Me, I haven't a clue.
But when it comes to who is in charge in Greensboro it wouldn't be hard to paint a picture of some sort of secret society controlling our city. Take for example the post Tactics and Technicalities by Dang:
"As many of you know, I sued the city of Greensboro back in May 2015 for basically having received monies for remediation and rehabilitation of the South Elm Street redevelopment area using my property as the flagship property for the project. Not only were no monies ever spent on my project, i was instead subjected to sabotage and harassment by some city staffers....most notably, manipulative liar Andy Scott. To date, i am the only entity contributing to the tax base of the South Elm Street Redevelopment Area.
After many motions and legal maneuvers, the city' s second motion to dismiss my case was denied by the judge and the city was ordered to provide documents it had unlawfully withheld for months...the documents withheld were basic documents that should have been easily obtained through a Public information request such as: where did you get the money and how did you spend it?...
On Tuesday January 5th 2016 at 4:54 PM, the city s legal staff and its pack of rabid dogs from the Smith Moore Kennel, dumped 2,500 pages of documents onto my attorney's lap."
I'd also like to note that my public information request for those same materials has not been filled by the City of Greensboro. Obviously they have the information gathered but have made no effort to fulfill my PIRT or explain to me why they haven't.
Looking more and more like a secret society every day with Greensboro Mayor Nancy Barakat "Grasshopper" Vaughan wearing the big, funny looking hat-- wouldn't you agree?
Still not convinced? Check out my own story Greensboro Makes Another Meaningless List?
My word isn't good enough for you? The check out Press release deciphered: City Council going to a Charlotte Hornets game by Roch Smith jr:
"That just happens to be the time and location of the tip-off for the Charlotte Hornet’s game against the Atlanta Hawks."
Wonder why they tried to keep that a secret?
And from The Maker Spirit by Fec:
"It has been said that the maker movement signifies the end of Western civilization. After spending 25 years writing software for businesses, I encountered plenty of people dumb enough to disabuse me of any notions of American Exceptionalism. Indeed, after automating the books for an oil company in Liberty, it has been said that I could run a company with a handful of chimpanzees.
Still, what I saw on the videos above surprised even me. Andy Zimmerman is a happy man because with 170 members at $45 per month, the kayak king has struck gold again. Quite simply, it’s young adults undergoing remedial vocational training they should have received in high school. The close proximity to a brewery and coming distillery indicates they should also install a first aid station."
So where did Zimmerman get the money to build The Forge? The answer to that would be one of our own almost secret societies, the Greensboro Partnership, which gets its funding from the City of Greensboro. And who was on the board of directors of the Greensboro Partnership at that time? None other than then Nancy Barakat "Grasshopper" Vaughan. By the way, 170 members at $45 a month comes to $7,650 dollars a month x 12 months equals $91,800 a year. It's hardly a wonder Zimmerman has been buying up the whole block.
Just so you know, some months back The Forge was offered a free Vertical/Horizontal milling machine by my former employer. It's a machine worth thousands of dollars and yes it needed a little bit of work. Six weeks later they had yet to ever come pick it up so my former employer asked if I'd like to have the machine. I borrowed a truck and trailer, hauled it to my uncle's shop in Franklinville and after working on it for roughly 30 minutes and spending less that $20 had it up and running as good as new. This is no little toy as it weighs 2,080 pounds and costs over $10,000 new. But Zimmerman can afford to just turn his nose up at it.
Soon I'll be moving it to Ramseur to open up shop.
Look, a place like The Forge is cool, I like it even. But a solution to our economic woes it isn't and never was, and the fact that Greensboro's economic "gurus" helped to fund it only goes to show their efforts aren't helping us even if they aren't a secret society.
