The Greensboro City Council is holding a work session at 1 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1.
The topic the City Council will be discussing at this work session has not been publicly disclosed.
Since City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba took office on Feb. 1, there has been notably less information released to the public about City Council meetings.
For this work session, several hours before the meeting was scheduled to begin, the public was still in the dark about what the City Council would be discussing.
Work sessions are City Council meetings that are supposed to be less formal than the regular twice a month City Council meetings, giving councilmembers an opportunity to discuss one or two topics in detail. They usually have staff presentations on a topic and then, if there is time, a City Council discussion. The City Council rarely takes votes in work sessions, but does make decisions by consensus.
In the past the staff presentations have been posted on the City Council website prior to the meeting, allowing average ordinary residents who pay the bills to view the presentation.
This is a “hybrid” meeting, which means people can participate in person in the Katie Dorsett Council Chamber or via Zoom. It also means that the work session is televised.
But the total amount of information provided to the public about the topic of discussion is “B.1 2022-931 Review of Recommended Modifications to Existing City Ordinances
“Staff Presentation: Andrea Harrell.”
The agenda indicates that there is an attachment with more information about the presentation.
That additional information is in its entirety is: “2022-931 Review of Recommended Modifications to Existing City Ordinances.”
There are 30 chapters of city ordinances covering everything from Alcoholic Beverages, Cemeteries and Hazardous Waste Management to Nuisances, Massage and Bodywork Therapy and Railroads.
According to the agenda and the information provided to the public, the City Council work session on Thursday, Sept. 1 could be “recommended modifications” to any or all of those ordinances.
On Monday, Aug. 29, Mayor Nancy Vaughan said that she thought the work session was going to be on how ordinances could be modified to deal with some of the issues involving the homeless population in Greensboro.
How the city proposes to handle issues involving the homeless population is a topic of great interest to a large number of people, but from the information provided by the city to the public, those interested in the topic would have no way of knowing that was the topic that may be discussed.
I guess the Hebrew Academy could have been used for Greensboro needs of homeless. But wait, no, they support the government allowing unsupervised children to cross the border so that later the “parents” will be allowed into our country. I fully support legal immigration. My brother-in-law immigrated from Germany for heavens sake. We went through a lot of red tape and legal documents about who would support him if his job fell through. And the government is just willy nilly letting anyone and everyone across the southern border. What’s the deal? What are our laws for?
I am totally against housing these illegals in Greensboro, NC. They should never have been allowed to cross the border; especially unsupervised. Who does that?
New Council ( by one))
You were expecting something different?
Been that way for decades. Don’t expect transparency now.
With the constant cry for transparency, you would think the City Council would make an effort to keep the public advised of what is happening.
Why,you idiots voted for them why should they.
This is what you get with the rejects hired from Charlotte but that can be solved if the council gives directions to these people that such actions will not be tolerated. Once again no transparency by this council. Don’t be surprised if there isn’t another gun show incident that the council will do everything they can to hide.
The Council hires people politically aligned with them. The manager is going nowhere unless he decides to leave. This manager is exactly what the City Council was searching for. He has the right skin color, (from Africa, no less), has the right ideology, supports tax and spend, and rejects the will of the people.
The voters of Greensboro and Council Members are not freethinkers but want to be led and told what to do. Freethinking requires work. Nancy Vaughn is very good at showing up at ribbon cuttings but not good at leadership.
The mayor said “she thought” doesn’t she know ?
Maybe we need a new City Manager?
Modifying City Ordinances and Andrea Harrell in the same notification means that the Greensboro police are involved. City Council, state legislatures and the federal government try to solve problems by making new laws. This gives a little insight into how the City Council may be planning to address the homeless problem; make a new ordinance and assign police officers to be the bad guys trying to enforce the city ordinances rather than solving the homeless problem. This is cowardly and shows extraordinary lack of leadership.
This City Council cannot lead itself out of a wet paper bag with a light on directing the way.
No fan of sunlight in Greensboro Government. For shame. How unethical and unprofessional as well. I’m sure they didn’t have any draconian proposals to criminalize (probably unconstitutionally) being destitute in sight if their Performance Arts Palace..
“City Council Work Session” My favorite oxymoron.