Residents hear from the city on collection changes
The group requested the meeting to contest the city’s revision of many of their residential trash collection sites.
As part of the newly initiated ONEDAY Dallas Trash and Recycle Collection Program, 5% of the households in the city that have had alley pick up will now be required to move their roll carts to their curb.
16 of the 28 streets in the Highland Meadows neighborhood fall into that category.
Group organizers felt that they are being unfairly and unjustly targeted by the change, leading them to the decision to host the meeting.
According to neighbor emails, many feel they've been denied due process by the city and the notification of what they term a "drastic change" has been "withheld until the last minute."
This is the sentiment that was echoed during Saturday's meeting. Attendees sent a very clear message to Ms. Nix and the City of Dallas: we bought our houses because of alley service; we expect alley service; we don’t want to review anything. We want you to NOT do this.
The Highland Meadows Neighborhood lies on the eastern-most edge of the Lake Highlands area. Bounded by Walnut Hill, Northwest Highway, Plano and Jupiter Roads, it is made up of about 1,400 homes.
Meeting turnout was stronger than anticipated by neighborhood association president Michael Thomas. The room initially set up to host the meeting proved too small to hold the number of attendees, so the group was moved to a larger area.
Once everyone was settled in, Thomas opened the meeting with a gentle reminder to the restless audience. “Remember, we are in a house of worship. Let’s keep it calm and polite.”
Many of the residents in Highland Meadows don’t want to comply with the city’s new directive to move their garbage bins to the front curb for pick-up, now that the ONE DAY transition has begun.
Concerns voiced to Nix and her associates included the opinions that the change will be a burden to elderly residents, as well as bring a negative aesthetic to the neighborhood.
As Director of the Dallas Sanitation Department, Mary Nix manages over 800 employees and handles a $74 million dollar budget.
Along with Nix, District 9 Councilman Sheffie Kadane and District 10 Councilman Jerry Allen were in attendance at the meeting. Nix also brought assistant Judy Pate and Sanitation Area District Manager, John Barlow, to assist in answering questions.
