Lankford running for city council
By Nathan Straus News Reporter

Bobby Langford

Bobby Lankford, retired American Airlines pilot from Houston, has decided to run for one of the three open positions on the Chandler City Council. He entered as a write-in candidate.

"I love and enjoy living in Chandler," Lankford said. "It has great potential for future growth, and I feel the city needs long range planning and zoning to accommodate it."

Lankford said one of his primary goals would be to control the types of buildings so Chandler doesn't end up with junk buildings along Highway 31.

Lankford said he grew up in Houston and experienced a great period of growth poorly handled in the city. Main thoroughfares ended up looking like garbage because of poor planning, and several decades later, the same thoroughfares still look poor, Lankford said.

In addition, Lankford said he thinks the City of Chandler could do more to clean up cluttered and trashed lots around the city.

"There are many yards and spots that are cluttered and trashy," Lankford said. "The city had their code enforcement officer come up and talk about what he fixed; I drove around the next day and I didn't see any change."

While he would rate the council's performance as "ok", Lankford said the council could benefit from fresh thinking and a changing of the guard.

"I'm certainly not going to knock people who volunteer their time for the City Council, " Lankford said.

The bottom line, Lankford noted, is his platform is one of long range planning and city beautification.

And his plan for city beautification would come at no cost to the tax payer.

Lankford said yards or property in violation would have a notice posted at the resident's door. If no change is made, the city will fix the violation and bill the owner for the cost of the work.

There is also a plan for the roads, Lankford said, though this plan will come at a cost to the city. Under Lankford's plan, the city would seek bids to have the roads in the city paved under the same contract so the bids would be lower. Then the homeowners would have to pay for the work, with the city only stepping in to help those who could not afford it. This plan would need to be voted on by the citizens.

The cost would likely amount to around $1,200 per home, paid over a few years.

Bobby is married to Mary Lankford; the two have been together 25 years. Lankford came to Chandler five years ago and purchased Chandler Crossing Apartments.

"I love the one stoplight and no traffic," Lankford said. "I hate having to go back to Houston or Dallas because of the bumper to bumper traffic."

Lankford said if elected one of his first goals would involve a study group for future planning and zoning and controlled growth. He would also enforce the cleanup of junked spots.

"Growth from Tyler is coming here. Progression is coming here," Lankford said. "We need to be ready."

Lankford currently serves on the Brownsboro Independent School District Board of Trustees.