Trash companies offer incentives to reopen landfill : News-Record.com : Greensboro & the Triad's most trusted source for local news and analysis

GREENSBORO — Trash companies angling for Greensboro’s garbage business are dangling some nice presents in front of northeastern residents: economic development money, walking trails, a recreation center.

They’re nice ideas, some White Street Landfill neighbors said. But is it enough to convince area residents it’s OK to reopen the city landfill to household waste?

Maybe not, especially when it comes to folks who fought the city to close it.

“Right now, we are satisfied. Leave it alone. If they want to make money, let them do it someplace else,” said Harold Fields , a longtime area resident.

Nine companies submitted proposals to the city with recommendations on what it should do with trash. Most advocated for some kind of expansion of the White Street Landfill, which the City Council closed to most kinds of garbage after a long political battle with area residents several years ago.

Some of the proposals:

In exchange for using the landfill again, Advanced Disposal of Charlotte has offered to create a recreation facility for up to $2 million.
Waste Industries pledged to design hiking trails and a natural area around the landfill.
Waste Connections proposed setting aside 50 cents for every ton of garbage dumped to fund community projects designated by a citizens advisory committee.
CICO, a local company created to address Greensboro’s waste issues, is offering to contribute $2 for every ton of trash to a nonprofit it would create called Eastern Development Growth Enterprise, or EDGE.

That group would encourage economic development in the region.

CICO’s proposal also includes changes to the way the landfill is designed to lessen any impact on neighbors and involves the eventual deployment of alternative trash disposal techniques.

Proponents of the plan argue it would change the landfill into an economic asset in an underdeveloped part of the city.

That’s something that appeals to some area residents, who have fought for projects such as the redevelopment of a mostly abandoned Phillips Avenue shopping center.

“Whoever is allowed to develop that landfill, whoever is allowed to go in there and operate it, should have a portion of their proceeds funneled back into the community,” said Melvin Duboise , president of the nearby Penrose Estates neighborhood.

“We want to landscape and develop Phillips Avenue. We want to make sure that shopping center flourishes.”

Some residents have liked the ideas for using alternative technology to get rid of city trash. But some don’t want the burying of trash back on the table.

Fields said the city already has explored alternative technology and offered incentives to neighbors.

“We’ve had all sorts of things that have come up in the past to try to appease the neighborhood,” Fields said.

Duboise pointed out that the city already built a walking trail along the landfill buffer. The city also purchased some homes in the area from unhappy homeowners.

The best option for area residents is to not have household trash dumped there at all, Fields said.

Former City Council member and landfill foe Goldie Wells agreed: “The landfill’s closed. We fought that battle.”

The city’s request for trash proposals said companies should find a way to engage the landfill’s neighbors.

CICO and another company, Ulturnagen , already have made presentations to city leaders and area residents.

But some city leaders are concerned that the incentives for residents aren’t the right approach.

“The way they are buying off the neighborhood — it smells worse than the garbage,” Councilman Robbie Perkins said.

Contact Amanda Lehmert at 373-7075 or amanda.lehmert @news-record.com

jeffjet

March 11, 2010 - 8:25 am EST

This should be a no-brainer. The city spends an inordinate amount of money shipping domestic trash to other counties for disposal. The current (White Street) landfill is an excellent facility, highly maintained, and meets any and all regulations EPA or the state imposes. The facility has several years of good life left in it for disposal, while maybe other solutions to trash problems are developed. NC A&T engineering students and professors are spending time researching new means of handling solid waste issues, but they take time to develop, test, and put into practice if they do work. Spending money unnecessarily just enhances the position that government is stupid. Robbie and Goldie are you listening? Now there are firms willing to pitch in and help solve problems in a blighted area of town. What does it take for the citizenry to wake up and see the potential promise for an area that has suffered for nearly thirty years? I grew up in East Greensboro and delivered the N&R every afternoon for several years in this area. It hasn't changed in all these years except to become more crime-laden. If someone wants to move out from the landfill area then the city ought to offer to move them to a fair and comparable area. This is an easy solution and a great benefit for the city. Robbie, sit down. We know why you oppose this: It's because you aren't reaping a monetary incentive (the selling of these homes) from re-opening this landfill. The citizens throughout the city need to speak loudly to re-open this landfill facility.

Bosco

March 11, 2010 - 8:38 am EST

Easy, put it to a vote

Interested

March 11, 2010 - 9:13 am EST

If given the opportunity to vote on which of the offers to pursue, I'm sure Waste Industries has an advantage over the others. Who wouldn't want to hike a trail with the aroma of rotting rubbish wafting through the trees?

rooster8786

March 11, 2010 - 10:58 am EST

Our city forefathers, not the numbskulls now, were smart enough to site a landfill on the NE corner of town knowing the predominant wind direction is from the NW. This means, most of the time, the odor will be blown away from GSO. Now if you buy a house near the landfill you have absolutely NO right to complain. It's not any more racial than the idiot who bought a house in the Cardinal and then complained about airport noise from an airport that was there since 1947. That a few people can cry racism and bring this city to it's knees is PATHETIC. When are our "leaders" going to wake up and LEAD?????

rc378

March 11, 2010 - 11:32 am EST

so... this city offers to pay businesses to come here by giving economic incentives which off-set any financial benefits the city could reap (but not necessarily, just think "dell")... and now a company wants to pay to come here and there's a debate? apparently monetary decisions are far more complicated than what the public can understand and it's a good thing we elect and pay smart people to think this complicated matter through... yeah, right.

Donnell DJ Hardy

March 11, 2010 - 12:41 pm EST

Building a rec center or hiking trails without a commitment to maintain them over the long-term is just a bad deal for the city period. Furthermore, it doesn't even begin to address a certain standard quality of life that all residents should expect. And the EDGE proposal is just a dressed up payoff for area leaders who would hope to use such a nonprofit to advance their own limited aims...I doubt it would actually accomplish anything substantial.

Most importantly, the battle has already been fought and lives and fortunes of many low-to-middle income folks of all colors would be impacted by reversing this Council decision. I know there is talk about saving $9 million through the re-opening...but property values would plummet substantially with the re-opening and this would impact long-term revenue for the city and likely add additional maintanance costs...and squash much of the development that citizens in NE Greensboro would like to see.

March 11, 2010 - 6:04 pm EST

Donnell, A Rec center & hiking staff would have to be staffed and maintained and who in their right mind would want to hike by a landfill? Unless you count lost seagulls, the only wildlife would be vermin and maybe the occasional raccoon or skunk.

You are right about EDGE being the payoff for our hardly working "leaders". Lest I upset any of the "leaders" maybe I should say probably be a payoff.

Yes a few, already depressed due to their proximity, property values may plummet, but what about the overall impact to the ENTIRE city? Before White Street was closed, it was a self sustaining money making venture that the city operated. The revenues White Street generated more than covered it's operational costs. Can you name any other department the city runs that is money making & self sustaining? Our "leaders", with their backbones of spaghetti, caved in to a vocal minority, playing the race card, and closed an excellent operation with room to grow for the next several DECADES!!!! Did you ever consider what will happen to our waste disposal costs when the city is held completely hostage by money-making, for profit, corporations? I'm pretty sure the rates will do nothing but continue to go up for DECADES to come while a "privileged few" don't have to put up with a landfill that was probably already there when they bought their homes.

March 16, 2010 - 3:58 pm EDT

Rooster,

Apologies for this somewhat delayed response. I wish there were some sort of notification that let me know I was part of an ongoing discussion. With that said...

I think we agree on most of the proposals and that race should not be the primary consideration in the decision. I do think it is hard to deny, however, that it would be easier for the city to consider a policy change in this area than it would be if this were in the backyard on Willoughby or on Hobbs.

History shows that the original location decision had nothing to do with race, however, history also shows that landfills find themselves into or next to neighborhoods that are concentrated with high African-American populations and low-to-middle income folks of all colors. Some of that has to do with the nature of economics and how land values play out in proximity to factors.

However, that begs the question that you pose...what's in the best interest of the whole city? And I ask that question because the people that live around that landfill would bear the weight of that decision for the whole city...but where is their incentive and how are their lives improved for bearing that weight. They pay in tax dollars just like everyone else...and proportionally (speaking as a tax preparer)...they generally pay a larger portion of their incomes in property taxes.

I would expect the schools to be improved for bearing this weight for the city...I would expect enhanced economic development efforts for bearing this weight for the city...but generally, as I drive around NE Greensboro all I see is neglect and the stringing together of hope sustenance in an environment shrouded in hopelessness.

Asked whether I would support any proposal that the city received for re-opening the landfill. I don't think it is a forever "NO". However, I think the residents that would be heavily impacted by this decision should be the ones that decide what they would be willing to accept. There are certainly a great many that will never allow it within their lifetime, however, I think there is a contingent of folks that would be receptive to the idea if there was an endgame in sight.

I mean that the city should provide a vision to the residents particularly in NE Greensboro that includes how we move to turning this trash into treasure. Short of anything that has a vision which includes how we intend to get rid of this trash and how that benefits the long-term prospects for NE Greensboro...nothing would be acceptable by most residents. Our city leadership fails time and time again to provide a long-term vision for the decisions it makes and it only communicates what is in the short-term interest. Saying that it will save us $9 million dollars is a short-term statement. If we offered how that $9 million dollars (or large portion thereof) would be alloted as a supplemental to the funds that NE Greensboro is entitled to in improvements to quality of life and other considerations is how long-term vision is discussed.

Until the future of this decision is laid out with all valid considerations, we will likely sit in a stalemate because this issue will not be solve with short-sighted thinkers. Presently, we seem to have a City Council full of them...or at least they don't have the backbone to address this issue with leadership and foresight.

pharmagurl302

March 11, 2010 - 9:47 pm EST

I want everyone that wants this landfill to reopen to consider if they want to have a dump site in their back yard. We already have a recreation center in this neighborhood so another one will not impress us. I see some land in Lake Jeanette that the city can look at. Let's see if they want it there, better yet what about Oak Ridge or Pleasant Garden.

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