Renaissance Center Almost Filled

The Renaissance Shopping Center, located at the intersection of Phillips Avenue and Elwell Avenue, only has one space still available for rent.

After years of resistance from city government, it appears the Renaissance Community Cooperative Grocery Store and the residents of northeast Greensboro's Bessemer Community, with much help from the Fund 4 Democratic Communities, Self Help Credit Union, and several community groups, have finally accomplished what many have said couldn't be done.

The RCC target goals are being met and radio advertising is already taking place. Television advertising is set to start soon. Excellent coupon deals are sometimes available in the Carolina Peacemaker and other print publications. For example: I recently bought a copy of the Peacemaker in the checkout line at the RCC for .50 cents and immediately used the $5.oo discount coupon inside.

The shopping center has signed leases with a cell phone provider, Cone Health, Greensboro Municipal Federal Credit Union, Lawndale Pharmacy, and others leaving only one space open and available for lease.

Also on the same property is a branch of the Greensboro Public Library and a Family Dollar Store that has faithfully served our community for decades.

This is an example of what can be done when politicians get out of the way and why I'm asking you to Never Ask To Do The Right Thing even after I'm gone.

Renaissance Community Co-op Weekly Sales

The Renaissance Community Co-op Weekly Sales are not, as far as I know, being mailed out every week as bigger grocery chains do but you can get them by subscribing to their newsletter. They also publish their weekly sales to a blog with an RSS feed.

To make it easier for readers of EzGreensboro.com I just added the Renaissance Community Co-op Weekly Sales blog to our blog aggregator on the left hand side of every page of this website.

You don't have to be a member to shop there so come on by and check out our community owned grocery store. I think you'll love what you find there. No, it's not one of those giant grocery stores and not everything is cheaper than the bigger stores but most items cost less and the quality is second to none.

And the money you spend there stays in Greensboro where it enriches the local economy and empowers Greensboro's blue collar working class.

And They Said It Would Never Happen

I popped in at the Renaissance Community Co-op this morning. It's located on the corner of Elwell and Phillips Avenue just around the corner from my house. The Grand Opening isn't until November 5 but the doors are open, shelves are filled and folks are shopping there.

Renaissance Community Coop Gets Nationwide Attention

You know, there's a saying in Greensboro that when Greensboro makes the national media the news is always bad. And frankly, if you're talking about anything the Greensboro City Council or Greensboro's status quo elitists are up to that's generally true but Greensboro is getting to the point where people are saying they've had enough, not asking permission, backing the politicans into their corners and doing it for themselves.

Such an effort has been my neighborhood's Renaissance Community Coop which is under construction and set to open in the Spring of 2016. As a matter of fact: were it not for deliberate actions taken by the current and past Greensboro City Council and local developers we would already be buying groceries there.

But for many that's water under the bridge and this morning I'd like to point you to an article about the RCC in Yes Magazine that includes a great video of my neighbor Leo cooking gumbo.

Rise up, People, take your communities back. Tell the Greensboro City Council and the elite developers they are no longer in charge and the good news will continue to happen.

Is City Council Passing The Buck On The RCC Co-op?

Darryl Baskerville, Chief Organizer of Greensboro for Justice and a USMC veteran bravely posted the following to his Facebook page:

"An argument for the City Council to fund the Ren CO-OP?
Christina Yongue, Goldie Wells, John Robert Kernodle III, Thessa Pickett

From section 3.61 of City Charter: https://www.municode.com/library/nc/greensboro/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=CH_CHIIIMACO_SUBCHAPTER_DCOPODUANOR_S3.61EXPOPOCO

"In addition to other powers conferred upon it by law, the council may adopt and provide for the execution of such ordinances, rules, and regulations, not inconsistent with this charter, as may be necessary or appropriate for the preservation and promotion of the health, comfort, convenience, good order, better government, and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants."

Here's the link to the code Darryl spoke of.

John Robert Kernodle III added:

 "I'd love to combine this very specific point from the charter with the four core values on the city website - especially 'respect'. http://www.greensboro-nc.gov/index.aspx?page=140 "

I've copied and pasted them for you so you don't have to click through:

"The  City of Greensboro’s four core values — honesty, integrity, stewardship and respect — existed long before they were ever written on paper. Our core values were not selected as ways to change our organization. Discovery of the core values was made through a series of exercises to identify what the priorities currently are for the organization. The core values attest to what we believe in.

Honesty

• Being truthful, ethical and principled
• Being authentic
• Taking a stand on important principles
• Disclosing the entire truth

Integrity

• Firm adherence to a standard of values
• Saying what we mean and constantly doing what we say
• Honor
• Trustworthiness and incorruptibility

Stewardship

• Protection and care for community resources for positive purposes
• Accountability for the current and future use of community resources
• Responsibility without possessiveness
• Placing the needs of the whole before one's own ends

Respect

• Treating people with dignity and an attitude of caring and understanding
• Showing genuine consideration for others
• Valuing each individual as an individual"

Thessa Pickett and Christina Yongue made some great comments as well. I love the directness and lack of bullshit Greensboro's youth are showing-- so refreshing compared to the status quo. Like I wrote in How Greensboro Defines Economic Development:

"The truth is: real economic development is putting money in the pockets of the working class by providing them with good paying jobs. If you do that the tax revenue will follow and the cart will no longer be in front of the horse.

Anything else is an economic cost Greensboro must bear in the long run."

The RCC is putting jobs where they're needed most-- meets the criteria 100%.

I then added to the Facebook thread:

" Interesting, this is the same excuse the City is using to defer cost to fund the RCC to Guilford County. Mayor Nancy Barakat Vaughan, Marikay Abuzuaiter, Jamal Fox, Tony Wilkins, George Hartzman, perhaps you'd like to address this as well?"

As the old folks used to say, I'm tired of waiting on the come. We get our co-op this year or City Council doesn't get reelected-- period.

The Renaissance Community Co-op is over a year behind where we could have been because of the shenanigans of the Greensboro City Council, Skip Alston, the East Market Street Development Corporation and other political operatives here in Greensboro who conspired to steal it away from us. We've raised $1.2 Million Dollars on our own and would have raised more had City Government not been working to break us. Tell City Council to Fully Fund the Renaissance Community Co-op now! 

I'll update with their responses should they do so.

After all, this exact same Council had no problem giving away $2 Million Dollars for a downtown project based on a falsified feasibility study that none of them want to talk about publicly.

Good News For Greensboro: We Didn't Back Down

Despite the fact that the Greensboro City Council voted to give the Bessemer Shopping Center to Skip Alston and developers who have spent years destroying our working class neighborhoods selling drug paraphernalia and trading food stamps for beer and wine in run down convenience stores all over Greensboro my own Northeast Greensboro neighborhood didn't back down and because of our combined efforts none other than Bill Moyers himself has featured After Years Without a Grocery Store, Greensboro Neighbors Are Building One Themselves — And They’ll Own It by northeast Greensboro resident and my neighbor, Dave Reed.

Read it and understand what it takes to get Greensboro into the media in a positive light. There has been no national attention for the Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts. Nor will there ever be.

Mayor Vaughan and the Greensboro City Council will try to claim this as their own but we all know the real story of the RCC is one in which they were forced to do the right thing.

RCC Membership Launch Party

Join us for our Membership Launch Party!

From my friends at the Renaissance Community Cooperative: Dear RCC Friends, We have just two, days left before our Membership Launch Party Here are the details one more time! What: The RCC is officially kicking off our Membership Drive. Join the more than 100 folks who have already signed up because they believe in this project so much! Come on out to the party and become an owner! Get involved, and bring a friend! There will be music, fun activities, and refreshments! The event will also allow participants to learn about opportunities to volunteer and further connect with the cooperative which promises to bring healthy and affordable groceries to the community-owned grocery store.Participants are encouraged to join the cooperative at the event. A full, lifetime membership can be purchased for $100. For $20 down, one can participate in the payment plan and make payments of $10 per month toward the full membership price of $100. This event is free and open to the public! WHEN: 1:00PM – 4:00PM SATURDAY 4.5.2014 Where: Peeler Recreation Center 1300 Sykes Ave Greensboro, NC 27405 For more information or to volunteer, please call or email Lamar Gibson, Fundraising & Membership Coordinator at 336.686.1292 or rcc.lamar@gmail.com Have a Facebook page and want to RSVP? Click here.

Perkins, Wilkins, Alston And Kee Have No Intention Of Serving Greensboro

It's all right here in this article, City deal to fix up center cracking in today's News & Record included the stated intention to eliminate the Renaissance Community Co-op altogether.

"Mayor Robbie Perkins said the deal’s structure is inherently flawed. A key political element — providing space for a community-run grocery store — should be cut out of the plan, he said.

The city attorney’s office is looking at a potential conflict of interest that could require Councilman Jim Kee, one of the plan’s biggest supporters, to recuse himself before the council’s final vote.

Asked on a scale of one to 10 how confident he is the deal will get done, Alston gave it a five Wednesday.

“There’s been too much conflict already,” he said. “If (the city and neighborhood groups) get too demanding, I think my developers will say, ‘Thanks, but no thanks.’”

 Seriously, Skip, the community wants your developer group to say, 'Thanks but no thanks.' As a matter of fact, from the community to Skip and your group, Get the fuck out of our community! We were well on our way to solving the problem before you came riding in with your pack of outlaws trying to rob us!

Let's not forget that it was Councilman Jim Kee who introduced and pushed for the passage of the deal that would give ownership of the shopping center to Skip Alston's group.

These men are only in it for the money and plan to steal from East Greensboro to maintain their greedy lifestyles. Voting Kee, Wilkins and Perkins out come November will weaken Alston and push him one step closer to financial ruin.



And Wilkins, he voted to give the shopping center to the Skip Alston group along with $2 Million dollars in taxpayer funds. 'Nuff said.

Mayor Perkins Hides Shopping Center Proposals From Greensboro City Council

A snippet of the information I've gleaned from PIRT 2478 from the City of Greensboro. Click on the screen grabs to view full size.

I guess you're wondering what is on all those files.

Meaning The Business Owned By The Developer That Was Given The Bessemer Shopping Center And $2 Million Dollars In Taxpayer Funding Was Delinquent In Paying His Greensboro City Taxes

Just got the following e-mail from Nancy Vaughn in reference to Two More Frogs Come To Greensboro posted Saturday, June 8, 2013. Is it just me or does it seem to you like City staff is hoping they can wait for folks to die before questions finally get answered.

Nancy Vaughan
   
9:55 AM (2 hours ago)
       
to me

Billy, you raised some questions regarding business licenses. Sorry for the delay in returning this information to you.



From: Lusk, Rick [mailto:Rick.Lusk@greensboro-nc.gov]
Sent: Friday, June 21, 2013 3:19 PM
To: Vaughan, Nancy
Cc: Carruthers, Tom; Turner Roth, Denise; Scott, Andrew; Williams, Mike; Shah-Khan, Mujeeb; Westmoreland, Jim; Druga, Marlene
Subject: RE: Any truth to this?



Nancy,

Collections Division staff have reviewed the list of businesses that was included in the blog and a status on each is shown in the Collections Manager’s response below. In general, some of the businesses listed are licensed, others are exempt from licensing by the City, and others are not required to be licensed at this time based on notices received that they are not in operation. We will follow up on several businesses on the list that are not in our privilege license database to determine if they should be licensed. We also identified three additional businesses in our database owned by Shahzad Akbar that are currently licensed.



Let me know if you need any additional information.

 Rick

 Finance Director

Phone: 336-373-2031





From: Childress ,Teresa
Sent: Friday, June 21, 2013 1:00 PM
To: Lusk, Rick
Cc: Druga, Marlene
Subject: FW: Any truth to this?



One of our discovery tools is to review The Business Journal for new filings of assumed names and new corporations.  If a new filing is not listed in our privilege license database we would set that business record up and send a discovery letter requesting they obtain a business license.  Most businesses file for their assumed (trade) name and/or corporation before they start any business activity, so, in some cases these records may be canceled later because business activity never materializes. 



We searched for the corporations listed below in our privilege license (PL) database by business trade name and business owner name. Of the 16 businesses listed, 4 were set up in our PL database but canceled since there was no business activity at the time of notice of cancellation, 1 business was reported closed, 4 have an active license, 4 have not been set up in our PL database and will be set up as a discovery record today, 1 appears to be a duplicate corporation name as listed earlier in the list, and 2 are exempt from a city PL.  Below is the city privilege license status on the corporations inquired about. 

 

A & SONS, INC. – Discovery record set up 2/2/09 but canceled 10/12/09 since they stated there was no business activity at this time.
STOP & SHOP, INC. – Business licensed from 6/16/08 to 4/3/09.  No record of business after they were coded out of business in 2009.  Another businesses (Zion Express) is currently licensed at this same location.
C-STORE DISTRIBUTORS INC – Business has an active license.
A&T INTERNATIONAL INC. – 2 businesses have active licenses under this corporation name.
DSF OF NC, INC. – The Articles of Incorporation filed 10/14/11 indicates the nature of business as Real Estate and would be exempt from a city license.
GRAB N GO #7, INC. – Business has an active license.
S & S OF GREENSBORO, LLC – Filed LLC articles 4/1/13, this record has not been set up in our system.  Discovery record will be set up today.   
STOP&SHOP, INC. – Same name as Stop & Shop, Inc listed above.  Only one Article of Incorporation found in the Secretary of State’s corporation database.
GOOD CARE HOME HEALTH, INC. – Discovery record set up 11/8/10 but canceled 12/17/10 since they stated there was no business activity at this time.
GRAB & GO, INC. - Discovery record set up 2/24/11 but canceled 4/1/11 since they stated there was no business activity at this time.
GRAB & GO 4, INC – Filed Articles of Incorporation 1/30/12, this record has not been set up in our system.  Discovery record will be set up today.
 S & S INVESTMENTS GROUP, INC. – The Articles of Incorporation filed 10/28/09 indicates the nature of business as Commercial Real Estate Leasing and would be exempt from a city license.
S & S PETROLEUM, INC. - Discovery record set up 4/16/13 but canceled 5/20/13 since they stated there was no business activity at this time.
S & S U.S.A., INC. - Filed Articles of Incorporation 9/30/03, this record has not been set up in our system.  Discovery record will be set up today.
GNG #6, INC – Business has an active license.
STOP & GO OF NC, INC. - Filed Articles of Incorporation 4/10/13, this record has not been set up in our system.  Discovery record will be set up today.



Three other licensed businesses listed under the ownership of Shahzad Akbar and corporate names of Ayaan Inc. and Shezi Inc. were found in our PL database in an active status as well.



Teresa Childress, Collections Manager

City of Greensboro

336-433-7276; 336-373-4849 Fax

PO Box 3136, Greensboro, NC  27402-3136

www.greensboro-nc.gov





From: Shah-Khan, Mujeeb
Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2013 10:27 PM
To: Lusk, Rick
Cc: Carruthers, Tom; Turner Roth, Denise; Scott, Andrew; Williams, Mike
Subject: Fwd: Any truth to this?



Rick -



I can't recall who handles privilege licenses but can you ask them to check into the PL status of the businesses that Councilmember Vaughan pulled out of a local blog?



Thanks,

Mujeeb  

S. Mujeeb Shah-Khan

CITY ATTORNEY



OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY



PH: 336.373.2695

FAX: 336.373.2078

mujeeb.shahkhan@greensboro-nc.gov

www.greensboro-nc.gov


Begin forwarded message:

    From: "Vaughan, Nancy"
    Date: June 20, 2013, 10:04:47 PM EDT
    To: "Shah-Khan, Mujeeb"
    Subject: Any truth to this?

    Billy Jones blog
    
    Two More Frogs Come To Greensboro

    Elite Developers Are Greensboro Tax Evaders

    The following businesses have no Greensboro PRIVILEGE LICENSE  http://www.greensboro-nc.gov/index.aspx?page=2402  even though their addresses are all in Greensboro according to the NC Secretary of State:
    A & SONS, INC.
    STOP & SHOP, INC.
    C-STORE DISTRIBUTORS INC
    A&T INTERNATIONAL INC.
    DSF OF NC, INC.
    GRAB N GO #7, INC.
    S & S OF GREENSBORO, LLC
    STOP&SHOP, INC.
    GOOD CARE HOME HEALTH, INC.
    GRAB & GO, INC.
    GRAB & GO 4, INC
     S & S INVESTMENTS GROUP, INC.
    S & S PETROLEUM, INC.
    S & S U.S.A., INC.
    GNG #6, INC
    STOP & GO OF NC, INC.

    What do these businesses all have in common? They all are owned by Shehzad  Quamar and SHAHZAD AKBAR , the two developers who along with Skip Alston,  the Greensboro City Council just voted to give the Bessemer Shopping Center.

    According to the Greensboro News & Fishwrap they own 25 convenience stores  but I could only find 16 businesses listed in their names and not all of those are convenience stores.

    Don't you find it interesting that the Greensboro City Council just gave a $2 Million Dollar forgivable loan to two men who don't pay their taxes to the City of Greensboro?

    According to the State of North Carolina, these businesses all belong to SHEHZAD QUAMAR of 2105 NEEDLE LEAF LANE GREENSBORO NC 27410 and AKBAR, SHAHZAD of 3706 WORTHING CT.GREENSBORO NC 27455. How many tens of thousands of dollars in back taxes do these two men owe the City of Greensboro and how can it be that no one from the City of Greensboro would bother to check on them before this cozy deal was arranged?

    Or was letting Shehzad  Quamar and SHAHZAD AKBAR get out of paying their taxes a part of the deal we never heard about?

    
    

=======================================================
Please note that email sent to and from this address is subject
to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.

So I went back through the information the City Staff returned and made a few notes:

"STOP & SHOP, INC. – Business licensed from 6/16/08 to 4/3/09.  No record of business after they were coded out of business in 2009.  Another businesses (Zion Express) is currently licensed at this same location."

There is no Zion Express listed with the NC Secretary of State. Are Shehzad  Quamar and Shahzad Akbar attempting to defraud the State of North Carolina as well as the City of Greensboro?

"S & S OF GREENSBORO, LLC – Filed LLC articles 4/1/13, this record has not been set up in our system.  Discovery record will be set up today.  "

Meaning the business owned by the developer that was given the Bessemer Shopping Center and $2 Million Dollars in taxpayer funding was delinquent in paying his city taxes.

"GRAB & GO 4, INC – Filed Articles of Incorporation 1/30/12, this record has not been set up in our system.  Discovery record will be set up today."

Meaning the business owned by the developer that was given the Bessemer Shopping Center and $2 Million Dollars in taxpayer funding was delinquent in paying his city taxes.

"S & S U.S.A., INC. - Filed Articles of Incorporation 9/30/03, this record has not been set up in our system.  Discovery record will be set up today."

Meaning the business owned by the developer that was given the Bessemer Shopping Center and $2 Million Dollars in taxpayer funding was delinquent in paying his city taxes. Did I read that right? In business selling gasoline and oil for 10 years and never paid city taxes? And City Council gives them $2 Million Dollars? WTF?

"STOP & GO OF NC, INC. - Filed Articles of Incorporation 4/10/13, this record has not been set up in our system.  Discovery record will be set up today."

Meaning the business owned by the developer that was given the Bessemer Shopping Center and $2 Million Dollars in taxpayer funding was delinquent in paying his city taxes.

We also learn that the business of choice by Greensboro's richest elite-- real estate (developers) are exempt from paying city taxes. How does that slide down your craw? Are you ready to puke? Is that something the City of Greensboro can change? I realize there's a lot of small time operators in the real estate business but guess what? There's a lot of small time operators running restaurants, cleaning houses, repairing cars and busting their asses so Greensboro's real estate industry doesn't have to pay its fair share in city taxes. Remember, these are men like Shehzad  Quamar, Shahzad Akbar, Khan A Khan, Milton Kern, Robbie Perkins,  Roy Carroll and Skip Alston. Time for a change. And anyone in real estate who isn't willing to pay his or her fair share in city taxes is not welcomed in Greensboro.

So it looks like I was right all along when I wrote, "elite developers are Greensboro's tax evaders." In more ways than one.

Skip Alston's Corruption is Known State Wide

It's looking more and more every day like the shopping center deal is going to bury Skip Alston  and I've little doubt Walker Sanders, Robbie Perkins and several more will be taken down with him when Skip starts his plea bargaining.

Don't believe me: Click on the RCC link and start reading backwards month after month after month... You see, Rick Baker, the journalist for The Free Press, has already read it all and comes back every day. He takes the time to wade through my mistakes, verify what I have right and make the case the Greensboro City Council has been hiding from you for months.

And out of town newspapers are any city's worst nightmare.

Correction: It was Stephen Poole who wrote the linked article.

Greensboro's Skip Alston Violates Federal Election Laws

Recent reports in the Greensboro News & Record indicate that Skip Alston threatened to use his position with the Simkins Pac to force members of the Greensboro City Council to vote in his favor

Allen Johnson of the Greensboro News & Record wrote, "Alston, a member of the powerful Simkins PAC, is not-so-subtly suggesting political payback if they don’t go along with his group’s proposal. "

Nancy Vaughn is accusing him.

“I believe there was the implication that if we didn’t support them there’d be negative consequences in November,” said Councilwoman Nancy Vaughan, who plans to run for mayor. “Those words were not directly used, but they were implied.”

So is Marikay Abuzuaiter.

“He said I seriously needed to think about voting for the project with his developers because I needed to think about the election in the fall, and the Simkins PAC would be very upset if I didn’t vote for his developer. It was pretty devastating.”

These aren't just threats, these are violations of Federal election laws. Using groups like the Simkins Pac where Skip Alston is Treasurer, for one's own personal gain is a crime in this country. The Greensboro City council is now legally obligated to call for a State or Federal investigation into the matter. It's not the choice of Council, it's the law: to do otherwise would be dereliction of duty on the part of the Greensboro City Council and cause for impeachment of said Council.

Looks like Hell Day has turned into Hell Week.

Hat tip, George:

Greensboro Council Members Threatened In Bessemer Shopping Center Deal

From JoeyG:

"Allen Johnson reported in his Sunday column (unposted) that Skip Alston threatened council members to get them to approve his sweetheart deal for the shopping center in east Greensboro.  They are representing that he is using his leadership in the Simkins PAC-- and its election year endorsements-- to threaten them.

The council members making these allegations merit no sympathy because they have brazenly sought and obtained the support of the PAC in the past.  And they dishonorably used the landfill issue to do so.  But still, the charges they have made against Alston-- and implicitly against the PAC itself-- are entirely credible."

The only thing that I find shocking is the sudden wave of truth from the News & Record... What in the hell has happened?

Oh, and it's still Hell Day!

The Word Is Out Statewide: Greensboro Is A Corrupt City

Greensboro's political scams are getting the attention of other NC cities. I hear this is the first in a 3 part series. I warned the City of Greensboro repeatedly I could do more damage than they can find PR dollars to fix. They must have thought me kidding. Morons. And this is only the tip of the iceberg as the Titantic begins its cold plunge with nary a lifeboat in site.

Open and honest government could have prevented all of this. Again, my job is done, Tyrannicide has been committed. Now it doesn't matter if I've been right or wrong, the hull has already been breached, is beyond repair and the ship is sinking.

Soon, we'll go national.

Looks Like I Was Right About The Greensboro Inn Swap For The Bessemer Shopping Center

It costs a lot of money to hire professionals to do the kinds of art work demanded by folks like Mayor Robbie Perkins, Walker Sanders and the Community Foundation Of Greater Greensboro. That's why I believe the links you're about to view is probably the real deal. To the top of the picture is labeled New Construction Mixed Use. That's where the Greensboro Inn stands today.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/1oh7_dYing22gWAyRFL-DsOvNO5YOrslcDaznJ3WcAPZ1d-WVDtxdPk3P-AS-/edit?usp=sharing

 https://docs.google.com/file/d/1ZcV6Y1-vSAh3rsZeNoSsVSxXk3RZJJKAF7Nrt130x71hY3uiA6BjSJ4kui5H/edit?usp=sharing

Now read my original post, Tit For Tat: The Greensboro Inn Comes Back  and tell me if you believe I am wrong in saying that Northeast Greensboro, the Renaissance Community Coop and the City of Greensboro as a whole has not been sold out in backroom dealings to benefit developers and key supporters of the Greensboro Performing Arts Center?

Nancy Baracat Vaughn: this is your water, drink!

Imaginary Bessemer Shopping Center Apprasial

George Hartzman contends the sale of the Bessemer Shopping Center by the City of Greensboro was illegal because NC GS 160a-457(4) requires public hearings and no less than 3 appraisals from state licensed real estate appraisers.



As a response to PIRT #2547 (Public Information Request) the City of Greensboro sent Mr Hartzman a copy of the following linked. appraisal.

Notice the first line reads:

Then we have the e-mail conversation between Mr Hartzman and Greensboro City Attourny S. Mujeeb Shah-Khan in which Mr Kahn claims the Greensboro City Council never voted to sell the property. I kid you not.




Seriously? Did hundreds if not thousands of Greensboro citizens not watch the June 4, 2013 City Council Meeting in which the Council voted 5-4 to sell the shopping center to the Kahn investment group for $490,000 plus give the group a $2 Million dollar "forgivable" loan we all know the cons Kahns will never pay back.

And yet the deal makers forge ahead, determined to undermine all that is  right, oblivious to the truth, never answering our questions and explaining it all away just as I heard Goldie Wells say last night, "Those bloggers will write anything." As if that explains it all away.

Yes Goldie, as long as you and yours continue to keep secrets we will continue to write. Funny, a few straight answers and I'd have nothing to do but go back to writing poetry.

A Hidden Bid In The Bessemer Shopping Center Rennovation?

How come no mention was ever made public of J S Mention Corporation? Yes, their bid was higher but what were they offering? Did the public not have a right to know? Assistant City Manager Andy Scott knew.

Good, Better, Best For The Community, Best For Greensboro

Someone suggested to me yesterday that a monopoly owned grocery store (almost every store in northeast Greensboro is owned by the Kahn investment group) would be better for the Phillips Avenue community than no grocery store at all. Perhaps better but not best. And when did it become acceptable to set our sights as Americans to settle for less than the best?

And when did monopolizing entire communities and entire cities become an acceptable business practice in Greensboro or anywhere else in America? The News & Record reported that the Kahn group fronted by Shahzad Akbar, Shehzad Quamar, Dr. Manish Shukla, and  Choudry Buttar will now be given an entire shopping center where they have already announced plans to operate every store in the shopping center.

Perhaps you've wondered why Skip Alston, Shahzad Akbar and Shehzad Quamar balked when they first learned they might have to share the shopping center with the Renaissance Community Co-op? http://renaissancecoop.com/ They balked because they thought trading the Greensboro Inn for the Bessemer Shopping Center was a done deal.

Perhaps you wondered why Skip Alston, Shahzad Akbar and Shehzad Quamar balked when speakers from the floor and city council members questioned why they had not yet formed an LLC with the NC Secretary of State? And perhaps you wondered why Nancy Vaughan, Mayor Robbie Perkins and the rest of the Greensboro City Council allowed the process to continue without requiring Alston's group to disclose who all their investors are? The answer: If someone learned of Mr Kahn's involvement that someone might figure out the Greensboro City Council had not acted in the best interest of the citizens of Northeast Greensboro or the rest of Greensboro.

Two weeks ago the largest crowd in the history of Greensboro appeared before City Council in support of the Renaissance Community Co-op. Tomorrow night, the best thing that could ever happen to Greensboro would be 100 times that amount of people turning out to demand the resignations of the entire Greensboro City Council effective immediately.

Still No Answer From Nancy Barakat Vaughan

Yesterday I finally got an answer out of Greensboro City Council Woman Nancy Barakat Vaughan as to:

"How long do you think it should take City Staff to verify that I am right or wrong concerning the following issue? http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2013/06/two-more-frogs-come-to-greensboro.html "

Her answer: https://www.facebook.com/billy.jones.121/posts/549872141718005

"Because you clutter my page and it's my prerogative."

Does Nancy think she's talking to a voter or her husband? When it comes to concerns of corruption and tax fraud on the part of developers who have just been given $2 Million Dollars of city funds, current city council members and candidates for mayor have but one prerogative: Answer the fucking question ASAP, honestly and with as much detail as you possibly can.


You see, Nancy has forgotten how the system works. Voters make up their minds as to who they plan to vote for based on how candidates answer questions and when candidates get caught dodging questions voters look for other candidates who are more apt to give them satisfactory answers in a timely manner. But alas, like so many of Irving Park elites, Nancy appears to think she's in charge even before she's been elected.

But here we are, 9 days later and still no answer from Nancy Barakat Vaughan, Mayor Robbie Perkins or any other member of the Greensboro City Council. Nine days and no answer? I think you all know the answer: The Greensboro Inn was traded for the Bessemer Shopping Center behind closed doors and Nancy and Robbie wanted it to remain a secret.


Yep, Hell Day started earlier than expected but who's to say Hell only lasts 1 day?

Nancy Barakat Vaughan Proves She Hasn't The Stones, Brains, Or Integrity To Be Mayor Of Dogpatch

Much less Greensboro

By now you've already learned of how the Bessemer Shopping Center and $2 Million Dollars of taxpayer dollars was traded to corrupt developers in a backroom deal for a choice piece of property in Downtown Greensboro upon which to build a privately owned park and the Greensboro Performing Arts Center.

Facebook will no doubt be the end of Councilwoman Vaughan's hopes for becoming Mayor of Greensboro. Problem is: If Nancy gives up Facebook now she's equally doomed. I'll explain.From a Facebook conversation she and I had concerning the failure of the Greensboro City Council and City Staff to properly address the handling of the rennovation of the Renaissance Community Co-op.

 "Billy you are wrong! At the May meeting we instructed staff to come back with a price for the City to rehab. We were told it would take six weeks, I asked them to do it in four. If you were watching the meeting last Tuesday you would have seen that there was NO city option offered. I pushed staff on what that number would be and all I got was a bunch of mambo jumbo because they said they didn't have a chance to go out to the job site and review it in depth. But that they were comfortable we could save some money off of the new Bessemer price But they were not willing to give a dollar value."

To which I replied:

"Nancy wrote, "At the May meeting we instructed staff to come back with a price for the City to rehab. We were told it would take six weeks" So City staff completely disregards an order by the Greensboro City Council, brings back 4 proposals from 2 developers http://www.greensboro-nc.gov/index.aspx?page=4077
and includes NO NUMBERS AS ORDERED BY COUNCIL and you and 8 other council members have no problem continuing with the process and voting to give the shopping center to 2 men who turn out to be tax evaders who owe tens of thousands of dollars to the City of Greensboro. http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2013/06/two-more-frogs-come-to-greensboro.html
Since when did City Council start taking orders from city staff? Rewarding the crooks? Is that how you plan to do things when you become mayor? We'd be better off with Robbie Perkins. Sure he's a crook but at least the guy has brains enough to know what's going on."

And you all know how much I hate Robbie Perkins.

On top of that, she admits that City Staff said the City could do the job cheaper than the developers and yet none of the 9 members of Greensboro City Council including Nancy Barakat Vaughan bothers to make a motion to delay voting until City Staff can come back with real numbers. Instead, Council votes 5-4 to give $2 Million Dollars in forgivable loans to a couple of shady developers with a history of evading City of Greensboro taxes to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. Yeah, like those loans will ever get repaid.


Here is the oppourtunity of a lifetime for any local politican to shine: Corrupt developers seize control of a property Councilwoman Vaughan voted against letting them have, angering local conservatives who are furious that $2 Million in tax Dollars has been given to crooks and angering local liberal who are furious that local elites have stolen a community co-op grocery store right out from under them. And I'm leading the horse to the water.

Astitute politicans live for problems like this. But Nancy won't drink. She thinks it's all about her.

Yep, Nancy was right, I was wrong, Roch reviewed the videos and noted it just as I knew he would. I knew I could count on Roch even without asking. Even without Roch knowing what I was up to. That's what I love about Roch, he holds me to the facts. The City didn't come back with the numbers as they were instructed to do by Council.  To quote Roch,

"staff declined to provide it for consideration at the June meeting and even refused to provide it when asked by Nancy. "

Really, staff refused their bosses? And Council, including Nancy Barakat Vaughan, proved they haven't got what it takes to run a city by letting staff and the criminals get away with it.

In the private sector, none of these people including Nancy Barakat Vaughan, would still have their jobs the next morning but here we are THIRTEEN days later and everyone involved is still on payroll? But then housewives who dabble in politics wouldn't know about those things, would they?

It's called fishing, Nancy. You should take it up. You might learn a few things.

All the while I was dropping hints to Nancy on Facebook. She expressed to some people privatly that she was hurt. Why? Because her ego drove her to believe it was all about Nancy. Those people even asked me to back off on Nancy as a favor to them and I almost did but then I learned even more. It wasn't about Nancy in the beginning but soon it would be.

I first made Nancy aware of the tax issues of the developers chosen by City Council a week ago on Saturday night  thinking that being that as an at-large councilmember who voted against them she would seize on the oppourtunity to show her support for my East Greensboro community. After all, actions do speak louder than words. On Monday night I questioned Nancy again asking,

"How long do you think it should take City Staff to verify that I am right or wrong concerning the following issue? http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2013/06/two-more-frogs-come-to-greensboro.html"

But as you can see by clicking this link https://www.facebook.com/nancy.vaughan/posts/547763645262188  Nancy decided she could make my question disappear and avoid dealing with the issue. Why did Nancy Barakat Vaughan make my simple question disappear? Is Nancy in bed with the developers too?

But at that point in time it was even bigger than I suspected. Nancy was hiding more than I thought possible.

I tried to give her a hint again Tuesday  but she still didn't get it.  I even wrote:

"Damn, Nancy, I'm trying to hand it to you. Do I have to paint you a picture and spell it out? I'm talking about what is going on today and you're bring up ancient history that ain't going to get you squat in my neighborhood." 

To do much more would feel to me like rigging the election in her favor. All the while readers' faith in me was slipping because I deliberatly allowed Nancy to focus her efforts on the smaller issues instead of forcing her to keep her eye on the ball as a compident leader would do without anyone to push or trick him or her into doing so.

But then faith in me isn't the issue, I'm not the one who wants to be mayor of Greensboro nor did I fail to make a motion before Council that could have prevented the city from giving $2 Million Dollars to a bunch of tax cheats.

I wrote this post in advance and checked the newspaper and TV station day after day looking  to see if anyone picked up on the story.  Even after the story grew to include even more shady characters and tax evading millionares the local media and the City Council still didn't utter a word.

I posted my question to Nancy's facebook page again Thursday morning but she managed to delete it before I could get the hyperlink. That's because I was busy doing a screen grab. Lying by ommission is lying just the same. Explain that to your daughter, Nancy. Just because it's politics doesn't make the lies okay. I gave Nancy chance after chance to speak out and do the right thing by Greensboro's working class but instead she chose to hide the very fraud and tax evasion her and the rest of the Greensboro City Council are apparently happy to allow. They figure only a handfull of people will ever read this blog so nothing I write will ever really matter. That's where the rest of you come in. The local media isn't going to cover this story until it has reached every inbox in Greensboro and they're forced to admit it happened. Please send this to everyone you know.

But the story doesn't end with fraud and tax evasion, does it, Nancy?

Nancy Barakat Vaughan's reply as of Thursday, June 13, 2013, five days after I discovered the conspiracy to defraud the City of Greensboro : Crickets... Not a word, not a sound and you can be sure not a single deed in response to the concerns of the voters who just lost $2 Million Dollars to Skip Alston and 3 other shady developers, Shahzad Akbar, Shehzad Quamar, Khan A Khan and most recently, Greensboro City Attorney Sardar Mujeeb Shah-Khan.

This is not how a mayor-- any mayor-- or anyone hoping to become a mayor of any city in a free country responds to concerns of the voters. Mayors don't dodge questions and they don't make those questions go away in the hope that no one will find them. With each passing day the story grows bigger and Nancy does nothing. Mayors act on questions, find the answers, respond with the answers and take action. Nancy Barakat Vaughan did none of those things. Nancy Barakat Vaughan lied.

Actions speak louder than words. It's time this city council got off their fat dais, stopped trying to perfume their bullshit with pretty words and showed us some action. You see, while it might not be about the nail when it comes to Nancy's concerns, when it comes to Greensboro's concerns we want it fixed.

No, it wasn't about Nancy Barakat Vaughan to begin with, but it was Nancy's refusal to act and Nancy's lies of ommission and cover up that made it all about Nancy Barakat Vaughan. But even then I didn't realize the real reason Nancy didn't want folks looking at my links was that it might lead them to the Kahn family who had just traded the Greensboro Inn for the Bessemer Shopping Center to make way for the downtown Greensboro Performing Arts Center at the expence of Greensboro's poor.

By the way, if you're thinking about hiring Bill Burkley for your political advisor... I think Nancy can now tell you he's all washed up, a drunkard and too far behind the times.

 And the notion that City Council Members don't know the outcome before the vote takes place in public view? My June 4, Facebook conversation with Councilwoman Marikay Abuzuaiter during the meeting as I tried to persuade her, Tony Wilkins and Nancy Vaughan to enter a counter motion to sell the shopping center to the community co-op instead. I had to do it in 3 screen grabs to make it all fit.

The comment about TDBS was right after she made her eloquent speech in support of the co-op before she stuck the knife in our backs just as the 8 other council members did that night with lots of pretty words of support while quietly backroom dealing. All 9 spoke out in favor of the co-op, all 9 voted against the co-op twice and gave the shopping center to a group of investors in exchange for a prime piece of downtown real estate chosen for the Greensboro Performing Arts Center and a park to be owned by the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro.

I'm still holding on to hope that Marikay Abuzuaiter is one of the good guys.... I still believe that is the reason those records were "leaked" to Yes Weekly all those months ago. But when every day is a struggle for survival while you stand by and watch your elected leaders give everything that is yours to their cronies, hope wears thin. Knowing what I know now, if I were a young man I'd pick up my guns rather than live the life I've lived all these years.

Don't fear me, fear those who are young and like me... They know what I never knew.