Dennis Cooper was appointed to City Council in August 2021 to replace Rodney Walker & says he has enjoyed working with the Council. Until Dr. Dana Ray's appointment on January 17th, he was the only African American serving. He is running again for the 2023-2027 term to represent the African American community, but says he also wants to represent people of all races and ages in the Decatur.
Policywise, he wishes to continue with revitalization, tearing down defunct structures and repairing livable ones. He'd like to put families in repaired structures, in part to bring in more tax dollars. He is very focused on increasing City revenue and supports cannabis dispensaries because of that.
Cooper says he would vote yes for cannabis dispensaries "unless I'm shown a better option", and that he has voted yes for dispensaries in the past.
He says "I'm not a drug smoker, never have been a drug smoker. I don't believe in all that. But..." he goes on to say that people need those drugs for medical reasons, that illegal "marijuana" sales go down, and that "probably 80%" of crime is due to drugs and gangs. He also cites the Decatur Township 2020 Advisory Referendum that passed in support of Cannabis dispensaries.
He says that he's looked at data & talked to police departments, including Decatur Police, and Cooper says there hasn't been any data suggesting that dispensarise have increased crime rates.
See Dennis's candidate profile and Dennis Cooper News.
Watch the short interview.