Sunday, June 28, 2015

Greensboro Partnership and Rentier Capitalist Propaganda in the News and Record

"Public-private collaboration is key to building a competitive advantage, by Keith Debbage

Our community has been sold a bridge to nowhere, 
which has financially benefited many on City Council
and their "supporters" at DGI and the Partnership, 
via allocations of everyone else's money
to a small circle of "friends", 
the News and Record is on board
and we're paying for it.

...A recent survey of companies in the Greensboro-High Point area we conducted on behalf of the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce found that more than 1,000 jobs proved difficult to fill largely because it was hard to find local workers with the appropriate skill sets.

Debbage got paid by the Greensboro Partnership
which includes the Chamber of Commerce,
making Debbage a stooge and lobbyist 
for the Greensboro Partnership.

...The Greensboro Partnership’s recent hire of a new leader with an impressive track record and former Greensboro City Council member’s Zack Matheny hiring as president and CEO of Downtown Greensboro Inc. should help.

DGI hiring a crony who guaranteed DGI funding
is good news to Debbage, as his and Zack's paychecks
are dependent on the good will of Roy etc...
and the boards of the Partnership and DGI,
many of whom are the same people, 
or people who work for the same people
who overcharge poor renters and business owners.

...Any local, government-based consolidation of economic development services would have to require enhanced coordination and collaboration with the private sector.

Enhanced coordination means more public money
into the hands of the private interests
at the Partnership and DGI,
and the News and Record is on board with this theft by our 1%.

...while local government officials are negotiating among themselves, the more private sector-oriented Greensboro Partnership — the city’s lead economic development agency — has been moving forward with its own plans and strategic imperatives.

Zack Matheny pre applied for the CEO job as a sitting City Councilman, 
who voted to fund DGI's giveaways to DGI's members, 
many of whom have contributed to Zack Matheny's campaigns.

...top executives of some of the largest companies in the city and leaders of some of Greensboro’s most influential nonprofit foundations serve on the executive board of the partnership.

Rentier capitalism

Rentier capitalism is a Marxist term 
currently used to describe the belief in economic practices 
of monopolization of access 
to any (physical, financial, intellectual, etc.) kind of property, 
and gaining significant amounts of profit without contribution to society.


...A significant chunk of the partnership’s funding comes from both the private and nonprofit sectors — the “invisible hand” that drives much of the local economy.

Greensboro's News and Record shares in responsibility
for the sorry state of our local political dysfunction
via lies of omission and propaganda.

The elevated tension between local government officials and the partnership is a cause for concern in an era when innovation invariably requires some level of public-private partnership."

Keith G. Debbage
UNCG Professor
Greensboro Partnership Lobbyist
Supporter of Zack Matheny's job at DGI
Advocate for public monies channeled to his paying patrons.

http://www.greensboro.com/opinion/columns/public-private-collaboration-is-key-to-building-a-competitive-advantage/article_6311189a-1b90-11e5-9ec9-6f7da9346da5.html
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Matheny bristled at criticism of DGI earlier this spring
and had his feathers badly ruffled
when a group of downtown property owners
appeared before the City Council
and demanded that the city defund the booster group
because of its poor track record.

Zack Matheny violated his oath of office by applying for the job
as a sitting council member,
and the rest of City Council didn't have a problem with it.

Matheny sent a series of malevolent text messages
to one of the speakers, implying that he saw no reason
to ever support the citizen's projects again,
and that the two would henceforth be at odds
due to the property owner deciding to speak out against DGI.

And DGI hired Zack anyway.

In the text messages
Matheny directly stated that the criticism
jeopardized his potential employment with DGI.

Matheny says in his resignation announcement
that he wants to avoid a conflict of interest,
but that time is too far-gone.

Maybe City Council and DGI believe that if Mayor Nancy Vaughan
can make money from Greensboro's taxpayers 
funneled to her husband Don
via free methane for Wilbur Ross  
while Nancy served on the Sold Waste Committee,
it was okay for Zack to unfairly use his position as City Council member
to land the top DGI job.

Very few in Greensboro believe
that DGI has a rationale for existence.

...the cauldron of conflicts of interest
remains bubbling just below the surface.

Councilman Zack Matheny 
announced that he would apply for the CEO position
even before the search began.

Eric Ginsburg

The trend among Greensboro's elite
is to lead cheers for "all the good things going on in Greensboro."

Absent critical analysis of relationships,
motivations and outcomes by the city's press,
boosterism is about all the city's public discourse amounts to.

Zack Matheny violated his oath of office by applying for the job
as a sitting council member,
and Keith Debbage and the News and Record is on board with it.

Matheny is ...also known as the ultimate insider.

Does Downtown Greensboro need another puppet on a string
controlled by one or two uber-powerful real estate interests?...

Yes Weekly's Jeff Sykes
June 10, 2015
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Blatant Roy Carroll / John Hammer Rhino Times Propaganda

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2014/12/blatant-roy-carroll-john-hammer-rhino.html

News and Record and Carroll Company's John Hammer on City Council shake up

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/01/news-and-record-and-carroll-companys.html

How to purchase City Councilman Jamal Fox, by Marty Kotis among others

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/01/how-to-purchase-city-councilman-jamal.html

Democracy and a free press no longer exists in Greensboro, North Carolina

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/03/democracy-and-free-press-no-longer.html

Ivan Saul Cutler's Nancy Hoffmann Propaganda

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/05/ivan-saul-cutlers-nancy-hoffmann.html

If developers pay for water and sewer extensions, why did we just pay for Roy Carroll and Marty Kotis'?

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/06/if-developers-pay-for-water-and-sewer.html