By: Jackie Hardy, NDG Contributing Writer
In May, voters will go to the polls to determine the mayoral seat as well as seats for single-member districts 3 and 5, which are currently being held by incumbents Dennis Webb (Place 3) and Rose Cannaday (Place 5).
Cannaday is running against Oscar Ward who is a 75 year-old retiree. Place 5 residents will easily recognize Cannaday’s name on the ballot, as she is no stranger to Irving politics. Cannaday is ending her second three-year term and is vying for a third and final term in this upcoming election.
In a phone interview, North Dallas Gazette spoke with Cannaday about why she is pursuing another three-year term as well as discussed her long political tenure within Irving.
“The reason I made the decision to run originally is my background, I knew the city was at a crossroad and I knew they were getting ready to be looking at development and there were issues going on in trying to get the DART line completed to the airport and we had water and transportation issues,” explains Cannaday.
Cannaday holds a Masters in Psychology, has a media background, and presently owns a mediation company called Cannaday and Associates Mediation Services. She feels her broad career and educational background has been invaluable in fulfilling the duties of city council.
“My background is very diversified, while I was in sports casting; and I have also done real estate development. I thought I could bring those talents to the table and add to what the Council is trying to do,” shares Cannaday.
Positioning Irving to becoming one of the premiere cities within the DFW Metroplex is one of the many reasons the current Place 5 councilwoman is committed to continuing the work she began in her first term. Cannaday recognizes the advantages a city like Irving has especially as it relates to economic growth and transportation opportunities as well as commercial and residential development.
According to the austintx.gov website, Transient Orient Development (TOD) initiatives is an intentional mixing of land use and transit through the creation of compact, walkable, mixed-use communities within walking distance of a transit stop or station. As the Chair of the Board for the Texas High Speed Rail and Transportation Corporation (THSRTC), Cannaday confirms there continues to be a natural progression in Irving to implement those transportation initiatives defined under TOD specifically, she asserts there will be a DART line from Irving to the airport by this September.
Other economic improvement projects she has been actively involved with is the Irving Entertainment Center (IEC), new Convention Center and Hotel developments and the redevelopment of Highway 183 and other major thoroughfares that run through Irving. If re-elected, these are a few of the many projects Councilwoman Cannaday will continue to work to keeping the momentum going as she believes all of these projects will help to set the face of Irving for the future.
Under her current term, Cannaday has taken some heat for her support of the Irving Entertainment Center as it was a hot button issue in the 2011 elections and played a factor in the mayoral race between current Mayor Beth Van Duyne and former Mayor Herbert Gears.
Per a Dallas Morning News article published last May, an Irving watchdog group unsuccessfully tried to petition for an election to remove Cannaday from her seat based on allegations that she had been disrespectful to residents and a poor steward of public money.
“It was all the misperception of how bad it was, that it was money missing, it was never any money missing. It was a clean deal,” comments Cannaday shared with respect to the controversies surrounding the IEC and the partnership the City had with the now former developer, Las Colinas Group.
According to Cannaday the City is growing and with that growth comes challenges to meet the needs of the people.
She advised, “the Council put a focus on building more permanent homes north of the City (Riverside and Valley Ranch area) because they felt it was an overbuilt of apartments.”
The home building initiative, per Cannaday has manifested to around 1,500 new homes and a total of 3,000 homes built within the last few years along with a plan to bring future residential developments to the Heritage District in the effort to attract new people to the historic downtown area.
Cannaday believes economic growth is positive for the City as it equates to lower taxes and greater job opportunities for Irving residents, but with that growth she feels it comes with the need for balance in ensuring the City is providing the citizens what she defines as their basic services: public safety, fire and police, water/sewer and schools.
“Right now we are getting up against the line where we are going to have to start thinking about buying more fire trucks, powering more policemen and fire because now you have added more people in your city.”
Economic growth, public safety and keeping taxes low are three important issues Cannaday is campaigning for in this next election. She is also passionate about continuing the groundwork for more water source supply opportunities to maintain low cost of water service for residents. Currently, Irving gets most of its water from Lake Chapman to Lewisville Lake where it’s treated by the city of Dallas. Irving owns water rights to the water in Lake Chapman, which was previously known as Cooper Reservoir according to the city’s website.
Implementing state of the art local libraries across Irving is definitely an accomplishment Cannaday is proud to be a part of.
“I started a few years ago the building of the new library system. I went out to California to study their libraries because they were technologically advanced and I came back and we started doing it better, ” she adds.
According to Cannaday they are building a third new library right now and ultimately will have four stand alone libraries that will all be technologically advanced. She advised Irving is the first in Texas to build these state of the art libraries and people from around the state are starting to take notice and wanting to follow their lead.
She also discussed the Miracle Park created in Irving for children with physical disabilities as another proud achievements throughout her tenure.
“That’s been the most heartwarming and greatest thing we did. People bring their children from all around who have disabilities because it provides a place for them to play,” states Cannaday.
In her personal life, Cannaday has been happily married to Watauga Police Chief Lowell Cannaday for almost 24 years. She has six children resulting from a blended family and 20 grandchildren as she recently welcomed a new grandchild to the family.
“I am very blessed, and married to my best friend,” adds Cannaday.
She loves playing golf and working out as she shared with NDG that she suffered a transient ischemic attack (i.e., mini stroke) last month causing her to really appreciate having a physical outlet such as exercise as a way to relieve stress.
Caregiver has been the other important role she has been fulfilling as her husband recently had back surgery. Her days have been centered on taking care of him while campaigning and handling her city council responsibilities.
Cannaday shared her heart to serve extends beyond her family, but she advised she has a heart for people and explained how she has been involved with politics since the age of 15.
“I like helping people and Irving is a city I love and I want it to be right,” concludes Cannaday.
For more information about Rose Cannaday’s campaign issues visit her website at http://www.rosecannaday.com/ and for more information about the Irving upcoming election visithttp://cityofirving.org/city-secretary/election-eleccion.asp.
