SRO at the Dallas Drilling Meeting

They came from North Dallas, and South Dallas. They came From East Dallas and West Dallas. They were veterans of past fights and they were brand new to the scene. In all, over 100 people attended the citywide organizing meeting on drilling in Dallas Tuesday night. As good as the turnout was, the quality of the audience was just as impressive. There were lots of community leaders present. League Of Women Voters and Dallas Homeowners League officers, neighborhood associations from Mountain Creek and La Bajada. Young South Dallas leaders. Representatives from the Oak Cliff and First Unitarian – Universalist Churches, Move On, and Occupy Dallas. They heard from city council members, citizen activists, lawyers, and organizers about how important it is to get this right. They signed-up to speak at Dallas City Council meetings and wrote postcards to specific council members. It was a very good start to a new chapter in the fracking fight in Dallas. Whether its a pivotal moment is really what we do from here on out. Thanks to everyone who came. Thanks to Councilman Scott Griggs, Jim Bradbury, Cherelle Blaze and Terry Welch for telling it like it is. Special thanks needs to go to Zac Trahan of the Texas Campaign for the Environment, and Claudia and Ed Meyers of the Mountain Creek Neighborhood Alliance for making this such a successful event. Dallas Morning News coverage is behind the paywall here. Over the next few days we’ll be posting the materials handed out at the meeting here at the Downwinders web site, as well as the slide shows that were presented  – Fracking 101, and maps of the 13 specific Dallas drilling sites currently seeking approval. Dallas Residents at Risk will continue to meet EVERY TUESDAY EVENING @7 pm at the Texas Campaign of the Environment office at 3303 Lee Pkwy #402  for the duration of this campaign. Everyone is invited to these meetings. You do not need to be a representative of a group. You just need to be interested. Last night saw the blooming of a 1000 good ideas on how to follow up on the positive energy generated by the meeting. Now we need help in implementing them. We’ve got to hit the streets, go door-to-door, schedule PowerPoint shows for our groups, and make appointments with council members. Last night marked the beginning of something new and exciting, but to have something to celebrate at the end, we have to put in a lot of hard work in-between.