A quick hello (and some actual information)
As Austin Powers once said, "Allow myself to introduce ... myself."
I'm Eric Swensen, the new High Point city government reporter. I'm replacing the very talented Sue Schultz, who's sliding over to cover the furniture industry, business and downtown High Point.
I've been in the High Point office for about two years, covering everything from arts and entertainment to nonprofits and downtown while doing a whole bunch of general assignment work.
I've been a frequent reader of this and the other blogs on the site, and I'm looking forward to joining the conversation. If you have comments for me, my e-mail address will hopefully be on the side of this page shortly. If not, it's right here. I'm especially interested in hearing from any bloggers out there who focus on High Point issues.
Other than saying a quick hello, I also wanted to expand on an item tucked away at the end of my story on Tuesday's City Council meeting (and if you didn't read all the way to the end, I'm very disappointed in you).
More to follow after the jump...
The council confirmed two new members to the High Point Housing Authority Board of Commissioners picked by Mayor Becky Smothers.
The new members are notable for their geography - Kevin Peguese lives in north High Point, while Lisa Stahlmann lives in northeast High Point. Neither area is a hotbed of public housing; the city's public housing is pretty much concentrated in central and south High Point.
While public housing isn't spread equally throughout the city, Smothers said, "there's still a responsibility for a governing structure that represents the whole community."
As for the men Peguese and Stahlmann are replacing, they share a lot more in common than having their successors named at the same council meeting.
Peguese steps in for Jack Flynn, whose term expired in December. Flynn may be best remembered for holding the dual roles of chairman of the board of commissioners and interim executive director of the housing authority for four months in 2001 following the death of Executive Director Ken Martin. Stahlmann is replacing Bud McInnis, who had served as the board's chairman for more than two years until resigning last week after claiming that housing authority staffers weren't following direction from the board.
In July 2001, three commissioners led a successful movement to oust Flynn as board chairman. One of those commissioners was - you guessed it - Bud McInnis. McInnis became interim board chairman in December 2001 and was voted into the post by his fellow commissioners in February 2002.
If I were a certain Canadian singer, I might call McInnis' and Flynn's simultaneous departures ironic. But I'd just call it a coincidence.
Comments (1)
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Glad to have you on board, Eric.
Posted on January 19, 2005 4:39 PM