Two of council’s most outspoken LGBT advocates discuss progress in Oak Lawn and beyond as they prepare to leave office after 8 years
QUEENS OF THE GAYBORHOOD | Pauline Medrano, left, has represented the west side of the Cedar Springs strip for eight years, while Angela Hunt has represented the east side. They will leave office due to term limits on Monday, June 24, when a new council is sworn in. (Anna Waugh/Dallas Voice)
The Dallas City Council will lose two of its most outspoken and staunch LGBT allies next week when new council members are sworn in to replace Angela Hunt and Pauline Medrano.
The councilwomen share Dallas’ gayborhood in Oak Lawn with Medrano’s District 2 covering the west half of the Cedar Springs strip and Hunt’s District 14 covering its east half. Both have served the four-term limit, but say they will leave behind many improvements in their districts and the LGBT community.
Safety first
In recent years, the area near the Cedar Springs strip has seen a rapid decrease in violent crime. The area held the No. 2 spot for violent crimes in 2008 when the Dallas police began tracking crime activity in the city’s 27 worst hotspots known as Target Area Action Grids.
The Wycliff-Lemmon TAAG, previously known as the Cedar Springs-Wycliff and Maple-Wycliff TAAG, had fallen to the No. 14 spot for violent crime in 2012, but is still No. 10 for overall crime, with high numbers for thefts and burglaries of a motor vehicle.
The TAAG stretches roughly from Maple Avenue to Lemmon Avenue and from Oak Lawn Avenue to Kings Road.
Both Medrano and Hunt attribute the lower crime rates to increased police attention and crime watch groups.
Medrano said she pushed for the most recent TAAG name change to Wycliff-Lemmon because many nonviolent crimes occur east of Maple and it created more awareness for citizens to understand where a lot of the crime was happening.
Hunt said the area’s alarming crime rates were “disturbing” and she and Medrano worked with police and citizens to ensure they decreased. The area is in line to receive new technology to help decrease crime even further, with added security cameras and bait cars.
“Public safety is the most fundamental service that we expect from our city government,” Hunt said.
“The Cedar Springs area is a fun entertainment area. It is a vibrant LGBT commercial district and it’s an important residential area as well.”
Safety concerns arose anew in late 2011 when several pedestrians were struck along the strip — with two being killed. Medrano and Hunt pushed for solutions, which resulted in more crosswalks and flashing lights on the crosswalks. A long-term plan emerged with the passage of a $1.2 million bond package for street improvement on Cedar Springs Road that Hunt spearheaded. Planning for the improvements is slated to begin in 2014.
“We’ve made some strides in making improvements there,” Hunt said of the crosswalks and flashing lights. “They’ve been small improvements, they’ve had a positive impact, but we can take it to the next step, which is some significant infrastructure improvements.”
Medrano worked with the LGBT community over the years to replace more than 40 streetlights in Oak Lawn in a Stonewall Young Democrats project. She said she oversaw street improvements near Cathedral of Hope and erosion control behind the predominantly LGBT congregation.
“Ms. Hunt and I worked really well together in bringing some improvement to the life and hopefully vitality of Cedar Springs, making it a little bit more vibrant,” she said.
Standing up for equal rights
Medrano and Hunt showed they were unwavering on their views of equality during their tenures on the council. In 2011, the councilwomen demanded a review of the more than 50 complaints filed under Dallas’ nondiscrimination ordinance that weren’t prosecuted by the city in the nine years since its implementation.
“It put the city on notice that the council was shining a light on this, the public was shining light on this and we wanted to ensure that our promise to the LGBT community was kept,” Hunt said about their involvement.
When $325,000 in HIV/AIDS funding was cut from the city’s budget in 2009, Hunt proposed to reinstate some of the funding, but it was still cut from the budget. The city found grants to eventually restore some of the funding.
Both Medrano and Hunt faced out challengers at some point. Medrano ran against trans woman Monica Greene in 2005. That same year Hunt faced lesbian Candy Marcum and in 2011, the LGBT community was divided in their support for Hunt and out candidate James Nowlin.
Hunt said she always felt it was important for her to be vocal about her support for the LGBT community in the absence of an out council member. The council hasn’t has an out member since 2007.
“The LGBT community deserves as much protection and support and engagement as every other facet of Dallas’ population,” she said. “It was very important to me without an out council member on the council to try to fill that role to the best of my ability as a straight woman to be a voice for the LGBT community.”
For Medrano, she said her support came from her upbringing and she always felt it was important to speak up for equal rights.
“Not only myself, but all my family have been lifelong friends of the LGBT community since the civil rights movement in the ’50s and ’60s,” she said. “Part of representing the city of Dallas is that you represent the people in that district but really you represent the city of Dallas and you try to represent everyone as equally as you can in all instances.”
Recently, Medrano, as mayor pro tem, tried to add Councilman Scott Griggs’ LGBT equality resolution to the June 12 agenda the Friday before the meeting after Councilwoman Delia Jasso removed her signature from a memo requiring the item be added to the agenda.
Mayor Mike Rawlings was away on business in Brazil, so Medrano submitted the request as acting mayor to put the item on the agenda. But Rawlings convinced the city attorney’s office that because he was still reachable that he wasn’t absent and Medrano couldn’t place the item on the agenda.
“It was a sad day but also a proud day that the people in our community spoke up, different council members spoke up,” Medrano said. “I’ll always remember it. That moment will stay with me for a long time. I think the Friday before will stay with me for a long time, too.”
Hunt, who was the only council member who spoke out favorably of the resolution during the meeting (Medrano had lost her voice), echoed Medrano’s thoughts but said she had hope the future council would pass the resolution.
“It’s not the end of the story,” she said. “I don’t think it’s ending on a negative one. I think it’s a hopeful one.”
Handing over the reins
As Medrano and Hunt prepare to say goodbye to City Hall June 24 when new council members are sworn in, they are confident their LGBT advocacy will continue in their districts.
Medrano’s nephew, Adam Medrano, will replace her in District 2 and Hunt’s friend, Philip Kingston, will replace her in District 14. Both have already pledged to be advocates for the LGBT community during their time in office.
Patti Fink, president of the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance, said District 2 and 14 have been “the bedrock of political Dallas for the LGBT community” even though LGBT Dallasites live in every district. She said Medrano and Hunt have followed in the footsteps of their processors and have been excellent advocates for the LGBT community.
“I think that Pauline Medrano and Angela Hunt have been exemplary in supporting LGBT issues,” Fink said. “They’ve been leaders and advocates rather than simply supporters.”
Fink said the two will be “terribly missed,” but the community is excited to work with Adam Medrano and Kingston.
“It’s certainly big shoes to fill for Philip Kingston and Adam Medrano when they take office,” she said.
“The bar has been set high and it’s been set high for a very long time, for decades now. I have great confidence that both of them will rise to their expected responsibilities and actions.”
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Inaugural ceremony
Dallas council members-elect Adam Medrano, Philip Kingston, Lee Kleinman, Jennifer Staubach Gates and Rick Callahan will be sworn in at 10 a.m. Monday, June 24, at the Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora St. Doors open at 9 a.m. The ceremony is free and open to the public.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition June 21, 2013.