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Scoop hopes you had a fun-filled and safe New Year's. In case you missed them, here are a couple of stories at least tangentially related to local politics:
* Speaking of New Year's, local politicos and Scoop share their New Year's resolutions here.
* Jim Schlosser checked in with this story about the impact of a proposed development on City Council's Jan. 10 agenda.
* And in case you missed my post last week, City Council will meet tomorrow to plan a retreat.
Judy Mendenhall says she's been approached about running for Guilford County commissioner in north High Point's District 2.
The seat is now occupied by long-serving incumbent Steve Arnold, who hasn't said if he'll seek another term. Both would-be candidates are Republicans.
(More about the 2006 election here.)
"A lot will depend on what Steve does and how I feel about it," said Mendenhall, the retiring president of the High Point International Home Furnishings Market Authority.
If Mendenhall decides to run, it could set up an intriguing primary in the heavily Republican district.
Arnold is a powerful incumbent who has represented District 2 since 1990 and once ran for lieutenant governor, but Mendenhall is a former High Point mayor and council member who also led the city's chamber of commerce. As president of the market authority, she's helped run the region's largest economic event.
The two-week candidate filing period begins Feb. 13, so we'll know by the end of that month if a Mendenhall-Arnold match-up is imminent.
"I probably need to do a little bit of checking before I decide if I want to go head-to-head with Mr. Arnold in a Republican primary or not," Mendenhall said.
William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, will speak Feb. 7 in Winston-Salem at a lunch hosted by the John Locke Foundation.
Tickets for Kristol's talk, "The Future of Conservatism and the Republican Role," cost $20. For more info, click here or call 866-553-4636.
The lunch will be held at the Piedmont Club, 200 W. 2nd St. #19.
Greensboro City Council met this afternoon to hash out what they'll discuss at their upcoming retreat (scheduled for Jan. 27-28 at the Center for Creative Leadership here in Greensboro).
Based on Wednesday's discussions, the overriding theme of the retreat will be discussion of what the city's top priorities/key initiatives/strategic vision/long-range goals should be.
Some other topics are likely to come up, however, including the city's budget and a bond referendum likely to be on the ballot this fall.
Randleman Reservoir, created by the Randleman Dam, could fill up this year, giving Guilford County a future source of drinking water.
The pending fill-up is also spurring construction of Southwest Park, a 513-acre recreational area on the lake's northwestern arm that could be a bonanza for hikers and bird watchers.
The park design is essentially finished, but the plans still need approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the county commissioners before construction begins. Those sign-offs should come in a couple months.
An updated draft of the park's master plan is available here. Note the wetlands, the trails, the canoe launch, and the two softball fields. (The motorboat launch will sit near the lake's southern end.)
County planner Roger Bardsley says the reservoir will be popular with anglers because new lakes offer their best fishing just a few years after they're created. The large wetland-and-wildflower area in the park should attract plenty of birds.
If construction starts this year, the park could open in mid-2007.
If you haven't already seen our story about Police Chief David Wray being locked out of his office, go check it out our quickie online story now, or catch up with the Saturday paper.
And then discuss via the comment link below.
Big props go out to Eric Townsend and Lorraine Ahearn for hunting down the story late Friday night, with an assist from Scoop’s own Eric Swensen.
The Guilford County office complex behind the right-field scoreboard at First Horizon Park is plenty visible from the stands, but it probably reminds no one of the stately Baltimore & Ohio Warehouse at Camden Yards.
That's why developers are aching to put something new on the property. A combination of shops and condos could stand there several years from now, adding to an area that's already getting Bellemeade Village.
But blocking any new development are county tax collections workers, who still work on the property and won't move to the newly purchased Independence Center until renovations there are finished. That relocation should occur in early 2007, estimated David Grantham, the county's property management director.
Then county can sell the property, and there's sure to be plenty of interest. Grantham has been fielding calls from prospective developers for at least the past 18 months.
If you've been reading our stories about Alcohol and Drug Services, the High Point drug-treatment agency, you've seen references to the 2004 "Crack in our Community" series by Stan Swofford.
The series is now online, along with a host of other special projects the paper has produced over the past couple years.
Nod to the Bargain Blogger for putting that together.
Over at her blog, Greensboro City Council member Sandy Carmany said she expects the council tonight to authorize the release of more information about Police Chief David Wray, who resigned Monday.
That matches what I heard Monday from several council members who told me they wanted to make as much information possible about the situation surrounding Chief Wray public.
"I believe in being as open as you can under the law," Yvonne Johnson said. "I think people have a right to know."
"We should operate under the policy of openness," Mike Barber said. "(Releasing information) allows us to begin closure of one chapter and the beginning of the next one."
Tom Phillips said he wants to release everything possible so the community can "really understand what was going on here."
Most contents of a city employee's personnel file are usually kept confidential, but state law provides some exemptions to that rule.
This is an excerpt from Section 160A-168:
The city manager, with concurrence of the council, or, in cities not having a manager, the council may inform any person of the employment or nonemployment, promotion, demotion, suspension or other disciplinary action, reinstatement, transfer, or termination of a city employee and the reasons for that personnel action. Before releasing the information, the manager or council shall determine in writing that the release is essential to maintaining public confidence in the administration of city services or to maintaining the level and quality of city services. This written determination shall be retained in the office of the manager or the city clerk, and is a record available for public inspection and shall become part of the employee's personnel file.
This just in from George Gilbert, Guilford County's elections director. You'll see estimated costs for the voting systems the county is considering. These are preliminary numbers, he notes.
Not everybody likes Gilbert's take on voting machines.
Check Wednesday's paper for more. Click here and here for even more than that.
New information on the investigation into former Greensboro Police Chief David Wray pushed the other news from Tuesday's City Council meeting out of the paper.
Now that I'm back from a field trip to Raleigh for a court hearing - which will be covered in Thursday's paper - I can update you on the other happenings from Tuesday's meeting.
Continue reading "More from Tuesday's City Council meeting" »
Jonathan Maxwell, Guilford County's longtime attorney, announced his retirement today.
Maxwell was hired in 1989. His last day is Feb. 28.
We'll have more on Maxwell's career with the county - and explore possible replacements - in tomorrow's paper.
Greensboro City Council's new District 2 representative, Goldie Wells, will hold a town meeting at 7 p.m. Jan. 30 to hear from residents and outline her vision for the city.
The meeting will be held at the Greensboro Historical Museum, 130 Summit Ave.
American Express has donated $10,000 to a community tree-planting program in Greensboro.
The credit-card company gave the money to the NeighborWoods Community Tree Planting Program, a joint venture between Greensboro Beautiful and the city of Greensboro. Trees are planted around the city to replace those lost to storms and development.
For more information or to make your own tax-deductible donation, visit Greensboro Beautiful's Web site or call Melissa Begley at 373-2150.
Steve Arnold won't come right out and say it, but he's talking like a guy who wants to run for office again.
Arnold, a Republican Guilford County commissioner who's represented north High Point's District 2 since 1990, says he's received "a lot of encouraging remarks" since he was elected the board's vice chairman last month.
"I've really been having a little fun that I haven’t had in a long time," said Arnold, the board's senior member. He added that he was leaning toward another run at the District 2 seat.
Arnold had been the most non-committal of the five commissioners who face an election this year. Bruce Davis, Carolyn Coleman and Linda Shaw have all said they'll seek another term, and Kay Cashion said last month that she's leaning toward running.
If Arnold runs, he could face a challenge from former High Point mayor Judy Mendenhall in a Republican primary. We'll know if one or both would-be candidates decides to run when the two-week filing period ends in late February.
The Guilford County Substance Abuse Coalition released its nine-month study of the county's drug problem Thursday.
Click here for the group's recommendations.
(A separate file on local drug abuse and treatment facilities was too big to upload into this blog. We'll try to get it up soon.)
Update, 9:49 a.m.: The other part of the report is available here.
My friend and colleague Nate DeGraff reported in an info-box with his county commissioners story from Thursday that the county has agreed to go with computerized touch-screen machines.
Folks who support a paper-based system are none to happy with that decision.
For context, here's what some other counties are doing:
For previous coverage on all of this, click here and/or click here.
Moody's Investors Service upgraded the city of Greensboro's general obligation bond rating to Aaa, Moody's highest rating.
Why should you care? Generally speaking, better bond ratings mean lower interest rates for the bonds, saving taxpayers money.
The city's full news release on the rating upgrade can be found here.
Toward the bottom of today's story on City Manager Mitchell Johnson's latest statement about the Greensboro Police Department investigation, it mentions that City Council is expected to release its own statement on the investigation today.
We're expecting that statement between 3 and 4 p.m., and we'll get it up online as soon as we can.
Based on interviews conducted with council members over the past couple of weeks, here are some of the likely points the council's statement will include:
* We trust and support Mitchell Johnson;
* We'd like to release more information about the investigation but can't for various legal/personnel reasons;
* Based on all we've seen, we fully support the way the investigation has been handled.
While you're waiting, here's the link to our story archive on the police department investigation.
Update: Here's the text of the council's statement.
While the continuing investigation into the Greensboro Police Department was the focus of the story on Tuesday's City Council meeting, council member Sandy Carmany also asked council to consider at its Feb. 7 meeting making the city-owned Greensboro Coliseum smoke-free.
Assuming council approves the resolution, Carmany said, coliseum management would be left to devise alternative arrangements such as an outdoor smoking area.
The coliseum now restricts smoking to a portion of the building's interior on the north side of the lower level along with a covered but non-climate controlled area outside the northeast side of the arena.
Nonsmokers who use the entrance have to walk through a cloud of smoke, and smoke sometimes drifts to the coliseum's second-floor concourse.
The General Assembly approved legislation last year exempting the coliseum from a state law that requires 20 percent of public facilities be set aside for smokers.
If City Council votes in favor of making the coliseum smoke-free, the coliseum will likely be entirely without smoking during ACC and NCAA tournament games in March, said coliseum Managing Director Matt Brown. That's because the existing outdoor smoking area will be in the midst of two ACC-sponsored hospitality events.
For future events, smoking would likely be allowed at the existing outdoor area along with a second undetermined outdoor site, Brown said.
Looks like Guilford County's health department won't switch to a public health authority after all. Thanks to Elyse Ashburn, who covers health and the environment for the N&R, for pulling this together:
GREENSBORO — After about a year of study, local health officials have decided not to pursue public health authority status for the Guilford County health department.
Those who follow local government know the sharp contrasts between the often discordant Guilford County commissioners and the comparatively agreeable Greensboro City Council.
(There's even an argument that the boards could learn a little something from each other.)
The differences came to mind when I saw how much time the boards have scheduled for their annual retreats. Governments use these meetings to discuss strategy and set goals for the upcoming year and beyond.
The commissioners' retreat should be a relatively brief affair, consuming about five-and-a-half hours a couple Saturdays from now.
The city council, meanwhile, has budgeted nearly 19 hours of retreat time over two days, including a marathon 9 a.m. to 8:40 p.m. session on Friday. The council hasn't held one of these things in several years.
These are public meetings, so you're welcome to attend. Gold stars to those who stay awake through all three sessions.
Retreats!
Who: Greensboro City Council
When: Friday, 9 a.m. to 8:40 p.m.
Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Center for Creative Leadership, off Battleground Avenue in Greensboro
Who: Guilford County commissioners
When: Saturday, Feb. 11, 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Where: Adult Education Center at GTCC's East Greensboro campus
The State Board of Elections is offering $3 million to North Carolina's 100 counties to help pay for voting machines.
The $30,000 per county won't be a huge help to Guilford, which is expected to spend nearly $3 million on machines for the May primary (the county will buy more machines for future elections), but Elections Director George Gilbert says "we'll be happy to take our share."
Click here for the press release from the N.C. Association of County Commissioners.
The N.C. Supreme Court could've issued some sort of ruling on the Trudy Wade-John Parks election case today.
Here's the most recent news:
(Take note of blank space.)
That's right. Nothing happened. A day after they met in conference for the only time in January, the Court handed down several opinions and ruled on a bunch of petitions, but produced nothing new on the Wade-Parks case.
That means Wade remains a Guilford County commissioner under an earlier order issued by the Court.
"We just don’t have a decision today," said Amy Gray, senior deputy clerk at the Court. "And they don’t give reasons why."
A quick reminder: Greensboro City Council's District 2 representative, Goldie Wells, will host a town meeting at 7 p.m. at the Greensboro Historical Museum (130 Summit Ave.).
She'll lay out her vision for the district and take questions. Other council members may also be present.
Tomorrow (Tuesday, Jan. 31) is the President's annual state of the union address. Delightfully enough, there are folks around the local blogsphere getting bloggy with it already:
So here's my question: How many of you out in Scoop-land will sit down to watch Bush's speech Tuesday night?
Geek that I am, I've watched most SOTU addresses since Reagan's second or third, and continue to do so now as a matter of professional hazard. But I also tend to get distracted during any long speech that I'm not writing about directly, and typically end up having to read it the next day.
Will you watch it? Read it? Ignore it? Listen to what someone else tells you about it? Read a summary the next day?
What do you usually take away from the speech? Is it as important to watch live today as it way maybe back in the 70s or 80s?
I'm just back from a town meeting at the Greensboro Historical Museum hosted by Greensboro's District 2 representative, Goldie Wells.
Among her goals is building a strong district by building strong neighborhoods. She encouraged the more than 75 people who came out for Monday's meeting to get to know their neighbors and get involved in their neighborhoods, for instance, through neighborhood watch programs to combat crime.
Wells and four other council members - Mayor Keith Holliday, Sandra Anderson, Yvonne Johnson and Dianne Bellamy-Small - also took audience questions that ranged from concerns about dilapidated housing in certain neighborhoods to the value of the city's Comprehensive Plan and city efforts to attract jobs.
An audience member questioned whether the time and money spent developing the Comprehensive Plan was worth it, given its frequent amending by council.
Holliday defended the plan, saying that it's not amended as often as it appears. If an average council meeting has 4-5 zoning cases, he said, only 1 or 2 usually involve amending the comp plan. The plan, he said, "is a road map, not a doctrine."
Wells hit again on the need for neighborhoods to organize if they see a development or comp plan amendment they don't like and lobby the council to reject it. "Band together - prove your point," she said.
A couple of attendees asked what the city is doing to bring jobs to the eastern side of the city.
Johnson talked about the need to have development-ready sites around the city with necessary infrastructure like water and sewer lines in place, while Bellamy-Small spoke of the need to use incentives to not only attract big businesses like Dell, but smaller businesses. Businesses will also be attracted if the crime rate drops and the area's look is improved, Bellamy-Small said.
Monday's forum is the first of several planned that will involve council members, said Donna Newton with the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress.
The next forum is scheduled to feature Bellamy-Small, Newton said, though she didn't specify a date.
Update: David Hoggard has his own report from the meeting.
Hopefully you saw Inside Scoop (the dead-tree edition) today, which featured a tale-of-the-tape recap of the dueling City Council and school board retreats (my thanks to Chalkboard denizens Bruce and Jennifer for their efforts).
But between the two news stories and Tuesday's Scoop column, there were a few tidbits I still didn't have room for. So, here they are.
As their pre-retreat homework assignment, council members were asked to pretend "60 Minutes" was coming to Greensboro in 2015 to ask why the city had been named the best place to live in the country. The idea was to get council members thinking about their vision for the city.
Eight of the nine council members more or less carried out the assignment, presenting the city at its idealized best - good jobs for everyone, lots of affordable housing, etc.
But Florence Gatten went apocalyptic to show her colleagues the consequences of making poor choices. Among the fallout: the Jefferson Pilot Building had been converted to the county jail, and the city lacked any print media outlet.
The News & Record had pulled out due to a lack of advertising revenue after an economic collapse, while there was no longer a weekly paper "due to the tragic shooting death of its editor," which seemed to be a reference to Rhino Times editor John Hammer. (While that leaves out publications like YES! Weekly and the Peacemaker, maybe the editors of those publications will sleep safer knowing they were ignored in this scenario.)
Gatten's reasoning? "I've never seen a positive '60 Minutes' story."
Mayor Keith Holliday, meanwhile, revealed himself a fan of the TV show "24" during a discussion about using cameras to capture criminal behavior.
"I keep watching '24', and boy those cameras help," he said, referring to the amazing ability of the show's counterterrorist agents to set up live video feeds between HQ and their field operatives.
