After years of complaints, Dallas city officials say they’ll finally remove a huge pile of shingles in southeastern Dallas known as Shingle Mountain.
On Thursday, the city issued a request for bids for contractors to help with the removal.
Mayor Eric Johnson says he’s pleased to see the cleanup move forward – and calls Shingle Mountain an “environmental injustice.”
“This issue has been in litigation since I became mayor, and I have been limited in what I could say publicly,” he said in a statement. “Our city is not a dumping ground."
Activists consider the pile a sign of environmental racism.
Marsha Jackson lives next to Shingle Mountain and is the co-founder of the environmental group Southern Sector Rising.
"We can't get excited yet," Jackson said in a text message. "We've been told this over and over and it's still here."
At an event in August, Jackson said she's been calling the city asking for the removal of Shingle Mountain since February of 2018.
"Until the very last piece is moved we cannot be excited," Jackson said.
A city bidding document indicates there are 175,000 yards of shingle and related debris to remove from the site along South Central Expressway.
