The Greensboro City Council has scheduled a virtual work session for 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 19.
In 2020, Greensboro set an all-time record for the number of homicides at 61. The previous record was set in 2019 at 45 homicides. Aggravated assaults were up 8 percent and assaults with a firearm were up 17 percent in 2020. One of the stated goals of the City Council in 2020 was to reduce violent crime by 10 percent.
However, violent crime is not on the agenda for the work session.
COVID-19 numbers are up and Guilford County has placed additional restrictions on restaurants, which had already been hit hard by North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s COVID-19 restrictions.
Neither COVID-19 nor anything about how to help small businesses, in particular restaurants, stay in business until the restrictions are lifted by Cooper is on the agenda.
What is on the agenda is a discussion on the Greensboro Coliseum Complex and the Tanger Center for the Performing Arts. The Tanger was scheduled to open in March, but not a single event has ever been held at The Tanger. The $90 million facility has been sitting empty for 11 months.
Coliseum Manager Matt Brown previously informed the City Council that until all COVID-19 restrictions were lifted and the Coliseum and The Tanger could operate at full occupancy, it didn’t make financial sense to open them.
Also on the agenda is a Water Resources Department update. Providing clean drinking water for the people of Greensboro is a vital function of the city, however, there is nothing in the agenda packet to indicate what this update might be about.
The way this City Council likes to handle work sessions is to add the reports to the agenda posted on the website shortly before the work session begins, and sometimes not at all.
Also on the agenda is a report from the Human Resources Department on employee compensation. Again, there is no additional information available to the public about the report or what aspect of employee compensation will be covered in the report.
It may not seem like it to some, but to the City Council the three most pressing issues facing the city that need City Council discussion are the Coliseum, Water Resources and employee compensation.
Since when has this council addressed the City’s most pressing needs?
Why would we expect anything different in 2021?
Where do they meet? And can you give me the addresses of all the members? I know David Parrish personally and I know he is more interested in the things that matter the most to the citizens of Greensboro!