One of the interesting things about moving to a new city is learning what issues are important — reducing crime, eradicating graffiti, improving public transportation, etc. Two city campaigns I heard about recently make me think Dallas has different priorities than other cities I’ve lived in.

The first blitz is called “Cease the Grease”, and was described in a brochure included in our water bill entitled “Cease the Grease for a Happy Holiday!”. Inside, it asked “After you deep fry your holiday turkey, what do you do with all the left over fry oil?”. Not being a southerner, this cracked me up, but apparently the city is collecting the oil to be recycled into fuel rather than flushed into the storm sewer system, which seems to be a good thing. It’s just the marketing of it that seemed foreign to me.
The chuckle I got over “Cease the Grease” was nothing compared to the “Pull Your Pants Up” campaign though. I just can’t see this as anything other than ridiculous. There are billboards around town that say “Pull Your Pants Up! It’s rude, not cool … showing your behind to other dudes.” That’s right, the outrage is against saggy pants. There is even a rap song for the movement, which has the classic line “saggin spelled backwards is the n-word”. Who knew? You can see the billboard and hear the song on NPR.

Dallas is starting to remind me a little of Utah, but (so far) in a harmless way.