Hey, at least no one killed me off
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.
Comments (2)
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"while there was no longer a weekly paper 'due to the tragic shooting death of its editor,'..."
Um...
The nicest thing I can say about this is that it is totally lacking in PGA.
It's also profoundly disturbing and ominous, with a hint of a threat. File this away, Eric, in case Hammer or Clarey ever come to harm; if they do, introduce it into evidence and check what investigative reporting they had underway.
They couldn't have just moved out of town or contracted food poisoning, huh? Shot? In the head?
Disturbing.
Posted on February 2, 2006 12:03 AM
The N&R's demise due to lack of advertising isn't a bad piece of imagination, given its liberal bias.
However, floating the murder of the conservative Rhino editor is way, way over the top.
I know the libs dream, and perhaps lust, over such an incident, but I find it unfathonable to be brought up at a City Think Tank.
Did I miss the N&R issue that blasted this all over the front page?
By the way, did I miss this when it was blasted on the front page of the N&R?
Posted on February 3, 2006 8:21 AM