Author: John Hammer

A bill passed by the North Carolina state legislature on Monday, Nov. 29, if signed by Gov. Roy Cooper, will alter the way the Greensboro City Council does business.

The City of Greensboro garbage-recycling pickup schedule in principle is pretty simple, but in practice it can be devilishly confusing.

The Randolph County Board of Commissioners has scheduled a public hearing to consider economic incentives and the transfer of land for the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite to an unnamed company at a public hearing at a special meeting on Monday, Dec. 6 at 9 a.m.

Greensboro is holding a virtual “community conversation” about the development of East Gate City Boulevard at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 2.

The Greensboro City Council is attempting to get a lot of work done before the holiday break. Or maybe it’s before the official campaign season kicks off, when filing for the City Council election opens on Monday, Dec. 6.

Downtown in December, with a variety of experiences to bring the holiday spirit downtown, officially kicks off on Saturday, Nov. 27 with Small Business Saturday.  One of the features of Small Business Saturday is a downtown trolley that will operate from noon to 5 p.m.

The latest crime data report from the City of Greensboro indicates that the city will not set a new record for homicides in 2021.

Subscribers to the News & Record may think that Greensboro’s daily newspaper couldn’t get much thinner. But a hedge fund known for laying off journalists, selling real estate and cutting newsroom budgets is making a play to buy Lee Enterprises, which owns the News & Record, the Winston-Salem Journal and about 90 other publications.

District 4 Greensboro City Councilmember Nancy Hoffmann was appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper to the North Carolina Local Government Commission (LGC).

The Greensboro City Council is meeting to continue the process of hiring a new city manager on Monday, Nov. 29 at 9 a.m.

If you live near Piedmont Triad International Airport, on Monday, Nov. 22, you may notice that your water smells or tastes different. In the rest of the city, water customers may notice similar changes in their water later this month or in early December. 

In his second term, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper had a brand new experience on Thursday, Nov. 18. Cooper signed a state budget. 

On Tuesday, Nov. 11, the Rhino Times posted an article raising questions about the proposed City Council resolution to place $135 million in bonds on the 2022 City Council general election ballot. As a result of that article, city staff revised the resolution, but didn’t mention that revision at the City Council meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 17, when the City Council unanimously approved the revised resolution.

You may not have noticed, but there was a major shift of power at the White House on the morning of Friday, Nov. 19.

Speculation about the $338 million in the North Carolina state budget signed into law on Thursday, Nov. 18 for the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite is rampant.

Two economic incentive packages were unanimously approved by the Greensboro City Council at the Wednesday, Nov. 18 meeting.

Since April 2020, City Council meetings have been far from normal, and the Wednesday, Nov. 18 meeting was another first.

Buried on page 293 of the state budget is an allocation that could be a game changer for Greensboro. In the section of the state budget titled “Economic Development Project Appropriation,” a total of $320 million dollars is allocated to the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite as an economic incentive for a development that involves a private investment of at least $1 billion in private funds that would create at least 1,750 new jobs. The fact that the money is being made available indicates that the state believes the site is under serious consideration for a major industrial project. There is no indication in the bill as to the identity of that manufacturer other than the figures in the bill.  

After Mayor Nancy Vaughan brought up providing Greensboro police officers with take-home police cars for the third time at the Wednesday, Nov. 17 City Council meeting, it passed unanimously.

The Greensboro Planning Department this week released the fourth quarter of 2021 report on how the new comprehensive plan for the City of Greensboro GSO 2040, which went into effect on July 1, 2020 is progressing.

The City Council is scheduled to consider “take home” cars for the Greensboro Police Department (GPD) at the Wednesday, Nov. 17 meeting.

North Carolina is going to have a budget in 2021. It may not sound like big news, but it is.

Thursday, Nov. 18 from 2 to 7 p.m., the public is invited to an open house at the Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts.  The open house is free and gives people an opportunity to tour the Tanger Center and view what the public-private partnership, formed to build the new performing arts center, has accomplished.

Republican Lee Haywood announced his candidacy for the North Carolina 7th Congressional District on Sunday, Nov. 14.

The vote to end the mask mandate in Guilford County by the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, sitting as the Guilford County Board of Health, is expected on Monday, Nov. 15. On Friday, Nov. 12, Interim Greensboro City Manager Chris Wilson sent an email to city employees about how the city would move forward if the Guilford County mask mandate is lifted. 

The Greensboro City Council included in the 2021-2022 budget an additional $75,000 for Greensboro-Guilford Crime Stoppers program and it appears to have been money well spent.

However, there is a widespread rumor that once the county rescinds the mask mandate the City of Greensboro will implement its own mask mandate.

The controversial Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) to the Greensboro Police Department (GPD) is once again on the agenda for the Wednesday, Nov. 17 Greensboro City Council meeting.

Those traveling past the corner of West Friendly Avenue and North Eugene Street this month must be thinking, where’s the fire? The city has contracted to have the Monarch Behavioral Health Building at 201 N. Eugene St. demolished, but before the demolition begins the Greensboro Fire Department was given access to the building throughout the month of November to conduct training exercises.

The first version of the agenda for the Greensboro City Council meeting at 5:30 pm. on Wednesday, Nov. 17 in the Katie Dorsett Council Chamber has been released.

The deadline for applying for some of the $29.7 million in American Rescue Plan funding the city received in May ended on Friday, Nov. 5.

The City Council met on Tuesday, Nov. 9 and will meet again on Thursday, Nov. 10.

With the holidays fast approaching, the Greensboro Parks and Recreation Department is providing a number of ways to celebrate.

The Greensboro City Council held its first in person meeting since July on Monday, Nov. 1.

Four Republicans candidates for Guilford County sheriff spoke at the monthly meeting of the Guilford County Republican Party on Monday, Nov. 8 at The Worship Place at 1807 Merritt Dr.

The Greensboro City Council is meeting twice this week to continue the process of selecting and hiring a new city manager.

It’s official, at least until the first court cases are heard, Guilford County is going from one member of Congress to three.

The North Carolina Legislature approved the redistricting maps for the state House and state Senate on Thursday, Nov. 4.

Most City of Greensboro offices and facilities will be closed for Veterans Day, Thursday, Nov. 11.

It’s hard to believe the first Friday of the penultimate month of the year will be here shortly, which means Downtown Greensboro Inc’s First Friday Night Live will be bringing live music to downtown Greensboro on Friday, Nov. 5.

During the public comment period at the Monday, Nov. 1 meeting, the City Council heard from a number of residents of the Jamison Mobile Home Park and their supporters.

The Greensboro City Council voted unanimously to oppose Summerfield’s request for extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) at the Monday, Nov. 1 meeting.

State Rep. Jon Hardister (R-Guilford), as the chair of the NC House Education – Universities Committee and House majority whip, sent a strongly worded letter to UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz about a mandatory “equity, diversity and inclusion” training program. The letter was co-signed by 52 state representatives and 15 state senators.

City councilmembers seemed surprised and confused over the recent protest by city employees over the recent change to a step plan for employee compensation.

Councilmember Hugh Holston made a motion that the city staff develop a plan that would result in the Police Department being fully staffed in 18 to 24 months at the Monday, Nov. 1 City Council meeting.

The first meeting of the Greensboro City Council in the Katie Dorsett Council Chamber since July had a little bit of everything. Since this was the first in-person meeting of the City Council in a quarter of a year, you could expect some hiccups. But what nobody was expecting was for the fire alarm in city hall to go off at 6:21 p.m. just 40 minutes after the City Council meeting started shortly after 5:30 p.m.