Dallas alley widths range from 8 to 10 feet and conditions vary widely.
For the last couple of decades, city leaders have worked to make Dallas more bikeable and walkable, but long before that, local officials were determined to ensure that neighborhoods — particularly residential streets — were welcoming and safe for pedestrians. In various ways, city planners codified their preference for alley-entry garages and alley-based utility services. In 1964, when city planners instituted the 15-foot alley right-of-way, children routinely played catch or skipped rope on the front sidewalk. Officials sought to ensure that no one got hit when the trash truck came to pick up garbage or the utility truck arrived to make repairs.
Earlier this year, Sanitation Director Clifton Gillespie announced his plan to establish front curbside pickup throughout the city. Curbside collection is more cost-efficient than alley pickup and safer for workers who ride on the back of the truck, he told members of the Dallas City Council June 18. Automated trucks cost more but need only one driver and make fewer trips. Smaller alley collection trucks are cheaper to purchase but require two additional workers to operate. Switching to curbside pickup could save about $7 million.
Almost 200 neighbors showed up to Ridgewood-Belcher Recreation Center Monday night to express their frustration at the new plan and convince Gillespie to reverse course. Although he has the power to make the decision as leader of the department, they also hoped to influence District 9 Council member Paula Blackmon, also in attendance. By almost unanimous show of hands, they indicated they’d rather pay a little extra to keep alley service than schlep their rolling trash and recycling carts across wet grass or up terraced lawns. One woman said, because of the layout of her lot, she’d be forced to pull the smelly bins through her home.
Rick Crain and his wife moved into their University Heights home seven years ago and now have two children under four. As president of their neighborhood association board, Crain said he was attending the meeting to represent dozens of homeowners facing a reduction of city services.
“Our neighborhood was established in the sixties. Those are original home builds, many original owners or second-generation owners. The infrastructure of how our neighborhood was designed by city planners and developers was for alley pickup,” he told me. “We have plenty of elderly people who would have severe challenges with the new proposition.”
Dozens of speakers took to the microphone to say they would struggle with the new policy, and Gillespie, in response, touted the city’s Helping Hands program. The service, provided at no cost to elderly or infirm residents with no able-bodied adult in the home, uses technology to alert the driver to stop, get out of the truck and retrieve each rollcart from its place on the side of the home. A similar Pack Out service is available to able-bodied homeowners for a fee.
Neighbors weren’t biting.
Surely the cost-effectiveness of automated trucks will be diminished, they argued, as the driver stops repeatedly to climb down out of the truck and lug rollcarts through yards for emptying. On the positive side, each driver is certain to get an aerobic workout, they joked.
Crain was one of several homeowners who explained that their neighborhoods — and their homes — were designed specifically with alley vehicle entry and alley garbage pickup in mind. Dallas city planners, in fact, have long relied on residential alleys for drainage, utility service and sanitation.
The Dallas Street Design Manual specifies that “alleys are required to supplement residential local streets,” and “alleys should be prioritized for access over driveways, providing necessary circulation and support service accommodations, such as utilities, drainage, and trash pick-up.” In his presentations to council members and citizens, Gillespie has argued that Dallas should copy Houston and some other Texas cities which have adopted curbside pickup, but the comparison is like apples to oranges. Dallas has 1,300 miles of city-maintained alleys constructed for utilities access. Houston has fewer than 10 miles. Dallas is a closer match to Baltimore, with 500 miles of maintained alleys and 60% alley collection, or Chicago, the city with the most alleys in the nation at 1,900 miles.
Lakewood neighbor Sue Schell rose to express concern about traffic congestion caused by trucks navigating narrow streets and potential damage to vehicles as trucks squeeze past parked cars. As youth in her neighborhood have gotten old enough for high school, cars line both sides of the street. More cars stack up around school campuses during drop off and pickup times. The city pays about $580,000 in damages done by trash trucks each year.
“There are going to be tremendous traffic jams,” she said. “You can’t get two cars through when there are cars on both sides. And if a trash truck smashes a rearview mirror or dings a side door? Are they going to leave a note and say, ‘I’m sorry, here’s where you can have your insurance call?’ I don’t think so.”
Alison Reiff-Martin owns a home in Lake Highlands and a small, local CPA firm near Presbyterian Hospital. She, too, is concerned about the risk of damage or injury. Last week, she traveled to city hall to plead with city council members.
“The financial and liability risk is being shifted from the city to the impacted residents. What happens when I get hurt on my property fulfilling a city-required responsibility? Who will handle the financial responsibility for my medical claims? The city or me,” she asked.
“With the Helping Hands service, what happens when a city employee is hurt on our property while moving our garbage? How is the risk management department addressing these concerns in terms of who has liability? Is it the city’s insurance or the resident’s homeowner’s insurance? The financial impact and risk could be substantial.”
Reiff-Martin was interrupted when her time ran out, but she shared her remaining prepared remarks with The Advocate.
“With the widespread use of the Helping Hands program, the city opens the door to bad actors, thieves and hackers posing as city employees while they walk through our property. The risk of property damage and crime increases. Imagine our most vulnerable population and the potential impact to them in these situations. Who bears the risk here?”
Gillespie has proposed a 4.6% increase in the monthly sanitation rate, from $37.98 in fiscal year 2023-24 to $39.73. Several neighbors found the hike difficult to swallow.
“I think this is all backwards,” said architect Jack Corgan. “Imagine the analogy of a company coming to its customers and saying we’re going to reduce your services and increase your cost. It’s just backwards.”
Gillespie said that saving money is one reason for abandoning alley trash service, but insisted his higher priority is safety. Garbage collectors have one of the ten most dangerous jobs in America, made even more hazardous because their trucks traverse broken and rutted alleys. Homeowners suggested the solution is funding for alley pavement repair, but Blackmon indicated — and D10 Council member Kathy Stewart said on a walkabout with sanitation staff and neighbors in June — that bond funds were prioritized for street repair, not alleys. University Terrace resident Mike Duncan expressed concern that city crews would abandon alleyways once sanitation trucks no longer used them.
“I don’t see them doing a whole lot of maintenance for the alleys currently. I know they don’t have money,” Duncan said. “But once they don’t use them, what are they going to do? I know they’ve gone to the bigger trucks in the last 20 years, and it’s caused problems with ruts and breaking up the pavement. Even if they don’t want to do any maintenance, they still have to give those poor people access to their homes through those alleys.”
When it came time to close the meeting, residents wanted to hear where Gillespie and Blackmon stood on the subject. Gillespie said he still believed citywide curbside collection was the “best practice,” but he vowed to continue to solicit input from residents and council members.
“Here’s my perfect politician’s answer,” said Blackmon. “I am for whatever makes the customer happy. And remember, you are the customer. I’m against (the change), but I understand (Gillespie’s) dilemma. I understand your concerns and understand how the district has been developed. I’m supporting staff because they know what they’re doing. They are good public servants. I’ve known Cliff for 13 years. We work together on stuff. He’s a good guy. But sometimes it’s good to ask these questions of a community. Is there a better way we can do it.”
Gillespie and his team plan to develop new Alley Service Criteria and present them to the city council in 2025. Service changes will be implemented beginning in January 1 of 2026.
