The Greensboro City Council virtual work session on Monday, Nov. 2 at 3 p.m. is slated to have some disheartening news.
On the agenda for the virtual meeting being held on Monday, instead of the usual meeting day of Tuesday because of the election being held Tuesday, Nov. 3, is a report from the Greensboro Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Back when 2020 started, it appeared Greensboro was going to have an exceptional year as far as attracting people to the city to stay for a few days and spend money on hotel rooms, restaurants and the like.
The Greensboro Coliseum had the Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament, followed by the first two rounds of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men’s Basketball Tournament. The ACC Tournament was canceled in progress on March 12 and the NCAA tournament was also canceled.
The grand opening of the long awaited Tanger Center for the Performing Arts was scheduled for March 20 and that was canceled.
So the Greensboro Coliseum Arena has been shut down since the middle of March and The Tanger hasn’t hosted a single event.
The Wyndham Championship had a good date this year and was expected to have the kind of field of top golfers that attracts large galleries. The Wyndham was held, but without fans.
Conventions which Greensboro usually does a stellar job of attracting mostly went virtual, if they were held at all.
On Monday, the Greensboro City Council will get the numbers on how bad a year it has actually been so far in the tourism business.
The City Council will also get an update on the Minority and Women’s Business Enterprise (MWBE) program. Since the City Council gets an update on this program virtually every time it meets, there should be no surprises in this presentation.
The City Council is also planning to continue its series of meetings on economic development with two reports. One from Downtown Greensboro Inc. (DGI), which has been hit hard this year, not only with COVID-19 restrictions but also with the downtown riots in May, but it has come up with some innovative ways to attract people downtown.
The other report is from Piedmont Business Capital, which provides loans to minority- or female-owned businesses.
The final item on the agenda is a “Behavioral Health Update,” but the City Council rarely reaches the end of a work session agenda.
