Greensboro's Eric Robert sent the following letter to the Greensboro City Council today. I think we should support Eric in his effort to stop DGI's constant theft and waste of Downtown Greensboro's money:
"Members of Greensboro's City Council, Madame Manager!
I was just made aware that dgi has been inserted in the October 16th' s agenda after the initial official agenda's deadline. I will be out of town during the meeting, so, unfortunately, I will be unable to attend.
Regardless, I have something to say!
I have come in front of you numerous times to inform you of dgi's repeated failures and to remind you of their conscious inability and unwillingness to represent the overall diverse Downtown Greensboro 's population.
They have repeatedly opted for their own board's well being instead of the overall community's...they have repeatedly opted to ignore Downtown Greensboro's less affluent stakeholders only to please a few influential executive board members...I have brought all of this to your attention before, and yet... you did nothing!
dgi is not just one incompetent organization...it is in fact three... downtown Greensboro Inc aka, downtown Greensboro foundation aka downtown improvement corporation: a 501c3, a 501c4 and a 501c6… I thought I was FORCED to support one irrelevant organization and as it turns out I am forced to support three.
dgi has repeatedly failed to fulfill its contractual obligations vis a vis all of us…They not only failed to represent some of us in dispute arising between downtown entities, in most cases, they created the conflicts.
I have brought all of this to your attention before, and yet... you did nothing!
As their economic development contract clearly stipulates:
dgi must: "SEEK TO FIND RESOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS, ISSUES AND CONCERNS THAT MAY ARISE BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONS, PROPERTY OWNERS, BUSINESS OWNERS, GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES AND THE COMMUNITY IN GENERAL, WHICH MAY AFFECT THE WELFARE OF DOWNTOWN"…
Where were they during the noise debate? What about the "food truck controversy"? Did they really have Downtown's welfare at heart? What about the suggested Entertainment facility use ordinance?
The economic development contract also clearly stipulates that dgi must : “PROVIDE FOR THE PROFESSIONAL MANAGEMENT OF VARIOUS PROGRAM AND PROJECTS THAT MAY BE INITIATED BY DGI AND OR FUNDED THROUGH CITY GRANTS,…THIS MANAGEMENT INCLUDES PROGRAM OVERSIGHT AND GENERAL ACCOUNTING”…
Please stop them from taking the $20,000 management fee off of the "Enhanced Projects and Services Contract" , which includes the monies you and all of Greensboro's taxpayers have allocated to Downtown. Stop them from taking the management fees off of the BID funds.
Downtown Greensboro needs it more than dgi, not to mention that we already paid them for such management fees out of the "Economic Development Services Contract"...This could be construed as a misappropriation of funds and should/must be sanctioned by you ,as you are, after all ,the ultimate, elected, responsible, governing body… The BID is simply a taxing district of the city, and dgi ...nothing more than your contractor…a contractor with very questionable MWBE participation, a contractor with very questionable business practices.
I have brought all of this to your attention before, and yet... you did nothing!
Additionally, they repeatedly misinformed you and have misreported their contributions and relevance …last year during the Sept 29th 2011 meeting, they told you that we benefited from $60,000,000 new investment in downtown…an increase of 200% from the year before…that number was a farce…as it included the refinancing of the Wachovia tower , Centerpointe and the new jail ….we all know how difficult these economic times are…the simple truth would have sufficed.
I have brought all of this to your attention before, and yet... you did nothing!
They now (again) want to roll over monies not spent on deserving / struggling businesses (during an economic crisis)...They now want to get rewarded for their leadership 's shortcomings and unparalleled incompetence...They now want to expand their territory...They now expect us to be overlooked (again) simply because they have more political clout...They now want us to pay for their unnecessary move...They now want increased rewards for increased failures!
I am bringing all of this to your attention again... and this time... I hope you do something!....Please...Greensboro deserves better, we deserve better !
Very Respectfully,
Eric Robert
