Earth Day Texas, TEDxSMU, and bcWORKSHOP present this environmental documentary screening.

5:30 Reception with Cash Bar

6:30 Film

7:00 Panel discussion with filmmakers and Dallasites featured in the film: 

    •    Shirley Davidson, neighbor to the Deepwood Dump;

    •    Laura Beshara, attorney, Daniel & Beshara, P.C.;

    •    T Hanson, former Director of Operations, Trinity River Audubon Center;

    •    Craig Weflen, Media Associate, bcWORKSHOP. 

About the film: Today, the Trinity River Audubon Center is a place of discovery, education, and tranquility. Yet this location, adjacent to a residential neighborhood, has not always been so peaceful. Visitors to the area would once have been unable to breathe, the area flooded with smoke, cinder, and headaches from the fire raging beneath the largest illegal dump in Texas history. 

The dump existed not in isolation, but in the back yards of a neighborhood bearing the pains of white flight. As blacks moved in, whites moved out, and Dallas turned a blind eye to the illegal activities of the landowners, despite the tireless activism of neighborhood residents. 

On the hook for $1.5 million for fire fighting efforts, city officials finally visited the site and were horrified by what they saw. Infuriated city council members urged the neighbors sue the city. The neighbors listened. In 1999, Judge Barefoot Sanders’ precedent-setting decision, Cox v City of Dallas Texas, found the city and landowners liable under federal law and ordered the cleanup of the site. 

While there now exists a resource where there was nothing but abuse, the area is still overlooked by most Dallasites. Over a quarter century, Dallas allowed two million cubic yards of trash to accumulate, which, if stacked on a vacant block downtown, would stand taller than the Empire State Building. This neighborhood’s story must be shared, lest we forget the damage that can be caused by indifference and neglect.

Tickets: $6.27