“In a city like Greensboro, they are not going to waste their time doing a big, creative infill project that’s going to have to get seven votes on the City Council,”
Unlike the rest of the state of North Carolina, Greensboro has only had the right to protest petitions for 4 years. There has never been an instance in Greensboro or in any other city in North Carolina where protest petitions were successfully used to block even one big, creative infill project.
Protest petitions have blocked unimaginative strip malls to be someday filled with online gaming parlors, adult entertainment venues, storefront churches, pawn shops and run of the mill low rent housing projects by the score but never a big, creative infill project.
And I challenge Mayor Robbie Perkins or anyone else to provide documentation that proves me wrong. Anyone?
You see, folks, my partners and I are currently facing a zoning issue in another Piedmont city: Residential to Industrial. That, my friends is the toughest one of all. But we aren't scared. How do we plan to deal with it? First by establishing ourselves as good neighbors with a well maintained property that doesn't disturb them. Then by taking care of their needs as best we can without crossing the current zoning rules. Next we'll demonstrate our product for them so that they can decide for themselves if this is something they want close by their homes. We'll hire from the immediate neighborhood if approved. And finally, after they've known us for a couple of years we'll ask if it's okay with them. Roughly half of them already know our plans and are encouraging us to move forward.
We don't believe we'll encounter any resistance from our neighbors as unemployment is high in the area where our building is located.
The fact is: neighborhoods that need development are usually happy to see the right kind of development come to them. It's when men like Robbie Perkins try to force development that's unneeded or isn't right for the needs of a particular neighborhood that people fight back.
After all, have you ever heard of a starving dog turning down a piece of meat?
Again, I challenge Mayor Robbie Perkins or anyone else to provide documentation that proves me wrong.
Update: Keith Brown has more.
