The City Council 'clowns' want to fix the problems
The naysayers are out in full force. Bill Burnett's letter (Feb. 22) is another one from the group denying there were ever problems in Greensboro, and blaming it all on former county commissioners ("the clowns"). How dare they try to bring these problems out in the open in order to fix them!
Obviously, these naysayers aren't listening to the voters and many business owners in Greensboro, but instead want to stick their heads in the sand hoping that nobody notices the problems with the police, fire, parks and recreation departments and the manager's office, to name a few. What are they trying to hide?
It took three former county commissioners to admit that all is not rosy in Greensboro city government and attempt to clean it up. I suggest that the clowns are people like Bill Burnett who want to cover up problems by letters to the editor disparaging those who are doing what they were elected to do -- serve the citizens of Greensboro, not those with agendas that benefit only themselves.
How ironic that Burnett's letter was on the same page as the editorial opinion, "Fire department issues require attention now" and not in John Hammer's paper. Perhaps his next letter will disparage the News & Record for also printing the truth.
Phyllis P. Gibbs
Greensboro
The writer is a former county commissioner and co-owner of a business in Greensboro.
Comments (7)
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Hear, Hear! Well put.
Posted on March 3, 2008 8:01 AM
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There's not much that is more funnier than Phyllis Gibbs writing THIS letter!
This is the same Phyllis Gibbs that did everything but play tiddly winks with Mary Rakestraw while they were both County Commissioners! As a letter a few weeks back, pointed out, they giggled and talked while the rest of the board conducted business. No one ever claimed she was a rocket scientist, but she was a tremendous embarrassment as a county commissioner. One has to wonder how she would have been, had she not been able to have "beauty shop" talk with Mary Rakestraw at every meeting. Probably bored at the discussions that were obviously way above her pay grade. We'll leave that to be pondered at a later date.
No Ms. Gibbs, the only former commissioners who really showed their rear ends were Rakestraw and Wade. After spouting all over town that they had the votes to oust the city manager, they were left to look like the obstructionists that they truly are. While Mike Barber provided them with niceties, his intellect kept him from joining them. Now that Wade has voted for firing Johnson, look for her to begin efforts to rise above the lunacy of Mary Rakestraw. She can say she did what she campaigned on, and move to the center, leaving the real CLOWN, Rakestraw, to flap in the breeze. I know others have predicted that too, but none of them have noted the moves Wade is currently making away from "Mad Mary".
But today's humor comes from our former commissioner, who always had trouble stringing nouns and verbs together, acting as if she was at one point, part of something great!
No Phyllis. You were not effective then, and your letter shows you are still not effective. But thank you for the laugh this morning!!
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Posted on March 3, 2008 8:19 AM
"not those with agendas that benefit only themselves."
You mean like Zack Matheny and the Real Estate/Development/Legal/Financial industry folks who contributed between 50-$500 each to his recent City Council election campaign as reported in the 35 Day Primary Report on file with the Guilford County Board of Elections?
http://gcms0004.co.guilford.nc.us/elections_cms/reports_2007.htm
Partial list:
Spence Broadhurst-Banker
Stephen Klee- Attorney
Bejamin Sydnor- Financial Planner
Ricky Hopkins-Property Management
Robert Mcintosh-Lumber Importer
Preston Young- Attorney
Craig Ragsdale-Banker
Thomas White-Property Management
Thomas White Jr.- Prop.Management
Harold KernIII-Real Estate Broker
Kurt Kronfeld- Senn Dunn Insurors
Wiliam B Hayes-CF0, Lab Corp.
Charles Melvin- Jr, Attorney
Alexander Audilet- Attorney
Gregory Holland- Attorney
Dennis Quaintance- Hotel Magnate
Dwight Stone- Builder
Richard Montana,RealEstate Broker
Charles K. Blackmon- Attorney
Derek Allen - Attorney
Scott Bayer - He's a Developer
Rani Hussami - He's a Developer
James Melvin - Construction
Chester Brown III- Brown Investment Properties
Ralph Jones III - Broker
Arthur Samet- Samet Corp
Allen Sharpe - Real Estate/Develpment
Evan Bell- Property Management
Justin Conrad, Pres. Libby Hill
Ronald Nelson- Prop. Management
James Black- Commercial Property
Bradley Field- Timber Broker
James Lomax- Construction
Johnathan Bell- Prop. Management
Robin Tyler- Prop. Management
William Black,Jr. Mortgage Broker
Michael Winstead- Mega Builders
Steven D. Bell- Prop. Management
Scott Wyatt- Attorney
Jeffery Oleynick- Attorney
James Phillips- Attorney
Michael Shannon- Attorney
Joseph McKinney- Mega Builders
Frank Auman- "Self Employed" (got that right!)
Hardin Blackwell - Terminex
Carole Bruce- Attorney
Charles Hagan III - Attorney
Cooper Brantly Jr. - Real Estate
Bradford Deaton- Prop.Development
Three Lorillard Attorneys
George Aycock- Attorney
E.S. Melvin, Pres. Bryan Foundation
Derek Albright - Attorney
Posted on March 3, 2008 9:34 AM
Forgot to credit: Thanks to Keith Brown over at Cone's blog for posting the link to the campaign reports.
Posted on March 3, 2008 9:35 AM
Hugh,
You make a good point about Matheny. He mined the local developers to a "T"! He is enjoying being "important" right now, but I'm sure that will wear off soon. He's young, unmarried, overextended, and ambitious. Keep your eyes on him!
Posted on March 3, 2008 3:24 PM
Hey TLiberalC,
It sounds like you may be getting a resume pretty soon from that wonderful city manager. Based on your comments above you should have no problem hiring him to run your company, since you propose he's doing such a good job for the city of Greensboro.
Let me know how that works out.
Posted on March 3, 2008 4:17 PM
tonywilkins,
The city manager may, at some point, be fired.
My contention is that it should NOT be because he fired David Wray! A lynch mob was formed because of the Rhino Times trying to drive the agenda. The City Council should be free to do what is RIGHT and not fear for their political life because the schoolyard bully (Rhino Times) thinks they drive the agenda for Greensboro. You obviously have bought into everything you've read in the Rhino. Hope that's working out for you.
Posted on March 4, 2008 5:04 PM