Team OSD – Page 44 – The Other Side Dallas

July 1, 2021July 1, 2021

Dallas Trash Delays

Dallas trash services will be experiencing delays per Tim Oliver, the City of Dallas Interim Director of Sanitation Services.

The City of Dallas is experiencing a laborer shortage within the Department of Sanitation Services, resulting in intermittent service delays for customers.

Sanitation has adjusted operations to prioritize on-time garbage collection for customers. This means all available staff are assigned to garbage collection routes first. Per a city press release, blue roll cart collection of recyclable materials may be delayed by one or two days in various areas of the city, on a rotating basis, over the next several weeks, until staffing levels stabilize. IT has been reported that recycling has been missed by more than a week in some cases.

The City of Dallas says it is not necessary for customers to report missed recycling collection to 311 unless materials have not been collected after more than forty-eight hours. Areas primarily serviced by automated truck routes will be less affected by this disruption.

Residents can find updates on garbage, recycling, and brush and bulky trash collections on Sanitation’s website, on NextDoor, and the Dallas Sanitation app (App Store / Google Play). Sanitation customers enrolled in the City of Dallas ePay system also receive service advisories directly via email.

Dallas Trash Issues Ongoing

At its last meeting, Dallas City Manager TC Broadnax was given another raise along with the City Secretary despite multiple service issues throughout the city.

Last October, Dallas fell one spot in a national survey of cities by Orkin. It fell on spot to sixteen due to a lower rat population per a national survey though those numbers did not account for changes due to COVID19.

That report came roughly a month after Dallas said it would be limiting residential bulk pickup.

June 29, 2021June 29, 2021

Ruel Hamilton Convicted

Ruel Hamilton was convicted Tuesday of three of four counts of conspiracy and bribing two former Dallas City Council members, the late Carolyn Davis and Dwaine Caraway. Caraway is serving a nearly five-year prison sentence for accepting bribes and kickbacks.

A federal jury convicted Hamilton, the president of AmeriSouth Realty Group, of one count of conspiracy and two counts of bribery of an agent of a local government receiving federal funds.

Ruel Hamilton Case

From 2013 to 2015, Mr. Hamilton paid tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to Carolyn Davis, who was then serving as chair of the city’s Housing Committee.

Ms. Davis supported Hamilton’s Royal Crest housing project, voting to authorize a real estate development loan in a quid pro quo situation, despite the project not meeting the city’s housing priorities for multifamily units.

“The people of Dallas deserve true public servants, not those bought and paid for by the city’s elite. By using money to bend elected officials to his will, Mr. Hamilton betrayed the communities he purports to hold dear,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah.

He continued, “The U.S. Attorney’s Office will not allow a kickback culture to fester at City Hall. To anyone considering this sort of unscrupulous behavior: Think twice. Our prosecutors are tenacious, and we are determined to root out corruption wherever we find it.”

Dwaine Caraway’s conviction was also connected to the Dallas County Schools scandal. Carolyn Davis was killed in a DWI auto accident in 2019.

June 29, 2021June 28, 2021

BREAKING: Harry Stone Zoom Reveals Assault and Terror Issues

Harry Stone Zoom Article Leads To Breaking News

Since we reported on the Harry Stone Zoom meeting last week we have learned that some of the staff changes occurred because of an assault against a staff member.

Additionally, we have learned that the student involved is a family member of another Dallas ISD employee in a district leadership position.

Harry Stone Zoom – DISD Quick Fix or Real Response

We are waiting for more information, but now have multiple reports of an assault against a staff member. Additionally, one former staff member has told us that teachers are afraid of the principal, Ms. Jones.

They describe an inquisition style investigation about who is leaking details including why another district staff member is not being protected.

Another party to events states “Ms. Jones is running staff off to fill her school staff slots with unqualified personal friends.”

Harry Stone Zoom Information

Other Side Dallas will always take anonymous tips via our Contact page. Additionally, we are awaiting comment back from District 5 Trustee Maxie Johnson, Principal Nikki Jones, or the Harry Stone PTA leadership including Tess Blackburn, spouse to Lew Blackburn Jr..

Blackburn Jr. is the son of former Dallas ISD Trustee Lew Blackburn and a former candidate for the post Johnson holds now. He was a student in the Townview Magnet complex.

June 29, 2021June 28, 2021

Harry Stone Montessori Zoom Zeroes In On Staff Subtractions

Parents at Harry Stone Montessori Academy (HSMA) held a Zoom last week with Dallas ISD staff to discuss significant changes to school staff over the past two years.

As Dallas ISD prepares for the 2021-2022 school year eleven staff members are not returning to Harry Stone, including two moving to Eduardo Mata Montessori, and the entire foreign language department.

This follows on ten staff members who did not return for the 2020-2021 school year.

Stone has previously been described as a hidden gem, but current parents are not sure that is the case with the rash of departures the past two years.

One parent who requested anonymity said, “if this was just teachers leaving because of COVID19 that would be one thing, but these are wholesale changes and the campus has lost it’s meager credibility with no Montessori trained teachers.”

Harry Stone Background

Harry Stone Montessori sits off Ledbetter Drive in South Dallas between Whitney M. Young Elementary and Sarah Zumwalt Middle School. The school website says “as a top school in Dallas, we prepare students for lifelong learning through the Montessori and International Baccalaureate philosophies.”

Students throughout Dallas ISD have had difficulty in the pandemic year, but it is unclear how the pandemic or other issues are effecting staff morale on campus.

Other Side Dallas is hoping to hear from teachers about these issues.

June 18, 2021July 21, 2021

BREAKING: Man Dead – SBA Suicide

A man is dead and community members are blaming SBA suicide and Brillient Corporation for the death. The man went missing Thursday night was found late Friday dead by suicide per Dallas Police and community sources.

Per sources the man had been an applicant to the federal Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and been denied despite facing significant hardship to his small business since COVID19.

A representative for US Senator Sherrod Brown, Chairman of the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, declined comment. Our emails then played Congressional ping pong where we were pointed to the communications team from the Senate Banking Committee to Small Business Committee all of which also declined comment.

SBA or SBA Contractor Issues

One focal point is a group called Brillient Corporation which does contract work for the US Government.

In addition to the new suicide, we have identified not less than five local businesses being denied PPP or Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) to women and minority owned businesses by Brillient.

There is no clear pattern to the denials and in two cases the denials stated “could not verify business existed.” Both businesses were found using the Texas Comptoller of Accounts business entity search function in moments.

Sukumar Iyer, Brillient CEO, is an EY Entrepreneur of the Year candidate.

SBA Suicide Blamed On EY Entrepreneur of Year

SBA Suicide and Economic Development Issues Locally

SBA has had repeated issues with program red tape.

During a photo op recently staff for Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh stopped questions about these programs from another business asking why SBA was being unclear and unfair in administration of its programs.

Additionally, Dallas Office of Economic Development has been accused of offering grants only to rescind them later.

June 16, 2021June 29, 2021

No Answers From Dallas County College

There were no answers from Dallas County College for a high school student at Dallas ISD‘s Trinidad Garza Early College High School. A Dallas ISD senior who was part of the dual enrollment plan went went without faculty supervision.

The Dallas ISD senior says his college professor did not hold any virtual classes, and doesn’t returned his emails. Two weeks ago he says his grade abruptly changed from a ‘B’ to an ‘F’ and he’s yet to receive an explanation.

No Answers From Dallas County College or Dallas ISD

Per Fox4, Eric Miranda is a senior in Dallas ISD. Earlier this year, he expressed concern about the early college class he took online where the teacher never provided his or her name and was not conducting lectures by Zoom or webinar.

Miranda’s father, Dr. Gregory Powell said, “There is no feedback, no way to speak to the professor, no idea what their name is.”

“I would hope they would at least require Zoom classes so students can talk and learn face to face,” Miranda said.

“One of the questions we would like answered is who is the instructor,” Miranda said.

Powell tried going thru the principal at Trinidad Garza, only to be met by two weeks of silence.

Dallas ISD said professors work for Mountain View and are not required to give lectures.

Mountain View was asked by local news if its professors are allowed to remain anonymous to students.

The college responded: “Because this is a personal matter involving student information, we are not legally allowed to comment.”

However, Shawnda Navarro Floyd, Provost for Dallas College, sent out an email to teaching faculty about the news report.

In the email she said “We cannot effectively serve our students if our students, or the public at large, believes Dallas College is an institution at which online courses are run on autopilot; where grades are seldom provided in a timely fashion (if at all); and where students are unable to get any response from their instructor.”

It is not known what discipline, if any, was faced by the college professor whose class Eric Miranda was assigned.

The report that a Dallas ISD dual enrollment student was not meeting with his assigned college faculty comes as similar reports were told about other high schools in Dallas including Woodrow Wilson High School. The report also comes on the heels of a fall report saying Dallas students were failing as a group.

June 15, 2021July 21, 2021

Dallas Parks Pools Disappoint Post COVID19

Dallas Parks pools are disappointing previous season ticket holders with confusing rules and a cumbersome new entry website post COVID19.

Season tickets which are sold out for the season require passholders to book multiple entry times per day unlike in past years.

There were several people who had season passes for last year and were never able to use the aquatic facilities due to coronavirus. In many cases they were slow to get a refund this year due to red tape.

The primary complaint seems to be that the new website is difficult to use and you have to leave for COVID19 decontamination at Dallas Aquatics facilities every two hours. Depending on the day of the week these mandatory half hour breaks turn into two to three hours of lost swim child for local participants.

Dallas Parks is also limiting entries into local facilities.

Dallas Parks created socially distanced “seating pods” which consist of a picnic table or a group of lounge chairs at each facility. Each seating pod is intended to accommodate one family group and will serve as a place for them to gather when not in the water. We are defining a family group as individuals who are attending the facility together (typically from the same household) and are regularly in close contact with each other.

The maximum capacity for a Community Swimming Pools for 2021 is 60 based on the deck space and available seating. Seating pods will be available to guests on a first-come first-serve basis and cannot be reserved, “saved,” or moved.

Dallas Parks Pools Locations

The City of Dallas has a listing of community pools and aquatic centers to find the location closest to you.

Dallas Parks did sponsor several drive through Halloween events last year to provide a positive parks experience during the pandemic and many are using facilities full bore for games, exercise, and meetings at various park facilities.

June 15, 2021June 15, 2021

Huffines: June Rolling Blackouts Ridiculous

Texas Governor Candidate Don Huffines says June rolling blackouts are “ridiculous.”

Huffines has announced for Governor and the gloves have already come off over issues such as border security, government spending, and now what Huffines describes as a “track record of failure.”

June Rolling Blackouts Come To Campaign 2022

Huffines campaign goes on to say “current leadership failed to properly address our power grid issues, and as a result countless lives are at risk once again.”

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has not responded to multiple requests for comment about the situation or Huffines’ comments, but last week claimed that the ERCOT situation was fixed.

June Rolling Blackouts

The news of potential June rolling blackouts came yester day as ERCOT announced it was nearing energy production capacity just days after the Texas legislature adjourned without taking serious action on the February blackouts that led to millions being left in subfreezing temperatures for up to a week.

June 14, 2021June 14, 2021

ERCOT Fails Again

ERCOT fails again power users across Texas.

Per a release, The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is asking Texans to reduce electric use as much as possible today through Friday, June 18, 2021.

A significant number of forced generation outages combined with potential record electric use for the month of June has resulted in tight grid conditions.

Generator owners have reported approximately 11,000 MW of generation is on forced outage for repairs; of that, approximately 8,000 MW is thermal and the rest is intermittent resources.

According to the summer Seasonal Assessment of Resource Adequacy, a typical range of thermal generation outages on hot summer days is around 3,600 MW. One MW typically powers around 200 homes on a summer day.

ERCOT Fails Second Time In Five Months

This is the second time ERCOT has asked the public to reduce energy consumption due to an outdated system. The state legislature recently adjourned without taking up significant changes to the regulation of ERCOT.

In February 2021, ERCOT was unable to sustain power to the grid leading to millions of people without power and major home damage due to burst water pipes in subfreezing temperatures. At the time, the public expected Governor Greg Abbott and Austin leadership in the Texas legislature to take up grid reliability. It never happened this session.

Temperatures have been rising lately hitting the 90s. Last year, our first 100 degree day was July 2020.

Other Side Dallas will update with additional information on cooling stations and power issues locally as it becomes available.

June 11, 2021July 8, 2021

Marty Walsh Photo Ops Dallas Without Answering Questions

United States Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh was in Dallas yesterday providing a photo op for United State Representative Colin Allred and the administration’s American Jobs Plan. While he did a lot of talking, he did not answer a lot of questions.

Walsh did a multistop tour in Dallas including the Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce, Garland Veteran’s Administration facility, and the Semones Family YMCA.

His tour was focused on pushing the Biden Administration’s American Jobs Plan, but locally economic development has been questionable at best.

Walsh tweeted that the YMCA location helps “make child care accessible and affordable, invest in early childhood programs, and provide development opportunities to young adults.”

Marty Walsh Missed Opportunity

One area of concern was a high school student believed to be from Hillcrest who tried to ask Secretary Walsh questions about the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. The student had started a nonprofit focused on bringing assistance to children with cancer.

The nonprofit has received a loan qualification, but SBA staff have not finalized the loan to assist the nonprofit in staying afloat. The student was briefly detained by staff believed to have been associated with Secretary Walsh or Rep. Colin Allred.

Rep. Allred’s staff did say in a statement that this was a constituent services issue they would look into, but no questions were allowed during the photo op with Secretary Walsh at any of the locations he visited on this topic.