Erin Moore, left, and wife, Patti Fink

Openly-lesbian candidate Erin Moore is running for District 9

DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com

Longtime LGBT rights activist Erin Moore is running for Dallas City Council Place 9, a seat being vacated after two terms by Councilman Mark Clayton. Moore is one of five openly-LGBT candidates running for the council this year.

Moore has a long history of serving the LGBT community. Soon after Moore became active in the LGBT community in Dallas, WFAA interviewed her regarding a city council vote, identifying her with an on-screen name line as “Erin Moore, lesbian.” The incident is still a running joke among Moore and her family and friends.

She’s been president of Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance and has held several offices, including president, with Stonewall Democrats of Dallas, and she served on the Stonewall Democrats national board. As a member of the Democratic National Committee’s platform committee, Moore helped get support of marriage equality included in the platform for the first time.

While president of DGLA, Moore helped get protections based on gender identity included in city ordinances for the first time.

And as a member of the Mayor’s LGBT Task Force, she helped comb through ordinances to find areas that needed updating to become LGBT-inclusive.

Moore says that her job the last four years serving as Dallas County Commissioner Theresa Daniel’s chief of staff makes her the most qualified candidate to serve all residents of Place 9, an area that surrounds White Rock Lake and runs east from there.

“I’ve been working on the day-to-day issues that affect everybody,” Moore said, pointing to gentrification, transportation and preserving White Rock Lake as the three issues most important to her and those living in the district.

While she supports revitalization of neighborhoods, Moore noted that on her street alone there have been three tear-downs recently. Gentrification has raised the value of homes in the area, she said, but with that comes increased taxes.

“Keeping people in their homes is a problem,” she said, adding that she proposes offering an escrow account for those who’ve paid off their mortgages. That way, she explained, they pay their taxes and insurance in monthly installments and aren’t hit with a large bill at the end of the year.

Those hit with large end-of-year tax bills they can’t pay can arrange payments, Moore acknowledged, but they are slapped with significant penalties that can cause them to fall even behind further for the next year.

Noting that as Dallas continues its rapid growth, Moore said, traffic problems continue to grow, too.

In her current position as Daniel’s chief of staff, she said, she has involved in tackling those transportation problems. She’s worked on the rebuilding I-635 and the 3G (Garland, Grand and Gaston) intersection projects, improving bike trails and addressing the basics, like potholes.

Moore said she is interested in environmental issues and has volunteered, within District 9, with For the Love of the Lake, an organization that helps keep the White Rock Lake shoreline clean. She suggests preserving the Great Trinity Forest and the Trinity River by having that area designated as an historic landmark to prevent development, rerouting the river or building “underwater highways.”

Moore also wants to see road funds taken out of bond packages and put into the general fund. She also said street maintenance need to be ongoing rather than a large emergency operation undertaken only after bonds are issued.

Moore is also concerned with the growing problem of homelessness, saying she’d like to see some of the services for the homeless offered in other areas of the city, instead of just in the downtown area.

She said she was horrified by the curfew recently passed by the council, and once she is on the council, she said, she will work to rescind it.
That curfew, Moore said, disproportionately and unfairly targets homeless, LGBT and disadvantaged youth.

Moore worked for many years as a graphic designer, and her last job in that field was at Dallas Voice.

During her campaign, she’s on leave from her position as Daniel’s chief of staff and, if elected, intends to be a full-time city council member.

Moore is married to DGLA President and Lambda Weekly Co-Host Patti Fink. They’ve been together almost 20 years and were legally married in April 2016.