News-Record.com

Never fear, political diehards. You will not have to choose between the election night mayhem and the City Council meeting.

The regular Tuesday night meeting has been cancelled for Nov. 4. Look for a jam-packed agenda coming up on Nov. 18, which will include a hearing on the pending purchase of the Coliseum Inn and the Canada Dry properties on High Point Road.

When a local radio show ran a contest to bring in campaign signs for cash, one result was a more than a few people who woke up Wednesday to see the signs for their favorite candidates gone from their yards.
Murphy in the Morning, a quirky radio show on 107.5 KZL, told its listeners that the person who came in with the most campaign signs Wednesday morning would win $500.
The stipulations: only take signs from public places, like intersections.
The show, which has run the contest for the last four years, wound up collecting roughly 20,000 campaign signs.
But some people with missing signs were a little miffed.
“They were overzealous young men that wanted to make some quick money, and in the wee hours of the morning they went on a sign-snatching spree,” said Ivan Cutler , who lost both his Barack Obama and his Paul Gibson signs.
“They had thousands and they were just throwing them in a dumpster,” said Cutler, who met the contestants at Village Tavern, where the winner was named.
“What bothered me the most was they went on the private property,” he said. “It’s just a campaign sign.”
For others, the signs are a keepsake from the election.
“It was a historical campaign and I planned to keep the sign to remember it by,” said Lori Lewis , who lost a sign overnight, but got another back when she called the station.
A producer at the station chalks it up to some hooligan’s shenanigans.
“There’s always going to be one bad apple that can spoil a bunch,” said Jason Goodman of KZL . “And it’s like telling people at a bar, 'Here’s a drink, but don’t go and drunk drive,’ and they do.”

Barack Obama's successful bid for president turned Greensboro Mayor Yvonne Johnson into a popular source for reporters.

Check her out here, along with a bunch of other local folks, talking to the BBC.

Today we called several county commissioners about some issues that are hanging out there: the jail construction, picking a chairman for 2009, building a health clinic for southeast Greensboro and a few other things.

We heard back from all of them, except for missed connections from Commissioners Kirk Perkins and Carolyn Coleman, and John Parks, who is out of the country, according to Kay Cashion.

Commissioners Steve Arnold, Bruce Davis and Mike Winstead didn't return a voicemail left at each cell number.

That they didn't call is no big deal, people get busy. We're just looking for the overall sentiment of what their plans are for the coming year, since all incumbents won in the election and the board will be the same as it was before the election until at least 2010.

And in our chatting Tuesday, we learned a few other tidbits about the next potential chairman (or chairwoman) and a few other things...

A little more than a month ago, we posted here about an ongoing cancer study in Guilford County's Information Systems department. Last week, according to a weekly note from County Manager David McNeill, it was reviewed a little more in depth by some outside agencies. From his note:

A team from NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health), a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), met with the Information Services (IS) staff regarding the Cancer Cluster Study conducted by the Health Department on November 12th. The team concluded that their review of the data and the employees’ surveys did not indicate an increase risk of developing cancer at their work site. Yesterday, the team conducted electromagnetic readings throughout the IS area to determine if a possible health hazard exists within this location.

The "yesterday" that he refers to was Thursday. So what are you hearing? Comment below, or, if you want, contact me directly by e-mail.

Folks have been digging for whatever info they can get about the discrimination complaints filed by black police officers against the City of Greensboro.

It's understandable, since federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaints are kept confidential, unless they go to court. The details of the complaints have been unclear.

Here's what Scoop can tell you right now: the city has not reached a settlement with the officers. There have only been settlement negotiations, which have been going back and forth since early this year.

The current City Council decided to work to resolve the complaints and other lawsuits swirling around the police department. They have consistently held closed session briefings to discuss legal issues.

If and when council actually reaches an agreement with the officers, it's not clear whether the city will give it out to the public. State law dictates that all kinds of settlement agreements are public record. In fact, the law prohibits sealed settlements.

"The only exception to the provision that public body settlments are public relates to medical malpractice claims," said Amanda Martin, of the North Carolina Press Association.

But, City attorney Terry Wood points out, state law also specifically limits the information cities can give out about employees.

Council has, in recent years, leaned toward public disclosure of information. Several council members said recently that they believed that any settlement would be a matter of public record.

"We would have to vote on it publicly," Mayor Yvonne Johnson said.

Tuesday night could be another late, late council meeting.

Just a few things up for consideration:

** A revision to the city's rental unit certificate of occupancy law. Read more here.

** The adoption of a parking fine holiday for December.

** City Manager Mitchell Johnson will give a report about the city finances.

** Council will decide whether to buy the Coliseum Inn and the Canada Dry property on High Point Road.

There will also be a closed session. So get out a sleeping bag and your pajamas in case they meet past your bedtime.

White voters are gravitating toward the Republican party while Democrats are picking up more black and Hispanic votes, according to a political science professor from Atlanta who will give a public talk on 2008 election trends at UNCG tomorrow.

"You can’t understand these electoral trends without looking at numbers," said Alan Abramowitz, the Alben W. Barkley Professor of Political Science at Emory University.

His lecture is 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Weatherspoon Art Gallery Auditorium at UNCG. The event is free and open to the public.

"Forty percent of (Barack) Obama's vote cane from non-whites, with 24 percent from African-Americans and 16 percent from Hispanics," Abramowitz said, comparing that to Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain. "Ninety percent McCain's votes came from whites."

He'll also look at regional differences in the voting across the nation based on the vote levels in regions and among age groups.

"I’m going to be talking about the components of the Democratic surge in 2008 and in the presidential election," he said. "It was obviously a substantial Democratic surge and uneven across demographic groups; and uneven geographically, you see, among age and race."

City Council had a rather lively and lengthy speakers from the floor segment Tuesday night.

A handful of residents went before council Tuesday night to express displeasure with SCAT, the recent parks and recreation bond, former police chief David Wray’s departure, unfulfilled public record requests and the City Council settlement negotiations of the discrimination case involving Greensboro police officers.

Greensboro resident Hans Roethinc put the blame for discrimination settlement discussions squarely on the city manager’s shoulders.

“This appears to be Greensboro’s version of an economic stimulus package,” he said.

City Council and the manager remained mostly quiet throughout the public comment session, although Councilman Mike Barber pressed City Attorney Terry Wood to fulfill an outstanding public record request from local blogger Roch Smith, of roch101.blogspot.com.

Smith was asking for information about the polygraph tests City Council members took in May 2006 regarding the leaking of a police department report.

"I made a legitimate request," Smith said. "It is being stonewalled."

Outcry from an Elm Street panhandler:

"Obama promised me change."

Mayor Pro Tem Sandra Anderson Groat was at the gavel Tuesday night filling in for Mayor Yvonne Johnson.

The Mayor was in Massachusetts at an event at the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government. She's a member of the university's Executive Committee on Human Relations Commissions and Criminal Justice.

Greensboro Police Chief Tim Bellamy is also part of the group. Check out what they're working on.

...could soon be taped for the record.

After the News & Record requested City Council closed session minutes in regards to the Canada Dry and Coliseum Inn purchases, council members expressed their displeasure with the lack of detail in the meeting minutes. The minutes were revised, but council members hoped to solve the problem for future sessions.

Council member Zack Matheny asked that the session be tape recorded.

This week City Attorney Terry Wood said that discussion, held in the closed session Oct. 21, needed to be held in public because it is a policy issue. So look for that discussion at the next City Council meeting.

T-bonds, muni bonds, corporate bonds? What's the difference?

This Slate video does a good job of describing bonds. And it's pretty cute, too. Remember "Schoolhouse Rock"? Yeah, it's like that:

The short answer is, we don't know who will take the chairmanship for 2009.

Last week we had a piece that maybe it would be Kay Cashion, the current vice chair of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners. But Melvin "Skip" Alston isn't out of the hunt, either.

Some have also kicked around the thought of John Parks for next year's vice chairman. But Parks is out of the country and can't be contacted.

The chairman sets the agenda and is responsible for running the meetings. That person can determine who has the floor and when by a bang of the gavel - assuming that the rest of the board pays attention to who is holding that gavel.

Other outlets watching the commissioners seem perplexed, too.

We've been trying to get up with commissioners this week to get a sense of things this week, but the Republicans say they don't have a say on the Democrat-dominated board over who will be chairman next year.

"I’ve heard Kay and John I’ve heard Skip," said Republican Commissioner Linda Shaw. "I don’t' know, we’re not in control."

That may not be the case, however, depending upon how the lines get drawn. Kirk Perkins, chairman until Dec. 1, was selected with a 10-1 vote, definitely a bipartisan decision. And since the board members that have been in place for the last term will stay in power for at least another two years, one can count on the personalities remaining the same, regardless of the person selected for the leadership position.

This post from our religion blog prompted Scoop to wonder what the write-in candidates from Guilford County looked like.

We'll paw through the info Geoge Gilbert, director of elections, plans to send. But for now, chomp of these tidbits:

Two people wrote-in Aquaman for soil and water commissioner.

And for school board?

"We have one for satan," Gilbert said.

As the recount in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race continues, Minnesota Public Radio has created a "You Be the Judge" page in which, armed with a link to Minnesota law regarding how to count ballots, you get to pick whether -- and if so, for whom -- to count 10 ballots. You also get to see how previous "judges" voted.

(Some background and new info on the race here.)

We're watching who may become the next chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, and while nobody is willing to call it just yet, it appears that Commissioner Melvin "Skip" Alston may be more of a frontrunner than he's letting on.

"I would love to be chairman, but I don’t think I have the votes, I think it’s going to be Kay (Cashion) and John Parks," Alston said.

The next chairman, commissioners have said, could be either Cashion or Alston, who are both Democrats. It seems that Alston is edging ahead for now.

"I’d say right now that Skip’s the frontrunner," said Chairman Kirk Perkins, who will hand the reins over to another chairman on Dec. 1. The next chairman is expected to be a Democrat, as the majority party on the board. The chairman sets the agendas and leads the discussion of the Board of Commissioners. They also can help determine which issues get more attention than others through that power.

And a couple Republicans we talked to today seemed to be leaning toward Alston.

"I hadn't really had a chance to sit down and talk with Kay," said Republican Commissioner Linda Shaw. "At this point, I was leaning toward Skip."

Even Republican Commissioner Billy Yow seemed to get behind Alston. The two have become somewhat notorious for their heated discussions between one-another in meetings.

"Skip is the most influential among the many of them," said Yow, referring to the majority that Democrats have on the 11-member board. "He’s, by far, the most knowledgeable of the Democrats."

Alston may also be gaining favor by saying he'd support a Republican for a vice chairman.

"If I was chairman I would insist that we have Republican," Alston said.

For the past year, Alston has hammered on setting up some type of efficiency plan for the county that would look at positions, department expenses and other aspects of spending in the county departments - something that's attractive to Republicans.

"I know the bonds passed and I know that we’re probably going to have problems solve," Shaw said, referring to an almost-certain property tax rate increase expected in next year's budget that would be linked to bond referenda that passed in May.

Shaw mentioned that she appreciates Alston's ongoing emphasis on efficiency. Yow is also on board with Alston's plans.

"In the last couple of years, I think some of me and Steve (Arnold) has rubbed off on (Alston)," Yow said. Commissioner Steve Arnold often opposes any tax increases, and resists spending increases too.

"I think when you talk about efficiency, that Skip and I line up very well," Yow said.

Cashion did not return phone calls, and Parks is out of the country.

Scoop is starting on a mid-term report on council members.

We'll sit down with all of them in the next few days to talk about what they've accomplished so far, and what their plans are.

Things we'll be asking council members:
-- Did you live up to your campaign promises?
-- What did you not get done that you wanted to do?
-- What’s the most important thing to do for the rest of the term?
-- Will you be running again?

What are you, the voters, thinking about their performance thus far? What have they done that impressed you? What ticked you off? What do they need to put on their to-do lists?

Guilford County's new jail keeps moving closer from the drawing board to reality.

A key step is selecting a construction management group to see the project through. On Tuesday, a county committee decided to hear pitches from each of the five construction management groups that are interested in building the jail.

Each will get 20 minutes to make their pitch, then will field questions for another 30 minutes.

Once a management group is selected and financing is in place, work can begin.

The financing could be tricky, though. The county will be looking to sell bonds to raise money early next year, but the dismal state ot the economy means that the interest rates could be too high for the county to go through with the sale.

We at Scoop love election stories. Here’s one Jeri Rowe relays from Melissa Carter:

On Nov. 4, she walked into Staples on Battleground, to order Christmas cards for her husband’s chemical company, when she saw Bobby Armstrong, one of the employees, wearing over his heart, “I Voted," one of the ubiquitous stickers of that day.

Carter asked whether he had, and Armstrong told her yes. All 27 members of his family.

Huh? We know. Carter was perplexed, too. So, Armstrong went on to tell her about his grandfather, and the time he got his ribs broken while he went to cast his own vote back in 1964. And Armstrong’s grandfather still voted.

So, Armstrong and his entire family – including a cousin who drove up from Charlotte – voted together, all at once, in memory of Armstrong’s grandfather.

And yes, Armstrong and his grandfather were African-American.

Armstrong also told Carter about his parents. They’re lifelong Republicans. But this year, they had in their front yard a sign supporting Barack Obama for president. When Armstrong asked them why, his father quoted a popular lyric we at Scoop love to sing in the late hours of the day.

“Son," Armstrong’s dad told him, “The times, they are a-changin.’"

Since that chance meeting a few weeks ago, Carter has told Armstrong’s story to a handful of people. And every time, they got caught up in the emotion of a moment in a family’s personal history.

All for a grandfather who wanted to vote.

“I have three sons, and for all three of them, this was their first opportunity to vote," said Carter, a 52-year-old community liaison for a home-care physician. “I told them, “Be wise,’ because these were elections were very powerful for so many people. Either way it went, we were changing history."

What: Greensboro City Council meeting
When: 5:30 p.m. today
Where: Melvin Municipal Office Building, 300 W. Washington St., Greensboro
Watch it: Time Warner Channel 13 or www.greensboro-nc.gov/citygovernment/council
How to speak: Sign up before the meeting. Speakers have up to three minutes for nonagenda items. The speakers-from-the-floor section is limited to 30 minutes.
On the agenda: Council will honor Olympic rower Caroline Lind with a key to the city.
Council will decide whether to give the Kress building landmark status and to approve a construction contract for Gateway Gardens.
Council will be asked to approve a performance contract designed to save the city on energy costs by upgrading utility equipment.
Council will also review and approve its legislative agenda for next year.
Council is also scheduled to give the manager a job evaluation, which will likely take place in a closed session.

Tuesday night, City Council will approve its legislative agenda for next year.

There are a few repeat items, and new ones out there. The issues were raised by council members, residents or city staff. Some may spark discussion Tuesday night.

Some of the issues up for debate:
-- Legislation that would amend Greensboro’s charter so that the police chief reports directly to the City Council. That would mean the police chief is fired and hired by the council. Currently, City Council only has one employee – the city manager.
-- Legislation to amend the charter to make the city attorney report directly to the City Council. Here’s an item that got split council support last year, which stymied its movement through the legislature.
-- Legislation to amend the charter to have City Council approve all city service contracts over $75,000. This item was suggested by Councilwoman Trudy Wade, who has been concerned about the number of contracts city staff can approve without council input.
-- Support for legislation to allow the DMV to withhold vehicle registration for people with unpaid parking tickets. There’s another way for Greensboro to collect that $2 million worth of unpaid parking tickets.
-- Support legislation to repeal the law that made Greensboro exempt from protest petitions on zoning matters. A protest petition requires a ¾ Council support for rezoning cases.

Area residents have been pushing to restore the protest petition. The legislature refused to take it up earlier this year, after Greensboro City Council did not say one way or another whether it supports the issue. It looks like that debate will happen Tuesday night.