Let's talk
The Greensboro City Council is usually a pretty reserved bunch, especially compared to the other governmental body across Phil McDonald Plaza. About the only time there's a spirited discussion is after all of the agenda items are done and it comes to the "items from council" portion. That's the time everyone can distribute darts and laurels.
Starting off, Council member Yvonne Johnson asked why the city didn't vote to move Halloween back a day so it wouldn't be observed on a Sunday.
Mayor Keith Holliday and Council member Tom Phillips argued that it wasn't the city role to dictate when a holiday is celebrated. City Attorney Linda Miles agreed.
"I don't think in all fairness you can control when children go trick-or-treating," she said.
The longest and the most informative discussion came from Phillips, who usually has plenty of constructive criticism. Tom cleared up some misunderstandings about the city's rental inspection ordinance and asked about the re-deteriorating stretch of Randleman Road near I-40.
But the most frank discussion came as Phillips and others on the council let it be known that they didn't like being left in the dark about the merger of the Chamber of Commerce, Action Greensboro and the Greensboro Economic Development Partnership. The city gives money to two of the three groups, and the mayor and the city manager serve on some of their boards. But it seemed that few on the council other than Holliday knew about the merger until it was a done deal and reported in the media.
Phillips: "That's the history in Greensboro. A small group of people decide something and don't tell anyone."
Johnson: "We just felt blindsided."
Council Member Sandy Carmany said she had reservations about the makeup of the board, pointing out that there was nobody from "my side of town" on the group's executive committee.
Holliday apologized for not letting the council in on the impending merger and suggested a get together with the heads of the new Greensboro Partnership before the council's next meeting. It's at 5 p.m. in the ground-level conference room on Nov. 16 if you're interested in going.
Comments (2)
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I had always thought that the need of Action Greensboro and these other groups was to help the leadership. Looks like they like the power and have decided to fill the leadership on their own.
Posted on November 2, 2004 4:29 PM
Greensboro would be better served if we would get this kind of frank discussion in public more often. Their PC mentality and "unified front" stance demonstrates how frightened they are of alienating their base, even when the good of the city is at stake.
The best solution would be to kick all of them out of office, but obviously the people of this city don't care enough to do that.
As for Action Greensboro and the rest, the only thing that this merger represents is that now three times as many people will hang out at the Kress Building and get drunk on a regular basis.
Posted on November 6, 2004 10:23 AM