The Metroplex Civic & Business Association’s adopt-a-block program in Dallas is still going strong, with its most recent efforts in the Oaklawn area netting 120 pounds of trash.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the program was launched last fall to encourage local businesses to help clean up Dallas. The idea was inspired by the Texas Department of Transportation’s adopt-a-highway program, which the MCBA had discussed during a business luncheon, according to MCBA CEO Louis Darrouzet.
Program volunteers scoured several city blocks on Friday, picking up trash in the areas bounded by Oaklawn Avenue, Lemmon Avenue, Wycliff Avenue, and Cedar Springs Road.
Companies and businesses that adopt a section of the city commit to cleaning the area on a regular basis, which includes picking up trash on and around green spaces, medians, and sidewalks. DX asked Darrouzet how much trash is typically collected during his group’s cleanups.
“Probably 60 or 70 pounds of trash. We pick up the same area every two weeks,” Darrouzet said.
He told DX that the adopt-a-block program was “doing great.”
“It really highlights the amount of trash that is in the area,” he said. “You pick it up and come back two weeks later, and there’s trash there again. It’s frustrating because the City should be helping keep the [Dallas] clean.”
“I think [City leaders are] distracted by their different agendas [rather] than [focusing on] the core City services. They have gone off track, and they are not actually taking care of the core things the City should take care of. They are trying to be everything to everyone. And they just can’t,” Darrouzet told DX.
“They just forget to do the stuff they are supposed to do. Take care of the roads [and] of the parks,” Darrouzet told DX.
He said he was inspired by the number of businesses stepping up to keep their communities clean as the City continues to fail to do so.
As previously reported by DX, surveyed residents have also registered their displeasure with what the City has been doing to maintain cleanliness.
Darrouzet claimed that if City leaders do not care about the problems affecting Dallas, it is up to the community to step up.
“We get into this problem when the City doesn’t really handle the homelessness problem, they don’t handle the crime problem, they just allow people to do whatever they want, they don’t enforce the law. When that’s the case, it falls on the community to solve some of these problems,” Darrouzet said.
