The International Civil Rights Center and Museum at 134 S. Elm St. is planning to buy the building next door, expand its offerings and programs, and applying to become a World Heritage Site – an exclusive landmark designation from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
That honor has only been given to 24 other sites in the US, including Grand Canyon National Park, the Statue of Liberty and Great Smokey Mountains National Park.
Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston, a co-founder of the museum established in the famed Woolworth’s building in downtown Greensboro, said that the museum intends to purchase the former First Citizen’s building next door and expand into it.
The Guilford County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to vote on Friday, March 18 to give $2 million from Guilford County to the museum for the expansion plans. The board is meeting as part of the commissioners two-day annual retreat.
Alston also said that, based on multiple discussions he’s had, he’s optimistic that state lawmakers will approve the plan and also help fund it.
Alston, a staunch Democrat, noted that Republican State Rep. Jon Hardister was backing the move.
“That shows you it’s a bipartisan effort,” Alston said.
Alston said he isn’t going to participate in the vote since he is one of the museum’s founders. He added that he even planned to leave the room in the Bur-Mil Clubhouse when the discussion takes place.
Alston said the museum, with the additional space, would offer expanded exhibits and more events.
He said the expansion was a necessary part of being designated as a World Heritage Site and said the added recognition would mean more downtown activity and be a big boost for tourism for the county.
World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO after a rigorous application and approval process for sites denoted as having cultural, historical or scientific significance as well as meeting many other requirements.
What a joke
If the commissioners vote for the 2mil giveaway I’m going to start a grassroots campaign to stage a sit-in in the property as it will belong to the taxpayers not the museum. The money voted on by the commissioners was never approved by the taxpayers so just like
60+ years ago we the taxpayers need to exercise our rights to property that will technically belong to the people not skip or his pet project skip you have been put on notice. Careful skip karma is a bitch
Time for a real audit.
If these funds were going to a Nathan Bedford Forrest museum, I doubt there would be one single comment here.
Oh there would be. We would be asking where we could put up his statue
So this museum , that appears to sit empty most of the time, is going to try and elevate itself to the same level as the Grand Canyon, the Statue of Liberty, the Great Smokey Mountains plus the unnamed 21 other sites. SMH
Skip’s money pit. Hardister is just trolling for votes. Don’t museums document history? Has history changed to where we need more space? Aren’t the same folks lobbying to destroy other historical statues, monuments, buildings, plaques, bases, etc. if its not what they want to see? History is history, no matter the subject matter. Isn’t this just a shrine to all things Skip wants to look at and us to pay for? Good grief!
It is not bipartisan, Mr. Hardister wants to get elected in Democrat county.
So, the museum wants more from Raleigh (us), after 2 mil from the Feds (us). I’ve been to the museum, they don’t even need the space they have now.
While there, we listed to a presentation from the LEFT, about the LEFT, and for the LEFT.
They bring bus loads of school kids in to inflate their visitor numbers while they indoctrinate them with the leftist agenda you witnessed first hand. Then they offer a Q&A to be sure the programming of young minds works. Skip calls it a museum, I call it government funded racist indoctrination.
The county using tax dollars pay the museum for the bus loads of children to visit then these numbers are added into the number of paying visitors. What a crock of skippy horse crap. They should take all those children to the Greensboro Historical Museum. There’s a lot more to see and really learn about all the history of Greensboro and they are not indoctrinated by anyone. A bigger bonus. It’s FREE
Leftist propaganda such as “Slavery is evil” and “I Have a Dream” is a racists nightmare? How much did your great-great-greats profit from the ownership, sale, subjugation and exploitation of others who didn’t look like them? Greensboro has dozens of family names in stately homes that used to be plantations. I say we do the taxpayers a favor and get the money from them.
So, your fantasy is to steal from people who’ve done nothing wrong?
That’s communism, my friend.
Tuna breath is a liberal carpetbagger socialist democrat who seems to think everything in the USA should be free to everyone
Fishbreath I’m not sure how long you have been in Greensboro but you really are full of crap. There are some stately homes here but I don’t think any were ever plantations. Slavery wasn’t big in this area largely because of the number of Quakers the settled here in fact in case you didn’t know the Underground Railroad ran through the middle of Guilford County. I’m not saying there were no slaves but I think you’ll be hard pressed to find any plantations in Greensboro. Please prove me wrong.
I say we do the taxpayers a bigger favor and ride your sorry a$$ out of town on a rail after you’re tarred and feathered just like the good ole boys used to do with the northern carpetbaggers
Dear Unfortuna- I suggest the money come from skip’s unapproved tax money that HE do freely took from the citizen’s of Guilford county.
Think if the many ways the $2 million dollars should assist the less fortunate in our county? Yes my great great great grandfather was a slave owner and also a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Just like our Govt schools.
This is just a dry hole that is filled with taxpayer money. If the non-profit wants to expand, fine, but get your money from private donations NOT from the government taxpayer who has no say in where his money is spent. One way to control this continuing debacle is to vote Skip and his minions out of office and do the same thing with the Greensboro City Council. These two groups throw away more money to their pet non-profit groups than any other previous administrations. Remember, this is your money. You worked hard for it, had it taken from you by the government, and spent without your approval. This is the new American way. Forty-eight percent of us work, pay taxes so the government can support the other fifty-two percent that only want handouts and freebies. Wake up people, go the to polls, make your selves heard and stop this madness.
For any finding their should be rigorous auditing going on. The museum already seems to be unable to properly maintain what they already have based on the soiled and frayed banners in front and the lack of programming offered. They don’t need more space for events, I’m sure Mandate Mayor will rent them the Performance Arts Palace for zero dollars for galas or whatever to raise funds or have events.