Those were the words of District 2 City Councilman, Jim Key, last night when talking about renovating the Bessemer Shopping Center on Phillips Avenue. Only Jim Key forgot to mention that the "private dollars" are being borrowed from the City of Greensboro by foreign investors who will without a doubt take profits out of the community and out of Greensboro.
Do I need mention that Skip Alston gets a cut of the plan Jim Key is endorsing? It's a good thing your business is doing well, Jim, (He bragged about it last night) as you have just held your last political office ever. You will not be reelected to Greensboro City Council nor will Greensboro citizens vote for you for any other political office now that your true colors have been exposed.
By the way, Jim, isn't your house still under water? I bet your neighbors who live in the same housing development where you live-- the development you built-- have some interesting things to say about you.
Then there's the deal Jim is so anxious to promote that he tried to get it voted through without hearing the speakers last night. For starters: the "developers" plan to own and operate all the stores in the shopping center. That's right-- a monopoly. Skip Alston and Jim Key are proposing a monopoly under the guise of the name, Renaissance, the same name chosen by the Renaissance Community Co-op. Why the naming alone has scam written all over it. Not only are Jim and Skip proposing a monopoly but they are proposing this foreign owned monopoly be built with Greensboro taxpayer funding.
Monopoly? Foreign Ownership? And no one on the Greensboro City Council had nerve enough to call them on it.
Am I wrong about the foreign ownership? I'm not talking about their ancestry or nationality, or even where they were born, I'm talking about their citizenship. Are these developers US citizens or not? Is their citizenship the reason they needed Skip and Jim to broker the deal?
And that still doesn't address the issue that they planned to own and operate every store in the shopping center. The monopoly. That alone should have been enough to throw the bums out. Private money? What private money?
You can say no to private dollars-- especially dirty private dollars. And had Jim Kee said no to dirty private dollars he might still have the respect of the voters today.
