Author: John Hammer

The consensus revenue forecast for the state of North Carolina released this week projects a one-time $3.25 billion budget surplus.

In what appears to be a case putting the cart before the horse, the main topic at the Greensboro City Council work session on Thursday, Feb. 16 is “Strategic Framework.”

The 2025 City Council election may not be at the top of most people’s minds right now.

It appeared to affirmed optimists as if the City of Greensboro was finally going to fix the bizarre traffic pattern on Greene Street, but no such luck.

Former Greensboro City Councilmember Jim Kee announced Wednesday, Feb. 15, that he is running for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in 2024.

District 59 state Rep. Jon Hardister (R-Guilford) has filed a bill in the state House that prohibits state and local governments from issuing COVID vaccine mandates.

The Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts has announced the lineup for the 2023-3024 First Bank Broadway series.

There’s a lot of talk about a prepared food tax in Greensboro. But according to Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan that’s all it is at this point – talk.

According to the latest report, the Greensboro Police Department (GPD) is currently operating at about 80 percent of its authorized staffing level.

Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan is running for reelection in 2025.

At the City Council retreat on Thursday, Feb. 2, councilmembers heard a report on the “Community Value Survey & Listening Tour.”

The North Carolina Department of Transportation announced this week that North Carolina would be receiving $8.15 million in federal grants to help reduce traffic deaths.

The Greensboro City Council spent two full days last week with an out-of-state facilitator at its annual retreat.

Councilmember Zack Matheny was the only member of the City Council to question the 2023 legislative agenda and to question the process used to create it.

An unwritten rule for attorneys is that you never ask a witness a question if you don’t already know the answer. Following a question asked by City Councilmember Tammi Thurm at the Tuesday, Feb. 7 meeting, that might be a good rule for councilmembers to consider.

An exchange at the Tuesday, Feb. 7 City Council meeting between Mayor Nancy Vaughan and Assistant City Manager Larry Davis didn’t make much sense, unless you consider what was left unsaid.

The number of Greensboro City Council meetings has increased dramatically.

The Greensboro City Council has a history of adopting resolutions regarding the actions of the North Carolina General Assembly that mainly serve to antagonize the conservative Republican majority in the state legislature. It appears that, at the Tuesday, Feb. 7 meeting, the City Council plans to go one step further.  The resolutions in the agenda indicate that the Greensboro City Council is unclear about what year it is and about the power and authority vested in a City Council.

The Greensboro City Council talks about being the policy making board for the city, much like the board of directors for a corporation, but watching its actions on Friday, Feb. 3 during the final hours of the retreat, some might question that depiction.

The Greensboro City Council spent a good bit of time developing a new “city vision” and new priorities at the two-day work session at Revolution Mill on Thursday, Feb. 2 and Friday, Feb. 3.

A number of commenters on the Rhino Times website have questioned the necessity of hiring an out-of-state consultant to run last week’s two-day City Council retreat. From the photo above, those commenters and others can see how wrong they were about the need to hire an out-of-state consultant to ensure the City Council stayed on task and didn’t waste its time on frivolous endeavors.   Above is the final work product of the two-day retreat. 

The Greensboro City Council got into a lengthy discussion about how to treat city employees in today’s world at the annual council retreat on Thursday, Feb. 2.

City Councilmember Marikay Abuzuaiter put the kibosh on what was supposed to be the last discussion of the City Council retreat on Thursday, Feb. 2.

At the City Council retreat on Thursday, Feb. 2, a discussion on priorities morphed into a meaningful discussion of the future of economic development in Greensboro.

The Greensboro City Council’s annual two-day retreat appropriately began on Groundhog Day with an exercise that has been repeated too many times to mention.

Greensboro Police Chief John Thompson is holding five community meetings in February and March to...

Greensboro announced the launch of the “Public Service Heroes Homebuyer Assistance” program this week.

The two-day annual City Council retreat is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 2 and Friday, Feb. 3 at the Revolution Mill Color Works Meeting Space.

Kirkwood Park got a haircut last week, and other neighborhood parks have received similar treatment or will in the future.

The Greensboro Economic Development Office recently released its annual report, “2021-2022 Year In Review.”

Airbnb was founded in 2008, but in Greensboro “short term home rental” is not defined and there is no ordinance regulating renting out a room, house, townhome or condo for less than 30 days.

Despite the best efforts of City Councilmember Zack Matheny, it appears the Greensboro City Council legislative agenda for 2023 is moving from an exercise in futility to bizarre.

The public portion of the Greensboro City Council’s 2023 legislative agenda process has begun and it’s stranger than usual.

The big announcement by Boom Supersonic at Piedmont Triad International Airport on Thursday, Jan. 26 was the groundbreaking for the $500 million factory.

An update on the proposed 2023 City Council state legislative agenda is on the agenda for the Greensboro City Council work session beginning at 3 p.m., Jan. 26, in the Plaza Level Conference Room at city hall.

On Thursday, Dec. 15, Greensboro City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba announced that John Thompson would be the new Greensboro police chief beginning on Friday, Dec. 16. This week, Thompson announced those he had selected to serve on his command staff.

The Greensboro City Council work session on Thursday, Jan. 26 has been postponed from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. one of the items to be discussed is a proposed ordinance to regulate short term rentals through services such as Airbnb and Vrbo. 

All six of Greensboro Parks and Recreation’s dedicated outdoor pickleball courts at the Smith Active Adult Center will be closed beginning on Thursday, Jan. 26 for what is expected to be a week. 

The appeals of the North Carolina State Health Plan contract, which has been awarded to Aetna, have been rejected according to North Carolina State Treasurer Dale Folwell.

Boom Supersonic is making a major announcement at Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA) at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 26. The notification states, “Boom Supersonic will celebrate an Overture milestone.”

The Greensboro City Council has a work session scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 26 at 2 p.m. in the Plaza Level Conference Room.

The Urban Loop is now officially open.

The official grand opening of the Urban Loop is Monday, Jan. 23 at 11 a.m.

The City of Greensboro changed the way it pays its 3,297 employees in 2023. Through Dec. 28, 2022, the City of Greensboro paid its employees twice a month, or 24 times a year.  But beginning this month the city shifted that pay period to every other week, or 26 times a year.

The City Council held a closed session at the Tuesday, Jan. 17 meeting. It began at 4 p.m. concerning a personnel matter – an evaluation of City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba, who took over the top job in city government on Feb. 1, 2022. The evaluation evidently went well because the result was that City Councilmember Yvonne Johnson made a motion to give Jaiyeoba a raise to $300,000 a year.

The first Greensboro City Council business meeting of 2023 set a record that is going to be hard to beat. The Tuesday, Jan. 17 City Council meeting began shortly after 5:30 p.m. and adjourned at 6:09 p.m., lasting just a little bit more than half an hour.