Clean The Block Initiative is an outreach program that tackles the disproportionate environmental effect on lower income communities.
The main objective is to clean up loose trash/litter, fight illegal dumping, educate community members on urban environmentalism, and reverse the effects of environmental racism that historically effects socioeconomically challenged neighborhoods.
Clean The Block Initiative
The iniative was started by Calvin Johnson, former candidate for D7 City Council in Dallas, and Brian Hesson. That race which attracted endorsements from numerous elected officials and participation by groups such as Keep Dallas Safe.
The area’s socioeconomic status, climate change and increased pollution has had a negative effect on the health, cognitive development, education, economic status, and overall pride in the community in the area. CBI plans to combat several environmental issues that plague local Dallas communities.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
Dallas Police Department Officer Tyrone Williams was arrested for Sexual Assault of a Child. He was transported and booked into the Lew Sterret Justice Center.
Tyrone Williams – One Of Many Criminal DPD Officers
Dallas Police have suffered numerous officers acting poorly in the past year. Earlier in 2021, Keith Huber was arrested for Family Violence Assault – Bodily Injury.
Additionally, a DPD Officer arrested in Fort Worth has an interesting history. Dallas police officer, Senior Corporal Daniel Collins, was arrested Thursday on a charge of transportation of child pornography, officials said. According to his Facebook page he appears to also be a self avowed “ISIS hunter.”
Another officer, Brian Deininger, continues to lead field sobriety training despite his own issues with alcohol impairment behind the wheel.
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 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.
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.”
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.
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.
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 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.
The event may show the strength of Noble in bringing national attention to Dallas County’s party which has had a recent history of financial problems. Swalwell’s office would not comment on the current allegations or his work supporting local Democrats across the country.
In 2019 Swalwell was a candidate for President.
Rep Swalwell with Dallas County Democratic Party Chairwoman Kristy Noble and Betsy Kleinman.
Eric Swalwell – Security Issue
In late 2020, Swalwell was accused by Axios of having ties to a Chinese spy through local fundraising efforts.
The suspected Chinese intelligence operative developed extensive ties with local and national politicians, including Congressman Swalwell. Officials in the United States believe this was a political intelligence operation run by China’s main civilian spy agency between 2011 and 2015 and resulted in a FBI briefing to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy.
Swalwell serves on the House Special Committee on Intelligence, a position McCarthy says he should be removed from given current allegations.
An early morning Fair Park raid by the Dallas Police Department in conjunction with the FBI resulted in almost two dozen people being arrested. The raid which included four hundred agents happened west and southwest of Fair Park.
Fair Park Raid Details
Suspects arrested were connected to organized gang activity, including murder and drug sales. Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia in February had referred to drug houses as a detriment.
Despite being one of thirty-five sectors in Dallas, the area where the raid occured makes up ten percent of all violent crime in Dallas. In 2018 there were 10 murders and 315 aggravated assaults in the area. In 2020, murders more than doubled to 23 and Agg Assaults was 485.
Federal authorities, including the FBI, said the area where the raid happened is one of the most violent areas in the Metroplex, and Dallas police said the area makes up 10% of all violent crime across the city.
An FBI taskforce called “Safer Streets,” was launched to combat violent crime in the area.
In addition to Chief Garcia, FBI Special Agent in Charge Matthew J. DeSarno, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Prerak Shah, DEA Dallas Special Agent in Charge Eduardo Chávez, and ATF Dallas Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Boshek II were all present during the briefing at the FBI Dallas Headquarters.
Shah said they decided to move in now, because they feared the violence would only get worse in the summer months.
“Dallas is bracing for sure and we watch with alarm as summer will spike in the summer,” said Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Prerak Shah. “But the chaos of the pandemic has made everything even more volatile.”
Shah said the inclusion of federal investigators, and federal charges – which often carry steeper penalties than state charges – acts as a possible deterrent.
“The know the difference between state time and federal time, and they do not want to get federal time,” Shah explained, saying that the operation today achieved two goals: taking violent criminals off the street and sending a message to would-be-criminals that the Feds are watching.
Chief Garcia added, “the message today for the residents is simple: DPD is not alone in keeping community safe, DPD is not alone in weeding out the criminal element and DPD is not along in seeding the community with hope,” he said.
Last summer when Governor Abbott sent in the Texas Rangers to patrol much of the same area, local City Councilman Adam Bazaldua responded sharply. He was oe of the ringleaders to defund Dallas City Police last summer in favor of bike lanes, art, and solar power programs.
