I saw Brian Higgins at Tuesday night's Greensboro City Council meeting. I wanted to tell him in person what a good job he did addressing Council but he got out before I could catch him. He was right in his concern for the Glenwood Neighborhood where he lives. Like my own Northeast Greensboro neighborhood, Greensboro has never really cared about Glenwood as long as the violence there doesn't overflow into the Greensboro Coliseum parking lot. As for the blight? That just lowers the cost of expanding Matt Brown's fiefdom.
Not too long after Brian first came to Greensboro I warned him about Greensboro's "movers and shakers." Like most newcomers he was clueless and didn't believe me. But now, while Brian might not be ready to say it, Amanda Lehmert's News & Record article, Greensboro waffles on blighted homes indicates to me that Brian Higgins might now be looking at the "nice people" who run Greensboro in much the same way I do.
You see, the minute I learned that Brian and his wife had bought a home in Glenwood several years ago I knew they were in for a hard life. Like my neighborhood, Glenwood has been known as one of Greensboro's most dangerous neighborhoods for the last 50 years. Those Indians on Silver and Oak Streets were bad news for us white boys back in the day and today, while the demographics have changed, Glenwood still has an uphill battle and almost no help from the City of Greensboro. Brian and I don't see eye to eye on very much but Bryan would probably make a pretty good neighbor because Brian doesn't sell methamphetamines, run a liquor house, operate a junk yard in his front yard, run a 24 hour market out of his house or make it a habit of shooting people in the street. He also likes alternative landscaping materials which is cool by me. The fact that Brian doesn't do any of those less desirable things is the reason he's finding Glenwood to be so difficult to live in.
Dude, you really should see the retaining walls and planters I made from surplus US Army rocket launchers. What's that? List of City approved landscaping materials? Do I need to remind the inspectors what comes inside rocket launchers? You know I can see the Mayor's condo from my house, right?
But enough of my picking on Brian. He's got enough worries without me. The fact is: Bryan's Glenwood problems are caused by the same instutional racism and classism that causes the exact same problems across town in my neighborhood. And they continue to exist because the Greensboro City Council remains unwilling to fix them.
Case in point: I provided what could be at least a partial solution to this very problem when I presented my Real Greensboro Economic Recovery Plan to the Greensboro City Council at the Mayor's East Greensboro Summit where Councilwoman Yvonne Johnson proclaimed it an, "Excellent idea!" and the rest of the council agreed.
But no one on the Greensboro City Council plans to pursue excellent ideas. Why?
