The Hays Free Press posed the following questions to Kyle City Council candidates. Here are their responses.
Yvonne Flores-Cale
Kyle City Council, Pl. 2
Q. What did you learn from the Fajita Drive flap?
A. I learned the citizens of Kyle are tired of not being heard or included in decisions made by the City.
I also learned the importance of maintaining professionalism.
Q. How would you define the city’s brand, and what would you do to further that brand?
A. I think Kyle is known for its “community” or “small town” feel. Although we are all aware and understand Kyle is a growing city, we also understand the City lacks basic necessities like sidewalks and streetlights. Therefore developments, such as a “domain”, seem premature. If elected I would focus on slowing down luxury developments and focus on the City’s infrastructure, to ensure our resident’s needs are being met.
Q. What type of businesses/industry would you like to see come to Kyle?
A. Since Kyle is a growing city, different parts would thrive with different businesses.
I would like to see small, locally owned, businesses on Center Street. These types of businesses would help increase tourism and foot traffic. I would like to see some type of rec center (YMCA, city rec, etc) on the Eastside of Kyle and although it’s too late, I’d like to see a minimal amount of development by the Texas Lehigh Cement Company. I would like to think explanation for this is not necessary, however, placing professional business buildings by a rock quarry is never good for a building’s foundation.
Tracy Scheel
Kyle City Council, Pl. 2
Q. What did you learn from the Fajita Drive flap?
A. I would not say the entire process was a flop. The name of Rebel Dr. needed to be removed. It has very negative connotations to an unfortunate time in our history and we must not promote the ideology of that time period. With that said, I was in favor of recognizing another part of the city of Kyle’s history and with that it made sense at the time to name the road Fajita Drive. What I did not realize was the response to the name chosen. Many of our community members agreed that the name should be changed, just not to the name we as a council chose. Sometimes, we do make mistakes, but we are able to take a step back and rectify the mistake and I think that is the most important takeaway from the incident.
Q. How would you define the city’s brand, and what would you do to further that brand?
A. The Pie Capital of Texas is the City of Kyle’s brand. We not only have dessert pies, but also pizza pies, frito pies, shepherd’s pies and even pot pies, all can be found within our city. In order to further the brand we need to keep doing what we started by encouraging businesses to buy into it including asking restaurants to develop an item for their menus that is a pie of some variety so that when a visitor comes to Kyle they know they can get some kind of pie at any restaurant here in Kyle. Also we need to do everything we can to make the Pie in the Sky festival the destination festival for others around the state, including having our own balloon that we can take to other festivals.
Q. What type of businesses/industry would you like to see come to Kyle?
A. We have a very diverse workforce here in the City of Kyle. I do want to limit the type of business. We have a workforce that can support anything from manufacturing, healthcare, IT, shipping, retail and hospitality, with high level, mid-level and even starting positions. I would ensure that any company would hire from within the City of Kyle and not just move here and bring all of its employees with it.
Ashlee Bradley
Kyle City Council, Pl. 4
Q. What did you learn from the Fajita Drive flap?
A. I believe that every experience, good or bad, is an opportunity to learn and grow. Fajita Drive was a great reminder of the importance of community input when it comes to making decisions for the city. I look forward to bridging the gap between city and citizens as Councilwoman.
Q. How would you define the city’s brand, and what would you do to further that brand?
A. In my opinion, the city doesn’t have a brand. Because of this, it has just become known as a suburb of Austin. Whether we look back on the history of the city to proclaim our brand or create something new to honor, we need to collectively find a way to establish ourselves and put Kyle on the map to give it the recognition it deserves.
Q. What type of businesses/industry would you like to see come to Kyle?
A. I would like to welcome all types of business to Kyle, everything from large corporations such as Amazon to small locally owned businesses. We need to build a healthy and diverse economy in our city that will provide jobs, goods, services, and amenities for the people of Kyle to use and benefit from.
Tim McHutchion
Kyle City Council, Pl. 4
Q. What did you learn from the Fajita Drive flap?
A. I believe the lesson to be learned here is to always take into consideration public participation in acts like these. This is a classic example of the government, the people of Kyle standing up in protest to something that they do not agree upon. Our Council should have voted to create an Ad-Hoc committee in naming Hwy 150 before it went this far, however, it is good that the Council did rescind their vote after very heavy negative feedback, and is in the process of creating the Ad-Hoc Committee.
Q. How would you define the city’s brand, and what would you do to further that brand?
A. The city of Kyle’s brand, or as I call it, it’s flavor, lies in it’s small business. The diversity of our small business community is what attracts people into our city, and in some cases, causes these people to move to Kyle and decide to call it home.
In order to enhance our small business community and expand upon it, is to continue to market our city to small businesses, offer incentives to them, and ensure that they are equipped with the tools necessary to succeed. One of these tools and most valuable, is our Chamber of Commerce, which always reaches out to these businesses for membership opportunities.
Q. What type of businesses/industry would you like to see come to Kyle?
A. We already have great industry coming into our city. Projects like ENF Technologies, and the Majestic Project, have opened the door for large industry to come and set up shop in Kyle, which, in turn, leads to employment opportunities for our citizens, allowing the phrase live, work and play to become more realistic. As for myself, I am for any business, or industry to come to our city, as long as that business or industry does not harm the land or put at risk the citizens of Kyle.
