Filing for the July 26 City Council election closed Friday, March 4 at noon, so voters finally know who is and isn’t running for City Council in what should have been the 2021 election.
The primary for the City Council election will be held on Tuesday, May 17 along with the statewide primary, and all the City Council races except the District 4 race will have primaries.
City Council elections are nonpartisan, which means in the mayoral and district races the top two finishers in the May 17 primary face each other in the July 26 general election regardless of party affiliation. In the at-large City Council race, the top six finishers in the primary regardless of party affiliation run in the general election where the top three are elected to the City Council.
Four candidates have filed to run in the mayoral race: Mayor Nancy Vaughan, District 3 Councilmember Justin Outling, Eric Robert and Mark Timothy Cummings.
Ten candidates filed to run in the at-large City Council race, including the three incumbents: City Councilmembers Yvonne Johnson, Marikay Abuzuaiter and Hugh Holston. Also filing to run in the at-large race are Katie Rossabi, Linda Wilson, Tracy Furman, Taffy L. Buchanan, Fanca Jalloh, Dustin Keene and Melodi Fentress.
District 1 City Councilmember Sharon Hightower filed to run for reelection. Also filing to run in District 1 were Felton Foushee and Timothy Kirkpatrick.
District 2 City Councilmember Goldie Wells filed to run for reelection. Portia Shipman, Latoya Bernice Gathers and Cecile (CC) Crawford also filed to run in District 2.
District 3 has no incumbent in the race since Outling is running for mayor. The District 3 City Council candidates are Chip Roth, former District 3 City Councilmember Zack Matheny and Bill Marshburn.
District 5 City Councilmember Tammi Thurm filed to run for reelection. Former District 5 City Councilmember Tony Wilkins and Robert Bodenhamer also filed to run for the District 5 seat.
In District 4 there is no primary on May 17, but in the general election on July 26 District 4 City Councilmember Nancy Hoffmann will face Thurston Reeder.
Proof positive that we’re fed up with the turd sandwich we have in place presently. If you do nothing else, go vote! Vote for anyone other than these clowns already in charge. Build Back Better is a joke from the woke. Woke = Broke. That resonates the same whether referring to increased taxes, or messed up policies. If they hadn’t torn it apart, it wouldn’t need building back! Remember who broke it when you vote. Don’t believe it? Look at crime statistics, your grocery bill, & how much it cost you to fill up the family truckster lately. Look at how the alphabet people have more rights than those who live right. Cure the Violence? Defund that mess & Cure the Council instead! Support Chief James and send the mandate mayor, her minions, & the race baiting clowns home with their tails tucked between their legs. The only one worth keeping is Outling.
I posted this elsewhere and will post it anytime I notice someone supporting Outling under the assumption that is good for the city. You seem to be a pro-police voter, which is good, but Outling does not share your point of view:
Outling is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The fact that he actually has some sense as compared to the rest of council does not make him a good candidate. If you are a pro-police citizen, Outling is not for you. Just look at what he did a couple years ago when officers were just trying to locate a guy with a gun on the Greenway. He hung them out to dry and made it a racial issue because that was the in thing to do at the time. This all happened shortly after the Greensboro riots in 2020, when everyone was jumping on the “police are racists” bandwagon. Justin Outling was one of them.
https://www.rhinotimes.com/news/police-stop-on-greenway-may-lead-to-city-council-work-session/
That article does not get into as much detail as it should, but you’ll get the point.
Several chances Outling had to support OUR police, he did not! He stayed silent when he had the chance to speak up at council meetings and publicly in support of our police department. I believe we have better choices.
As someone who hopes Justin Outling is our next Mayor I think your comments are way off mark. You suggest that he is unwilling to be supportive of the police when it goes against the tide, but I recall him voting for a supportive federal grant for the police when the council voted against it for political reasons. Also, during the time period you are referring to I recall Justin getting a salary increase for police and more hires passed when others did not want that.
In terms of what you reference here I am supportive of reviewing the 911 process to validate that what you claim is accurate. I do not see how this makes Justin unsupportive of the police. It sounds as though the request was for a work session to ensure that the process the 911 operators use is as helpful to officers as possible in solving the crime. That makes a lot of sense to me (especially given the fact that 911 is a county service and not a city one or part of the police force).
Our City hits record or near record homicide numbers every year. There are 4 people running for mayor. Any suggestion that Justin would not be supportive of the police and the best of the 4 candidates I find very questionable.
Oh wow, he voted to accept federal money that agencies, police related or not, always accept (free money). Be careful what you wish for. Both Outling and Vaughan give a lot of double talk, especially in an election year. Supporting the police at this point, who are over 100 officers down, would be increasing pay so that they beat small towns like Graham and Chapel Hill (start at $50,000), take home cars like everyone else in the state, and better incentives. All they do is talk. Since you are the big Outling supporter get him to put on the table what he would do to attract new people to the police department.
Yes, he voted to accept a federal grant that the city has accepted every single year except for the one time that they voted not to take after the 2020 riots. Big whoop.
He also voted to give GPD a raise to their starting pay up to $41,500, a number not even on par with the area average. Several NC agencies have starting pay over $50,000 with a take home car program fully implemented and numerous other benefits such as hiring bonuses, and longevity pay, which GPD does not offer thanks to your councilmembers, Outling included, failing to offer it up. What you have here, Evan, is someone pulling the wool over your eyes. Sure he and council voted for a token raise in an election year so people like yourself would say, “See, he’s pro-police.” Well, it wasn’t enough of a difference to make a difference as evidenced by GPD’s current police academy, which is sporting a whopping 18 cadets. They wanted that class to have 40 people in it.
Outling also voted for a 5 year potentially, maybe, if we feel like it, implementation of a take home car program that MIGHT buy 20 police cars a year over the next 5 years. That’s caveated by saying that the city council has to deign to vote for it every year after the chief somehow proves to them that the program reduces crime. Oh and what’s 100 cars going to do for a 600 officer department? Sure they currently have some cars, but they don’t have 500 of them. It’s not a valid plan. It’s an appeasement. Meanwhile literally every other agency in the state has a fully implemented, one car per officer, take home car program. So again, you have a “See, he’s pro-police” token gesture when in reality, GPD and the City of Greensboro continue to lag far behind other municipalities because of decisions made by your council, Outling included.
If you really think he is pro-police, I suggest you ask him to actually do something meaningful. Like, get GPD pay up on par with where it should be as the third largest agency in NC; getting GPD a real take home car program; have retention bonuses and anything else they can come up with to stop the exodus. 18 officers in the police academy is a joke when they are missing over 100 officers in the field right now, and council knows it.
In other words, Evan, ask your councilmembers to stop making token gestures and to actually do something that makes enough of difference to make a difference. Or keep letting them trick you into voting for them through token gestures that mean nothing.
It does not seem like you have been following his proposals. Many of the things you are asking for he has committed to push for if elected mayor.
You can say it is just politics and help get Mayor Vaughan re-elected. And we can continue to be led by someone who didn’t support or fought against the things you are saying were basic.
I have decided to instead support Outling.
But Outling is on the council now. There is no need for him to wait until he is mayor to make a motion or propose a change. He can do it now, but he isn’t. That’s all we need to know really.
Listen to the council meetings. Any proposal put forth by Outling is not taken up by the mayor. It’s all politics. I respect your opinion but there is no way I am voting for mayor Vaughan or throwing away my vote by not voting. I’m ready to give Outling a chance at setting the priorities of the council.
If 911 is a county service, then what does the City council have to do with it? It would fall under the County Commissioners for oversight. Either way, it seems like you are shilling for Outling here. You are intentionally not digging in to any facts. Go watch the council meeting where this happened and see what he said and how he said it. This was not a pro-police conversation.
I disagree with you as to what Outling was questioning/proposing to understand. I imagine you are aware of the number of 911 calls the county receives. Yes that is a county service but they are dispatched to city police. Ensuring the policy is in place to make sure that process, starting with the questions asked, is helpful in solving a crime is reasonable to me.
Thank you for pointing me towards learning more about this issue. After watching I now know more and feel more confident that he is our best choice for next mayor.
Evan -Metro 911 center is run by the city not the county. You Outing is committed to push if elected? He is a councilman, why not push for them now? Do you have to make political promises to seek an election? Seems like you are saying if you elect me I can help. What he should be saying is I can help NOW! Not a fan of Nancy either. I hope we the citizens receive a new mayor and council, start fresh with new ideas and stop the wasteful spending (ie – cure for violence), stop giving our tax dollars to “ friends of the council “ and start paying your city employees more, support the police and fire department with equipment they need to do their jobs. Let the Chief(s) run their departments without interfering.
Metro 911 is a county function.
https://www.greensboro-nc.gov/departments/guilford-metro-9-1-1
I agree with you on giving the police the resources they need.
That link is to the City of Greensboro website because Guilford Metro 911 is a city department. Guilford County pays Greensboro for managing the 911 system for Guilford County.
The mayor has one vote. All Outling has to do is get 4 other votes behind the scenes (like they always do) and make a motion. If he is so great then make Nancy look like a fool for not supporting the police, downtown, or whatever the cause of the day is. If he cannot get the votes after being on council for years then how is he going to get them as mayor.
The entire city council, including the mayor need to be replace, once and for all. Just like “Just Sayin” said, take a look at your quality of life now, and vote smart.
Don’t vote for who your neighbor tells you to vote for. Don’t vote for who the TV tells you to vote for. Don’t vote for who Facebook tells you to vote for. Don’t even blindly vote for who The Rhino tells you to vote for. Take 30 minutes out of your busy lives, do your own homework and vote for who you think are the best candidates.
THEN GO VOTE!!!
If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain about who ends up in office, and you deserve whatever you get over the next election cycle.
Hey Justin, I mean Evan, put the motions on the table NOW for the police department. You are a sitting city council member, have been for years, and you can make a motion any time you like. While we are talking, how about you too Nancy? What about Mary Kay or Nancy Hoffman? Are you both going to tread water until the election and hope you are not too pro-police that you piss off the woke and the east side, but not too negligent in your duties to have a full police department so you do not piss off the people that pay the taxes and do not want the crime on their doorstep. What a high wire act that is. All while appeasing developers and the new city manager that wants to build multifamily on an empty piece of land.
Do the restaurants know that the GPAC is serving dinner in their facility with the Lion King tickets? Wasn’t that white elephant sold on bringing business to downtown. Do the restaurant owners know that the city once again is stabbing them in the back? Does Mr. DGI Zack know? Do you notice the only ones in the social drinking district are the ones that pay dues to DGI?
Every current council member is part of the sham. Even if they are not actively involved, they all know the dirt. Remember when you see your tax dollars going to DGI, Cure Violence, the IRC (free cars anyone?), or any other “social” program or developer that someone with a high valued relationship with a council member (Zimmerman) is getting the money.
Greensboro you need a complete new City Council.
Outling for mayor….nope, not a wise choice at all….nor is Nancy. Keep looking and hopeing.