Yvonne Johnson – who has served on the City Council since 1993 except for two years – as usual was surrounded by children and grandchildren when she took the oath of office on Tuesday night, and then she received a surprise. Former City Councilmember and former state Sen. Don Vaughan presented Johnson with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine – North Carolina’s highest civilian honor awarded to her by Gov. Roy Cooper.
Now Johnson has the right and privilege to offer the Long Leaf Pine toast any time she chooses.
“Here’s to the land of the Long Leaf Pine,
The summer land where the sun doth shine,
Where the weak grow strong and the strong grow great
Here’s to ‘down home,’ the Old North State.”
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At least one new City Councilmember received a gift when she walked into her new office at city hall. District 5 City Councilmember Tammi Thurm said that former District 5 Councilmember Tony Wilkins left her a new bottle of Pepto-Bismol and a new bottle of Tums for her as a gift.
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Greensboro is holding an open house on the plans for the two new downtown parking decks from 4 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 12 at the International Civil Rights Center and Museum at 134 S. Elm St.
The parking decks represent a new venture for the City of Greensboro. Both are being built by private developers and will be turned over to the city on completion. Hotels are slated to be built on top of each of the parking decks and the first floor of the decks will be retail. Also, the new decks are not going to look like parking decks, which most people think are pretty ugly.
The plans for the decks will be available at the open house and those attending may find that there is a need for more parking downtown.
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In last week’s Rhino Times, we stated that the Piedmont Triad Film Commission was close to getting the new movie Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri filmed in this area, but lost that project to Georgia. In reality, the Piedmont actually lost the project to Sylva, NC, which is about 45 minutes west of Asheville. It’s too bad we lost that film, especially since it’s getting such good reviews (and Woody Harrelson seems fun to have around), but at least we lost it to another North Carolina community, and not to a whole ‘nother state.
