Author: John Hammer

Greensboro continues to grow, albeit at a much slower rate than other major cities in North Carolina, according to the annual Growth and Development Trends report recently released by the Greensboro Planning Department.

The Greensboro City Council has a relatively short agenda for the Tuesday, Jan. 17 meeting.

The lawsuit filed against the City of Greensboro by Drew Brown of Greensboro Law Center on behalf of the Greensboro Entertainment Group LLC and N Club LLC owned by Rocky Scarfone alleges that the 2018 settlement agreement has been breached.

The Greensboro City Council held a “Lake Wobegon” work session on Thursday, Jan. 12 in the Plaza Level Conference Room at 2 p.m.

In the private sector most people will be expected to be at work on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, Jan. 16. However, in the public sector it is a federal, North Carolina, Greensboro, Guilford County and Guilford County Schools holiday.

The February One Parking Deck is nearing completion, so it seems entirely fitting that the City of Greensboro is once again being sued over easement issues concerning the existing businesses on South Elm Street.

The new Greensboro Police Chief John Thompson was officially sworn into office at a ceremony at the Carolina Theatre on Tuesday, Jan. 10.

North Carolina will host the 2029 World University Games, according to announcement on Tuesday, Jan. 10 from the executive committee of the International University Sports Federation (FISU).

The City of Greensboro is considering an application to expand the Downtown Historic District. The proposed updates to the Downtown Historic District will be discussed at a public meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19 at the Greensboro History Museum Auditorium at 130 Summit Ave.

North Carolina State Treasurer Dale Folwell spent most of Monday, Jan. 9 in Guilford County and gave his penultimate talk of the day at the Guilford County Republican Party Executive Committee meeting at 7 p.m.

The Greensboro City Council expects the residents of Greensboro to obey city ordinances, but it doesn’t hold itself to the same standard. However, the City Council is currently ignoring an ordinance on how it will conduct business, but there is no fine for violating this ordinance.

The Rhino Times article on Wednesday, Jan. 4, “Substitute Motion By Councilmember Hightower Gets Ignored,” raised questions about how Greensboro City Council meetings are conducted.

Some things never change.  Every year at this time, someone on the City Council suggests the city do away with loose leaf collection. This year it was Councilmember Marikay Abuzuaiter who began her tirade against loose leaf collection by noting that she and Councilmember Sharon Hightower have brought up the issue over the years but have never gotten any support.

Many people dream of owning their own restaurant. And because so many restaurants closed due to...

At the Tuesday, Jan. 3 meeting, the City Council went one step further.  The council had already allocated all $59.4 million, but it allocated the remaining $31.9 million in funds freed up by the allocation of the $59.4 million.  So the funds have not only been allocated once, but now they’ve been allocated twice.

In December, District 59 North Carolina state Rep. Jon Hardister said he was considering running for NC commissioner of labor and would make an announcement after the holidays. On Wednesday, Jan. 4, one day after folks got back to work after the holidays, Hardister made the announcement that he would run for NC commissioner of labor in 2024.

The Greensboro City Council voted down a proposal to expand the downtown social district, called The BORO, by an 8-1 vote at the Tuesday, Jan. 3 meeting. Councilmember Hugh Holston cast the lone vote in favor of the expansion.

City Councilmember Sharon Hightower rails against discrimination at nearly every City Council meeting. At the Tuesday, Jan. 3 City Council meeting, Hightower herself was discriminated against when a legitimate motion she made was ignored.

The Greensboro City Council gives verbal support to sidewalks and walking trails regularly, but according to the Website Walk Score, it’s all talk. Walk Score ranks Greensboro as one of the least walkable cities with a population of over 200,000 in the country.

The first Greensboro City Council meeting of 2023 begins at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 3. The first meeting of the year begins right where the last meeting of the year left off – with an ordinance on “social districts.”  What the state calls a social district is an area where people are allowed to wander around the sidewalks and streets with alcoholic beverages.

The agenda for first Greensboro City Council meeting of 2023 on Tuesday, Jan. 3 appears to be dominated by spending the remaining $31.9 million in American Rescue Plan funds.

Nobody wants to come home to find strange men loading their belongings onto a trailer. But that is the scene Joy Ojo found when she came home to her Treybrooke Village apartment on Dec. 5. Treybrooke Village is owned by The Carroll Companies, which also owns this publication.

Two North Carolina state representatives sent a letter to Gov. Roy Cooper on Wednesday, Dec. 28, asking him to ban TikTok from all state government devices.

The City of Greensboro received a favorable ruling from the North Carolina Supreme Court on the appeal of a Superior Court ruling placing a gag order on city councilmembers regarding police body worn camera footage.

at the first meeting of 2023 on Jan. 3, the City Council plans to allocate $31.9 million. The $31.9 million in theory represents the American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds that the has not allocated from the $59.4 million Greensboro received.

The $59.4 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds that Greensboro received has been burning a hole in the City Council’s pocket ever since it received the first check for $29.7 million in May of 2021. It received a second check for $29.7 million in May 2022.

Some but not all of the Pallet shelters on the Pomona Park ball field were occupied during the unseasonably cold Christmas weekend.

This spring people will be able to wander around State Street with an alcoholic beverage in hand, following a 5-3 vote by the Greensboro City Council at the Dec. 20 meeting.

If you’re considering having some property in Greensboro zoned for residential use, this appears to be a good time to do it.

Mayor Nancy Vaughan and five city councilmembers met at Pomona Park on Wednesday, Dec. 21 at 9:30 a.m. to tour the Pallet shelter site and discuss the project. City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba and Housing and Neighborhood Development Department Director Michelle Kennedy, as well as a number of other city employees, members of the media and interested parties were also present.  But according to the city, it was not an “official meeting and no public notice was required.

Mayor Nancy Vaughan said that the Pomona Park baseball field may be “the perfect place” for the Pallet shelter village to provide housing for homeless people this winter. Wednesday, Dec. 21, Vaughan had invited councilmembers, City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba, the media and other interested parties to come to the Pomona Park baseball field where the Pallet shelter village is under construction to see the project in person.

The City of Greensboro announced its Christmas holiday schedule, and city employees get three days off – Friday, Dec. 23, Monday, Dec. 26 and Tuesday, Dec. 27.

A change order in the contract to streetscape North Eugene Street is on the consent agenda for the Tuesday, Dec. 20 City Council meeting.

the secret Pallet village site is now known and, on Wednesday, Dec. 21 at 9:30 a.m., Mayor Nancy Vaughan and some members of the City Council will be at Pomona Park at 3910 Clifton Road to tour the site.

District 3 City Councilmember Zack Matheny emailed a motion for the Tuesday, Dec. 20 City Council meeting to his fellow councilmembers.

Tuesday, Dec. 20 is the final scheduled meeting for the Greensboro City Council in 2022, and it’s a doozy.

District 59 State Rep. John Hardister is seriously considering running for North Carolina commissioner of labor in 2024.

While many questions about the Pallet shelter project remain, the one that is currently reverberating through the community is why the temporary shelters are being placed on the one ball field in the city built for the disabled community.

Greensboro City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba announced on Thursday, Dec. 15 that Assistant Chief John Thompson will be the new Greensboro police chief.

People have a lot of questions about the details of the Pallet shelter project, which is scheduled to open for business on Friday, Dec. 23.

Although no official announcement of the location of the Pallet shelters or the Safe Parking initiative has been made, Mayor Nancy Vaughan said that both the Pallet shelter village and the Safe Parking initiative would be at 3910 Clifton Road, the site of the former Folk Teen Center next to Pomona Park.

Boom Supersonic announced Tuesday, Dec. 13, that Florida Turbine Technologies would be developing the engines for the Overture, the supersonic passenger aircraft it plans to manufacture at Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA).

An attempt at legal action against Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan last week fell short of the mark and resulted in an apology.

Greensboro has a housing shortage that is going to get worse, not better, when the huge economic development projects now under construction start hiring. Because it is a statewide problem, the North Carolina legislature is looking at taking action to make building residential dwelling units easier by lifting some of the government regulations that make construction more expensive and take much longer.

On Oct. 10, the Greensboro City Council held a special meeting to approve funding to buy pallet shelters to provide housing for homeless people this winter. According to information provided by Mayor Nancy Vaughan, the city should receive the pallet shelters by Monday, Dec. 19 and they should be assembled by Friday, Dec. 23.

Boom Supersonic is scheduled to announce its new engine manufacturer at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 13 at Piedmont Triad International Airport.

In January, compensation for City of Greensboro employees is going to go through a major adjustment. The city plans to change the pay schedule from twice a month to biweekly, and at the Tuesday, Dec. 6 City Council meeting President of the Professional Firefighters of Greensboro Association Dave Coker spoke against making the salary schedule change.

Saturday, Dec. 10, holiday events sponsored by Downtown Greensboro Inc. (DGI) continue with the Downtown Jingle Jog 5K and Otis & Wawa’s 7th Annual SantaCon Bar Crawl fundraiser.  These events may not be considered quite as family friendly as the previous weekend’s events, unless, of course, your family is made up of adults over 21, but they should once again fill the downtown with holiday spirit, or spirits as the case may be.

District 2 Councilmember Goldie Wells took her time at the end of the City Council meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 6 to make an appeal to the people of Greensboro, and particularly to the people in her district, to have a peaceful Christmas season.