Author: John Hammer

The Greensboro City Council voted to deny awarding a $200,000 contract to Family Services of the Piedmont for housing counseling at the Tuesday, March 1 City Council meeting.

So the spur of the moment decision by the City Council to reopen North Eugene Street and halt construction has cost the city $231,634, and that is what the city is paying Yates not to work.

On Tuesday, March 1, Guilford County announced that it had met that criteria and that all three national bond rating agencies – Fitch Ratings, S&P Global Ratings, and Moody’s Investor’s Service – had determined that Guilford County’s credit is as good as it comes. 

On a clear sunny spring day, you don’t expect a power outage, but over 700 Duke Energy customers in downtown Greensboro lost power on Tuesday, March 1 at shortly after 1 p.m.

Greensboro City Workers Union members plan to speak at the March 1 City Council meeting against the way the step pay plan for city employees is being implemented.

The issues involved in awarding the $200,000 housing counseling contract are more complicated than indicated in the Rhino Times article headlined, “Controversial Housing Counseling Contract To Be Considered March 1,” according to Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan.

Changes keep coming at the top of City of Greensboro government. Assistant City Manager Kim Sowell was named Durham County manager by the Durham County Board of Commissioners on Monday, Feb. 28.

An item on the agenda for the Tuesday, March 1 City Council meeting, which  appears mundane, has had a lot of behind-the-scenes controversy. The agenda item is to award a two-year $200,000 contract to Family Service of the Piedmont for homebuyer education and housing counseling services.

The Downtown Greenway, a 12-foot-wide sidewalk around downtown Greensboro, was begun in 2001 and construction on the final mile of the four-mile Downtown Greenway could begin as soon as April of this year.  

At the Greensboro City Council work session on Thursday, Feb. 24, it was clear that Mayor Nancy Vaughan and city staff are not on the same page on solving downtown parking issues.

The Greensboro City Council expressed full support of the proposed new contract to run the city’s bus system at the Thursday, Feb. 24 virtual work session.

The Greensboro City Council is holding a virtual work session on the Greensboro Transit Agency (GTA) and parking beginning at 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 24.

Filing for the 2022 elections reopened as scheduled on Thursday, Feb. 24 after rulings made by the North Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday, Feb. 23.

It appears The BORO is coming to downtown Greensboro on March 1.

Mayor Nancy Vaughan said at the Feb. 15 meeting that she wanted to have a work session on water.

The Greensboro City Council has scheduled a virtual work session for Thursday, Feb. 24 beginning at 2 p.m.

According to the report on crime data by Greensboro Police Chief Brian James, the first weeks of 2022 look a lot like the first weeks of 2021.

Several hundred Republicans gathered in Summerfield on Saturday, Feb. 19 and Republican candidates for Guilford County Commissioner were given the opportunity to say a few words about themselves and why they were running.

Presidents Day Monday Feb. 21 has become one of those holidays where people wonder why their mail wasn’t delivered.

At times it appears Greensboro gets overlooked down in Raleigh. However, that is not the case when it comes to the latest round of redistricting.

The North Carolina General Assembly met the deadline imposed by the North Carolina Supreme Court and approved new congressional and state legislative district maps on Thursday, Feb. 17.

With the 2021 City Council election currently scheduled for a May 17 primary and a July 26, general election it’s already a bizarre election year. The first candidates forum of this strange election year held by United Way of Greater Greensboro fit right in. It is unusual to hold a candidates forum before filing has closed since until filing closes, there is no way to know who is actually running. 

Greensboro City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba started work on Feb. 1 so the Tuesday, Feb. 15 meeting was his first Greensboro City Council business meeting.

Sometimes the city moves so slowly you can hardly detect any motion at all. Changing Greene Street from a one-way, two-way, one-way street into a two-way street would be a good example.

The City Council voted 9-0 to approve the sale of the 3-acre lot by the Greensboro Development Commission to Lidl at the Tuesday, Feb. 15 meeting.  The Greensboro Development Commission had voted unanimously to approve the project.

The North Carolina Supreme Court published its 207-page opinion ruling that the congressional and state legislative districts drawn by the state legislature are unconstitutional on Monday, Feb. 14.

It appears the desire for a grocery store in a food desert may trump any concerns about parking and downtown development at the Greensboro City Council meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 15.

Creative Greensboro, what the City of Greensboro calls its office of arts and culture, has announced that the work of 10 local visual artists will be featured on the 11 digital kiosks in downtown Greensboro.

The United Way of Greater Greensboro has scheduled a virtual forum via Zoom for three mayoral candidates on Wednesday, Feb. 16 from noon to 1 p.m. The three mayoral candidates who have been invited to participate are Mayor Nancy Vaughan, District 3 City Councilmember Justin Outling and Eric Robert.

A resolution on the Feb. 15 City Council agenda to approve a recommendation from the Greensboro Redevelopment Commission to sell part of the Union Square campus for a stand-alone grocery store is getting pushback from a prominent downtown developer.

Greensboro City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba, who started work on Feb.1, began holding “Talk with Tai: City Manager Listening Sessions” on Tuesday, Feb. 8. Jaiyeoba plans to hold two “Talk with Tai” sessions in each of the five City Council districts, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. 

The Greensboro City Council meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 15 could be a short one.

Roy Carroll, the president and owner of The Carroll Companies, is bringing an entirely different kind of racin’ to First National Bank Field in downtown Greensboro this summer and, to be clear, unlike NASCAR in The Coliseum in Los Angeles, no cars will be racing on the Grasshoppers home turf.  But on June 11 and June 12, Carroll is inviting the community to First Bank Field to watch a live broadcast of the Bee Safe Le Mans team race in the Le Mans 24 Hours.

In settling a lawsuit, Guilford County has agreed that people have a right to pray, even during a pandemic and even when Guilford County officials don’t agree with their political views.

The first debate for the Republican primary for the US Senate seat, which is being sponsored by the John Locke Foundation, is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 26 from 3:30 to 4:30 pm.

Republican Bill Schuch of High Point, a first time candidate has filed the necessary paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to run for Congress in North Carolina.  The filing lists the Schuch as a candidate in the 6th District. 

Greensboro City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba held his first “Talk with Tai” listening session at the Smith Active Adult Center on Fairview Street Tuesday, Feb. 8 at 12:15 p.m.

The 4-3 North Carolina Supreme Court decision finding the congressional and legislative districts unconstitutional due too overly partisan gerrymandering leaves a number of key questions unanswered.

As expected, on a straight party-line vote, the North Carolina Supreme Court found the congressional and state legislative districts drawn by the Republican state legislature unconstitutional.

Retired Greensboro Deputy Police Chief James E. Hinson Jr., who was born on Jan. 18, 1968, died Wednesday, Feb. 2.

Filing for the 2022 election is currently scheduled to reopen at 8 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 24 and end at noon on Friday, March 4.

This isn’t the kind of weather that has people thinking about the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market on Yanceyville Street, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t open. The Greensboro Farmers Market is open indoors and outdoors from 7:30 a.m. to noon every Saturday.

Tuesday, Feb. 1 was new Greensboro City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba’s first day at the head of the City of Greensboro government.

The Carroll Companies has purchased the former 140,000-square-foot Macy’s department store at 5410 Hornaday Road with plans to revitalize the building into a Bee Safe Storage and Wine Cellar.

Greensboro City Attorney Chuck Watts announced a settlement agreement in the wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Marcus Deon Smith at the Tuesday, Feb. 1 City Council meeting.

The City of Greensboro is in the process of kicking off another round of participatory budgeting, which will be funded with $500,000 in the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

Tuesday, Feb. 1 starts a new era in City of Greensboro government as the day City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba starts his new job.

Because of COVID restrictions, a lot of people got out of their normal exercise routines.  Fewer opportunities to exercise and more opportunities to eat has resulted in people having to deal with the COVID Nineteen and Cycle North Carolina has a solution – the 2022 Cycle NC Mountains to the Coast.

It isn’t definite, but the odds that the statewide primary election including the Greensboro City Council primary will be held on Tuesday, May 17 have increased.