Author: John Hammer

In the midst of constant reports on the preparations for Hurricane Dorian’s expected visit to the North Carolina coast, Greensboro is preparing for the second annual North Carolina Folk Festival to be held Friday, Sept. 6 through Sunday Sept. 8.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signed three of the four mini-budget bills that the legislature has sent him and it appears he’s going to get a lot opportunity to sign bills in the coming weeks.

After the Tuesday, Sept. 3 City Council meeting it appears that at least some members of the Greensboro City Council are going to watch the police body worn camera videos from an incident downtown on Sept. 13, 2016, which they can’t talk about.

Two very different theories were heard from city councilmembers about the “crime crescent” in East Greensboro during a discussion led by Assistant City Manager Trey Davis on violent crime at the Greensboro City Council work session on Tuesday, Sept. 3 in the Public Safety Training Center on Church Street.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 3, sent out a tweet stating, “At the request of Senator Thom Tillis, I am getting North Carolina Emergency Declaration completed and signed tonight. Hope you won’t need it.”

It looks like North Carolina is likely to suffer some damage from Hurricane Dorian, which makes the bill that Sen. Thom Tillis said last week that he plans to introduce even more relevant.

Greensboro Water Resources Director Steven Drew gave a report on the city’s work on environmental sustainability to the City Council in July. The City Council is scheduled to hear the report again at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 3 at the Public Safety Training Facility at 1510 N. Church St. at 5:30 p.m.

At the moment, it doesn’t appear that Hurricane Dorian is going to come as far west as Greensboro, but hurricanes, even with all the current technology, are difficult to predict.

Monday, Sept. 2 is Labor Day, recognized as the unofficial end of summer even though the autumnal equinox – the actual end of summer and beginning of fall – is three weeks away on Monday, Sept. 23, and school started this week meaning summer vacation has already ended.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper answered the question about what he would do with the budget coming to him in a lot of little packages instead of one big one.

The Piedmont Triad International Airport is spurring industrial development in Rockingham County.

The Greensboro City Council will take its traveling show on the road again Tuesday, Sept. 3, not only for first meeting of the month – which is devoted to a public comment period – but also for a work session.

Bus shelters were a hot topic this week.

Information is king, and people in downtown Greensboro will have a new way to access information about the downtown as soon as the installation process currently underway is complete.

The North Carolina Folk Festival, an outdoor music festival that will fill downtown Greensboro with music lovers from Friday, Sept. 6 to Sunday, Sept. 8, this year is offering an option for folks who love music but like to go inside every now and then – Folk Fest Music Spots.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper got some really bad news from the legislature this week.

The Greensboro Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (GUAMPO) covered a lot of territory during its meeting Wednesday, Aug. 28 in the Greensboro City Council Chamber.

If you have a nonprofit – 501(c)(3) – are forming a nonprofit or think you will have your 501(c)(3) status by April 2021, then the Future Fund might want to give you some money.

The Greensboro Transit Advisory Commission (GTAC), formerly the Greensboro Transit Authority (GTA), elected J.D. Galyon chair on Tuesday, Aug. 27. It is the first time this commission has elected a chair.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper received a letter Monday, Aug. 26 that is likely the first of many similar letters he will receive in the coming days.

While the tax refund bill is working its way through the North Carolina legislature with approval as much a sure thing as anything in politics can be, the Republican-controlled legislature has begun a workaround for Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s budget veto.

Homecoming at North Carolina A&T State University is billed as the Greatest Homecoming on Earth, and not without good reason.

The current Board of Adjustment does a good job of trying to see things from the perspective of the property owner and helping them improve their property despite the myriad of city regulations put in place over the years.  

After 27 weeks and more than 900 hours of training, 26 police recruits graduated for the 106th Greensboro Police Academy and were sworn in as Greensboro Police Officers, on Thursday, Aug. 22 at the Carolina Theatre.

The Greensboro Parks and Recreation Department posts some pretty impressive numbers in its annual report: 4.2 million visits, $16.2 million in economic impact, 5,496 volunteers, 41,026 volunteer hours and 11,950 youth volunteer hours, 177 special events hosted and 24 free concerts, to name a few.

Gov. Roy Cooper has vetoed the bill passed by the North Carolina legislature with bipartisan votes to revise the “Read to Achieve” program.

It looks like about 5 million North Carolinians may be getting a check from the state this year.

The recycling program in Greensboro is going through some changes.

It doesn’t seem that long ago that food trucks were effectively banned from downtown Greensboro, but you’d never suspect that if you happen to wander downtown on Sunday, Aug. 25 and find yourself in the midst of Greensboro’s Food Truck Festival.

The North Carolina Folk Festival, which will be held in downtown Greensboro Sept. 6 through Sept. 8, has discovered that it has too many blue barrels and would like your help.

Sleight of hand might best describe what happened to make the financial arrangements for the February One-Westin Hotel parking deck disappear from the resolution passed by the Greensboro City Council at the meeting Tuesday, Aug. 20.

The Greensboro City Council didn’t discuss or explain the new contract for architectural services for the Tanger Center for the Performing Arts at the meeting Tuesday, Aug. 20, before passing the motion on a 7-1 vote with Councilmember Sharon Hightower voting no.

Sometimes if the Greensboro City Council didn’t talk about the Minority and Women’s Business Enterprise program, it seems it wouldn’t talk at all.

The most interested part of the Tuesday, Aug. 20 City Council meeting was not what happened but what didn’t and what that means for the September meeting.

The Greensboro Zoning Commission approved a 120 unit multifamily complex in East Greensboro.

The City Council has spent considerable time lately on recycling, but Tuesday, Aug. 20, the contents of the green can, not the brown can, is on the agenda.

If you were planning to attend the Guilford delegation town hall meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 20 at Peeler Recreation Center, you just got a night off, because the meeting has been postponed.

District 3 City Councilmember Justin Outling held the monthly “Java with Justin” meeting at 8:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 16, but not at the previously disclosed location.

The rezoning request for 1302 New Garden Road appears to be the most controversial item on the agenda for the Tuesday, Aug. 20 Greensboro City Council meeting, but City Council meetings are full of surprises.

The budget battle in Raleigh continues and President Pro Tem of the North Carolina Senate Phil Berger is now talking about doing something that has to send fear straight to the hearts of his opponents.

The current projection on the Downtown Greenway is that it will be completed in 2020 at a cost of $40 million.

If you spent any time at the North Carolina beaches this summer, it’s likely you saw blue and teal sun canopies that might have appeared to be missing a couple of parts because the back flapped in the wind.

The North Carolina Folk Festival, which starts Friday, Sept. 6 and runs through Sunday, Sept. 8, announced the schedule for the free three-day festival that celebrates America’s roots and heritage in downtown Greensboro.

The 121st annual Central Carolina Fair will be held at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex Friday, Sept. 6 through Sunday, Sept. 15.

No rational person wants to sit down and read the “Greensboro Department of Transportation Annual Report 2018-2019,” but it does have some interesting highlights.

Every newspaper and news website makes mistakes, but there is a difference between a mistake and an attempt to rewrite history.

The City Council discussion of the New Garden Road Strategic Plan, which was scheduled for the Aug. 20 City Council meeting, has reportedly been delayed until September.

The war of press releases continues in Raleigh, but this time, instead of going after Gov. Roy Cooper, the Republicans are going after the Raleigh News & Observer.

Director of the Greensboro Department of Transportation (GDOT) Adam Fischer is retiring at the end of the month.

Some have incorrectly linked Greensboro Police Chief Wayne Scott’s retirement to demands from speakers at City Council meetings and others that Scott be fired over the way police handled the incident involving the death of Marcus Deon Smith on Sept. 8, 2018.