September 21, 2011
Contact: Domenic Powell (704) 281 - 9911
omenic@southerncoalition.org
http://southerncoalition.org
DC District Court Upholds Minority Voting Rights
Preserves Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, likely to influence case from Kinston, NC
DURHAM--Today the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia issued a 151-page opinion upholding the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act in the Shelby County v. Holder case. The decision is a victory for civil rights advocates and communities of color fighting to have their voices heard in elections.
“The opinion includes an exhaustive review of the legislative record,” says Anita Earls, the Executive Director for the Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ). “The court’s opinion was very careful to lay out the legal standards for a facial challenge and then to apply them to this statute.”
The court concluded that Congress had before it sufficient evidence to justify renewing Section 5’s protections, which requires certain states to submit changes in their election processes to the federal government or the DC District Court for review in order to prevent laws or policies that make it harder for previously disenfranchised minority voters to vote or to participate in elections, also called “retrogression.” This part of the Voting Rights Act was renewed for 25 years in 2006.
The ruling today could go far towards upholding the Voting Rights Act in other local challenges to discriminatory election practices in the near future. With the most significance for North Carolina, today’s decision lays the groundwork for a similar result in Laroque v. Holder, filed by Kinston State Representative Stephen Laroque and pending before the same Judge, in which SCSJ is defending the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.
The opinion can be read in full here.
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The Southern Coalition for Social Justice is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in August, 2007 in Durham, North Carolina by a multi-disciplinary group, predominantly people of color, who believe that families and communities engaged in social justice struggles need a team of lawyers, social scientists, community organizers and media specialists to support them in their efforts to dismantle structural racism and oppression.
September 13, 2011
Contact: Chris Brook (919) 323 - 3380 ext. 113
chrisbrook@southerncoalition.org
SCSJ Encourages City Attorney to Stand By His Ruling Permitting Vaughan to Vote on Landfill
Urges Pollard not to cave to 'specious legal arguments'
GREENSBORO--Southern Coalition for Social Justice staff attorney Christopher Brook has again encouraged Greensboro City Attorney Tom Pollard to permit City Councilwoman Nancy Vaughan to vote on whether to award a White Street Landfill contract to Gate City Waste Services.
Gate City requested that Pollard reverse his previous ruling that Vaughan must vote on whether to award a landfill contract to its company. This is Gate City’s second effort to exclude Vaughan from voting on their proposed contract. For the first time Gate City now also tries to exclude Councilman Robbie Perkins, while arguing Councilman Zack Matheny should be permitted to vote.
“Having failed to convince Greensboro voters of the wisdom of their plans, Gate City now seeks to make an end run around them a month before they go to the polls using an ever-evolving array of specious legal arguments,” says Brook, referring to the letter sent to City Attorney Tim Pollard last week by Gate City attorneys.
Gate City first objected to Vaughan’s participation in a vote on their contract when she voiced reservations about re-opening the White Street Landfill to municipal solid waste. They had not previously raised issues relating to Councilmen Perkins and Matheny. “Gate City said nothing for months in regards to their current belief that the City Attorney’s office had wrongly excluded Councilman Matheny and wrongly included Councilman Perkins in consideration of the RFP processes. Only when their multi-million dollar contract was imperiled by Greensboro elected representatives did Gate City make their concerns known,” says Brook in his letter to Pollard. Decisions regarding participation by Councilmen Perkins and Matheny were made in May 2011, making Gate City’s new concerns suspicious.
These most recent controversies began on August 16, 2011, when a four-person majority of the Greensboro City Council voted to negotiate with Gate City to operate Phase III of the White Street Landfill without saying a word to explain their selection of Gate City.
The letter is available here: http://bit.ly/qWytVi
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The Southern Coalition for Social Justice is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in August, 2007 in Durham, North Carolina by a multi-disciplinary group, predominantly people of color, who believe that families and communities engaged in social justice struggles need a team of lawyers, social scientists, community organizers and media specialists to support them in their efforts to dismantle structural racism and oppression.
August 29, 2011
Contact: Chris Brook (919) 323 - 3380 ext. 113
chrisbrook@southerncoalition.org
http://southerncoalition.org
GREENSBORO--SCSJ Staff attorney Chris Brook sent a letter this morning (link) to Greensboro Attorney Thomas Pollard urging him to stand firm on his prior ruling that Councilwoman Vaughan is obligated to participate in City Council’s consideration of Gate City’s plan to re-open the White Street Landfill. Gate City recently pressured Pollard into reconsidering his position in order to help them secure the contract.
Noting Pollard’s ruling is “well-ground in the applicable authority and consistent with previous opinions from the Greensboro City Attorney’s office,” Brook highlighted the North Carolina law presumption that City Councilpersons must participate in votes unless barred from doing so by a conflict of interest. The Greensboro Conflict of Interest Policy defines a conflict as “a financial or other interest in the firm selected for the award.” In this case, the City Council selected Gate City. Pollard has previously investigated Councilwoman Vaughan’s interests, finding she had “no financial interest, direct or indirect, in Gate City.”
Gate City, along Mayor Bill Knight and Councilpersons Trudy Wade, Danny Thompson, and Mary Rakestraw, challenged Vaughan’s participation only after it became clear she might imperil their previous four-person majority in favor of re-opening the landfill. Prior to the elimination of Waste Industries from consideration for White Street management, Councilwoman Vaughan had not been allowed to participate due to her husband’s legal representation of Waste Industries. After Pollard ruled she must vote, Councilwoman Wade even went so far as suggesting the City Council bring Waste Industries back into negotiations to prevent Councilwoman Vaughan from voting.
“Fearing it might lose the game Gate City has decided to complain about the rules and the referee,” Brook states at the close of his letter to Pollard. But “the rules are clear: Councilwoman Vaughan’s only conflict relates to Waste Industries. And the referee was right: Councilwoman Vaughan is compelled to vote on this matter of great importance to her constituents.”
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The Southern Coalition for Social Justice is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in August, 2007 in Durham, North Carolina by a multi-disciplinary group, predominantly people of color, who believe that families and communities engaged in social justice struggles need a team of lawyers, social scientists, community organizers and media specialists to support them in their efforts to dismantle structural racism and oppression.
August 24, 2011
Contact: Chris Brook (919) 323 - 3380 ext. 113
chrisbrook@southerncoalition.org
Kay Brandon 336-324-7207
http://southerncoalition.org
http://theceej.org
GREENSBORO--The already absurd, rushed process to re-open the White Street Landfill undertaken by a four-person majority of the Greensboro City Council has taken a turn for the truly Kafkaesque.
Last Tuesday, a four-person pro-landfill faction on the nine-person City Council voted to enter into contract negotiations with Gate City Waste Services. Council members Nancy Vaughan and Zach Matheny were excluded due to conflicts of interest. That changed this Monday when interim Greensboro City Attorney Tom Pollard ruled that “there is no basis to excuse” Councilwoman Nancy Vaughan “from voting on the contract award to Gate City.” Vaughan's previous exclusion was based on her husband having served as an attorney for Waste Industries, another potential landfill operator. With Waste Industries’ elimination from consideration on Tuesday, Pollard found Vaughan no longer had a conflict and was obligated to vote again.
If Vaughan voted against the Gate City proposal, the Council would deadlock 4-4, meaning the Gate City proposal would die. In 2001, Vaughan voted with a unanimous City Council to close the White Street Landfill to municipal solid waste.
But the previous four-person majority, consisting of Mayor Bill Knight and Councilpersons Mary Rakestraw, Trudy Wade, and Danny Thompson, is not letting the fact that their plan to re-open White Street lacks Council or public support stop them. At Tuesday’s meeting of the City Council as Councilwoman Trudy Wade warned Vaughan, “If you vote against Gate City, we’re going to have a very serious problem picking anyone but Waste Industries because that would be the only way you couldn’t vote on it.” In short, the four-person faction would contrive a conflict of interest for Vaughan by bringing back a vendor, Waste Industries, it eliminated just a week ago just to keep her from voting.
If the four-person majority backtracked and abandoned Gate City and chose to bring Waste Industries back into consideration, then Councilman Zack Matheny’s conflict of interest would disappear, giving him the decisive vote. Matheny has not been allowed to participate thus far due to a financial interest in Gate City.
These most recent developments come on the heels of this City Council abandoning its first effort to re-open the White Street Landfill and being forced by two Guilford County Superior Court Judges to abandon their second effort to re-open the landfill after failing to do their legal due diligence. As part of its third Request for Proposals, the council chose to negotiate with Gate City. The then four-person majority selected Gate City without saying a word supporting their decision. It has since come out that three members of the four-person majority, Mayor Knight, Councilwoman Wade, and Councilman Thompson, have received large political contributions from D.H. Griffin, a key player in the proposal put forward by Gate City.
"I hope they would show some integrity in dealing with this situation," says Kay Brandon a leader with the Citizens for Economic and Environmental Justice, which opposes re-opening the landfill. "They shouldn't do tricks just to keep a majority--that's basically what they’re doing. It makes the city look bad."
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August 11, 2011
Contact: Chris Brook (919) 323 - 3380 ext. 113
chrisbrook@southerncoalition.org
Goldie Wells 336-549-8712
http://southerncoalition.org
City Council charges toward decision on White Street Landfill
Will pick a vendor after seven days, 694 pages and before speaking to a single applicant
GREENSBORO--Seven business days after getting 694 pages of proposals from the six vendors, the Greensboro City Council will tonight select a company to operate the White Street Landfill. In a rare, if not unprecedented move, the council will vote on the same night they receive proposal analyses from city staff and before speaking to a single potential vendor.
“Seven days isn’t enough time to study nearly seven-hundred pages of proposals,” says former Councilwoman Goldie Wells. “I know they haven’t been doing council work that whole time.” Wells is also a leader in the Citizens for Economic and Environmental Justice, which opposes the landfill.
A public hearing will be held on the proposals after the council has made a selection. However, the obvious intent of the council is to sign a contract, rendering any public hearing after a selection meaningless. A recent report from Republic Services—the current solid waste operator for the city—noted that $3.5 million in annual savings could be achieved without re-opening the landfill to municipal solid waste, weakening the primary assertion made by the council that re-opening the landfill is a budgetary necessity.
“It makes you wonder if they already have their minds made up,” says Wells.
The council is charging towards a decision in order to have a contract signed before voters can offer their opinion in the upcoming elections. City Councilman Robbie Perkins noted at a community forum Monday evening that this was the best rushed process he had seen since coming onto the Council in 1993. This rush to re-open White Street will come at the expense of including Greensboro residents—in particular those who live around the landfill—in a decision that will affect the city for decades.
Chris Brook, an attorney with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, will read a letter into the record of tonight's City Council meeting. Read it here (bit.ly/qBi9pq).
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The Southern Coalition for Social Justice is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in August, 2007 in Durham, North Carolina by a multi-disciplinary group, predominantly people of color, who believe that families and communities engaged in social justice struggles need a team of lawyers, social scientists, community organizers and media specialists to support them in their efforts to dismantle structural racism and oppression.
Contact: Chris Brook (919) 323 - 3380 ext. 113 chrisbrook@southerncoalition.org http://southerncoalition.org
CEEJ to Wade: Step Aside Due from White Street Consideration Due to Your Conflict of Interest GREENSBORO, NC –The Northeast Greensboro Citizens for Economic and Environmental Justice is calling upon Greensboro City Councilwoman Trudy Wade to recuse herself from the consideration of proposals to re-open the White Street Landfill. Councilwoman Wade’s first cousin is the President of A-1 Sandrock, Inc., one of the respondents to Greensboro’s most recent Request for Proposals. “The revelation that Councilwoman Wade's cousin is the President of one of the companies interested in operating the White Street Landfill calls into question whether she can consider the interests of all Greensboro residents,” says Kay Brandon, a leader in the Citizens for Economic and Environmental Justice. “In light of this conflict of interest, she should not participate in the consideration of the current RFPs to ensure a process all Greensboro residents can trust.” The Greensboro Conflict of Interest policy prohibits “its officers, employees, or agents from participating in the selection, award, or administration of any contract where a conflict of interest is involved or may exist, whether real or apparent.” The policy goes on to note, “it is essential for the City of Greensboro’s officers, employees, and agents to remain free from all conflicts of interest, whether real or apparent, in order for the City to maintain the public trust of its citizens.” Councilpersons Nancy Vaughan and Zach Matheny were both conflicted out of even considering whether the city should issue a new RFP by the Greensboro City Attorney’s office. Yet, the Greensboro City Attorney’s office has cleared Councilwoman Wade’s continuing to vote on proposals put forward by her cousin. It is unclear how her voting on her first cousin’s proposals is compatible with maintaining the public trust of Greensboro citizens in this RFP process. ### The Southern Coalition for Social Justice is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in August, 2007 in Durham, North Carolina by a multi-disciplinary group, predominantly people of color, who believe that families and communities engaged in social justice struggles need a team of lawyers, social scientists, community organizers and media specialists to support them in their efforts to dismantle structural racism and oppression.July 20, 2011
Contact:
Chris Brook: (919) 323-3380 ext. 113
chrisbrook@southerncoalition.org
Kay Brandon: (336) 324-7207
kaybran@triad.rr.com
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
Another Study Confirms Elevated Rates of Pancreatic Cancer Around the White Street Landfill
The North Carolina Division of Public Health has released the results of a study investigating the incidences of cancer in the areas surrounding White Street Landfill in Greensboro, NC, which found that, there appears to be an elevated rate of pancreatic cancers in the study area relative to typical rates observed in North Carolina.”
Although cancer has many causes, the report states that, “The increased number of pancreatic cancers in the study community cannot be attributed to differences in age, gender and race since the control population was selected for its demographic similarities to the reference population.”
Kay Brandon, a member of the Greensboro Citizens for Economic and Environmental Justice, is disappointed that the Greensboro City Council is trying to re-open the White Street Landfill before fully studying these instances of pancreatic cancer. “For those of us who have lived in the community long enough, there are enough anecdotal stories of cancer that it seems more than coincidental, especially when you look at the high numbers of people affected in each family,” she said.
The study maintains that the elevated cancer rates have not yet been linked to environmental exposure associated with White Street Landfill. In support of this the report notes a clean soil cap is now placed on the landfill each day to entrap toxic chemicals. However, the report fails to note this is a new procedure that did not occur for the first 50 years of the landfill's existence, when many of the current residents were already living in the area. It also fails to note Phases I and II of the landfill are unlined.
July 11, 2011
Contact:
Chris Brook: (919) 323-3380 ext. 113
chrisbrook@southerncoalition.org
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
Greensboro City Council To Put Forward A Third Request For Proposals For White Street Landfill
Compact timeline does not allow for due diligence
A four-person majority of the Greensboro City Council intends to put forward a new Request for Proposals (RFP) today to re-open the White Street Landfill. This new RFP requires the City Council to complete—in less than two months from now—a process that would re-open White Street.
“It’s impossible to conduct a thorough RFP process on such a compact timeline,” said Chris Brook, the staff attorney with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice who is representing Plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the expansion of the landfill. “We urge the City Council to do what it has not done before—its due diligence.”
This is the third solid waste management RFP issued by the current City Council. The first RFP was discarded by the Council after months of consideration. The City Council abandoned their second RFP after more than six months of consideration when two Guilford County Superior Court judges ruled it failed to comply with North Carolina landfill laws.
The RFP calls for private contractors to submit proposals to re-open White Street by July 25 and then for the City Council to conclude contract negotiations by August 31. This would give the City Council only seven weeks to receive, analyze, and debate RFP submissions, conduct contract negotiations and then finally set a course for Greensboro’s future solid waste management plans.
The timeline for this most recent RFP would allow the four-person majority pushing the landfill plans to re-open White Street before they face Greensboro voters in upcoming municipal elections.
A copy of the draft Request For Proposals can be found here or at the link below.
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The Southern Coalition for Social Justice is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in August, 2007 in Durham, North Carolina by a multi-disciplinary group, predominantly people of color, who believe that families and communities engaged in social justice struggles need a team of lawyers, social scientists, community organizers and media specialists to support them in their efforts to dismantle structural racism and oppression.
Anita Earls
919-323-3380 ext. 115
anita@southerncoalition.org
www.southerncoalition.org
SCSJ Posts Fair Redistricting Maps as Comparison for Congressional Maps
DURHAM—Leading up to the expected release of the proposed congressional maps today, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice has posted on its website its own map of congressional districts for the State of North Carolina for comparison. The SCSJ illustrative plan was submitted to the General Assembly’s redistricting committee in May.
“Our map is a ‘least change’ map for the most part. It preserves the cores of existing districts, avoids diluting the voting strength of minority voters, does not pair any incumbents and is likely to result in a congressional delegation with the same partisan balance as the current delegation,” said Anita Earls, executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. “Our maps are fair, compact and recognize existing communities of interest.”
SCSJ has been working with community groups and organizations across the state and around the country to participate in the redistricting process. More information can be found at their website for the Community Census and Redistricting Institute, redistrictinginstitute.org.
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The Southern Coalition for Social Justice is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in August, 2007 in Durham, North Carolina by a multi-disciplinary group, predominantly people of color, who believe that families and communities engaged in social justice struggles need a team of lawyers, social scientists, community organizers and media specialists to support them in their efforts to dismantle structural racism and oppression.
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