District 2 Greensboro City Councilmember Goldie Wells held her quarterly community forum, via Zoom, on Thursday, Sept. 10.

Wells could hold a clinic on how to host a community forum. She doesn’t talk too much, is always cordial even when she is taking down someone’s screen and keeps things moving.

Wells did shut down the screen of Keshan Lighty, a biology student at North Carolina A&T State University who attempted to shed some light on how the coronavirus is actually transmitted. When Wells realized one of his points was that it was nearly impossible to catch COVID-19 from someone who is asymptomatic, Wells said she didn’t want to hear it and had his screen with the technical data removed from the Zoom meeting.

Wells said, “ Listen, Dear Heart, we want everyone to use what the CDC [US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] has said.”

Wells had Dr. Don Linder give a report on the Pyramid Village development across the street from the Wal-Mart off Cone Boulevard. Linder said that the project was progressing that he had bought a Choice Hotel franchise and was currently getting estimates on the cost of building what he said would be an 82 room moderately priced hotel that he hoped would open in the fall of 2022.

Also planned for Pyramid Village, according to Linder, is a 192-unit apartment development that he thought would be completed before the hotel.

Linder said that they didn’t get state funding for a 78-unit affordable housing development on part of the site near 16th Street but planned to reapply.

City Manager David Parrish reported that construction on the long awaited Summit Avenue streetscape should get started in the spring and the current plans called for it to go from Lindsay Street to Bessemer Avenue.

Second Harvest Food Bank CEO Eric Aft announced that Second Harvest would be opening its first satellite location at the Renaissance Shops at Phillips Avenue in the space that was the home of the Renaissance Community Co-op. Aft said they hoped to get the renovation completed by the end of the year, but planned to start using the site before the renovation was finished.

Second Harvest is headquartered in Winston-Salem but serves 18 counties in the area.

Greensboro Parks and Recreation Director Nasha McCray gave a report on the $1.2 million in improvements being made to Peeler Recreation Center. The improvements are being funded in part with a national grant Greensboro received for improving parks and public spaces in economically distressed areas. McCray said Greensboro was the only city in the state to receive funding from this source.

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