Author: John Hammer

Evidence that there is a large disconnect between the City Council and many of their constituents is the fact that a $1 million allocation to the International Civil Rights Center and Museum (ICRCM) is on the consent agenda.

The evidence that Amazon is planning to build a massive fulfillment center in southern Greensboro continues to grow.

First Friday Night Live will feature The Shakedown performing in the Southern First Bank parking lot on the corner of South Greene Street and West Market Street from 7 to 9 p.m.  Beer will be available on site provided by Little Brother Brewing and dining options will be available from Maho’s Bistro and Magnificent Concessions.  First Friday Night Live is being sponsored by Southern First Bank.

A debate for the mayoral candidates will be held on Sunday, April 3 at 4 p.m. in Room 120 at UNC Greensboro’s School of Education Building at 1300 Spring Garden St.  The debate is free and open to the public.  However, masks are required.

according to a poll released by North Carolina Values Coalition, 13th District Congressman Ted Budd has taken a narrow lead.  The NC Values polls shows Budd with 32 percent followed by former Gov. Pat McCrory with 29 percent, former 6th District Congressman Mark Walker with 12 percent and Marjorie Eastman at 2 percent.  The poll reported 25 percent were undecided.

The City Council discussed a change in compensation strategy for city employees that was described as “huge” and “expensive” at the retreat on Thursday, March 24.

In April, the Greensboro City Council is asking its residents to take a pledge to save water.

At its annual retreat on March 24, the Greensboro City Council praised and criticized the summer youth jobs program that Police Chief Brian James created last year.

Although violent crime was up last year nationwide, Greensboro Police Chief Brian James had some good news for the City Council at the council retreat on Thursday, March 24 about violent crime in Greensboro.

Greensboro City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba revealed his plans for reorganization of city government at the City Council retreat on Thursday, March 24, and it’s not going to be cheap.

Greensboro Police Chief Brian James presented a plan at the annual City Council retreat on Thursday, March 24, to free up a tremendous amount of time for Greensboro police officers. The plan is for the Greensboro Police Department (GPD) to stop responding to burglar alarm calls unless the company confirms that it is not a false alarm.

The increased value of individual property varies, but at the Greensboro City Council retreat on Wednesday, March 23, Greensboro Financial and Administrative Services Director Marlene Druga said, “It will be an overall average in the range of a 15 to 20 percent increase.  A lot of people are above that and a lot of people are below that.”

The City of Greensboro has put a halt to a major downtown development project with what can only be termed a bizarre demand.

Coming out of the pandemic, nobody was sure exactly how Greensboro revenue would be affected, but as it turns out the news was good.  The increase in sales tax revenue so far in this fiscal year shows a 22 percent increase over the same period in the 2020-2021 fiscal year. 

After a lengthy discussion, the Greensboro City Council voted 7-1 to allocate $2 million to the International Civil Rights Center and Museum with some contingencies on Wednesday, March 23 during its annual retreat.

Several Greensboro city councilmembers at the end of the March 15 meeting brought up the revaluation of property in Guilford County and how that was going to increase the property tax bills.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections offered corrections to the Rhino Times article “Guilford County Cleans Up Voter Rolls And Settles Lawsuit,” posted on March 17.

In accordance with what has become standard operative procedure at Greensboro City Hall a notice went out on the afternoon of Tuesday, March 22 making revisions to the City Council “Strategy Session” on Wednesday, March 23 and Thursday, March 24.

Before the Tuesday, March 15 meeting, the City Council held the annual review of one of its employees, City Attorney Chuck Watts.  Evidently the review went well because the City Council unanimously approved a raise of $32,000, to $245,000.  Watts was making $214,000 a year, so that is a 15 percent salary increase and it is retroactive back to December 2021, which was the review date.

The demolition of the old Guilford County Department of Mental Health building on the corner of North Eugene Street and West Friendly Avenue in downtown Greensboro is set to begin this week.

The Greensboro City Council is meeting for half a day on Wednesday, March 23 and all day on Thursday, March 24 at the ACC Hall of Champions board room at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex, and you’re invited.

According to a press release from the City of Greensboro on Friday, March 18, the media will no longer have a work space in the Greensboro City Council Chamber. In fact, according to the press release, the media will now be banned from the Council Chamber and will be expected to cover the meetings from the balcony.

Next week the city has meetings scheduled on Wednesday, March 23 and Thursday, March 24, at the ACC Hall of Champions boardroom in the Greensboro Coliseum Complex on Gate City Boulevard.  But as of Thursday, March 17 at noon, the meetings were not listed on the “Council Meetings” webpage on the City of Greensboro website.

At the end of the Tuesday, March 15 City Council meeting, Mayor Nancy Vaughan thanked Sen. Thom Tillis and 6th District Congresswoman Kathy Manning for funding for Greensboro included in the Omnibus Budget Bill recently passed by Congress.

Judicial Watch announced that it had settled its lawsuit against the state of North Carolina, Guilford County and Mecklenburg County.

Mayoral candidate and City Councilmember Justin Outling is a partner in the Brooks Pierce law...

When Mayor Nancy Vaughan got to the next to last action item on the agenda, which was to allocate $1.3 million to demolish buildings that had been ordered to be demolished by the Minimum Housing Standards Commission, she noted that staff had asked that this item be continued.

The Rhino Times editorial, “Greensboro’s Public Records Policy Circumvents State Law” notes that when the city, for whatever reason, doesn’t want to release a public document to the public, the PIRT administrator often responds that the “document doesn’t exist.” In two cases brought to the attention of the Rhino Times this week, that is how the PIRT administrator responded.

The agenda for the March 15 Greensboro City Council meeting in the Katie Dorsett Council Chamber posted on the city’s website on Thursday, March 10 and has been reposted twice.

At-large City Councilmember Marikay Abuzuaiter was on the Outer Banks with her husband, Isa, when she became ill, and is currently in the hospital in Washington, NC.

The County Convention of the Guilford County Republican Party attracted two of the three front running Republican US Senate candidates to speak to the several hundred Republicans assembled.

The agenda for the Tuesday, March 15 meeting of the Greensboro City Council beginning at 4:30 p.m. is far more normal than the Feb. 15 agenda, which had no public hearing items.

The plan is that, in April, the City Council will vote to put the $135 million bond referendum on the ballot for the July 26 City Council general election.  The resolution actually states either the July 5 or the July 26 general election, but the date of the City Council general election has been set by the court for July 26, so it is likely the resolution in April will reflect that.

Syngenta held a groundbreaking for its new North American Crop Protection headquarters at its current location on Swing Road in Greensboro on Wednesday, March 9.

The City of Greensboro is being threatened with a legal action over its failure to produce public records in a timely manner. The person making this threat is Amiel Rossabi of Rossabi Law Partners,

Wednesday, March 9, Nido Qubein announced a $400 million expansion program to include four new academic schools at High Point University.

Eric Roberts, in the email to Vaughan, claims that Andy Zimmerman’s term on the Downtown Greensboro Incorporated (DGI) board of directors has expired and he should no longer be allowed to serve.

The Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts announced the shows for its second Broadway season on Wednesday, March 9.

The Lion King engagement broke two records at the Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts. The award winning musical set the record for the highest grossing week ever, with a gross of over $1.9 million, and the highest one week attendance, with 23,040 guests.

Filing for the 2022 election finally ended on Friday, March 4, and the North Carolina congressional districts drawn by judges, not the legislature, at the very least ended any confusion for voters in Guilford County.

Filing for the July 26 City Council election closed Friday, March 4 at noon, so voters finally know who is and isn’t running for City Council in what should have been the 2021 election.

The Battle of Guilford Courthouse will return to Greensboro Country Park on Saturday, March 12 and Sunday, March 13.

On Dec. 3, 2021, the Rhino Times reported that Amazon was planning to build a 2-million-square-foot fulfilment center on 109 acres on Ritters Lake Road between Randleman Road and South Elm-Eugene Street.

The Greensboro Planning Department is holding two virtual information sessions to get input from the public about the proposed ordinance amendment from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. and from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 17 via Zoom.  Those who would like to participate are asked to register at email planning staff.

First Friday sponsored by Downtown Greensboro Inc. usually attracts a good crowd of people to the center city with a variety of events and for First Friday on March 4 it looks like the weather is going cooperate on this the first week of meteorological Spring.

Filing for the May 17 primary closes at noon on Friday, March 4 and for procrastinators, noon means noon and not 12:01 p.m. Potential candidates have been known to race into the Board of Elections Office minutes after the deadline, only to find that they are too late to file.

The Tuesday, March 1 Greensboro City Council meeting was almost like a pre-COVID meeting, but not quite.