Incumbent Joe Philipp has held his seat since 1996, but on May 9th Irving voters will decide whether he keeps his seat or his opponent, Don Van Slyke, takes over.
Mr. Philipp currently serves as the Deputy Mayor Pro Tem on the Council. He also serves as the Council Chairman of the City Council Audit and Finance Committee and is a member of the Communications Committee. His website points out that he has also been involved in Irving schools with the Irving Schools Foundations and served as an officer with the ICE selection committee.
According to an email Mr. Philipp sent to Irving Weekly, he declares, "I listen carefully to citizens and promote information sharing widely across the city, and the city has with my efforts been awarded the Texas Comptrollers Award for Transparency in Governmental Reporting this past year, a wonderful accomplishment."
Don Van Slyke is a 62-year-old salesman and consultant that has been active in Irving education initiatives.
In his website, Mr. Van Slyke addresses one issue that he would focus on, "While the City of Irving makes many of its meetings, documents, and plans available to the public, some operations are a mystery to even the most involved citizens, such as myself. I want you to know exactly how much a department spends on pencils, computers, toner, etc. so that you know that your money is spent wisely."
Mr. Van Slyke has also expressed concern over the decisions the city council has taken in regards to Texas Stadium. He feels the city should keep the stadium. "The Cowboys aren't playing here again; I get it. But did we really have to tear down our best-known landmark simply because Arlington doesn't want it to compete for events?," explains Mr. Van Slyke.
He offers a comparison with the Cotton Bowl, built in 1932 and still functional as an event location. Texas Stadium was built in 1971. One thing that we noticed is that Mr. Van Slyke does not explain how he plans to maintain the stadium and keep up with the operating costs. One example is Reunion Arena in Dallas that tried to stay open, but just couldn't compete with the American Airlines Center and the renovated Dallas Convention Center.
During his time in the city council, Mr. Philipp has focused on Irving neighborhoods and economic development job creation. He has regularly met with businesses to keep them in Irving and promoted Chamber of Commerce Economic Development actions to increase jobs for Irving residents.
"In two years we have added over 100 employers to our tax base, and added 6500 jobs to Irving’s economy, while implementing job center workshops through our public library, while passing ordinances that encourage office, small business and retail redevelopment actions.", said Mr. Philipp, "At the same time, I am fighting for neighborhood integrity, promoting code enforcement that works for citizens. These results have led to the elimination of 23 sub standard structures, and eliminated over 850 sub standard living units in the city in the last 24 months."
