Laura Miller became the third woman in Dallas history to serve as mayor. During the 2002 elections, she received 55% of the vote. During her campaign, the politician focused on increasing the efficiency of the main municipal services. However, her political career began much earlier, when she joined the Democratic Party back in 1998, and has served as a municipal council deputy ever since. Learn more at dallas-yes.
Biography of the journalist and politician
Laura Miller was born on November 18, 1958, in Baltimore, Maryland. In interviews, the woman frequently recalled how she went from being an ordinary girl in an average home to becoming a successful and promising woman. When Laura was 11 years old, a man came to her great-grandfather’s house and introduced himself as a stamp collector. He took an interest in her great-grandfather’s collection, which he intended to purchase. But after a while, the stranger disappeared along with the valuable stamps. It was at this point that the little girl felt all the pain of injustice, which she decided to fight at all costs.
At the age of 14, Laura Miller has already started making money on her own. At first, she worked as a waitress. She earned little money for the job, but the girl valued it as she earned it on her own.
Laura tried to balance her academics and career for a long time. However, after her family relocated to Stamford, she became even more committed to her studies. Fortunately, she discovered her talent and interest in journalism. After graduating from high school, Laura Miller enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she pursued a higher education in journalism.
Laura Miller’s journalism career
Laura Miller started taking her first steps in journalism while still a student. She completed internships on several American campuses and worked as a correspondent for the Time and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel magazines. According to Vogue magazine, Laura was one of the top ten young journalists in the United States.
After graduating from high school, Miller spent a year traveling throughout Europe. She then did the majority of the materials as a freelancer. Her texts were neutral and unbiased, yet this did not satisfy the journalist.
For the following eighteen years of her career, Laura Miller was employed by the Dallas Morning News, the Miami Herald, the Dallas Times Herald, the New York Daily News and the Dallas Observer. She mostly worked in investigative journalism, although she occasionally oversaw major reports. In 1995, Laura Miller was honored with the Henry Louis Mencken Award for her newspaper commentary.
Over time, the initiative journalist recognized that she wanted to do more than just expose different crimes and corruption schemes. She wanted to fight them, at least on the scale of one city. So, in 1998, Laura Miller ran for city council. However, even after serving in public service for many years, the journalist acknowledges that her career high point came while she was a reporter for the Dallas Observer magazine.
Laura Miller’s political activity
Laura Miller served as an ordinary civil servant on the city council for nearly four years. However, when Ron Kirk resigned as Mayor of Dallas in 2002 (to run for the US Senate), the former journalist decided to run for mayor herself. Laura Miller served Dallas for four years. During this time, she claims she encountered people who appreciated and respected her as well as those who condemned and criticized her. However, the vast majority of citizens remained on the politician’s side, believing her activities fully deserved approval.
First, Laura Miller promoted an active struggle against all forms of discrimination, particularly based on sexual orientation. She emphasized the importance of the loyal attitude of any individual in society. Second, the lawmaker was among the minority who supported the smoking ban in public places. She resented the fact that cigarettes were considered a norm even in fairly fine restaurants.
Furthermore, when discussing Laura Miller’s policy, it is important to note that she placed a high priority on resolving the problems of the homeless. Laura devised a strategic plan to reduce the number of beggars in the city. According to it, in November 2005, voters opted to contribute $24 million from the budget for the construction of a new shelter in Dallas.
When the largest disaster of all time, Hurricane Katrina, struck thousands of Americans, the politician did not stand aside as well. During the month, she was able to raise 2.7 million dollars in donations from entrepreneurs to assist those who were caught up in the epicenter of the disaster and sought shelter in Dallas. Laura Miller Foundation assisted victims with medical care, shelter, food and even psychological help from specialists.
Laura Miller also planned to open the Cowboys Stadium to promote the city’s sports teams. Unfortunately, the city officials were unable to negotiate an agreement directly with the club owners, therefore the stadium was built in Arlington.
All of the above are only a few of the great efforts Laura Miller made while serving as mayor of Dallas.
The politician’s environmental initiatives
Laura Miller devotes a great deal of her time to implementing important environmental projects. She is concerned with improving the environment and reducing the harm that society causes through its activities. The politician became the initiator and chief executive of three environmental projects, on which she worked with the Seattle-based Summit Power Group. It is a company that specializes in the development of wind, solar and gas power plants.
With the assistance of Laura Miller, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded Summit Power Group with a 350 million dollar award for the construction of a power plant. It was located near Odessa, Texas. It became the world’s first combined gasification cycle power station that operates on clean coal. It is expected that the initiative called the Texas Clean Energy Project will produce at least 3 million tons of carbon dioxide per year, which will be used to increase oil production in the West Texas Permian Basin.
Laura Miller also participated in another large-scale project while serving as mayor of Dallas, which included the formation of the Texas Clean Air Cities Coalition. The politician was among the first to send letters to her colleagues, urging them not to be indifferent and to support a new good cause: ensuring that city enterprises and factories employ ecologically friendly technologies. There was never a proposal for a coal-fired power plant with a combined gasification cycle before Laura Miller was elected mayor of Dallas. As it turned out, Texas power plants produced more pollution than chemical and oil refineries combined. They accounted for up to 10% of total mercury emissions across the country.
Laura Miller continued to promote her environmental initiatives in society even after her term as mayor of Dallas ended in 2007.