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Sunday's editorial.

As far as sheer facts and figures are concerned, City Councilman Mike Barber is right: It has been more expensive to close the city's White Street Landfill than to keep it open.

The council knew that when it shuttered the northeast Greensboro facility in 2006. And it knows that now.

But the council at the time was computing the costs of that option in more than purely dollars and cents. It also tallied the costs in terms of fairness to northeast Greensboro, which is home not only to the landfill, but the North Buffalo Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The landfill is used today only for yard waste and construction debris, even though there is ample room nearby for expansion. Now trucks carry household garbage to a transfer station and from there it goes to a landfill in Montgomery County, out of sight, if not out of mind.

Barber estimates that the added cost runs into "the millions" -- as much as $15 million a year. "This is the worst economic decision we've made in 200 years of history," he said last week. City Manager Mitchell Johnson places the annual cost difference at less than $3 million a year.

More precise numbers have been requested and ought to be available soon.

The historical record
Meanwhile, residents who live near the landfill complained for years before it closed that the smell, the birds and the rats made life miserable for them. Some also say the landfill was located in that area in the first place because it was predominantly black.

History says otherwise.

The White Street Landfill was created in 1940, long before many of the houses that now exist in the vicinity were built. The city chose that site not based on any racial motivations, but because the Army's Overseas Replacement Depot already was using White Street for its waste disposal.

"When the Army pulled out, the city continued to use the Army landfill and made it the municipal landfill," says Gayle Fripp, a Greensboro historian. "It had nothing to do with the fact that black neighborhoods were there."

In those days, the area was relatively remote and undeveloped. Even when more housing arrived, the larger area was predominantly white. The Woodmere Park and King's Forest subdivisions, two middle-class communities near the landfill, began as majority-white communities.

That said, some small black neighborhoods not only were located near the landfill as well, but predated it, among them Nealtown, Mount Zion and East White Oak. Yet, whether it was by design or not, the city actually was moving the landfill away from the black community in opening the White Street facility.

The old "city dump" had been located at Cottage Grove, Spencer and Perkins streets, in historically black southeast Greensboro. And the city incinerator stood on East Market Street, again on the black side of town.

As for the majority-black Nealtown Farms community, which sits near the edge of the landfill off Huffine Mill Road, it was built -- with city subsidies -- more than 50 years after the landfill opened.

Where to from here?
Does that mean the city should suddenly reverse its decision to close the landfill? Not necessarily.

Again, more is at stake here than money.

Good faith and trust also are on the line, as is the perception that poor people and minorities bear a disproportionate burden for undesirable projects. Whatever it was in the past, northeast Greensboro today is predominantly black. And the absolute last thing the city needs is another divisive racial controversy.

"I couldn't think of anything more disruptive to a City Council that already has its hands full," City Councilman Robbie Perkins said last week.

But Barber insists reopening the landfill can be a "win-win" proposition. "We can do this in a way that everybody wins," he said. "Let's move past these knee-jerk reactions."

Barber says he raised the issue not to create controversy but to find ways to save tax dollars during a bad economy. "All I did was ask for the numbers."

Longer-term solutions
Now that the question has been raised, it deserves honest and factual answers. At the same time, the concerns of northeast Greensboro residents should not be taken lightly.

Then there is the question of an even longer-term answer for the area's garbage. Even if the White Street Landfill is expanded, it won't last forever. City and county leaders should have been discussing a regional solution to solid waste at least a decade ago.

As for White Street, even if the city decides to reopen the landfill, the savings would not be immediate. Expect a protracted legal battle, a contentious state permitting process and complaints from northeast Greensboro residents that the council settled with them, then reneged.

City leaders should study the numbers, weigh their options and make a call, based not simply on the financial bottom line but on what's right and fair and honest.