Barber Calls It Right

I just wanted to go on record as saying despite all the bad things I've had to say about Councilman Mike Barber his call to back out of the Million Dollar contest giveaway approved by the previous city council led by then Mayor Robbie Perkins is the right call to make. I've got plenty to be upset with Barber about without inventing something new and besides I've stood in marked opposition to this scheme since the beginning or very near the beginning.

"At the work session, half the council members — Marikay Abuzuaiter, Mike Barber, Sharon Hightower and Tony Wilkins — said they would like to explore pulling out of the program altogether.

“I suggest we pull the plug on it in the next five minutes,” Barber said.

He wasn’t on the council when Greensboro sought and was awarded the grant — but he said that as he learned the details of the program, he concluded it was “a stinker.”

Barber said he didn’t realize that the ideas wouldn’t have to come from Greensboro residents but could come from anywhere.

 

“I’m not interested in paying somebody in Brazil to figure out ideas for Greensboro,” he said.

“We can go on the Internet and read about great Brazilian ideas — I can think of a few of them that I can’t mention right now,” he said.

Barber said he also could think of better uses of the city’s $250,000 matching money than for ideas that might not pan out or that the city might not be able to afford.

Wilkins agreed.

“It doesn’t make sense to me to put $250,000 from our economic development fund into a wishing well,” he said.

Mayor Nancy Vaughan said the city should stick with the program."

Mayor Nancy Barakat Vaughan, on the other hand, continues to be Perkins in drag doing exactly as Robbie Perkins did in supporting the project giveaway despite the fact that Greensboro is filled with people offering up the same ideas free of charge if only she were willing to listen.



Truth be told, Greensboro could build or do anything good, bad or ugly, win, loose or draw, a bridge to nowhere... anything no matter how stupid it might sound and as long as the city put someone on Greensboro city streets passing out $1 Million Dollars cash to whoever came walking past each day the end result would be a greater positive economic impact than sending the prize money out of the country.

As for getting the next Federal grant? Greensboro isn't doing anything to help the poor and working class with the money the city already has-- why should we be concerned about grant money that will never trickle down?