FACT CHECK: Luis Canosa Does Live In Irving
People used to ask “Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?”
Today, people in Irving, Texas are asking “Where in the world is Luis Canosa?”
Rumors floating on social media have alleged he has never lived in Irving. Cowtown Caller decided to investigate and we found that Canosa has been renting a place in Irving for some time. We spoke to Canosa’s landlord via telephone last Thursday and he confirmed Luis has been living at one of his rental houses for two years.
We were also supplied with this letter which confirms Canosa’s claimed residency.
Canosa is a candidate for Irving City Council Position 4, a seat that represents South Irving. However, allegations have been floating around alleging either that Luis is out of the country or that he has never lived in Irving.
These allegations have multiple origins. However, Matt Varble is one of the most frequent espousers of it.
Varble ran unsuccessfully for Irving’s District 5’s city council seat and has supported leftwing candidates for office. His campaign was mired in allegations of wrongdoing previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Varble strongly denied any wrongdoing at the time to DX and has continued to do so.
“The one thing I can say is that, in general, there is always some sort of drama or antics within a homeowner’s association. It’s the most I can say,” he told DX at the time.
“Many things may not be as accurate as being described by whoever it is you’re talking to because it sounds like it may be individuals that have an axe to grind,” he added later.
(A picture of Motely from her campaign website)
The left wing was largely rallied around Canosa’s opponent Susan Motely. Motley is a lawyer and former partner at Wood Weatherly Trial Law in Denton, according to her website.
Housing has become a major issue in this race, notwithstanding the false allegations regarding Canosa’s residency. Canosa and Motely disagree broadly on the future of a potential homeless shelter that could be built with federal funds in Irving.
“If the homeless shelter had been approved, Irving would be on a path to seeing a big surge in homelessness,” Canosa said in an interview with The Dallas Express.
“The fact that my opponent considers it a ‘shame’ that building a homeless shelter in Irving was defeated by just one vote proves that she is out of touch with the residents of District 4,” he added, referring to a prior attempt at getting such a project off the ground.
“Families move to Irving instead of Dallas because the magnitude of certain problems is much smaller in the suburbs. It doesn’t make sense for Irving to use its limited resources to open a homeless shelter so costly that the $3 million [Department of Housing and Urban Development] grant would disappear like a drop in the bucket and leave the taxpayers holding the bag,” he said.
He warned that homeless shelters attract anti-social behaviors, including drug addiction, crime, and mental illness.
“We need to use law enforcement to arrest criminals dealing drugs and to restrict panhandling in areas where it is unsafe to do so. We don’t need to invest tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to put in place ineffective programs that will just serve as magnets for the homeless of Dallas,” he added.
Motley staked out what appeared to be the opposite position from Canosa in a candidate questionnaire.
When asked, “What is your position on a congregate shelter for the homeless in Irving?” Motley started her response by discussing her need for more information on certain types of homeless centers, including congregate housing facilities.
She also linked to a video from a city council meeting where city staff spoke positively about using grant dollars to create a homeless shelter in Irving.
“While it would not solve homelessness in Irving, it might help, yet many (but not all) of our existing leaders seemed not to want to use available funds for this,” Motley said.
DX reached out to Motley for clarification of her position on the matter, but she did not respond by the time of publication.
An unused federal HUD grant of approximately $3 million has partly driven the debate about homelessness in Irving. City staff repeatedly raised the issue and suggested various ways homeless shelters could be constructed. Council members like Dennis Webb continued to support this action despite opposition from the council majority. Some, including the mayor, favored contracting for a more modest domestic violence program, seeing a homeless shelter as a long-term fiscal liability for the city.
The City of Irving previously contracted with Brighter Tomorrows for a domestic violence shelter. However, the shelter suffered significant damage during the blizzard that hit North Texas in early 2021, disrupting its operations. Later, Brighter Tomorrows closed its supporting thrift stores, and its voicemail indicated that they had ceased all services.
Domestic violence shelters, unlike homeless shelters, are argued to prevent crime by providing victims a safe place to escape from repeated or more serious incidents. The council has not reached a final decision on reallocating federal taxpayer money, with only an informal earmark deal in place to redirect the HUD grant to a domestic violence shelter project.
Phil Riddle, the outgoing council member who will be replaced by either Canosa or Motley, voted in favor of the homeless shelter project. If Canosa wins, there will be a six-vote supermajority against the shelter. Electing Motley would likely strengthen the four-seat coalition that supports the shelter.
Canosa is a young businessman, philanthropist, and professional violinist, running on a platform focused on reducing crime and homelessness, bringing high-paying jobs to south Irving, “protecting the innocence of children,” promoting single-family housing construction, and opposing a new Irving City Hall.
(click image to watch)
He recently appeared on the Cowtown Caller Podcast and laid out his vision for Irving.
(click image to watch)
Motley lists fiscal responsibility, reliability in city services, and promoting public safety as her key issues.
After a crowded six-person field in the May 4 elections, Canosa and Motley advanced to the runoff. Canosa currently leads with 33% of the vote compared to Motley’s 26%, with fewer than 2,500 votes cast in the entire race according to Ballotpedia. Early voting in the Irving City Council race begins on June 3 and continues through June 11, with election day on Saturday, June 15.
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*Update at 10:42 AM: This post initially misstated that Varble is still president of his HOA and that he worked for Aramark, he works for another corporation. He is no longer the president of his HOA and he has not worked for Aramark. We apologize for any confusion and for the error. The post was also updated to strike and redirect information about the allegation against Varble to the source story in The Dallas Express.*