5 Long Years, Greensboro's Got The Blues

If you've got a problem you deal with it, right? Well click on the maps on the left and take a look at the lack of opportunity in East and South Greensboro, even in District 5, as documented by the  US Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2010.

And 5 long years is being generous as it's now 2016.

So what has the Greensboro City Council done to solve the problems of opportunity in Greensboro since 2010?

They decided to spend $67.5 Million Dollars on a performing arts center. No, wait, the PAC is located Downtown in a green area shown to have Very High opportunity.

They invested in Honda Jet. No, that out at PTI in another green area.

They gave away money to Procter and Gamble in... No, Bryan Park is located in another green area.

Union Square? Nope downtown is still green.

And look at the tiny green areas located in Districts 1 and 2 while keeping in mind these maps are all from 2010.  What was it the City paid to move from Revolution Mill to the old Carolina Steel Building not long ago? Oh yeah, the Nussbaum Center.Why do you put a City funded business incubator into a part of the city that is already rated Very High in its Comprehensive Opportunity Index Score instead of putting in in a place with a very low score?

What about Revolution Mill, that's in East Greensboro? The City gave money to Revolution Mill. Well I guess you call call that the exception that proves the rule except that Revolution Mill is only like 6 city blocks from Greensboro's richest neighborhood, Irving Park where the founders of Revolution Mill once lived in their mansions in what remains North Carolina's richest neighborhood.

And one of those green areas in East Greensboro is an Roy Carroll owned industrial park where the City secretly invested $Million to install water and sewer without ever bringing the vote before City Council.

But hey, they give money to the Wyndham Tournament every year, that spurs economic development... in Sedgefield, Greensboro's second richest neighborhood. I used to deliver flowers to Oprah Winfrey and Maya Angelou at the same address in Sedgefield circa 2001 -2004. While it's true that both started out poor I hardly think either them or their host was in need of economic incentives by the time I met them.

Hey, I could go on but I think you get the picture: Since 2010 and quite possibly longer, our city leaders have known where the problem areas are but rather than invest in the problem areas they create investment zones and give out incentives and tax breaks to businesses who are investing in areas that are already rated High to Very High in Comprehensive Opportunity Index Scores.

While telling you all along they're working on the problem.

So how did I get my hands on these maps? I found them on the City of Greensboro website where our economic development "gurus" have been keeping them hidden for 5 long years without doing anything about it..

Greensboro, we got the blues and they ain't never going away: