June 17 City Council Speech – Unplanned but Necessary

I did not plan on speaking at last night’s Greensboro City Council meeting, but a series of events took place that made me feel I needed to step up and speak.

Let me set this up. The White Street landfill was once again brought up by the council yesterday afternoon which prompted folks to attend last nights meeting and speak in opposition to its reopening. Two of the speakers were two students from NC A&T and I was happy to see them getting involved.

The first guy was a great speaker and at one point he mentioned that landfill cause health issues for people living in close proximity. Upon making this statement Councilwoman Trudy Wade asked the gentlemen if he had research to back this statement up, or if it was simply his opinion. He had no research.

The second guy made equally good points, but when discussing the health risks of living close to a landfill he cited a specific journal article. Councilwoman Wade once again questioned the research in an attempt to debunk the relation between landfills and health issues.

Hopefully that bit of information will set the stage for the video below and explain why I questioned Councilwoman Wade to see if she had any research proving that landfills do not pose a health risk to those in close proximity. I did attempt to turn this negative conversation into something positive and asked the council to consider creating an ordinance that would require recycling to be offered at all apartment complexes.

District 2 Councilwoman Goldie Wells (who is stepping down) recently said that the citizens of District 2 want a representative that will fight for them – I think this is proof that I will do just that.

Please take a moment and watch the video.