and that the city is already embracing controlled growth initiatives.

          "If their goal is to stop the growth, then I can't help them," the mayor said.

          Mr. Kahlden said that neither the Flower Mound nor Mansfield group wants to stop growth.

          "We just want reasonably controlled growth, handled in such a way that it benefits the people coming to town as well as the present citizens," he said.