Angela Hunt defends her flow control vote

Angela Hunt

District 14 Dallas City Council member Angela Hunt has a reputation as an anti-establishment maverick. After all, she stood up against the powers-that-be on such issues as the Trinity River Tollroad boondoggle and the construction of the convention center hotel. So, naturally, many thought she would be on the opposite side of the city's desire to institute a plan to send all the city's trash to the city's own landfill.

Instead, she was among the majority who supported the measure.

In an eloquent response to criticism of her vote on the Dallas Observer's website, Hunt explained why:

"Boy. Weight of the world, man. 

"First off, this is what happens when the Observer gives somebody else the "Best of" award. People who have been hurt are known to lash out. Just sayin. 

"Aside from that... Here's my take on flow control. I never had a problem with the idea of flow control. Trash is a commodity, and the city can either control and benefit from that commodity or not. The components that result from a comprehensive recycling and reclamation process will become more and more valuable. So yeah, I think if the city has the legal authority to call dibs on a lucrative and appreciating commodity, we should. 

"What was bothering me was, there was no business plan for partnering with a private company. What will the recycling facility cost? Who will pay for it? How? What are the terms of the partnership? The profit split? Who operates the facility? What experience does the proposed partner have in building or operating this type of facility? 

"But those weren't the questions we had to answer today. That will be addressed when the city puts out a request for proposal for a company to build and perhaps operate a recycling facility based on the trash collected from flow control. And if at that point the city doesn't have a partner to work with in building and operating a recycling facility, the worst case scenario is, we could do away with flow control. 

"The other question I had was, will flow control damage the surrounding area in Southern Dallas? I don't think so. If truck traffic is the concern, preliminary projections show that even with flow control, there will still be fewer trucks going to the landfill than 10 years ago (today we have about half the trucks going to the landfill than a decade ago). The facility itself is clean and produces less waste than a landfill. Much less. Visiting a similar facility in Lubeck, Germany three years ago, I was struck by how clean the operation was and how little landfill waste was produced after they recaptured bio-waste, metals, and everything else they could sell. 

"Depending on which side you're listening to, flow control will either destroy that part of Southern Dallas, compounding Dallas' historic and horrible racial divide, or it will be the panacea for all that ails the area. I think it'll be neither. But I do like the idea of creating a fund from flow control moneys to improve the surrounding area. It won't be a cure-all, but I think a set-aside fund can help improve the area. 

"Overall, though, I do think it's a smart move to stake the city's claim to a commodity that will only increase in value."

Well said, Angela.