The Renaissance Community Co-op Is Owned By A Rich White Woman

No, I don't believe that but a lot of folks in East Greensboro do.

That's the rumor that was being spread by East Greensboro community leader, Reverend Gayland Oliver who maintains a business relationship with former Greensboro City Councilman Jim Key and is the founder of the community gardens project on Phillips Avenue in partnership with NC A&T University with 2 greenhouses already built and a third greenhouse planned.

Oliver knew better. He knows everyone involved with the founding of the RCC.

Could such lies have contributed to the downfall of the RCC which announced today it will be closing on January 25, 2019?

Have other local leaders, perhaps other local ministers also worked to turn people away from the RCC?

Why do those who lead us wish us to fail?

And why does the community keep covering for them?

The Secrets Of Northeast Greensboro's Urban Farm Enterprise:: Part 3

If by chance you haven't read The Secrets Of Northeast Greensboro's Urban Farm Enterprise:: Part 1 and The Secrets Of Northeast Greensboro's Urban Farm Enterprise:: Part 2 I recommend you read both before reading my conversation with Gayland Oliver, founder of Eastern Development Growth Enterprises to get yourself up to speed. I've linked all 3 parts together to bring you right back here.

As was noted in the Greensboro News & Record the project was supposed to build 3 Greenhouses on Phillips Avenue funded by NC A&T ($300,000) and the City of Greensboro ($40,000) but 6 years after the project began only 1 greenhouse has been built.

You see, I finally caught up with Mr Oliver via Facebook and managed to ask him some questions. Click on the photos to view full size.

I guess Mr Oliver doesn't want to answer my questions after all.

This is the reason we can't have nice things in East Greensboro. People, black and white, are running off with the taxpayers' money and no one is willing to do anything about it. Not your politicians, not preachers, not law enforcement and not even media.

And most of you chose to remain blind.

Perhaps Mr Oliver would like to talk now.

Update On The Urban Farm Project

Last Thursday I posted my public information request, What's Up With The Community Gardens?  If you haven't read it you'll want to do so and follow the link back to here.

Today I spoke on the phone with Sarah Healy of the City Communications Department and expressed to her how important I believe urban farm projects are to Greensboro and how my efforts aren't meant to destroy this project but are in-fact to make sure it is done right because if this pilot project fails it will be really hard to convince taxpayers to continue to fund such efforts. This project was supposed to already be growing vegetables and ground has yet to be broken.

My concerns are many and can be found in the link above. I don't believe any of my questions are unreasonable. For example: Why wasn't a creek that runs ample water full time, year 'round considered as the first choice for watering the gardens instead of installing a city water connection, meters and a bill for processed water that plants don't really like as well in the first place?

I know, I've been growing vegetables all my life. Any farmer with good free water on his property would pick that water over water he has to buy.

I also have huge concerns with Gayland Anthony Oliver who has formed the non profit tapped to run the project. The list of non profits to which Mr Oliver is a primary includes:

Empowering Neighborhoods, CDC-- the group that along with Skip Alston and Jim Key, worked to steal the Bessemer Shopping Center away from our community.
Center City Park
Noah's Ark (Home for Youth) which is listed by the Chamber of Commerce as a general contractor.
Southern Pilot Ins Co.  (Not a non profit)
Triad Centers For Youth, Inc
Century Janitorial Services Inc (For profit)
Life Changing Family Care Home, LLC
 Life Changing Experience Outreach Ministries
The Athletic Success Program Inc
Century Medical Supplies Inc (For profit)
Eastern Development Growth Enterprize, Inc, (A for profit that was converted to a non profit.)
Keystone Youth Services Inc
United Cornerstone School of Divinity



Most of these non profits are run out of single womens' homes.

Did I mention Mr Oliver had been arrested on charges of insurance fraud or that one of his business partners is former Greensboro City Councilman Jim Key?  Being arrested for insurance fraud is a pretty big deal when you just happen to be a Certified Financial Advisor.

Greensboro Councilman Zack Matheny actually accused Oliver of soliciting kickbacks a few years ago.

The City of Greensboro hasn't answered my questions but Sarah works hard and I've little doubt she'll soon get the answers we need so that this project can be a success instead of a failure.

More Bessemer Shopping Center, RCC Shenanigans

Just got the following e-mail:

"To All,

If you are interested in finding out more information about the 501c3 for the Community, please see attached email.

I have also attached a email that is important if you are a Veteran."

Empowering Neighborhoods, CDC.pdf    Empowering Neighborhoods, CDC.pdf

Benefits Event Flyer GSO Aug 22 2013.pdf"

So I replied back:

"I'm more than a little bit confused. I just searched the NC Secretary of State website for Empowering Neighborhoods, CDC and as you can see by the following link the State of North Carolina has no record of the existence of any such 501c3 or any other corporation non profit or for profit by that name: http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations/searchresults.aspx?onlyactive=OFF&Words=STARTING&searchstr=Empowering%20Neighborhoods,%20CDC

Seems to me the first step would be to register with the State of North Carolina in order to keep everything legal and above board. This is how business is usually done. Would it be possible to tell us who the members of the board of directors are, what are their titles and who the registered agent is? I, for one, am very leery of getting involved with faceless corporations be the for profit or non profit and I'm quite leery of giving them control of a neighborhood in which I've resided for the last 57 years just 3 blocks from the Bessemer Shopping Center.
 

I've also little doubt I'm not the only one receiving this e-mail who would like to know who these people are who are trying to take control of our co-op and our shopping center without first asking our opinion of the matter and no matter who you believe should own the shopping center in the end you cannot honestly make the claim that this process has been handled in a democratic and above board manner.

And finally, for those of you who would like to catch up on the story I invite you to read the almost 50 stories I've written to date IN SUPPORT of the RCC and pointing out the corruption that has hindered this process for so long. Simply start at the following link and read backwards: http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/search/label/RCC

I'll be awaiting your response.
Thank you -Billy Jones, your friendly freelance, neighborhood Tyrannicide."

We'll see where Skip Alston, Jim Kee and Gayland Oliver go with this one.

Gayland A. Oliver Update: A Center City Park Connection?

Some as yet unverified but very interesting notes from a Tyrannicide in training preparing for a first kill in just a few days from now plus a few things I was able to verify:

"The following link shows Gayland Oliver as the principal for Center City Park.
http://www.corporationwiki.com/North-Carolina/Greensboro/center-city-park/91107248.aspx

The address you provided 11 glendale oaks ct is interesting. May be by coincidence but there is a Oliver Ct. and Oliver Dr. when viewed on Google Map. http://goo.gl/maps/65Lzj Mac Sims lives on Crawford Ct.

I also found Gayland associated with Noah's Ark (Home for Youth) 340-4252  http://www.manta.com/c/mt942t3/noah-s-ark-home-for-youth  no website listed as a private company under Home Builders. Even though I never found any info on this Ark, There is a Noah's Ark Investment Club.00/00/1990"

If you search long enough and hard enough you will discover that Noahs Ark (home For Youth) is listed as a member of the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce under general contractors. I noted that not only because of it being unusual for a home for youth to be a general contractor but because Noahs Ark (home For Youth) has never been listed with the NC Secretary of State or the City of Greensboro Business Privilege License Lookup. Neither was  Lisa A Morrison, Phillip Barnhill, Shannon Marcel Smith or anyone by the name of Kee. That's right, it would appear District 2 City Councilman James "Jim" Kee does not have the required Business Privilege License to operate his business here in the City of Greensboro.

Oops! Wonder what else the autopost knows about Councilman Kee?

And let's not forget that the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce, the Greensboro Partnership, Action Greensboro, the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance and others all merged in 2005 though they continue to use separate names for reasons even their people cannot explain or in some instances understand.

"Farmers Market
http://www.locallygrownnews.com/greensboro/stories/Greensboro-City-Council-Names-Farmers-Market-Review-Committee,27658

The listing for Dr. Gayland A. Oliver on S. Elm is interesting. What dr. doesn't list themselves in the telephone book. 620 S. Elm St has been on my radar as I've seen it used many times with different people over the last several yrs.
http://www.healthgrades.com/physician/dr-gayland-oliver-g7tjy "

620 S. Elm St is the old Blue Bell building, once the home to Wrangler Jeans and is subdivided into lots of different offices. It can get very confusing with so many in the same building. Try not to have any friendly fire incidents and we'll be okay.

"Hubby and wife filed bankruptcy in 2012 (Oliver)

Shannon Marcel Smith and Phillip Barnhill share the same 1921 New Garden Rd. ( The same Shannon M Smith from 11 Glen Oaks Ct according to the guilford county tax records). This may be a stretch but there is a Southern Pilot Ins Co listed at the 1921 address. The BBB has put an alert on the business. I believe the New Garden property are apartments but all is to coincidental. 336-545-4559 is the number listed for the business but I didn't call it.

Tootles!"

Interestingly enough, Phillip Barnhill came up just last week while looking into the East Market Street Development Corporation. If you haven't read it already click on his name to read what the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation thinks of Phil Barnhill. It ain't pretty.

I did some checking with the NC Secretary of State concerning Gayland A. Oliver and Center City Park.  The various filings do not list him but Action Greensboro failed to file annual reports for City Center Park from 2003 until 3/12/2007. Yes, as a "non profit" Action Greensboro as a is exempt from filing annual reports but Center City Park is a for profit corporation and is therefore is required to file annual reports. How many Greensboro citizens realized Center City Park, recipient of countless thousands of city tax dollars annually and zero tax generator, is in-fact, a for profit corporation?

As an aside, I discovered that Keith had Gayland A. Oliver on his radar 3 years ago during the landfill debate. Seems Oiliver and others were called out publicly by Greensboro City Councilman Zack Matheny for attempting to secure kickbacks for themselves in the White Street Landfill deal.

I looked up Southern Pilot Ins Co. You're going to love this. Remember Pilot Life and Jefferson Pilot? Yep, according to the NC Secretary of State, Southern Pilot Ins Co http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations/Corp.aspx?PitemId=4996021 was a name once used by those companies. Are Mac Sims, Shannon Marcel Smith, Phillip Barnhill, Lisa A Morrison, Gayland A. Oliver and possibly Jim Kee opening up an insurance company using the same name as once used by one of Greensboro's insurance giants?

This should be fun to watch. Especially being that all these names are still owned by Greensboro's biggest insurance giant, Lincoln National Corporation. Surely someone reading this blog has an e-mail address at Lincoln Financial and would like to forward this post their way. An insurance scam of this sort possibly involving a seated city councilman would no doubt bring the Feds to look at all of Greensboro city government.

Let's clear their names... or hang them... Personally, I couldn't care one way or the other. And allow me to remind you these are the people that helped get Robbie Perkins elected 2 years ago.

Eastern Development Growth Enterprise, Inc And Jim Kee

That's one of the corporations run by Gayland Oliver of 4214 LORD JEFF DRIVE in GREENSBORO NC. Another is Triad Centers For Youth, Inc.

Triad Centers For Youth, Inc was incorporated as a for profit business corporation by Gayland Oliver and Lisa Morrison on the 22nd of August 2007. At that point in time the address was listed as 4900 Shady Pine Drive, Greensboro, NC. 27455.

At some point in time, 11 Glendale Oaks Court, Greensboro, NC. 27406 was added to state filings as the principal office mailing address while the Shady Pine address remained the principal office street address. 11 Glendale Oaks Court is a residential dwelling that has been owned by Shannon M Smith since June 6,2000.

Throughout the years there were sporadic efforts made at filing annual reports with the last filing being in May of 2010. In May of 2013, the NC Secretary of State suspended Triad Centers For Youth, Inc.

Other businesses that have come and gone or are otherwise suspect involving Gayland Oliver include:
CENTURY JANITORIAL SERVICES, INC http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations/Corp.aspx?PitemId=8731937http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations/Corp.aspx?PitemId=8731937 in Thomasville, NC.

Life Changing Family Care Home, LLC http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations/searchresults.aspx?onlyactive=OFF&Words=STARTING&searchstr=Life%20Changing%20Family%20Care%20Home,%20LLChttp://www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations/searchresults.aspx?onlyactive=OFF&Words=STARTING&searchstr=Life%20Changing%20Family%20Care%20Home,%20LLC is associated with Life Changing Experience Outreach Ministries http://www.lifeceom.org/#!lifechome/c1xu8 where Minister Gayland Oliver and Reverend Stephanie Oliver appear to run the entire show. And apparently it is just a show as  Life Changing Experience Outreach Ministries appears to have no state or Federal records of any kind any where.

THE ATHLETIC SUCCESS PROGRAM, INC. http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations/Corp.aspx?PitemId=4842952

CENTURY MEDICAL SUPPLIES, INC. http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations/Corp.aspx?PitemId=7991024 a for profit which is most likely in violation of City of Greensboro zoning ordinances as the address listed is 4214 LORD JEFF DRIVE GREENSBORO NC 27405 and appears to be in violation of City of Greensboro tax codes as zero results returned for Gayland Oliver, Gayland A Oliver or Gayland Anthony Oliver at the City of Greensboro Business Privilege License Lookup. http://www.greensboro-nc.gov/index.aspx?page=2402

EASTERN DEVELOPMENT GROWTH ENTERPRISE, INC. http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations/Corp.aspx?PitemId=9637380  was a for profit which has since been converted to the non profit EASTERN DEVELOPMENT GROWTH ENTERPRISE, INC. http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations/Corp.aspx?PitemId=9552284 and appears to have disappeared or is about to disappear with $41,000 in funding slated for community gardens on Phillips Avenue and Lombardy Street.

And low and behold, KEYSTONE YOUTH SERVICES, INC. http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations/Corp.aspx?PitemId=9036713 4411 BELFIELD DRIVE GREENSBORO NC 27405, which according to the Guilford County Registar of Deeds is owned by none other than James W Kee Jr and his wife, Talma T Kee of 4301 LORD JEFF DRIVE. http://taxweb.co.guilford.nc.us/CamaPublicAccess/PropertySummary.aspx?REID=0079252&pageIndex=0 And just in case you don't know, James W Kee Jr is known around Greensboro as District 2 City Councilman, Jim Kee. As a matter of fact: according to the NC Secretary of State website, Jim Kee and Gayland Oliver are business partners in the venture.

And when City Councilmen have business relationships with people who are recipients of public funding or in this case, city owned property, that's just a little too cozy for open and honest government. Especially when the councilman's partner has a history of assault on a female, insurance fraud and obtaining property by false pretense http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2013/06/but-wait-it-gets-better.html and whose mother operates an unregistered non profit. http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2013/06/hope-valley-outreach-neighborhood.html

And I haven't even gotten around to searching for why Gayland Anthony Oliver https://npiregistry.cms.hhs.gov/NPPESRegistry/DisplayProviderDetails.do?searchNpi=1457534711&city=&firstName=&orgName=&searchType=ind&state=&npi=1457534711&orgDba=&lastName=&zip  left the good life behind in Arkansas. Anyone know where he got his health care degree from? Who wants to bet it's not a real accredited university?

So tell me Jim, my search began with 2 developers who were given the Bessemer Shopping Center and $2 Million Dollars in taxpayer funding, lead us to discover that the Greensboro Inn was secretly traded for the Bessemer Shopping Center, alerted me that the sale by the Redevelopment Commission to build the Dollar General on Phillips Avenue was in violation of the covenant signed with Family Dollar and now leads me through a long list of names straight back to James W Kee Jr... What am I going to find when I start running your name through all those many search engines?

Like I noted on Friday, Councilman Kee, it's time you tendered your resignation from the Greensboro City Council. After all, like my daddy taught me when he was raising me right here in Northeast Greensboro not even 1/2 mile from Jim Kee's house, you are known by the company you keep. And you, Councilman Kee, are in the company of charlatans.

What evil lurks in the heart of men? The Autopost knows.

Hope Valley Outreach Neighborhood Association

Ever heard of them? The Hope Valley Outreach Neighborhood Association isn't on the list of Unincorporated Non Profits in North Carolina nor are they listed by the North Carolina Secretary of State in any way, shape or form and yet this Dec 30, 2012 report on an incident in the Hope Valley Neighborhood in East Greensboro identifies Mary Oliver as the president of the Hope Valley Outreach neighborhood association.

That's interesting as Mary Oliver's son is believed to be Reverend Gayland Anthony Oliver who apparently disappeared with $41,000 in city funds slated for the Phillips Avenue Neighborhood Gardens project after previously being charged with  insurance fraud and obtaining property by false pretense.

Ms Oliver is an old woman so I'm willing to give her the benifit of a doubt thinking perhaps her son, Gayland tricked her in these matters but then I hear she's been very active in getting votes for Mayor Robbie Perkins and that funding recently slated for the Hope Valley Outreach Neighborhood Association is already being planned to be used to pay for a beach trip for Ms Oliver and Hope Valley Outreach Neighborhood Association board members.

I can't help but wonder, is Robbie Perkins and the rest of the East Greensboro political establishment buying votes with trips to the beach, backroom  land swaps, illegal real estate deals and neighborhood gardens where nary a seed is ever planted?

And isn't it amazing how all of this resulted from my trying to find out simple answers to a simple little question asked on June 8, 2013 upon which I still have gotten no response, no denial and no rebuttal from the City of Greensboro concerning corporations that are cheating the city out of tens if not hundreds of thousands of tax dollars per year?

How many more will be buried before this is over? The total I can't say but the autopost is already loaded with several more names, some you know and some you might not.

But Wait It Gets Better!

Remember I told you of how Reverend Gayland Anthony Oliver had been given $41,000 in economic development funds for East Greensboro that apparently never reached the ground? (Being the money was for an urban gardening project that's literal and figurative.) Well as luck would have it, a year before he was given the money by the City of Greensboro he was arrested on charges of insurance fraud and obtaining property by false pretense. That's pretty bad when you also claim to hold:

"several professional accomplishments including designation as a Certified Financial Advisor; eleven years experience in diversified management; and is a qualified mental health professional. In 2001, Gayland earned his Life and Health Insurance License and multiple Securities licenses including his Series 7, Series 66, Series 3, and Series 31 designations."

In case you've ever wondered why it is that Northeast Greensboro seems to fail at every turn, this, my friends, is what the Greensboro City Council and Greensboro's elites give us for economic development in Northeast Greensboro. Mr Oliver is the 3rd fraudulent "non profit" organizer I've pointed out on this blog currently operating in Northeast Greensboro this week. And in every instance I stumbled upon the crooks while looking for something or someone else.

Did The illegal Greensboro Inn, Bessemer Shopping Center Swap Kill The Phillips Avenue Community Garden?

Last winter the City of Greensboro and NC A&T University began circulating e-mails asking for suitable locations for a community garden on City Owned property on Phillips Avenue. I e-mailed Greensboro City Manager, Denise Turner Roth using my e-mail address recyclebill@gmail.com and suggested the unused and unpaved portion of the Bessemer Shopping Center. I even told her where I could get chain link fencing and many supplies for free.

I never got a reply from the City Manager. Rude bitch! If I offered to get you a free chain link fence wouldn't you at least say thank you? If memory serves me right I might have also suggested low cost water storage tanks like the ones I use in my garden.

Shortly thereafter, a professor from NC A&T University came to speak at one the early Renaissance Community Co-op meetings to tell us of his plans to bring community gardens to Phillips Avenue.

It's June now and I'm harvesting sweet red tomatoes from my own garden but when I ride my own 150 mile per gallon prototype Wackemall moped up and down Phillips Avenue from one end to the other I can find nothing that looks like a community garden.

Last Thursday, June 13th, I sent what I thought was a simple public information request to the City asking for the location of the Phillips Avenue community garden. Honestly, at that point, as one who grows vegetables and herbs in surplus US Army rocket launchers in my front yard, has backyard chickens and has devoted half my backyard to a vegetable garden since before I was old enough to pull the starter cord on the garden tiller, I honestly wanted to see a community garden, perhaps even help.

But a week later and still no reply from the City of Greensboro-- why?

Then a few minutes ago after making a joke with someone over at NC A&T about my making the City Staff paranoid it hit me: What if the only available site for a community garden on all of Phillips Avenue was in fact the very site I had suggested?

I started doing some online searches and came up with 4 NC A&T community garden projects. Problem is: None of them are in Greensboro.  As a matter of fact, the closest to Greensboro is an hour away in Durham. And the closest community garden in the state directory is Kernersville.

So did the illegal Greensboro Inn, Bessemer Shopping Center swap kill the Phillips Avenue Community Garden? I don't know but one would have thought the City would have replied by now if there really is a Phillips Avenue Community Garden? And if there isn't a Phillips Avenue Community Garden then we've just one more example of how Downtown and filling the pockets of Greensboro's elites take president in the minds of Greensboro's "leaders" over the needs of Greensboro's poor and working class. The very food from our children's mouths! Is there nothing they won't steal from us? Nothing?

 Update: It just doesn't add up. I got a reply today (below) after posting above but if the City already had all of those properties then why did they send out e-mails last winter asking the community where available properties might be located?

Here's a little info on Mr Gayland A Oliver you might find interesting.

Update 2

According to this 2012 page on Minister Gayland Oliver he "co-opened Triad Centers for Youth, Inc in 2009 and continues to manage the daily operations of the home" but according to the NC Secretary of State, the Triad Centers for Youth, Inc operated by "Minister Gayland Oliver" was suspended by the State of North Carolina in 2007, five years before the "minister's" web page was last copyrighted.

I'm wondering what was known about Mr Oliver before the City of Greensboro gave him $41,000 Dollars and how it was that he happened to leave the "non profit" school he co-founded in Little Rock, Arkansas? And I'm wondering if the good minister is still running the Triad Centers For Youth, Inc out of his home? Must be tough with all those kids in the house.