ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Leadership involves results.
Downtown Garland Transformation
Deborah worked closely with Downtown Garland businesses and visitors throughout the pandemic and downtown redevelopment project to ensure a successful outcome.
Reduced Citizen Cost for Sidewalk Repairs
Greatly reduced citizens’ cost for sidewalk repair--particularly for the elderly and/or residents in low income neighborhoods, who can now pay as little as 10% of the cost.
Increased Communication
Increased access for non-English speaking Garland residents after Deborah requested that all council members be equipped with VOIANCE live phone interpretation services.
Neighborhood Grant Program Expanded
Enabled neighborhood associations without mandatory dues to apply for up to $10,000 a year for qualified improvements– without having to raise matching funds.
Improved Safety at Fire Stations
Led call to fund personal safety improvements at fire stations, providing individual bedrooms with separate air-handling to better protect firefighters from illness.
Reduced Property Taxes for Seniors
Successfully championed a $5000 increase in the senior property tax exemption in 2020, the first increase in almost 20 years. It took two years to gain the council majority.
Brought Juneteenth Event to Garland
In response to citizen requests, led the initiative to bring an annual Juneteenth event to Garland, and to add Juneteenth to our list of City holidays.
Demonstrated Skilled Disaster Response
Responded to the tornado and ice storm disasters by arranging hot meals, hot showers, water deliveries and more.
Closed-Captioning of City Meetings
Increased access for deaf and hard of hearing citizens by requiring closed-captioning of council meetings and public-facing TVs and videos.
Brought Garland's First Accessible Playground
Successfully advocated to see Garland's first fully accessible playground opened in a park which hadn't had ANY playground in years.
Championed Parking Marshals Program
Refused to take "no" for an answer until this much-needed program was developed and implemented. Recent reports have confirmed its effectiveness, especially in overcrowded neighborhoods.
Increased Police Youth Boxing Gym Funding
One of Garland's best-kept secrets is the Police Youth Boxing Gym at 9th & Main Street downtown. Deborah toured the aged facility, then she and Council Member Smith partnered to successfully have new funds allocated for the Boxing Gym.
Launched Lou Huff Park Transformation
A long-neglected but historic park in East Garland gained funding and approval for a major $4.4M makeover with features chosen through months of public input.
New Animal Shelter
Advocating for a new Animal Shelter was one of Deborah's earliest commitments. The new 23K sq. ft. shelter which opened in February 2022 now houses twice as many dogs and three times as many cats as the old shelter, while providing numerous other amenities.
