Holliday draws the heat

Former Greensboro Mayor Keith Holliday’s reported remarks last night warning District 2 Councilman Jim Kee against capitulation on the reopening of the White Street Landfill understandably galled its intended target.

In his typical good natured way, Kee said from the rostrum at the city council meeting tonight that he was disappointed about Holliday’s remarks “inferring that I might be supporting reopening the landfill. I have a long record of opposing the reopening of the landfill.”

He held up a copy of the June 20, 2001 edition of the News & Record showing him above the fold addressing then-Mayor Holliday and members of the council.

“The mayor knows where I stand,” Kee said. “I would like to see our current leaders and past leaders sit down and talk about the issues that face Greensboro in a civil way, and not resort to personal attacks.

Holliday reportedly called out District 3 Councilman Zack Matheny, District 4 Councilwoman Mary Rakestraw and District 5 Councilwoman Trudy Wade by encouraging audience members to ask them if they would be willing to put a landfill in their neighborhoods.

Matheny and Wade predictably expressed objections to Holliday’s rhetoric, but the harshest reaction came from Rakestraw.

“Former Mayor Holliday said to ask Mary Rakestraw if she would want the landfill in her neighborhood, Zack Matheny if he would like the landfill in his neighborhood and Trudy Wade if she would like the landfill in her neighborhood. When the folks moved over to White Street in that vicinity, that landfill was already there.”

Then she said she wanted Holliday “to quit doing things that are putting fear in the hearts of citizens.”

She said she’s had her differences with fellow council members, but “I’m not going to have my family talked about by somebody else. I think Mr. Holliday owes Mr. Kee an apology.”

Then back to the issue of whether District 4 council members in central-west Greensboro would accept a landfill in their backyards.

“Is he proposing to open a landfill in District 4?” Rakestraw asked. “District 4 constituents have already called me, telling me to reopen the landfill.”

A little commentary here:

It’s extraordinary in Greensboro for a major white political figure to take a stand with the roughly one-third of the city’s population who are black. Assuming the accuracy of my colleague, Amanda Lehmert’s report that “Holliday warned District 2 Councilman Jim Kee that if he has any role in reopening the landfill, Kee need not plan to run for the council again in the fall,” one wonders if the speaker’s remarks reflect a growing frustration by former District 2 representative Goldie Wells and former Mayor Yvonne Johnson with Kee’s conciliatory style.

From a more practical standpoint, Holliday’s rhetoric takes the fight off of mayoral candidate Robbie Perkins’ shoulders. Holliday is presumably not running for any office this year. Perkins is the other major white figure in Greensboro who has demonstrated solidarity with the black community, but he’ll have the unenviable task of finessing the conflicting demands of the city’s white and black constituencies. If Holliday can draw the heat off of Perkins, then Perkins might be able to effectively present himself as the unifier – someone able to transcend old divisions and take the city forward to renewed prosperity.

In that light, perhaps Rakestraw's comments are all according to plan.

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