The City Council by an 8-0 vote passed two motions to spend $500,000 to start a Cure Violence program in Greensboro at the meeting Tuesday, Oct. 15 in the Council Chamber.
The one motion passed by the City Council was to contract One Step Further to run the Cure Violence program. City Councilmember Yvonne Johnson is the executive director of One Step Further and was recused from the vote. Johnson however, previously participated in the discussions about contracting with One Step Further to run the Cure Violence program for the city.
One thing the vote proved was that the Guilford County Commissioners called it right. The City Council was extremely interested in started a Cure Violence program and four City Councilmembers met in secret for several months with four Commissioners to discuss the program and how to jointly fund it.
The initiative was from the City Council and the program was going to operate in two neighborhoods in Greensboro. Some commissioners figured that if the City Council wanted to start a Cure Violence program, it would do so with or without money from Guilford County and they were right.
Councilmember Sharon Hightower said, “Tonight is the night I’ve been waiting for for a long time and I’m sorry it has taken so long.”
She said that it was a shame, “We have to debate so long about the value of black lives.”
Mayor Nancy Vaughan said that because the Cure Violence program would only be in two neighborhoods, “that doesn’t mean that things won’t happen in other areas of the city.”
She added, “We’re not going to see overnight changes.”
Vaughan said it was important for people to support the program because, “We are not going to let the people who are shooting up our city win.”
Councilmember Justin Outling said he was going to support the program and while he had heard from people who supported the program he had also heard from people who said, “this is absolutely ridiculous. I can’t believe the city would even consider this.”
He said, “This is targeted at very specific neighborhoods, very specific streets it’s hard to conclude this is going to be the solution for a problem across the city.”
Councilmember Tammi Thurm said she had very mixed feelings about the program and that while she was supporting it, “I’m absolutely terrified of the program as well and that’s because we are only addressing two neighborhoods.”
She noted that it was a citywide problem and she felt like she was letting the folks in her district down because Cure Violence would not be implemented in District 5.
Councilmember Nancy Hoffmann said, “I think it’s a start and we need to start somewhere.”
$500,000 for 2 neighborhoods? Are you kidding me! Hey Sharon, “All lives matter”! City council approved a program that has not worked in several bigger cities. City council is showing lack of confidence in our police department. Any wonder why they high turnover rate?
Members of city council talk about equality, treat everyone equal, racism and yet 4 members have “secret” meetings about a program that supports only small sections of the city. Note the high crime districts are not included. I recommend an audit by an outside agency within a year to look at any misappropriation of tax payers funds. I commend the Guilford county commissioners for not partaking in this proven non- effective program.
Allow me to fix the quote…Sharon Hightower said, “Tonight is the night I’ve been waiting for for a long time and I’m sorry it has taken so long [to pay my fellow city councilmember $500,000 for a program that is a demostrable failure in ALL places it has been implemented].” This is, by definition, cronyism!
Half a Million dollars for 2 neighborhoods? How is this money going to be spent? What are the expenses for this program other than the elected officials cut? Will there be transparency as to what money is being spent and where?
I have little trust in city and county officials voting to give themselves money!
This is by far one of the most RACIST programs around. They are “targeting” specific neighborhoods so as a white person….why aren’t these people up in arms, raising hell that they are being “targeted” and further….what is this money being spent on and for? Why not hire more police. I listen to the police scanner and the number of gun shootings, hit and runs and areas of the city that are experiencing crime is crazy. There are many times that there are not enough police to respond to the calls they get. I will watch this “Program” carefully and how the money is spent and on what!!!!!!! Why can’t I have a crime prevention program in my neighborhood? I need 500k to start a program where I live!
With One Step Further Executive director Yvonne Johnson in charge , what could possibly go wrong. Waste of $500,000.
There are two approaches the city could take to cure violent crime. Number one would be to turn us into a sanctuary city where nothing is a crime. Number two is to find out which areas have lots of crime and rename those areas so that Morningside Homes, for example, would no longer have any crime, since there would no longer be any Morningside Homes neighborhood. Hey, it worked for West Lee Street and High Point Road. There would have been a murder on High Point Road last weekend if the city hadn’t renamed it. BTW, it’s obvious that black lives didn’t matter to the two black women who are now facing charges of murder and attempted murder. When Sharon Hightower figures out how to fix that problem, I’d like to hear about it.
Sharon Hightower-“ ALL LIVES MATTER”! Our city council is always preaching about openness, equality, racism and the unfair treatment of our citizens on the East side of town. City council had “secret’ meetings. Why were the council members we the people elected, you know the rest of the city, not invited? What was so secrets to hide?
Citizens take note your city council is showing their preferential treatment of 2 neighborhoods. I urge other communities to contact their representative and ask why only 2 neighborhoods received their approval. $500,000 dollars of taxpayers money for 2 neighborhoods, really? Would who will actually profit? The citizens or a few of the city council(s) bank accounts.
Can we get a follow up on this MIssguided Program? How much has changed…?