Greensboro government seems to think we need a new car every time we have a flat tire. They're scared to drive a used car for fear it might break down even though properly maintained used cars often outlast many new cars and do so at a lower cost. And our elites are lined up and waiting to sell us fancy new cars that are no faster and will last no longer, nor do they have better tires than the car we're currently driving.
"There's a sucker born every minute." How so many of them ended up on the Greensboro City Council and in positions of leadership in City Hall at the same time is beyond me.
Another real genuine problem with our leaders is their fear of failure. Successful people and successful ventures public and private have a history of failing more than they win. Sorry, it's a fact of life. If you don't play the game you don't win and when you play the game you often lose. If our gutless leaders cannot accept this fact then they don't deserve to be leaders.
Problem is: most of our council has never taken a risk or gone out on a limb to become successful. Take Mayor Robbie Perkins for example: Contrary to popular belief, Mayor Perkins did not start NAI Piedmont Triad. He started out working for his first wife's father who owned NAI Maxwell. Then after Mr Maxwell gave young Robbie a piece of the family business, Robbie and Mr Maxwell's partners used a leveraged takeover to steal NAI Maxwell away from its founder (Robbie's father-in-law) and changed the name to NAI Piedmont. Successful? For a thief, perhaps.
Nancy Barakat Vaughan? Would anyone like to show me her business experience? She'll probably tell you something about her first husband owning and operating a tractor-trailer... Folks, we're talking a former Connecticut housewife turned Irving Park housewife here. The lady is in over her head.
Zack Matheny? Zack runs his own consulting business. He started that after being run off from every job he's had. See definition: Consultant.
Mayor Pro Tem Yvonne Johnson? Seriously? She runs a "non profit." It seems to be a worthy cause but did Yvonne Johnson risk anything to get there? Is she even the founder? Or might the founder be William N Martin?
T. Dianne Bellamy-Small? Didn't she wash out as a Greensboro Police Officer? Okay, I'm being cruel, Dianne actually told me face to face she could not bring herself to pull a trigger and kill another person even in self defense and left GPD on her own accord. I have no reason not to believe her. I respect her decision. As a gun owner I see too many gun owners who haven't thought that one through. But like so many on Council T. Dianne Bellamy-Small remains afraid of failing. By the way, T. Dianne Bellamy-Small also lists her occupation as a consultant and "non profit" founder.
Look folks, helping folks is a worthy cause, but right now what Greensboro needs most is jobs. Poor T. Dianne Bellamy-Small can't even afford web hosting for her Transition Network, someone is going to have to be willing to take some risks and make some investments in Our Neighborhoods or Dianne is going to go broke.
As for Nancy Hoffmann and Jim Key? They're developers. They know what it's like to fail but they also know all about stacking the deck in their favor. And being that City Council ultimately makes the final call over what they do, why not get a seat at the dealers' table.
If you want to attract entrepreneurs you're got to think like entrepreneurs and provide an environment entrepreneurs understand and feel comfortable operating in. Entrepreneurs fail far more often than they win and to put entrepreneurs in situations where they are expected to win or else will only drive them away. If Greensboro wants to attract entrepreneurs then Greensboro's leaders must get past this obsessive fear of failure and become entrepreneurs by investing in our communities beginning with projects like the Renaissance Community Co-op and not the developers who have been robbing our communities for far too many years.
Otherwise, we don't need them.
Like I've written time and time again: you're allowed to make mistakes-- it's the lies that keep getting Council and City staff in constant hot water.
Update: In the comments below, Nancy Barakat Vaughan invites you to ask her about her business experience. Please do. And while you're at it, ask her about her experience as an entrepreneur. We'd all love to hear about it.
