We didn't know Mr Quamar's name until this morning as the City of Greensboro was hiding it from us. But as you will note in the article below: Mr. Quamar's partners (those I've found thus far) are not residents of Guilford County or North Carolina and a Dollar taken out of our community and sent to Illinois, Florida or even Charlotte are just as damaging to the local community as a Dollar sent to a foreign country. I've made my point just as I intended to do and thank Roch for helping to clear this up.
Too bad no one from the City of Greensboro ever bother to clear this up almost two weeks ago. Or anything else, for that matter. Instead, they stall our public information requests until after the deals are cut and there's nothing the citizens can do. Begin original post.
In today's News & Record we finally learn the identity of one of the foreign investors Skip Alston brought to the table in his effort to steal the Renaissance Community Co-op from my Northeast Greensboro Greensboro Community. Only this time they're up to the same tricks in the Ole Asheboro Neighborhood.
Shehzad Quamar wants to build a sub shop, laundromat and beauty supply store on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. But just as he proposed for the Bessemer Shopping Center, Shehzad Quamar is proposing a monopoly there.
I've asked the City of Greensboro to verify the citizenship of Shehzad Quamar and his partners and almost 2 weeks later I've yet to get an answer. The proposal put before the City Council for the redevelopment of the Bessemer Shopping Center didn't even include their names-- only the name of an LLC that had yet to be listed with the State of North Carolina. One can only assume I am correct. I must prove US citizenship to be hired as a truck-driver in Greensboro, the very city in which I was born and raised. Is it too much to expect the same from people who will be taking money away from our communities?
Why is it Shehzad Quamar has yet to tell us who his partners are? Do the citizens of Ole Asheboro, Bessemer and the rest of Greensboro not deserve to know who they are dealing with, who is getting taxpayer dollars and who will be profiting from their purchases? When I do business with locally owned businesses I know who gets my money and I know he or she will reinvest in my community. The failure of businesses to reinvest in the communities where they make their profits is the #1 and largest cause of the destruction of our communities nationwide.
And yet Greensboro government, including the Greensboro City Council and the Zoning Commission are ready, willing and able to support the economic destruction of our neighborhoods while making statements like:
“To get things to change, it has to start locally. It has to start with people who are willing to take risks. It has to start with people who know the market, who know their clients,” said Russell Parmele, zoning commission member. “Mr. Quamar isn’t going to change the world with this little development, but I think it’s a place to start.”
How does a clown like Russell Parmele get on the Zoning Commission in the first place? Shehzad Quamar will take more money out of our community than he will return-- lots more.
Then there's the notion that Quamar's store might put the Quick Save out of business. Does anyone remember that when the Zoning Commission voted to put the Dollar General on Phillips Avenue, it was noted there is a Family Dollar just a block down the street and that in most instances competition increases business. Why do you think Lowes and Home Depot almost always locate as close to each other as possible?
Has anyone bothered to ever to a study on how much convenience stores actually add to the economy? I'd venture to guess if the store is locally owned there is some positive economic impact but if not locally owned the economics will never be enough to offset the problems created.
So I looked up Grab N Go at the NC Secretary of State website. Seems there are several across the state. Grab N Go appears to ba a Huntersville, North Carolina limited liability corporation. Already, the profits are going to Mecklinburg County (Charlotte) and not staying local. Is this how Greensboro's "leaders" plan to keep up with Charlotte in the economic development game?
And that's assuming Grab N Go's owners are US citizens. If not the negative impact is even worse as the profits pass through Charlotte to no telling where. Remember: while Shehzad Quamar has told us he has partners he has yet to tell us who his partners are. What we do now know is that Shehzad Quamar has corporate officers in Illinois and Florida so there's little doubt the profits will not leave town. And again, best case scenario is these are all US citizens.
You know, what the Ole Asheboro Neighborhood needs is a grocery store co-op in a building owned by the community. Hold your ground long enough and the developers will lose enough money they'll be forced to sell the land dirt cheap. Then with help from Deep Roots Market and the Renaissance Community Co-op, the Ole Asheboro Neighborhood can have what you really need and not what someone else thinks you're willing to settle for.
Or you can live with life the way it's been for the last 50 years that I remember it being here in Greensboro's working class neighborhoods. Your call.
