The Greensboro City Council has a lengthy agenda for its one business meeting of the month, which will be held virtually on Tuesday, Nov. 17 beginning at 5:30 p.m.
The meetings are broadcast live on Greensboro Television Network (GTN), and don’t worry if you can’t tune in at 5:30 p.m. – unless the City Council decides to continue most of the items, the meeting will go on for hours.
Agenda item 35, which has received the most publicity, is a rezoning request for 23.3 acres on Cone Boulevard between Lafayette Avenue and Cleburne Street. Koury Corporation is requesting that the property be rezoned from Single-Family Residential to Conditional District Residential Multifamly-26 (CD-RM-26) with a maximum of 480 dwelling units. At the Zoning Commission meeting, representatives of Koury said the plan was to build a very high end, gated apartment community that would only have access to Cone.
The city staff has recommended in favor of the rezoning and the Zoning Commission voted 6-3 to approve the rezoning request.
Residents of the adjacent neighborhoods are opposing the rezoning request and have said they plan to ask for a continuance. The rezoning hearing, at the request of both Koury and the opposition, was continued from the September Zoning Commission meeting to October, which may effect how the City Council handles the expected request for the continuance.
Another controversial rezoning request on South Holden Road and Glendale Road from World Victory International Christian Center to rezone 39.4 acres from Conditional District Public and Institutional (CD-PI) to Office (O), which was continued from the October meeting, has been withdrawn by the applicant.
The agenda also includes a resolution to extend the agreement between the City of Greensboro and One Step Further to continue to fund the Cure Violence program for the 2021 calendar year in the amount of $399,000.
There is no report or presentation on the Cure Violence program on the agenda. City Councilmember Yvonne Johnson is the executive director of One Step Further, which made the original agreement somewhat controversial. The Cure Violence program is designed to reduce violent crime and murders in specific designated areas of the city. Since the program was initiated in November 2019, the rate of violent crime and homicides in the city has increased dramatically, with the city currently on track to set a new record for the number of murders in a calendar year.
I’d say that’s a resounding success! Hell why stop at half a mil?? Make it a even million and we should overtake Chicago any day!
There is no way to “cure” violence. It is human nature, and will spread if unchecked. The Bully Principle applies. That is, punish the perps, and the violence will recede. Everyone on the Council knows that, but the majority voters want lawlessness. Greed and envy apply.
Many are voting themselves a free lunch, either from the government, or from predation. That’s exactly what it is.
It should be blatantly obvious that the Cure Violence initiative is working out just as well as it has in Durham. Violent crimes are up significantly the year. Let’s see, could it possibly be from the toxic combination of paying thugs to talk thugs into commiting less crime, (still baffled by that brilliant idea) a good Police department that is hamstrung by the City Council at every turn, and let’s not forget the defend the Police movement alive & wellhere in Greensboro. Hell, just today some thugs shot up the Sheriff’s office and narrowly missed several hardworking folks nearby. Put this money back into useful equipment, training, & programs Chief James can use to mKe a REAL difference. Coddling thugs obviously isn’t working!
So, violent crime rises dramatically as Yvonne Johnson rocks comfortably on her porch, drawing a huge sum from the city with no accountability. Now a resolution is put forward to continue this nonsense for 2021. Again I assume with no accountability.
Ms. Johnson’s bank account is rising almost as fast as the city’s rate of violent crime.
Ain’t life grand in Greensboro?
Why will there not be any presentation on Cure Violence? Why won’t there be a chart showing where the money was spent and if any is left over? Why won’t there be questions answered or at least asked why things have gotten worse after throwing half a million dollars at it? Oh yeah, crazy me, we don’t dare ask questions of a minority business owner about what they did with a grant from the city. We should have learned from the civil rights museum. Don’t ask because they don’t have to follow basic principles of accounting. My bad.
And we all know that Ms Johnson will get the additional $399,000 so why even bring it up!!
Looks like Cure Violence has been real effective. Can the city put in a stipulation that there will be no more money unless positive results are seen?
Cure for Violence is a disaster- nothing to show for it! Who else on the city council is receiving payment? Could there be Corruption?
No accountability to the citizens of Greensboro! Surely councilwoman Johnson has to have accountability to the citizens of Greensboro?
Why is the city council not requesting a report on how and where the money is dispersed, to whom receives and the amount received?
Hey Mayor why are you not requesting accountability? It is not racist to request what is happening to your citizens tax dollars!
DEFUND CURE FOR VIOLENCE!
Would we be wrong to peacefully protest to Defund Cure for Violence? Signs, block traffic, sit-Ins, etc.. would we be provided the same protection by the police and city council as they did when the riots broke out?
STOP Wasting our tax dollars Matter! You want to stop the violence? Hire more police, flood the high crime neighborhoods!
It is our, the citizens of Greensboro’s money and we must have accountability!
Surely the Rhino times could request and investigate ?
“with the city currently on track to set a new record for the number of murders in a calendar year”…. correction, the city has already set a new record for murders in a calendar year. All that remains to be seen is by how much that record will be broken.
Cure Violence is a program hailing out of Chicago, one of the most violent cities in America. Shame on you city council for even considering such a program, a program that does not even consult with or notify the police should one of their “violence interrupters” ;earn that a crime is afoot.