The Greensboro City Council has three official virtual meetings on Tuesday, Oct. 6.
The first meeting is a work session at 3 p.m. to discuss the long-term strategic goals set by the council in February and economic development.
Councilmember Justin Outling has been requesting a work session on economic development for months.
The second virtual meeting at 5:30 p.m. is the monthly City Council public forum or town hall meeting. The main purpose of the meeting is supposed to be to hear concerns from the public, but since the City Council started meeting virtually in April it has not allowed a single speaker at these “public forums.” Instead, people are invited to email the City Council with their concerns. The meeting agenda states that these emails will be summarized at the meeting, but so far they have not been.
People can signup to speak on public hearing items, like rezoning requests, but people have not been allowed to sign up to speak at the public forums.
There are four resolutions on the agenda including one honoring the late Frederick “Curly” Neal, a Dudley High School graduate who played with the Harlem Globetrotters for over 20 years.
Then there is the “special” virtual meeting at 7 p.m. with four items on the agenda including a “Resolution of Apology by the Greensboro City Council for the Events that Have Come to be Known as The “November 3, 1979 Massacre.”
As noted in the resolution, the City Council in 2009 passed a resolution stating that the council “deeply regrets the events of November 3, 1979 that resulted in the loss of five lives and divided the community.”
And in 2017, the council passed a motion apologizing “to the five families who lost love ones and for the events of Nov. 3, 1979.”
This resolution includes the clause, “Whereas, Greensboro’s police department in 1979 (the ‘GPD’) along with other city personnel failed to warn the marchers of their extensive foreknowledge of the racist, violent attack planned against the marchers by members of the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party with the assistance of a paid GPD informant.”
The resolution also establishes a scholarship to be awarded yearly to five students in honor of the five people who were killed on Nov. 3, 1979.
Captain Crunch was just talking about how this should happen again to Lizzy.
I’m wondering when the apology for the apology for the apology will come
How many times does the City Council have to apologize before this item will go away?
From the “Democrat Playbook”. You can find that on line. This is pure propaganda.
People are not allowed to voice their opinion in person, simply because it will be recorded and made available to the public. The Council does not want to be criticized or questioned in a public forum.
We are getting the same stuff as the people of Portland, Seattle, or New York. After all, what did you expect, electorate?
When are the residents of Greensboro going to realize they need some true leadership out of the mayor and the city council. No leadership here why keep bringing up something that happen over 40 years ago?
Let it go! Quit giving Nelson Johnson props. You know why Greensboro is always divided racially? Because 41 years later it is the same nonsense. Quit pandering to a small group that talks loud.
Kudos, Mary, for giving us the full context of the problem with the least words.
This is a bunch of bull hockey
Well ,we Greensboro have found some other places we can spend hard earned money paid by the loyal citizens in taxes.I think the city council should try cutting taxes several years in row and use money you want to throw away on frivolous items.This would be a better remedy than trying to throw money at something that happened before some on the board were born and before 20-30% of our current young taxpayers were even born. I don’t remember the last time a tax cut has been spoken of by the city council.It is time to vote for some fiscal conservatives to the city council that know how to run Greensboro.Also the mayor must go ,with the governor as well.When will the people of Greensboro get tired of all these taxes.I guess if this pandemic lasts for 6 more months we will be bankrupt!!!!!!!! Because Coop will still have all In lockdown, when have people been to Church?????
How long can Mandate Nancy and her lawyers deny the voice of the people? NC was first in freedom and now look how unanswerable our elected officials become given any excuse. Sad, unprofessional, and skirting the public meeting laws on purpose. Not for public safety but to stifle free speech, dissent, and our collective ability to address grievances.
“first in freedom” about 100 years before abolishing slavery….. interesting take.
I think you meant “First in Freedom for property owning white men”. We see you.
This is just plain dumb. Have they been drinking Nelson Johnson’s kool-aid again?
THIS city council wasn’t in charge then, THIS police chief wasn’t in charge then, THIS city manager wasn’t in charge then. If those folks who were feel like making an apology, great, but we pay these people to work for us, not our ancestors. When will these clowns realize that history cannot be re-written at their convenience? They love to rip old band-aids so the wound never goes away. City Council: We the people have little to no respect for you. This is just one more reason why.
How many other do-overs will we do?
Pure pandering and the scholarships seems to be a bit much. Tax payers don’t have a say in that. Why not use the money on keeping the civil rights museum going?
Are you all really complaining that the city is supporting 5 new scholarships within the context of feeling regretful and understanding the sad history from which this city has grown?
And Jimbo, taxpayers did have a say in that. They voted in these officials making a decision. That’s what a democratic republic looks like – we vote and give only a few people all of the power until we vote again.
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