Community Conversation:
Join us 7 p.m. tonight for a discussion about what s happening with the town s asbestos removal and the possibility for redevelopment at the old Linden Mill.
The event is free, but
In this hourlong special, we ll hear stories about asbestos at an old, brick textile mill in Davidson, North Carolina, and how redevelopment might solve the problem. We ll learn how asbestos got into both the historically Black neighborhood nearby and elsewhere in town and how it s being cleaned up. And we ll talk to residents worried about how fixing one problem might contribute to another gentrification.
Rather read than listen to the audio? Read the transcript.
WFAE
Ruby Houston, who lives across the street from the former Carolina Asbestos mill in Davidson, spoke at a community meeting in January 2020.
Asbestos contamination from an old factory in Davidson is not just an environmental concern on site. It s also a problem throughout the historically African American neighborhood nearby. So far, cleanups have cost the EPA at least $3 million. Today, in the second of our three-part series Asbestos Town, WFAE environmental reporter David Boraks looks at how Davidson is still dealing with the legacies of its asbestos-producing past, including long-simmering distrust from the Black community.
David Boraks
February 2017: Workers installed a new temporary cap on the mound of asbestos that neighbors call Asbestos Hill, or Mystery Hill.