Author: John Hammer

Elizabeth’s Pizza is a great place to eat, but not such a good place for a Greensboro City Councilmember to hold a “Community Conversation.”

Over 1,000 dogs (and their owners) will be taking over the Greensboro Coliseum from Friday, Aug. 16 through Sunday, Aug. 18.  

The announcement on Friday, Aug. 9 by Greensboro Police Chief Wayne Scott that he would be retiring on Jan. 31, 2020 may have caught some people off guard, but it was no surprise to the City Council.

Greensboro announced a new glass recycling collection location today – the Glenn McNairy Library at 4860 Lake Jeanette Road.

Chief’s Corner, a video by Greensboro Police Chief Wayne Scott to update police employees, has a surprise ending this week that seems fitting in the hometown of O. Henry.

Chantal, Dorian, Erin, Fernand and Gabrielle are not the most popular baby names for 2019, but according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the next couple of months those names could become as well known as Florence, Hugo and Hazel.

The new North Carolina chapter of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International is holding its inaugural meeting Tuesday, Aug. 13 at 5:30 p.m. at the Grandover Resort. 

Three Greensboro city councilmembers have announced community forums, conversations, chats, town hall meetings or whatever they choose to call them.

The Greensboro City Council lost its appeal of a gag order imposed by Superior Court Judge Susan Bray concerning the contents of police body worn camera videos that the City Council had requested permission to view.

North Carolina is now well into its second month without a state budget.

Since the “Good Repair” ordinance setting building maintenance standards for nonresidential buildings in Greensboro went into effect on Tuesday, July 16 two complaints have been filed with the City of Greensboro and neither is for a building in the downtown area.

Greensboro has a long history of being unable to collect parking ticket fines and has come up with a unique way for people to pay those fines – with school supplies instead of cash.

National Night Out is Tuesday, Aug. 6, which is tonight.

The second Greensboro City Council offsite town hall meeting held Monday, Aug 5 at the Union Square campus on Gate City Boulevard wasn’t as successful as the first with less than 30 people other than city staff in attendance.

At large City Councilmember Marikay Abuzuaiter ran the Monday, Aug. 5 Greensboro City Council town hall type meeting at the Union Square campus on Gate City Boulevard and by the end it was clear that Abuzuaiter would not tolerate disruptive behavior.

In it’s second year the North Carolina Folk Festival is adding a new event to raise money for the three day folk festival in downtown Greensboro.

Brightwood Park at 4698 Ferrell Dr. is a recipient of a Meet Me at the Park Play Space Grant from the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) and the Walt Disney Company

The Greensboro City Council has increased the degree of difficulty for those who wish to speak to them.

The Greensboro Board of Adjustment had a tough call at it’s meeting this week. In fact the board had a tough time meeting at all.

It almost seems as if the Wyndham Championship attracts thunderstorms.Parts of Greensboro received 7 inches of rain on Wednesday evening, but fortunately Sedgefield only got about an inch. 

The attorneys representing the parents of Marcus Deon Smith in their lawsuit against the City of Greensboro, Guilford County, eight Greensboro police officers and two Guilford County paramedics on Friday, July 26 filed responses to the motions for the lawsuit to be dismissed from both Greensboro and Guilford County. 

The Guilford College New Garden Heritage Community website (https://www.greensboro-nc.gov/Home/ShowDocument?id=33389) is an impressive piece of work.

Greensboro has been funded to do a study of historic buildings in the city that were designed and built by African Americans.

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, drones are an ever increasing part of life in the 21st century.

Taking a train to the Wyndham is a great way for those concerned about their personal carbon footprint or who hate the idea of fighting traffic and parking to attend the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield County Club Thursday, Aug. 1 through Sunday, Aug. 4.

The city of Greensboro wants to know if you like where you live.Actually, if you do like where you live Greensboro doesn’t want to hear from you, but if you don’t then the city id conducting a survey to find out all about it.

Wyndham, Wrangler and Lee you can’t get much more Greensboro than that.

Serving on a City Council appointed board or commission is not only a service to the community, it’s also great way for someone who thinks they may be interested in politics to get their feet wet.

Hiking, biking, running, paddling, rolling, sliding and a lot of other outdoor activities will be taking place at Greensboro Country Park on Saturday, July 27 from 8 a.m. to noon to celebrate Greensboro Trails Day.

The Greensboro City Council spends most of its time talking about local issues bus fares, water rates, taxes, construction contracts and the like, but at the meeting last week Councilmember Tammi Thurm brought up an issue that is becoming a huge problem in this world of instantaneous worldwide communication.

The group of people that appeared to living on the sidewalk in downtown Greensboro next to Center City Park, should have a roof over their heads tonight.

Hilltop Road is moving or at least part of is.In order to build a bridge over the railroad tracks that cross Hilltop Road at the D.H. Griffin Wrecking Company the NC Department of Transportation (NCDOT) plans to move the road south.

The $2.50 recycling fee that the City Council and the public was told was being added to the city services bill July 1 to cover the increased cost of recycling, doesn’t exist.

The annual open house for the Eastern Music Festival is Sunday, July 21 at Guilford College. It’s an afternoon of free concerts open to the public and it marks beginning of the last week of the 2019 Eastern Music Festival  which ends Saturday, July 27.

Implementing a Cure Violence program in Greensboro has been a matter of discussion for over a year and it was brought up again by City Councilmember Sharon Hightower at the City Council Work Session Tuesday July 16 in the Plaza Level Conference Room.

A lot more than the top golfers in the world doing what they do best, goes on during the week of Wyndham Championship which begins on Thursday, Aug. 1 at the Sedgefield Country Club and it’s not just having a few adult beverages and catching up with old friends.

On July 1 doing business for the City of Greensboro got a lot more complicated and a lot less local because of the plethora of new Minority and Women’s Business Enterprise (MWBE) initiatives.

After all the debate, meetings and delays the “Good Repair” ordinance was passed by a unanimous vote of the City Council at it’s meeting Tuesday, July 16 in the Council Chamber.

It appears everything on New Garden Road has already been or is in the process of being rezoned.

It appears the “Good Repair” ordinance which has been on the City Council’s plate since February and is on the agenda for the Tuesday, July 16 City Council meeting is good to go.

The Wyndham Championship will be here in less than three weeks, which is hard to believe.

Now there’s an app for people who want to go somewhere and do something.

According to CNBC North Carolina ranks third in the nation for doing business, that’s up from ninth in the same survey in 2018.

The latest report out of the budget impasse in Raleigh could be great news for Guilford County.  It appears Guilford County is being considered for the new Department of Health and Human Services headquarters.  It’s a $250 million project which would bring an estimated 2,000 jobs to the county.

Greensboro may be the third largest city in North Carolina but in recreation it was ranked number one in the state according to a recent study done by WalletHub.

What’s going on with the Westin Hotel-February One Place parking deck project?
Not much.

The Greensboro City Council took its show on the road Monday night with mixed success.The monthly City Council town hall meeting held Monday, July 8 was at the Barber Park Event Center on Barber Park Road instead of in the Council Chambers at city hall.  It was also held on Monday instead of Tuesday which is the usual City Council meeting day. 

In the North Carolina state House this week the big news is the battle for Democratic votes to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of the $24 billion state budget.

The Greensboro City Council quietly solved the neighborhood controversy over the development of two lots at 1107 and 1109 Latham Road across the street from Latham Park and more importantly from Buffalo Creek which frequently floods.

The Republican led North Carolina legislature passed the $24 billion state budget and the Democratic Governor, Roy Cooper promptly vetoed it which means even though the new fiscal year started July 1 the state has no budget.