Wimpy city council to vote today on wimpy waste management plan

Want to get rid of some trash? First, dump the Dallas’ proposed waste management plan which hopes and prays but does nothing to guarantee the city will achieve zero waste by the year 2040, at least 10 years later than what any reasonable plan should call for.

Chief Wimp
Forrest Turner

But, according to the city’s chief wimp, Assistant City Manager Forrest Turner, this is the will of the people of Dallas. Ha! The constantly misguided and misinformed Turner is basing this on the fact that 50 people — 50 out of a city with a population of 1,223,229 — attended a meeting at City Hall back on Jan. 26 and, according to the city’s own presentation Monday to the Transportation and Environment Committee, could not agree on one single thing.

Here’s the plan in a nutshell: We’re hoping the good citizens of Dallas will voluntarily help us achieve zero waste by the year 2040 and if we see they are not volunteering to do this we’re going to get very, very mad.

Don’t believe me? Read it yourself. I wish I could link you right to the presentation but this link will get you close. It takes you to a list of Monday’s city council committee meetings. Just scroll down to the Transportation and Environment Committee and click on Local Solid Waste Management Plan Update. Your computer needs to be equipped with Adobe Reader to see this travesty in all its glory.

Here’s another kicker. The plan completely removed any mention of bans on plastic bags and foam cups because, chief wimp Turner argues, these are an "environmental and litter related issue."

WHAT? What is that man thinking? What is he drinking? A solid waste management plan, by definition, is an "environmental and litter related issue." When push comes to shove, what we’re talking about here is trash and garbage and please — please! — tell me how can anyone in their right mind can try to argue that garbage is not an environmental issue and litter is not a trash issue. And if the solid waste plan is not an environmental issue, what the hell is he doing briefing it to a body called the Transportation and Environment Committee?

Of course, this city administration has proved time and time again it doesn’t give a damn about the environment anyway. If it did, it wouldn’t be signing leases to drill for shale oil within the city limits or pushing for plans to construct a high speed tollroad through a city park and wilderness area. So this is just another way by chief wimp Turner to shunt aside product bans.

What the City Council will do, ultimately, is embrace this plan today that doesn’t ruffle any feathers. Heaven forbid, that body should demonstrate actual leadership, which often involves major feather ruffling. District 12's Sandy Greyson will argue the plan is "not very proactive" (her words at Monday’s committee hearing), but I’ll bet she, too, will cave and ultimately vote for it.

So what’s the big deal? Because it appears the city is also caving in on the Flow Control issue, in about 50 years the city will be looking for a spot for a new landfill and because that landfill will have to be hundreds of miles away, sanitation rates will climb at least 1,000 times of what they are today. But these wimps don’t care. They won’t be around then. That will be somebody else’s problem. How’s that for leadership.