12 July 24 - 30, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents end of alleyway trash services for most of his tenure. In June 2024, the sanitation depart- ment briefed the council on ending all alley- way trash services across the city. After community and council disapproval, the plan was scrapped. But Gillespie has pulled it from the bin and is set to end alleyway trash collection for 19,000 homes starting Jan. 19, 2026, and then another 7,000 on July 20, 2026. The change will affect about 27% of cus- tomers receiving alleyway trash services. A map of affected alleys can be found on the city’s website. “It’s been a fight before,” Libby Collet, author of the Change.org petition with more than 4,000 signatures, said. “They backed off on it, but it sounds like now they’re dig- ging in and shoving it down our throats.” Since the city announced its plans to end services, Collet has been spending her free time reading up on garbage trucks, becom- ing a little bit of an expert. The city uses rear-loading trucks to collect trash from al- leys as well as side-loading trucks for curb- side collection. The rear-loading trucks, which Collet says are the gold standard of dump trucks, require a driver and one, sometimes two, sanitation workers to man- ually load bins. Automated side-loading trucks only require a driver. Though cheaper for the city to operate, they are wider by nature of their mechanism. In her research, Collet found other flaws with side-loaders, also called “one-arm ban- dits,” in the sanitation industry. She worries about the claw damaging street-parked cars, especially on smaller two-way roads. She also found that the sensor on the trucks can be sensitive, meaning once the truck’s ca- pacity is hit, there’s no extra squishing and stomping to be done. If you have an unusu- ally trash-y week, you’ll have to hold onto excess until the next week’s trash day. “We’ve got so many big problems that are complicated to solve,” she said. “This is an easy one. This is a gimme. Don’t create more problems to make us look like a big, ugly city.” According to city reports from 2023, Dallas had 109 rear-loading trucks, costing the city $18 million, as reported by The Dallas Morning News. Running 92 side-load- ing trucks cost the city $11 million. “They need smaller trucks,” Collet said. “They need to work within the existing structure of what we have and not change a structure that works really well. … So we need to clean up the alleys, get the proper equipment and not change something that isn’t broken. “ Gillespie clarified via email that the city has not, emphasis on not, invested in trucks that are too big for the alleyways, citing 40-year-old federal regulations that re- quire commercial vehicles to be between 96 and 102 inches. The city purchases new trucks annually, he explained. In the 2024- 2025 fiscal year, the city purchased 25 trucks to replace old ones, adding no addi- tional trucks to its fleet, 14 of which were side-loading. “Dallas’ waste collection fleet evolved over time as equipment manufacturers be- gan building to those new specifications to allow for greater capacity and efficiency,” he wrote. “Many older alleys in Dallas are only 8–9 feet wide and weren’t built to accom- modate modern equipment. These narrow spaces pose safety risks for workers and re- sult in recurring damage to fences, utility poles, gas meters and collection vehicles.” Petitioners Are Pissed Whether newer side-loading trash trucks will fit down narrow alleys or not, the incon- venience of moving to curbside trash collec- tion for many residents is significant, Collet says. Destruction of property is a primary concern for most, but a few older home- owners pointed out they would be particu- larly hurt by this change. “At 91 years of age, I am not physically able to move my cans to the front of my house, and being a widow, I have no one to assist me,” wrote one petitioner. To the city’s credit, there is an existing program called Helping Hands that offers customers with physical disabilities help moving their garbage and recycling bins at no additional cost. But many Dallasites have said that if the city invested in more trucks that fit within the alleys, complimentary va- let trash services wouldn’t be needed. “I’m sorry this happened, but they need [to] find the money to purchase new trucks,” wrote another petitioner. “This neighbor- hood area of Dallas was master planned around alleyways, our homes were literally built around them. It is the city’s job to maintain them, and to continue trash ser- vice in them like they have done for the past 65+ years.” Gillespie says he has heard the commu- nity complaints, but the pros outweigh the cons. “We understand that many residents are frustrated by this transition,” he wrote. “Change is difficult, especially when it af- fects long-standing routines. However, this step is necessary to improve safety for the men and women collecting waste on foot and riding on the back of collection trucks, enhance service reliability and better con- trol long-term costs.” The “Reject Dallas Cancellation of Alleyway Trash Collection Proposal” peti- tion has only been up for a week, but it con- tinues to gain support hourly. Collet knows she has little power to stop Gillespie’s plan, but she can at least raise a little hell before it happens. “I would hope to see the city of Dallas lis- ten to its taxpayers and constituents,” she said. “Nobody’s happy about this.” ▼ MARIJUANA JUST TELL THE TRUTH WHAT STATE GOP LEADERS GET WRONG ABOUT THC. BY ALYSSA FIELDS B y now, everyone, except for those living under a rock, has caught wind of an attempt to completely ban the sale of hemp-derived tetrahydrocannabi- nol (THC) products in Texas. Senate Bill 3, which slid through both chambers of the Legislature during the 89th Legislative Session, was halted by a buzzer-beating veto from Gov. Greg Abbott. The topic is now slated near the top of the agenda for the special session. Leading up to the House and Unfair Park from p10 >> p14
