Want to know real censorship in action? I went to the Greensboro Performing Arts Center forum today-- speakers from the floor were not allowed. Even Bill Knight, who was seated at my table was not allowed to speak to the audience. Mayor Knight was told that all the public forums would be run the same way. (Unless they told him something else after they pulled him aside.) Instead they had round table discussions in small groups and even some of the task force members were unhappy with the way things were arranged and controlled. The media folks walked around the room from table to table listening in. TW14 sought me out and did an interview. Fox8 sought me out and did an interview. I even spoke with a reporter from WUNC Radio. John Hammer, WFMY and the N&R avoided me altogether.
Can you see a pattern here?
At the end of the forum they did read some of my comments to the entire group but speaker after speaker that followed tried to drive home a downtown location as being the only option.
Many of the task force members were unaware of my efforts to get them to consider the little green circle even though I've e-mailed, Twittered and Facebooked the entire Greensboro City Council, GPAC2012, John Hammer, the Citizens for Economic & Environmental Justice the Business Journal and others. It appears to me that the task force members themselves are being kept in the dark. Why?
An Open Letter To GPAC2012.
The task force managers will make what I told them public but it won't be because they ever planned to, but because failing to do so will expose the GPAC2012 management for what it is.
See you tonight at 6:00!
Update: Having just returned from today's second PAC forum I'd like to make some points that until now, I simply haven't been aware of. For starters, most people living in Greensboro are unaware of the problems and the deterioration of my Northeast Greensboro neighborhood. They simply don't know. The same can be said for most of the people serving on the Downtown Performing Arts Task Force. So how can I expect them to care about problems they are unaware of?
But eyes are opening so I'll say it again, "the only way a Greensboro Performing Arts Center will be approved in 2012 is if it is to be built somewhere other than downtown or the Greensboro Coliseum Complex. Without Greensboro's working class neighborhoods they will never get enough votes to pass a ballot." So to those of you who say downtown is the only option, you'd best be prepared to build it entirely with private sector money right down to the miles of upgraded water and sewer lines that will be required to flush those downtown toilets.
Update 2: Alan Johnson of the Greensboro News & Record has asked me to pin a GPAC opinion piece for the News & Record. Look for it soon.
Update 3: It was announced tonight that GPAC2012 has reconsidered and will be having neighborhood meetings in the future. I hope I haven't forgotten anything else.
Continue to article #84. Greensboro Performing Arts Center: Who Controls The Agenda?.
