Author: John Hammer

At the first City Council meeting of 2022 on Tuesday, Jan. 4, the City Council heard from business owners on North Eugene Street complaining about the street being closed for three months. At the next to last meeting of 2022, on Tuesday, Dec. 6 the City Council heard similar complaints from the same business owners on North Eugene Street about the street being closed.

The BORO isn’t going to be expanded if District 3 City Councilmember Zack Matheny has his way. The BORO is in City Council District 3, represented by Matheny, and Matheny is also president of Downtown Greensboro Inc., which was the driving force behind establishing The BORO, and DGI also manages the social district. Matheny said that he was not consulted or even informed that the city staff planned to propose that the boundaries of The BORO be expanded. 

The Greensboro City Council did not approve the Community Heroes program to provide down payment assistance to city and county employees and veterans at the Tuesday, Dec. 6 meeting The City Council did not even discuss the proposed program but, without discussion, voted unanimously to continue that agenda item to the next meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 20.

The Greensboro Planning Department has released its second annual GSO2040 Comprehensive Plan implementation report.

The BORO may not be growing and reproducing after all. District 3 City Councilmember Zack Matheny sent an email to his fellow councilmembers and city staff on Tuesday, Dec. 6 asking that the proposed expansion of The BORO, the “social district” in downtown Greensboro where people are allowed to walk around with an alcoholic beverage, be continued.

At the Tuesday, Dec. 6 City Council meeting, the council is expected to approve a $171,000 three-year contract for hauling glass from the White Street Landfill to Strategic Materials in Wilson, NC, for recycling.

Forbes magazine featured Greensboro developer Roy Carroll in its cover story on Monday, Dec. 5. Under the headline, “The Guru Of Greensboro: How A College Dropout Built A $2.9 Billion Real Estate Empire,” Forbes provides quite a bit of background on Carroll.

The proposed down payment assistance program called “Community Heroes,” which the City Council expressed many concerns about at the Oct. 27 work session, is on the agenda for the Tuesday, Dec. 5 City Council meeting.

The BORO is not only growing, it is having offspring. The BORO is the “social district” in downtown Greensboro where it is legal for people to walk down the sidewalk with a BORO approved alcoholic beverage. 

Tuesday, Nov. 15 has been declared “America Recycles Day” by President Joe Biden.

The Greensboro City Council will consider a number of funding requests for housing the homeless population in the city during the winter at the Tuesday, Nov. 15 meeting in the Katie Dorsett Council Chamber beginning at 5:30 p.m.

When the early votes were posted on Tuesday, Nov. 8, it appeared District 59 Republican state Rep. John Hardister was in trouble in his bid for a sixth term.

For Guilford County voters, there was something for everyone in the 2022 midterm elections.

The Bryan Park Soccer Complex will host the largest soccer tournament ever held in the area this weekend.

Despite all the publicity about the Tuesday, Nov. 8 election, slightly less than half of registered voters in Guilford County voted.

Democrat 6th District Congresswoman Kathy Manning easily won a second term in Congress in the Tuesday, Nov. 8 election.

The midterm election in Guilford County didn’t produce many surprises. In the North Carolina state Senate and state House, the incumbents – Democrats and Republicans alike – held on to their seats.

The statewide races in North Carolina indicate just how large the Democratic majority is in Guilford County.

The four Republican candidates for the Guilford County Board of Education ran as a team in the Nov. 8 election, and half the “New Vision, New Direction” team won. The Republicans held on to the Republican seats but didn’t make any inroads into the Democratic majority on the school board.

The good news from the Nov. 8, 2022 election is that on Wednesday, Nov. 9, people shouldn’t be barraged with election advertisements and commercials.

On Dec. 1, Greensboro will have a new Parks and Recreation Department director. Phil Fleischmann has been named as the new director to take over the department currently being run by Assistant City Manager Nasha McCray.

The Greensboro City Council got into the weeds early at the work session on spending $31.8 million in American Rescue Plan funding and never found its way out.

Early voting for the Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022 election ended Saturday, Nov. 5 at 3 p.m., which gives people one more chance to vote.

The presentation for the work session on Thursday, Nov. 3 included spending $660,000 general fund money, freed up by the $59.4 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds, on “employee transition expenses.”

The Greensboro City Council held a work session to discuss spending the $31.8 million remaining from the $59.4 million in American Rescue Plan funds that the city received.

Before Jaiyeoba was hired as manager, the City Council had a plan on how to spend the $59.4 million and city staff spent months answering questions about the application process and grading the applications from nonprofits and small businesses.

Transportation discussions at the Tuesday, Nov. 1 meeting ran the gamut from trolleys to taxi cabs to self-driving cars.

The Greensboro City Council is holding a work session reportedly on how to spend the remaining American Rescue Plan money on Thursday, Nov. 3, but that money has already been spent.

For the second month in a row, Mayor Nancy Vaughan ordered a person removed from the Katie Dorsett Council Chamber for misbehavior.

Tuesday, Nov. 1 was not a good day to be riding the bus to work or, for that matter, anywhere else in Greensboro.

It’s not unusual for political candidates to be offended by the advertisements run by their opponents. Republican 6th District congressional candidate Christian Castelli decided to do something about the ads being run by his opponent, Democratic 6th District Congresswoman Kathy Manning.

The regular Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) the Greensboro Police Department receives from the US Department of Justice has made it back to the City Council consent agenda. The agenda for the Tuesday, Nov. 1 City Council meeting has no public hearings and 14 items on the consent agenda. 

Greensboro is not the largest city in the state and ratings report it isn’t the coolest, but according to Yelp, Greensboro can boast of having the best “Dive Bar” in the state of North Carolina. Yelp named the Westerwood Tavern at 508 Guilford Ave. as the Best Dive Bar in the Tar Heel state.

How many times can the Greensboro City Council spend the same $3 million? The answer to that question according to the report from Director of the Greensboro Housing and Neighborhood Development Department Michelle Kennedy is at least twice.

The Greensboro Housing and Neighborhood Development Department is planning on changing the current home repair loan program to a home repair grant program.

City Councilmember Zack Matheny has asked for information on the status of the old Regency Inn and Suites at several City Council meetings. It appears that Matheny received at least some of the information he has been requesting in the agenda packet for the Thursday, Oct. 27 work session.

Greensboro Urban Ministry has a new leader. The Greensboro Urban Ministry board of directors announced that has hired Brian Hahne as the chief executive officer and he will take office on Jan. 3, 2023.

Greensboro Police Department (GPD) and other law enforcement officers responding to a call about a large “block party” at The Province Apartments on Houston Street had bottles and rocks thrown at them and their vehicles at 12:42 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was in Greensboro on Wednesday, Oct. 25 for a fundraiser for 13th District Congressman Ted Budd, who is in a tight race against Cheri Beasley for the open North Carolina Senate seat.

After nearly a year and a half of existence, Guilford County’s web-based electronic public records request system is proving popular.  However, some users of the service have complained that requests sometimes take too long to fill.

Civitas released a poll Tuesday, Oct. 25, that is good news for Republicans and not such good news for Democrats.

The Greensboro City Council is scheduled to discuss the “Community Heroes Homebuyer Program” at the work session on Thursday, Oct. 27. According to the presentation, just about anyone who makes between 80.01 percent and 120 percent of the area median income (AMI) and isn’t employed by a for-profit business qualifies for the program.

This week the City of Greensboro announced its loose leaf collection schedule.

The endorsements for the 2022 midterm election are different from any of the past Rhino Times...

Take Back Our Schools-GCS, which has endorsed a slate of four Republican candidates for the Guilford County Board of Education, has raised the ire of the leadership of the Guilford County Board of Education.

Downtown Greensboro Inc. has a host of events to celebrate the holiday season in downtown Greensboro.

The housing shortage, particularly the shortage in affordable homes, is a topic frequently discussed by the Greensboro City Council.

The annual Piedmont Triad Fall One Walk and T1D (type 1 diabetes) Day will be held by JDRF on Saturday, Oct. 29 at Triad Park in Kernersville.