The restaurant and entertainment ordinance proposed by Mayor Nancy Vaughan hasn’t gotten past the proposal stage, but already the City of Greensboro is being threatened with a lawsuit.
Amiel Rossabi of Rossabi Law Partners sent a letter to Vaughan and each city councilmember on Wednesday, Jan. 27 on behalf of unnamed restaurants and clubs his firm represents.
In the first sentence Rossabi states, “I am writing to express our displeasure and strenuous opposition to the recent efforts by Mayor Vaughan and other council members to enact a new restaurant and entertainment ordinance.”
The ordinance Vaughan has proposed would require businesses with onsite consumption of alcohol licenses to implement a security plan approved by the city if an aggravated assault or homicide occurred in the business or on property under its control, such as parking lots.
Vaughan said this was in response to the 61 homicides in Greensboro in 2020, an all-time record. However, as pointed out by Councilmember Marikay Abuzuaiter, only two of those homicides actually occurred at businesses that would be covered by this proposed ordinance.
Rossabi states, “The basic premises posited by Mayor Vaughan that there is a need for this ordinance due to violent crime being connected to establishments that serve alcohol is blatantly false and based on no statistics. In addition, Greensboro’s last efforts to enact such an ordinance were equally baseless, unconstitutional and forced to be abandoned as a result of the threat of lawsuits by ‘entertainment’ facilities. Moreover, to the extent that this proposed ordinance seeks to exempt (as it did in 2014) the Coliseum, the Tanger Center, college facilities and government operated facilities, it, too, will be unconstitutional and a blatant mistake again by Mayor Vaughan and a majority of the Council.”
The ordinance Rossabi refers to in 2014 was passed by the City Council, but the council then voted to place a moratorium on its enforcement and the moratorium has never been lifted, although technically the ordinance is still on the books.
Rossabi notes that, according to Greensboro Police Chief Brian James, the main cause of the increase in violent crime and homicides are poverty and the lack of economic development.
Rossabi states, “During Mayor Vaughan’s tenure, the majority of this Council has done little to promote economic development and has done virtually nothing to support the Greensboro Police Department. The cause of this drastic increase in homicides and violent crime lays at the footsteps of this Council, not at hard-working business owners.”
The City Council has requested public input on the proposed ordinance and that is what it is getting.
Exemptions will doom this effort as well.
Everyone remeber this article the next election . . . it is time the current Council, all of them, need to GO! We need a breath of fresh air and ideas, not people who are trying to run the City with their own views of governance.
Right on! If enough people get together, we can stop this govt persecution.
“Live free or die.”
Proof once again that Her Majesty Mayor Vaughan desires, along with select council members, to rule by fiat.
History reflects the SILENT MAJORITY will stand by and let these few egotistical rulers do what they please.
Amiel Rossabi is spot on. The lack of economic development and resulting high crime rates land at the feet of this council.
They are locked in, who extended their time in office and raised their own pay except them. They know what they can do and get away with,
The liberal mind is run on emotion rather than logic. It’s not a police problem or a bar problem, Nancy. It’s a lack of heart and common decency. No amount of more unConstitutional statutes and codes with the color of law is going to improve it. Legislating ignorance and morality always lead to more tyrannical stupid and immoral laws!
Yep. That’s exactly how we ended up here in the 1st place! We The People have allowed the politicians, attorneys & judges to create this mess little by little over many years. We’re approaching a time when John & Jane Public are going to have to take matters into their own hands if anything is going to change. That may or may not be during our lifetime, but it doesn’t appear far off. Blood may have to be shed before it’s over, who’s to say? I don’t recall any other political progress being made round the world throughout accurately recorded history without shots fired or bloodshed. The best thing that could happen is to completely shut down both Democrats & Republicans. Don’t support either of the two current major parties. Neither are what they started out to be. Vote for or help form other parties that have real values and real benefits to taxpayers like Neal Boortz’ Fair Tax Plan. Reduce federal spending by reducing the size of the government. Live & let live. You don’t need big brother telling you how to live. Can’t afford a car? Buy a moped. Can’t afford a moped? Buy a bicycle. Can’t afford a bicycle? Ride with a friend or neighbor or get up early & walk.
You don’t NEED an EBT Card. Can’t afford caviar? Eat beans & toast. Can’t afford that? The rest of us will still support food pantries, soup kitchens, & welcome you into our homes for a meal. You don’t need Big Brother to give you anything nor to take it from anyone else. We’re all about charity & helping mankind, but there must be limits as well. You steal, or commit violent crimes, 3 strikes and you’re on your own with only others like you for support. I know for a fact they won’t be nearly as generous. You see, NONE OF US (human beings living in America) are ENTITLED to jack squat. Do your best and earn what you get, choose wisely what you do with that and live your life to the fullest. You could take ALL the money & property away from everyone today and in short period you will still have winners & losers in the game of life. Have you ever read a storybook, fable, bedtime tale, or historical document where everybody wins? Was everyone rich? Was everyone healthy? Think about it folks. Life is complicated enough without libtard intervention.
Which goes first , crime or economic develop ement
Why is it a few people think they can control everything for everyone else and pick and choose who goes by the rules and who doesn’t? Haven’t the bars and restaurants been through enough with this pandemic? Yes the voters need to fix this, espically when the mayor comes up for re-election. It’s not bad enough having a governor who has chosen to make his nanny state control decisions with curfews that don’t seem to make a difference.
Haven’t local businesses suffered enough under our tyrannical governor, without the local peons making it worse by requiring businesses to hire security on top of their regular employees? VOTE ALL OF THEM OUT!