"§ 160A‑457. Acquisition and disposition of property for redevelopment.
...any city is authorized, either as a part of a community development program or independently thereof, and without the necessity of compliance with the Urban Redevelopment Law, to exercise the following powers:
...to dispose, through sale, lease, or otherwise, of any property so acquired to any person, firm, corporation, or governmental unit; provided, the disposition of such property shall be undertaken in accordance with the procedures of Article 12 of this Chapter, or the procedures of G.S. 160A‑514..., which says "Such conveyance shall be for such consideration as may be agreed upon by the commission and the association or corporation, which shall not be less than the fair value of the property agreed upon by a committee of three professional real estate appraisers currently practicing in the State."
The law clearly states there are supposed to be three appraisals but according to these linked documents submitted to the City of Greensboro, no appraisal was ever done. Not even one appraisal.
Greensboro City Attorney Sardar Mujeeb Shah-Khan (I wonder if he's related to Khan Khan) has made the claim that none of this matters as the City sold the property for less than $500,000 but state law says otherwise.
"Article 12. Sale and Disposition of Property. § 160A‑265. Use and disposal of property.
In the discretion of the council, a city may: ...sell or dispose of real and personal property, without regard to the method or purpose of its acquisition or to its intended or actual governmental or other prior use."
Okay, so it was legal for the city to sell the shopping center but did the city go about the sale legally?
"§ 160A‑266. Methods of sale; limitation.
...a city may dispose of real or personal property belonging to the city by:
(1) Private negotiation and sale;
(2) Advertisement for sealed bids;
(3) Negotiated offer, advertisement, and upset bid;
(4) Public auction; or
(5) Exchange.
(b) Private negotiation and sale may be used only with respect to personal property valued at less than thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) for any one item or group of similar items."
Key words there are less than $30,000. The selling price, if you want to call it a selling price, was $490,000 plus the city gave the developers $2 Million Dollars. The choice to give the Bessemer Shopping Center to Skip Alston's group was in-fact a private negotiation as no bids were solicited. As a matter of fact, Greensboro City Attorney S. Mujeeb Shah-Khan argued that bids (RFPs) were not necessary and the suckers seated behind the dais took Mujeeb's bait hook, line and sinker. The Greensboro City Council needs to begin the process of hiring a new city attorney-- one who has a clue.
Why would Greensboro City Attorney S. Mujeeb Shah-Khan make such an argument knowing it was against the law? And if he didn't know it is against the law then how can City Council and the citizens of Greensboro trust his judgement in the future?
It also appears the City of Greensboro was never really interested in selling the property in the first place for had they been they could have taken advantage of another State statute over the course of the 5 years the City has owned the abandoned shopping center. The City even has a website where you can bid on what they are buying and selling but as you can see from the meager results the city keeps most of its business in the good old boy system just as it has always done.
"§ 160A‑269. Negotiated offer, advertisement, and upset bids.
A city may receive, solicit, or negotiate an offer to purchase property and advertise it for upset bids.
When an offer is made and the council proposes to accept it, the council shall require the offer or to deposit five percent (5%) of his bid with the city clerk, and shall publish a notice of the offer.
The notice shall contain a general description of the property, the amount and terms of the offer, and a notice that within 10 days any person may raise the bid by not less than ten percent (10%) of the first one thousand dollars ($1,000) and five percent (5%) of the remainder. When a bid is raised, the bidder shall deposit with the city clerk five percent (5%) of the increased bid, and the clerk shall readvertise the offer at the increased bid. This procedure shall be repeated until no further qualifying upset bids are received, at which time the council may accept the offer and sell the property to the highest bidder. The council may at any time reject any and all offers."
So basically, the shopping center was forgotten until the Renaissance Community Coop expressed their desire to buy it only to be disappointed:
"We are disappointed that five City Council members decided to give the Renaissance Center and $1.5 million to private investors. Four council members supported our vision of a successful coop grocery store anchoring a vibrant city-owned shopping center – a center that would eventually be purchased by the community."
And when the rich bastards who control Greensboro learned that Greensboro's poor might seize an opportunity to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, the rich rushed in to take it all away from us in a plot so twisted by the Greensboro City Council that neither Shakespeare nor Sir Arthur Conan Doyle could have never dreamed it up.
But then they do say the truth is stranger than fiction...
And finally, before you watch the video I would like to note this post was made possible with help from Greensboro Mayoral candidate, George Hartzman who pointed me to the applicable statutes as he works to look out for Greensboro's working class. Think about that come election day.
