A city council member in Farmers Branch has come under fire for comments made during a meeting Tuesday in which he appeared to call Dallas Area Rapid Transit riders "trash."
The comments from District 4 Councilmember Richard Jackson came during a discussion on safety, as the northwest Dallas suburb鈥檚 city council weighed a resolution to cap its one-cent contribution to DART. More than half of the agency鈥檚 13 member cities want to cut funding including Dallas, Plano and Irving.
鈥淲ill this cut result in less policing or more unsafe or reduced services? I find [that] offensive for a city that鈥檚 been paying half of its sales tax for 40 years,鈥� Jackson said.
Jackson added that DART police don't seem to do their job in a parking lot near the light rail station.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got residents in pretty high dollar townhomes right here in front of a beautiful little rose garden area with nothing but a chain link fence between them and all the trash that comes up here on their trains,鈥� Jackson said.
Jackson's words led to backlash on social media, including from users on the .
Jackson did not immediately respond to direct requests for comment. Jeff Brady, a spokesperson for the city, told 四虎影院 in a phone call that Jackson鈥檚 intent wasn鈥檛 to call DART riders 鈥渢rash.鈥�
鈥淭hat was never said,鈥� Brady said. 鈥淗e said that the DART brings vagrancy, trash and crime to Farmers Branch but he was referring to litter.鈥�
When asked for clarification, Brady said that littering and crime at the Farmers Branch light rail station has been an ongoing concern for the city.
鈥淗e was talking about the litter that the train actually and literally brings to the DART station in Farmers Branch," he said. "It's become an issue and it's a recurring issue. There is a crime element that our law enforcement has had to deal with on a recurring basis.鈥�
M. Nathan Barbera, who represents Farmers Branch on DART鈥檚 board of directors, said in an email that he wasn鈥檛 aware of the comment because he was in board meetings on Tuesday.
The Farmers Branch city council ultimately voted unanimously to pass the sales tax resolution calling to cap its contribution to DART.
This story was corrected to note that more than half of DART's 13 member cities want to cut funding, but have not all formally passed resolutions.
Pablo Arauz Pe帽a is 四虎影院鈥檚 growth and infrastructure reporter. Got a tip? Email Pablo at parauzpena@kera.org. You can follow him on X .
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