Posted on 06/03/2015 7:26:53 PM PDT by Spktyr
Plastic bags will soon be free again in Dallas.
In a vote of 10 to 4, Dallas City Council members voted to repeal the bag fee passed in 2014.
Grocery Bag Makers File Lawsuit Over Dallas Fee
Last year's resolution added a $.05 fee for each single-use plastic bag used by shoppers to encourage people to use reusable bags and to reduce litter.
The ban went into effect Jan. 1.
"We're gonna take this nick on the chin," said Dallas City Councilman Dwaine Caraway, who originally pushed for the ban, after Wednesday's vote. "Y'all celebrate. Just celebrate. But when it's time to raise taxes, just remember, this vote today was one where you're taking Dallas backwards."
The bag fee ends on Monday, June 8.
Plastic Bag Fee Begins Thursday in Dallas
Paying for plastic never pleased many shoppers.
"I never did like it," said shopper Laverne Hood. "I just think it's unnecessary. I mean, it's ridiculous if you ask me."
Many small business owners also applaud the fee's repeal and the extra regulations that went with it.
"I don't have to worry about it. I don't have to worry about looking for another company to get my bags straight. It's something we have to go through too, you know," said Trent La, with Food Rite grocery store.
Bag manufacturers even sued the city over the ordinance, and large grocery chains were never big fans, either.
"We've gotten a lot of feedback from customers who, 1. did not like the fee, and 2. were confused by the fee," said Gary Huddleston, with Kroger.
Now environmentalists are disappointed the fee is going away after just six months on the books.
"It was working just fine to reduce litter and trash and pollution," said Zac Trahan, with the Texas Campaign for the Environment. "People should always bring their own bags when they go shopping. That was the point of the ordinance in the first place."
Many stores hope they do, too.
"Throughout this fee we've seen more and more customers bring in their bags, and we like that," Huddleston said.
To be fair a lot of the bridges date to the 1930s and do need replacing. The one on I-30 had huge chunks fall out of it and one poor guy discovered it the hard way with his car - which was fortunately larger than the gaping hole it fell into.
Yes, that’s the excuse the people in Cadillac Heights and surrounding areas use. They don’t want a levee then they scream about how nothing is being done because of their skin color when the area unsurprisingly floods.
Where did the 5 cents per bag go? If not the city government how could they repeal the ordinance.
The I-30 bridge is literally the most recent—it would have been completed in the mid-50s, and opened in 1957-8....
And yet it’s still getting holes. It’s also handling far more traffic than it was ever intended to.
http://m.landlinemag.com/Story.aspx?StoryID=15539#.VW_YskVVg2s
Fortunately, there is another bridge under construction next to it as a replacement.
Also, you forgot that Calatrava monstrosity they finished last year, that’s the newest bridge until the I-30 one is finished.
I’ve never seen it—is that the MH-H bridge? You know, with the arch?
Listen to that Dallas City Councilman squealing about losing tax revenue via repeal.
They were going ‘green’ alright... Yours
For a minute, I thought he was speaking from beyond the grave...then I remember, that was the other black guy...whats-his-face...no, seriously, I can’t remember his name.
Yup, that one. Looks like a sci-fi gun sight from the right angles.
Al Lipscomb. They’re renaming part of Grand Avenue for his corrupt, 65-counts-of-bribery-convicted dead butt.
John Wiley Price, the last of that old set of racial hucksters isn’t saying much because the Feds are about to nail him to the wall for similar offenses.
I thought JWP was already dead?
Nope. For all the noise he’s made lately he might as well be. He’s under indictment.
Even the Dallas Morning News is disgusted with him (and his buddies) at last.
http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20150310-editorial-why-youre-paying-for-john-wiley-prices-defense.ece
“We’ve gotten a lot of feedback from customers who, 1. did not like the fee, and 2. were confused by the fee,” said Gary Huddleston, with Kroger.
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Yo, Gary. Try checking Wiki under “Salt Tax”. Lots of deep insight there.
I know that I, for one, made sure to shop other than in the city of Dallas proper when I could during the tax. I needed the bags to toss kitty litter.
Occasionally those elected criminals are candid unintentionally.
The sanctimonious crap about reducing trash and helping the bugs and bunnies is just that.
Seems like robbing the taxpayers blind with "additional revenue" is still the driving force behind things.
Most of the stores I shop in Dallas haven’t offered bags at all for the duration of this ordinance. A few others have used their existing stock without the required physical changes (such as company name/address) and no charge—basically thumbing their noses at and leaving it up to the city to come down on them. And today, I saw plenty of bags floating around a parking lot next to Medical City. They can charge you five cents, but if you’re the littering type, it’s not going to change your behavior.
The disappearance of the daily newspaper has saved millions of trees. Just sayin’.
I drive around Dallas a lot, and in the areas where there is traditionally a lot of discarded plastic bags the bag fee made... absolutely no difference in observed levels of bag litter.
Better retailers, e.g. Nordstrom, simply ignored the fee, claiming their bags are re-usable and therefore not “single-use” bags.
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