Author: John Hammer

Driving around Winston-Salem got a whole lot easier this weekend with the opening of Salem Parkway, what used to be called Business 40, through the city.

Tournament tickets are not cheap and are generally hard to come by, but there is an event at the Greensboro Coliseum in conjunction with the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament where tickets are free: KC And The Sunshine Band will be performing a free concert at White Oak Amphitheatre on Friday, March 13 at 4 p.m.

The brand new city office of arts and culture, which has decided to call itself “Creative Greensboro,” has gotten off on the wrong foot with some in the artistic community that the office is supposed to support.

The Greensboro City Council will hold its second meeting under the new format on Tuesday, Feb. 3 at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chamber.

Brian James was sworn in as Greensboro police chief in a ceremony at the Carolina Theatre before over 500 people on Friday, Jan. 31.

There is a battle of press releases going on in Raleigh this week between North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and North Carolina State Treasurer Dale Folwell.

The City of Greensboro announced Wednesday, Jan.29, that Assistant Director of the Water Resources Department Mike Borchers is being promoted to director of the Water Resources Department on Feb. 1.

Deputy Police Chief Brian James will be sworn in as Greensboro police chief at 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 31 at the Carolina Theatre at 310 S. Greene St.

Warren Buffett announced he is selling the News & Record and the rest of BH Media to Lee Enterprises of Iowa for $140 million.

A lot of Republicans want to be the next North Carolina lieutenant governor, and all but one made it to High Point for a candidates forum on Wednesday evening, Jan. 29.

Water Resources Director Steve Drew is retiring at the end of the month after over 40 years working for the water department of the City of Greensboro.

At nearly every meeting, the Greensboro City Council discusses appointments to the various boards and commissions. It’s the kind of job that is never finished, but to their credit city councilmembers do work on making appointments constantly, and as usual there are some interesting openings.

The Greensboro City Council created a brand new department last year – the Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs.In September, Ryan Deal was hired as the chief creative economy officer to head the department.

Greensboro’s new police chief, Brian James, will be sworn into office on Friday, Jan.31, and some former police officers are hoping one of the changes he will make will be to reinstate a program more than 60 years old that ended on Dec. 31, 2019.
The program, last known as “sworn bolunteers,” has also been known as “reserve police officers” and “auxiliary police officers.” It is made up of retired and former police officers who are certified law enforcement officers and volunteer their time to assist the Police Department.

The Greensboro Department of Transportation (GDOT) has a new director and is headed in a new direction, according to City Manager David Parrish.

Mayor Nancy Vaughan missed the first City Council meeting of the year, which is unusual, but she had a pretty good excuse.Vaughan had traveled with a group from Greensboro to Uganda, more specifically to the Kyangwali Refugee Settlement Center near the city of Hoima, and didn’t quite make it back in time for the meeting. She said they flew from Greensboro to JFK International Airport in New York, from there to Nairobi, then to Entebbe, where they took a van to Hoima, which is about 90 minutes by van from the Kyangwali refugee camp.

The 2020 presidential primary season starts in 10 days, with the Iowa Caucuses on Monday, Feb. 3.One month later, North Carolina will hold its primaries on March 3, Super Tuesday, when a total of 14 states will hold their primaries.

On July 16, 2019, the Greensboro City Council voted to offer Pactiv $167,000 in economic incentives, and Friday, Jan. 24, the North Carolina Department of Commerce announced Pactiv would be bringing 25 new jobs to Greensboro and invest a minimum of $8 million to expand its current facility.

The Indigo Girls will perform a free concert at Piedmont Hall, part of the Greensboro Coliseum Complex, beginning at 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 7.

The Greensboro City Council denied a rezoning request for a small business that had no opposition at the Tuesday, Jan. 21 meeting.

The Downtown Greenway dodged a bullet in the form of a loss of funding from the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), which was explained at the Greensboro Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (GUAMPO) meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 22.

It looks like the Greensboro City Council will have a hot rezoning case on the agenda for the Tuesday, Feb. 18 meeting.

Former Page High School Basketball Coach Mac Morris has been named to the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.

Deputy Police Chief Brian James won’t be sworn in as the Greensboro Police Chief until next week, but he held his first community forum as police chief on Wednesday, Jan. 22 at Peeler Recreation Center and answered every question thrown at him for two hours.

Imagine you’re finishing out your bucket list with a hike up the Himalayas and, suddenly, you wonder if that toilet at your house back in Greensboro was still running or had finally been fixed.

The presentation the City Council heard on Permanent Supportive Housing at the City Council Work Session in the Plaza Level Conference Room on Tuesday, Jan. 21, didn’t turn out quite like the supporters intended.

Score one for the Working class & Homeless Organizing Alliance (WHOA).

Downtown Greensboro Inc. (DGI) announced it has received a $20,000 grant from Lincoln Financial for the 2020 version of the Downtown Greensboro Summer Passport Program.

The Greensboro City Council will hold its first business meeting of 2020 on Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chamber.

Deputy Police Chief Brian James, who will take over as police chief on Feb. 1, will appear at a community forum on Wednesday, Jan. 22 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Peeler Recreation Center at 1300 Sykes Ave.

The housing market in Guilford County the last quarter of 2019 was up in almost every category according to a report from the Greensboro Regional Realtors Association.

City Councilmember Justin Outling described his monthly “Java with Justin” meetings as “eclectic” discussions with a “diverse” group of people.

There is little doubt about who is calling the shots on the Greensboro City Council and it isn’t Mayor Nancy Vaughan, Mayor Pro Tem Yvonne Johnson or any of the councilmembers with some seniority.It’s City Councilmember Michelle Kennedy who is in her first term.

If you believe in coincidences, here’s one.Point South Association has been in a dispute with the City of Greensboro for about a year about being charged by the city to empty a dumpster that didn’t exist for 12 years.

The judges who oversee the courts in Guilford County on Wednesday, Jan. 16 announced a new policy on setting bonds that should reduce the number of people in the Guilford County jails.

The Greensboro City Council approved the $1.7 million incentive for Syngenta at a special meeting on Thursday, Jan. 16 in the Council Chamber.

The City of Greensboro has released the conditions for the $1.7 million economic incentive package being considered for Syngenta.

District 2 City Councilmember Goldie Wells is holding a town hall meeting on Thursday, Jan. 16 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Bennett College Global Learning Center at 521 Gorrell St.City Councilmember Justin Outling is holding his monthly “Java with Justin” on Friday, Jan. 17 at 8:30 a.m. at Dolce Aroma coffee shop at 233 N. Elm St.

Monday, Jan. 20 is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a holiday recognized by the City of Greensboro, which means city offices are closed.

Downtown Greensboro Inc. (DGI) is holding a series of pop-ups in January, but these aren’t shops.These will be pop-up events to gather more input from people on the proposed 2030 Vision strategic action plan.

North Carolina won’t have a 2019-2021 budget according to President Pro Tem Sen. Phil Berger, who held a press conference in Raleigh on Tuesday, Jan. 14 to make the announcement.

Deputy Police Chief Brian James will be the next Greensboro police chief according to a press release from the City of Greensboro on Tuesday, Jan. 14.

Greensboro City Attorney Chuck Watts said he thought the article in the Rhino Times about the Point South Homeowners Association lawsuit gave an unfair representation of the city’s position.Point South is suing Greensboro because, in 2019, the homeowners association discovered that it had paid for dumpster service on a dumpster it didn’t have from 2007 to 2019 and the amount of the overpayment was $68,000.

About 30 neighbors met Monday night, Jan. 13, at the McNairy Library to discuss how best to oppose the rezoning request for the corner of Lake Jeanette Road and Lawndale Drive.

This is the week in between regular City Council meetings and is usually a slow week as far as City Council business is concerned. But on Thursday, Jan. 16, the City Council is holding a special meeting at 4 p.m. on an incentive request that has a lot of implications.The request is from Syngenta for $1.7 million.

Guilford County District Court Judge Mark Cummings resigned from the bench effective Dec. 20 according to the Raleigh News & Observer.

City of Greensboro meetings in 2020 so far have at least on thing in common, someone makes a plea for people to participate in the 2020 Census.

Every City Council town hall meeting begins with speakers who have signed up to speak about SCAT, the paratransit service of the Greensboro Transit Agency (GTA).

The first City Council meeting of 2020 on Tuesday, Jan. 7 was also the first meeting under the new format where city business is conducted at the first meeting of the month and it went well.

There is a good chance that the Greensboro City Council is going to turn down a $138,000 Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) from the US Department of Justice when the money is awarded.