Bids are in to clean up Shingle Mountain. Dallas City Council to pick best one

Bids are in to clean up Shingle Mountain. Dallas City Council to pick best one The City Council is expected to award the cleanup contract on Oct. 13, but local activists are continuing to protest what they call an environmental emergency Workers with heavy equipment work atop a pile of roofing shingles at what has been come to be known as "Shingle Mountain," the former Blue Star Recycling, on Thursday, March 12, 2020, in Dallas. On Thursday, trucks began removing the materials piled high and wide over the last two years along a small creek running behind two homes off South Central Expressway. Workers with heavy equipment work atop a pile of roofing shingles at what has been come to be known as "Shingle Mountain," the former Blue Star Recycling, on Thursday, March 12, 2020, in Dallas. On Thursday, trucks began removing the materials piled high and wide over the last two years along a small creek running behind two homes off South Central Expressway.(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer) By Kevin Krause 6:51 PM on Sep 29, 2020 The city has received nine bids for the long-awaited task of hauling away a mountain of shingles dumped in southeastern Dallas, and it’s now up to the City Council to award the contract. After a roughly two-year stalemate between the city, the accused polluter, and the landowner who owns the Shingle Mountain site, Dallas officials issued a bid proposal earlier this month for the messy job of loading and hauling away about 175,000 yards of shingles and other debris. The proposal calls for hauling the mess from the dump site along South Central Expressway to the McCommas Bluff Landfill on Youngblood Road, about a quarter mile away. The lowest bid, from Roberts Trucking in Dallas, was for $450,000, records show. The highest bid was $3.3 million. Council member Omar Narvaez has said the job is expected to cost the city a little over $2 million. Council member Tennell Atkins, who represents the area where the mountain sits, said Tuesday that City Manager T.C. Broadnax is recommending the “lowest responsible bidder.” Sports Season Uncertainty: 5 Tips for Supporting Athletes SPONSORED CONTENT Sports Season Uncertainty: 5 Tips for Supporting Athletes Young athletes are facing sports changes and the unknown due to COVID-19. See how to support athletes during this uncertain time. BY Children's Health “It is my hope that this item passes unanimously when it comes to City Council on October 13, 2020, and cleanup begins soon after,” he said in a written statement. “This is a win for southern Dallas environmental justice and reaffirms our commitment to protecting the environment.” No timeline was given for the work to start. The heap of discarded shingles lies behind the home of Marsha Jackson, 62, who said she continues to cough up black gunk more than a year after a judge ordered the mess removed. Jackson, who has lived on Choate Street in southeastern Dallas for 25 years, sees a pulmonologist and has to wear long sleeves to avoid rashes on her skin. A closeup of the mountain of roofing shingles at what remains of Blue Star Recycling off South Central Expressway in southern Dallas, not too far from Paul Quinn College A closeup of the mountain of roofing shingles at what remains of Blue Star Recycling off South Central Expressway in southern Dallas, not too far from Paul Quinn College(Juan Figueroa / Staff photographer) She has sued the company that dumped the shingles, as well as the landowner and the city in federal court. And Jackson has said she will not get excited about anything until the mountain is moved. In a separate action, filed in state court in 2018, the city has sued Blue Star Recycling, the company that built Shingle Mountain, and CCR Equity Holdings One, which owns the land. The city has said in legal filings that it is in “ongoing settlement discussions” in the state court suit. “Based on the ongoing settlement efforts in that lawsuit, the City has issued a request for proposals for the removal of the remaining materials,” the legal brief said, adding that a tarp was placed over the materials last week. But a settlement in that case won’t necessarily help Jackson, her lawyers have argued. “Plaintiff is living next to the illegal solid waste landfill that continues to pose imminent and substantial endangerment to health and the environment,” her lawyers said in a filing last week. “There is no indication that the state law claims will resolve her claims in this case.” Local activists who are waging a series of protests against Shingle Mountain are continuing their campaign against the city. Southern Sector Rising, a coalition of southern Dallas activists and environmentalists, gave the city an Oct. 1 deadline to begin removing the mountainous heap east of I-45 near Simpson Stuart Road. After that date, the group said the city would face “a more forceful, determined, and calculated response.” The group has planned an event at the dump site at 5 p.m. Wednesday, calling for the designation of Shingle Mountain as a public health emergency, according to its Facebook page. “If the City of Dallas will not treat this public health crisis like the emergency it is, then we will,” the event notice said.