Featured Citizen Action

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  • Dear Mayor and City Council,

    We are writing to you in support of the environmental justice goals and policies integrated in ForwardDallas and to urge you to adopt this plan at Wednesday's City Council meeting. Frontline environmental justice communities have worked with advocates and Planning and Urban Design staff for years to ensure that this plan reflects their quality of life goals as they relate to pollution exposure and future land use. Specifically, since 2019 they have been advocating for the separation of residential areas from future industrial development, and to create tools to address the current industrial-adjacency issues in several Black and Brown communities across the City.

    This plan has evolved meaningfully since its first draft, thanks to the commitment of Planning and Urban Design staff to listen to the residents living in industrially burdened areas and our nonstop advocacy to ensure this plan addresses environmental justice issues. We are proud of this evolution and collaboration with PUD. Some highlights include:

    - West Dallas, Joppa and Floral Farms are not slated as Industrial Hubs as they were initially in early 2023, but as areas for commercial and residential development

    - A metric for tracking success in the EJ theme is to "Decrease the % of industrial zones/ uses near residential zones/uses", which was specifically suggested by frontline organizations and communities

    - A commitment in the Implementation Table for EJ Goals to "create and support citywide EJ goals"

    These are just some of the many aspects of this plan that we believe will meaningfully begin to transition the city from perpetuating environmental racism, to implementing policy solutions to address environmental injustices. The greatest threats to single-family neighborhoods today, are the presence of heavy industrial polluters fence line to properties and the undermining of neighborhoods living with incorrect industrial zoning on their homes.

    We implore you to take the first step in addressing environmental inequities in Dallas by protecting these frontline neighborhoods and pass this plan.

    Sincerely,