News-Record.com

The big table in the center of city hall's plaza level council room was decidedly empty come 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.

The staff members were there. The journalists had there with laptops ready.

But most of the city council members -- the guests of honor of this and every council briefing -- were MIA.

Councilman Mike Barber took the opportunity to chastise the absent members for not showing up to one in a series of three briefing sessions when council members will give the staff key recommendations about the budget and other financial issues.

"Over the last few months, it's as though the council meetings aren’t important enough to attend,” he said.

Mayor Yvonne Johnson and Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small were the other two members in attendance when Barber made his comment. Councilman Zack Matheny and Councilwoman Trudy Wade both came a few minutes late.

There was no explanation or excuse offered as to why the other four members were absent -- although Scoop knows that at least two council members were out of town traveling.

Barber has a point. Briefings in March and April were cancelled by council, sometimes because people were too busy to attend. As compared to the regular, twice-monthly council meetings, briefings are not as well attended. That means council members who don't attend miss that chance to speak candidly with and give direction to the staff.

The issue made Scoop wonder, who has the best attendance record on council?

Anyone care to guess?

We'll scare up an attendance roster and get back to you on that.

In case you are one of the only people who has not read the Risk Management Associates report into the Greensboro Police Department's employee woes, now you can get it in court.

The consultant report has been the source of much controversy over the years. It's been leaked, withheld by the city and refuted by writers. A heavily redacted version was released earlier this year by a Guilford County Court judge, but all the meaty stuff was cut out due to the North Carolina personnel law.

Now any member of the public can dig right into it, thanks to Police Officer Julius Fulmore's lawsuit against Greensboro.

The report, which discusses issues involving the former police chief and other officers, was one of the attachments included in last week's lawsuit filing. You can read those documents at the U.S. District Court in Greensboro or via PACER if you have an account.

No super secret, inside sources required.

Greensboro City Council could be headed toward an open interview process for their next city manager -- if they follow the plan laid out by the consultant hired to find that person.

Consultant Colin Baenziger recommended that council members observe the finalists in a variety of situations, including an open interview with the public and media in attendance.

He says this public meeting, along with other tests of the candidate, will reveal his or her demeanor in different situations.

Baenziger hails from Florida -- a state well known for its open government laws. North Carolina, in contrast, has an open meeting law that allows closed meetings to discuss hiring a specific new employee.

In practice, local executive hiring processes take all forms. The Guilford County school board brought in two final candidates to meet the public before it hired Supt. Maurice "Mo" Green. But searches for university chancellors under Erskine Bowles, including the hiring of UNCG Chancellor Linda Brady and the next N.C. A&T chancellor, have been confidential until after they have been formally appointed.

Same goes for the appointment of Guilford County Manager Brenda Jones Fox.

Recruiting consultants say that some candidates won't apply for a job if they know they could be publicly known -- an issue Mayor Yvonne Johnson mentioned last week. Baenziger said that can be a trade-off.

But if council members want an open process, they should consider the public option, Baenziger said.

City Council has not yet ruled on this issue. But it will be interesting to see how they vote -- especially those members who frequently espouse a desire for transparency in government.

A bill that could put Greensboro city council in charge of the city attorney is stalled in the legislature for the second year in a row.

And local delegation members say it isn't likely it will be passed, since the bill got mixed reviews from city council members.

The bill would put Greensboro in line with most other municipalities in the state, where the attorney is hired and fired by the elected officials. City Council voted 5 to 4 to put the issue on its legislative agenda and ask the local delegation to get it passed.

The bill passed the House and is now in a Senate committee.

Councilman Mike Barber said earlier this week that one council member -- presumably on the losing side of the vote -- had called the legislative delegation to "derail" the bill.

Barber didn't say which council member might have tried to influence delegation members. He said he thought it would ultimately be passed, but he didn't like that kind of behavior.

Delegation members say while there is a controversy among city council members, the measure is unlikely to move.

“We’ll let it sit,” Sen. Katie Dorsett, D-Greensboro, said. “There’s not agreement in the City Council – it was a 5-4 vote – and there’s not agreement in our delegation.”

Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Greensboro, said: “Some of us were reluctant to run it because of the 5-4 vote.”

The General Assembly has until summer 2010 to pass the measure. But other members of the Senate are unlikely to move a local bill over the objection of members from that area.

Allow me to nab a great idea from our higher ed reporter Joe Killian.

He used to do a fun feature on his blog called "the Sound of Feedback" where he revealed some of the many, fascinating phone calls we reporters recieve.

This evening I got one of those. It was from a woman whose name, unfortunately, was obscured by some sort of cell phone reception issue. I would have loved to call her back and explain.

To paraphrase, she accused me of telling lies for the city about taxes.

Greensboro's proposed tax rate for 2009-2010 is 63.5 cents -- the same rate it has been for the last two years. My story explained that the city tax bill on a $200,000 house would be $1,270.

Our disconcerted reader says her tax bill for her $160,000 house was more than $2,000 last year. Hence, her conclusion that I was lying. (For the record, I see a difference between being wrong about a fact and lying, but that is niether here nor there).

She's right. Her property tax bill would be more than $2,000. And I am also correct. That's because people who own property in Greensboro are also Guilford County residents and therefore pay taxes to both governments -- on ONE bill.

Guilford County's tax rate last year and probably for next year will be 73.74 cents, or $1,475 for the owner of a $200,000 home.

So, the caller's combined city and county tax bill last year was $2,196. And it should be the same next year too, if the proposed budgets are adopted.

Here's the formula -- combined for the city and county taxes -- if you want to do that math for your house:

House value (divided by) 100 (multiplied by) $1.3727 (equals) your tax bill.

I hope that clears it up. And I hope my reputation remains untarnished.

Next week City Council members will create their wish-list of leadership qualities and qualifications to guide them in their search for the next city manager.

And they're asking residents for help.

The consulting firm hired by council to conduct the manager search will meet with residents on Wednesday, May 20, at 5:30 - 7 p.m. and 7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. at the Coliseum Special Events Center, 1921 W. Lee St. Participants can weigh in on any issue they feel should be considered in finding the city's next top employee.

In light of the recent survey that highlighted city staff members disappointment with their elected officials, City Councilwoman Sandra Anderson Groat wants to throw a party.

A party in Center City Park to show her appreciation for the city's 2,800 employees.

Groat envisions a little bit of grillin’, some snow cones and a dunking booth.

Other city council members jumped on the idea. Councilwoman Trudy Wade said the council members could use her travel budget to help pay for it. That's $3,500 she hasn’t used and intended to return to the general fund.

“I’ll be in the dunking booth,” Councilman Robbie Perkins. “We’ll see who raises more money, me or Mike.”

That seems to be a question folks are asking out there.

From Ironman at Piedmont Publius:

Did Mayor Johnson or some other pol, unhappy with the vote of the Council to withdraw the settlement offer, make a sub-rosa contact with some of their friends in the Obama Administration, on behalf the black officers frivilous (sic) claim.

Interesting question. So we examined.

Were some political strings pulled to make the Justice Department look into the EEOC complaints of Greensboro's black police officers?

On Tuesday, Johnson said she in no way interfered with the EEOC process to prompt any investigation.

If you think denials are a dime a dozen, consider what the experts have to say.

Three labor lawyers Scoop consulted -- including one with DOJ experience and another who used to work for the EEOC -- said the Justice Department investigation is not out of the ordinary. In fact, it is one of the next possible steps of the EEOC complaint process.

"If you’ve got 40 black police officers, this is the kind of thing the Justice Department would be interested in," said John Meuser, a labor attorney who formerly worked with the EEOC. "Sending an investigator down to Greensboro sounds like a typical kind of thing Justice would do."

And there is also speculation about another issue.

Why is the Justice Department investigating the racial make-up of police and fire department and the hiring practices?

Earlier this week, Councilman Mike Barber said that there is concern that the investigation began after Mayor Yvonne Johnson and Police Chief Tim Bellamy participated in a Human Rights forum hosted by Harvard University.

Johnson, again, says she did not say anything in the forum that was not already widely known publicly about the city's police department troubles. And Barber, for what it is worth, said he did not have any evidence to connect the appearances at the forum and the investigation. But he took the opportunity of his press conference to highlight that local leaders shouldn't be talking about the city's troubles with folks outside of Greensboro.

A Justice Department letter, informing the city about the fire and police investigation, does not clarify the issue. It merely says the department "has information" that the minority populations in the entry-level positions are not representative of the city labor force.

A little research shows that the Justice Department has found that things like math tests or written exams required of all entry-level employees can disproportionately disqualify minority candidates for public safety jobs. Departments in New York, Virginia and Ohio have been investigated and found to have discriminated against minority candidates because of this.

In the cases Scoop examined, it was not clear whether the Justice Department investigated because they was tipped off or because they simply started poking around.

So thus far, things are a little murky on this one. Got a call out to the Justice Department public affairs folks, with at least a glimmer of hope they will clear things up. Stay tuned.

Mike Barber's Monday afternoon press conference prompted Councilman Robbie Perkins to ask council to set a new policy regarding how members can use the city's media facilities.

Barber called the press conference to discuss the various financial and police department issues. He has pushed for city council to hold press conferences in the past, arguing that it is a way to directly communicate with the public.

But the council holds relatively few. And of all the press conferences held in the last year, none included all council members.

In the last year, council members have held three other press conferences. One was to talk about the city's financial issues -- an event lead by Mayor Yvonne Johnson at Barber's urging. Only a handful of council members attended.

Another was hosted by Johnson at her non-profit office, to reiterate her goals for the new year. Two other council members attended, although the mayor did all the talking.

The last press conference was held a few days later. At that event Barber laid out a dozen or so ideas or issues he was concerned about. Many were ideas supported by Councilwoman Trudy Wade, who also was in attendance. Councilman Zack Matheny also attended, although he spoke only to answer questions.

Three of the four press conferences were held on city property using the city's public affairs department to promote the event. Barber's Monday press conference, in which he was the only council member speaking and one of two in attendance, was recorded and aired on the government access television, cable Channel 13.

That press conference prompted Perkins to call for a new policy. He wants council to be required to vote to allow member to use the city's Website and television station to hold press conferences.

"What stops anybody from having a press conference so they can have air time on Channel 13?" Perkins said. "That doesn’t seem to be fair, particularly going into an election season."

But his perspective was troubling to Wade. She said Perkins doesn't want alternative points of view expressed.

"It would stop anyone that is in the minority from ever being on Channel 13," she said. "Channel 13 shouldn't only be used for those members voting in the majority. It should be available to all council members."

It will be interesting to see how the arguments shake out, and whether it will prompt debate about other uses of city media, such as the mayor's state of the city address on Channel 13.

Council members will discuss the issue Tuesday night.

Councilman Mike Barber announced earlier this year that he will not seek re-election to his District 4 council seat.

Monday afternoon, he seemed to put to rest speculation that he is eyeing another seat on the city council.

He indicated that he does not plan to run for mayor of Greensboro or an at-large council seat.

Barber said he plans to spend his time with his children.

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 members will be asked to amend the neighborhood plan and approve a rezoning for the corner of Spring Garden Street and South Elam Avenue. There is a protest petition on this zoning request.
-- They will also vote on next year’s budget for housing programs.
-- Coliseum Director Matt Brown will ask council to release $2 million in state funds to start developing an ACC Hall of Champions at the Coliseum Special Events Center.
-- Council members will also discuss their options for building a new swim facility in Greensboro.

A couple of recent City Council decisions have made Greensboro a friendlier place for small businesses.

The city’s Web site will soon promote businesses with 100 or fewer employees, an initiative promoted by Mayor Yvonne Johnson.

City Council members also capped the privilege license fees for new businesses. Councilman Mike Barber initiated that change.

“This is an effort to really say to our small business community, 'We want to do all we can to help you,'” Johnson said of the web promotion effort. “They are the backbone of our community.”

Council members unanimously voted to cap to license fees at $50 for new businesses with 10 or fewer employees, starting July 1. A related initiative also capped fees at $50 for businesses that open between Jan. 1 and June 30 of this year.

The change in policy could cost the city an estimated $25,000 in privilege license revenue annually, the city staff estimated.

“The estimated of impact on our budget is probably going to be a lot lower just because we don’t have a lot of small business starts ups right now,” Barber said.

City staff members took quite a few personal pot-shots as City Council members in the open comment section of the recent staff survey.

I have been pawing through the 200-page report, looking for at least one nice thing I could add to balance that out, when I ran across this:

"...The only one worth anything is Mike Barber -- he should be supported and president of the next council."

Now, I bet you could convince Barber to run for president if he had the right kind of support. But it is more than a little sad that a city staff member doesn't know there is no "president" of the council.

But that's just one reporter's opinion.

There's been a lot of that pre-election season hemming and hawing lately. It's to be expected, since this year's City Council elections don't begin until July.

But let's try to keep score here. Cyndy Hayworth, would-be challenger for Councilman Zack Matheny in District 3, backed out this week. As president of Junior Achievement, she said she will need to focus her attention on that role while the economic crisis continues to stretch non-profits ability to raise funds.

Meanwhile, rumors abound that School Board member Deena Hayes is interested in a city council bid. Hayes said she’s been approached by “people in the community” to run for city council but said she is happy where she is. She added, however, that community urging got her to run for school board.

Last Tuesday night city employees gave the city council an earful about their jobs — and the job council members are doing.

The redacted version of the 200-page report was released electronically by the city on Thursday afternoon.

The names of specific employees were blacked out, but it still gives you a good flavor of how the employees feel.

A couple of things the employees seem to like: an internal city e-mail called “In The Loop” that former City Manager Mitchell Johnson started and the budget sessions the top managers held earlier this year to share info about the city’s economic difficulties. They liked the communication.

They also like their benefits, and want merit raises to continue.

Meanwhile, the list of what they don’t like is even longer.

Here is a sample of the un-edited comments of the employees. Keep in mind that the survey wrapped up three days after Mitchell Johnson was fired as city manager, so some of that drama is at play:

— “All I would have to say the management team for the City of Greensboro is to keep up the good work and that I am proud to work for the City of Greensboro and the be part of a vastly growing city. Keep up the good work City Council and (blacked out.)”

— “City Council needs to stop running the police department.”

— “Start supporting your beleaguered police department instead of looking for ways to tear us down. Move forward. It’s hard for me to state what you should continue doing because I perceive that Council has you so far stretched that you have been rendered ineffective for three years now. Council needs to take a long hard look at their responsibilities, stop fighting and encourage city management instead of pointing fingers at them all the time.”

— “I am very upset that City Council fired the City Manager before getting the results back on this employee survey. That just goes to reinforce my view that City Council does not really care about what employees think or feel. City Council has one “power happy” like they have over at the county. Management at the City of Greensboro should be allowed to conduct business without being micro-managed by the City Council, which would be something new so there isn’t anything to continue doing.”

— Keep... “Looking for ways to save the citizens tax dollars.”

— “The city should continue seeking input and feedback from employees so that underlying issues can be resolves.”

— “The City of Greensboro provides great services to residents. Many employees really care about the city and representing City Government well. The City Council simply has no respect for employees. These employees deserve to be shown some respect.”

I haven't gotten all the way through the report yet. I'll update this when I've read some more.

A city council subcommittee will take another two weeks to recommend a firm to help find the next city manager.

The four-member committee pawed through about 20 proposals to try to find help for their job hunt.

Councilwoman Trudy Wade was pushing for the city's Human Resource department to conduct the search -- similar to the way the Guilford County commissioners held their search process to fill their vacant manager position recently.

But the other committee members stressed that it would be best to have a nuetral third party conduct the search.

To that end, committee members were also looking for a firm that hasn't dealt with Greensboro before. That means the other members took Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small's top choice -- Springsted out of Richmond -- off the table. Last year Springsted recently helped the city search for two assistant city manager positions.

The council members are taking the next two weeks to check references on two other top picks -- The Par Group, based in Lake Bluff, Ill., and Colin Baenziger & Associates, from Wellington, Fla.

They'll report back to the full council at their next meeting. Bellamy-Small said she expects to give a minority report with her recommendation.

Tuesday night city employees gave the city council an earful about their jobs -- and the job council members are doing.

The 200-page report with all the results won't be available for a few days, while city staff redact names out of the report. But here is the presentation given by the N.C. Employment Security Commission, which will give you some of the highlights.

The report will have the unedited comments of the employees. Here are a few, paraphrased things employees said:
-- The city should keep open and honest communication with staff members.
-- Acknowledge employees for a job well done and get rid of people who don't measure up.
-- Encourage city council members to meet employees and better understand them and their jobs.
-- City council should start trusting the staff.
-- Management should treat employees fairly in hiring and promotion practices.
-- Stop playing favorites with special interest groups.

GREENSBORO — You have one more chance to attend a community meeting on the budget to let the Greensboro City Council know what matters to you.

Council member Mike Barber will host the final meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at Lindley Recreation Center, 2907 Springwood Dr.

You can take an online budget survey here to voice your opinions. Learn more about the budget process here.

Busy night Tuesday...

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: The Employment Security Commission with provide the results of the Greensboro employee survey.
-- City Council members will consider a controversial rezoning off Meadwood Street.
-- Council members will have a second vote on annexing two McLeansville subdivisions.
-- They will also reconsider a plan to limit the hours for peddlers and solicitors.

Here’s an unintended side effect of Councilman Zack Matheny’s proposed limits on the hours for peddlers and solicitors: it might be harder for the mayor to get her meat.

Chris Rees, owner of the Dixie Meat Co. for the last 18 years, said his one-man meat distribution business will suffer if the city council limits the hours of soliciting from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

About 60 percent of his business comes from door-to-door solicitations — and much of that activity happens after 6 p.m. when people arrive home after work.

“Even the best salesman in the world can’t sell to people who aren’t home,” Rees said.

Rees, who counts Mayor Yvonne Johnson and Councilwoman GOldie Wells among his customers, said the 6 p.m. deadline will drastically cut his business.

Matheny said he was responding to business owner complaints about downtown panhandlers and to resident concerns about magazine salesmen.

Folks, Matheny said, just don’t like people knocking on their doors anymore.

“I’m trying to find a happy medium,” Matheny said.

Matheny’s ordinance rewrite will go before council Tuesday night.

Former City Council member Nancy Vaughan said she's ready to be an elected official again.

Vaughan served two terms as the District 4 council representative from 1997 to 2001, before she left to raise her daughter. In the next week, she plans to start a new committee and run at-large in 2009.

"I've been displeased with the direction of the city," she said Tuesday. "We've lost our edge. That is very concerning to me."

Vaughan, who is married to North Carolina Sen. Don Vaughan, called for greater transparency and accountability in city government.

Current council at-large members Robbie Perkins, Mary Rakestraw and Sandra Anderson Groat have said they will run again. Julie Lapham, Marikay Abuzuaiter and Max Benbassat have also announced their intentions to run for the three at-large positions.

Candidates can take out papers top run for office on July 6.

Keith Brown over at Triad Watch pointed out this local anti-annexation blog.

The council voted in a split decision last week to approve the annexation of two McLeansville subdivisions -- a process they have delayed once before.

The author of the blog is anonymous, but he or she is making arguments similar to the arguments neighbors made to city council last week.

The case in McLeansville is, like a lot of annexations, a case where county residents do not want to become city residents. They argue that they bought in the county for a reason, they don't need the new taxes and the city won't give them any benefits for their residency.

The annexation was a petition annexation -- typically considered a kind of friendly city land grab where the property owner asks to be taken into the city, usually to get water and sewer connections. The original subdivision developers made that annexation decision when they were building.

What makes this annexation unique is that the current homeowners are pushing back against that plan, and trying to take back that original petition.

Taking an educated guess, I'd say the issue will come up again next week, when the city council has a second hearing for the annexation.

Councilman Zack Matheny wants to limit the amount of time beggars, door-to-door salesmen and others can bug people at their homes or on the streets.

He asked council members to adjust the times peddlers and solicitors can operate. Currently they can work from dusk until dawn. Matheny wants to change them from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

"I’ve had a lot of complaints from downtown," said Matheny, whose council district includes the city center.

But Matheny's fellow council members were concerned about how peddlers or solicitors would be notified of the change.

Some were worried the ordinance amendment could have unintended consequences, such as applying to children trick-or-treating or Salvation Army bell ringers at Christmastime.

"This has all kinds of holes in it," Councilman Robbie Perkins said.

Council members put off the debate for another meeting, when the city staff will pen another ordinance that will cover those concerns.

A subcommittee of city council members will soon dig through the stack of agencies interested in helping them find a new city manager.

The group -- Councilwomen Sandra Anderson Groat, Trudy Wade, T. Dianne Bellamy-Small and Councilman Zack Matheny -- was appointed by Mayor Yvonne Johnson this week. They will meet for the first time next Tuesday.

Council members said they would like to do a national search for the next city manager. It is unclear how much that will cost, but council members should get an idea when they start going through the 21 bids the city recieved.

The persistent news of layoffs -- both from private businesses and government organizations like Guilford County and UNCG -- might have some city workers watching their backs.

Scoop caught up with Interim City Manager Bob Morgan this week to see where things stand for the city of Greensboro in this on-going economic crisis.

Despite the downturn in things like permit fees and sales tax revenue, Morgan says the city is on track to have a balanced budget through the end of the fiscal year in June. The city has about 140 open positions right now, which has helped cover the shortfalls this year.

That means, pending any other dire financial news or changes made by the City Council, Morgan isn't planning any layoffs in the next few months.

All bets are off for next fiscal year, which begins on July 1. City department heads have been working for weeks to provide options for council members to help balance next year's budget, which is about $11 million short.

Morgan will meet with council April 14 to go over the staff ideas. Until then, he'll be mum about what lies ahead.

Fished this out of the in-box this morning, courtesy of the Coliseum staff:

Mayor Yvonne Johnson to Coach Hansbrough and ACC All-Stars

Greensboro, NC – It was announced recently that the 2009 Carolina Barnstorming Tour, featuring the ACC’s all-time leading scorer Tyler Hansbrough and the senior classes from the UNC and Duke basketball teams, will be playing a game at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Event Center on Friday, April 10th. The Final Four bound Tar Heels will team up with none other than their rival Duke Blue Devils, as they face off against a local all-star team coached by Greensboro Day’s Freddy Johnson. Wake Forest alum and Harlem Globetrotter, Antwan Scott, will also suit up for the ACC team.

Mayor Yvonne Johnson will be in attendance as the Honorary Head Coach for the ACC All-Stars. When asked about her involvement in the game, Mayor Johnson said, “This event will give the local community a chance to enjoy an exciting basketball game, while also benefiting a worthy charity.”

I can hear her now.

"Make that basket, baby."

The charity is the Ronald McDonald House. Tickets are $10. Buy 'em online at Ticketmaster.

Councilman Mike Barber doesn't plan to seek re-election in District 4 later this year.

Barber said he will continue to be involved in the city, but his specific plans for the future are a little unclear. He hasn't ruled out running for some other office, nor has he admitted he is considering it.

Barber said it was a family decision because he and his wife want to keep their options open for where their daughter attends middle school.

"People hear politicians say, 'It’s a family decision,' and I always thought 'Oh, come on.' But it certainly is," Barber said. "The last ten years the kids had to make certain sacrifices for their dad. I appreciate their sacrifice."

Barber was a Guilford County commissioner from 2000 to 2004, when he narrowly lost his seat. The following year he was elected to Greensboro city council in District 4. There has been talk that Barber wanted to run for mayor. But right now he's not saying.

Meanwhile, Joel Landau and Teresa Jobe, who both are members of city committees, have said they plan to run for his seat.

Potential candidates can start taking out papers on July 6. The primary is Oct 6 and the general election is Nov. 3.

A couple of things this week, for those who follow city business:

Thursday, April 2, at 6 p.m., Trotter Recreation Center, 3906 Betula St.
Fourth in the series of community budget meetings. This one will be hosted by Councilwoman Trudy Wade.

Friday, April 3, 5 p.m., main Public Library, 219 N. Church St.
Hear Councilwoman Goldie Wells discuss her book about her father, "Golden Asro Frinks: Telling the Unsung Song."

Later this week, Greensboro City Council members will to meet to discuss the federal stimulus money -- and how the city can get a bigger chunk of it.

Councilman Robbie Perkins asked for a special council meeting so that members can get up to speed on the dense federal recovery bill. He is concerned that the city will miss out if there isn't a good strategy for getting the money.

Councilwoman Trudy Wade said she's been making that same point since January.

"We are going to miss an opportunity if we don't get our act together," she said.

The federal stimulus package, approved in February, includes billions of dollars worth grant and loan programs. Some of that money will come to Greensboro from federal agencies based on the size and profile of the community. Other funds will be dispersed through a competitive grant process and the city will have to apply if it wants to participate.

Other recovery package funds will be funneled through the state. In the last two weeks, the North Carolina State Legislature created house and senate committees that will oversee that process.

Right now, Greensboro has an evolving list of funds it will seek. But council members want to make sure they set some priorities for getting it.

"We've got a bunch of items on a list but no priorities," Perkins said. "I don't think we were paying enough attention to what was going on."

There are dozens of ways governments, private businesses and nonprofits could benefit from the federal stimulus package passed last month.

Much has been said about oversight of the $787 billion. For those of us watching in Greensboro, the city has put together a collection of items on its Web site so residents can see what the local government has received and what opportunities may be available to it. Check it out here.

See what the state is up to here. The North Carolina League of Municipalities also has a very comprehensive, continuously-updated page with information on the various grant and loan programs available under the stimulus. Read that here.

An ambitious N.C. A&T sophomore hoped to pick up the District 2 council seat later this year during the Greensboro election.

But it looks like Bernard Foster will have to wait another two years.

Foster, 20, is about 10 days to young for the 2009 City Council election.

Foster is a political science major who was inspired by the crime around his campus to get more involved in city government.

“Something inside of me said I had to do something about it,” he says.

Foster turned in his election committee paperwork and was ready to run when election officials discovered the error.

He will be 21 by the time new City Council members are sworn in at the end of the year. But that isn’t soon enough to meet elections guidelines.

Candidates must by 21 years of age as of the Nov. 3 municipal election.

But Foster isn’t giving up. He says he will fight to change to rules and see if he can get on the board this year.

In just a few short weeks, the first zoning case eligible for the newly-restored protest petition could go before CIty Council.

The state legislature restored protest petition -- a tool to help landowners fight neighboring rezoning cases -- to Greensboro this month.

The city legal department determined that the process will apply to cases that were approved by the zoning commission March 9. There was only one case -- a rezoning on Rankin Place -- that will go forward to City Council because it was in an historic district, City Planning Director Dick Hails said.

This week, city staff sent out letters reminding abutters that the case will be before City Council April 7. The letter contains a brief explanation of protest petition, Hails said.

The protest forms will be available on the city Web site starting next week. Protests must be submitted to the city clerk by 5 p.m. on the Thursday before the city council meeting.

The first protest petition deadline will be April 2.

By the way, if you were a protest petition supporter, blogger Keith Brown invites you to a celebratory event at Natty Greene's, 345 S. Elm Street, April 2, at 7:15 p.m.

Caught up with Trudy Wade, who earlier declined to comment on her name being added to the lawsuit brought against the city by 39 black police officers.

So here's her for-the-record follow up:

"I have done nothing wrong and my attorney will prove that in a court of law," she said.

In case you are keeping score, that is one more person the city will have to pay a private attorney to represent in recent lawsuits. Former City Manager Mitchell Johnson also gets his own attorney.

Greensboro has now released parts of a consultant's report into the police department.

The 2005 Risk Management Associates report and some partially un-redacted closed session minutes of City Council were released this week, per the ruling of Judge John O. Craig.

Only select portions of the report -- which was launched to review complaints within the police department -- were made public.

What you will find in the publicly available report:
-- a general explanation of what was researched
-- newspaper articles related to the issues
-- a private consultant’s 2005 review of the police special intelligence unit
-- a report about a complaint from an officer’s wife who believed she was being surveiled

Stuff you won’t get in the redacted version of the RMA report:
-- the bulk of the report, which explains the consultant's investigation and conclusions about former chief David Wray

I'm still checking whether the reports will be posted online. For anyone dying to read up, you can always request a paper copy from the city.

On Monday, Mitchell Johnson packed up his city office for a second time in less than a week.

At the suggestion of the City Council that he be both physically and technically removed from the city manager's office, Johnson now has an office on South-Elm Eugene Street, at the water resources department.

At the advice of council, Interim City Manager Bob Morgan will assign Johnson some new, yet-to-be-revealed tasks between now and July. One thing he won't be doing is working on the city budget -- a reversal from what both Morgan and some city council members said they would like to see him do just last week.

Now some council members say that is inappropriate.

"You don’t need the ex-manager and the interim manager in there as a two-headed decision maker," Councilman Robbie Perkins said.

Is your family budget tight? City leaders know how you feel.

In order to meet the City Council’s request for no new taxes in the next fiscal year, city leaders will have to make up for an estimated $11 million shortfall in the city budget.

To get there, they will likely have to cut city services.

To get there, they want your help.

Starting Saturday, Greensboro’s elected leaders and staff will ask residents to help set the priorities at a series of budget meetings.

They want to know:

What city services (library programs, street projects, police initiatives, transit programs) are important to your life?

What programs or projects should be added?

And what city services can you live without?

Residents are welcome to attend any session.
-- Saturday, March 7, 10 a.m., Warnersville Recreation Center, 601 Doak St.
-- Monday, March 9, 6 p.m., Natural Science Center, 4301 Lawndale Rd.
-- Thursday, March 12, 6 p.m., Bessemer Elementary School, 918 Huffine Mill Rd.
-- Thursday, April 23, 6 p.m., Lindley Recreation Center, 2907 Springwood Dr.
-- Thursday, April 2, 6 p.m., Trotter Recreation Center, 3906 Betula St.

Budget timeline:March 2009: City staff prepares budget recommendations; meets with residents.
April-May 2009: City Council considers budget recommendations.
June 2009: Council holds public hearing and adopts the 2009-2010 budget.
July 1, 2009: New fiscal year begins.

Read more budget info:

CHECK BELOW FOR A 3/6 UPDATE:
As with many stories like this, there was too many comments about Mitchell Johnson's departure to get into the paper.

So here's a round-up of some of the stuff leftover in the notebook. Just an FYI, Scoop didn't get to chat with Mary Rakestraw, Mike Barber, or Yvonne Johnson today.

Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small:
"Relieving him of his duty was not based on his job performance or his efficiency....He looked at what he was given and made the right decisions."

Councilwoman Sandra Anderson Groat:
"I am really hoping that by the time we are ready to get the permanent manager that things will be smoother."

Councilman Zack Matheny:
"Mitch is a solid person. He is a solid worker.... He probably could have been a great manager, but he never got a shot. How long do you let it go on?"

Councilman Robbie Perkins:
"I don’t think it's right. He has done a fine job and the excuses given for firing him don’t have any substance in my view."

Councilwoman Goldie Wells:
"I don’t think it was handled fairly. They (council members) couldn’t give me any reason for this action. He is a man of integrity and he is tremendously intelligent. He had been loyal to these councils he has worked for. He has been willing to listen."

Former Police Chief David Wray, in a statement sent via his attorney:
"Getting fired from your job is rough. I hope the city treats Mitch better than they treated me."

UPDATE: Finally won a game of phone tag with Mary Rakestraw. Here's her take:

In response to Wells' comment: "Zack and Sandra explained why they reached the decision they reached. They just didn’t like it."

"This has just been a sad situation in that city council seemed to be happy letting someone else tell them what to do when and where and how."

NEW UPDATE:Mayor Yvonne Johnson:
"I don’t have any hesitation about doing anything that I feel is necessary and warranted. But this wasn’t to me."

Councilman Mike Barber:
“We are in a time like we have never in before. It is a great opportunity for leadership to rise to the top.”

Wondering what Mitch Johnson was whistling as the city hall elevator doors closed on him Tuesday night, moments after his dismissal as city manager?

(If you don't get the reference, you should watch Jerry Wolford's video.)

Scoop hears it was "New York, New York," one of those songs Johnson gets stuck in his head.

The lyrics are interesting, in context.

Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today...

These little town blues, are melting away.
I'll make a brand new start of it, in old New York.

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: The City Council will consider rezoning land at the corner of Spring Garden Road and South Elam Avenue to allow for more multi-family units. The zoning commission turned down the request, but the staff is recommended approving it. .... The council members will decide whether to designate $1 million in economic development bond money to extend water and sewer lines to GTCC’s new campus. ... The council members will consider giving newly-annexed residents more time to tie into city water and sewer. ... The council will also consider putting aside $30,000 to a temporary day center for local homeless.

Here are the five scheduled city budget sessions.

There is one in each council district. Residents are welcome to attend any session.

-- Saturday, March 7, 10 a.m., Warnersville Recreation Center, 601 Doak St.
-- Monday, March 9, 6 p.m., Natural Science Center, 4301 Lawndale Rd.
-- Thursday, March 12, 6 p.m., Bessemer Elementary School, 918 Huffine Mill Rd.
-- Thursday, April 23, 6 p.m., Lindley Recreation Center, 2907 Springwood Dr.
-- Thursday, April 2, 6 p.m., Trotter Recreation Center, 3906 Betula St.

Reminder: This Thursday is the time to bug your legislators about your every want and need.

What: the annual "Take it to Raleigh" session
When: Thursday, February 26, at 6 p.m.
Where: Greensboro City Council Chambers, 300 W. Washington St.
On the tube: the session will also be televised on cable Channel 13

If you can't attend, send your burning questions to our capital reporter: mark.binker@news-record.com.

Starting March 7, city officials will ask residents what they want to see in the city budget.

Council members have already indicated to the city manager that they do not want to increase taxes this year. To balance the budget, the city will have to cut back expenses. These budget sessions will give locals a chance to help set some priorities for cutting -- or keeping -- services and programs.

Here are the first three that have been scheduled this far. There is supposed to be one in each council district:
-- Saturday, March 7, 10 a.m., Warnersville Recreation Center, 601 Doak St.
-- Monday, March 9, 6 p.m., Natural Science Center, 4301 Lawndale Rd.
-- Thursday, March 12, 6 p.m., Bessemer Elementary School, 918 Huffine Mill Rd.

While this year's round of City Council hopefuls are considering what kind of message they want to send to voters, they might take a gander at the competition from the YouTube generation:

Max Benbassat, 27, of www.maxbenbassat.org.

Fair warning for those of you checking this out at your place of employment, in earshot of your boss. Some of the language is a little coarse.

Benbassat moved to Greensboro from New York City last year to be close to his native Burlington. He works at the family business, Bentex Mills.

The videos promote Benbassat and his candidacy for Greensboro City Council via an array of sordid characters, who portray him as a saint among sinners, a patriot among hooligans.

In person Benbassat is more sincere about his intentions. He formed a committee with the board of elections last year, although he hasn't raised any money yet.

"I’m just going to give them honesty and see what happens," he said. "I’ve got the working class roots. I want to help this town be all that it can be."

Let's see if he can maintain that good-natured optimism through the primaries, in October. Candidates can formally file with the board of elections July 6 to July 17. The election is in November.

Councilwoman Goldie Wells has published a biography of her father, civil rights activist Golden Asro Frinks.

The book tells the behind-the-scenes story of Frinks, whom Wells and co-author Crystal Sanders call an "unsung" leader of the movement.

Frinks, a native of South Carolina, died in 2004. Over his lifetime, he was arrested 87 times for his civil rights activism.

Wells will dicuss the book, "Golden Asro Frinks: Telling The Unsung Song," and sign copies on Monday, Feb. 23, at 6 p.m. at the McGirt-Horton Library, 2509 Phillips Ave.

Wells, by the way, is not the only city council member with a book project. Councilwoman Sandra Anderson Groat is also penning a book about her family.

There's been a bit of chatter on the story we ran the other day about Forbes calling Greensboro/High Point the 4th most vacant metro area in the United States.

And today WUNC interviewed Chris Estes, director of the North Carolina Housing Coalition (click to about halfway through the broadcast to hear his comments).

This morning we followed up with Estes, and he says that people making $8 to $10 an hour simply can't afford the apartments or houses that are counted in the housing surveys that the U.S. Census Bureau conducts.

He blames the loss of manufacturing jobs in the Triad over the last decade for the high vacancy ranking. People lose jobs making good money, he said, then take whatever work they can find and aren't able to afford their homes anymore.

"The foreclosure rate in Greensboro has been one of the 3 or 4 highest in the state," he said.

What do you think? Does your neighborhood support this claim? Or does what you see deny it?

We'd like to hear from you. Comment below, or e-mail us.

UPDATE:

We just got this in from a reader comment, and still need to verify it, but the margin of error wasn't calculated in what we saw of the Forbes story:

the data for Greensboro is very problematical, because the 90 percent confidence intervals are SO HIGH (much higher than any other city). (4.3) What that means is that the 5.9% coud be plus or minus 4.3, i.e. 1.6 or 10.2%. Talk about a margin of error!

And, check out the comments on the Forbes story, too. Some Triad residents are speaking up.

Note: After reviewing stats and looking at other news sources across the county, it doesn't appear that the margin of error takes out so much as one reader suggested.

UPDATE II:

That 90-day confidence interval is actually what most people call the plus/minus on a survey result, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

So the figures that that housing was based on were a little tougher to pin down.

In Greensboro, that would mean that rental vacancy rates are 15 percent, +/- 8.2, and housing vacancy is 5.9, +/- 4.2 for the fourth quarter in 2008.

So you may be able to breathe a sigh of relief. We'll crunch more numbers later.

This year Greensboro officials said they plan to reach out to the community to talk about the budget process.

This section on the city's Web site appears to be a step in that direction. Stay tuned for more information about community budget workshops in the five council districts, which should be announced soon.

The hot item at tonight's city council meeting will likely be a rezoning case where the Lindley Park residents will be out in full force. It is unclear where the protest petition issue might resurface, but that also might be on the docket.

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 items not on the agenda. The speakers-from-the-floor section is limited to 30 minutes.

On the agenda: Council will consider a rezoning request for the corner of Spring Garden Street and Elam Avenue to allow for an increase in multifamily housing units. The council also will review a related request to permit a parking lot on an adjacent property. ... Council will be asked to extend water and sewer connections to the new GTCC campus, to be paid in part with $1 million in city economic development funds and another $1 million in Greensboro water and sewer infrastructure funds.

Should City Council members be watching every dime?

Or is that the city manager's job?

That seemed to be the hot debate on Monday as the council (mostly) finished up the discussion on its 2009 legislative agenda.

Trudy Wade wanted the council to approve certain contracts over $75,000. She got the idea after she realized last year that the city manager could approve service contracts, such as consultants, of potentially sizable amounts.

Wade said approving contracts was a way to be responsible to constituents.

Other council members said that approving more contracts would slow down processing system and logjam already busy council meetings. Some saw it as an attack on the city manager -- a point that frustrated Councilwoman Sandra Anderson Groat.

"We should be able to look at an issue for what it is and stop fighting about the city manager," she said. "Let’s just look at it for its merits on its own."

Ultimately, in a straw poll, five of the eight council members present voted to support the recommendation. Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small, Councilman Robbie Perkins and Councilwoman Goldie Wells did not support it. Councilman Mike Barber was absent.

Some other items the council will ship to the legislature for consideration:

-- To support, including funding, the Heart of the Triad project.

-- For local legislation to allow the DMV to withhold the vehicle registration for people who have outstanding parking tickets until the fines are paid.

Greensboro Mayor Pro Tem Sandra Anderson Groat says to count her in for this year's City Council election.

Groat would be seeking a third, two-year term on the council. Previously, she said she was contemplating whether or not to run again.

She’s had busy year, with her home construction company, Sandra Anderson Builders, going out of business, her son in high school and a creative side project all consuming her attention. But she says she is ready to devote herself to another term on the council.

Groat has often found herself in the role of intermediary between warring council factions -- or at least an impartial third party.

"They are getting more entrenched," she said of the divided council. "It's going to be an interesting election year."

Bring it on. Scoop is ready.

There has been much discussion about changes for the police department that have been proposed by a few council members.

Council members Mike Barber and Trudy Wade asked that the council create a new board to oversee police discipline issues and expand the powers of the complaint review committee, which reviews police misconduct complaints from citizens.

Wade also asked that the City Council consider asking the legislature to amend the city charter to allow the council to oversee the police chief. The city manager is currently responsible for hiring and firing the chief.

Wade has also asked the city attorney to research the concept of a combined police and sheriff's department. She said it could be a tax-saving measure over time.

At least some of those issues are likely to be part of the discussion at Monday's special council briefing.

The proponents suggest the changes would help restore public trust in the police department. The recommendations also reflect some disapproval of the force, staff leadership over it and a desire to have some more direct, effective control over city issues -- at least by a few members of the council.

The recommendations have yet to get a full airing by the current council (truth be told, some of the ideas have floated around the community for years). But they have raised ire the handful of times they have been discussed.

Some council members have chafed at the suggestions, calling them an unfair way to usurp power from a city manager with mixed support and an attempt by a minority of council members to dominate the conversation.

"I'm frankly fed up with the waste of time," Councilman Robbie Perkins said.

T. Dianne Bellamy-Small has said its an attack on the police department.

"This is not the right way for the city council to micromanage the city," she said.

She leapt to defend the department, where she once worked as a patrol officer, by reminding her fellow council members about the department's accomplishments.

Barber said the department needs to be fixed. He said he is not sure what the line between managing and micromanaging is.

The whole debate frustrates Wade, who says she is just trying to get a fair hearing for her ideas.

And that may be tough on a council with staunch rivals.

The City Council will finish the items from its Jan. 21 agenda today, starting at 4 p.m. Tuesday night. The regularly scheduled meeting will start afterward.

What: Greensboro City Council meeting.

When: 4 p.m.

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 consider rezoning land on Fleming Road to allow for a self-storage facility. ...Council will decide whether to approve an economic incentive to help build a 5-story building on South Elm Street. ... Council will consider approving several items on its 2009 legislative agenda, including a change to who appoints the police chief and creating a civil service board for the city public safety departments.

It’s a little like those people who start Christmas shopping in summer. Why not? It can never hurt to start shopping early.

That may be the idea of a handful of folks who have already announced their intentions to run for Greensboro City Council this year. Technically, the board of elections won't be accepting formal intentions until July.

So take all this in the proper perspective. Plans may change, but here’s a sample of the current hopefuls.

If you know anyone else – or are considering a run yourself – please let us know.

(And props to Yes!, for beating us to the punch.)

Mayor
Yvonne Johnson will go for a second term. So far, there are little more than rumors about potential opponents.

At Large
The slate of contenders for the three at-large council seats will include current members Robbie Perkins and Mary Rakestraw, along with Julie Lapham and Marikay Abuzuaiter.
Lapham, who teaches meditation, is no stranger to the political scene. She was Johnson’s campaign manager in 2007. But this is her first run for public office.
Abuzuaiter, a restaurateur and member of the city Human Relations Commission, will take a second chance at an at-large seat. She says this time around she has better name recognition.
Mayor Pro Tem Sandra Anderson Groat, meanwhile, has not yet decided whether to seek another term.

District 1
Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small has said she will consider running for a third term. If there are any other hopefuls, let us know.

District 2
Word has it that Councilwoman Goldie Wells, who will leave council this year, has been grooming zoning commission member Raymond Trapp to take her seat.
Trapp, who leads that Triad Apartment Association, says he is still trying to decide how he can best serve the city.
The same goes for Ryan Shell, president of the Southside Homeowner’s Association in District 2, board of adjustment member and blogger. http://greensboropolitics.com/ He’s hinted, but has not committed.

District 3
Councilman Zack Matheny will face Cyndy Hayworth, president of the Junior Achievement, who is running for a second time.
Hayworth, a zoning board member, is one of those people who has made herself omnipresent at public meetings.

District 4
Councilman Mike Barber has been coy about his plans for this coming year, leaving hints about a mayoral bid.
If he goes for a bid in his current district, he was face at least two challengers: Deep Roots Market general manager Joel Landau and Teresa Jobe.
Landau ran on a whim in 2005, but made a serious bid in 2007. Landau is one of the co-chairs of the city’s new sustainability committee.
Jobe, a member of the committee on the status of woman and the president of the Greater Greensboro Republican Women’s Club, will go for her first run for public office.

District 5
So far, we haven’t heard of any challengers for Councilwoman Trudy Wade.
But Erik Huey, blogger and former school board candidate, has indicated he won’t run.

Well, at least that clears that up.

Please feel free to post what you’ve heard or suggest people you’d like to see run for city council. And stay tuned for early stumping by the potential candidates, coming soon.

Can you sit for six hours, without so much as a cramp?

Are you a skilled olive branch-passer?

Can you slash a budget without batting an eye?

Does a $15,000 salary impress you?

Have we got a thankless job for you!

Scoop would like to track down all those potential City Council candidates, to do an early roundup of this year's election.

So if you are serious about running, it's time to 'fess up.

Contact reporter Amanda Lehmert at 373-7075 or amanda.lehmert@news-record.com by Thursday.

South Elm Street business owners are invited to meet with Councilman Zack Matheny about parking issues tonight at 5:30 p.m.

On Tuesday, the City Council will hold a special meeting to consider a resolution supporting an economic incentive request for a proposed $3.6 million building at 324 S. Elm St. that would take over part of the city-owned South Elm-McGee lot.

Several council members seemed supportive of the project at last week's council meeting. But they were caught off guard by area property and business owners who said it was unfair to lease the developer, LindBrook Development Services, a portion of the parking lot.

After the meeting, LindBrook president Jim Marshall said he was reconsidering the investment.

Since last week, Matheny, Councilwoman Sandra Anderson Groat and other city leaders have separately worked to try to salvage the development, which would be the first new building in that area of downtown in decades.

Matheny will meet with anyone interested in the issue at 5:30 p.m. today at the South Elm-McGee parking lot. The council, meanwhile, will take up the incentive request at 5 p.m. on Tuesday in the City Council chambers.

CIty Councilman Robbie Perkins sent along this photo, as evidence that city council actions early Thursday morning may have dashed the plans for a five-story building at 324 South.

Developer Jim Marshall said he may change his plans and only build a two-story restaurant on the vacant parcel.

Time will tell if Councilman Zack Matheny and other downtown leaders bring city officials, developers and other area business owners to some agreement that will get the project off the ground.

UPDATE: Matheny is trying to organize an emergency meeting Tuesday to try to work out these issue. We'll let you know if it happens.

Constituents are turning up the heat on City Council members over the protest petition.

On Wednesday night, the council will consider asking the legislature to restore protest petition to Greensboro. If the petition is signed by five percent of adjoining property owners, it would force the a super-majority of the council to approve a rezoning.

Greensboro is the only city in the state exempt from it – and some folks want it back.

Just to show you how much is at stake in this debate, City Council members have been bombarded with e-mails on the issue - at least two dozen by Scoop's count.

City developer, builders and real estate agents have asked the council members not to pursue the protest petition. Others – including a few real estate agents – asked the council to bring it back.

From the looks of it, Wednesday it going to be a heck of a crowded council chamber.

...and the polygraph examiner found "no deception indicated."

On Friday, Greensboro released reports about the 2006 polygraph tests taken by City Council members Yvonne Johnson, Mike Barber and Sandra Anderson Groat.

Blogger Roch Smith requested information about the tests, which City Council members took in May 2006 to try to determine whether any council member leaked a police department report.

The tests were taken by eight current and former council members, including Sandy Carmany, Florence Gatten, Keith Holiday, Tom Phillips and Goldie Wells. All the council members said they passed the test. Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small declined to take the test.

The polygraph examiner had not prepared any written explanation of the tests, but provided the results verbally to council. Late last year he agreed to write a report for each council member who signed a release. Only Johnson, Groat and Barber signed.

The reports turned over by the examiner verify that the council members were telling the truth when they said they passed the test.

Read the reports here.
.

Here's the Scoop for next week's council meeting. Remember, it is on Wednesday, not Tuesday.

What: Greensboro City Council meeting.

When: 5:30 p.m. Wednesdsay, Jan. 21.

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: The City Council will consider selling a piece of a parking lot on Elm Street and approving a $100,000 economic incentive for a new five-story building...Council will approve its 2009 legislative agenda...Council will consider approving a grant applicant requesting $5.25 million for foreclosure mitigation projects ...Council will decide whether to support the North Carolina Metropolitan Mayors Coalition’s lobbying efforts to bring federal stimulus money to local projects.

Don’t forget, Tuesday’s regularly scheduled City Council meeting has been moved because of the presidential inauguration.

The meeting will take place Wednesday, Jan. 21 at 5:30 p.m. at the Melvin Municipal Office Building.

Finally, local wonks don’t have to TiVo The Biggest Loser.

One note, in light of Mayor Yvonne Johnson's confirmation earlier this week that she plans to seek a second term.

Councilman Robbie Perkins will not be taking his chances in the mayoral race in 2009. Perkins has said before, and reiterated this week, that he won't run against Johnson.

So that just leaves one question: who will take on the mayor?

Despite rumors to the contrary, Councilman Zack Matheny will indeed seek a second term in office.

That should come as no surprise to avid readers (since we reported it in early December). Still, there apparently have been some discussions about him not running for reelection this year.

Matheny would like to quash the rumors.

"There is no question I am running," he said today.

It's more than six months before people have to officially note their intent to run for Greensboro City Council. But folks are already talking about who might run -- particularly for the position of mayor.

Kudos to those with their ears to the ground. Scoop sources said Mayor Yvonne Johnson is planning to announce her intention to seek a second term. She will host a press conference at 11 a.m. Tuesday morning.

We haven't heard back from the mayor herself yet. More to come.

City leaders are asking state legislators to intervene to stop strict state environmental rules Jordan Lake.

Last week City Council unanimously passed a resolution to oppose the Jordan Lake rules, which were adopted last year. The rules are meant to reduce the flow of nutrients into the lake, a Triangle water supply.

City leaders argue that the new regulations are difficult to comply with and prohibitively expensive.

Greensboro estimates it could spend $75 million in wastewater treatment upgrades to comply.
Mayor Yvonne Johnson said it is unfair to pass the considerable costs on to residents, when it is unclear whether the upgrades will actually help.

The rules are scheduled for a legislative review this month.

The city of Greensboro has been bogged down with legal issues surrounding the Greensboro Police Department for years now. (Including the most recent new civil lawsuits.)

That can put a dent in your wallet. In Greensboro's case, it's a mighty big dent.

Since the fiscal year began July 1, Greensboro has spent $98,719 on outside attorney fees for four different lawsuits and other personnel matters. We've got a request in to the city attorney's office to try to get some other years too.

It was a busy first meeting of 2009 for the City Council. Here are your news and notes from the Jan. 6 meeting.

Worth noting
 The City Council approved a rezoning for 4 acres of land on McConnell Road to allow for apartments to be built to serve students. The development will also include retail. Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small voted no.

Don’t dump
 Attention pool owners: City Council passed a new rule banning you from draining your pool onto your neighbor’s property. Anyone who dumps non storm water onto another person’s property can be fined $250.

Build up
 City Council adopted a 62-item, $309 million list of possible projects the city would like to start if the in-coming administration approves an economic stimulus package. The list includes street projects, park upgrades and building renovations.

Spruce up
 The Greensboro Coliseum will get new concession stations, an upgraded trash and recycling system and other improvements, courtesy of a $1.2 million Ticketmaster signing bonus. Council approved the transfer of the funds Tuesday night.

Lights out
 The city will spend $82,000 to take down the lane-changing system along High Point Road by this summer. The system, which was built at a cost of $600,000 in 1993, helps direct the flow of traffic during major events at the Greensboro Coliseum. But it doesn’t fit into the long-term street redesign plans for the corridor.

The Scoopies have heard twittering about Mayor Yvonne Johnson' s possible relocation to our nation's capital as a new employee of the administration of President-elect Barack Obama.

Seeing as how we hate rumors, we asked her directly. Mayor Johnson, in fact, has received an invitation to Washington. But it wasn't a job offer.

"People have been asking me that," she said Monday. "I did get a call saying they were going to give me two tickets to the inauguration. Other than that, I know nothing."

The mayor says if she does get a job offer, we'll be the first to know. And we will hold her to that.

In anticipation of future federal funds for infrastructure, Greensboro is getting together the list of projects that could use the cash.

The city staff compiled this $259 million list of potential projects. The wish list includes big ticket items like the Townsend Dam upgrade and renovation projects such as the War Memorial Stadium.

Next month, the City Council will go through and set some priorities.

Is your favorite project on the list? What should make it to the top of this heap, should federal dollars come down the pike?

Residents off North Elm Street have joined up to fight a proposed rezoning of properties at Elm and Cornwallis.

For folks interested in following the effort, you can check out neighbor Charles Brummitt's new blog on the issue.

Greensboro City Manager Mitchell Johnson was removed Tuesday night -- from the dais, that is.

Mayor Yvonne Johnson asked the manager to sit on the council chamber floors, with the rest of the city staff, instead of up on the dais with the elected officials -- lest there be any confusion about his role.

The manager said he requested the move -- something some council members have asked for in the past -- after residents expressed confusion about his job. They did not to understand whether he was elected or not, he said.

The manager took his new seat, next to the city attorney, at the beginning of the meeting.

Meanwhile, the mayor gave a snapshot of the manager's recent job review. She said council member were pleased with his recent hires to his office and the way he handled a recent directive to respond to budget concerns. Council members said the manager had improved his communication skills -- but still needs more work, the mayor reported.

They decided not to give him a raise, the mayor reported, because it would be in poor taste considering the current economic troubles.

UPDATE: We here at Scoop are constantly being reminded that we should not try to be clever.

To that end, we got two complaints today about this post. So, to clarify, the manager requested this move.

The mayor asked for a general opinion of the council. There was support and opposition for the seat change, and one council member who said the whole issue took focus off more important things.

And then the mayor told the manager to go ahead and sit down on the floor with the staff -- adding that she might very well call him back if she decides it didn't work out.

Hope that clears it up. And to those confused residents, the manager is an appointed employee, not an elected official -- no matter where he sits.

Could Guilford County's loss be Greensboro's gain?

Some city council members would like it to be.

Three council members -- Mike Barber, Mary Rakestraw and Trudy Wade -- have voted to dump City Manager Mitchell Johnson on several occasions in the last year. For months, some city council members have been floating the idea of hiring former Assistant City Manager and current Guilford County Assistant Manager Ben Brown to replace the embattled Johnson.

Some council members hoped that the shake-up at the county would mean it is prime time for Brown to move back to Greensboro.

Some folks were counting votes to replace Johnson with Brown last week. No word yet on whether Brown would consider such a move. Meanwhile the vote tally, thus far, has not swung in Brown's favor.

"There are not five votes to find a new city manager," Barber said Monday.

But there may be some kind of compromise for folks who have been disappointed with Johnson's performance. Watch out for a possible seat change that would move Johnson off the dais with the elected officials and onto the council chamber floors with the other city staff members and the public.

It hardly seems like it, but we have reached the last City Council meeting of the year. The members called off one other briefing session, in order to free themselves up for holiday cheer and whatnot.

Before they can toast 2009, they've got a couple of business items to clear up. Here's what they're up to Tuesday night:

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 items not on the agenda. The speakers-from-the-floor section is limited to 30 minutes.
On the agenda: Council will consider rezoning land at Holden Road and Spring Garden Street to allow for a Dunkin’ Donuts.
Council will hold a hearing on the High Point Road-West Lee Street Corridor plan.
Council members will decide how to finance two major property purchases approved last month.

Some portions of a controversial police department review could see the light of day later this week.

But they might be sections of the document the city already released.

Guilford County Superior Court Judge John O. Craig heard arguments Monday that the Risk Management report on the police department and closed session minutes where city council discussed former Police Chief David Wray should be released to the public.

Two local bloggers, Sam Spagnola and Roch Smith, sued after Greensboro did not turn over their requested documents, including the black book, a photo lineup that included black police officers; records about the police department investigation; and information regarding Project Homestead, a local nonprofit homebuilder that went under amidst questions of how it used funds.

The RMA report and some closed session minutes were the remaining points of contention in the suit. The city argued that the report should be withheld under the personnel law, which protects municipal employee information.

Attorneys for the officers who have filed discrimination complaints against the city said they intend to file a breach of contract claim against the Greensboro.

Attorneys complained to the city attorney about the publication of the clients' names in the Rhinoceros Times. Rhino Editor John Hammer got the names in a package of documents he requested from the city -- a release Greensboro claims was a mistake.

The officers' attorney Jason Knight says the release of the names and the leak of closed session discussions about settling the discrimination complaints were a violation of the confidentiality agreement signed when the city started negotiations to settle the complaints, according to letters sent to the city attorney. He said it caused the officers to be damaged in the amount of $750,000 -- the settlement offered and then rescinded by City Council.

Knight gave the city a week after the Dec. 2 council meeting to consider paying the officers $750,000 in damages before they would file a civil breach of contract suit.

City Attorney Terry Wood responded to Knight via letter this week, arguing that there was no link between the publication of the information and the settlement issues.

"The City certainly did not release information for retaliatory reasons, as you suggest in your letter," Wood wrote to Knight.

Woods said the city would vigorously defend any breach of contract claim.

So far, the officers haven't filed a suit. But Scoop will keep an eye out for that. Meanwhile, the discrimination complaints will be in the hands of the Justice Department to determine whether the employees have the right to sue Greensboro.

The infamous RMA report is now in the hands of a judge -- who will soon decide whether it should be released as a public record.

Guilford County Superior Court Judge John O. Craig heard arguments Monday from Sam Spagnola about why Greensboro should release the report, which was one of dozens of documents requested by Spagnola and fellow blogger Roch Smith.

Spagnola and Smith requested the records in hopes of clearing up some of the long-standing debates regarding the Greensboro police department. The bloggers sued the city after their requests were unfulfilled.

"Our opinion is the truth is in the papers. It's in the document," Spagnola said.

The city attorneys maintained that the RMA report -- a 2005 review of the inner workings of the police department -- was clearly a personnel document and therefore not a releasable public record.

"The law as it is written now does not allow us to give this report," city attorney Jamiah Waterman said.

Spagnola asked the judge to compel Greensboro to say which city staff members are included in the document, so that they might ask them to permit the info to be released. Under the state personnel law, employees can release their own records.

The city handed over a copy of the RMA report and some closed city council meeting minutes to Craig -- with the understanding that he would keep them in the strictest confidence. He'll decide whether Spagnola and Smith get the last outstanding documents in their public records request Wednesday morning.

Greensboro could soon be releasing information about the 2006 polygraph tests taken by City Council members.

Blogger Roch Smith requested information about the tests, which City Council members took in May 2006 to try to determine whether any council member leaked a police department report.

The polygraph examiner had, apparently, not prepared any written explanation of the tests, but provided the results verbally to council.

Last week the city manager said the polygraph examiner agreed to write a report for each exam, as long as the council member signed a release. So far, three council members have agreed to sign -- Mayor Yvonne Johnson, Sandra Anderson Groat and Mike Barber. Other test takers said they would not sign, City Attorney Terry Wood said.

The tests were taken by eight current and former council members, including Sandy Carmany, Florence Gatten, Keith Holiday, Tom Phillips and Goldie Wells. At the time, all the council members said they passed the test. Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small declined to take the test.

A belated happy birthday goes out to Councilwoman Mary Rakestraw, who celebrated on Tuesday.

And an early happy birthday to Councilman Mike Barber, who was born Dec. 5.

Have a slice of bithday cake for us.

The North Carolina arm of Common Cause is honoring two Greensboro groups. From their news release:

A group of North Carolina A&T State University students and a group of Greensboro residents are being honored by Common Cause North Carolina on Saturday, December 6th for helping improve democracy in North Carolina.

The NCA&T student chapter of Common Cause is being recognized for their voter engagement work this past fall. Students knocked on more than 2000 doors in four Greensboro precincts providing voter education and registration materials. The targeted precincts traditionally have had a low voter turnout, along with a high number of unregistered citizens. Students conducted 5 canvasses during the month of October, assisting some residents to register and vote for the first time in their lives.

CCNC will also be honoring a group of citizens who came together last year to form the Greensboro Citizens for Clean Elections. These citizens, include African Americans, Democrats, Republicans, young and old and are united in their desire to bring down the costs of running for local office. They would like the North Carolina General Assembly to provide Greensboro the authority to experiment with public financing of local elections, something the town of Chapel Hill is now doing.

Common Cause North Carolina is a non partisan, non profit public interest organization that lobbies for more open, honest and accountable government. The NCA&T Common Cause chapter will be receiving the annual Democracy Youth Award. The Greensboro Citizens for Clean Elections is receiving the annual citizen activism award.

The December 6th event is held at the N.C. State University Club in Raleigh and is open to the public. For more information, go to www.commoncause/nc.org

You can find the Citizens for Clean Elections folks by clicking here.

Not to dump on their parade, but I would observe that they've just started pursuing what may be a very challenging goal, particularly since not everyone agrees that publicly financed elections are a good and noble thing. Still, good on them for getting some recognition.

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.

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.

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?

...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.

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.

Outcry from an Elm Street panhandler:

"Obama promised me change."

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

Just as city council members and county commissioners were wrapping up their joint lunch session Tuesday afternoon, Commissioner Billy Yow took that opportunity to point out some displeasure about Mayor Yvonne Johnson's promotion of Sen. Barack Obama.

Johnson recorded a robo call for the Democratic presidential candidate, in which she identified herself as the mayor of Greensboro.

Yow, and apparently some constituents, were dismayed that the nonpartisan mayor would support a partisan candidate -- using her title no less.

"Some folks have really taken offense to this," said Yow, a Republican.

Johnson, a Democrat, said she checked with the city legal department before becoming a spokeswoman for Obama. So long as she didn't use any city resources to campaign, she's in the clear.

"It's legal to do so," she told Yow.

Scoop spotted three bond promotion signs last Thursday, dotting the grass in front of the Coliseum.

The colorful pinwheel signs ask voters to approve the $50 million War Memorial Auditorium project, one of four bond projects on the ballot this fall. Seeing as the signs were located on city property, it seemed to be violation of the rules that prevent city employees from promoting bond issues or political candidates.

City attorney Terry Wood asked Coliseum staff to take the signs came down, although he said he didn't know who put them up.

Most city employees walk a very careful line when it comes to political issues. It's laid out in black and white in the state law:

No employee while on duty or in the workplace may: (1) Use his or her official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election or nomination for political office; (2) Coerce, solicit, or compel contributions for political or partisan purposes by another employee.

To clear up some questions asked by readers, the law does not apply to City Council members. As long as they do not use any city resources -- phones, computers, staff -- they can stump for whomever or whatever they want.

Read the full election law here.

Click here for today's Scoop column from the print edition, which hashes over a possible (if not likely) flip in the state senate, reading the pumpkin seeds and some candidates who don't want to be rescued.

About 30 residents joined Councilwoman Goldie Wells Thursday night at the Revolution Mills Events Center to set her agenda for the second half of her term.

With some help from the Center for Creative Leadership, neighbors and leaders met in groups and identified what they liked about their district and what they want for the future.

Some of the things they loved: parks, schools and transit options.

What they wanted: economic development and jobs.

What's standing in the way of those wishes: lack of investment, a negative perception of the area and inadequate enforcement of local laws.

Wells said economic development and crime are at the top of her concerns for her district. And she asked her constituents to help her change the negative perceptions of northeast Greensboro.

"If we don’t toot our own horn, no one’s going toot our horn," she said. "We've got to change the negative perception, and we will fix the crime."

Everything you need to know about this week's council meeting:

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 issues not
on the agenda. The speakers-from-the-floor section is limited to 30 minutes.

On the agenda: Council will consider rezoning requests that would allow for a shopping plaza at the intersection of South Elm-Eugene Street and West Vandalia Road, and apartments on Meadowwood Street north of West Wendover Avenue.

Although it is not on the agenda, council will likely discuss several ideas to keep city finances low to in case of a revenue shortfall.

Online: Read more about Greensboro politics at blog.news-record.com/staff/scoopblog

Mayor Yvonne Johnson is a busy lady. Her schedule is jam-packed with engagements.

Now you can get a coveted spot on her to-do list for just $1.

As part of the city-county employee campaign for the United Way of Greater Greensboro, Johnson will take ten raffle winners to lunch at Panera Bread on West Wendover.

Buy your $1 tickets in from Kiran Purswani at Greensboro's Management Information Systems office, on the second floor of the Melvin Municipal Office Building. The drawing will be held this Friday at 2 p.m.

Councilwoman Goldie Wells wants to hear from you.

Wells is looking for citizens, business owners or university leaders to attend a District 2 forum at 7 p.m. Oct. 23 at the Revolution Mills Event Center, 1000 Revolution Mill Drive, Greensboro.

“I am their voice on council. I need to know what they are concerned about,” Wells said.

Some city council members will hold a press conference Friday to discuss "city efforts in reducing cost expenditures to meet current economic conditions."

It was a press conference called at the urging of Councilman Mike Barber, who wants to make sure residents know they're paying attention to financial worries that have rocked the country.

"We just want the public to know that we are proactive about what's going on in the economy," Mayor Yvonne Johnson said.

Barber was concerned that the recent news that the city will hold back about $1.1 million in case of revenue shortfalls could damage the city bonds' chances at the polls. The city is asking voters to approve $205 million in bonds for transportation, the War Memorial Auditorium, parks and recreation and housing initiatives.

Barber wants to assure residents the projects are much-needed investments in the city. Barber also wants fellow council members to agree to hold off on issuing those bonds -- if they are approved -- until the end of 2009, the end of their current terms in office.

It's an idea that has not yet been debated by the full council, so it will be interesting to see who attends the press conference and whether they back this plan.

The press conference itself is a sticking point between Barber and Councilman Robbie Perkins, who was not happy that it was called in the first place. He said he didn't want it to appear as though the information presented at this press conference represented the opinions of the entire council. In his opinion, the city is doing well financially and he's worried a press conference would needlessly alarm the public.

"I can’t be associated with knee-jerk reactions and poor strategic planning," Perkins said.

Call it yet another difference of leadership style and perspective as this divided council comes the half-way mark of this term.

City Manager Mitchell Johnson plans to hold some of the city's budget in reserve just in case revenue does not meet projections.

The move promoted Councilman Mike Barber to ask: exactly what are Greensboro’s revenue projections?

Finance Director Rick Lusk anticipates a slowdown in sales tax revenue and building inspection revenue this fiscal year.

The city predicated that the sales tax revenue would be $42.6 million this year. That's $1.4 more than last year. So far, collections around the state have matched -- not exceeded -- revenue from this same time last year. Greensboro will know more about the exact figures later this month, when they get the first sales tax receipts of the 2008-2009 fiscal year from the state.

As for the inspections, there have been fewer building inspections because there is less construction. The city anticipates a shortfall of $400,000 for inspection fees.

With the conservative moves the city has made so far this year, Johnson expects the city will have enough money to cover its expenses. But City Council members could push for more money-saving measures as the year rolls on.

Greensboro welcomed presidential candidate Barack Obama and his running mateJoe Biden last month, but not everyone was happy about the way the city informed people about it.

Councilwoman Mary Rakestraw said she got complaints that the Coliseum staff has promoted the candidate, via an email list that went out to the media and residents.

The email in question was a press release with some basic information for people who wanted to attend the event. The Coliseum sent it out because Deputy Director Scott Johnson is the city's manager of special events, like the rally.

The potentially questionable portion of the email was the title: "Change We Need Rally with Barack Obama and Joe Biden to the held in Greensboro on Saturday."

Rakestraw called on City Attorney Terry Wood for a verdict, to confirm that city employees will not promote candidates.

"The caption of it was kind of a promotion to Sen. Obama," Wood said.

For the record, the email announcement was prepared by Obama's campaign staff and forwarded by the city to inform people about the major disruption to downtown. It was not "politically driven and in no way is intended to sway a vote" or have political implications, Johnson assured Wood in an email.

"The city is not supposed to be advertising or promoting any particular candidate," Wood said.

Mayor Yvonne Johnson said she hoped if Republican candidate John McCain comes to town, Greensboro city staff will give him similar treatment.

Here's an update on the city manager, for folks who are following the movement to oust Mitchell Johnson from his job:

Last night Mayor Yvonne Johnson asked council to respect her planned process to evaluate the City Council's only employee. Mitchell Johnson is busy writing a list of his accomplishments in the last year -- that's due to the mayor Oct. 16. Council members were also asked to fill out an evaluation form, which they will also turn in to the mayor.

At some point in the near future (possibly the next regular council meeting) the City Council will meet behind closed doors to really hash things out. So keep watching.

Just as the Greensboro's aggressive rental unit inspection ordinance is about to kick into full effect, the city is contemplating scaling it back.

And now local housing advocates are lining up with their own plans to revamp the inspections program.

Greensboro's 2003 ordinance -- which was protested by the real estate industry -- requires all rental property to be inspected and certified by the end of this year. The certificates are good for five years. Landlords who rent properties without a certificate after Jan. 1 can be fined.

City Inspections and Engineering Director Butch Simmons, who advocated for the program and its proactive inspections years ago, wants to amend the ordinance.

He recommends Thursday that the certificates be perpetual, unless there is a verified violation on a property. That change to the law would diminish the number of properties inspected by city staff, which Simmons said would allow them to focus on bad properties.

"It boils down to what is the best use of your staff," Simmons told the Rental Unit Certificate of Occupancy (RUCO) board, an advisory group.

The board backed Simmons' recommendation, but other groups aren't sure it is the right move.
The Greensboro Neighborhood Congress, a non-profit consortium of community groups, voted in mid-September to support re-inspecting 10 percent of units previously inspected.

Next week the Greensboro Human Relations Commission will discuss a proposal by its housing committee that would allow the automatic renewal of certificates, but require yearly inspections for properties with violations and fines for non-compliant landlords. (Read proposal here.)

Donna Newton, spokeswoman for the Neighborhood Congress, said if Simmons' recommendations stick, the congress and other groups might go to the City Council with their own suggestions.

Representatives from all the committees will meet again later this month to try to work out disagreements. Stay tuned.

The 2008 Greensboro bond supporters have rolled out their advertising campaign.

So has the city (although technically speaking, they can't "promote" the bonds.)

But Scoop has heard only crickets from voters.

What are folks thinking? Is $50 million worth it for a new auditorium? Is a road bond the only way to pave roads and build greenways? How about $20 million for Parks and Recreation, which will partially pay for a $12 million pool complex?

How about the economics of it? If all the bonds pass, it would take an extra 2.5 cents on the property tax rate to fund all those projects. Will the current financial uncertainty play a role in the way you vote on election day?

The city says it will buy the Canada Dry and Coliseum Inn properties on High Point Road. Click here for the full story.

The potential sale and use of the Canada Dry building has been discussed for years, at times with much passion. The building will sell for $3.2 million, $500,000 less than owners were asking for the property last year. (Obligatory full disclosure note: the wife of News & Record editor John Robinson's family owns the Canada Dry property.)

So is this a good sale and fair price?

Update: Click here for the release from the city.

The Greensboro City Council has a jam-packed agenda Tuesday night.

On the top of the list of issues that might draw residents' interest: three rezoning requests and an ordinance regarding sex offenders.

The requested zoning changes include:

-- a new events center on New Garden Road. The planning department staff recommended against it, but the zoning commission gave it a thumbs up. Some neighbors were concerned about noise from such a facility.

-- 32 condos on Dolley Madison. Staff and the commission recommended approval.

-- 72 multi-family units on Penry Road. Staff and the commission said no to this one.

As for the sex offenders: Councilman Mike Barber is pressing his fellow council members to join ranks with public officials around the state to ban registered sex offenders from city parks.

The ordinance is a business item, and could come late in the evening (depending on how long the hearing items last.) It could bring an interesting debate about the safety of children versus the rights of ex-offenders who have already served their time and are duly registered.

Could the city, possibly, do anything about low-hanging pants? Mayor Yvonne Johnson asked City Attorney Terry Wood Tuesday night.

The mayor asked the question at the request of a resident, who noted a citizen effort in Winston-Salem to ban baggy pants.

The exposed-undergarment look is beyond the bounds of common decency, some argued.

"They are showing their whole backsides," Councilwoman Goldie Wells noted.

But unless the offender is exposing private parts, Wood said, there is not much the city can do about it.

Scoop wonders what council would think about the droopy drawers if they were haute couture (check out Thom Browne's Spring Fashion week show) instead of street culture?

Unfortunately for folks distressed by fashion disasters, the First Amendment protects purveyors of both good and bad taste.

Tuesday afternoon, city council got an in-depth explanation of a citizen-shot video of a couple of police officers taking down an armed man at Smith Homes.

There has been some debate online and in the community about whether the police officers acted appropriately (the department says they did.) Council, at the request of Councilwoman Mary Rakestraw, got a full review of the incident from police Capt. Anita Holder.

She played the police radio calls, showed a video of proper police procedure and explained that the officers were dealing with a life or death situation.

Some council members said the officers had no choice but to respond the way they did, since the suspect did not cooperate. But others questioned certain actions by the officers, including Councilwoman Mary Rakestaw, who asked why the officer didn't use a nightstick.

Rakestraw's question sparked a tiff between her and Councilwoman Goldie Wells, who Rakestraw accused of laughing at her.

"This is pathetic, Yvonne," Rakestaw said to the mayor, exasperated. (Captured on video by Fox 8.)

Ultimately, Holder said it was difficult to second guess the officer's decision in that moment. And council, as a body, didn't make any group pronouncements or conclusions about the video.

But the exchange between Rakestraw and Wells continued after the meeting. The women had a heated discussion that lasted after most of the city staff and council members left the conference room.

Later, Rakestraw said the women agreed to sit down over a cup of coffee and try to find a way to respect each other, despite their disagreements.

Last month, the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress asked city council to adopt a policy for handling public records requests that ensures people get what they ask for in a timely fashion.

Council members seemed willing to consider it. They asked the city attorney to review the neighborhood recommendations and report back on the city's current procedures.

Right now, the city doesn't have any written policy regarding public records requests (although they must follow the procedures detailed under North Carolina state law.) The city currently does not have one single person, or ombudsman, responsible for monitoring all requests -- one of the recommendations made by the neighborhood organization.

This week City Manager Mitchell Johnson made his own recommendation: let the new assistant city manager figure it out.

The manager's office currently has an open position, which Johnson plans to fill with a person who will be his chief of staff and a city communications expert. That spot might be an ideal ombudsman of public records.

Johnson could hire someone to fill the slot as soon as this month.

"I would recommend that we continue to follow out current practices until our new (assistant city manager) is on board with a goal of meeting or exceeding the timelines as proposed by the Neighborhood congress," Johnson told council in a memo.

Scoop recently received a voicemail from angry resident.

In addition to the sundry things this gentleman was disgruntled about, he wondered what on earth city council could be doing in all those closed sessions? Shouldn't they be doing business in public?

Yes, Mr. Madcaller, they should do most business in public session, per order of the state open meeting law. But they've also go plenty of things to discuss behind closed doors.
In the last three meetings, council has used closed sessions to talk about pending lawsuits, personnel problems, and real estate issues.

This council has asked for more information about the city's legal troubles -- particularly in regards to issues around the police department. And new city attorney Terry Wood has delivered, with regular updates on any and all revolving legal issues (including stuff like the man who sued the city after he got a truck stuck under a train bridge.)

That might be why said caller noticed all those closed session: council has been having a ton of them since Wood took over the top legal position in the city.

Litigation and personnel issues clearly fall within the confines of confidential conversations the council is allowed to have. But if council or the city makes some kind of deal -- be it a legal settlement or arbitration agreement -- that will be a matter of public record (again, per the public record law).

As for the real estate stuff, council has met behind closed doors to talk about potential property acquisitions around the Coliseum. Again, if the city makes a deal to buy something, that must be public upon return to closed session. But they can negotiate behind closed doors if they like.

The goal, according to Mayor Yvonne Johnson, is a great quality of life.

That was her message at the annual state of the community forum last week. She wants to support business, and complete the Civil Rights Museum and the urban loop.

"While Greensboro is progressing, we definitely have challenges. We must be vigilant
about improving social capital," she said.

Read her full speech here.

The center city will likely get a close look Tuesday night.

Council will be asked to authorize city funds that will be spent on Downtown Greensboro Incorporated. Council does this every year, and some council members -- including the mayor -- say the money they spend on DGI is well worth it. But this year, various council members have asked to know exactly how the organization is spending the taxpayers' money, and have wondered whether DGI really needs their financial contribution.

DGI, which has the singular mission of making the center city a better place, was allocated $255,000 in this year's city budget. They also receive money from a special tax levied on businesses within the center city. This year, that adds up to $480,000.

In fiscal year 06-07, DGI had a budget of about $880,000, according to that year's annual report. The bulk of the operating budget came from the tax revenue. But the city also contributed $255,000. About $111,000 came from private contributions.

Check out DGI's last annual report to see how that money has been spent.

More council meeting details:What: City Council
When: 5:30 p.m. today
Where: Melvin Municipal Office Building, 300 W. Washington St., Greensboro
On the agenda: Council will hold a hearing on a proposed Kernersville-Greensboro annexation agreement, which sets the future dividing line between the communities.
They will also be asked to accept grants that will pay for surveillance cameras on city buses.
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 30 minutes.

For those who can't get enough of City Council, you're in luck. It now meets four times a month.

The council already holds twice-monthly night meetings. It also holds an early-morning briefing on the third Tuesday of every month.

Now, the council will hold a second briefing session - a more relaxed meeting at which the council will have a chance to talk openly with staff. This will happen on the second Tuesday afternoon.

The council has had more issues than time to resolve them as a group, some council members say.

Councilwoman Trudy Wade asked for the second briefing session so they could get caught up on things they missed because of meetings canceled earlier this year or agendas too packed too complete.

Did Greensboro city planners request a change to a chicken ordinance just to make one citizen group happy? Last Tuesday night Councilman Robbie Perkins wanted to know whether the proposed chicken ordinance amendment was really in the best interest of the entire city.

Where will the influence-peddling chicken lobby stop?

“If, for example…someone wants to encourage an ordinance that goats be allowed in the backyard,” he asked, in response to a text message he received from a constituent during the council meeting, “where would you take that?”

City Planner Dick Hails assured Perkins that the city staff believed the ordinance needed to be changed. But what he didn’t tell Perkins was the city already allows people to keep goats in backyards.

Urban farmers take note: the city municipal code allows homeowners to keep goats on lots as small as 10,000 square feet (less than a quarter of an acre of land) so long as they meet the 50-foot setback requirements and they have no more than one goat per 5,000 square feet of open land.

Same goes for sheep. Horses and cows are OK, too, although they require a bit more property.

So farm on, Greensboro. But do invite Councilman Perkins to visit your petting zoo.

The Greensboro Neighborhood Congress had a request for city council Tuesday night.

Make it easier for residents to access public records.

They recommended that council:
-- Establish a public records request ombudsman
-- Create date-driven response deadlines that require the city to provide written status reports to requestors within specified time periods
-- Hold a hearing before Council for any request not fully responded to within 75 days
-- Disclose the procedures through the city’s Web site and in writing to any person submitting a public records request

Their full recommendations can be found
here.

Currently, North Carolina's public records law does not set deadlines for when government entities must respond to a request. Other states and the federal government require that requests be answered within a certain number of days (10 to 20 usually). If Greensboro did adopt timetables, it would be an improvement over what is required by state law.

Donna Newton, Neighborhood Congress liaison, said the recommendations were prompted by residents' complaints about getting information from the city.

As a reporter, I usually do not have trouble accessing documents. But I have the advantage of knowing how the system works and knowing many city employees -- a sure way to get what you need quickly.

I'd be curious to know what regular residents have experienced trying to get documents. Any good stories out there?

Check out the Local section in Sunday's paper for a Q&A with Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small.

She discusses some of the issues around last year's recall election, recent legislative changes to the recall procedures and what she has been doing out in her district in the current term. Bellamy-Small also provides some insights into the current and past city councils and City Manager Mitchell Johnson.

It's a long-overdue update on the District 1 representative, and, if we do say so, an interesting read.

Councilwoman Trudy Wade loves animals. She's a vet with a pair of pooches, but she had to give up taking in strays when she got a condo.

When she was a little girl, she even had a pet chicken named Banny.

That means Greensboro's urban chicken farmers will have at least one informed council member before them Tuesday night when they ask that the rules for raising chickens be changed.

Feel free to leave your own chicken stories here. And read more about the chicken issue in Sunsday's newpaper.

THE ISSUE
Should homeowners with small lots be able to raise bees and poultry?
Folks who have chickens and bees say it is a great, local source of food. But neighbors argue that they could be a nuisance tightly-packed, urban neighborhoods.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
City Council will consider amending the requirements for keeping poultry and bees in residential neighborhoods.
The ordinance may be amended to:
-- Ban adult roosters
-- Require a fence to pen chickens
-- Require poultry and bees be kept in backyards
-- Set a maximum number of chickens or bee colonies on a single lot
-- Reduce setback requirements for lots of 7,000 to 12,000 square feet
-- Ban beekeeping and poultry-raising on lots below 7,000 square feet

Perhaps you have been reading about the David Wray Legal Defense Fund.

It seemed like strange timing to launch a fundraising campaign, since Greensboro's former police chief has employed two attorneys from different firms for years now.

As it turns out, Attorney Locke Clifford set up the trust fund for Wray years ago, when he received an unsolicited check from someone in the community.

"I got a check and there was a note on it saying, 'I would like to defray David Wray's legal expenses.' It was just a friend," Clifford said. "Now it is catching on."

Earlier this year, Wray tried to seek some additional benefits from Greensboro -- most important among them being a fully-funded legal defense. Wray is being sued by officers Julius Fulmore and James Hinson. The city won't agree to pay for the defense, so Wray will be footing his own bill for the time being.

Wray's other attorney, Ken Keller, said the former police chief will likely seek those funds again, through lawsuit if necessary, after those cases are resolved.

As Clifford puts it, the legal fundraising is the community's response to "obvious injustice."

Clifford would not say how much money was in the fund, or who has been contributing to it. But he did say the money can be used for whatever Wray so chooses.

Greensboro's longtime city clerk retired Thursday.

City staff, council members and former public officials toasted Juanita French Cooper, who has served 30 years with the city.

"It's been a wonderful ride," she said Thursday at her retirement party.

Councilwoman Mary Rakestraw sang a little tune for her. Former City Manager Ed Kitchen wrote her a poem. Former Mayor Keith Holliday offered her a new job running the concession stand at the Carolina Theater.

"It's the things behind the scenes that literally keep us propped up," Holliday said. "This woman doesn't make mistakes."

Her colleagues said Cooper has been an unflappable professional who worked overtime to get the job done right. When she goes off into retirement, she is taking a lot of city secrets with her, they said.

Even a fellow local writer had nice things to day about her.

"Sometimes, on rare occasions, we try to get things right," said the Rhino Times' John Hammer. "If we absolutely had to get things right about the city, we could go to Juanita."

We agree, she was a reliable source. And that's the highest compliment from a reporter.

So long, Juanita. Good luck on the next chapter.

In June, Councilman Robbie Perkins asked council to re-examine the mayor's salary and other benefits.

This prompted his fellow council members to complain that they were woefully underpaid -- much less than other big North Carolina cities. Perhaps a pay raise is in order for everyone on council?

Well, we here at Scoop made a few phone calls, just for comparison sake. It looks like Greensboro is about on par with other Triad cities. Greensboro City Council earns slightly more than councils in Winston-Salem and High Point.

When it comes to the cities that are about the same size as Greensboro (North Carolina's 3rd largest city), local council members earn slightly more than council in Raleigh (No. 2 in population size) and a lot less than Durham (No. 4 in population size). Raleigh city council members, it seems, haven't had a pay raise since the first George Bush was in office.

Perkins points out that he is most concerned about the other council benefits -- like insurance through the city and paid staff to help meet council needs -- not salary.

“The set up in the manager’s office doesn't give the mayor or the council enough support in a town that is going from a small town to a big city," Perkins said.

Still, it's something to consider. The raw numbers:

Greensboro salaries
Mayor:$15,000 annually, plus $1,800 for travel expenses
Mayor pro tem:$12,600 annually, plus $1,800 for travel expenses
Council members:$11,400 annually, plus $1,800 for travel expenses

Large North Carolina cities
Raleigh
Mayor: $15,000 annually, plus $1,200 per year for travel expenses
Mayor pro tem: $12,000 annually, plus $1,200 per year for travel expenses
Council members:$10,000 annually, plus $1,200 per year for travel expenses

Durham
Mayor: $22,173 annually, plus a $25,000 expense allowance
Mayor pro tem:$18,835 annually, plus a $5,000 expense allowance
Council members: $18,835 annually, plus a $2,500 expense allowance

Fayetteville
Mayor: $26,944.73 annually, plus $921.36 allowance
Mayor Pro-tem:$15,594.76 annually, plus $921.36 allowance
Council members: $14,731.62 annually, plus $921.36 allowance

Triad cities:
Winston-Salem
Mayor: $12,078 annually, plus a $500 monthly expense stipend
Council members: $9,333 annually, plus a $225 monthly expense stipend

High Point
Mayor: $13,200 annually, plus $250 for expenses
Council members: $9,600 monthly, plus $200 for expenses

Those closely reading the N&R's extensive coverage of the recent review into the Greensboro police might have noticed a certain person was absent from the coverage: City Manager Mitchell Johnson, who came back from a two-week vacation just long enough to hear the report.

Well, he was back Tuesday, and wasted no time affirming his commitment to change in the PD.

The $249,000 consultant report commissioned by city council made more than 100 recommendations for changes within the department, including adding additional staff and changing promotional practices.

“I wanted council to know in no uncertain terms that I intend to move forward with the implementation of this report,” Johnson told council members Tuesday night.

City staff will review the report, consider other ideas for how to resolve certain issues, evaluate the financial feasibility of the changes, and provide a revised list of priorities to city council, Johnson said.

Johnson said he was proud of the police department.

“This will be a long process. There is a lot of very good information in the report,” he said.

City council got into a late night debate about potential changes to the city's sidewalk cafe policies.

It seems that a downtown martini bar owner asked that he be allowed to run his outdoor cafe as late as he runs his business.

The issue prompted an array of questions. Is it bad to have people out on the sidewalks late on weekends? Does it cause more crime? Are there safety risks?

The debate swirled just long enough for Councilman Robbie Perkins to suggest a field trip.

Why doesn't everyone come see for themselves by having a night out downtown? he asked. Say, July 26, starting at midnight?

City Attorney Terry Wood, who is always watching council's back, duly reminded him that any gathering of 5 or more council members constituted an open meeting. Council should expect a trail of reporters.

We here at Scoop are in favor of a council member pub crawl, for all of-age Greensboro residents. We prefer gin and tonic with a twist of lime.

Put it on Perkins' tab.

There are occasions -- we here at Scoop fully admit -- when we feel like members of the Peanut's cast in the classroom, trying to understand the teacher. Often we sit there in the audience of government meetings, mouths agape, hearing little more than confusing, squawking noises coming from those on the dais.

Tuesday night at city council, the reporters weren't the only folks in a haze.

Mayor Yvonne Johnson attended the meeting "telephonically" (she listened over the phone, since she was in Texas visiting family.) But every time she offered some comment, it came out painfully muddled.

When she was voicing her support for an incentive request, it came out something like, "Whunh wunhch waah wunh waaa."

Looks like council might have to reconsider their telephone attendance policy -- unless someone can get a better connection.

Greensboro City Council will be asked for $1 million worth of economic incentives Tuesday night for a proposed retirement community.

Council members have said it's a good project in a good location. But the issue has also brought to life an ethical debate among council members.

Kisco Senior Living, which has senior housing facilities in six states, is looking for a new location in North Carolina. They already run two complexes -- Heritage Greens and Abbotswood at Irving Park -- in Greensboro. Now they are looking to develop the former Pilot Life headquarters at 5300 High Point Road into a new facility.

They're asking for help to get city water and sewer services out to the site. They want a $1 million grant over four years.

For the benefit, they will invest $98 million in renovations of existing buildings and will create 125 jobs with an average salary of $30,600, according to information provided by the city.

Council has been looking for a good reason to spend economic development dollars. And several council members say this would be good development on a site that has been unused for years.

But Councilman Mike Barber has raised issues about the way the issue was brought to council.

Councilman Robbie Perkins represents the land owner, Lincoln Financial Group, and would get a commission if the sale is approved. It was Perkins who introduced the potential buyer to the city's new assistant city manager for economic development, Jim Westmoreland.

Westmoreland brought the issue to city council in a closed session. Perkins sat out. Some council members first learned about the request, and Perkin's involvement, that evening.

Barber asked that council be made aware of possible incentive requests, and any council members involvement, as soon as the issue reaches a city leader's desk.

Barber requested a closer look at the ethical issues. Perhaps he will get his chance Tuesday night.

We ran a story earlier this week about a committee evaluating Greensboro's electronic sign ordinances - or lack thereof. The committee held its second meeting Thursday.

For anyone interested in following the committee's progress, Greensboro planning manager Rawls Howard will update the newly posted Web site with upcoming meetings, decisions and pending issues.

According to an e-mail message from Howard, all information that has been circulated to date is now available online.

There was a little something for City Council buried in Carroll Buracker's extensive review of the Greensboro POlice Department:

Greensboro police officers think council has too many knee-jerk reactions.

The report doesn't say exactly what officers were referring to when they made this comment. But there is an interesting dynamic between the council and the police department. Many council members got elected on promises to make Greensboro a safer community and clean up the police department.

They have voted according to those promises. They have added a gang unit. Added $500K extra to the city budget for police. They wanted more money for the robbery suppression unit.

Perhaps some of those decisions were knee-jerk reactions. After all, the consultant reports that the city doesn't need a 17-member gang unit -- which was approved by council earlier this year.

But then again, just about the only thing council is empowered to do in regard to the police department is spend money and make policy decisions. When they have residents complaining about the police department, what else can they do?

"Do your job right. Do it swiftly, and you won’t have a problem with council," Councilman Mike Barber says of the police department.

So, dear Scoop readers, have you found anything interesting in that police report? Dive in and let us know.

After a handful of talking-over-each other meetings, city council passed the budget Tuesday night with zero debate or discussion.

And they adopted it without even having the final budget numbers in black and white in front of them, the city manager says.

Through a clerical snafu, council didn't get the copy of the budget resolution being proposed by city staff.

No one asked to see it, apparently because they were informed about any last minute changes to the budget by the city manager's office the day before. Questions about the legitimacy of the adoption were raised after the fact.

"It isn't ideal government craft, and it ain’t the way we normally do things," City Manager Mitchell Johnson said.

Johnson called the UNC School of Government to double check. He was assured the vote was OK, since council was involved in the budget process.

By not questioning anything Tuesday night, Council members were trying to keep a promise to each other to NOT raise any issues that had been hashed and rehashed, Councilman Mike Barber said. Councilwoman Sandra Anderson Groat was lobbying for a 9 to 0 budget adoption, which she nearly got.

"We didn’t want the budget to unravel,” Barber said.

Technically, council legally adopted the budget. But next week they are going to adopt it again, with all the paperwork in order and the tax rate outlined before them.

There's a new level of security at Greensboro's city hall.

Tonight, I had to open up my bags to be checked by security before I could enter council chambers. Security folks said it was the natural progression of things. I guess it has to be, considering what the council has been up against lately.

From what I'm hearing on the streets, city council is getting just about everything they wanted from the city budget this year. Pretty flower beds. Fewer potholes. A new bus route out on Summit Avenue. Most importantly, looks like no new taxes.

Read more about it in my story Tuesday.

Here's how the city staff came up with the cash to balance the budget:
-- $400K for landscaping
funded from capitol reserves

-- $450K library deficit
funded by taking $350K from a housing reserve and $100K from a technology fund

-- Summit Avenue bus route
looking for federal funds first

-- $1 million for repaving
draining Powell Bill reserve

Of course, these appropriations are pending approval by city council. And they might just give it Tuesday night, deep into what could be a rather lengthy meeting.

One day, I hope someone names a traffic flow device after me.

It took Keith Holiday eight years as mayor to have the rotary at Greene and McGee streets named after him.
Here's the honoree, posing with his 4-year-old grandson Spencer.

After Monday night's budget work session with the Greensboro city council, several city staffers were feeding their stress with handfuls of Oreo cookies.

I can't say I blame them. There are less than 20 days left before a balanced budget must be approved. The intended budget approval date -- June 17 -- is just days away. And yet, the budget is still kind of squishy.

The hanging issues:

-- A half million dollar deficit. The city needs to come up with $400,000 for the library system (money they thought was coming from the county) and $100,000 for unanticipated cost increases for the Guilford County Animal Shelter.
Council members are lobbying their county counterparts to hand over the $400,000 promised to Greensboro's libraries. But the county commissioners have budget problems of their own.
There was some discussion at one point about using a housing and community development fund to cover the deficit. But that raises another issue...

-- A new day center for homeless residents. Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small has been working with city staff on a plan for a place that can provide services for local homeless people, a place for them to get their mail delivered, showers, etc.
She has support from other council members, who would like to see the center started next year. But if the excess housing and community development money is tapped to pay other needs, there won't be money for the day center.

-- Comprehensive police department review. In two weeks, a city-hired consultant will complete a review of the police department structure and services.
Council would like to see the report soon, so they can make possible changes to the department's budget. They hope to get the consultant in before they end of the month, but they might have to pass some version of the budget before they see his report.

-- The capital improvements program. The council has run out of time at several meetings to go over this issue. They will try to get to it at their briefing Tuesday night.

-- Using city reserves. Although council is within its right to use the city's savings account to fund various projects (in this case, Monday night they decided to use it to pave roads and plant flowers), it's contrary to the city's plan to build the reserves.
City Manager Mitchell Johnson has warned council against relying on this as a funding method.

Monday night city council members will roll up their sleeves and get into the budget debate. And yet another key decision may come down to a few swing votes on the council.

Councilman Robbie Perkins is working to undo a uneasy 5-4 council decision to not increase the city's tax rate next year. He's going to propose a tax increase of about a penny.

Councilwoman Trudy Wade, who has been brainstorming all kinds of ways the city could save money, put the "hold the line" tax rate on the table earlier this spring.

Council members Mike Barber, Mary Rakestraw, Zack Matheny and Sandra Anderson Groat voted to keep the taxes flat. Council members Perkins, T. Dianne Bellamy-Small, Goldie Wells and Mayor Yvonne Johnson voted against the measure.

Later, a majority of council agreed upon enough budget cuts to make the "no new taxes" plan a reality.

But the uneasy truce started to show cracks when Greensboro residents picked apart the budget. Should we really put off paving 12 miles of roadways to save $2 million, when the same work may cost much more money the following year? What about those flower beds the city plans to abandon to save $400,000 on landscaping costs?

Enter Perkins, who was skeptical about this "hold the line" business from the beginning. He says the city will pay for this planned one-year relief in taxes.

Assuming Perkins can get Johnson, Wells and Bellamy-Small on his side again, his only obstacle is that crucial fifth vote.

Here's how Mayor Pro Tem Sandra Anderson Groat or Councilman Zack Matheny could become the most important people in city government.

Both can be council wild cards. Matheny, a first term councilman, is still working out his positions on various issues. When the "no new taxes" issue first arose, Matheny said he was interested in exploring ways to save money. He wanted to see whether the city could do it effectively.

WIth Matheny on vaca and unreachable this week, I can't say whether he is considering Perkin's arguments.

As for Groat, she is decidedly on the fence right now. Being a builder and a business owner, she has experienced the current economic downturn first hand. She said the city needs to cut back when citizens cut back.

On the other hand, she understands that delaying things like street paving may cost everyone more later.

There's no telling whether other council members might reconsider their stance on the issue. But clearly Groat and Matheny will be the ones to watch as the budget debate continues.

So, have you already read the 139-page Greensboro city budget?

It you haven't, get to work!

Council meets Tuesday to hear from the public. Is something underfunded? Should council reconsider cuts they made earlier this year?

Let Scoop know what you think.

The John Locke Foundation put out a report card (PDF) on transparency in local governments. Greensboro and Guilford County didn't come off looking so hot, although neither did anyone else.

(This is the point where I should insert a caveat about Locke being a conservative think tank that would like to see the size of government at all levels shrink. So they're offering this analysis in the spirit of giving taxpayers the ability to put pressure on local governments to cut spending. Whether or not that's your political or philosophical orientation, the information regarding openness is well taken.)

From a Locke Foundation news release:

RALEIGH – Winston-Salem's city government earns a C grade, when it comes to making budget and spending information available online. That's better than the D-plus assigned to High Point and the D grade earned by Greensboro, according to a new John Locke Foundation Spotlight report.

All three cities fare better than Forsyth and Guilford county governments, which earn grades of D-minus in the new report. Guilford County schools earn a C-minus, while Forsyth's school system earns an F.

Those poor grades are part of a statewide trend documented by the JLF Transparency Report Card 2008, said report co-author Chad Adams, JLF Vice President for Development and director of the Center for Local Innovation. "No North Carolina city or school system in this report earns better than a C grade, and no county earns more than a C-minus."

The report card is designed to spur improvement within state and local governments, Adams said. "This state, home to national banks that update their customers' accounts instantly anywhere around the world, woefully lags in making spending transparent at every level," he said. "North Carolina and its local governments need to do more."

Click here for the full scorecard. And Click here for a bullet point summary. A more globally geared news release is here.

The comment lines are open, just click below.

The Greensboro City Council is a busy bunch of people.

They take nice vacations. They travel for business or church. They've cancelled a handful of meetings this year, because their schedules couldn't mesh.

Now council has approved a plan to allow members to attend via telephone if they can't be in the Melvin Municipal Office Building.

That's probably a good thing, since this council tends to hang on a 5-4 split. Every vote counts. But it will be interesting to see what kind of rules they set up to govern this concept.

For instance, how will they vote? Can all the council members attend virtually, or do some have to actually be in the building? Of course then there are all the incidentals, like how will they review paperwork submitted to them by staff or other folks at the meeting?

Greensboro City Council dropped its offer to takeover a Randleman Dam pump station.

Earlier this year, Greensboro and High Point officials floated an idea to the Piedmont Triad Regional Water Authority, which oversees the water project: let us build the pump on Highway 62 faster and cheaper. Let's get water to our cities sooner rather than later.

But Authority officials were skeptical of accepting the offer.

Greensboro City Manager Mitchell Johnson said Authority officials wanted to retain ownership of the pump station, an easy enough agreement to make. But he wasn't confident that concession would convince the Authority to take Greensboro up on its offer.

Council voted to cut its losses, rescind the offer, and let the Authority move forward with the original plan.

In the mayor's words, the issue was "very, very polluted."

Here's some extra fun stuff that didn't make it into the paper today ("Council cuts budget to avoid tax increase"), in case you were dying to know all the gory details of this year's budget debate.

Council asked the city manager to keep the tax rate flat for next year. He offered them nearly a dozen ways to save or make the city money to get there.

Here are some of the cuts they approved and items they kept in the budget:

Ways the city will save money:
$2 million: cuts for road repaving
$200,000 — no coliseum suite renovations
$1.65 million — delayed payoff of parking deck debts
$60,000 — reduced staff at lakes
$200,000 — cut landscape contract
$600,000 — revenue from increased refuse fees
$200,000 — savings from a rolling hiring freeze

Items the council will keep in the budget:
$550,000 — housing and community development fund
$65,000 — street light fund
$679,000 — nonprofit funding
$100,000 — neighborhood grants

Things I'd still like to know: how many street lights can you buy for $65,000? And how many roads will you pave with $2 million?

City Council is considering new rules for its speakers from the floor session, a regular public comment period at the beginning and end of each council meeting.

Councilman Zack Matheny recommended that council limit the first session of the meeting to city issues only. The session at the end of the meeting could be used for everything else.

The city's legal department ruling: No way. City Associate General Counsel Jamiah Waterman says the Constitution of the U.S. and state law are pretty particular on this point.

Government can limit the "time, manner and place" speech takes place. But not the content.

Limiting speakers to city business would not be content-neutral, Waterman concludes in a memo to council (which you can read here.)

And -- highlighting a point made by Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small and others -- Waterman says "city business" is ambiguous, vague and gives too much discretion to council to determine who can and cannot speak.

"Depending up the circumstances, topics as varied as the war in Iraq, global warming, abortion or A&T's homecoming events can be considered city business,"Waterman wrote.

So, the speakers from the floor can keep doing what they do. Score one for the First Amendment, and the local residents of Crazytown.

When you're on a board that is as divisive as the Greensboro city council, sticking to strict rules of parlimentary procedure might just save you from total choas.

This week council had a debate about debate. Or, more specifically, how to end debate.

About 25 minutes into a dicussion about City Manager Mitchell Johnson, Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small "called the question." In other words, she moved that the board vote on her motion to take the discussion back into council's closed session.

Debate continued anyhow. City attorney Becky Jo Peterson-Buie interrupted to remind council that a call for the question ends debate. She told them it was time to vote.

Councilman Mike Barber objected to her objection, arguing that a call for the question is just like any other motion. It must have a second and a vote before it is adopted to end the debate.

The city attorney persisted, and eventually council voteed and moved on with the meeting.

But the question still lingered. The city attorney promised to research the issue.

Apparently, the belief that calling the question immediately ends debate is "a fairly common misconception," according to the Robert's Rules of Order Web site.

According to the site's FAQs:
"This is simply not the case. Any member who wishes to force an end to debate must first obtain the floor by being duly recognized to speak by the chair, and must then move the Previous Question. Such a motion must be seconded, and then adopted by a two-thirds vote, or by unanimous consent. It is not in order to interrupt a speaker with cries of "Question" or "Call the Question," and even if no one is speaking, it is still necessary to seek recognition."

It should be duly noted that any local rules of procedure would supersede Roger's Rules. So we'll see what the city attorney turns up in her research.

Do you carry a briefcase to work? Do you wear shiny shoes and a suit at least five days a week?

Then this town hall meeting is for you!

Mayor Yvonne Johnson's second town hall meeting of the year will focus on the interests of the business community and Greensboro's economic future.

It will be held May 12 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Greensboro Historical Museum. Seating is limited to the first 150 people, so you must RSVP to Roberta Frush at rfrush@greensboro.org.

If you are reading some accounts, Greensboro City Manager Mitchell Johnson should be handing in his resignation papers any day now. At least that's what some folks are hoping.

But that assessment -- that Johnson has royally mussed things up in the city -- seems to a minority viewpoint, at least if you consider Thursday's Greensboro Neighborhood Congress Forum.

Sure, guest of honor Johnson did get harangued for his treatment of former police chief David Wray. At least one person asked if he would leave his job and let Greensboro heal.

But if there was a tidal wave of sentiment that he should quit, seems like more people would have showed up and thrown rocks. Or at least shown up.

The crowd at the Greensboro Historical Museum numbered about 30 people -- approximately half of whom were bloggers, journalists and city employees. Not a single rock in sight.

It's something worth considering as the city council meets with Johnson in closed session Tuesday night, to consider his 30-plan to turn around the city.

It's my job to ask people tough questions:

Is the water making people sick? When did you start using the church's funds to redecorate your house? Will the director keep his job?

Now it's your turn.

The Greensboro Neighborhood Congress, a collection of neighborhood groups from across the city, will host City Manager Mitchell Johnson Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. at the Greensboro Historical Museum. The discussion will be moderated by congress members. They ask that you submit questions to them in writing as early as possible. You can email them to bdnewt@yahoo.com.

I know what kinds of things I have been asking Johnson lately. How much does it cost to run a landfill? What is going on with the various equal employment opportunity complaints facing city departments? How many people will you have to lay off?

But what about you? What kinds of things do you want to ask the city manager?

For folks who are watching and waiting for news about City Manager Mitchell Johnson's job status, here's a brief but unsatisfying update.

For the second meeting in a row, last night the council ran out of time to discuss Johnson's 30-day plan for moving the city forward. Council members asked him to lay out the agenda in February, when there were some folks calling for him to be fired and others who said he was doing a good job.

Last night, with the clock ticking past 11 p.m., council decided they were in no shape to have that kind of important discussion.

The lack of a closed session Tuesday night means the council also did not get an update from the city's legal staff on the on-going attempts to settle several outstanding legal matters.

Next time around -- at the council's April 15 meeting -- they will start out with a closed session at 4 p.m., so they can get the debate out of the way before they get sleepy.

Public participation is the cornerstone of democracy. So it is only appropriate that each week the Greensboro city council should dutifully devote at least 30 minutes to listening to the public.

People have been known to say surprising things when they step up to podium for the public comment period. This week alone, a poem was recited, a citizen recounted a sexual assault allegation, and one gentleman sought help for the hundreds of investigators he said have been following him. Across state lines.

Yep, it's never dull. And then, there were the guys with the kazoos.

Christopher Spence of Greensboro got up to talk about the endangered monkey whales.

His impassioned plea for the mammal was interrupted by a chorus of fellows with plastic pipes, humming in support.

Mayor Johnson, always the diplomat, asked them to keep it down so she could hear Spence's argument.

Spence had just enough time left in his three minutes to ask the council and the audience watching from home to visit www.monkeywhale.com and www.artbeatgreensboro.org.

Somewhere around this time, City Manager Mitchell Johnson got the idea that Spence and his crew might be playing an April Fool's day joke. He asked Councilman Robbie Perkins to use his PDA to search for monkey whales on the internet. And Perkins finds an, a-hem, adults-only site.

Word spread. Later, after the council returned from a temporary break, they noted that folks shouldn't take Spence's advice, that those sites just aren't family-friendly. Even further, they asked the city staff to strike his comments from the video record, which is posted online after the meeting.

Thing is, it wasn't exactly a prank. It was a performance art piece staged to help promote ArtBeat Greensboro, a visual and performing art festival to be held at the end of this month.

And the merry pranksters didn't mean to be sending folks to a X-rated web page, at least according to their marketing and public relations folks, who spent the evening trying to clear up the confusion. Last night, monkeywhale.com contained little more than a promotional video and a link to the festival site.

The festival promoter noted that when he put "monkey whale" into Google, he
came up with "N-Terminal Amino Acid Analysis Of Growth Hormones From Human, Monkey, Whale and Beef Pituitary Glands."

It's still unclear exactly what Perkins found on his PDA.

If you were listening to public radio today around lunchtime, you might have heard our own Margaret Banks being interviewed by WUNC's Frank Stasio, host of The State of Things.

Stasio asked Margaret to break down what she knows about the NAACP request for a federal investigation on allegations of destroyed police files connected to the Nazi-Klan shootings from 1979. The interview lasts about 10 minutes.

The state level NAACP (called the conference of branches) for North Carolina is weighing in on the alleged destruction of evidence from the 1979 Klan-Nazi shootout in Greensboro.

In two separate letters, the NAACP calls on state and federal agencies to come in and investigate the case.

Click here to read the letter to the state's federal delegation.

Click here to read the NAACP letter to Gov. Mike Easley and Attorney General Roy Cooper.

Update: I spoke a little while ago with the Rev. William Barber, who heads the state level NAACP organization.

"It is not an issue of not having confidence in the City of Greensboro, but issues like this are bigger than Greensboro," Barber said.

More in tomorrow's paper.

An alert reader sent me a heads up on this Associated Press story, which reviews the book "On the Road to Freedom: A Guided Tour of the Civil Rights Trail."

Of note was the article's summary of Greensboro's own most famous civil rights site:

NORTH CAROLINA: The Woolworth's where the famed Greensboro sit-in took place no longer exists, but the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University campus has a statue of the four student protesters. Four seats from the original Woolworth's can be seen at the Greensboro Historical Museum. Part of the Woolworth's counter is on display at the Smithsonian in Washington.

In the AP story there's no mention of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, the project creating a visitors' space where the sit-ins actually happened. One might think that the building had been demolished or turned into a law firm or something.

Repoted delays in opening the center probably don't help matters, as far as getting into travel guides and such.

Still, is it fair to say the Woolworth's "no longer exists?" Is there anyone out there who has read the book who might share what else it says about our fair city?

Update: Linda Evans, at the Greensboro Historical Museum, passes on the following about a travel guide that doesn't leave Greensboro out:

Doesn’t change the problems with their entry, but thought you might be interested in learning about an alternative, A Traveler’s Guide to the Civil Rights Movement (2004) by Jim Carrier, which recognizes Greensboro and the Woolworth site in pages 83-86. Carrier gave a book talk at the Historical Museum in February 2004, and I think we’re still carrying copies of the book in our Museum Shop.

From the city of Greensboro:

The City of Greensboro Water Resources Department recently mailed more than 7,200 bills with a bill date of February 11 for billing cycles 15 and 16. Due to a calculation error in the computer program, charges for sewer, stormwater and household hazardous waste were not included on some of the bills.

All residents in cycles 15 and 16 who received a City water bill with a billing date of February 11 should disregard it. The Water Resources Department will revise these bills and mail them during the week of February 18. The revised bills will include a due date extension. If you normally pay your bill by automatic bank draft, the draft will occur on the new due date, using the corrected amount. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this error. If you have questions, please contact Jeff Kimel at 373-2639.

I'm working on a preview story about a community meeting with Greensboro Mayor Yvonne Johnson, and moderator Marsh Prause expects there to be a lot of talk about the memo and city administrators' accountability to the Greensboro City Council.

"I expect the situation with the police department to eat up a good 40 percent or 50 percent of the time," said Prause, a Greensboro attorney and executive board member of the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress.

Johnson, for her part, just came back from Washington D.C. this morning to hear news about the memo. She told us that she hopes people come out with plenty of comments and questions.

And to answer an earlier commenter's question: Prause told me that the questions will be submitted in written form by the audience, and he'll then choose the ones to ask. It sounds like he plans to ask the tough ones, but he asked that nobody pose any offensive or obscene queries.

What would you ask Johnson?

A gang summit for the faith-based community is planned for Feb. 13 at Evangel Fellowship Church of God in Christ on 2207 East Cone Boulevard. The meeting is open to the public. View release here.

“Last month’s faith community meeting was quite successful, and many concerned residents agreed to continue with our efforts,” Greensboro District 2 Councilwoman Goldie Wells said in a release announcing the meeting.

No kidding. The first meeting drew 150 people to the church.

Former Greensboro Mayor Jim Melvin was on hand to fete the Charlotte City Council as they rolled through NewBridge Park (the Grasshoppers Stadium) yesterday, reports staff writer Ryan Seals. You may remember the Queen City honorables are rolling through on their annual retreat.

"We are green with envy - you all have an awful lot to be proud of," Melvin told the Charlotte City Council. "You are truly one of the great economic cities in the world. We are all here turning all kinds of different colors with envy."

Sheesh. Melvin isn't that effusive when he talks about Greensboro sometimes. And it goes on.

"It's like the tortoise and the hare," he told the visiting council members. "And you all are right here in the middle of the tortoise."

After the visit, Melvin told Seals, "It was a compliment for them to come see us...We are flattered, you have to give Charlotte credit because they have emerged as one of the great financial centers of the world. We just don't have that."

Is that like it's an honor just to be nominated?

Few people have battled flames for longer than Johnny Teeters .
After a career stretching over part or all of five decades, Teeters, the city's fire chief, announced Monday that he plans to retire at the end of the year.
The 66-year-old Teeters, who joined the department in 1964 and became chief in 1999, said during a press conference that firefighting was the perfect career for him.
"I've never had one day where I came to work and didn't enjoy it," he said.
City Manager Mitch Johnson had high praise for the outgoing chief.
"Johnny ... will be leaving the department at the top of its game," he said.
Teeters will be on the job until December, and Johnson said the city probably will conduct a national search for his replacement.

From this weekend's papers:

• * Glenwood plan gets one more look-over: Now city planners and the Greater Glenwood Neighborhood Association have a plan they hope will change that negative image. On Saturday, city officials met with residents at Peck Elementary School to present the latest draft of the Glenwood neighborhood plan, a document that aims to increase home ownership, make the area safer and promote a vibrant business community. "I think it's a jewel. It just needs a little polishing," said Barry Scarbrough, president of the neighborhood association.

• * Investigation of police incident ongoing: Police investigators still have a lot of work ahead of them in determining what happened in a sexual assault case that led to the Dec. 18 suspension of three officers. Chief Tim Bellamy said the investigation is more complex than it may appear.

From a City of Greensboro news release:

Greensboro City Council member Goldie Wells has scheduled an organizational meeting of the faith community in District 2 to meet in the Fellowship Hall of the Evangel Fellowship Church of God in Christ, 2007 E. Cone Boulevard on Tuesday, January 15, from 10 to 11:30 am. The purpose of this gathering is to seek solutions to emphasize the importance of a strong sense of family and healthy alternative activities for teens.

"Please join me and other faith community representatives to discuss what avenues we can provide to channel the energy and talents of our youth and to start working toward a brighter future for our youth, our district and our City," Wells said.

This meeting is an outgrowth of the organized Pyramids Village Merchants Association, which is working to prevent the increase of gang activity.

For more information, contact the Community Relations Division of the City's Public Affairs Department at 373-2723.

Update: More from the print edition.

The good folks at city hall are holding a news conference on Monday to explain real slow that recycling will go to an every other week schedule here in the big city. From the news release:

WHAT: The City of Greensboro will host a news conference to announce its Every Other Week Recycling campaign.

WHEN: Monday, January 7, 10:00 am

WHERE: Fairway Outdoor Advertising
1920 West Lee Street
Greensboro, NC

BACKGROUND: Beginning January 28, 2008, the City will begin servicing residential recycling containers every other week instead of weekly. This change allows the City’s recycling collection program to operate more efficiently.

Hmm...given Scoop's wicked diet soda addiction and love of beer, we may need to invest in one of these.

Update: More here and a map of recycling zones here. In an earlier story regarding the city budget, officials estimated the move to every-other-week recycling would save $88,931.

This post by former city council candidate Bill Knight has been getting attention around the local blogsphere. (Publius / Guarino / GSO Politics)

From the post:

A new city attorney must be hired; I do not believe our current city manager is the appropriate person to make that decision. The new attorney selection should be made at the direction and discretion of the City Council.

I urge the current City Council to inform Mitchell Johnson that his contract as city manager will not be renewed and to take steps to provide a severance package that is fair and appropriate in the circumstances.

The post and subsequent comments elsewhere stirred up the very edges of a couple memories of conversations I had with folks back when I covered the council full time. If I'm not mistaken, the city manager is the only person the council can hire or fire, which differs from Guilford County or even, say, High Point, where more decisions are directly in the hands of the elected board.

A quick check of the City Charter, seems to confirm that memory. It says:

(More after the jump.)

At large council candidate Greg Woodard goes all YouTube on us:

Mayoral candidate Yvonne Johson has also been doing video. I'm out here in the peanut gallery (okay, Raleigh) but are there any other council candidates using the movin' pictures on the computer box?

If City Council wanted a fight with the Rhinoceros Times, it sure knew what buttons to push.

Elected leaders voted 7-2 Monday to leave City Hall straight from their late-night closed sessions, which typically follow open meetings televised on Channel 13 and available for the public to attend. Until now, Council would return to their seats after a closed session, then make a vote to adjourn for the night. Not anymore. From now on, your city leaders plan to leave for the night straight from those closed sessions. In fact, that's how it once worked, until the Rhino got involved.

Our publishing software crashed late Monday night, forcing editors to trim today's printed story about the Greensboro City Council meeting. A few things to note that didn't make the driveway dead tree:

1.) Assistant City Manager Bob Morgan updated council on Barber Park, a southeast Greensboro park closed in June when work crews building a parking lot unearthed dark soil holding old petroleum products, chromium, mercury and lead. Soil samples tested negative for the more harmful variations of the chromium and, because of where the dirt was buried, had posed no public health threat to visitors. The city, which got the test results back late last week, asked the toxicologist to sample additional sites in the park before declaring the place safe for the public. "This is very good news. What we found doesn't seem to be of any concern from a public health standpoint," Morgan said. "We are hopeful that we may be able to open the park in phases as we get clearance from our consultants."

Here's a link to Margaret Banks' most recent story.

A lawyer for nearly three dozen black police officers told us last night that several clients got a letter from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. According to Ken Free, who at the time had not seen the letter directly, the feds say they found evidence that the city of Greensboro may have discriminated against the officers. He wasn't sure if all his clients received the same notice or if select officers were found to be possible victims of discrimination. The story link is here.

In legal language, there was "reasonable cause" to believe discrimination took place under former Chief David Wray.

What comes next? Here's a link to the EEOC page that describes its investigative process. And here are a few things to note:

As Scoop noted earlier, The Simkins PAC is critical of Greensboro recall law.

So, just by way of completing the record:

Rep. Earl Jones, a member of the PAC, has authored and successfully shepherded through the House a bill to create a recall election in Pleasant Garden. The bill now goes to the Senate.

I wonder if he didn't get the memo?

To be fair, the Pleasant Garden measure seems a little more stringent. From the bill:

To be sufficient, a recall petition must bear the signatures of at least thirty-three percent (33%) of the registered voters of the Town as shown by the registration records of the last preceding general municipal election.

The Greensboro Neighborhood Congress passed this along today:

Mitch Johnson, City Manager of Greensboro, will be visiting with the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress (GNC) on Thursday, April 12 at 7p.m. in the Nussbaum Room of the Greensboro Public Library at 219 North Church Street to discuss issues of interest and concern to neighborhoods.

Time will be allocated for questions from the floor. Residents who are interested in the improvement of neighborhoods throughout Greensboro are welcome to attend GNC meetings.

The Greensboro Neighborhood Congress is a non-proft city-wide alliance of 63 neighborhood organizations. The Congress seeks to improve the quality of life in Greensboro by addressing issues of city-wide importance to neighborhoods and by empowering neighborhoods to resolve neighborhood-specific concerns.

Anyone with questions about this event is encouraged to contact Donna Newton, advisor to the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress, at 851-2748.

Update: Someone has got it in their head to try this. Via Hoggard, who has more.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

This story from my colleague Margaret Moffett Banks has prompted a lot of discussion in the local blogsphere, including a question by Laurie in the comments at Ed’s joint:

"Lord, if there is a way to recall her, I'd sure like to do it."

My current bailiwick is the state capital, but back in the not horribly distant past I covered the city council and got to know the city charter a little bit during the downtown baseball debate. For those of you curious about the answer to Laurie's question, click here and look up Chapter II of the City Charter, Subchapter D, Article 2, sub-section ( c ):

(c) (1) The voters of the city shall have the power, which shall be known as the recall power, to remove from office any member of the City Council.

More after the jump.

I ran into Marilyn Baird at tonight’s “Take it to Raleigh” meeting, which gave local residents a chance to sound off about things they’d like to see legislators do over the next year.

She came to ask for help with a different problem, but happened to mention that she was helping to circulate a petition to raise the minimum wage in the city.

This is not the proposal the City Council rejected in 2000, which would have mandated a minimum wage of $8.03 for all city government workers.

The current proposal would raise the minimum wage on all businesses operating in the city limits and is being done by initiative petition, a process laid out by the city code that allows residents to propose new local laws. The process was last used here in an attempt to stop construction of the downtown baseball stadium. Voters rejected that 2003 effort.

From the petition document:

“We now adopt a Minimum Wage Ordinance that will ensure that all business in the City pay a decent minimum wage of at least $9.36 per hour. The increase will be phased in to give small business more opportunity to adjust to the change in the minimum wage.”

State legislators raised North Carolina’ minimum wage a dollar to $6.15 last year. The change became effective Jan. 1.

And Congress is considering raising the national minimum wage from its current floor of $5.15 an hour. According to an e-mail from House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D of my home state of Maryland, the U.S. House will take up H.R. 2 on Wednesday. That bill would phase in a $7.25 national minimum wage.

Baird said there would be a meeting of those circulating the minimum wage petition at Faith Community Church on Thursday night. Once the group gathers enough signatures, the City Council will have to adopt or reject the ordinance. If they reject it, the ordinance will be put to the voters.

More to come on this, I’m sure.

Hi. Guest poster Lex Alexander here. What with all the election coverage and the news about the RMA report leak, you might have forgotten that there was an actual, and fairly substantive, Greensboro City Council meeting last night.

Well, there was. The highlights:

• Southwest park: A long-awaited city park in southwest Greensboro is now reality. The city officially annexed and zoned about 29 acres at the foot of Shimer Road, south of its intersection with Hilltop Road, for the park.
• More shopping near Four Seasons: Koury Corp. won rezoning of its property north of Vanstory Street between Veasley Street and Pinecroft Road to Shopping Center zoning. Preliminary plans for the site call for about 82,000 square feet of shopping space, two 7,000-square-foot restaurants and a 3,400-seat movie theater.
• Another crackdown on sexually oriented businesses: The council cleaned up some language in its ordinance on sexually oriented businesses, continuing toward its goal of forcing such businesses that are located within a certain distance from other such businesses or from schools, churches, etc., to move or close. If you were watching on TV or the Web, you know that a lot of material was read into the record, laying out the factual and legal basis for what the city is trying to do. That's all to make sure the ordinance stands up to a legal challenge.
• Historic property: The council designate the W.N. Nelson house at 903 Bluford St. as a Historic Landmark.

All the votes were unanimous, 7-0, with Diane Bellamy-Small and Goldie Wells absent.

Before the business meeting, the council also adopted a resolution honoring the memory of the late Cassadra Coleen Shelton, a businesswoman, civic volunteer and religious leader who died a few weeks ago at the age of 41. The brief, low-key conversation between her father, Ralph Shelton, and Mayor Keith Holliday, who lost his own daughter, then 14, to a brain aneurysm in 2002, belied the weight of the emotion in the room. Even council member Tom Phillips, known on occasion for his gruffness, briefly looked as if he were about to tear up.

Back in the day (you know, two or three years ago) when I was still running about Greensboro on more regular basis than I do now, I heard a lot about Richard Florida and his idea that if you foster the creative class your community will thrive, etc... As I recall, the man himself spoke here a few times and some of Action Greensboro’s work at the time was organized around some of his ideas.

So when I got my copy of South Now in the mail this morning, I was struck by a story that contained this passage:

While a more detailed description of our findings for the U.S. South will be presented in a future issue of SouthNow, preliminary results do suggest a strong, positive relationship between economic growth and the more traditional measures of human capital, innovation and industrial diversification. (Ed note: emphasis mine. The author is talking about Florida’s theory in this next graph.) In contrast, creative population indicators demonstrate little or no additional growth effects. In fact, in the case of one measure, the melting-pot index, per capita income levels decline as the share of foreign-born in U.S. cities rises.

Here’s a link direct to the PDF file. (Go to page 10 once it’s open.)

Basically, the argument from this article seems to be that the things Florida argues are most important are things that come along after more basic bits of the economy are nailed down.

I believe our crack business team is delving into this further.

Principals and other school staffers from southeast Greensboro had a chance Thursday to learn about the city services they can take advantage of during a luncheon at Stephanie's on Randleman Road.

Dianne Bellamy-Small, City Council's District 1 representative, organized the meeting for schools in her district, while the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce paid for lunch.

City Council doesn't provide any funding or provide any oversight of the county school system, but Bellamy-Small said the city has plenty of services that schools can take advantage of.

"If you know some of the people that provide city services, it would help you do a better job of preparing our future," she said, referring to the thousands of children who enter schools each day.

Representatives of city departments ranging from the police and fire departments to the city's library system - along with community groups like the Guilford Education Alliance - let school administrators know how they could be of assistance.

Allen Purser, the chamber's interim president, said he'd like to see similar meetings take place in all five of the city's districts.

Greensboro City Council member Dianne Bellamy-Small will host a lunch at 11:30 a.m. Feb. 23 to discuss ways the city can support schools in her district. Bellamy-Small represents District 1, which encompasses southeast Greensboro.

The lunch will be held at Stephanie's, 2347 Randleman Road. The Greensboro Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring the lunch to allow school principals and other staff members to attend for free.

The city does not have any direct oversight or provide funding to the schools.

"Holding this public forum will allow me to better understand the needs of the community and offer support to such an important part of our city's future - our children, families and schools," Bellamy-Small said in a news release. "Although the council does not oversee the school system, students and families need to be aware of what the city offers by way of services."

A Rhino Times column about Greensboro City Council member Goldie Wells has sparked a lot of blog discussion in recent days, most notably at Hogg's Blog. (The column in question isn't posted yet - I'll get a link up as soon as I see one.)

I tried unsuccessfully to reach Wells on Thursday and Friday for some other stories I was working on and to ask her about the column.

I got a hold of her for a brief conversation Monday afternoon. She denied calling John Hammer or his parents racist. Wells said she doesn't believe all white people are racist.

"I'm not a racist - I love all people," she said.

Wells did confirm she wrote a letter quoted in the article by Hammer that she wrote to the council last year after council members voted along racial lines to oppose the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Community Project. "I was very upset at that time," she said. (Update: Hoggard has a copy of the letter in question.)

If anyone has more questions of Wells on this topic, let me know and I'll do my best to get an answer.

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.

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.

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.

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.

By now, you've probably seen my story about City Council rejecting the purchase of landlord Bill Agapion's land at the corner of Cedar Street and Friendly Avenue.

So what will become of the property? Agapion is "keeping all options open," said Bill Aycock, the owner of Aycock Realty who's been representing Agapion on the potential deal with the city. Aycock said Wednesday that some private investors have already expressed interest in buying the land.

After Tuesday's vote, Aycock considers negotiations between Agapion and the city to be "a dead issue."

The George C. Simkins Jr. Memorial Political Action Committee - an influential voice in Greensboro's elections - has released its list of endorsements in Tuesday's Greensboro City Council races.

While there are three at-large seats available, the PAC only endorsed two candidates - current at-large council member Yvonne Johnson and challenger Sandra Anderson.

The group made no endorsement in Districts 3 and 5.

You can view the letter - which includes a brief explanation for the endorsements - by clicking this link.

Well, at least for the Greensboro City Council campaign.

Here are the links to the reports I've received so far detailing latest round of fundraising and spending disclosures from the council candidates (I should have reports from Tom Phillips and Dianne Bellamy-Small soon).

Update (11/3): Reports from Phillips and Bellamy-Small are now posted below.

If you have comments on what you see, we'd love to hear from you.

At-large
Sandra Anderson
Florence Gatten
Yvonne Johnson
Don Vaughan

District 1
Dianne Bellamy-Small

District 2
Goldie Wells

District 3
Tom Phillips

District 4
Mike Barber
Janet Wallace

District 5
Sandy Carmany

Mayor
Keith Holliday

As some may know from John Robinson's post a while back, I'm taking leave from the paper and city government coverage to train as an Air Force pilot.

Here's the deal as briefly as I can explain it. I go for two years full-time to train. They teach me to fly, then I come back to North Carolina as an Air Force reservist piloting KC-135 aerial refueling tankers out of Seymour Johnson AFB in Goldsboro. After I return from training, I'll spend most of my time as a reporter and 6-8 days a month as a flier.

Today is my last day at the paper before training, so I would like to thank you, dear scoop readers, for sticking with us this last year. My colleague Eric Swensen will be taking over coverage of Greensboro city government, so please contact him if you know something he's be interested in. You can reach him at eswensen@news-record.com.

I am in the process of setting up a blog of my military training, and when it's up and running, I'll have Eric post it here.

At Tuesday night's city council meeting, at-large candidate Joel Landau asked the council to make more information available to residents about the items they discuss at their meetings.

Specifically, Landau wants the city to make available the "backup information," a packet of information that council members, department heads and members of the media are given on the Thursday before each council meeting.

Most members of the public routinely get only the agenda, a 2-3 page listing of the items to be considered and a one sentence description of the item. See the latest agenda here. But along with the agenda, we are given a photocopy of information that explains what each item on the agenda is. For the most recent meeting, it was 70 double-sided pages (140 pages if it were a PDF).

Any resident could request to get the backup information, but Landau wants to make it as accessible as the agenda for folks who want to see it. For instance, a recurring agenda item is the approval of loans or grants made by the city, but only in the backup material is the listing of who is getting money and how much.

Newly appointed City Manager Mitchell Johnson told Landau that most of the backup material is available on the web (if they do, I can't find it anywhere) but that some things might be technically difficult to post, such as maps.

Landau sent out a press release about his appearance, and I republish it here for the record.

Landau: City should disclose spending on loans, grants

GREENSBORO -- When it comes to spending taxpayers’ money, Greensboro City Council ought to be more open and accountable to the residents they serve, says city council candidate Joel Landau.

Landau, an at-large candidate, spoke on the importance of accountability in spending at the city council meeting Tuesday. He pointed out that the elected body habitually approves an agenda item for “loans and grants,” yet fails to provide any details about where the funds are going so that residents can decide if their money is being well spent.

“I think citizens should have easy access to seeing how our money is being used,” said Landau. “My suggestion is that when the meeting agenda is posted on the city council website, have a link to the attachment listing the loans and grants.”

At the conclusion of his remarks, Mayor Keith Holliday asked the city manager Mitchell Johnson if it would be possible to follow the suggestion. Johnson replied that there would be a problem posting some attachments on the Internet, such as maps. Landau later said he was disappointed in the lackluster response.

“That was the end of the discussion,” he said. “However, I know from running a business that if you run into technical issues, that’s your cue to talk about how to solve them. I didn’t see any acknowledgement last night that there was a problem.”

Landau also asked the city to take the lead in informing residents about upcoming primary elections. The Oct. 11 primary election drew just 4.3 percent of voters.

“The low voter turnout in last week’s primary election was an embarrassment to our city,” Landau said. He suggested that the council consider alerting residents of upcoming elections through postcard mailings or inserts in water bills.

Landau, 54, is running on a platform which stresses open, accountable government, and citizen involvement in the decisions that affect their lives and neighborhoods. Voters can find out more about him at www.joellandau .com. To schedule an interview or speaking engagement, call 336-315-5440 or email scheduler@JoelLandau.com

Roch Smith asks where we can get precinct reports for Tuesday's primary vote.

We've got them here at Inside Scoop, fresh this morning from the Board of Elections. You can read the report here in Excel spreadsheet format.

A note: Last night, Elections Director George Gilbert passed out printed copies of the spreadsheet that included results for all the precincts. This morning, when I asked for the electronic version, I was told that precincts with fewer than 10 votes had their results consolidated into a single entry. The reasoning is that it would be possible, for instance, to find out who was the lone person that voted in the North Deep River precinct and know who that person voted for.

But with the paper copy in hand, I was able to reconstruct the consolodated precincts. I understand the thinking behind consolidating results, but we generally opt for full disclosure when possible.

We goofed in our results box today on page B1. The accompanying story was correct, and Luther T. Falls Jr. indeed advanced to the general election Nov. 8 with a second-place finish in the District 1 primary. Falls had 231 votes, or 23 percent, and finished behind incumbent Dianne Bellamy-Small. Charles Coffey, with 140 votes, was the third-place finisher and is eliminated.

According to government editor Eddie Wooten, the error occurred when the story moved from one newsroom desk to another. The results for Falls and Coffey were accidentally flopped when page B1 was assembled.

We apologize for the error.

We goofed in our results box today on page B1. The accompanying story was correct, and Luther T. Falls Jr. indeed advanced to the general election Nov. 8 with a second-place finish in the District 1 primary. Falls had 231 votes, or 23 percent, and finished behind incumbent Dianne Bellamy-Small. Charles Coffey, with 140 votes, was the third-place finisher and is eliminated.

The error occurred when the story moved from one newsroom desk to another. The results for Falls and Coffey were accidentally flopped when page B1 was assembled.

Just a reminder: Polls are open today. Learn more about the candidates here.

Early word on turnout is that it's pretty slim. My colleague Eric Swensen saw three voters at the polls over a period of two hours. Primary turnouts are typically low, and with rain, no mayoral race this year and no overarching issues (think baseball stadium) it's not surprising.

Does it have to be this way? Greensboro could opt to have an election/runoff system like Raleigh's vote today, where if a candidate tops 50 percent in October, they win outright on the spot. That would make the first vote a little more meaningful. Or there could be no primary like in Guilford County's smaller towns and save everything for a November general election.

Thoughts?

Scoop has been eager to keep abreast of campaign comings and goings from the candidates' web sites. In the first campaign since Howard Dean's Internet strategy, many candidates started web sites and blogs to share their views.

But a look at the candidates' sites is like a trip in the Wayback Machine.

...just came in from the Board of Elections. They are from:

Scoop just got its hands on the latest report of fundraising from Greensboro City Council candidates.

In the lead for fundraising in the month of September is mayor pro-tem Yvonne Johnson with $12,945, though the overall lead still rests with at-large candidate Don Vaughan with $34,575 raised this election cycle.

The reports were due in Saturday, and the Board of Elections is still waiting for reports from Florence Gatten, Dianne Bellamy-Small and Janet Wallace.

As before, we've scanned in the reports for you to read and a brief summary of the report:

Top presidential advisor Karl Rove urged supporters to stand behind George Bush at a fundraiser Thursday night in Greensboro.

The event was hosted at the Irving Park home of local businessman Louis DeJoy and his wife, Aldona Vos to benefit the Republican National Committee. Vos is a top fundraiser for Bush and serves as the ambassador to Finland Estonia. (Update: My apologies. I confused the countries that were served by Dr. Vos and fellow Greensbororian and former Ambassador Bonnie McElveen-Hunter.)

Guilford County Republican Party Chairman Marcus Kindley said Rove answered questions from guests around the state. According to Kindley, Rove talked about the nomination of Judge John Roberts and the response to Hurricane Katrina.

Kindley recounted Rove's statement that it would be "very interesting when all the events unfolded" about the response to Katrina, suggesting that when the full story comes out, the Bush administration would be vindicated.

Rove also reportedly talked about how the public has a misconception about the federal government's role in disaster response and when they are supposed to step in. In the meantime, Rove urged the faithful in attendance to, well, remain faithful.

"He told us to hang in there," Kindley said.

As we wrote in today's Inside Scoop column, at-large candidate Sandra Anderson's finance report was a little tardy in reaching the Board of Elections. Like we did with the other candidates, here is her report in PDF form.

Looking through her report, it seems that many of supporters work in the development and real estate industries. This would seem to make sense, since Anderson is a homebuilder and most candidates draw support from their friends and professional colleagues. I would also note that developers are big givers to most of the incumbents.

The largest contribution though, $2,000, is from a non-developer, Opthalmologist Robert Groat.

After our story today about negotiations to buy the former Canada Dry bottling plant next to the Greensboro Coliseum, several council members wanted to make it clear they were looking on the property as an important investment for the coliseum, not necessarily because it has been mentioned as a site for the ACC Hall of Champions.

It's important to look at who is heading up the push for the ACC Hall. The idea was brought to the council in January by Coliseum Director Matt Brown (a city employee) and Dick Grubar (the chairman of the coliseum's advisory board). Also involved in the preliminary discussions were Marc Bush (Greensboro Sports Commission), Mike Bumpass (Greensboro Merchants Association), David Jameson (Greensboro Chamber of Commerce), Henry Fourrier (Convention and Visitors Bureau) and Kevin Green (also on the coliseum advisory board).

When Brown and the other Hall organizers unveiled their plans, they had architectural drawings that showed the museum on the Canada Dry plot and incorporated parts of the existing building. At first glance, the council had positive things to say about the museum but were eager to have someone other than the city pay most of the cost.

So while some, including Brown, are pushing for the museum to go there, council members say buying the land is just a good idea to pick up the last piece of the land puzzle to finish out the coliseum's campus.

"It's not about the ACC. It's about having a critical piece of property," council member Tom Phillips said, even though he opposes the Hall of Champions idea.

On the manager front, the council met in closed session again this morning to meet with an unidentified candidate. Mayor Keith Holliday said he couldn't give an estimate as to when a choice would me made. He said it was partly due to the wealth of good candidates the council has to pick from.

From this morning's Savannah Morning News:

Savannah City Manager Michael Brown is a candidate for the same position in another city.

Savannah City Council met behind closed doors Thursday to discuss the situation and come up with a "contingency plan" for replacing Brown if he leaves.

No one is saying publicly where Brown is a candidate. However four different people with knowledge of the situation, but who asked not to be identified, said in separate conversations that Brown was approached by a recruiting firm for the city manager position in Greensboro, N.C.
...
When asked if he was a candidate in Greensboro, he said: "There is nothing for us to discuss."

Greensboro officials haven't disclosed their finalists yet. The city's former manager retired Aug. 1.

Brown has been well-liked in Savannah during his 10-year tenure. He was hired in 1995 to replace the late, long-time city manager Don Mendonza.

Also: Top story in SMN today: Brown gets raise, City Council breaks law

Note: The Michael Brown noted in the SMN is not the same person as Michael "Brownie" Brown of FEMA noteriety, although he too is now in the job market.

In Friday's paper, I wrote about the first round of campaign filings for Greensboro's city council race. Scoop welcomes your observations about the reports and who is giving to whom.

To read the candidate's full reports, including contributors who gave more than $100 and campaign expenses, click on the following links:

At-large:
Florence Gatten
Yvonne Johnson
Don Vaughan

District 1:
Dianne Bellamy-Small

District 2:
Goldie Wells

Dsitrict 4:
Mike Barber
Janet Wallace

District 5:
Sandy Carmany

(Note: Candidates who aren't spending more than $3,000 on their campaigns don't have to file finance reports.)

"Blocking out the scenery, breaking my mind
Vote him, don't vote her, can't you read the sign?"

And that ditty from the Five Man Electrical Band brings us into the campaign sign season. While this fall's city council races probably won't devolve into a Red State/Blue County argument over who stole who's signs, the city has promised a crackdown on signs illegally posted in medians, rights of way, and tacked on telephone poles.

Councilwoman Sandy Carmany even suggested that citizens might do a bit of sign vigilantism: "Note: any citizen can legally remove these illegal signs as well, just be safe in doing so and don't be stopping in the middle of the street to jerk one up."

Here's a refresher from the city on the sign placement rules:

RESIDENTS URGED TO POST POLITICAL SIGNS PROPERLY
GREENSBORO, NC (August 31, 2005) - Political candidates, campaign workers and residents are reminded of the City regulations on political signs during this year’s election. Signage that meets City
requirements will remain posted throughout the entire campaign.

Political signs may be placed on any private property if authorized by the legal property owner provided that:

There are no more than six signs per zone lot.

A sign must not be larger than six square feet in area or six feet in height.

Signs cannot be illuminated.

No commercial message may appear on the sign.

Signs must be removed within seven days after the election.

Signs may not be placed within a street-right-of-way, median or divided streets, power or utility poles, government sign poles/signs, trees or other natural features, underpass columns or support and traffic control boxes and vacant lots.

Signs exceeding six square feet in size may not be placed on private property without securing a sign permit from the Zoning Enforcement Office at the Melvin Municipal Office Building, 300 West Washington Street. Political signs improperly placed are subject to removal and disposal. Anyone found posting a sign illegally may be charged with a criminal or civil offense under the City code.

Residents who believe a sign is placed improperly can call the Zoning Enforcement Office at 373-2630.

From District 2 candidate Ed Whitfield's communication director, Joya Wesley:

August 30, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Joya Wesley
275-5953
joyawesley@aol.com

DIVERSE TEAM WORKING TO ELECT WHITFIELD IN DISTRICT 2

GREENSBORO – Ed Whitfield, a compassionate working man of vision, principle and action, is seeking the District 2 City Council seat with the assistance of a diverse team of community workers and the support of district residents who want to improve the quality of life for all of Greensboro.

Lewis A. Brandon III, a grassroots historian with nearly five decades of local community work under his belt, is co-chair of the Committee to Elect Ed Whitfield. The other co-chair is Sheila Manning-Moss, a Guilford College double major in Peace and Conflict Studies and Community and Justice Studies.

Joya Wesley, a local media professional since 1988, is serving as the campaign's communications director; Kathleen Mitchell, an NAACP activist and Lorillard retiree, is the treasurer. Marilyn Baird, a longtime labor activist and director of Greensboro's new Workers Center, is leading Whitfield's get-out-the-vote efforts.

A native of Little Rock, Ark., Whitfield is a Carolina Peacemaker columnist and a longtime community activist involved with issues of education, community development, peace and justice. He also is a musician and composer, and co-chair of the Greensboro Peace Coalition.

Whitfield, who for the past 27 years has made his living as a second-shift electronics technician for Lorillard Tobacco Co., began a lifelong continuum of community activism and service as a youth member of the NAACP in the 1960s.

In the 35 years since he moved to Greensboro, he has proven himself a strong and effective leader committed to fairness and justice for all of the city’s residents. He is an active mentor known as "Uncle Ed" in the community and in public schools including Washington, Lincoln, Gillespie and Dudley, from which his two grown children graduated.

A Leadership Greensboro graduate, Whitfield's vision and integrity have made him a popular choice for advisory boards and similar bodies. He served nine years as chairman of the city's Redevelopment Commission, providing leadership for the Southside revitalization project and the beginning of the East Market Street revitalization.

Other efforts to which he has lent his guidance include the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Project, the Community Advisory Committee for the basic skills program at GTCC, the Board of Directors for the Triad Minority Development Corporation, the advisory committee for the city's Multi Modal Transit Center and the Citizens Task Force for the Prevention of Crime and Violence.

Dismissed by one local commentator as a "60s radical," Whitfield embraces the legacy of one of the most powerful social movements of the world's history and uses its best lessons in his work, which is aimed directly at building a better future.

"The spirit with which I approach my current activism is the spirit that I inherited from the 60's," he says. "It tells me that when something is wrong we need to think hard and work hard to change it. I am looking forward to carrying that spirit with me onto the Greensboro City Council."

Whitfield's Campaign Kickoff Rally is scheduled for 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8, in Sternberger Park, located at 715 Summit Ave. in the Aycock District, where Whitfield lives. The rally will feature hot dogs, soft drinks, music by Logie Meachum and others, and more. For more information, call 272-4378 or e-mail whitfield4dist2@aol.com.

#####

BONUS: District 1 Challenger Luther Falls sent out his first campaign flier in the last week. You can read it here.

Tom "the blogging councilman" Phillips signs off in this post.

Anyone with a business, especially construction and landscaping, or anyone that tends to make a bit of noise may be interested in the city's proposed noise ordinance (read it here). For the first time, there will be a set decibel standard for noise.

The most stringent standard, the nighttime residential limit, only allows a business or person to cause a sound that registers 45 dBA at the nearest residential property line. It's 55dBA during the day, and there are higher limits for residences in commercial and industrial areas, such as downtown.

Click here to see a list of normal activities and their decibel levels. Keep in mind that those levels are measured at the point of creation, while the noise ordinance measures the sound at the point of the nearest property. But according to the noise examples, it would be illegal to stand in your backyard at night and, lets say, use an electric toothbrush (50-60 dBA) or use a leaf blower (110 dBA) anytime near another house.

The council plans to return to the noise ordinance in the next few weeks after they get a chance to review it.

A: You are.

If you'll remember back in July, the Greensboro City Council expressed concerns about taxpayers paying for the maintenance of the planned water feature in Action Greensboro's Center City Park. The council knows from other cities that fountains tend to break, get expensive to run and have to get shut down when there's a drought. The mayor went so far as to say that city funding for fountain maintenance should be taken "off the table."

On Tuesday, the council assented to a maintenance agreement with Action Greensboro (and their park conservancy subsidiary) and Downtown Greensboro Inc. It splits up the maintenance and operating costs - projected at about $400,000 a year - and says what everyone's money is going to be used for.

Half the cost, about $200,000, will be paid from the city's General Fund. That's the big pot of money generated from property and sales taxes from all around the city. None of that money will be used to run or fix the fountain. Based on that item, Sandy Carmany writes on her blog (her caps) "THE CITY WILL HAVE ABSOLUTLEY NO REPSONSIBILITY FOR THE FOUNTAIN OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE..."

So who is paying for the fountain? According to the agreement, that will be paid for partially by the city's Business Improvement District, a private group that is tasked by the city with spending the proceeds of a special tax on downtown property owners. In the case of the park, the BID will use local-option sales tax revenue to pay for their share of the park maintenance.

So while only $200,000 is coming from the city's General Fund, $340,000 of the $400,000 annual operating cost is being covered by taxpayers, including the fountain maintenance.

(Full disclosure: This reporter rents an apartment downtown and pays the BID tax on his car.)

Candidates in this fall's municipal elections aren't required to file a campaign finance report until next month, and most of the heavy fundraising hasn't begun yet.

But that doesn't mean that everyone is starting from square one.

Incumbents (and folks who have run before) can carry forward unspent money from past elections. So here's a roundup of campaign bank accounts as of the last report, some of which are eight months old. (If the candidates have raised or spent money since then, it isn't reflected here, and we won't know for a few more weeks.)

Mayor:
Keith Holliday: $1,085.38 as of 12/31/04

At-large:
Yvonne Johnson: $6354.88 as of 7/31/04
Don Vaughan: $23,880.17 as of 12/31/04
Florence Gatten: $9,907.55 as of 1/10/05

District 1:
Dianne Bellamy-Small: $504.31

District 3:
Tom Phillips: $4471.61 as of 12/31/04

District 5:
Sandy Carmany: $3,621.59 as of 1/10/05

We like to be up front when we make an error, so here's mine: A chart in my story today misstated the salaries being paid to members of the Guilford County Board of Education.

Here's the story: On May 10, the board voted itself a 145 percent pay raise, bringing their salaries in line with what was paid to members of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners. That salary was $14,700 with a little more for the chairman.

But the next month, the commissioners (which control school spending to some degree) approved a budget that merely doubled the school board's salaries to $12,000 a year.

My story failed to reflect that reduction, of which I was unaware.

Last night, the Greensboro City Council voted to raise their own salaries 17 percent beginning next fiscal year (or physical year as some pronounce it), July 1, 2006.

To put that into perspective, city staffers did a survey of other major N.C. cities to see what they pay their council members. You can read that analysis here.

With the fall ballot set, the NCGOP has started off raising money to back candidates in fall's municipal elections. I'll try to post as many fundraising and campaign statements as possible during this election.

Keep in mind that most city and town elections are nonpartisan, meaning candidates' party affiliations aren't listed on the ballot. In Greensboro, it also extends after the election; alliances and votes almost never run down party lines.

But just as a reminder, here's the party affiliations of the council's 9 current members:

Keith Holliday - D
Yvonne Johnson - D
Don Vaughan - D
Tom Phillips - R
Dianne Bellamy-Small - D
Claudette Burroughs-White - D
Robbie Perkins - R
Florence Gatten - D
Sandy Carmany - Unaffiliated

From: North Carolina Republican Party [mailto:email@ncgop.org]
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 2:49 PM
To: Mark Binker
Subject: Municipal Elections Begin In 2 Months!

Dear M.,

Some municipal elections are less than two months away, and we need your help to elect Republicans at the most important level of government - the one closest to you!

We saw what can happen with Democrats in the majority with the passage of the state budget last week. The Democrats passed a budget that increased spending by over 8%, raised taxes by over $1.5 billion, and included millions of dollars in pork-barrel spending.

We cannot allow for more Democrats to be in office where higher taxes and liberal spending await!

Please contribute today at http://ncgoplist.c.topica.com/maadRZIabjvWAbd8vvKbafpLHL/ ! With your help, the N.C. Republican Party can elect more Republicans who will fight the Democrats’ tax-and-spend policies.

Your contribution will be used efficiently to elect fiscally responsible Republicans who will uphold North Carolina's conservative values and bring an end to the Democrats' tax increases and run-away government spending.

Thank you for your past support, and I encourage you to continue to stand with us in this important fight. Now, more then ever, your contributions will make a difference! Please contribute today by visiting http://ncgoplist.c.topica.com/maadRZIabjvWAbd8vvKbafpLHL/

Sincerely,  

Ferrell Blount, Chairman
North Carolina Republican Party

P.S. - Your contribution will help us elect Republicans, strengthen the Party and fight to uphold North Carolina's values and beliefs! Please visit http://ncgoplist.c.topica.com/maadRZIabjvWAbd8vvKbafpLHL/ today!

-------------------------------------------------------------

Paid for by the North Carolina Republican Executive Committee Rob Moseley, Jr., Treasurer Not authorized by any candidate

Contributions from corporations and foreign nationals are not permitted. Funds received in response to this solicitation will be subject to federal contribution limits.
Contributions to the North Carolina Republican Party are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.

Here is an unofficial list of candidates for local offices. Primary elections will be Oct. 11, if needed, and the general election will be Nov. 8.

Greensboro City Council
Mayor
Keith Holliday (i)

At-Large (3 seats)
Sandra Anderson
Diane Davis
Florence Gatten
Dave Howerton
Yvonne Johnson (i)
Joel Landau
George Subasavage
Don Vaughan (i)

District 1
Dianne Bellamy-Small (i)
Charles Coffey
Luther Falls

District 2
William Lewis Byers
Toni Henderson
Goldie Wells
Ed Whitfield

District 3
Tom Phillips

District 4
Mike Barber
Joseph Rahenkamp
Janet Wallace

District 5
Sandy Carmany (i)
Angela Epps Carmichael
Todd Schmidt

High Point City Council
Mayor
Becky Smothers (i)
Steve Wood

At-large (2 seats)
Latimer Alexander (i)
John Faircloth (i)

Ward 1
Stephanie Parnell
Bernita Sims (i)

Ward 2
Thurman Marley
Ron Wilkins (i)

Ward 3
John Linton (i)
Michael Pugh

Ward 4
Robert Fowler
Bill Bencini (i)

Ward 5
Brett Moore
Christopher Whitley (i)

Ward 6
Timothy Brown
Lisa Stahlmann

Jamestown Town Council
Mayor
Billy Ragsdale (i)

At-large (4 seats)
Charles Dowdy (i)
Mickey Peeler (i)
Brock Thomas (i)
Keith Volz
Emily Ragsdale (i)

Pleasant Garden Town Council
At-large, 4 year term (2 seats)
David Goltare
Anne Hice
Chris Johnson
Alan Marshall
Edgar Phillips
Rick Wallace
Bob Wyrick

At-large, 2 year term (1 seat)
Eddy Patterson (i)
Nancy Jo Smith

Sedalia Town Council
At-large (3 seats)
Harold Ireland
Ophelia Jones (i)
Valerie Marie Mack
Clarence Meachem (i)
Don Newsome
Jeanne Rudd (i)

Oak Ridge Town Council
At-large (2 seats)
Myra Aderholdt (i)
Cindy Butler
Roger Howerton (i)
David Rowe

Stokesdale Town Council
Mayor
Randle Jones

At-large (1 seat)
James Attaway (i)
Thearon Hooks

Summerfield Town Council
Mayor
Mark Brown
Bill Peterson

At-large (2 seats)
Dwayne Crawford
Jane Doggett (i)
Michael Stewart (i)
Becky Strickland
Scott Swink
Don Wendelken

Whitsett Town Council
Mayor
Kenneth Jacobs
Mark Stewart
William Danny Whitsett (i)

Gibsonville Board of Aldermen
At-large (2 seats)
Paul Dean
Mike Duquette
Ken Pleasants (i)
Veronica Revels
Ann Marie Rierson
Randall Royals
Gerald Thomas

Sedgefield Sanitary District
At-large (5 seats)
Hyatt Hammond (i)
Dennis Howard (i)
Eugene Mozzoni (i)
Bob Stout (i)
Hub White (i)

As I write this, there are 69 minutes left until the end of election filing period. We've still got two uncontested races in Greensboro, including the top of the ballot.

So if you're ever wanted to run for mayor, here's your chance. You'll get to meet a lot of folks, answer questions at candidate forums and you'll be my new phone pal.

Last chance.

If today's story on incentives for Epes Logistics seems heavy with council members opposed to the deal, there's a simple reason. They're the ones that returned my phone calls.

So while I would have gladly included incentive supporter Robbie Perkins in the story, I didn't talk with him until today. So for you, local Scoop readers, here's another voice on the issue.

While other council members suspect that Epes is bluffing when they say the expansion could go elsewhere, Perkins says it's not worth the risk to let a corporate headquarters go elsewhere.

"We could call their bluff all day long, but one day we'll be dead wrong," Perkins said.

He pointed to RF Micro Devices, which has asked for and received several rounds of incentives from Greensboro and Guilford County. He said he was shown evidence that the company was set to move to Norcross, Ga. before the city stepped in with its own incentive plan.

When asked, Perkins couldn't cite a case when the city lost a company after it turned down an incentive request. But he said that even if one in fifty deals were lost calling a company's bluff, that would be too many.

In a broader sense, Perkins said, the debate is more about the image Greensboro has in the world of economic development. He said that business recruiters in High Point and Greenville, S.C. are likely clipping out our story to show companies that Greensboro is unfriendly, or at least ambivalent about attracting companies.

"The message is that Greensboro doesn't want them here," he said.

Friday (at noon) is the deadline to file for this fall's municipal elections. Going into the home stretch, we've got two new faces running for Greensboro City Council district seats.

Our story this morning and Sandy Carmany mention how an incentive request for Epes Logistics was revived after failing on a 4-4 vote behind closed doors last month. Visit Sandy's Place for more background on how that came to pass.

We'll have a full story on the request in the morning, but in the mean time, I've posted a few things:

Last night at Ed Kitchen's retirement party, Deputy City Manager Mitchell Johnson read off a list of Ten Most loathsome things to happen on a Friday afternoon. Johnson said bad news always comes in to the manager's office just as folks are ready to leave for the weekend.

Number 9 went something like this: "The police call to inform you that a reporter that covers the coliseum hasn't been seen since the new foundation for the auditorium was poured."

That was the former councilman's answer when asked last night whether he planned to run for the District 4 city council seat.

The talk was that Grubar might return to the council depending on what other candidates file for the race. But with three already in the race and a fourth (and fifth) possible, Grubar said he'll sit back and enjoy the show.

UPDATE: David Hoggard also says he won't run for council this year.

Last week, I jokingly inserted the words "(crickets chirping)" to describe the activity on the Mayor of Greensboro section of this fall's municipal ballot. Today's paper reminded readers that no one, not even Keith Holliday, had yet filed for the job.

Well, the incumbent put in his paperwork Tuesday to make it official.

Now we in the news business wait eagerly as the mysterious challenger unveils him/herself and makes this an interesting fall.

...Anyone?...Bueller?...

I talked with former candidate Reginald Woodard today about his withdrawal from the District 1 race. He told me that his wife's health has been declining and he is opening another branch of his family's funeral home in High Point.

Both of those issues, he said, would keep him from giving all of his time to serving on the council.

"I would want to be committed to it if I do it," he said.

The time issue is always a big barrier for local candidates because they are all "part-time" jobs that often take up a lot of time. City Council member Florence Gatten, a professional campaign manager and PR consultant, often says that the city loses out on quality candidates because they can't afford to interrupt their professional careers.

The alternative is to make being a council member a full-time job as it is in larger cities in the Northeast. But then, does that exclude folks that want to serve but can't turn over their business or law practice to someone else for a few terms?

UPDATE: Full story here.

Sneak preview of tomorrow's story:

GREENSBORO - After eight months on the political sidelines, former Guilford County commissioner Mike Barber will run for the Greensboro City Council this fall.

Barber said he plans to officially file Tuesday morning for the vacant District 4 seat.

"I genuinely enjoy serving the community as an elected official," Barber said.

Barber is the most prominent new candidate to file for the council election. With nine days left until the end of the filing period, five of the seven incumbents running again face no opposition for their seats.

Barber, a Democrat, also has the support of Republican Bob Skenes. You'll remember that Skenes lost by eight votes in 2003 to Florence Gatten. The endorsement may go a long way to shoring up Barber's credentials in the conservative-leaning Northwest.

Read more tomorrow.

Scoop headed out to the downtown ballpark Saturday to watch the Hoppers, have a few beers and catch up a former scoopster, who was taking a break from slaving away at CQ.

So as I wandered into the stadium, someone hands me - I kid you not - a Jim Melvin bobble head doll.

Now, sports fans who didn't tune into the battle over the stadium back in 2002-2003 could get caught right up to speed on who exactly Jim Melvin was by reading their box:

"The man responsible for making First Horizon Park a reality, Jim Melvin, is a life long resident of Greesnboro. He is our city's greatest ambassador and has spent most of his adult life working for the betterment of our community. He was the Mayor from 1971-83 and has a city hall named in his honor. His wisdom, foresight and thankless hours of volunteer service to Greensboro have made it a great place to live and work."

As Melvin stood here on my desk bobbling away this morning, something nagged at me about that description. It took me a half-hour to figure it out and about 15 minutes rooting around in the paper's archives to confirm it. But now, I'm sure:

Melvin left the mayor's office in 1981. John Forbis was Greensboro's mayor from 1981 to 1987.

Of course, that fact question aside, there's another interesting point that was raised by going through the archives. For those who don't remember, there was a very long public battle to get the stadium done where it is, complete with a referendum related to the issue and everything.

During a most of that time, stadium supporters went to great pains to have anybody but Melvin speak for the cause. The former mayor has always been a flashpoint for criticism for some folks. (One of his favorite opening lines when speaking to groups that I've heard him use at least three times goes something like: "Hello, I'm Jim Melvin, and contrary to what you've heard I don't have horns on my head.")

The public face of the campaign for the stadium was worn by others, such as former City Council member Dick Grubar who ran the political action committee for the pro-stadium group.

The bobble-head seems to be a pretty public "thank you" for a guy who was kept behind the scenes at the time.

So how fast before they start showing up on E-bay?

Also: Hoggard relays news of the Melvin-head doll.

Reginald Woodard, who filed last week to run against District 1 incumbent Dianne Bellamy-Small, has pulled out of the race.

I haven't been able to reach Woodard since I learned of his withdrawal, but I talked to him the day before he pulled out and he seemed confident in his campaign. The mortician and manager of the Woodard Funeral Home said he wanted the district to have a representative that was more in touch with constituents and dealt with "the real issues."

So with two weeks left in the filing period, there are 5 unopposed incumbents and nobody who has actually filed to run for mayor. Either there are a lot of lurkers waiting for the last minute or this is going to be a slow election season.

Here's the official roundup of people who have filed:

Mayor:

Last night, the city council wished their longtime city manager, Ed Kitchen, farewell at his last meeting before he retires. We've written a bit about Ed when he first announced his retirement back in March and some in today's story.

A quick note about Ed's retirement. There are varying levels of "retirements" among municipal executives. Some managers get outright fired by their elected bodies. Some are urged to resign amicably. Some are driven nuts by a coalition of a few members of their elected bodies.

In Ed's case, it's safe to say that none of the council members are unhappy with his management or want to see him leave.

With Ed leaving, I thought it might be good to introduce Scoop readers to his interim, and perhaps permanent replacement: Mitchell Johnson.

You can read his full bio online here. Mitch grew up in Asheville and went to UNCG for his undergraduate degree in physics. He's worked with the city since 1983 and has been an assistant or deputy manager since 2000.

Mitch is 45 years old. He and his wife, Suzanne, have two daughters and a son.

Mitch told me last night that he will be applying to be the permanent city manager. If history is a guide, he has a good shot; Kitchen was the deputy manager when his predecessor Bill Carstarphen was fired by the council (by all accounts, that was a true firing). Kitchen took over as the interim manager and was later hired for good.

Click the link below to read the story we wrote in 2000 when Johnson was brought on as an assistant city manager.

I got a copy of this month's Greensboro Board of Adjustment agenda and was surprised to see a familiar name, Carolina Panthers wide receiver Ricky Proehl.

It seems that Proehl wanted to build a "detached accessory building" near his home at 3504 Bromley Woods Lane. Let me set the scene: A 5990 square foot, $1.1 million home set on 5.8 acres. But the permit for the accessory building was denied because it was to be located in front of the primary residence.

In plain English, the development regulations want to keep people from building garages and the such in front of their homes. At first glance, Proehl's garage didn't follow that rule. The City of Greensboro called him offsides.

Proehl, through his attorney, threw a red flag on the field to challenge that call.

But, upon further review, the city reversed the call and ruled that since Bromley Woods Lane is curved, the building line should follow that curve as well, therefore allowing the building. No timeout charged.

"It's a non-issue," said Zoning Administrator Bill Ruska.

The item will be pulled from the agenda, Ruska said.

(See previous post about the Board of Adjustment)

A couple of recent filings for the Greensboro City Council election this fall:

District 1: Reginald Woodard, manager of the Woodard Funeral Home, filed to run against first-term incumbent Dianne Bellamy Small. You can read more about him on the funeral home's website (An aside: Funeral homes have websites now? I think I've seen everything.), but Woodard told me he filed to run so District 1 could have a representative more in touch with the community. According to his voter registration, he's 40 years old and a registered Democrat.

Woodard said he grew up and has spent most of his life in Greensboro. But he mentioned that his home on Wilpar Drive was recently annexed into the city, something that drew him into city politics.

Prediction: Given that Woodard is a mortician, at some point in this election, Councilman Don Vaughan will refer to the District 1 race as a "dead issue."

Note: He is a different Woodard than Bellamy-Small faced in the primary in 2003. That was Greg Woodard.

District 5: Todd Schmidt, a 28-year-old Democrat, filed to run against longtime District 5 rep Sandy Carmany. I haven't had a chance to talk with Schmidt at length, so I can't tell you much more about him. He lives at 1607 Morton Street.

At-large: Current District 4 rep Florence Gatten filed for the at-large race, as promised. Gatten issued a press release (you can read it here) detailing why she chose to make the switch.

Here's an excerpt:

When asked about this decision to leave the relative safety of a district seat, Gatten laughed and remarked "change was good for Greensboro; in the past many people have stayed too long in office and kept other citizens from having the opportunity to serve."

A note about "relative safety." Gatten won re-election in 2003 by eight votes over challenger Bob Skenes, one of the closest elections in council history.

City Council races are, in theory, non-partisan affairs. Council members don't run as Democrats or Republicans or Libertarians or whatever. And council members frequently site this lack of partisanship as a reason they're able to function more smoothly than certain other boards.

In fact, the county GOP chairman got some guff the last time there was a council election, when the local GOP moved to endorse candidates. (Although, to be fair, that had a lot to do with how the party went about picking its choices as much as the fact there was a choice.)

I'm off playing in a different sandbox now, but I still get heads up on city stuff from time to time. And this one, forwarded to me by a couple folks, re-raises the whole partisan involvement in non-partisan election question. It originated with the Guilford County Democratic Party mailing list:

-----Original Message-----
From: gcdpchair [mailto:gcdpchair@guilforddems.org]
Sent: Friday, July 08, 2005 3:50 PM
To: Democrats@guilforddems.org
Subject: Don Vaughan Fundraiser

The Don Vaughan for City Council Re-election Committee will be holding a fundraiser at the home of Jim and Susan Phillips, 2601 W. Market Street, on Wednesday, July 13, 2005 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Cocktails and refreshments will be served. Live music. All are invited. Contributions greatly appreciated. For more details, call the campaign office at (336) 273-1415, ext. 201 or stop by 612 W. Friendly Avenue in downtown Greensboro. A fun time will be had by all.

---

Okay, discuss amongst yourselves: Is partisan involvement in city council election desirable, ethical, all that well known? Does this sort of e-mail constitute partisan involvement or cross a line you think ought not to be? Does anyone believe that the parties really do keep their mitts off of council elections?

As Eric noted, last Friday brought us officially into the election season. In Greensboro, there weren't any real surprises.

Dianne Bellamy-Small filed again in her district, while Tom Phillips shifted over, as expected, to replace Robbie Perkins in his district. Three newcomer candidates filed; Goldie Wells and Toni Henderson in District 2 and Janet Wallace in District 4.

Rounding out the list is perennial candidate Joseph Rahenkamp Sr. A quick search of our archives found he has unsuccessfully run for local office six times since 1997 - four times for city council, once for the Guilford County Board of Commissioners and once for Kay Hagan's N.C. Senate seat.

During the election, I'll try to post as many press releases, campaign reports and miscellany as I can. To start, here's press releases from Goldie Wells and Janet Wallace.

We'll have more election filings every day in the paper (except Sunday and Monday) through the month as candidates submit their paperwork. And if you've got election news, or rumor, let me know at mwilliams@news-record.com.

As Councilwoman Sandy Carmany noted first on her blog yesterday, developer Don Linder is again asking for city aid for his redevelopment of the Carolina Circle Mall.

We'll have a story on Linder's request on Satuday, but in the mean time, you can read his letter here.

On Tuesday morning, City Manager Ed Kitchen rolled out his proposed changes to the city's water and sewer extension policy. (Link to our story here.)

"Ahh, Matt," you might be thinking. "Why do you have to bore us with minutiae about water lines? I'm going to go read some quasi-dirty humor over at Mr. Sun instead."

Well, before you do that, stay with me. Where the water lines go shapes where the city grows. Kitchen wants to open up a big area of land for water service - and therefore heavy development - along I-40/85 all the way to Rock Creek Center.

But there's always a catch. Right now, anyone who wants city water who lives outside the city has to agree to be annexed into the city at some future date. But under the new rules, developers getting water would also have to follow the city's development regulations, everything from the comp plan to, yes, restrictions on billboards.

You may remember this from January:

"The council voted 5-4 Tuesday night not to tie city development standards, including a ban on billboards along the highway, to requests by property owners to extend city water and sewer service... Proponents of the city's billboard ban sought the change Tuesday so property owners would be forced to respect the city's ban if they wanted water lines extended to their land."

If you want to read all the details, we've scanned in a memo from Kitchen that includes a draft copy of the policy. Also included is a handy map that shows the new areas the city will consider serving.

This afternoon, the Greensboro Board of Adjustment granted 3rd District Councilman Robbie Perkins' request for a variance so he could build his new Irving Park home 7 feet closer to a side street than is required by normal city regs.

For a quick civics 101 lesson on the BOA, it's an appointed board that residents can go to if they want a special exception made for their property when it comes to the rules that everyone is bound to about not building your house too close to property lines, streets, etc. (More info on variances here)

In Perkins' case, he and his wife want to build a two-story, 2800-odd square foot Dutch Colonial home at the corner of St. Andrews Road and Wentworth Drive. The side of the home would lie 33 feet from the centerline of Wentworth Drive, but the city's current rules require homes to be 40 feet from the centerline of a side street. The Perkins' architect said the house needed to be that wide to fit in with the surrounding homes and to accomodate a first-floor master bedroom, something most vintage Irving Park homes don't have.

Here's the rub: Should the city apply modern setback rules in a historic neighborhood for a modern home designed to look historic? When John Nolen and Earle Draper designed Irving Park, they built narrower roads and put the homes closer to the street. But if the same land was developed now, they'd probably build wider streets and put in more space between the homes.

In order to grant a variance, the board has to find that "no reasonable use" can be made of the property without the variance. Board member Sandra Anderson, while voting for the variance, pointed out that the Perkins could just build a house that was 7 feet shorter. She noted that in the case right before Perkins', the board voted 4-1 not to allow a homeowner to add on a carport to their house because it extended 3 feet into the setback from the sidestreet.

In the end, four members decided that Perkins should get his variance, while one member opposed.

By the way, Perkins' announced he won't run for re-election this fall, but the new home is still in District 3.

In our story today outlining two significant departures on the council, I didn't get a chance to spell out all the candidates who are in, out, or on the fence for the fall council race.

I'll throw in the proviso that all of this is academic, since the list that really matters will be compiled by the board of elections from July 1 to August 5 at noon.

Mayor:

An attorney for residents on Lindley Road said the Greensboro City Council will postpone a hearing Tuesday night on a development sought along Friendly Avenue.

Back in May, we wrote about this case when it was turned down by the Planning Board and the Zoning Commission:

Two city panels turned down a plan to build three-story condominiums along West Friendly Avenue, yielding to complaints from residents that the development was too intense for their quiet neighborhood.
High Point-based Blue Ridge Co s. sought permission to build a 36-unit complex on what is now four home lots near Lindley Road. But nearby homeowners said the buildings would tower over the smaller homes that surround it.
"The size and character of the buildings would be out of place in our neighborhood," said Morris Pennington, who lives nearby.

The residents have hired attorney John Higgins to represent them and are negotiating with the developer to find something more "in character" with the neighborhood. They'll need another month to negotiate, so the developer has asked the city to delay Tuesday's vote.

We'll keep an eye on the plans and bring you more updates.

We'll have this brief (or something like it) in tomorrow's paper:

The city has ordered the Summit Executive Center at Summit Avenue and Sullivan Street to repair 17 of the 21 rooms for rent in the one-story building, inspections officials said Friday.

Among the problems cited were missing smoke detectors, exposed wiring, malfunctioning plumbing and walls and ceilings that were in disrepair, said city inspector Danny Nall. At least four of the units had yellow placards attached to their doors ordering that they be vacated by Monday.

"These are basically simple problems," said Paul Watkins, one of the buildings owners. He said that all repairs ordered by the city would be made by early next week.

For folks who might want to know more (Yes, I'm talking about you Hoggard and crew over in Aycock) here's the expanded version of what we know so far.

Avid Zoning Commission fans (OK, there aren't many of you) may have noticed that the Bellemeade Village project on the old North State Chevrolet property has been delayed from today's scheduled rezoning hearing.

Half of the Jones Brothers team, Steve Jones, told me this morning that the application is being delayed while they do a traffic study of the streets around there. He said they should be able to get the study in time for the July meeting. They're asking for the property to be added to the "Central Business" district, like the rest of downtown.

The rezoning is critical for the project because the rules for downtown buildings would let them build right up to the sidewalk and make the most out of their land. Right now, the land is "General Business," designed for suburban areas that require them to move their buildings 15 feet back from the sidewalk.

After they get the rezoning, Jones said they could firm-up discussions with the city about aid in the form of new streets and possibly parking decks. City Manager Ed Kitchen has hinted over the past few months at the city's involvement with the development, but nothing concrete has been rolled out to council members.

If you're interested in buying, Steve said you'll probably have to wait a few months to plunk down a deposit. He said they'll wait until after they reach an agreement with the city before they stary marketing so they know better exactly what and how many units and stores they'll be able to build.

Still on the agenda is a smaller downtown condo project, also near the ballpark, brought by Kavanaugh Associates for the north side of Bellemeade between Cedar and Spring streets.

Every two weeks, I get a copy of emails sent to city council members, mostly through a city comment webpage. This week, there were over 500 messages to the nine council members, one of the heaviest ever.

The hottest topic? Wal Mart. Or at least incentives going to the developer of a shopping center that would hold a Wal Mart.

Leaving out messages sent by the same person to multiple council members, there were 18 messages against the incentives and 9 in favor. Keep in mind this is a tiny fraction of the phone calls, letters, conversations on the street that council members get. But I'll post some messages so you can understand what each side was arguing.

It may not surprise you that they were arguing about different things.

On the opposition side, you had people saying they didn't want their tax money "wasted" bailing out Linder, or given to an immensely profitable multinational corporation:

Every year, the city comes out with a list of big ticket items they think the city needs, from new fire stations to parks to sewer lines. This year, there are quite a few new projects on the Capital Improvements Program that are listed as being funded by "unauthorized bonds."

That's code for "this project will probably be lumped into a bond referendum in the next few years." Right now, the plan refers to referendums in 2006 and 2010 and has $104 million in projects ready for funding. This doesn't include the $25-30 million in estimated costs to renovate the Coliseum's War Memorial Auditorium.

There are too many projects to go into detail, but I'll list a few and if one piques your interest, you can go to the source to read more:

Libraries:

There was a question about an exchange quoted in our story Friday(unposted), "Board majority opposes additional police officers."

In it, I describe an exchange between Tom Phillips and Claudette Burroughs-White about funding for the police department:

While all the council members would like to hire more police officers if money were no object, it was clear that the three representatives from east Greensboro see the need for more police as more urgent. When Phillips suggested earlier in the meeting that the police department could cut wasteful spending, Burroughs-White responded by saying: "Yeah, we can cut some officers. Buy me a van and I'll bring some criminals to your neighborhood."

First, while a plain reading of that paragraph might not indicate it, Claudette was being facetious. But as with all comments made at council meetings, there is a kernel of sincerity buried in the comment. Claudette feels that council members who live outside of high-crime districts don't appreciate the need for more officers.

Second, Tom was not singling the Police Department out for being spendthrifts. His suggestion came after Mayor Keith Holliday proposed an across-the-board cut to what he called "non-essential" departments. After considerable debate over which departments were "non-essential," Tom made the observation that usually there's room in any large organization, including "essential" services like police and fire, to cut spending that isn't necessarily wasteful, but isn't entirely necessary to get the job done. Claudette took that as an indication that he felt there wasn't a need for better police coverage, which I don't believe was his intent.

With that cleared up, it's worth noting that unlike last year, when there was virtual consensus on the budget and it passed exactly how it was proposed by Ed Kitchen, there will need to be a bit of coalition building to pass this year's budget. Some want to spend more for more police, some like Kitchen's middle ground of a one-cent increase, while others are intent on having no tax increase. Even among the cutters, there's disagreement over how to cut. Right now, there aren't five votes in any one of those camps.

Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend.

N&R Editor John Robinson asks about Mayor Keith Holliday's promo for Fox 8's live coverage of the implosion of the domestic textile industry Burlington Industries headquarters:

The promo spot I saw twice last night has him standing in front of the building. He says something like this (I had to find a pencil to scribble it down last night so I may have a few words wrong.): "I'm Greensboro Mayor Keith Holliday, and I would love it if you would tune in to watch live the demolition of this building on Fox 8."

Reached by telephone this morning after boom went the dynamite, Holliday said he did the spot for Fox 8 at the end of an interview late last week he did about the implosion. He said that many radio and tv stations ask him to record promos and he usually obliges.

"I kinda took it as a public service announcement," Holliday said.

The mayor said that while the implosion was a terrific spectacle, if something were to have gone wrong, it would be better if folks watched it on television instead of putting themselves in harm's way. He did say though that he was there in person for the explosion, and he called it "neat, but at the same time pretty sad."

"There were definitely some mixed feelings."

As for Robinson's suggestion that the promo was related to the fall municipal election, Holliday said he hadn't made a decision yet about seeking another term and would have an announcement "within two weeks."

While pleased that City Manager Ed Kitchen proposed only a one-cent tax increase, Mayor Keith Holliday said he'll push to get that increase to zero. In other words, keep the tax rate at 56.75 cents per $100 of assessed value.

Is it possible? Well anything's possible, including cutting taxes. Doing that means cutting expenses or entire programs, not always the easiest thing to do politically. Even Kitchen noted Tuesday that anytime it seems there is political support to cut something, the constituency that benefits from that spending rises up and convinces the council to back off. Witness the attempt in 2003 to cut arts funding.

But if Holliday pressed for a zero-cent increase, what would he have to do? Basically find $2 million somewhere in the $351 million budget. There are plenty of existing programs to cut, but it could be possible to find the money by not adding instead of subtracting.

The mayor, with the support of four other council members, could freeze the tax rate by taking away most of the additions Kitchen proposes. Here's a possible list:

Every year about this time, city departments submit their wish lists, equipment or programs they'd like to have but can't afford without more money in the next year's budget.

One of those items is $185,000 for a T.V. studio for Channel 13, the city's cable outlet where you can see council meetings, community events and such. Right now, Channel 13 produces documentaries but doesn't have a studio where they can do live shows like call-ins and other programs. Here's how the proposal is explained in a request to the city manager:

"Having a studio would allow, for instance, the Chief of Police to be on the air, answering questions from the public or explaining a difficult to explain issue. It would also allow for regularly scheduled program for departments of City Government which don't currently have a good communications vehicle to reach the public directly."

Then the description explains why having this direct outlet is important for the city; "Avoiding the filter of the news media, television or radio, is important to getting the correct message to the public."

If the term "filter" sounds familiar in describing journalists, it might be because President Bush said in October 2003, "I'm mindful of the filter through which some news travels, and somehow you just got to go over the heads of the filter and speak directly to the people."

Channel 13's proposal expands on how the studio will "change outcomes."

"We will able to control the message, totally ignoring the 'spin' theory. We can lay out the facts, professionally and quickly, and repeat it as often as we need. Having a live studio gives the City of Greensboro direct access to citizens with a message we totally control. No interpretation, no mistakes!"

It will be up to City Manager Ed Kitchen to decide whether to find money for the studio, and ultimately the City Council's to give final approval in June.

In an email, tbe Truth and Reconciliation Commission announced it is delaying its first public hearing into the 1979 Morningside Homes shooting until late June. The hearing was originally scheduled for May 20-21 and was to cover the actual events leading up to and including the shooting. The message did not explain why the delay was necessary.

Here is the message:

FROM: Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission
TO: Ubuntu Weekly Recipients

The Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission has rescheduled its first hearing for June 27-28, 2005 at Triad Stage (232 S. Elm St, Greensboro, NC). Please pass this message along to anyone who may be interested. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

Before last night's meeting, the Greensboro City Council voted to hire an executive search firm out of Norcross, GA to help find a replacement for Ed Kitchen, who is retiring in August. They met with Bob Slavin of Slavin Management Consultants, who billed himself as one of the leading city executive search firms.

Slavin's company will be paid $13,675 plus expenses to recruit the new manager. That includes processing drawing up advertisements, taking in resumes, doing background checks on potential candidates and interviews.

"Our process is designed to find someone that meets your needs, not just someone who has succeeded somewhere else," Slavin said. "I may not know the next city manager of Greensboro, but I know folks that do."

Slavin's firm has helped find the city managers in places like Dallas, Charlotte, Winston-Salem, and Wichita. Their firm also helped pick two of Greensboro's assistant city managers, Ben Brown and Bob Morgan. Slavin said a typical search takes about 90 days from when a "profile" is drawn up and the candidates are brought to be interviewed by the council.

Back in December, Greensboro Mayor Keith Holliday told Scoop that he'd make a decision about running for a fourth term by February or March. Having not heard any news about his future, Scoop called to check in today.

"I'm still not ready to make an announcement," Holliday said. "It hasn't been as quick of a decision as I hoped for."

Holliday said he'd probably make an announcement one way or another by the end of May. Candidate filing for the November election begins July 1. He said that his family and job weighed on his decision, and he said he would be working out the decision with his "team."

The mayor's decision would have a big impact on the races for the other eight council seats. In 2003, Holliday won with nearly 80 percent of the vote and is still considered widely popular. If Holliday opts to step aside, other council members (Yvonne Johnson and Robbie Perkins are often mentioned) might vie for the job, opening competition for the seats they currently hold.

The only other open seat as of now is District 4, currently held by Florence Gatten. She promised to only run in her district for two terms, so she is seeking to remain on the council in one of the three at-large seats.

(This email was sent from Greensboro City Councilwoman Claudette Burroughs-White to the rest of the council last Thursday. More on this topic here)

I have found the feedback via newspaper, community comments and Sandy's Blog to be very interesting. There seems to be an assumption that I was a part of an agreement not to move this matter further. Which is not the case. I met with Keith last week and endorsed the idea of a win-win resolution. I left the meeting with the impression that this resolution would be discussed with other Council members. I was never contacted again and came to the Council meeting Tuesday expecting to vote on the resolution. It was just before the meeting that I found that this was not the case. I advised the Mayor at that point that I would move to vote on the issue. Your gentleman's agreement was presumed and I am concerned that Sandy cannot trust me and that others of you who have verbalized that to the News & Record, etc. That being the case, it's unfortunate. I am not aware of trust being a factor when people vote their opinion. It's always been my choice and I never comment negatively when persons don't agree, that's your right. I will move forward as always, hearing your concerns, sharing feelings, but always doing what I think is the right thing for me and my constituents.

The record will show that quite often we do vote along racial lines when it comes to sensitive issues involving social challenges. And Tom, I am always thankful for the vote on the landfill, but I do remember the years it took to get there. At 65 years old, I also live the history of disparity and division. That history still prevails in many ways. I am always bothered when that notion is rejected. It would be nice to acknowledge it so people could move forward. It's hard to resolve challenges if people refuse to acknowledge them and it's hurtful to be discounted because your experience and perceptions are different. Thus Greesnboro has to deal with this.

Again, I believe:

I had a request from a reader for the document discussed in our story on Saturday, "Two, not five, headed hockey ownership team." I've posted a PDF of the "Confidential Offering Information" here.

We obtained the document from the N.C. Secretary of State, which regulates securities offerings. More discussion of the story at Greensboro is Talking and Gate City.

(The following is a press release from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 21, 2005
TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION THANKS CITY COUNCIL

GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission, whose history-making work has been the subject of local debate culminating with the City Council's action on Tuesday, April 19, remains committed to completing its work with transparency and impartiality.

The Council's 6-3 vote against endorsing the Commission's work of seeking the truth and working for reconciliation around the shootings of Nov. 3, 1979, will do nothing to stop it.

"We deeply appreciate the vote and accept the enormous challenge it represents," said Bob Peters, Commission co-chair. "We are challenged to more effectively communicate to the City Council and the community about the work we are doing and the spirit in which we are doing it, and to produce an end result that will speak for itself."

The Commission assures the community, in response to concerns raised by Councilwoman Florence Gatten, that answers about our finances are readily available from members of the Commission, its staff and the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, which manages our funds. Also, our research team is completely impartial and interested in hearing from as many people as possible and from all points of view.

Knowing that many of our readers were likely tucking in Tuesday night and missed the Greensboro City Council's debate on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Scoop has made audio available for you to sample anytime.

We've parsed the nearly two-hour debate into parts so you can pick what you would like to listen. We'll list the files in the order they took place Tuesday night. The files are in .mp3 format and can be saved to your computer or listened to live.

First are the nine statements made by council members initially on the issue:

- Keith Holliday: (18:39, 3.2MB) Holliday voted to oppose the project.

- Don Vaughan: (1:12, 212kb) Vaughan voted to oppose the project

- Yvonne Johnson: (7:23, 1.2MB) Johnson voted to support the project.

- Claudette Burroughs-White: (4:54, 862kb) Burroughs-White voted to support the project.

- Dianne Bellamy-Small: (7:10, 1.2MB) Bellamy-Small voted to support the project.

- Tom Phillips: (1:41, 296kb) Phillips voted to oppose the project.

- Florence Gatten: (12:44, 2.18MB) Gatten voted to oppose the project.

- Sandy Carmany: (2:15, 397kb) Carmany voted to oppose the project.

- Robbie Perkins: (2:56, 516kb) Perkins voted to oppose the project.

One of the speakers from the floor was the Rev. Nelson Johnson, who organized the "Death to the Klan" rally that was involved in the 1979 incident. His statement is here.

Finally, Burroughs-White moved that the council adopt a resolution that didn't specifically endorse the project but called upon the city to remember the events of 1979 and encourage participation in the project.

The debate that ensues can be heard here.

We'll have more on the Truth and Reconciliation debate in tomorrow's edition of the paper.

Greensboro City Councilman and attorney Don Vaughan this week pointed me to a state Court of Appeals decision he said might invalidate the city's decision to annex and zone an 8-mile stretch of the Urban Loop south of the city.

Vaughan voted for the annexation but against the zoning of the highway two weeks back after questioning whether the city had the legal authority to take in the ribbon of land without the permission of the state. Landowners along the loop suspected the move was designed to prevent billboards and other commercial buildings from being built along the road. The city zoned the highway "residential," and a lot of things like billboards or factories can't be within a certain distance from "residential" land, even though it's already a highway.

You can read the entire decision here. The court decides whether the Rocky Mount Board of Adjustment (set up by the city) has the authority to tell the Nash-Rocky Mount School System (schools are considered state property) whether it could use a plot of land for a bus parking lot.

The judges on the court say that while cities are allowed to control the use of land and buildings held privately, they are only given a say in where and how the state puts its buildings. The court says that cities zoning powers don't apply to state owned property unless the state is putting up a building. Under that reasoning, the city could do nothing to stop the state from using their land to build a parking lot, landfill, runway, or say an interstate highway loop.

The nut of this case for Greensboro is that the court says that the city can't zone a highway. Therefore, if a landowner feels injured by the city zoning the land, they might sue arguing the city exceeded its authority. Vaughan said he may raise the issue at the next council meeting.

Update: The legislature may have fixed this pickle when it changed the statute effective last October to give cities zoning powers over state buildings and land. The Rocky Mount case was decided based on the old language, so it's not clear whether the outcome would be different under the new law.

Next Tuesday, the council has scheduled a discussion over whether to endorse the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project. After a month or two of emails asking the council to endorse the investigation into the 1979 Morningside Homes shooting, emails are trickling in from those that are opposed to the TRC, as it is referred to.

In the "Don't Endorse" pile, we have Jack McIntire, who says "from what I have read in the newspaper it does not appear that the project has drawn much local public support so I guess they want your endorsement to give them some kind of validation."

And from John Tasker, we have an email explaining why the mayor and other TRC opponents have done a bad job explaining their opposition:
"I am so sorry the mayor and others picked such a weak argument as describing this committe as making the city look bad, or the possiblity of creating liability. Those arguments fall squarely into the hands of those good debaters because they are subjective arguments. Not only are they too subjective, if making the city look bad is one of the goals, in order to obtain national publicity, then those kind of arguments are like putting the rabbit in the briar patch."

In the "Please Endorse" pile, we have Terry Austin writing to the mayor "as one white Quaker to another" asking him to support the investigation

"Racism is not over in Greensboro (or anywhere else). Just because many white people do not recognize it does not mean it doesn't exist. In general, you know that women can spot sexism that men are oblivious to, people with handicaps notice the barriers that we temporarily able-bodied people don't, etc. Similarly, people of color are a more reliable guide on whether racism is a factor than white people are. Unfortunately, we white people don't know that we don't know, and think our perspective about racism is equally valid. "

We also have Suzanne Plihcik, who writes, " The Truth and Reconcilation Process is a step toward the common understanding and healing we need to move forward reversing the effects of that which has divided us."

I'll post the entire messages in the "continue reading" part of this post.

Back in February, our cops reporter Eric J.S. Townsend wrote about Greensboro Police Chief David Wray's request for 40 more police officers in next year's budget:

It's the answer top Greensboro police officials often give for crime-related questions: "TSET." Why did the homicide rate decline last year? In part because of TSET, short for Tactical Special Enforcement Teams. Why have fewer complaints been lodged about drug activity? TSET. Where do we want to focus future resources? Again, TSET. As elected leaders begin debating the city's annual budget, police Chief David Wray has made clear he wants to expand not only the unit's size, but also its mission. Doing so requires 16 additional officers, included among the 40 new sworn positions sought by the agency in the coming year. TSET's expansion is the centerpiece of Wray's request to City Council.

In response, the head of the Greensboro Police Officers Association, Eddy Summers, wrote about how Wray's plans wouldn't actually put more badges on the street answering 911 calls or patrolling. This is an e-mail sent to city council members:

I was recently interviewed by Eric Townsend with the News & Record concerning the article he did on February 14th concerning Chief Wray's request for 40 new positions within the Department. I had first heard Chief Wray's pitch for additional officers as I sat in the January 25th Budget meeting to Council.

For those of you who haven't heard, Chief Wray has asked for 16 positions for two new TSET squads, 9 positions for SOD/ Traffic, 8 positions for two additional CRT officers per district, 3 positions for the newly expanded walking squad (Center City Resource Team), 2 positions for training, one position for a forensic computer detective and one new lieutenant position as a "special projects coordinator."

My statement to Eric went something like this.
Last year Chief Wray went to the City Council requesting 100 additional officers to be added to the ranks. He justified the request with the manpower study that showed our response time of 7 minutes 51 seconds for Priority 1 calls. It also showed Greensboro officers devoting only 45 minutes in an 11-hour shift to proactive patrolling. Both are far less than officers in Raleigh, Durham and Winston Salem. The study also stated adding 32 officers would increase proactive patrolling by 10%. Greensboro also had fewer officers per capita than those cities.

Update: Housing Director Andy Scott said the city plans to board up the property on Tuesday. Contrary to reports by the Fire Department, the complex is still legally owned by the St. James Housing Board, the nonprofit affiliated with the St. James Baptist Church. The city council voted to foreclose on the property in January, but the property hasn't legally changed hands yet.

Fire investigators said squatters broke into and set fire to part of the St. James Homes II apartment complex Sunday evening. The ill-fated apartments are soon to be owned by the City of Greensboro after the original owners, the nonprofit St. James Housing Board, failed to keep the property maintained and occupied. The city loaned St. James nearly $1 million to fix up the apartments, a debt that was written off when the city decided to foreclose earlier this year.

The fire only did minimal damage to one of the three buildings, and the apartments are officially vacant. However, a quick inspection of the property found that most of the apartments in the three buildings had their windows broken, wide open or the doors were not closed. Local Ordinance Chief Danny Nall said that despite their condition, the city lifted all the condemnation orders on the property right before the city decided to foreclose. Therefore, there was no legal requirement that the property be kept secure, as is normally the case with abandoned buildings.

Read more about the fire here.

Scoop was scanning through a database of Greensboro business licenses when it came upon a very interesting item:

Category: Escort/Dating Service
Business Name: Confidential Affairs
Address: 124 Horneytown Road

This afternoon, Greensboro's Community Resource Board met to recommend how the city will dole out $907,793 in federal housing grants. Every year, the CRB makes a recommendation to the City Council about which programs to fund in the annual budget, which is approved in June.

The city asks housing developers and nonprofits to put in their proposals, and the board decides which ones will get to drink from the limited kettle of money.

This year, the CRB recommended funding for the following projects:
-$506,131 for an affordable rent housing complex off McKnight Mill Road called Windhill Court. The money would help leverage state and federal tax credits to build another 64 units there. It is being developed by Affordable Housing Management, Inc.
-$291,662 to subsidize down payments for about 23 homes to be built by Habitat for Humanity.
-$110,000 to Housing Greensboro Inc. to buy and repair two homes, which will be resold to Habitat for Humanity for affordable housing.

Losing out are three requests: another 46-unit affordable rent housing project directed by Beacon Management, $490,000 for site development costs at a Habitat for Humanity development along Flemingfield Road and $45,900 for operational support for Housing Greensboro Inc.

The council will vote on the recommendations on May 3, when they will have the option of adopting or changing the CRB's recommendation.

While reporting about the city's move to annex an eight-mile stretch of the Urban Loop, several opponents have compared the annexation to a "mouse tail" or a finger (Scoop is not sure which one). While Greensboro has picked up parcels here and there, this annexation would be the longest "appendage" of the city sticking out into Guilford County. Click here to see a map of the proposed annexation area.

In the interest of perspective, Scoop looked around to other cities and gave the following awards for innovative city boundary design:

First Place, Shotgun Award: Tobaccoville (Forsyth County)


This golden leaf town north of Winston-Salem seems to have left a lot of room for growth. Within.

Second Place, Shotgun Award: Walkertown (Forsyth County)


Also in Forsyth County, Walkertown also has peculiar appendages and large gaps. Now you're in, now you're out...

First Place, Alien Crop Symbol Award: Mt. Gilead (Montgomery County)


Presumably concerned with symmetry, this small town south of Greensboro only has two small dimples in their perfect circle.

First Place, Thin Blue Line Award: Cary (Wake County)

Like Greensboro, Cary annexed the width of two roads, Ten Ten and West Lake, to reach a development it wanted to bring into the city.

The city council is scheduled to vote on the loop annexation at their meeting Tuesday. It is items 14-16 on the agenda.

This morning, we write about the legal question of whether local governments in North Carolina can offer health and other benefits to the unmarried domestic partners of their employees.

While there are many religious, moral, business and practical reasons for or against such policies, the following are examinations of the legal ramifications of offering the benefits.

Greensboro's request: (read the entire letter here)Deputy City Attorney Becky Peterson-Buie asks Attorney General Roy Cooper for an opinion on whether the city can legally offer the benefits.

Charlotte's decision: The state's largest city explored offering the benefits in 2003, but city attorneys ruled in this memorandum that the city wasn't given the authority by state lawmakers to offer benefits to people other than employees' dependents.

That reasoning was disputed by proponents of the benefits, who pointed out that while state law doesn't specifically say cities can do it, it also doesn't say they can't. You can read the Mecklenburg Gay & Lesbian Political Action Committee's response here.

Durham County: After a long debate there, Durham County officials took a middle route, offering benefits only to the same-sex partners of employees, not heterosexual ones. In this memo, County Attorney S.C. Kitchen writes that as a part of becoming eligible for the benefit, the employee would have to affirm that he or she was living with his or her significant other as a couple. According to state law, a man and a woman living together in such a manner is a Class 2 misdemeanor, the crime of "fornication and adultery."

The same prohibition does not apply to homosexual couples, because state law does not make it a crime for two people of the same sex to live together as a couple. Kitchen notes that while sexual relations between two people of the same sex is illegal, a "crime against nature" as the law states, merely applying for the benefits wouldn't require a homosexual couple to admit to breaking the law.

(From the office of Greensboro Rep. Howard Coble)
APRIL 2, 2005

MOTHER OF CONGRESSMAN COBLE DIES

(GREENSBORO, N.C.)----The elderly mother of U.S. Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC) died today, Saturday, April 2, 2005. Mrs. Johnnie Holt Coble was 95 years old when she died in her sleep this morning at her residence at Friends Homes on New Garden Road in Greensboro.

Johnnie Holt was born to John and Elma Holt in rural Guilford County on December 7, 1909. She was graduated from Nathaniel Greene High School. She was married to the late Joe H. Coble for more than 65 years. "Uncle Joe" Coble - as he was affectionately known - died in 1999 at the age of 91. Both were lifetime members of Alamance Presbyterian Church, and Mrs. Coble was a member of the Ruth Millard Circle.

Congressman Coble, the co-chairman of the Congressional Textile Caucus, often mentions his mother when discussing his role as a key supporter of the textile and apparel industries. Rep. Coble proudly informs those listening that his mother was employed by Standard Hosiery Mill of Alamance, and Blue Bell, Inc., in Greensboro, and because of her working career, that he understood from an early age the importance of the textile industry in North Carolina's economy and history.

In addition to Rep. Coble, Mrs. Holt is survived by her other son, Ray Coble, a well-known area Realtor, and his wife, Barbara, their four children, Dr. Ray Coble of High Point, Mark Coble of Raleigh, Bryan Coble of Greensboro, and Amanda Ratliff of Greensboro, along with nine great-grandchildren. In addition, Mrs. Coble is survived by a sister, Helen Euliss of Burlington, and a brother, Gordon Holt of Greensboro.

Visitation will be Monday, April 4, from 7-8:30 p.m. at Forbis and Dick North Elm Chapel on North Elm Street in Greensboro. The funeral will be Tuesday, April 5, at 11 a.m. at Alamance Presbyterian Church, 4000 Presbyterian Road in Greensboro. Internment will follow in the church cemetery. The family requests that in lieu of flowers that memorials be made to the Alamance Presbyterian Church Capital Building Fund.

This morning, we wrote about the admission by a group of Greensboro hockey boosters that they did indeed owe the city $200,000. That was the fee promised to the Greensboro Coliseum to manage the day-to-day operations of the Greensboro Generals hockey team.

The admission comes in a court filing called a "confession of judgment" (read it in its entirety here). It basically says don't bother suing us, we admit we owe you money.

But that doesn't mean the Generals Brigade (the LLC set up by the five owners) will actually pay back the city. In a letter written in January, the team's attorney said the ownership group had no assets.

"I believe that the persuit of a claim against the Generals Brigade, LLC will yield no money for the City of Greensboro."

City officials doubt they will ever collect, either, but the court order ensures that if the Generals Brigade ever came upon any money, the city would have first dibs.

For more about what people outside the Triad are hearing about Greensboro and the 1979 Morningside Homes shootings, check out this radio story broadcast nationally by the Canadian Broadcasting Company. In it, host Anna Maria Tremonti talks with attorney Harold Greeson, Rev. Nelson Johnson and city council member Florence Gatten. You can hear the audio of the story here (It starts a minute or two into the recording).

The Washington Post also had a story about the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project a week ago.

The biggest discussion at Tuesday's City Council meeting may not actually be on the agenda.

According to a press release, local organizers of the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project plan to ask the city council for their imprimatur and cooperation.

On Tuesday, March 15, 2005, the Local Task Force of the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project will ask the Greensboro City Council to endorse its truth-seeking efforts around Nov. 3, 1979...The request comes on the heels of a months-long petition drive. The petition calls on the City Council to "endorse, support and fully embrace the truth and reconciliation process and to encourage all residents of the City, including current and former police, journalists, newspaper executives, city officials, textile workers and managers, business leaders, religious leaders, and others to participate in the process. So far, several thousand signatures have been obtained...

In previous stories, many city council members and the mayor have balked at endorsing the project so not as to dig up old history or because of concerns that the group may be too one-sided. Last week in a Washington Post article (thanks Chewie), Mayor Holliday says he doesn't believe an investigation is warranted.

"They've never convinced me or others that this needed to be examined," Mayor Keith Holliday said. "The TRC project is being used as an alternate way to create what never happened, and that is a major investigation."

The meeting starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday, but the group will probably have to wait until the public comment section at the end of the meeting to make their case.

For any of those armchair politicos out there, Greensboro needs you to step up and agree to serve on any number of boards and commissions.

While they may not get the kind of publicity that the City Council holds, a lot of legwork is done by boards like the Zoning Commission, Planning Board and the Minimum Housing Standards Commission. While none of the commissions pay their members, it is a way for residents to take a bigger role in how the city is run short of seeking a seat on the council. Many of the current council members also served on a board before they were elected to their seats on council.

Right now, there are 19-odd vacancies on the city's boards that need filling (click here to see the city's vacancy list. The county has their list here). Even if there's not a current vacancy, you can put your name in so it's there when a slot does open up. There are a pool of applicants already for some of them, but the council members who have to appoint people to boards never complain that they've got too many willing volunteers. You can also call your council member to let them know that you're interested. They are the ones that will ultimately decide whether they want you reviewing zoning cases or keeping an eye on the Housing Authority.

If you're interested in a board, you can read more about what they do in the city's Boards and Commissions Handbook. Then send in the application form to the city clerk.

There is some apparent confusion over an item in the print Inside Scoop on prospective city council candidate Janet Wallace.

Candidate steps up
After Greensboro City Council member Florence Gatten's decided not to seek a third term in District 4, former child-support enforcement officer and N.C. A&T student Janet Wallace said she plans to seek the seat.
Wallace, 35, has been active in the county's Republican Party, serving recently as its secretary. She said that if elected, she will seek tighter controls on spending in the wake of scandals such as the collapse of Project Homestead.

Apparently the candidate in question is more commonly known by her maiden name, Janet Soyars. And to clarify "recently," Guilford GOP Chairman Marcus Kindley said Ms. Soyars-Wallace was secretary of the party until 1999.

Scoop will keep its ear to the ground for any other prospective candidates.

With the other fireworks Tuesday night, I nearly forgot about a motion made by council member Tom Phillips that was unanimously passed by the council.

In short, the motion asked that all grants or loans more than $10,000 awarded by groups distributing city money be approved by the city council before any checks are cut. This would cover facade grants given by Downtown Greensboro Inc., grants and loans from the Greensboro Housing Partnership and development projects approved by the East Market Street Development Corp.

"If it's city dollars, the City Council needs to make the final decision on it," Phillips said.

Mayor Keith Holliday immediately cast his support: "If I'm going to be held accountable for it, whether it be through public scrutiny or whatever, I want to have the last word on it also."

Sounding less enthused was Claudette Burroughs-White, who said it appeared that East Market was the real target of the increased scrutiny. Without mentioning any names, she said "there are personalities that I know create a problem for some folks."

One of those personalities that might be affected by this is County Commissioner and developer Melvin "Skip" Alston. He's has recent run-ins with the city over St. James II, but he's also up to get a $200,000 loan from the East Market Street Development Corp to help build, among other things, a barbecue restaurant.

Mac Sims, the EMSDC director, said he talked with Alston and his business partner, attorney Henry Isaacson, about the new requirement and they were willing to provide any information the council wanted to get so they could sign off on the deal.

It's not clear when Alston's loan would come to the council for consideration.

Near the end of Tuesday's City Council meeting (Update:Read the full story here), council member Florence Gatten read a lengthy written statement (read the PDF here) in which she defended the city's handling of the St. James Homes II housing complex and said that to her knowledge, there is no evidence that points to racism on the part of the city's housing staff.

While his name was not spoken during the meeting, Gatten was responding to charges made by County Commissioner Melvin "Skip" Alston that the city refused to work with the managers of St. James because they were black and that the city staff is "racist." (Read the original story here, or a transcript of Alston repeating his comments last week here)

"Generalized, vague, non-specific charges of racism are non-productive, divisive and serve to create a climate of distrust," Gatten said in the statement.

"If there are things that need to be addressed, let us do so in the proper venues rather than broad brush strokes that cast aspersions on the city's award winning staff. Even if a citizen doesn't have specifics but just feels that the staff has a racist attitude, let's talk about it."

Immediately after Gatten read the statement, Council member Claudette Burroughs-White responded that people have a right to their perception that racism is going on. She said that she hopes the city won't "kick this under the rug and not realize that we do have a problem with distrust and racism in this community."

Click here to listen to a short, two-minute dialogue between Burroughs-White and council member Tom Phillips about Alston's charges (.mp3, 628k).

You can read more about it in Wednesday's paper (link here), but the city council seemed receptive this morning to the idea of spending $750,000 to pay for "streetscape" improvements around Action Greensboro's Center City Park. The money would come from the 2000 transportation bond, where it was originally designated for improvements to Church Street. While the council generally doesn't vote in these morning briefing sessions, they directed their staff to move ahead with plans to retool that money for the park.

So what does $750,000 get you? Check out this summary here: 11,500 square feet of brick sidewalks, 15 raised tree planters at $12,000 each, 18 streetlights at $10,000 a pop and other miscellany.

In the same meeting, Budget Director Larry Davis passed out this chart comparing what Greensboro spends on certain things like parks and police to other North Carolina cities. Council member Robbie Perkins pointed out that Greensboro spends a lot more on parks per person ($88.24) than Durham does ($28.87).

"The difference between 88 and 28 is a lot," he said.

Don Vaughan shot back, "Yeah. But look at Durham."

Among the emails sent to the city council recently was this message from Natalie Koeplinger, whose sidewalk has been the recipient of, shall we say, presents from a neighborhood canine.

"I was told that their is no ordinance against not cleaning up after your pet. I think the time has come for a local ordinance requiring pet owners to clean up after their pet, if we don't have one. Most owners in my neighborhood carry doggy doo bags, however there are those priviledged few who want to share. It is also becomming a nuissance in the parks as well, where it seems like the dogs are the only ones who get to use it. Can you please pass an ordinance to make it a fineable offense for not cleaning up after your pet?"

After confirming that, in fact, there was no excrement edict, Council member Tom Phillips only suggested that what's good for Fido should also apply to Garfield.

"I'll only vote for that if we require cat owners to clean up after their cats and walk them on a leash," he wrote.

We'll pick up after this later.

If you're following the once-heated debate over the "Battleground Oaks" shopping center, you might have to wait a little longer to get a decision.

On Monday, the zoning commission recommended in favor of (story here) a 103 acre plan for a shopping center, apartments and condos at the corner of Battleground Avenue and Old Battleground Road. The city council was supposed to make that decision final on March 1, but the developer has asked to push that hearing back to March 15 because several of the key folks in the development are going to be out of town. The council typically approves developers' requests to continue items.

Remember that this development set off a big debate as it was the "test case" for how much weight would be given to the city's comprehensive land use plan. Now that the developers have tweaked their plan, there appears to be a lot less opposition this time around.

Update: One of the opponents of the development, Ted Eaves, writes to the city council saying that there are still plenty of folks that don't want the shopping center and apartments:

"Although I was unable to stay for the debate on the development yesterday at the Zoning Commission meeting, I want to assure you that I am still strongly opposed to this development being placed in this location. And my opinion is shared by many of the residents of these neighborhoods. The turnout at the zoning commission meeting does not reflect our feelings, rather it is a reflection of the meeting time and the lengthy battle that this has turned into."

This morning, our Margaret Banks writes about Republican County Commissioner Linda Shaw's contact with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development leading up to the agency's withdrawal of $900,000 in grants to fix up the St. James II apartment complex.

On Sunday, we wrote about the two managers of St. James II and their accusations that the city's establishment brought about the demise of the low-income apartments on Eugene Street. In a letter to the city (read here), Donald and Sarah Graham allege that the "Greensboro Mafia," namely "city leaders and Down Town Greensboro, Inc.(sic)" wanted the apartments to fail so they could be bulldozed.

While not on the City Council's agenda for tonight, St. James and Commissioner Skip Alston's remark that the city staff is "racist" may be a topic of discussion among council members at the end of the meeting.

There's been some lively discussion about the twilight years of the St. James II apartment complex on South Eugene Street. Our Margaret Banks wrote about the ailing complex in the Sunday edition, eliciting commentary on David Hoggard's blog.

Hoggard supports the contention of St. James' nonprofit managers that city leaders pushed the complex into the abyss or at least sat on their hands while crack dealers did the same. Remember that the apartments are adjacent to a site that was once pitched as the location for a new minor-league baseball stadium.

The directors of the Christian Counseling & Wellness Group, Donald and Sarah Graham, spelled out those accusations in their response to a city audit of the apartments' operation in 2004, which we have scanned and made available online in its entirety. In the audit report (click here to read the PDF) Internal Audit Director Len Lucas noting that the apartments' rehab work had been unexplainably stalled.

In response, the Grahams write (click here to read) "Are we sending up smoke screens and making excuses for the lack of progress toward completing the renovation project of St. James Homes II? The answer is absolutely not. This project has not moved forward because 'we have been redlined.'"

They continue: "We realize the sensitivity of this issue and the danger of rubbing certain individuals the wrong way, but we did not come this far to just give up all the battle that we have already fought. It is so sad to have so many people tell us that we can not save these apartments when the "establishment" - meaning city leaders and Down Town Greensboro, Inc. - wants them destroyed for their own personal agenda. We have had people call the city leaders the "Greensboro Mafia."

Lucas responds (click to read here): "I appreciate your candid responses, however there are still issues outstanding that do not appear to have a solution or plan of commitments in place to rectify."

"We appreciate both of your efforts to provide affordable housing in Greensboro. Unfortunately, it does not appear that St. James Homes II is a feasible project at this time," Lucas wrote.

City Council member Tom Phillips also responds to Hoggard's post, writing that "If this is a conspiracy, please explain it to me. Some people find it easier to blame others for their failures than to accept responsibility for themselves."

Remember this?

A group of Greensboro businessmen led by Bill Black and Don Brady have yet to make a $200,000 payment to the city it promised as a part of the city's management of the team.
The Generals Brigade, a limited-liability corporation, was formed a year ago by Brady and Black to lease the Generals' franchise rights from the team's original owner, Greensboro attorney Art Donaldson. The company then turned the team over to the Greensboro Coliseum and agreed in a contract to pay the city $200,000 to help cover the team's expenses.
The city-owned coliseum operated the team, paying all the team's bills and collecting ticket and advertising revenue.
The city lost $259,000 operating the team partly because the Generals Brigade never followed through on the payment.

Whatever happened to all those great things we were promised in 2000? Remember that $137 million in borrowing Greensboro voters approved for road projects, libraries, police, fire, and neighborhood redevelopment?

Well Scoop's got your update, with a list of all the projects promised and how much has been spent so far. Two new libraries: Check. Carolyn Allen Park: Check. Greensboro Sportsplex: Check. Zoo at the Natural Science Center: Ehh, not so much.

I've also got detailed information on individual projects mentioned on the list, but it's too long to post all of it at once. If anybody wants to know more about a specific project, let me know in the comments below and I'll put it out there.

Whether it's for your current neighborhood or for one you're interested in buying a house in, Scoop's got one more way to find out what's really going on.

Already, John Q. Public can go online to find out the tax values and sale prices for their neighbors homes. But let's say you're buying a house on the 200 block of S. Mendenhall St. and you want to make sure your future neighbors don't leave junk cars in the yard or let their houses deteriorate.

All you have to do is go to the City of Greensboro's online Code Enforcement database and type in the name of the street and the first numeral of the street address.

For Mendenhall, you'll find that in August of last year, 211 S. Mendenhall had a problem with trash piling up in the yard. City inspectors ordered it cleaned up and it was completed a week later. The next month, the same property was inspected and ordered vacated for numerous building code violations. As of Dec. 28, the property has not been repaired.

Whether you still want to buy a house on that block is your call, but at least you'll know. The service also comes in handy for apartment renters, who can look up what problems have been found by inspectors in their building. And if there's a condemned house in your neighborhood, you can check up to see whether the owner is making any progress to fix it up.

Try it out on your street and see if anything catches you by surprise.

On Tuesday, we may get the first outlines of a citywide bond referendum in 2006 to pay for big construction projects. You may remember the last round of voter-approved borrowing in 2000, which brought you the East Market Street redevelopment, new fire and police stations and libraries and road improvements.

It's unclear how big 2006's referendum could be, but City Manager Ed Kitchen laid out some possible items:

It's often mentioned, usually in letters to the editor, that Greensboro's property tax rate is "among the highest in the state."

Is this the case?

The answer is that it depends on your definition of "among." The city's rate of $.5675 per $100 assessed value plus the county's $.6184 means that a property owner shells out 1.1859 percent of the value of their home every year in taxes.
As far as large cities go, Greensboro is just about in the middle of the pack. The city-imposed tax is higher than average, but the lower than average county tax evens it out. Here's the total tax rate (city plus county) for large N.C. cities:

Last Friday, Scoop blog wrote about the proposal to give health and dental benefits to council members for the first time. Yesterday, City Manager Ed Kitchen wrote a follow-up memo (.pdf) proposing that council members who already have insurance from other sources be allowed to take the cash value of the coverage as a "supplement" to their regular pay.
The proposal will have to be approved by the council, and a vote is scheduled for Jan. 18.
There's also bonus material in that memo for those particularly interested in changes to the city's comprehensive land-use plan.
UPDATE: Here's a look (Excel spreadsheet) at what other North Carolina cities pay their elected officials, courtesy of Greensboro's Human Resources Department.

At his new blog, Greensboro council member Tom Phillips said that after hearing from SCAT users, he'd support keeping an unlimited ride pass as an option for disabled users of the SCAT van system. He says in his post...

"What I have begun to realize and I believe other Council members have too, is that many of these people who are using SCAT a lot are simply trying to remain active and not give in to their disability. Even though most cities don't offer it, doing away with the unlimited monthly pass would make it prohibitive for these citizens to continue to live the lifestyle they have become accustomed to. I do believe our rate is too low and would recommend that it be increased to $45 per month."

City employees will start getting more vacation and sick time starting next month, according to a memo sent out by City Manager Ed Kitchen. He details it here, but the change basically increases the number of leave hours accrued per month to bring Greensboro in line with other governments.
Kitchen also proposes giving health and dental benefits to city council members for the first time. He estimates the benefits would cost about $37,000 per year if all the council members take part.
Kitchen said he is implementing the citywide vacation change starting Feb. 1, but he left it up to the council to vote on giving themselves additional perquisites.

Boiling down five hours of staff briefings and council discussions into a short story means that everything of note doesn't make it into the soybean extract on pressed wood pulp edition of the News & Record. The print edition talked about mixed-use developments and the trash transfer station, but they also covered...

Former at-large candidate David Hoggard joined the press table last night to blog a city council meeting live. David quickly figured out what many reporters know about covering meetings: It's not easy to write an interesting story on the fly about discussions that are often terribly wonky.

But he does include a short item detailing a conversation he had with Council member Yvonne Johnson, who has long been seen as a future mayoral candidate. According to David, Johnson says she hasn't been able to get an answer out of Keith Holliday whether he intends to run again.

Holliday told me in an interview in December that he will make a decision by February or March.

David also reveals that Council member Tom Phillips will be starting his own weblog by weeks end. Ed Cone says that political pair Don and Nancy Vaughan plan a joint blog that will start up at the end of the month. They are joining Yvonne Johnson, who has had sporadic postings at her blog since November. We'll get you links to the new blogs when they go live.

Two items from our memos department:

There wasn't much space to explain this in the paper (sorry, unposted), but there was a bit more to the move of Greensboro Community Television from the old Central Library annex on Greene Street to the city's Cultural Center.

Tuesday night, the city council was asked to approve a GCTV's lease in the Cultural Center. GCTV is getting booted from their old space to make room for Elon University's law school.

But it quickly turned into a discussion about the merits of the public access channel, which is funded by a surcharge on the cable bills of city residents. Tom Phillips started out by saying that the channel's programming was "awful" and questioned why the space wasn't given to other arts organizations. Don Vaughan, an attorney, questioned whether GCTV fit the legal requirements to be given space in the center.

Although the council eventually voted 6-2 to approve the lease (Phillips and Vaughan voted no), the message from the council was that when the contract with Time Warner Cable expires in three years, there will be no more funding for GCTV.

"You're not going to get any money out of this council in 3 years unless you dramatically change the programming that you've got," Robbie Perkins said.

We'll have more on this to come.

I've gotten a few calls and emails today about Tuesday's story, "Complex remains standing for now," some of which suggest taking tougher action against landowners that callers say are responsible for blight in the city.
Some of those suggested a creative approach that I am certain is not within the power of the city. Arnold Rogers writes, "make Mr. Agapion and his daughter move into these properties and live. Problems would probably get taken care of real damn fast."
The city is pledging to put more pressure on landlords, including filing suit against those who rent out homes that have been condemned.
So what do you think about substandard housing and the approach the city should take? Is an aggressive campaign in order, or are property owners well within their right to do largely what they want with their own homes?
Please leave us your thoughts by clicking the comments link below.

(A note about commenting: Some people who have seldom commented on weblogs and message boards might think there's a lot of complications to actually leaving your thoughts. Here at the Inside Scoop, it's really easy. You don't have to register, you don't have to give us your e-mail address if you don't want to and you actually don't have to put your full name, though it does help. Tell us what you think on this and any other post. We want to hear it.)

In Sunday's story on the city's race relations project, we promised more information on the Scoop Blog. It's a day late, but here's a list of the 144 city leaders that have pledged to meet up and talk about race relations over the next year. The table has first and last names, and their title or affiliation if we could determine one:

Space and time constraints keep us from detailing all of the things that go on during a city council meeting. So here's what we couldn't slip into the story:

The architects are lining up for a crack at fixing up War Memorial Stadium, now that the Greensboro Bats/Grasshoppers are moving into their new digs. Back in October, the city asked local firms whether they would like to design the renovation. Three design teams are competing for the contract:

...and find out if the city's leaf crews have gotten around to your humble dwelling to suck up your extra leaves. At this city-run site, you can type in your address and find out whether the city has come through your neighborhood yet for one of the two remaining rounds of pickup this season.

For instance, type in 1403 Pebble Drive, home of Mayor Keith Holliday, and you'll find that crews are working in his area of the city, but they haven't gotten to his street yet.

A couple of things that didn't make it in time for our story (unposted) this morning on the city council:

Back in September, we reported about a "community relations project" being launched by Mayor Keith Holliday. Holliday gave an update to council members in the form of a memo (posted here) that sums up the progress of pairing folks for the seminars and updates the financing.

Holliday said that after council member Tom Phillips raised questions about the city contributing $30,000 for the project, he decided to ask private donors to bear the entire cost of hiring the Rochester, N.Y. consultant to facilitate the program. So far, Holliday said $194,000 of the $319,000 cost had been raised.

But he defended the usefulness of the program, dubbed the "Greensboro Bicentennial Mosaic Partnership Project."

"There were some initial concerns by a few people regarding duplications of efforts but when the concept and details were more fully explained, I believe most people concerned realized the value of reaching individuals within our community that probably would not be exposed to race relationship building as a matter of course in their daily lives."

Project co-director Pat Boswell said a committee has almost finished inviting the 180 folks to be a part of the program, and the first orientation meeting will be Nov. 18.

Inside Scoop will post a listing of the participants as soon as it is finalized.

Full disclosure: My boss, Editor John Robinson, has been invited (he blogs about it here), and his boss, Publisher Robin Saul, is on the project's advisory committee. Neither have any involvement in our writing about the program.

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.

Every few weeks, we like to share what folks are writing in to their council members. Here's a selection of the e-mail for the past two weeks or so:

This morning, we hear from Joya Wesley of the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project that there are a bunch of events planned to mark the 25th anniversary of the shootout at Morningside Homes that killed five people taking part in a protest march. The highest profile event is a march on Saturday, Nov. 13 from the site of the 1979 shooting to the downtown government plaza.

Here's the full press release.

(More on yard signs from our Meredith Barkley)

Charles and Mary Elizabeth Irvin thought all the political signs in their West Market Street yard - 28 of them at last count - were a public service. They felt the signs helped voters begin to recognize names they'll find on the long Nov. 2 ballot.

To the city of Greensboro and one anonymous caller, though, there were way too many of them. In response to the caller's complaint, city zoning enforcement officers sent the Irvin's a certified letter last week and paid them a visit earlier this week.

The Irvins' signs, they say, are violating a city ordinance which prohibits more than six political signs per yard.

Mary Elizabeth Irvin didn't know about the ordinance. But she has a definite opinion of it.

"I feel like when you buy property you own it from hell to heaven and I don't think you have a right to tell me what I can do with it, as long as I'm not hurting anybody, and those signs aren't hurting anybody," she said. "They're taking my property rights away and also my freedom of speech."

Since all her signs - except one - are for Republican candidates, she figures a die hard Democrat must have been the complaintant.

While the Irvins are the only homeowners cited so far for too many signs, several property owners have gotten letters because their signs are too big. They can't more than six square feet and more than six feet high.

But the biggest problem, city zoning officials say, are the signs that have gone up in public right-of-ways all over town.

"They end up trashing up the landscape," said Bill Ruska, the city's zoning administrator. "It's a headache."

Every now and then zoning officers go through an area and confiscate those in right of ways.

Property owners can be fined $50 and up for not complying with an order to take signs down. But as a practical matter it is unlikely a homeowner cited this close to the election would be fined.

For one thing few, if any, ever have been. For another, they could appeal to the city Board of Adjustment, and the earliest meeting they could get on the agenda would be late November. Once appealed, the zoning department could do nothing until then.

From WMFY late last week, we learned that renovations to War Memorial stadium "will most likely be funded with bond money."

The report, filed by Frank Mickens, expressed this news with a sense of certitude that surprised us and residents in the nearby Aycock neighborhood. We knew that a bond referendum was a possible way to pay for the repairs to the historic structure, but the city council hasn't yet discussed any specifics, pending the results of an architectural study that would tell them what needs to be done and how much it will cost.

Mickens' source for the story, Deputy City Manager Mitch Johnson, said this morning that he never implied that a bond referendum is likely, only that it is a possibility. He said that neither the council nor City Manager Ed Kitchen has instructed the staff to prepare for a bond offering. But he did say that borrowing money with voter say-so would be an option if the council voted to go that route.

"Obviously, if we're talking about a significant amount of money, it would require a bond referendum," Johnson said.

One of the key factors, he said, was whether the economy recovered by the fall of 2006, the earliest that a referendum could be organized. The city has a lot of needs, but if the economy is bad, bond votes might have to be delayed.

"We know there's things that the community would want to do, but can the commmunity support it? That's the question," he said.

When Inside Scoop called Mickens for his side of the story, the WFMY reporter said that Johnson told him Friday that a bond vote is the "most likely" scenario by which the repairs are paid for. Mickens suggested that Johnson may be backing down from that assessment after catching flak from folks in the city.

"He's changing his story," Mickens said.

Meanwhile, council member Sandy Carmany responded to a blog post by Aycocker David Hoggard saying a bond referendum was only a possibility not a certainty.

Both the Greensboro City Council and the Guilford County Board of Commissioners will be meeting next week.

(Actual e-mail from city government)

From: Lindemeyer, Nancy

Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2004 4:16 PM

To: Johnson, Mitchell

Subject: Fox 8 News

Mitchell, Fox 8 Assignment Editor Robert Murray found the billboard information on their web site and apologized for the incorrect information. He will remove it immediately. Fox 8 sent a photojournalist, Eddie Hughes, to the Council meeting and he thought that Item #7 (annexation issue) concerned the Urban Loop (can't explain why). They will put the correct information about Item 7 up, but it really doesn't have to do with billboards.

Here's what they had:

Greensboro Urban Loop billboards

The Greensboro City Council has voted unanimously to allow billboards along Greensboro's Urban Loop. The vote will now allow advertisers to put billboards up along the loop, which is the new interstate that will one day circle Greensboro. In November of 2002, the city voted to create a scenic corridor banning billboards along the Urban Loop. But this vote means the scenic corridor is no longer a reality.

Nancy Lindemeyer, Communications Manager

Organizational Development & Communications

City of Greensboro

P.O. Box 3136, Greensboro, NC 27402

Phone: 336.373.2105 Fax: 336.373.4656

http://www.greensboro-nc.gov

Tuesday night's city council meeting ran a bit late for our presses to catch up, so here's some of what you didn't read in today's paper. (If you want to read along, the agenda is online here.);

This morning, we had a story about the Greensboro Transit Authority raising rates for some disabled users of the SCAT van system. Basically, folks who want to get picked up or dropped off more than three-quarters of a mile from a regular bus line have to pay twice the normal amount for a monthly pass. This map shows the areas that are within that federally-mandated buffer.

If you want to read more about red-light cameras, you can read the city-sponsored study or the executive summary.

The city-sponsored study comes to different conclusions than a wider study of accidents at intersections done by A&T researchers. You can get that one here.

And if you're really curious about the city's call for architects to come up with plans to fix up War Memorial Stadium, you can read the Request For Proposals here.

For folks in Latham Park, the sight of sewage shooting up out of manholes is an all-too common sight when a moderate to heavy rain comes around. Almost year ago, the city agreed to upgrade the sewer pipes running along Buffalo Creek at a cost of $42 million. At the time, state environmental officials were threatening to crack down on the city if it didn't volunteer to fix the problem. The project is now well under way. More from the city's Water Resources Department:

"Residents in the Latham Park area are invited to attend a public meeting to discuss the North Buffalo Creek stream restoration project scheduled to begin in 2007. The meeting will inform residents about construction impacts in Latham Park, solicit public input on the stream restoration design, and review the proposed route of a new sewer line. In order to address sewer overflows in the Latham Park and Lake Daniel Park areas, the stream restoration is part of the comprehensive North Buffalo Sanitary Sewer Project approved by the Greensboro City Council in 2003. As part of the project, more than nine miles of pipe and the construction of three new sewer pump stations will be added to City utility infrastructure."

Here's what we didn't have time or space to include in the paper(unposted) from last night's council meeting:

It seems that the long-delayed opening of Greensboro's indoor public tennis facility has been delayed again. This time, the courts at the Simkins Indoor Sports Pavilion have too much of an outside flavor. Ann Rolke explains in an email to council members:

"As I understand it, there are so many leaks in the metal roof at Simkins that the courts are unusable when it rains. This is RIDICULOUS!!!!"

Nobody likes a nosy neighbor, but the folks next door will never know that you can find out how much their house is worth and how much they paid for it.

Thanks to your local governments, you can find out tax values for your house, your neighbors' digs or that house with the "For Sale" sign that you've been eyeing. All from the comfort of your computer.

Walking through Phil McDonald Plaza outside the Guilford County Courthouse today, I witnessed a security guard waving a metal detector wand over the bed of petunias. He told me it's a favorite place for visitors of the courthouse to stash their drug paraphernalia and weapons when they realize the contraband will be confiscated at the security checkpoint. Enough guns, knives and drugs have been hidden amongst the flora that the security guards do a regular sweep.

So for anyone planning a visit to the courthouse, leave your goodies at home if you're keen on keeping them.

This morning, we reported on a "community relations project" that Mayor Keith Holliday plans to unveil next Monday at the Greensboro Historical Museum. But city staffers involved in the project are being very tight-lipped about what the project will entail, saying that Holliday is insisting on keeping it secret until Monday's announcement. All they have provided so far is this short press release.

Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project spokeswoman Joya Wesley added that her group was invited to attend Monday's announcement and said she doesn't think Holliday is trying to preempt their work.

Update:(9/10/04) More on the mayor's community relations project here. Also online is a video produced about Rochester's project.

David Hoggard wonders why some of Greensboro's recently milled streets are turning our Chevys' seats into vibrating massage chairs. In a July 12 memo to council members, Deputy City Manager Mitchell Johnson attributes the problem to an aggressive schedule for the contractor hired to repave the streets.

In the memo, Johnson explains the three-step process for putting down new blacktop. First crews mill down the edges of the road near the curb. Then the crew raises the manhole covers and then they put down the new layer of asphalt.

In previous years, the city gave construction crews 30 days between when they ground down the road to when it should be finished. But to save money this year, the city allowed the contractor to do most of the milling all at once as long as the job was done within 30 days of the manhole risers going in.

What happened is that grinding went really quickly but the crews are taking a while to catch up with the rest of the work. Johnson pegged the savings to the city at $300,000 but conceded that the public might think things are awry.

"In reviewing the overall success of this year's process we did not adequately communicate the impact of our new process effectively thus leaving our citizens with the impression that we were well behind schedule since it was plain to see that much of the already milled streets were more that 30 days in process," Johnson wrote.

On a related note, the Greensboro Department of Transportation has a handy map showing downtown's new two-way streets and when they plan to finish the projects. Lindsay, Bellemeade, Davie and McGee streets are first on the list and are projected to be converted to two-way this fall.

The agenda for next week's Greensboro City Council meeting is out. Council members will be asked to appropriate money to bridge a million-dollar shortfall in the Greensboro Coliseum's finances.
Also up is a repeat of a zoning case first heard by the council earlier this year.
From our April 21 report:

"...the council turned down a separate request by Centex Homes to bring 48 acres near the interchange of Interstate 40 and Young's Mill Road into the city limits.
Centex wanted the city to annex the land so it could build 132 homes between an older neighborhood and the highway...several council members agreed that the homes would be built too close together compared to the surrounding neighborhoods.
The council voted 6-3 to reject the development, with council members Robbie Perkins, Don Vaughan and Sandy Carmany supporting the plan."

For those of you who may be asking, "Where are Greensboro's 363 billboards?" Inside Scoop has the answer thanks to the city's Planning Department.(Click here to download a more detailed .pdf file)

A few caveats: GIS whiz Katie Herring said the map is based on some old data and shows approximately 60 signs that may no longer exist. She said planning staffers planned to update their information in the near future, as the City Council contemplates more restrictions on billboards.
On that subject, billboard supporters, including Fairway Outdoor's local manager, Dan O'Shea, have pointed out that council member Robbie Perkins, a leading billboard critic, himself benefits from outdoor advertising. They are referring to commercial real estate brokerage NAI Maxwell, whose president is Perkins. The company's "For Lease" and "For Sale" signs are posted outside dozens of properties around the Triad.
When asked about the criticism, Perkins said there's one difference between billboards and his company's "For Sale" signs. "When the building gets sold, my signs come down," Perkins said. He also sends this picture of a fellow real estate company's sign in the shadow of a Fairway billboard.