What does the Federal Stimulus have to do with the White Street Landfill?

Does anyone remember the White Street Landfill?

Recall that Greensboro's residential trash used to go to this landfill until a crusade arose, partially based on identity politics, to cease this particular operation.  We now ship our residential trash elsewhere at considerable expense.  Such a dramatic change must have required the active participation of our fair city's power groups.

We can understand why the Simkins PAC might have had some interest in this issue.  But what about the Melderec bunch?

Here may be part of the answer. It turns out that the federal stimulus is apparently paying for the extension of East Cone Boulevard and Nealtown Road.   I am told the intersection of these two roads is at the site of the landfill; and that there is a parcel with hundreds of acres that has never been used at that location.

Given the fact that a big new $10 million road will be serving the vicinity, do you think some of that unused land might have been considered ripe for development?  And could the prospect of development have been one of the motivators with respect to the original decision to close the White Street Landfill to residential trash?

Comments

[Bud]

There was a letter to the editor in the rhino times about this a while back. I was able to search for and find it online, and the text is below (I couldn't figure out how to link to it).

"The motivation behind closing the White Street Landfill isn't about stench, cancer or health, as Mayor Johnson recently told the City Council. It's about raising property values of homes near the landfill. Mayor Johnson may not be able to put a price on life, but she is able to put a price on her vote to not reopen the landfill – namely the increased value of her home near the White Street Landfill. The motivation is also about removing a major property value depressant hindering the development of nearly 200 acres of undeveloped land with a lake immediately adjacent to the landfill. From a building developer's perspective, this is prime real estate that is currently undevelopable with an operational landfill situated next door.

The racial/health component of this issue is just a shell game played by the loose coalition between a building developer bloc and the black community through their proxies on the City Council. Their self-serving agendas take precedence over the well-being of the city. Perkins and Matheny claim they want growth for Greensboro, but in my opinion, it's the kind of growth that benefits them, not the city – cancerous urban sprawl.

Sprawl doesn't make a city livable – infrastructure does. Closure of the White Street Landfill diminishes and potentially jeopardizes Greensboro's future. It doesn't take a genius to understand that trucking a city's garbage 70 miles away is problematic. Ask yourself these questions and consider the outcome. What happens when (not if) fuel becomes scarce again like it did after Hurricane Katrina? Or if Montgomery County is forced through local public pressure or environmental reasons to not take our garbage anymore? Or when fuel usage is limited, or taxed, because of global-warming regulations?

There is absolutely no reason for any of one of these scenarios in any way to impact Greensboro with a landfill in its backyard. Yet contrary to all common sense, a City Council majority has decided to expose Greensboro to these potential hazards. The problem will be compounded if the currently undeveloped property adjacent to the landfill is developed if/when the city's landfill permit is allowed to expire. Then it would be much, much harder to reopen the White Street Landfill. If anything happened to disrupt the transport of garbage, Greensboro would be in trouble. Closing the landfill is self-destructive and insane."

[Tommy]

Joe,
If you look at the very last item on the stimulus list you will find a $50,000,000 new Arts Center for the Coliseum. I wonder if this is The War Memorial Auditorium that has been voted down twice by the citizens? As recently as last week, Matt Brown, in an interview with N&R's Allen Johnson stated they were going back to the drawingboard and he thought the project could be done for $30,000,000. Are these and possibly other items on this list bona fide stimulus projects or are they pet projects that some group desires without public scrutiny?

[Brain]

How about the $5 million for War Memorial Stadium? We'll spend the money on it, never hope to make a dime off the thing then have to keep paying to maintain it. This absolutely a pet project that the people of Greensboro have said time and again we don't want to spend our money here!

Why don't we give it to A&T? If they think it a worthy facility, let them fix as they want it and maintain it with their budget.

As a proud ASU Mountaineer, we just moved into the 2nd new baseball stadium we've built since I was there in the early 90's. Long story on that, but none the less, we raised the money and got it done.

From the N&R dated August 20, 2008...

"In 2006, voters turned down a bond referendum that would have funded a structural renovation and partial demolition and reconstruction of the bleachers.

When the vote failed, council approved $1.5 million from two-thirds bonds, which do not require voter approval, to make repairs and to slow the deterioration of the stadium with special coatings.

"The idea was to make the facility look good and stabilize it so it doesn't deteriorate anymore," Deputy City Manager Bob Morgan said.

Before starting that work, the engineering firm Sutton-Kennerly and Associates analyzed the condition of the structure. They found potentially hazardous cracks in shower and restroom areas.

The stadium, the consultants determined, was deteriorating faster than before and the patching materials the city planned to use wouldn't add much life to the structure.

"The coating we were looking at wouldn't do anything except maybe buy us another year," said Butch Shumate , Greensboro Facilities Engineering division manager.

The consultants recommended $3 million to $4 million worth of repairs that might add another 10 to 15 years to the stadium, according to a report provided to the Parks and Recreation commission.

The city is considering demolishing the interior stadium and restoring the entryway towers and arches and exterior walls.

Any demolition - and what kind of structures are built afterward - will be of key interest to the local residents who helped the city plan renovations before the 2006 bonds."

[Aanon]

W2EPC is what should be done at the White Street Landfill.

Such a project would save Greensboro over $13 million a year in the cost of hauling away our garbage.

It would allow for the mining and clean-up of the old landfill. It also safely eliminates sewage. And guess what: the pipes from the new wastewater treatment plant to the landfill are already in the ground.

It would bring high tech jobs to Greensboro.

It would reduce Greensboro's dependance on imported Middle Eastern oil.

The only byproducts are asphalt for road building, ceramics for building and industrial uses and energy. Can you say ka-ching?

With the landfill property lying but 1300 feet from US 29 there is no reason for trucks on White Street.

Such a project would raise property values for ALL OF GREENSBORO.

And the first city in any 150 mile radius will make a fortune off the garbage of surrounding cities.

Not to mention that W2EPC is now the only way the Army Core of Engineers currently allows for the disposal of old munitions. And guess what? Even with all of North Carolina's military bases there is not yet one of these systems in the entire state. The munitions are already being trucked through Greensboro for disposal elsewhere-- why not lower the risk?

Seems like proven alternative, renewable energy would be a far better us for an old landfill than development at a time when so many houses are empty.

[Aanon]

Here's the link to W2EPC: http://www.startech.net/

[keith]

Below is from a transportation committee meeting in 2003, note what Jim says below that the business community has interest in other words the TREBIC CARTEL.

Jim Westmoreland commented that the business community has interest in the land use opportunities that will be created and favors accelerating this project. A developer with an active project in the vicinity is paying for the planning and design portion of the Elm-Eugene Street widening.
Adam Fischer stated that this project would be let to contract in the Spring of 2004 with a completion date of 2005. The roadways are going to be four-lane median-divided facilities with sidewalks on each side. The estimated cost is $2.8 million.

He also reported on the Cone Boulevard Extension project. The City plans to extend Cone Boulevard eastward to the Eastern Urban Loop at Hines Chapel Road, and extending Nealtown Road north to intersect Cone Boulevard. The extension of Cone Boulevard would create a new alternate access into White Street landfill. Work on the feasibility study for the extension of Cone Boulevard to the Nealtown Road intersection will continue through April. The contract letting time for this project is expected to be Spring 2004, with completion in twelve to eighteen months.

TAC Minutes, 3/19/03 Page 5 of 7
Jim Westmoreland noted that the connection of Cone Boulevard from Nealtown Road to the Urban Loop would provide additional access to the City’s recently acquired indoor soccer facility and to nearby recreational amenities. A funding source for the remainder of this connection has yet to be identified. The City Council is looking to work with the General Assembly to obtain funding for this interchange, as well as the interchange at the Fleming to Lewiston Connector Road, by inclusion in the statutory definition of the Greensboro Urban Loop, thereby making both eligible for Highway Trust fund

[Joe Guarino]

Bud, thanks for republishing that Rhino letter here, which I had not seen. Dovetails nicely with the content of my post.

Tommy and Brain, in Greensboro and Guilford County, if a bond issue is defeated, we just keep on raising it again until it passes, especially if the power group wants it badly.

Anon, thanks for bringing us up to date on W2EPC. I agree with you, and also with the author of Bud's letter, that the use of the landfill needs to be maximized-- not converted to development to satisfy private interests.

Keith, I appreciate your providing those additional links. It appears there have been various designs on this area for some time.

[Aanon]

If city leaders were to move towards W2EPC they might earn Greensboro a bigger slice of the pie: http://www.greenerbuildings.com/news/2009/03/27/32b-doe-block-grants