Office of Environmental Quality

Clearly, Mary Suhm's In No Rush To Find a Library Chief, as She Names Another Interim

Kris Sweckard​Received a note earlier in the day that on Tuesday, Mayor Mike, Comerica CEO Ralph Babb, Serita Ann Jakes (Mrs. T.D. to you) and a host of city council members are meeting at the North Oak Cliff Library Branch for "a major announcement" that will involve the "unveiling of [an] e-book ... More >>

From the Memos: Still More About Bike Plan, and A First Look at Flow Control "Study Group"

Click to enlarge one of the unfunded projects in the Bike Plan memo sent to council.​Kim Jong Il will never get to see implementation of the Dallas Bike Plan; neither will Václav Havel. Whether you will remains to be seen: Last we looked it's going to take 10 years for the city to roll out a maze ... More >>

There's Another Gas Drilling Public Hearing Tomorrow. So Where Is City Heading, Anyway?

Photo by Taryn WalkerDrill, maybe, drill.​As chair of the city's gas drilling task force, Lois Finkelman has a pretty tough job, directing task force meetings, guiding discussions, fielding calls and emails from concerned citizens. (Did we mentioned she doesn't get paid? Strictly voluntary.). ... More >>

After Talking Water Supply, Cause of Quakes, Drilling Task Force Gets Down to Business

Photo by Leslie MinoraPhilip Dellinger, Regional Ground Water/Underground Injection Control Chief for the EPA, presents a fracking overview.​Water, water, everywhere -- more than ample supply to frack, according to Jody Puckett, the director of Dallas Water Utilities, who spoke at yesterday's ... More >>

Plan Commission to Consider Relatively Rule-Free Community Garden Ordinance

​At this point, it's hard to recall precisely where we left off when last discussing the city's attempts to regulate community gardens; after all, it's only been a subject for discussion (and point of contention) since, like, June 2009? Last I remember, Kris Sweckard, managing director in the Offi ... More >>

City Hall Still Trying to Find "Best Solution" for Those Who Want to Community Garden

Sara KerensScott and Mariana Griggs at the "West Dallas Country Club," otherwise known as their community garden​You probably forgot all about City Hall's efforts to regulate community gardens -- after all, it's been about two months since the topic came up at the council's Transportation and Envi ... More >>

An Observer Photographer Discovers a "Wasteland" of Trash Along White Rock Creek

Photos by Dylan Hollingsworth​Observer contributor Dylan Hollingsworth was out at White Rock Creek yesterday shooting his nieces Autumn Hollingsworth and Chassidy Levassuer when he came across this -- "a wasteland of debris," as he put it when we spoke this afternoon. This is the spot: Goforth Roa ... More >>

Before His "March on City Hall" Tomorrow, a Brief Interview with "The Bag Monster"

Twitpic: rhacklemanAndy Keller took his plastic bags to the Austin City Council chambers this afternoon.​Andy Keller -- The Bag Monster, c'mon -- called this morning. Wanted to talk about his visit to Dallas tomorrow, part of his nationwide tour to get people off the single-use plastic bag. I aske ... More >>

Community Gardeners Pledge To Keep Growing Despite "Disappointing" City Regulations

Photo By Mark GrahamMariana Griggs vows to continue her renegade gardening.​The City's slow move against community gardening continues, as evidenced by the latest set of do's-and-don'ts -- the sixth try at this -- given the green-thumbs-up by the council's Transportation and Environment Committee ... More >>

Liveblogging the Transportation and Environment Committee Meeting

​Good afternoon, Friends. Here we gather in City Hall's icy 6ES to commence the Transportation and Environment Committee Meeting, at which is promised discussion of both transportation and environment: street cars and community gardens are both on the agenda, with a bonus presentation on the North ... More >>

Sure, You Knew Mrs. Baird's Was Getting Razed. But So Too Is the Mockingbird 7-Eleven.

​Blame it on the rain or the full parking lot, but just about 30 folks packed into the auditorium at Skillman Southwestern Branch Library last night to hear SMU's presentation on its plans to expand south of Mockingbird Lane on a seven-acre plot of land that includes not only the former Mrs. Baird ... More >>

City Hall Continues to Bury Community Gardens Under Permits and Procedures

​On this beautiful Saturday morning following National Public Gardens Day, here's the absolute latest concerning City Hall's  deeply felt desire to regulate community gardens.First, the recap: Back on March 8 Kris Sweckard, director of the Office of Environmental Quality put before the counci ... More >>

Dallas Has A Dirty Secret: It Acts As If Supports the Community Gardens Movement, But That's Not the Real Truth.

Is the City of Dallas Really Going Green, Or Just Talking Till It's Blue in the Face?

The city of Dallas has made much of its efforts to "build a greener city" ... which means what, exactly? That, more or less, was the question posed earlier this week during a confab at the downtown Dallas library during a program billed as a dialogue on the "green economy," a catchphrase that's beco ... More >>

Strange and Passioniate Emissions From Yesterday's EPA Cement Kiln Hearing

Alexa SchirtzingerIf this picture were at all legible, you'd see Deirdre Tinker testifying while dressed as a cement kilnAmong the first 60 commenters at yesterday's public hearing on proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulations intended to reduce emissions from cement kilns, there was obvi ... More >>

Green Cement Plants Could Mean Cleaner Air and Lower Costs

Economic pressure from local cities helps clean up smoky kilns

San Francisco Banned Plastic Bags. But Dallas? Not Going to Happen.