This week's column
A former Tar Heel cheerleader turned civic cheerleader for Greensboro will retire next summer.
Priscilla Taylor, 61, will step down after 11 years in a position she says she expected to hold for three.
Prim but passionate, mannered but impatient, Taylor is driven in more ways than one. The Chapel Hill resident drives herself here at least five times a week to her day job at the Cemala Foundation and her "other" job with Action Greensboro.
That's about 25,000 miles a year, give or take a few. And a whole lot of gas money.
Taylor, who also is a member of the UNC Board of Governors, may hold a record as being the biggest booster of a city in which she does not live. Her impending retirement also means her role as one of the Big Three in Action Greensboro will diminish if not disappear altogether.
Come next summer she'll spend the majority of her time in the Southern Part of Heaven. She'll miss Greensboro, she says, "but I love my house in Chapel Hill."
Greensboro will miss Taylor as well. Taylor, along with Jim Melvin of the Joseph M. Bryan Foundation and Skip Moore of the Weaver Foundation, are the "managing partners" of Action Greensboro. In that role, they have pushed and prodded and paid for a number of important civic and economic initiatives since they came together to form Action Greensboro in 2001.
If it weren't for Action Greensboro, there would be no First Horizon Park or downtown master plan or Center City Park or Elon Law School or at least a half-dozen other initiatives that have helped the city reposition itself socially and economically.
Taylor and Moore also have done a pretty good job of repositioning Jim Melvin — as in away from china shops and sharp objects. (You never know which wondrous words of wisdom might pass through Jim's lips).
They have been like two brothers and a sister, getting on each others' nerves occasionally but always pulling together when they most needed to, to make things happen.
For his part, Melvin praises Taylor's spirit and high energy. So does Moore. I'd like to praise them all — and to ask them please not to go anywhere just yet.
The new director of the Cemala Foundation probably will remain one of Action Greensboro's Big Three. But what will become of Action Greensboro?
Taylor's departure serves as a reminder that Action Greensboro isn't supposed to be forever. Officially, it has been absorbed as a piece of the newly constituted Greensboro Partnership, formed last year to streamline and focus economic development efforts. The other components include the Greensboro Economic Development Partnership and the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce.
By design, Action Greensboro is supposed to fade into the background, say its leaders. They would hand the baton off to business and government leaders, and the momentum they'd begun would continue.
But not so fast, guys. Too much remains to be done. And it's unclear whether city leaders "get it" yet. Sure, they're giddy about the new stadium and the Center City Park under construction.
But they face some key decisions regarding two key downtown projects: the old Wachovia tower and Bellemeade Village, both of which reflect major private investments but both of which still need city help to succeed. A new hotel may materialize on South Elm Street.
Among the most encouraging news is that Mayor Keith Holliday, who himself has come into his own as a leader, seems to appreciate Action Greensboro now more than ever. Time was when elected city officials, including Holliday, saw Action Greensboro as a group of meddlers and second-guessers. That's understandable. After all, the group was formed to fill a void in leadership, which was not exactly a vote of confidence in city leaders.
But during a bus trip of community leaders last week to tour downtown redevelopment in Greenville, S.C., Holliday praised Action Greensboro privately and publicly for making the trip happen.
Action Greensboro is viewed more and more by the council as an ally.
That's why Melvin, Moore and Co. need to stick around a little longer. One possibility Moore mentions is an update on the McKinsey report, the 2000 economic assessment of Greensboro that spawned Action Greensboro in the first place.
Meanwhile, the momentum, especially downtown, is unmistakable. Public-private partnerships will be essential for the next key steps. Action Greensboro can help make that happen. We are not yet where we need to be, but we are closer than we've ever been.
Comments (1)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
"Action Greensboro is viewed more and more by the council as an ally"
Need I say more?
Posted on October 7, 2005 11:13 AM