Author: John Hammer

The general election for the Greensboro City Council is being held Tuesday, July 26, and there...

Candidate forums – both virtual and in person – for the Tuesday, July 26 Greensboro City Council general election are popping up all over the place.

After a whirlwind trip to the US, the Bee Safe Racing/Riley Motorsports Ferrari and racing team has arrived in France in preparation for the 90th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 11 and June 12.

Considering the manager’s recommended 2022-2023 budget includes a 30 percent property tax increase, a lot of Greensboro property owners are looking for some tax relief. District 59 State Rep. Jon Hardister has introduced a local bill in the state House that, if it passes, will bring some tax relief to one property owner.

Friday, June 3 is First Friday in downtown Greensboro, sponsored by Downtown Greensboro Inc. (DGI), with a lot of activities taking place throughout the downtown area.

The issue of Medicaid expansion in North Carolina has long been a battle between Democrats in favor of Medicaid expansion and Republicans opposed. Since the Republicans have held the majority in the state legislature, Medicaid coverage has not been expanded. However, the Republican-led state Senate passed a Medicaid expansion bill on Wednesday, June 1 by an overwhelming vote of 44-2, which redraws the battle lines for Medicaid expansion to Republicans in the Senate versus Republicans in the House.

The public hearing on the 2022-2023 budget for the City of Greensboro will be held at the Tuesday, June 7 City Council meeting in the Katie Dorsett Council Chamber.

Republican North Carolina 6th District congressional candidate Christian Castelli will be getting some help in the Nov. 8 election from a new source. Castelli is a retired lieutenant colonel in the US Army Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets. On Memorial Day, Green Beret veteran Jason Bacon launched the Green Beret PAC with the stated purpose of helping other Special Forces veterans and conservative veterans get elected to Congress.

The Greensboro Sports Foundation didn’t have to look far to find new leadership. Greensboro Sports Foundation Vice Chairman Richard Beard has been appointed to the newly created position of president and CEO effective Wednesday, June 1.

The $688.7 budget for fiscal year 2022-2023 presented by City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba adds nearly 70 city employees. Former City Manager David Parrish, who resigned July 1, 2021, received nothing but praise from the Greensboro City Council on his management of the city.  Since Parrish resigned, the city has grown by about 1 percent.  Yet Parrish was able to manage the city with 70 fewer employees than Jaiyeoba maintains he needs to manage essentially the same city. The 69.25 new employees are projected to cost the city $4.7 million.

While a Greensboro mayoral candidate, Eric Robert filed a lawsuit over public records not being released by the Greensboro Coliseum.  He also used his mayoral campaign to attack Downtown Greensboro Inc. (DGI) President and District 3 City Council candidate Zack Matheny. Robert is continuing his attacks on Matheny and is threatening another lawsuit over the records of DGI, which he claims is a government entity and therefor subject to the open meetings and public records laws of the state.

City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba is continuing to make the government of the City of Greensboro less transparent.

Greensboro has long had the highest property tax rate of any comparable municipality in North Carolina. If the property tax rate is lowered to the revenue neutral rate of 54.56, that would put Greensboro at number three as far as property tax rates for the larger municipalities in the state. 

The city staff went over what keeping the tax rate flat will mean to the average homeowner in Greensboro at the Thursday, May 26 City Council work session, and it isn’t pretty. In 2021, the owner of a $100,000 home paid $663 in city property taxes based on the rate of 66.25 cents.

The old joke, “I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out,” is an entirely fitting description...

District 3 City Councilmember and mayoral candidate Justin Outling both won and lost the May 17 primary.

Greensboro Parks and Recreation Director Nasha McCray will become an assistant city manager beginning on July 1 according to announcement from the City of Greensboro.

The 2022-2023 budget proposed by City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba includes an enormous property tax increase of nearly 12 cents, but that’s not the only increase.

District 3 City Council candidate Chip Roth is withdrawing from the race according to a press release sent out on Tuesday, May 24.

The proposed 2022-2023 budget presented by Greensboro City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba includes the largest property tax increase in history for the City of Greensboro. The $688.7 million budget proposed by Jaiyeoba includes the equivalent of a tax increase of nearly 12 cents.  The last property tax rate increase was in the 2019-2020 budget when the property tax rate was increased from 63.25 to 66.25 a 3-cent tax increase.  The property tax increase proposed by Jaiyeoba is nearly four times higher than that increase in 2019-2020.

The second Greensboro City Council meeting this month will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, May 23, not Tuesday, May 24 according to the usual schedule.

Proving that anything can happen in an election, Sherrie Young won the Democratic primary for North Carolina House District 59. Young finished with 75 percent of the vote to 25 percent for Aday.  In political races over 20 points is considered a landslide.

Former Gov. Pat McCrory lost the Republican US Senate primary, but in his concession speech on Tuesday night, May 17, he sounded like he’s still running.

Tuesday, May 17, for the first time, a 24 Hours of Le Mans race car from Greensboro was unveiled. Roy Carroll, founder and president of The Carroll Companies and publisher of this publication, unveiled the Ferrari 488 GTE Pro Envo that he has entered in the oldest and most prestigious endurance race in the world – the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Seven Republicans were vying for the opportunity to go up against Democrat 6th District Congresswoman Kathy Manning in November and Christian Castelli came out on top.

The race that had attracted the most attention in the Tuesday, May 17 statewide primaries turned out to not be much of a race at all. Thirteenth District Congressman Ted Budd easily won the Republican Senate primary with 445,280 votes for 59 percent.  Budd only had to top 30 percent of the vote to avoid a primary runoff.

The Greensboro City Council primary wasn’t full of surprises, but it did have a somewhat unexpected result.

Mayor Nancy Vaughan handily won the mayoral primary with 45 percent of the vote to 35 percent for District 3 City Councilmember Justin Outling. Vaughan had 18,003 votes to 14,121 for Outling.

The Greensboro City Council is constantly comparing Greensboro to the other larger cities in North Carolina. According to the U.S. News and World Report, Greensboro doesn’t compare very favorably on the list of “Best Places to Live” with the larger cities in the state or some of the smaller ones. Greensboro was ranked 90th in the country and sixth in the state.

After a two year hiatus due to COVID restrictions, the Parisian Promenade is back. The Parisian Promenade will return to Tanger Family Bicentennial Garden on Sunday, June 5 from noon to 5 p.m.

The Greensboro Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (GUAMPO) is requesting public input for its draft Program of Projects for the federal fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, 2022.

The Tuesday, May 17 primary voting is almost over.  At 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 17, the polls will close for one of the oddest primary elections on record.

With the $1.7 billion bond on the ballot Tuesday, May 17, it’s a good time to look at what the Guilford County Board of Education has done with the $300 million bond passed in November 2020. For 18 months the Guilford County Schools have had $300 million at its disposal to repair, renovate and build schools.  So what has the school board done with the $300 million available?  Not much.

Greensboro Police Chief Brian James isn’t going to be retired for very long. UNC announced that James would take over as the chief of the UNC Police on July 1.

Dunleath Historic Neighborhood is a unique community in Greensboro and in keeping with that has a unique neighborhood event, Porchfest. Porchfest will be held Saturday, June 11 from noon to 5 p.m.

Mayor Nancy Vaughan and District 3 City Councilmember Justin Outling are considered by nearly everyone to be the front runners in the mayoral primary. Outling and Vaughan have a running debate – not in person, but in their campaign emails – each accusing the other of being misleading or disingenuous in what they have stated.

The Greensboro City Council has scheduled a work session for 2 p.m. Thursday, May 12 and you’re not invited.

Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan emailed Summerfield Mayor Tim Sessoms a cease and desist letter on Tuesday, May 10. 

Music For A Sunday Evening In The Park (MUSEP) is back in 2022 with a full schedule beginning on Sunday, June 5.

The final Greensboro Police Annual Report under the leadership of Police Chief Brian James shows marked improvement in reducing crime.

High Point University announced on Tuesday, May 9 that the new dental school, which is expected to enroll its first class in 2023, received a $32 million donation from the Rick and Angie Workman Foundation.

It’s election season, so there is a lot of talk of “transparency.” At least as far as the sitting members of the City Council go, it is all talk.

Mayoral candidate Eric Robert sent the Rhino Times the city’s response to his public records request, and it is revealing. Robert has filed a lawsuit against fellow mayoral candidate Mayor Nancy Vaughan, City Manager Tai Jaiyeobo and the City of Greensboro for violating the state statute that establishes the public’s right to public records.  And looking at the response Robert received from the city, it appears a lawsuit may have been Robert’s best option.

Much of the confusion on the Greensboro City Council over how to provide the increased revenue for the emergency fund at the Tuesday, May 3 was caused by having three different proposed plans.

The cost of not having gun shows at the Greensboro Coliseum may be $400,000 according to documents recently released.

Spring weather is not cooperating with First Friday in downtown Greensboro on Friday, May 6. But...

After a lengthy, complex, confusing discussion, the City Council passed a resolution outlining a plan for Greensboro to meet the required minimum emergency fund balance in five to seven years at its meeting on Tuesday, May 3.

Greensboro City Council races are nonpartisan, which means that in the primaries for mayor and the...

Printer-friendly Republican Endorsements US Senate Sen. Richard Burr decided that 18 years in the...