Houston’s District B City Council Member Tarsha Jackson has a long history of doing the incredible – taking a personal issue, personal to herself and community members, and constructing a crusade centered around a solution.
Take, for instance, Houston’s multi-million-dollar problem of illegal dumping. Jackson took the dumping in her neighborhood personally, as did many District B residents. But she didn’t just point out the indecent act, she rallied the area troops to see themselves as change agents and do something about it. In doing so, Jackson and crew gave life to the words uttered by poet June Jordan, novelist Alice Walker, President Barack Obama, and others: “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
And in that spirit, Jackson’s District B brigade didn’t wait for some outside savior. Though they spoke out about the illegal dumping, they made community clean-ups a regular part of community life, reflecting the Mahatma Gandhi saying, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
But Jackson, who was an activist well before she became a lawmaker, has always been about that life – that life of organizing community residents to flex their solution-creating muscle.
“That’s what real leaders do; they don’t just talk about the problem or make up fake problems just to get their base pissed off, they solve sh*t,” said Jeshiah Durham, cousin of a District B (Trinity Gardens) resident.”
And it seems people have taken notice.
With illegal dumping being a problem that stretches beyond District B, several City Council members are following Jackson’s lead and taking neighborhood cleanup matters into their own hands, directing thousands of dollars allocated to them to fund these efforts.
The Issue
Houston’s Illegal dumping has been such a big issue it prompted a U.S. Department of Justice civil rights probe. This dumping is not only aesthetically unpleasing, but it also increases health risks (physical and environmental) for those near such sites.
And if you think mosquitos are an issue in Houston – and let’s be clear, they absolutely are – imagine living in a community where illegal dumping happens on the regular. Contaminants from improperly disposed waste are known to attract mosquitos (who already don’t need an invitation to show up), along with other unwelcomed guests like rats, raccoons, parasitic worms, etc. and other vermin.
And if that weren’t bad enough, Harris County Pollution Control asserts illegal dumping adds to neighborhood flooding because the trash often blocks storm drains and inlets.
Hot Teams
Jackson and five other council members have taken matters into their own hands, rather than waiting for a city or countywide solution.
The trendy term for what these elected officials are creating is “hot teams,” groups directly tasked with searching for and cleaning up trash before it piles up and becomes even more of an issue.
May view these hot teams as a short-term solution to a long-term problem. However, they may be the way to go moving forward. Why? Because of economics.
Just add up the factors. The Solid Waste Management Department, which is charged with curbing illegal dumping, lacks the human or financial resources to adequately tackle the problem, according to the department’s head Mark Wilfalk. Moreover, the city is staring at a projected $160 million fiscal year 2024-25 shortfall. These hot teams literally provide more neighborhood cleanup bang for the buck.
Moving Forward
But not all council members look at hot teams as the go-forward answer because it diverts funds they could be using for other projects to a citywide problem. And Jackson is one of the loudest voices holding that opinion, saying it shouldn’t be the responsibility of council members to tackle an issue that falls within the purview of a city agency.
Other council members view their hot teams as a better option because of the rapid response they give to dumping compared to the response time of the Solid Waste department.
