Thursday, May 1, 2014

Marikay Abuzuaiter's City Council Disclosure Form

Recently Ben Holder made the following accusations concerning Greensboro City Councilwoman Marikay Abuzuaiter so I thought it time I resume my reviews of City Council disclosure forms. You can read them all beginning with Nancy Hoffmann.

 "Billy never mentioned MariKays tax problems at Mahi's did he? Just saying, he may have let that one go. Those two are tight.

He never mentions MariKays real associations with the people that own 1810 Coliseum BLVD. You know, the ones Billy hates? He never talks about Isa's store, does he?

Isa was actually arrested for selling crack pipes at both of his stores on East Market St. Does Isa have fraudulent food stamp scam? The kind Big Bad Billy hates?"

Well actually I did mention Marikay's tax problems. Not once but twice. How many times did Ben Holder blog about it?

And her husband being charged with weapons violations? Covered that twice too. I even linked to Ben Holder's blog as the source of the story. Had Ben clicked on Marikay Abuzuaiter's name in the column to the left he would have quickly found those stories and not ended up looking like an idiot... again. Same thing works for your name too, Ben.

As for Marikay and I being tight. She did call me to thank me for the tasteful way in which I presented the story about her IRS problems but the time before that when I saw her she was so mad with me she wouldn't speak with me other than to tell me she was angry with me for saying...  Well I'll keep that between Marikay and I. You know, so Ben will have something to talk about. That was just about the same time that Ben found out that old Isa is a lot tougher than Ben thought him to be. Now Marikay will probably be mad at me again as the media never covered that story.

Isa arrested for selling crack pipes. First I heard of it so I did a Google search for 'Isa Abuzuaiter arrested selling crack pipes' and found this Yes-Weekly article from 2009 when Ben Holder was quoted as saying,

“I support Marikay, and I’m planning on voting for her,” he said. “I didn’t know he owned that store. The police chose that store; I didn’t bring it to their attention. In the at-large contest, I think Nancy Vaughan is going to be mayor pro tem, Robbie Perkins is going to come in second place, and it’s going to be a dogfight between Marikay and Sandra Anderson Groat. I’m voting for Marikay, and I’m encouraging everyone else to, also.”

Funny how Ben seems to flip-flop around, isn't it? First he's for Marikay, now he hates Marikay, first he's tipping off police as to which store to bust then he didn't tip off the police... But hey, I once endorsed Ben Holder too... Oops, my bad!

As for Isa selling wine and beer for food stamps. If I knew it to be true I'd damn sure tell it. I just don't know it to be true. No one has ever admitted to me that they used their food stamps to buy wine or beer at either of Isa's stores and until someone does or I see some other form of hard evidence I can't make that claim. Does that mean Isa doesn't do it? No, it just means that if Ben Holder is going to make these kinds of claims then Ben Holder shouldn't expect me to make them for him.

As for Marikay's associations with Jayshree Kiran Shah, the owner of 1810 Coliseum Blvd, the former home of Phongsavanh Oriental Market which according to Ben has now become a public nuance thanks to Ben's efforts to get it closed:

" At approximately 1 pm yesterday, someone called the police and complained about the front door busted open and the looting. Documents show the police were unable to get in touch with the owner of the Phongsavanh Oriental Market. Despite the store being disheveled and an ATM machine on the inside crudely forced open, no robbery report was made. Even though the door is busted open and is in clear violation of basic local ordinances, the police didn't notify inspections.  Ultimately nothing was done.  Unless you count the placing of a piece of plywood (that can be easily removed) over the broken door. Not sure how that solves anything. "

Way to go, Ben! I guess you plan to stand guard there and keep all the bad guys away. That is, when you're not threatening me. Ben will probably be making his blog private again soon-- you know, 'cause the police are out to get him.

So I begin by doing a property search for the last name, Abuzuaiter, where I find 4 distinct properties in Guilford County, the first being a home owned jointly by Marikay Abuzuaiter and her husband Isa Hussan Abuzuaiter, 2 more private residences belonging to a young man who I think is their son, Yousef H Abuzuaiter  and one private residence belonging to a Mona Abuzuaiter whose relationship to Marikay and Isa I cannot begin to confirm.

But I know from Marikay's City of Greensboro City Council Economic Interest form that I received as part of Public Information Request 3399 that Marikay owns Mahi's Restaurant and husband Isa owns John's Curb Market and Foode Rite Curb Market, both of them located on East Market Street.

I wasn't able to confirm this but I think I remember Marikay once telling me that she rents the building at 4721 Lawndale Dr, where Mahi's is located, from Marty Kotis of Kotis Properties or one of the other companies Marty owns. Mr Kotis is a regular reader so if I'm wrong I'm almost certain I'll be informed soon. Therefore, any connection to Jayshree Kiran Shah via way of Mahi's is unknown to me. Perhaps Mr Holder knows something he has yet to tell us.

Now to be perfectly honest, Marikay and Isa have both told me they are friends with Shahzad Akbar and Shehzad Quamar who rent their business properties from Jayshree Kiran Shah and are known associates of Mr  Shah but I know lots of people whose business I don't know and so does everyone reading this post. Could Marikay and Isa have associations with Jayshree Kiran Shah? They could but I've yet to find any? Could Marikay and Isa have business associations with Shahzad Akbar and Shehzad Quamar? Again, they could but it was Ben Holder who wrote,

"He never mentions MariKays real associations with the people that own 1810 Coliseum BLVD."

So it's back to the property search. John's Curb Market, 2000 East Market Street is owned by Frances S Harris, who according to the Guilford County Register of Deeds owns a total of 20 properties, a mixture of residential, commercial and empty lots.  One of those properties is 127 Bluebell Road where she owns and has operated FSH Properties, LLC since 2001. Does Ms Harris have any connection to Jayshree Kiran Shah or any of his known associates? Perhaps Mr Holder can tell us as I haven't a clue. FSH Properties, LLC does own 2 more properties in Greensboro. Again, no connections that I know of. Ben, do you have any that you know of?

Foode Rite Curb Market, 3000 E Market Street is owned by Lincoln Grove Grocery Inc  of 3601 Brassfield Oaks Drive. No surprise there as that is Marikay's home address and it was clearly written in her disclosure form-- the same disclosure form Ben Holder probably should have gotten his hands on before he started tossing around accusations neither he nor I can prove. Lincoln Grove Grocery also owns 2 empty lots next door to the Foode Rite that are used for parking.



I thought it nice how Marikay's disclosure form was written so clearly when so many of the others I've reviewed to date were hardly legible.

The only thing I found on Marikay or Isa that wasn't listed on her disclosure form was a company called  Abu Zu`aiter Enterprises, Inc. which according to the NC Secretary of State was dissolved in 2013, no longer in business and therefore would not need to be disclosed on her 2014 City Council Disclosure Form. And to be fair, there's no place on the form for businesses you no longer own.

So Ben Holder, where's these connections you speak of and what else is it I'm supposed to be covering for? Because as far as I can tell, Councilwoman Marikay Abuzuaiter has disclosed everything there is to disclose including her rental properties on Florida St that I failed to note above.