There’s an update to a story we’ve been following in Southeast Dallas.
Patience is running thin for a neighborhood that is living in the shadow something known as "Shingle Mountain."
On Wednesday morning, they have plans to announced a major campaign to make sure their voices are heard.
In the last two years, those residents have formed into a group called Southern Sector Rising. The new campaign aims to call on city leaders to step in and take down Shingle Mountain once and for all.
The pile is made up of more than 100,000 tons of illegally dumped, old roofing materials. Neighbors say they’ve filed complaints with the city since early 2018.
Later that year, the City of Dallas sued the recycling company to clean it up. In 2019, a judge ordered the property owners to remove the pile within three months.
But as of this week, it's still there.
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Southern Sector Rising will be announcing a campaign called 'Stand With Marsha. Move the Mountain.' The campaign name is a nod to resident Marsha Jackson, who lives right next to Shingle Mountain.
The pile of material sits just 50 feet from her bedroom window. She said she and her neighbors suffer from health issues because of it and have lost faith in the system to enforce the cleanup.
“I'm tired of having a quiet voice. I'm tired of suffering. I'm tired of taking all this medicine that I have to take constantly, over and over,” she said.
There’s a long list of major community groups backing them up, including For Oak Cliff, Mothers Against Police Brutality, Inclusive Communities Project, and Friendship West Baptist Church.
The group itself has a serious mission statement, seeking to “end decades of racist zoning, forcing industrial polluters into predominantly Black and Brown neighborhoods.”
"Yes, we're a small community. But we still have our lives here. Everybody should be treated the same way,” said Jackson.
In a statement to NBC 5 in June, Dallas city leaders said, "The City has aggressively enforced against all responsible parties, including owners and operators, and continues to seek rapid removal and disposal of all remaining materials. We stand behind Ms. Marsha Jackson and all other Dallas residents seeking to ensure compliance with laws and regulations intended to protect human health and the environment."
The campaign says they plan to make their demands heard in a press conference outside Dallas city hall at 10 a.m. Wednesday morning.
The demands include a deadline of Oct. 1 to get the material cleaned out of the neighborhood. In a statement, the group said protests are planned throughout the city budgeting process in August and September.
