The Greensboro City Council is scheduled to receive a report about the vision for the future from Downtown Greensboro Inc. (DGI) at the Nov. 17 work session beginning at 3 p.m.
The DGI report on the 2030 Strategic Vision Plan was originally going to be presented to the City Council earlier, but like everything else in 2020, the report was delayed.
Rather than present the plan based on the pre-pandemic world, DGI took time in July and August to collect more information from the community to update the strategic vision plan to consider the events that have changed the way people work and live.
Without this additional input, the DGI 2030 Strategic Vision Plan would have represented the vision for the next 10 years of downtown Greensboro, before restaurants and many retail establishments were closed due to the COVID-19 restrictions, and before social distancing and masks had become a way of life.
The idea that DGI would be out raising over $100,000 in 2020 to award grants to downtown businesses to help them stay in business was not foreseen in 2019, but the coronavirus restrictions made that a necessity.
The original community workshops for the Vision 2030 Strategic Plan were begun in November 2019, long before anyone had heard of COVID-19 and back when wearing a mask in public was actually against the law.
In July and August, when DGI went back to the community for more input, DGI couldn’t hold community workshops as it had in November 2019, so the request for additional information was an online survey.
For many downtown businesses in March, the goal for 2020 went from being prosperous and growing to surviving.
But the goal of the Vision 2030 Strategic Plan remains the same – to develop an action plan to outline goals, strategies and “big moves” that will shape downtown Greensboro for the next ten years.
Vision 2030 is not even worth a comment.
Oh, by the way, the telephone number for the City of Greensboro collection service is: 366-373-2035. On Oct 28th, I called to have some large items to pick up. There were 15 people waiting ahead of me, so I left my number for a call back. Nope. On Oct 29th, I tried again, 19 waiting, so I left my number again for a call back. Nope. On Nov 1, I call again. No call back. Nov 8th, nope. Nov 15th, nope.
My junk is out on the curb long enough for the neighbors to complain. I gave them the City number.
I don’t believe this lack of service is not pre-meditated. Perhaps my zip code was not acceptable? If anyone doubts what I have to say, trot yourself down to City Hall and see who is running it, and how they are running it.
Have a problem? You need to know how to beg.