The article that was originally posted as “IRC Only Nonprofit to Receive Surplus Vehicles From City” has been corrected and reposted as “IRC Rare Nonprofit To Receive Surplus Vehicles From City.”
The original article about the Interactive Resource Center (IRC) having a surplus vehicle donated to it by the City of Greensboro was written based on information from Deputy Financial Director of the Financial and Administrative Services Department Chris Payne.
According to that information, the only other nonprofit that had received a surplus vehicle from the city was the Greensboro Children’s Museum, which received a police car for an exhibit over a decade ago.
However, after the original article was posted, Payne discovered that he had missed one and that was a vehicle donated to Greensboro Downtown Parks Inc. (GDPI) in August 2017.
The original article was posted at 1:59 p.m. on Monday, April 5, and at 5:11 p.m. the Rhino Times received an email from Payne with complete information about the donation made to GDPI in August 2017.
While GDPI is a nonprofit corporation registered with the North Carolina Secretary of State’s office, its sole purpose is to manage LeBauer Park and Center City Park for the City of Greensboro.
GDPI operates in public-private partnership with the City of Greensboro to manage the parks for the city.
Greensboro funds GDPI with over $400,000 a year.
The information in the original article, except for the IRC being the “only” nonprofit corporation to receive a donated vehicle from the city in the past 10 years, is correct. It should have stated that the IRC was one of two nonprofits to receive surplus vehicles from the City of Greensboro in the past 10 years and has now been corrected to reflect that fact.
It is true that if the City Council approves the donation of the 2005 Dodge Caravan to the IRC at the meeting on Tuesday, April 6, that will be the sixth vehicle the city has donated to the IRC since Executive Director of the IRC City Councilmember Michelle Kennedy was elected to the City Council in November 2017.
Kennedy had not yet been elected to the City Council when the surplus vehicle donation was made to GDPI in August 2017.
What does the GDPI do in terms of managing LeBauer Park and Center City Park? If this is a non-profit, what are the salaries of those who are employed with GDPI and their names? What are the links of those who manage/own GDPI to the sitting members of the city council?
The City of Greensboro has a Parks and Recreation Department. Why are two city parks managed by another group?
Nearly a half million dollar cost for two parks seems way out of balance. What do they do? Is the management system in Greensboro so out of touch with reality that things such as this even exist? Our tax dollars go to the city to pay for their departments. Then why would the City sub the management of these two parks to a private group? Something just does not seem to make sense here.