2. Because the seven lucky recipients of those seven tiny houses must help with the construction of the tiny houses they will most likely not be handicapped despite the fact that Tiny Houses Greensboro has promised handicap access for their houses.
3. Tiny Houses Greensboro has only managed to get zoning approved for their larger houses. So that means it is less than 7 houses. How many? Who knows?
4. According to his Facebook profile, Tiny Houses Greensboro Director, Scott Jones studied leaches at Duke University. Wait, that's not right, Scott Jones studies non profit management at Duke University. But according to his News & Fishwrap Bio, Scott only graduated high school.
Leaches and non profits are almost the same, right?
But wait, I'm not saying Scott Jones isn't who or what he says he is and if you'll continue reading you'll see why.
5. Scott Jones was/is a candidate for NC House District 59 and is, according to his Facebook profile, studying at the Executive Director Academy at Center for Creative Leadership-- something I'm neither able to confirm nor deny. But keep this in mind as I'll get back to it later.
6. Scott and his wife, Robin own and operate Re-Mulch Inc leaving one to wonder who will provide the mulch for Tiny Houses Greensboro. Yes, it is the same Scott Jones. He confirms it at Project Vote Smart.
Hey, the good, the bad and the ugly is what we do.
7. Speaking of the bad, I find it interesting that in a Facebook thread at Greater Greensboro Politics where Scott first interjected himself into my thread in a shameless attempt at self-promotion, he claimed no ties to local developers when in-fact his entire business model including the franchising opportunities he offers are not only tied to but dependent on the housing industry.
You see, Scott, forums and blogs are not your free billboard. It works 2 ways. If you wish to put message out there with no one asking questions or saying otherwise you have to hire and pay nice folk like David McLean of King's English to do it for you. Or any of the other nice folks running marketing businesses here in Greensboro. And if you're seeking free publicity it helps to be really, really open and honest no matter how pushed for time you might be. You see, you did interject yourself into my thread, therefore being too busy is not a valid excuse.
But then real leaders know that.
8. Scott's Linked-in profile shows him as being in the consulting business. Most people in business usually take that to mean one is unemployed.
9. Leaders also don't go around saying things like:
Funny, Scott lists one of his top skills as conflict resolution. You see, Scott Jones is anything but a leader. Scott Jones is a big lug who got lucky and married a strong, smart woman who could take him places. Why even the family business is in her name. According to the NC Secretary of State the status of their business is listed as suspended but it was changed from Scott's name to Robin's name in 2010, two years after its founding. I won't venture to guess why.
But hey, I do believe smaller houses could be a very big part of a solution to the housing problems we face in Greensboro and around the world. I believe that so much that in 2013 I proposed a factory in Greensboro to manufacture tiny houses for Greensboro and the entire region in an effort to create long term jobs and long term, owner occupied housing instead of keeping people trapped in rental properties for the rest of their lives because everyone knows that home ownership and home equity are the real long term keys to breaking the cycles of poverty and homelessness, but no, you'd rather build what amounts to the same old low income housing projects cities like Greensboro have been building for over half a century and simply repackaging it in a new look.
And on February 2, 2015 I wrote:
"Since no one got it the first time 'round I'll explain it again: City Council controls zoning ordinances that determine how small a house can be-- State and Federal codes are much smaller than is currently allowed in Greensboro.
A factory manufacturing these tiny homes would put lots of people to work and be a boon to our local economy.
Communities zoned for smaller homes could be established and organizations could be set up to make financing available.
These houses would be places on permanent foundations like in the picture and not on wheels so we wouldn't be building trailer parks.
Get it?"
I told you, Scott, I'm a killer of Tyrants, the Greensboro Tyrannicide, with 30,000 local readers. My kind don't become leaders, we target the bad ones. Are you stupid? I sued the City without an attorney and won. The Greensboro City Council is scared to death of me and our staff here at EzGreensboro.com. I'm on a first name basis with Congressmen and County Commissioners and you're dumb enough to taunt me? You ain't a very bright boy. I gave you a chance to reconsider and you chose to taunt me after spamming my thread. On my Facebook page? Tiny Houses Greensboro would do well to remove you from their board and reconsider their direction.
So Scott, when you ask, what have I done to help the homeless? I have given my heart and soul to the truth, to showing the world the flawed models people like yourself continue to pursue. Your dream of Tiny Houses only differs from other failed efforts at public housing in appearance only. It's still rental property that traps people in the cycle and keeps them in the system for the rest of their lives while people like yourself continue to prosper and pat one another on the back as if you've changed the world for the better.
And the saddest part is: Considering your claimed ties to the Center for Creative Leadership and their Board of Governors, if you really were a leader you could have made a difference. If the Center for Creative Leadership cared about Greensboro, they could make a difference. They and the companies that make up their board could easily build that tiny home factory on the 500 never before used acres at the White Street Landfill bringing jobs to East Greensboro where they are most needed. And it probably wouldn't require over 20 acres or so.
In the beginning I wrote:
"Too bad Greensboro is run by real estate developers and rich elites who won't allow this to happen. Instead, Greensboro passes a housing bond to make the rich richer and keep the poor paying rent for the rest of their lives:"
The possibility that Scott Jones might get a variance to build 7 houses doesn't change that.
I tried to connect with Scott through his Tiny Houses Greensboro Facebook Page months ago but he simply blew off my concerns that it could be so much more. As always, here in Greensboro we settle for something less.
And thus the reason Greensboro will never again be a great place to live.
Please continue reading What The News & Fishwrap Never Told You About Tiny Houses Greensboro: Part 2
