Monday, December 31, 2012

New Aquarium? Seriously

I find it interesting and more than a little ironic that Allen Johnson of the News & Record has pooh-poohed the idea of a Downtown Greensboro Aquarium without looking into the idea whatsoever. I mean, the same Allen Johnson was all over the Greensboro Performing Arts Center promoting it without a care in the world as if it were the best thing since sliced bread until myself and the others he accuses of pooh-poohing GPAC actually pointed out the real numbers that Allen, Mayor Perkins, the Task Force and the rest on the take didn't want to admit. But here we have a real grass roots project that has become more popular in a month than GPAC became in a year and the local Editor of the "paper of record" (the paper that conveniently lost all its archives again) asks, "Am I missing something here?"

Yes Allen, for starters, no one is ramming an aquarium down the taxpayers' throats and secondly when it comes to an aquarium the numbers actually add up.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Tony Wilkins Deserves A Public Apology

From Alex Jakubsen at The Rhino Times:

"Newly appointed District 5 City Councilmember Tony Wilkins survived his first regular meeting last week without any major mishaps.

Wilkins was not welcomed, recognized or introduced by Mayor Robbie Perkins or any of the other councilmembers at the beginning of the meeting.

Wilkins had been appointed by a 5-to-4 vote on Dec. 4, with councilmembers and Perkins claiming that some of his blog posts were inappropriate for a public figure."


Hat tip Fec

City Councilman Tony Wilkins deserves better from Mayor Perkins and the Greensboro City Council. Follow the link to e-mail the Greensboro City Council and demand they give Councilman Wilkins the respect he deserves. And demand they do it in front of the TV cameras at the next meeting of the Greensboro City Council.

Oh, and tell 'em, Billy Jones sent you or send them the link to this blog post.

How Do You Fight Grafiti

Before and after should be all you need to know.

Greensboro Buskers Beware

Kenneth Caneva and Jane Sugarman of Greensboro sent the following LTE to the N&R. I haven't written much about the subject but can't help but agree:

Street musicians should be welcomed

That the City Council is considering licensing street musicians is another example of its counterproductive meddling in matters best left alone.

Is a background check really necessary to keep dangerous buskers off our streets? Have droves of people really been bothered by the modest amplification some use either to complement their singing or to be heard above the street noise? What pressing need requires the hours of performing to be circumscribed? Keeping off “private property” is a shibboleth. Is it really a big deal if some people stand just off the sidewalk in the entry ways of closed businesses? Have liability claims really been mounting? Aside from the bureaucratic rigmarole of registering, a fee of $25 for the privilege of performing in public would likely be a significant deterrent. Or is the council’s intent to discourage public street performers? These proposals reveal again its failure to grasp just what Greensboro needs — and doesn’t need — to make downtown a pleasant place to spend time.

If the goal is (and should be) to encourage a vibrant and friendly downtown, musicians should be encouraged and applauded. If the music lifts your spirit, toss some coins in the hat. Our response should be a smile, not fear.


Also, what is the City's issue with musicians selling their own CDs or poets and authors selling their own books? In world class cities like New York City it is an every day occurrence and a welcomed form of commerce but do the same in Greensboro and you become a criminal. My personal war with the Greensboro City Council started back in 2000 when I published Carrot On A Stick (no longer in print) and soon learned that the city in which I lived denied me the God given right to pursue my chosen path towards earning a living and making my own way.

Just think of all the hell the Greensboro City Council might not have gone through over the course of the last 12 years if Billy Jones had never taken up blogging? The Blogsboro Meetup Group that got the attention of the Los Angeles Times in 2004 might not have ever formed (I did found the group, you know) the world famous Streetplane that put me in front of 20 Million viewers on Discovery Channel Canada and attracted worldwide attention to Bloggingpoet.com where I constantly put down the City of Greensboro for 11 years... those things that cost the City a fortune in PR budgets to overcome might not have never happened.

Or City Manager Mitch Johnson might still have a job. No, I can't take credit for his firing but it was Jerry Bledsoe and I who arranged the face to face meeting between David Wray and a sizable group of local bloggers-- some who thought Wray guilty in the beginning but later changed their minds-- and pushed the City Council into a corner they couldn't buy their way out of, disappearing News & Record archives and all. With a lot of help from Ben Holder, of course.

Just think of all the problems Robbie Perkins might not have faced in the last year had I been free to recite poems and sell books on city streets instead of spending my days at home at my keyboard. But no, Greensboro's Fascist regime has to control every aspect of its citizens' lives and meddle in everything we do.

You see, because I couldn't go out and actively peddle books I began blogging as a means to sell books and it was blogging that dragged me into local politics-- not the other way around. So in other words, the Greensboro City Council did all this to themselves and I've been getting back at you all these many years. All I wanted to do was create, not destroy, but you stood in my way.

And they wonder why the young people move away.

Finally, thanks to the Billy Jones created by the Greensboro City Council, our local elite are eating their own. Too bad they won't eat them all.

You see, Greensboro, it's like I told you many years ago, you cannot spend enough on Public Relations to undo the damage I can do and your recent effort with the downtown performing arts center is proof I was right. And I can always get louder. Fix the problems before the next Billy Jones whoever he or she might be, spends the next 12 or 13 years making your lives miserable.

Waiting For A Breath Of Fresh Air

I find it interesting that after a year of cheerleading on behalf of the downtown Greensboro performing arts center that the News & Record is suddenly getting behind Nancy Vaughan and Zack Matheny for doing the right thing. My guess is N&R publisher, Robin Sauls is getting back at Mayor Perkins and the Task Force for not choosing the N&R property that was previously being considered costing Mr Sauls roughly $20 Million Dollars.

You see, these people really do eat their own, thus the reason they only make up 4% of the world's population. May they someday susceed in killing each other off so the rest of us will be left with air enough to breath.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

From The Sound Of The Beep

As you're probably aware, the Rhino Times has a gossip column titled The Sound Of The Beep. This week someone left the following message for Rhino readers"

"John, you missed a good story last week. They had Mayor Perkins domestic hearing in district civil court. There was a lot of interesting testimony. I really am sorry you missed it. Maybe you can check out the judge's ruling later. Thank you."

It would be interesting to know how the judge ruled but I'll not persue it, the Mayor's children are not at fault for what their father has done and thanks in part to myself and others, have already suffered enough and will continue to suffer more.

That said, speaking as a father who paid his child support it would be heart warming to see the Mayor jailed for 30 days or so for having failed to do so. But as we are too well aware, in America, laws only apply to the poor. Rich 4% bastards like Robbie Perkins always go free.

See you Tuesday night as we continue to work to drive Fashism from Greensboro government.

Friday, December 28, 2012

Mayor Perkins Attempts Downtown Land Grab

It's not to hard to see through Robbie Perkins' latest scheme from today's News & Record. The same man who as a city councilman helped to eliminate rules that would require landlords all over Greensboro properly maintain their rental properties now wants to force owners of downtown properties to meet minimum standards that have nothing to do with safety and relate only to appearances.

And if the owners refuse the City makes the repairs and bills the owners. And if the owners cannot pay the inflated City bills then the City confiscates the property and places it up for public auction where the only people who can afford to buy the newly restored properties are the already wealthy downtown developers with which Mayor Perkins already has a cozy relationship. This effort to beautify downtown Greensboro could be better served if the Greensboro City Council would look at the possibility of making loans available to property owners for the needed repairs. The properties and buildings themselves stand as collateral. The cost and risk to the City would be the same and the good will gesture would go a long ways towards solving issues between downtown property owners and the City of Greensboro.

Of course, Mayor Perkins knew that all along but that sort of approach doesn't put money in his and the pockets of those with who he prefers to do business. Why is the Mayor like that? Because he's one of the 4%.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Could This Be Greensboro?

Greensboro Doesn't Listen To The Experts They Hire

“I think we have a 19th century government structure in a 21st century world.” -- The Garner Study paid for by the Greensboro Partnership and the City of Greensboro

"We cannot do this in a small way. To make a true catalytic difference, you have to think big." --Micheal Tabb of the Tabb Study paid for by the City of Greensboro, speaking at the East Greensboro Summit.

So what's Mayor Perkins' idea of thinking big? Shopping centers and a performing arts center when we could be setting our goal towards something really big like a public/private, world class Downtown Greensboro Aquarium pulling in over a million visitors a year combining downtown college campuses, research facilities, a major tourist attraction and literally $Billions of Dollars of new investment in Greensboro. Suddenly the Mayor's big vison and 300,000 visitors a year isn't looking so big, is it?

Chattanooga, Tennessee has a downtown aquarium and Chattanooga is 1/3 the size of Greensboro. Chattanooga also isn't loosing millions on the water they planned to sell from the Randalman Dam but aren't selling because of falling demand. Falling demand and money lost that the Greensboro City Council doesn't want to talk about. An aquarium would buy a lot of water and pay a lot in taxes.

I can't say how it will finally shake out or if Greensboro will even get behind Fish Man's dream of finally giving Greensboro an identity but my thinking is that with a downtown aquarium we would no longer be talking about competing with Durham, Raleigh and Winston-Salem. With a downtown aquarium Greensboro would be in a league of our own making. Even Charlotte would envy us. As much as I hate to admit it, Jim Melvin's dreams would come true.

Of course, reality is, Mayor Perkins hired Micheal Tabb to tell Greensboro what the Mayor wanted Greensboro to hear but as these experts so often do when forced to put on dog and pony shows, Micheal Tabb actually gave the Mayor some helpful advice when he said, ">"We cannot do this in a small way. To make a true catalytic difference, you have to think big.".

Too bad, Mayor Perkins had already made up his mind and wasn't open to bigger ideas than his own brain was capable of dreaming up.

Festival Park Public Information Request

Got the following reply from the City of Greensboro concerning Festival Park today:


"Hello Mr. Jones:

Your Public Records Request has been reviewed by Park & Recreation and they have given the following response:
Question #1: How much money does the city generate annually from renting Festival Park? During the last three years, Festival Park has generated an average of $7,285 per year.

Question #2: How much money has the city generated overall from the operation of Festival Park since its inception? Records are available back to 2005. Since that time the Park has generated $38,539.50
Question #3: The City paid $336,883.51 for the land for Festival Park in July, 1987. This cost included appraisal and recording fees.

Question #4: The construction cost for the outdoor stage & electrical system was $79,984 and was completed in June, 1991.

Question #5: What are the projected revenues for Festival Park for the next 50 years should it remain open? Given today’s rental rates, booking level, and average fees collected per year, the Park would collect $364,250.
This should complete your public records request.
Sincerely,
Public Information Desk
City of Greensboro
300 W. Washington Street
Greensboro, NC 27401
Phone: (336) 373-CITY (2489)
www.greensboro-nc.gov"



My question to Mayor Robbie Perkins, the Greensboro City Council, the City of Greensboro and the GPAC Task Force: Being that the proposed downtown performing arts center will do away with Festival Park, would it not be fitting and proper to include the above costs in the actual costs of building the downtown performing arts center or are we as citizens to somehow believe the money we invested in Festival Park just magically disappeared?

Are Fish Smarter Than People

Apparently this one is.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Get Off Your Ass, Greensboro

After I wrote, GPAC Is Not Dead it was pointed out to me privately by several people who genuinely care about Greensboro and me, that my having admitted a history of mental illness and that the Greensboro Police admitted concerns about my intentions that I had probably scared people away. I can live with that.

But with or without me you need to be gathering together as a group and planning ways to make sure Robbie Perkins and the GPAC Task Force doesn't take away your right to vote on the proposed downtown Greensboro performing arts center because that is exactly what is going to happen in just a few days.

You see, to date, there's been almost a $Million Dollars spent in the lead up by the pro PAC elites and they're not going to lie down quietly and let a $Million bucks fly away without getting the results they want even if most of that money was your tax dollars. And if you think GPAC is dead you are crazier than I am. Even if we retain the right to vote you can expect Mayor Perkins and GPAC supports to attempt to use public money to fund a media campaign to try and convince voters to vote yes come November. They'll think nothing of spending a few more $Million of your tax dollars to convince you to change your mind. Think about it.

So organize, Greensboro! Get off your butts and do something! You don't need me, you never did need me. All you need to do is get off your asses! And if you do it without me I'll be proud of you just as if I were there.

What Is The Greensboro Sportsplex And What's It Doing Here?

On the TV news this morning I heard of a shooting on Shirley Lane and remembering it was nearby but not being able to remember just where I went to Google maps to locate Shirley Ln but something else caught my eye.


View Larger Map

You'll not be able to see it on the smaller map but if you click through you'll see what appears to be a huge fence surrounding the Shirley Lane/Franklin Blvd neighborhood. Of course, it isn't a fence as it crosses any number of public streets that I've driven down in recent days but it does denote something in the making-- something being planned. The words, Greensboro Sportsplex can be found at the top left of the larger map but the website for the Greensboro Sportsplex lists their address as 2400 16th street, a few miles to the north of the neighborhood in question.

I also find it interesting that the southern tip of that area just happens to be where Mayor Robbie Perkins has been pushing to build a road across A&T University Farm (Aggie Farm) against the wishes of A&T alumni, the employees of Aggie Farm and most of the residents of East Greensboro.

The Greensboro Sportsplex is, I believe, owned by the City of Greensboro and while they do list a Simkins Sports Pavilion at Barber Park there is nothing listed for Franklin Blvd. So how do these things get on Google Maps? These plans are supplied to Google map makers by city, county and state officials but it appears there are plans in the works to tear down lots of the newest homes in East Greensboro for some sort of sports complex and all we know is where the Mayor wants to build a couple of new roads.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Pro: Performing arts center

I stole the following Op-ed From the News & Record in its entirety: Of course, I couldn't let such stupidity stand without comment so I added a few.

"During the debate about a performing arts center downtown, it’s important to keep in mind one critical fact: It’s all about creating jobs and economic development. We are struggling to climb out of the worst recession in our lifetimes, and Greensboro still lags behind our peer cities in unemployment, which is around 10 percent. While we may disagree on specific strategies to create, grow and retain jobs, we can all agree that we need to be doing everything possible."

Everything possible, that pathetic waste of money Louise Brady and the rest of Greensboro's elites are foaming at the mouth about is a drop in the bucket as to what is possible for Greensboro? The problem is: Greensboro's elites have no vision, no leadership.

"After studying the facts around building a performing arts center downtown, the task force has learned:

* Building a new arts center downtown will have significant economic impact, create jobs and generate new private investment."


Chum would be a better word. Carry on Louise.

* "There is tremendous market demand for an arts center, and there is interest from the private sector to financially support one. Also, our local arts infrastructure can be enhanced and stabilized by creating the center."

Purely supposition. First that private sector money: Even the Greensboro City Council professes not to know if the money is real. The only guy who claims to know is Walker Sanders and even his own wife refuses to vouch for him. As for local arts. There is great fear among much of our local arts infrastructure that the money pit created by GPAC will take money away from our arts infrastructure and when you consider that the Greensboro Coliseum Management chosen to operate GPAC has lost money every year for the last 50 years it's easy to understand their concerns.

* "Our existing facility, War Memorial Auditorium, has lived its useful life and must be replaced. It cannot be renovated. If our community wants to have a performing arts facility, and our research demonstrates that it does, then we must move forward to remain competitive with our peer cities."

Are these people on drugs or were they just born stupid? Why compete with our peer cities when we have the chance to blow them out of the water! Quit slapping and kick some economic ass you bunch of panty wastes!. The aquarium will probably need the War Memorial Auditorium property for shuttle parking anyway.

"An arts center in downtown Greensboro needs to be a key piece of the city’s strategy on economic development. And the data from the task force’s studies is unmistakable:"

Yeah right! Might I add that the economic impact study appears to have been done by the same morons who botched the entire downtown parking study. Time for finger-painting class kiddies.

* "Construction creates a one-time $28.6 million economic impact, including 1,277 construction jobs.

* Economic impact would range from $7.3 million to $10.1 million by the third year, and would support 268 jobs."


That would be 268 mostly minimum wage jobs. Take a look at the kinds of jobs a Downtown Greensboro Aquarium would bring. And more of them.

* "Two-thirds of the activities at the new center will be new or expanded, versus current offerings at War Memorial Auditorium, and these dollars are new to the community.

We know from the experience of other communities, such as Durham and Greenville, S.C., that these types of facilities not only revitalized their downtowns but also attracted new businesses to their communities, thereby creating new jobs. Major projects in downtown Greensboro over the last decade show that for every dollar the city government invested, the private sector invested $13. And our research indicates that approximately 300,000 patrons will attend performances at the new facility, not to mention the performers and crews who will spend their dollars in Greensboro and the Triad."


Let me see, that's 300,000 who come for a few hours vs a very conservative estimate of over 1 Million visitors a year some of which will vacation here. Do the math, Louise.

"The existing arts system in Greensboro is a huge economic engine, generating $118 million in economic impact annually in Guilford County. However, its infrastructure is delicate and significantly undercapitalized. The arts center must be a key component in the stabilization of our arts community as a whole."

Now let me get that straight, you want to take money away from "a huge economic engine, generating $118 million in economic impact annually" whose "infrastructure is delicate and significantly undercapitalized" and give it to the management of the Greensboro Coliseum who has lost money every year for the last 50 years? And that's supposed to help the local arts? Honey, what have you been smoking?

"Our community has been engaged as never before in the discussions around this project. It is critical to maintain this momentum if we are to be successful. Leaders in other communities have told us that it takes courage, passion and vision to undertake a project such as this. Greensboro has watched as Charlotte, Raleigh, and now Durham have dreamed big and realized tremendous success. Now, it’s Greensboro’s turn to have its transformative moment."

We're enraged because you and your kind have been trying to ram this idea down our throats with lie after lie to support more lies and suppositions that simply won't hold water. Just like with everything else you and your kind have sold us over the years. And dreaming big is not following in others' footsteps, dreaming big is taking the lead-- something the Task Force and Mayor Robbie Perkins have not shown an ability to do. You see, you can't lead with lies and subterfuge, you can only lead with ideas and by fufilling people's needs, with research by showing people there's something in it for them, give them a reason to grow the airport and sell more water from that money loosing Randalman Dam Scam.

And you lead by not forcing issues down people's throats no matter how many mayors of other cities tell you otherwise. You see, while all those mayors are happy to tell you about the successes of their downtowns, none of them are talking about the neighborhood slums each and every one of them have helped to create. And they never will just like Robbie Perkins never will when he abandons Greensboro's communities just like he abandoned not one but 2 families of his own children for his own personal gain.

"I believe that our community wants, needs and deserves this project to happen. Please join with us to make our much-needed downtown arts center a reality."

Seriously, Louise? The Greensboro Aquarium on Facebook after less that 1 month and Zero Dollars spent: 258 Likes, roughly 1% of Greensboro's population.
The Greensboro Performing Arts Center on Facebook after 1 year and a $Million Dollars spent and PR expert Ross Harris hired to run the project: 257 likes. You and your kind really need to get out into the community a little more often. Besides, when the PAC opens inside the Downtown Aquarium GPAC will go out of business before the bonds are paid off leaving Greensboro stuck with the bill.

"Louise Brady is co-chairwoman of the Greensboro Performing Arts Center Task Force."

Louise, get a job. A real job.

Con: Performing arts center

I stole the following Op-ed From the News & Record in its entirety:


"Should $40 million of taxpayer money be used to build a Greensboro performing arts center? Consider the following:

Over the last several years, the city has cut services and laid off employees because of recession-induced revenue problems. Citizens who formerly received those services have been hurt, as have the employees who lost their jobs. This is not the time to put $40 million of public money into a performing arts center, particularly one that consultants recognize will be primarily enjoyed by the wealthy.

The economic impact study commissioned by the arts center task force estimates 268 full-time-equivalent jobs will be created by the facility. Two things are worth noting about that figure. One is that the estimate is for Guilford County, not Greensboro. The other is that the task force asked for a gross analysis when it should have requested a net analysis. A net analysis estimates the household income and jobs created by a performing arts center, the household income and jobs lost at other arts venues such as Triad Stage and Broach Theater, and then subtracts the losses from the gains to arrive at the net gain. A gross analysis ignores the job losses, thereby exaggerating the economic impact. Job creation matters, and the task force has been disingenuous by not being clear it requested a gross analysis; hence, the jobs figure is inappropriately high.

It took a number of email exchanges with the task force’s paid project manager and a Community Foundation leader before they would admit that the task force had requested a gross analysis. Despite my urging, they have been unwilling to make public that the arts center would bring Greensboro fewer than 268 jobs.

The News & Record has reported on recent efforts on the part of the mayor and City Council to assure east Greensboro residents of the city’s commitment to invest $40 million in a mix of projects, including apartments, a hotel and retail/office space, as well as working to attract a grocery to northeast Greensboro. The council should keep its commitment to invest $40 million in east Greensboro’s infrastructure.

Money is fungible, which means you can shift it from one use to another. You cannot, however, spend the same dollar twice. So, while you could move the portion of the $40 million that needs to be raised by issuing bonds from the arts center to overdue investments in the east, you have to choose. You can’t fund both with the same dollars.

(Half of the $40 million may come from the hotel tax revenues, which may only be used to promote tourism and from anticipated taxes on arts center tickets.)

City hall does not have the needed millions in hand waiting to be spent on a new arts center and would have to issue bonds. The type of bond matters a lot. General-obligation bonds pledge the city’s tax revenues to pay them off and must be approved by voters. Revenue bonds require no referendum, for they are paid off by revenue — not taxes — from the project such as part of water fees used to pay for bonds issued to upgrade the city’s water system.

To ensure our say as to whether our tax dollars should go to the arts center, we need to make it clear to council members that we expect them to stand by their Dec. 4 vote to bring taxpayer funding of the arts center to the public in a referendum. Not allowing voters to approve or disapprove of using bonds for this project would be fundamentally undemocratic.

Larry Morse is retired from the N.C. A&T Department of Economics."


Might I add that the economic impact study appears to have been done by the same morons who botched the entire downtown parking study.

Want to Know The Real Reason For The Noise Ordinance?

A lot of people are still puzzled as to why it is the Greensboro City Council courted downtown clubs and bars just a few years ago while myself and others warned of potential problems only to be told we were "naysayers" who only wanted Greensboro to remain another Mayberry. Now we've had a year of attempts to shut down the very same clubs Greensboro's "movers and shakers" lured here in the first place, proving once again you can't have your cake and eat it too.

Well in case you've any doubt as to the true sentiments of the people behind the effort to build a downtown Greensboro performing arts center then check out this poem, Downtown, the night before ... by Greensboro's own elitist, best selling author, David Noer.

Isn't it funny how when these people make it they forget all about what it was like while trying to get there? As usual, another rich old white dude "speaks out" about what Greensboro "needs" with no concern as to what really makes up the whole of Greensboro.

Remembering Billy Joe Wilson Jr.

I remember Joe Wilson as a stand up dude. One who wasn't afraid to speak the truth, to do the right thing even if Greensboro's elites didn't like it. Like back when Yvonne Johnson, Milton Kern and I were all 3 running for mayor back in 2007 and Johnson and Kern along with the bought and paid for News & Record and other local media outlets were denying Greensboro's gang problems and trying to portray me as crazy, it was Joe Wilson who boldly stepped up to risk his own personal safety to expose an illegal toll operation being operated by a street gang on a pedestrian bridge crossing US 29 North in Greensboro.

Today I learned of the death of Joe Wilson Jr just last Thursday. Joe's death is a loss for Greensboro's working class. Joe did some real estate and development work but Joe was no fan of Greensboro's established elite nor was he in the habit of screwing people to make his living. As a matter of fact, Joe could tell you any number of stories of how Greensboro's connected developers and city employees had screwed him for their own personal gain.

In one example Joe spoke of, years ago, when Downtown Greensboro was at rock bottom, Joe found a downtown building at a rock bottom price, dirt cheap and decided to buy the building and restore it.

Upon hearing the news, a well placed, high up Greensboro city official asked Joe to come see him. He explained to Joe the building was going to need very costly and mandatory asbestos abatement and that the City of Greensboro building inspections department would never allow the building to be put back into use until the asbestos was removed in accordance with Federal Regulations-- a process, that according to the city official, would probably take months, possibly years.

Joe did the smart thing, he backed out of the deal. Then amazingly, just a couple of months or so later the very building Joe had considered buying was being rented to multiple tenants at rents high enough that one tenant alone was enough to pay the monthly loan payment. Joe picked up his telephone and called the number on the front of the building. The man who answered the telephone was none other than the city official who scared Joe away from buying the building.

Joe Wilson is gone now but that man remains. I don't remember his name but I do remember Joe telling me he now works for one of Greensboro's big "non profits." And you can bet if I were to learn his name I'd publish it for Joe.

I've no doubt I'll be accused of cooking this story up as well but looking back I've been right a lot more than I was ever wrong. E-mail me at recyclebill@gmail.com if you know who Joe was talking about.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas Greensboro

This has been my favorite Christmas song since the first time I heard it all those many years ago. Please, listen all the way through.



When you spent your life where I spent my life, it just seems to ring true.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

What Did Northeast Greensboro Get Out Of The Skip Alston Grocery Store Deal?

To be perfectly honest, I haven's a clue. As best as I can tell, instead of utilizing the old Phillips Avenue Winn-Dixie grocery store, Skip intends to build a new grocery store building on the city owned property next door. My plan would have used that property to grow fresh, healthy organic vegetables to be sold in the existing grocery store until there was an actual need to develop the additional property but hey, who cares as long as we get a grocery store, right? Right?

I mean, it's not like it requires the use of energy, natural resources or any of those environmental concerns to build new buildings, right? And while we do need a grocery store we're not even being told what grocery store we're getting. Now ordinarily that might be okay but this is City owned property requiring improvements to be paid for by the taxpayers and a mortgage on which the City of Greensboro holds the note. And Skip Alston thinks he has the right to keep secrets from us? I don't think so.

Funny how Skip Alston has become one of the very people he spent his life fighting-- don't you think? How he would make decisions for my neighborhood without even asking my neighbors what it was we wanted? How he thinks only his opinion matters? Sounds a lot like Mayor Perkins if you ask me.

Anyway, you can read what Mr Alston and the City of Greensboro have chosen to make public in this week's IFYI. It could be I'm confused.

Even More GPAC Funding Problems!

It's as if it's never ending. Mayor Robbie Perkins and the Greensboro Performing Arts Center Task Force are scheming to force us to build a downtown performing arts center that will bankrupt the City of Greensboro while all the while the news is filled with potential budget problems the Mayor should have been aware of:

"One change will especially be felt in areas that lost manufacturing jobs in the past few decades. That includes Greensboro, High Point and other Triad municipalities. A program where the state made payments to cities to make up for taxes that ended years earlier is ending, drying up six-figure — and in some years seven-figure — payments."

That's right, $Millions of Dollars in State funding lost. So did the Mayor know this was about to happen?

"“Best I can recall ... there was a general consensus that these folks had known about these (payments expiring), and we needed to go ahead and let it expire,” said Apodaca, R-Henderson.

“I don’t think our budget is that much better (this year).”


Somebody knew it.

Hat tip, George Hartzman

Friday, December 21, 2012

If There's Plenty of Downtown Parking For GPAC

Then why did Mayor Robbie Perkins cite parking as the reason for moving out of Downtown?

Add that to the growing list of GPAC parking concerns, George.

Dollar General: What Were They Thinking?

I've known about plans for a Dollar General store on Phillips Ave for several weeks now and while it's true the neighborhood needs more retail the one store the neighborhood already has just one block away happens to also be a dollar store.

And while Vanguard Property Group claims the design of the store is dictated by Dollar General Corporation the Vanguard website clearly shows several examples of Dollar General Stores of much better construction than what is being proposed for Phillips Avenue.

Proposed Phillips Ave store:



Dollar General built by Vanguard in Raleigh:



Could this just be another case of someone trying to take money from Northeast Greensboro and run? Sure looks like it to me. Contact George T. Barnes, Jr. (919) 459-2601 gbarnes@vanguardpg.com for more information.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Are Bar Mitzvahs Really That Violent?

I find it interesting that the proposed security ordinance as written by Greensboro Police Attorney Jim Clark would require armed guards at bar mitzvahs. But then, not being Jewish and having never attended a bar mitzvah, what the hell would I know? Do we have a problem with Jewish gang bangers in Downtown Greensboro? Why have I never heard of this before?

GPAC Is Not Dead

I know a lot of people are thinking the battle to stop the Downtown Greensboro Performing Arts Center is over. That and apathy are the reasons no one showed up for the anti-GPAC planning meeting last night. Well here's a few facts to consider:

To date the City of Greensboro has invested over $500,000 into GPAC. (How much was the purchase and demolition of the YWCA?)
The Community Foundation has invested $200,000 into GPAC.
GPAC supporters have invested unknown tens of thousands into GPAC.
DGI, Action Greensboro, the Greensboro Partnership and other non profits have invested untold amounts of time, energy and money into GPAC.

TREBIC members spent well over $100,000 to put Council Members on City Council for the sole purpose of supporting GPAC and will support their reelection campaigns next year based on their pro GPAC votes. TREBIC contractors will be the recipients of the $60 plus Million cost of building GPAC.

I'm guessing, and this is just a guess, that all in all,well over a $Million Dollars has been spent to date to build GPAC. Those kind of people are pretty damned sure they're going to get a damned good return on their investments and rarely are they wrong. And while most of Greensboro is against GPAC there are probably only just about a dozen or so people who are actively getting off their asses and fighting it. No wonder Mayor Perkins gets away with saying no one opposes it.

Several council members stand to earn what you and I would consider fortunes should GPAC pass. Robbie Perkins alone will make more than a $Million Dollars from the downtown properties his company represents. And the last words out of the Mayor's mouth 2 weeks ago was a reminder that anyone that voted yes to giving citizens the right to vote has the right to renig on their vote and take your right to vote away from you.
You know what, I live in Greensboro but I don't own a home here. My business interests are in Burlington. I think the combined City and County property tax I paid on my '91 Toyota came to around $8.oo last year and with depreciation it will go down next year even if your tax bill goes up. Am I concerned personally about what GPAC will or will not do for Greensboro? Hell no! I fought this battle for Greensboro and you can't even get off your asses and do for yourself.

Well guess what? You deserve everything Robbie Perkins and Greensboro's elites ram down your throats for the rest of your lives.This was never about me, there's nothing in it for me. As a matter of fact: it's taking up time I could be spending to improve my own life but I chose to spend the last year helping you only to be abandoned because you're too lazy to get off your collective asses.

It wasn't about political aspirations either. I don't want to be a leader. I had hoped to see new leaders emerge, a new generation with new ideas and an attitude that puts people before profits but me lead? I'm more the type to ride off into the sunset or pen a story about a talking motorcycle, I don't lead. This last year has been torture for me, I want to create, not destroy.

My youngest brother, his wife and daughter were recently served eviction papers on their home in High Point because my brother was forced to choose between house payments and Insulin. It was a house or die situation, I think all of us would have done the same. The three of them will be living here and taking care of my mother soon. Greensboro can find someone else to fight its battles. Either you organize to fight GPAC, and I mean organize now, or get ready to live in a bankrupt city. Me, I can write anywhere.

GPAC Parking Concerns Continued... Updated

By George Hartzman

Last Tuesday I gave you, How Will Restaurants Benefit From GPAC? Parking is a major concern for downtown restaurants especially nights when GPAC will be in operation. Today, George Hartzman follows up with questions and answers.


    "I just spoke with Adam Fisher of the City of Greensboro about the parking study of available spots for GPAC.

    I asked if there has been any information released by the consultants on the affects of on street parking on other downtown businesses. He answered that he has seen nothing from anyone about how the loss of on street parking is going to hurt or help surrounding businesses.

    I told him that what I have heard about DPAC, is that all the on street parking is used first for easy egress, and the parking decks are used as overflow when no more on street or small private lots are available.

    I asked where would patrons of the Undercurrent would park if all the on street spots are taken for a show. He said they could park in the decks.

    I asked how much that would cost. He didn't know.

    This isn't Adam Fisher's fault. He was asked how much parking was around day or night and answered. This should have been addressed by AMS, the consultant for the project but apparently wasn't.

    Where is anyone who wants to go to a club within a 1/4 mile going to park at night during a show?

    The parking decks, because most on street parking will have been taken.

    December 17, 2012 12:28 PM

Just left a message for Michele Walter about the affects of loss of on street parking for the local businesses around the YWCA GPAC site.

December 17, 2012 12:36 PM

Community Foundation of Greensboro

(336) 379-9100

Just left a voicemail for Walker Sanders, asking about the affects on other businesses of having most on street parking taken up by the GPAC.

From what I have heard so far, I don't think a study was done."


Sadly, as with all things GPAC, every question seems to generate more questions and fewer answers. Have you ever seen anything so poorly thought out being pitched upon the taxpayers of Greensboro? And seriously folks, I'd present more pro GPAC facts and figures if the GPACers would only release such information. For the last year I've linked to and/or posted almost everything they've said. I debunked it all but I didn't try and hide it. And then the News & Record conveniently "lost" all their online archives for the second time in the midst of a controversial public debate in which the N&R was pitching the company line from day one. Anyone remember Chief David Wray and Mitch Johnson? The City of Greensboro and the News & Record are hoping you don't.

 Updated:

"just talked to walker sanders from the community foundation.

they don't know how parking for the gpac will affect local businesses.

they didn't do the study.

he denied lobbying for gpac.

he doesn't think other places like the library or the cultural arts center or any downtown businesses will be negatively affected.

but no study that says so to validate.

says ross harris' salary is fully deductible by donors.

refused to release the names of the donors who matched gso's 200k

said the money put up by the donors to match gso's taxpayer money is fully deductible"

Posted by: George Hartzman | Dec 18, 2012 at 04:57 PM
George Hartzman

"cited adam fisher as to the evidence on. the parking.

adam fisher was asked to count spaces.

spoke with him last within the last week.

he said he was not asked about the affects on other businesses and didn't want to speculate, and walker cites adam that there won't be a problem for private businesses.

i brought up the undercurrent and he said their patrons would park in the decks if there was no on street parking.

i asked how much.

he said they don't know yet."

Posted by: George Hartzman | Dec 18, 2012 at 05:33 PM

Monday, December 17, 2012

Who Is Christie Myatt?

And how is the law firm Nexsen-Pruet involved in the affairs of Mayor Robbie Perkins? Seems the following letter flew in by passenger pigeon earlier today after being rejected elsewhere. Click to enlarge.



Yes, I will be contacting Nexsen-Pruet for their response as well as the City of Greensboro and others.

RPG Cleared By Greensboro Police

RPG Real Progress For Greensboro

First off, I'd like to thank Detective Finch of the Greensboro Police Department's Intelligence Division for giving me a call today. Because if anyone downtown has concerns about our intentions for gathering tomorrow night at Melvin Municipal Plaza then it could also be true that potential supporters of our cause have concerns too. We are gathering to voice our concerns and discuss plans about how we intend to move forward. Detective Finch assures me we have every legal right to do so.


Detective Finch didn't say but I suspect calls from his department are standard operating procedure whenever a new group appears on the political horizon. It is what I consider good police work. If I had not gotten a call I would have called the detective's boss. It's like I told Chief Wrenn in a private conversation, or maybe it was an e-mail, a few weeks back, 30 years ago you might have had to worry about me but now I'm too old for violence and don't get along well with cell mates.

Besides, I can make dirty politicians so much more miserable as a free man.

So come out tomorrow night and join us. Leave your weapons at home but feel free to bring angry faces and meet in the Melvin Municipal Plaza outside the building where City Council will be meeting. Bring your NO PAC signs and your ideas as to how we can bring Real Progress For Greensboro and make your voices heard so that we'll be ready come January when the Greensboro Performing Arts Center is again brought before the Greensboro City Council.



Some of our group might be speaking to City Council tomorrow night and will join us later.

Violence? We don't need violence, we can starve them out... Yes, you do smell a plan brewing. If enough of Greensboro gets behind me even Greensboro's elites won't be able to afford tickets to GPAC... ever.

And remember, if you're new here and think I'm blowing smoke, I'm the guy who exposed Betty Cone's non profit tax fraud, outed the Mayor's financial woes and  Securities and Exchange Commission problems, and exposed Walker Sanders of the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro. When I blow smoke there's fire!

Perkins Draws Line Behind His Back

Mayor Robbie Perkins drew a line in the sand last week and dared anyone to cross it. Problem was, the dumbass drew the line behind his back and trapped his supporters on the wrong side of the line. So much for his ability to lead.

In attempting to paint Tony Wilkins as racist for caricatures of Councilwoman Smalls and former Councilwoman Wells (both black) Tony had posted to his blog but leaving out the fact that Wilkins had also drawn similar caricatures of more white council members than black council members Perkins drew outrage from Councilmembers Abuzuaiter and Kee. Key, by the way, is black and represents the mostly black District 2 in which I live. A district where most residents now believe they were doublecrossed by Perkins with campaign promises he never intended to keep.

Key also pointed out this week that the Mayor threaded to hold hostage long needed and promised East Greensboro improvements if Key did not support the downtown performing arts center.

Then there were Council members Zack Matheny and Nancy Vaughan who showed up on Wednesday to let us know there is no money to build a downtown performing arts center. No $20 Million is City finding, no Hotel-Motel Tax, no credit, no video sweepstakes and as far as anyone knows, no $20 Million Dollars in private funding from secret doners. Show us the money, Walker Sanders?

(By the way, is 3 and 1/2 months long enough to manufacture Action Greensboro meeting minutes Ms Saunders, or do you still need more time? Surely, with the #1 search result for Walker Sanders being this blog, Mr Sanders will want to clear this up before he goes job hunting in the very near future.)

But the battle is far from over. Trebic members and others invested well over $100,000 Dollars in getting Perkins, Hoffman and others elected to City Council to push this project through and they stand to take home most of the $60 plus Million Dollars that will be spent to build the Greensboro Performing Arts Center. They have yet to give up the fight and neither should we.

Join myself and members of Real Progress For Greensboro at Melvin Municipal Plaza just outside the Council Chambers to meet and discuss how we plan to oppose this effort and other efforts to rob from the working class to entertain the rich on Tuesday, December 18th at 5:00 PM.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Polling For Answers

There's a poll at the News & Record asking readers, "Would you vote for a new performing arts center in Greensboro?" Results are currently 2-1 against a PAC. You may cast your no vote in the left column here.

Meanwhile, the Downtown Greensboro Aquarium Facebook page has received about 1/3 more likes in 3 weeks than GPAC received in a year and over at the Greensboro Aquarium blog there's a poll discussing financing options.

And in case you're wondering about the economic impact of a world class aquarium? Unlike performing arts centers, Aquariums Bring Real Jobs and not just dead end minimum wage BS jobs like waiting tables and cleaning toilets. Though it would bring just as many of those as well.

$284,000 Profit For A Non Profit?

From ONE + one GSO Click to enlarge.



Might I remind you that wages, taxes, insurance and other expences are already covered by the charges for Economic Development Development Funds, BID Funds, City Project Funds, etc... The $284,000 in management fees is pure profit being paid by GReensboro taxpayers to a registered North Carolina "non profit" corporation.

This is SOP for DGI, Action Greensboro, the Greensboro Partnership, the Greensboro Chanmber of Commerce, the High Point Chamber of Commerce, Grassroots Promotions, the Community Foundation and dozens of other taxpayer funded organizations in Greensboro including the GPAC Task Force. Read about it at Greensboro Partnership Exposed and join me on Tuesday night at Melvin Municipal Plaza to bring this to an end.

Neighborhoods Face Risks As City Fails Its Duty

An op-ed from Thursday's News & Record:

"The demise of Greensboro’s Rental Unit Certificate of Occupancy (RUCO) ordinance left at risk tenants living in existing single-family rental houses never inspected for safety. More endangered tenants now live in the rental houses placed on the market since March 2011.

Currently, Greensboro does not have proactive inspection of rental housing units. Tenants are reluctant to report dangerous situations, fearing eviction and having no other housing. In addition, Greensboro has less than half the median number of housing inspectors per capita of other North Carolina cities.

Renters living in houses with faulty wiring, leaking plumbing and worse conditions should concern everyone. Unsafe occupied houses, which could cause residents to become ill, have an accident or even die, are a more urgent need than repairing or tearing down rundown empty houses..."


And to date I've seen no one make mention of the fact that in densely packed neighborhoods, faulty wiring and other fire hazards not being proactively managed could lead to hundreds of deaths and entire neighborhoods burned to the ground. Are Mayor Robbie Perkins, Councilwoman Nancy Hoffman and the rest of the Greensboro City Council prepared to accept the blame when tragedy strikes? Have I been gazing into my crystal ball? you'd best hope not.

Can you spell, C-L-A-S-S A-C-T-I-O-N? Because once you have been warned it becomes negligence. Consider yourself warned.

No One Else Mattered

I remember when my son, Jason was a little boy, before I had shared custody when taking him places meant I had to drag his mother, my x-wife, along with us. On one such occasion we stopped at a general store and Jason asked if I would buy him some candy. I told him to pick out one of anything he wanted making no stipulations as to one piece or one pack figuring he would choose a pack of something. Instead, he came to the cash register with his shirt tail pulled out of his pants and filled with dozens of packs and pieces of candies of all kinds. The clerk's eyes were big as saucers as she was anticipating the worst.

Too smart for his own good.

Wanting to be a good father and concerned that my wallet might be over taxed I held to my one item rule and made him return everything to its proper place on the store shelves before choosing the one item he wanted the most. It must have taken us 30 minutes to put everything back where it belonged and pick one item. His mother thought me a monster for doing so. It was a fight we would have over and over again his entire life and I believe a large part of the reason for the diabetes that eventually led to kidney failure and eventually two massive heart attacks, the second heart attack resulting in his death at the age of 34.

I remember the clerk thanking me and telling me that most parents just left the candy out for her to restock-- something I would never even consider.

You see, Jason's mother had grown up a spoiled child in a family that had at one time been somewhat prosperous. She had never been told no so she refused to tell our son, no. When I married, her family still owned over 700 acres of the most sought after real estate in Oak Ridge and Summerfield.

Jason had lost over 100 pounds before he died and was trying to get himself in shape but the damage was done when he was still a child. And despite my best efforts, 2 weekends a month child custody was never enough to break the bad habits being taught him by his mother. I knew for many years her excesses were killing my son and yet I was powerless to stop her. By the time he reached adulthood his health was horrid. I blame his mother for his death and always will.

When I look around Greensboro I see much the same thing. For too long now, a certain few have gotten anything they want believing themselves entitled like spoiled children and looking at any of us who dare say no as if we are monsters. Unlike my Jason who grew up and matured emotionally even if he never was able to recover physically, these elite few continue to think everything that is Greensboro is theirs to gain. The first of these is Greensboro Mayor Robbie Perkins who grew up the spoiled son of a well-to-do Richmond dentist, went to one of the most expensive privately owned universities in the world and grew up getting his way even when it wasn't the best for him or those around him.

Then there's Walker Sanders of the Community Foundation, another spoiled rich kid who graduated from an expensive private university. Together, these two men and a select few others have worked to railroad the building of a downtown performing arts center onto Greensboro taxpayers no matter what the cost or the damage done. And for what? So they can have their way? Because they believe they know better than everyone else and no other opinion matters?

Jason's mother also thought no one else mattered. These men and their kind are destroying the health of our city and the sooner we end their influence higher our chances of recovery. Will Greensboro die a slow painful death as my son died? I certainly hope not but if we don't learn to say no to these spoiled children it surely will.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

On Mass Murder: Are You Listening Greensboro?

And Guilford County.

We look at mass shootings in this country and automatically the talk turns to gun control. The right fears loosing their right to bear arms, the left says ending easy access to guns is the only thing that will stop these senseless killings. But therein lies the answer, senseless killings.

In every instance the shooters are literally insane and yet nothing is done about their insanity until after people die. Governments in this country have spent the last 30 plus years cutting health care with mental health getting the axe at every turn. And yet even those of us who have tried to check ourselves into mental institutions have too often found it to be impossible to do unless you are in fact well monied and handsomely insured. Never mind that there is no system of mental health screening in place in this country that might catch and rehabilitate these people before they kill or that most of the mentally ill can be successfully treated without being institutionalized.

Take away the guns and the school shooters will become school suicide bombers with bombs made from under the kitchen sink or the garage. Or the modern air conditioned classroom or office with fixed windows will become the perfect gas chamber with deadly ammonia-chloride gas easily available from ingredients in mom's laundry room. Flame throwers can be made from toy squirt guns. Napalm bombs are made from gasoline and Styrofoam cups. And none of these weapons can be detected with metal detectors. It will only take one instance before others follow suit.

The problem never was guns and the senseless part is that liberals and conservatives alike will continue to waste time arguing gun control when we need to be talking about mental health.

Reality is this: if we want this problem to end the left is going to have to stop pointing fingers at guns and the right is going to have to be willing to spend more money on health care-- especially mental health care.

Otherwise you can continue your squabbles while the mentally unstable among us continue to kill our children.

-Signed, one who has actually considered doing it. -Billy Jones

PS. The last action Guilford County took in the mental health arena was to cut funding and to my knowledge the City of Greensboro contributes nothing to mental health efforts. It's only a matter of time before it happens here.

Friday, December 14, 2012

More Evidence Of Robbie Perkins' Failures

Anybody remember the Randalman Dam scam, then Councilman Perkins, now Mayor Perkins worked so hard to push through even though as it turned out, Greensboro didn't need the water after all? Well now it turns out the Randalman Dam is getting us sued by 7 downstream electric companies who used to use the Deep River to generate electricity but no longer can because of the reduced water flows caused by the damn dam.

What, Robme, you thought you could just put 7 power companies out of business and nothing bad would come from it? Somehow the words, leader and Perkins just don't seem to fit well together any more.

And if there's any saving grace it's that the Water Authority might make up part of our losses by selling water to the Downtown Greensboro Aquarium project. That is, if Greensboro's "leaders" get out of the way and let it happen.

Hope to see you all on Tuesday night. Dress warm and let's work out ways to propel Greensboro into the future despite politicians that don't know how to get out of the way of progress.

I Buried My Son Today

It wasn't the first time but it will be the last time. For you see, with every weekend visitation for all the years he was growing up and with each time he came to visit or vacation with me his leaving was to me as if he was dying each and every time.

To look at him was to look at me. To talk to him was to talk to me. I never tried to mold him in my image and in fact encouraged him to grow up to become his own man but that man was just like me. Only better. He even wore his hair and beard long like I do which tortured his mother to no end. She often complained that even though she divorced me when Jason was only 2 years old she still had to live with me every day of her life.

As far as I was concerned that served her right for stealing what was such a big part of my life but hell, she never gave a damn about anything other than herself so why did I ever expect more? Why even today, at the last minute she tried to move his funeral ahead by an hour while most of my family and friends were still in route, many almost a full hour away. It was a very good thing the funeral director approached my mother before anyone approached me. Otherwise we would have been reading about a massacre in a big church on the west side of Greensboro in tomorrow's News & Record as I'm really quite sure that would have pushed me well over the edge.

It's probably not like she meant to hurt anyone, she's just like so many people who are used to having their way, she simply thinks the world revolves around her and no one else is in pain.

But for me he died a thousand times or more. With every visit I never made it home without having to park my car on the side of the road and cry like a child, sometimes for hours before I could gather myself together and continue home. It was because of my fear of having another child ripped from my life that I avoided relationships with women who had children or women who wanted children even though a stable home, wife and children were my every dream.

When he turned eighteen I tried to convince him to come live with me. Times were good for me then. I offered him free room and board, a nice car, spending money, my classic Harley and a lot fewer rules than his mother required but being a loving and dedicated son he told me he feared his mother would kill herself if he left so he turned down my bribes and lived his entire life with her as she drove two other husbands away after me. He was more the man than the 3 of us who married her combined.

So with the ending of each and every visit I lost my son. Yes, there were things I could and should have done better but judges looked at child custody differently back then and to be honest, I wasn't enough of a man to stand up and fight for my rights as a father nor did I know how. For that I am to blame. But today, while his mother is mourning his death for the first time, I lost him a thousand times or more and mourn his death for the last time.

Finally, I'd like to thank you all for the gracious outpouring of support my family and I have received these last few days, the cards, letters, e-mails, Facebook comments, telephone calls, those of you who came to Jason's funeral even though some of you had never met him... I'll never find words to express the gratitude I have for you and the compassion you've shown me and my family. Thank you all.

GPAC Loses Another Financing Option

One of the options tossed about by the Task Force for the downtown Greensboro Performing Arts Center was video sweepstakes gaming. I thought it sounded pretty lame at the time as this kind of gaming preys on the poor and disenfranchised, victimizing those who need money the most. In my book, the idea that GPACers would ever consider such a plan tells you the kind of lowlifes they really are. Gaming should have never been on the table-- especially gaming that preys on the poor.

Well, as luck would have it, today the North Carolina Supreme Court decided to uphold a ban on video gaming. In other words, there still isn't any money to build GPAC.

I buried my son today. That is something I will regret having to do for the rest of my life. But he knew his father as a warrior and if I can help bury GPAC I know Jason will be proud of me just as I am proud of him.

Update: Roch appears to be on the same wavelength.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

The Perkinettes Have Left The Building

From this week's Rhino Times:

"Perkins' tactics of strong-arming and lying to his fellow councilmembers have caught up with him. People around here are pretty trusting and they like to think their mayor has the best interest of the city at heart, but councilmembers now say Perkins is obsessed with the performing arts center and has been using deceit and threats to try and get it passed."

But the battle is far from over. Trebic members and others invested well over $100,000 Dollars in getting Perkins, Hoffman and others elected to City Council to push this project through and they stand to take home most of the $60 plus Million Dollars that will be spent to build the Greensboro Performing Arts Center. They have yet to give up the fight and neither should we.

Join myself and members of Real Progress For Greensboro at Melvin Municipal Plaza just outside the Council Chambers to meet and discuss how we plan to oppose this effort and other efforts to rob from the working class to entertain the rich on Tuesday, December 18th at 5:00 PM.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

The Loss Of A Son

It's been a hell of a day. Despite attempts to escape it the telephone has rang all day and I've contemplated operating a tool booth at my door. And yet, everyone has the best of intentions. Besides, if they didn't call and come by I'd think no one cares about me and my family. I went through most of my life thinking Jason was the only thing I'd ever gotten right. Not that I deserve a lot of credit, he was an accident as far as I know and his grandfather was a much bigger influence in his life than I was but I'd like to think his brilliance had something to do with the genes I passed down to him. I spent the most of his life very angry at his mother for breaking up our marriage and taking my only son, my only child, away from me. It was this fear of loosing another child that scared me out of more relationships than the relationships themselves. His death opens up old wounds that I had thought were closed. And yet it's for his mother that I cry the most. For I know deep in my heart no matter how many times she hurt me and how many times we fought or how critical I became of her choices in raising him, Jason was her entire world and she loved him more than I could ever know. And while I spent all these years learning how to discover a new world of my own, his mother never got that chance.

GPAC: You Don't Say?

Yesterday Fec wrote:

"At present, we don’t got $20M in bond money or $20M in private donations or $20M in city funding. This from what are supposed to be our best and brightest. Hilarious! This thing is going to fail of its own weight, completely without opposition."

And today:

"The city can't afford a new performing art center as it is planned right now, Council members Zack Matheny and Nancy Vaughan said Wednesday."

When will the "nice people" learn you can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit? Apparently not yet because the GPAC Task Force is planning to go before City Council again to try and ram this issue down our throats.

So to stop them I'm proposing you join me on Tuesday after I bury my dearly departed son as we gather on the grounds of the Melvin Municipal Plaza just outside of the City Council meeting for the first real face to face meeting of Real Progress For Greensboro, aka the Gathering of the Trolls. Bring your signs that read No PAC and let's talk about real solutions to the real problems Greensboro faces instead of made up solutions to problems imagined by politicians and the rich developers in their pockets.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Perhaps I've Been Wasting My Time?

From Fec

"At present, we don’t got $20M in bond money or $20M in private donations or $20M in city funding. This from what are supposed to be our best and brightest. Hilarious! This thing is going to fail of its own weight, completely without opposition."

At this particular moment in time it really doesn't matter as I learned less that an hour ago that my son, Jason A Jones, born April 10 1978, died from a massive heart attack this morning and I must take time to bury him but rest assured that when that job is done my anger with Mayor Robbie Perkins, the Greensboro City Council and those who would steal from the poor to entertain the rich will finally be unleashed in all its fury! There is nothing to stop me now!

Meet me in the plaza outside Melvin Municipal Office building next Tuesday night at 5:00 PM where once and for all you and I will make my son proud of his father. Bring your signs that read NO PAC and demand that Mayor Perkins stand down as we unite to bring an end to this madness once and for all and set upon a journey towards Real Progress For Greensboro.

How Will Restaurants Benefit From GPAC?

GPACers have long been promoting how downtown restaurant owners will gain more business from the proposed Greensboro performing arts center and while I can't say one way or the other, with the help of members of Real Progress For Greensboro I have these maps that put it into perspective. You might recognize the maps as the same map the GPAC Task Force released to display their "excellent" parking arrangements with the red line set at 1200' from GPAC. We just added the restaurants. Clicking on either image will expand its size.





The following restaurants are over 1200' from the proposed location of the Greensboro Performing Arts Center. How much business will they gain? Methinks not much.

Fincastle's Diner
Bloody Mary's
Opa Greek Cuisine
Pizzeria L'Italiano
Pointe-Noire African & Caribbean Fusion Cafe
TAVO Restaurant and Tavern
Thai Pan
Undercurrent Restaurant

The following restaurants will not be passed by visitors who are on their way from the GPAC recommended parking garages to and from GPAC even though some of them are within 1200'. How much business will they gain? How much business do they stand to lose to GPAC attendees who are taking up the parking spaces where their customers regularily park?

Fincastle's Diner
Bloody Mary's
Opa Greek Cuisine
Pizzeria L'Italiano
Pointe-Noire African & Caribbean Fusion Cafe
TAVO Restaurant and Tavern
Thai Pan
Undercurrent Restaurant
Stumble Stilskins
Cincy's
Venice Italian

Of course, that's not all of our downtown restaurants but I think you get the picture. Especially if you happen to be a downtown restaurant owner. And what about downtown shop owners, how do you fit into the picture? Will there be enough walk-in traffic for you to justify hiring entire night shifts to capture GPAC walk-in business? Again, that's a question I cannot answer for you.

So it appears that only a handful of downtown restaurants stand to gain from the location chosen for GPAC. Was that deliberate? I don't know but it is very close to Center Point where Mayor Robbie Perkins is the leasing agent for the restaurant properties inside the building there.

Laugh at us and call us Provincial all you like but small town residents be they from the North or the South expect and demand convenient parking at the businesses where we spend our money. And if downtown Greensboro's restaurants and shops are unable to provide that... Well there's always the ever growing Friendly Shopping Center, the mall and in my case, Burlington. Do the math people. While I live only 3 miles from downtown Greensboro, I can be seated in my favorite restaurant in Burlington more quickly than I can drive to downtown Greensboro, park the car and walk several blocks. And with my 50 MPG Toyota and no parking fees I actually save money.

Arts and Culture in Urban/Regional Planning:

Proving once again to be the most complete source of accurate information concerning the building of a downtown Greensboro performing arts center:

"At its worst, cultural planning at the state and local level becomes captive of particular real estate interests, cultural industries, and cultural elites, and thus fruitful ground for consultants who promise great plans that often turn out to be windowdressing."

"...A city’s cultural districts proposal, for instance, should articulate the expected economic, neighborhood, and cultural goals in terms of job creation, property valuation and occupancy rates, small business revenues, visual character of the neighborhood, and enhancement in cultural experiences and values of multiple constituencies as well as possible negative effects on other groups and neighborhoods.

The equity norm demands that the city be explicit about who will benefit from its proposals and how any groups harmed..."

"...Minneapolis has invested in and owns four historic theaters downtown, now cheek-by-jowl with its troubled Block E entertainment complex of multiplex cinemas, the Hard Rock Café, and other chains. The city markets this remade downtown corridor as a regional and tourist destination. Along the Mississippi River, the new Mill City Museum, an historic preservation project, is adjacent to the new GuthrieTheater; both are destination venues surrounded by new high-end condos and municipal spec-built parking garages that the city is losing money on and now trying to privatize.

This concentrate of recent new investments in downtown districts reflects the weakness of broad participation in cultural planning, the priority that the elites of the city place on fine arts, and the interests of large-scale urban developers."

..."As with convention centers, ballparks, and spec-built prisons, communities may over-invest in cultural facilities, with long-term negative consequences for the public purse. Often, the expected patronage simply does not materialize, so that nonprofit arts organizations are faced with painful decisions to cut losses, and city governments must pay off bonds for facilities that don't generate the expected revenues. Resources that might have been spent on participatory, decentralized, and neighborhood-anchored arts and cultural spaces are locked up for long periods of time."


From Arts and Culture in Urban/Regional Planning by Ann Markusen, Professor and Director, Project on Regional and Industrial Economics, Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota

With a hat tip to George Hartzman.

Score: Wilkins 2, Perkins 0

As Roch has pointed out, newly appointed City Councilman, Tony Wilkins has deleted his blog, no doubt under pressure from the Mayor and members of City Council.

But I'm thinking that as long as Tony has been blogging he had to know about Internet Archives. He watched too many times as local bloggers from the left and right used Internet Archives to tear local politicians to shreds. He had to know. I'm betting he just took his first opportunity to show the Mayor and the rest of City Council how much smarter the local bloggers are (himself included) then Council has proven themselves to be.

Score: Wilkins 2, Perkins 0 and he hasn't even cast a vote.

But you know whose blog was continuously published from 2002 until 2011 and only has 8 days of archives? That's right, once again, Billy Jones is the smartest man in the room.

A Lesson To GPACers

In case you GPACers haven't figured it out yet.



Being an asshole doesn't entitle you to anything.

Ed Cone Grows A Bone

A spine that is.

Yesterday Ed wrote:

"So to the GPAC team: You are where you are. It's not where you want to be, but you have a great product and now you need to adjust to the new realities to get the thing built.

That may mean winning a vote, and it definitely means winning a PR battle. So, you better get serious about doing that. And that means running a campaign that reaches young people and extends to zip codes you rarely visit (which means spending money).

If you're Robbie Perkins, it means finding ways to make the guy who wants your job and the woman who will eventually get it become solid proponents of this thing, and practicing persuasion instead of arm-twisting up and down the dais.

Otherwise, you might as well quit now."


Is Ed referring to the Mayor's problems with the Securities and Exchange Commission?

I've been horribly difficult with Ed Cone in recent months both publicly and privately and no I'm not apologizing because Ed has been spineless for too many months. But to Ed's credit he has finally spoken up even though he supports the other side.

Also, to Ed' credit, he was the first person to get it when I first suggested an East Greensboro Performing Arts Center. Ed Cone rightly suspected all along it wasn't about an East Greensboro Performing Arts Center but was in fact about getting the Greensboro City Council to live up to 1000 acres of empty promises. Something Mayor Perkins and the rest of the GPACers still can't get through their greedy, self absorbed pea brains.

You see, while the GPACers were trying to paint me as insane for suggesting they place GPAC in East Greensboro it was actually themselves they were proving to be short sighted, insensitive to the needs of the community, greedy, shallow and self absorbed. I fooled all of them including Mayor Robbie Perkins into proving their disregard for Greensboro's communities by going ahead with GPAC before addressing the many community bond issues passed by Greensboro voters but never made available for sale to bond buyers, therefore never bringing much needed improvements to our many working class neighborhoods. It might be I'm insane but I outsmarted the best and brightest among them including that dimwitted mayor. Too bad the rest of the GPACers weren't as smart as Ed Cone.

And to Ed's defense, it's well known how his kind eats their own so perhaps he was forced into hiding.

Now for a little bit of news: up until now you GPACers have been fighting a completely unorganized anti-GPAC effort. Should the Greensboro Performing Arts Center go back before City Council for any reason before the November ballot all that will change. Anti-GPAC political action committees will be formed, protest marches will be organized and the local news media will have no choice but to give voice to the anti-GPAC message. You will not have enough money to buy enough support to overcome us. City Council meetings will become nightmares. Council members will be forced to openly declare where they stand or be washed away in a tide of doubt. Anyone who isn't with Greensboro's working class is against Greensboro's working class, no ifs, ands or buts.

Don't believe me? See the number at the top left rapidly approaching 41,000? It will be 300,000 or more by November-- more than enough to influence local elections and topple the current Council. On that you have my word. Me crazy? Like a fox. And you GPACers? Dumb as a mud fence.

It's not that I don't respect authority...

Update: Comments from Facebook:

Billy, this Performing Arts Center, is going to be built for just a few upper class citizens. I am not in favor of this project at all. It will cost millions of dollars to build it. After building it, it will cost the taxpayers MILLIONS of dollars to keep it going. I will aid in stopping this project. -Reese Coble, retired Guilford County Deputy

Monday, December 10, 2012

Uptown Greensboro Newsletter

Got the following e-mail today and thought I would pass it along to those who are interested in promoting real growth in Northeast Greensboro:

"Good Afternoon,
My name is Joseph Wilkerson and I am a business owner at 1007 Arnold Street here in Greensboro, NC. I operate a working artist studio & gallery called "Uptown Artworks" and just recently publish a newspaper-magazine called "Uptown Greensboro." It's currently available at several Greensboro libraries.

I'm writing you, because I was forwarded an email in reference to northeast Greensboro and wanted to introduce myself to you and my idea. I would like to create an "Uptown Greensboro" to promote the "live, work, shop, dine, play, and worship" community that resides in the area. I believe this underserved side of town has real potential and I would like to help bring it into fruition. Sometime before February 2013, I would like to begin to reach out to the community visionaries like yourselves and begin mapping out ways to move this community forward.

All that ask of you all that may be interested in being involved, is to add your name to our newsletter - http://eepurl.com/laCWz

In the meantime, I've attached a map of UptownGSO and hope to meet with you all soon!

Thank you for your time,
jOseph

facebook.com/UptownGreensboro
UptownGreensboro.com
"

The Writing On The GPAC Wall

It doesn't take the world's smallest crystal ball to see this one coming. GPACers are promoting a haphazard downtown parking scheme for the proposed Greensboro Performing Arts Center that is torturous at best and absolute gridlock at worst. Dim witted GPACers are proposing GPAC parking all over downtown in the exact same parking lots and spaces used by every other downtown shop and business while continuing to try and compare themselves with the Durham Performing Arts Center which advertises 3000 inexpensive parking spaces in nearby parking garages.

Of course, what will happen is, visitors to GPAC, especially out of town visitors which the GPACers are promising to attract in droves, will not know their way around downtown Greensboro and become confused as they drive around searching for the scattered parking spaces and making the 1000 cars added to downtown appear to be 10,000 cars as evidenced by the GPAC parking map: (Click on the map to enlarge.)



Then there's that increase in the cost of downtown parking fees. That cannot be good for downtown restaurants and shops that already claim to be struggling to compete with shopping centers, malls and big box retailers who all offer free parking. The result will be the closing of downtown shops, restaurants and businesses. I'm predicting the first business to close will be the Flatiron, which is especially sad for me because while I'm not much on going to bars, the Flatiron's owners, staff and many of their patrons are all people I care about, some I have known personally for a very long time. Guys, I hope to finally make it back up to the mountain this year as I've been away too long. I wonder if that's what that key on my keychain goes to that I haven't used in years...

Where will people going to Nico's and other downtown restaurants for dinner park? At Eric Robert's old mill perhaps? Knowing Eric and knowing what a great guy he is, I'm sure he'd be happy to help out and the exercise would do us all good but let's face it, most folks aren't walking 3/4 of a mile to get to a restaurant. I mean, it's only a mile from Downtown Greensboro to the nearest grocery store and already downtown residents are bitching that's too far.

And then we come to the real writing on the wall: In response to the then failing downtown business environment developers will again begin another push for the City of Greensboro to fund more downtown parking garages at taxpayers' expense. And so begins the 4th round of taxpayer funded downtown Greensboro rejuvenation in my lifetime and nothing has changed.

Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing repeatedly while expecting different results. Maybe, just maybe, I'm not the crazy one.