Mayor Nancy Vaughan and some other officials have suggested that the city could offer amenities to the neighborhood around White Street Landfill as compensation for using the landfill for dumping dirt from a polluted park about four miles away.
But some residents feel disrespected, accusing officials of pitting one disadvantaged Black community against another. And during a recent meeting, Vaughan found herself apologizing.
Resident Kay Brandon was offended after Vaughan raised the possibility of enhancements such as sidewalks.
“I almost find it insulting that Mayor Vaughan is offering amenities to White Street,” Brandon said. “White Street should have had amenities a long time ago and only now are you saying this.”
Vaughan responded: “I apologize if my idea of offering amenity didn’t come off well. It was meant that I know that we are going to be inconveniencing a neighborhood and is there a way to pay them with an amenity for that inconvenience? Maybe that means accelerating other projects. We’d certainly love to hear from the neighborhood.”
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The exchange took place during a meeting of the Concerned Citizens of Northeast Greensboro that focused primarily on how the city will go about disposing of dirt from Bingham Park.
Bingham Park’s soil is contaminated with arsenic, lead and other heavy metals because the park was created atop an unregulated landfill used between the 1920s and 1950s.
The park is now closed to the public and the city is currently working toward a full remediation of the site, which will require the removal of nearly 11,500 dump truck loads of dirt.
No decision has been made on where the dirt will be taken, but city leaders have identified the White Street Landfill as the preferred alternative. The city is also considering the Great Oak Landfill in Asheboro and the Uwharrie Landfill in Troy.
The city’s preference is partly because of the cost. Officials estimate the cost of using White Street at between $24 and $27 million, compared to about $36 million for Great Oak and $54 million for Uwharrie. The proximity of White Street would also allow the city to complete the project sooner as well.
Greensboro has already received up to $12.1 million for the project — $11 million in funds from the state government and $1.1 million from the federal government — and could receive an additional $7-10 million from the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality.
City officials have worked to persuade residents around White Street that the disposal will be safe. They have said the waste in question is firmly attached to the soil and does not tend to break off and go into the air.
Officials have also said the dirt would be carried in covered trucks, would follow a route that would minimize the impact on the neighborhoods and would be placed in a regulated, lined landfill.
District 1 Councilwoman Sharon Hightower, whose district includes Bingham Park, and District 2 Councilwoman Goldie Wells, who represents the area around White Street Landfill, have both attempted to ease residents’ concerns about the use of the landfill.
Like Bingham Park, the White Street Landfill has a history tied to environmental justice. In 2005, the landfill was closed to municipal trash after residents and community leaders campaigned for the change. The landfill now accepts only construction and demolition debris.
Byron Gladden, a former Guilford County Schools Board of Education member, was among the most vocal critics of the idea of using White Street. He said during a recent meeting that members of the community around the landfill have been left out of the conversation in the past.
“It gives the appearance of District 1 had meetings to get (Environmental Justice) and Bingham Park on board with what they want to do and then White Street, Nealtown are being told what they are going to do,” Gladden said. “It does feel how the process has pitted two communities against each other because we didn’t start together at the table.”
Hightower pushed back against those claims.
“Let me correct you and say that people on the (Environmental Justice) team are from District 2 as well, but it was not a District 1 vs 2 discussion,” Hightower said. “It was a Bingham Park Environmental Justice discussion. So we are not pitting 1 against 2.”
The discussion between Gladden and Hightower turned into a loud argument that ended with Gladden having his microphone silenced.