The Other Heritage House-- Part 2

A continuation of The Other Heritage House

Heritage House Condominiums were inspected by City of Greensboro housing inspectors every year until 2014 when they were deemed unfit to live in by the Greensboro City Council. Strangely enough, Greensboro housing inspectors had deemed Heritage House Condominiums safe to live in that very same year. It was only after the residents of Heritage House Condominiums were evicted from their homes that a third party inspector was called in to deem the building structurally unsound.

And yet four years later the building still stands while City Council tries to figure out how to sell a perfectly usable building they have not yet paid the actual owners for.

Our volunteer staff here at EzGreensboro.com has requested the housing inspection records for the owners of Heritage House Apartments from the City of Greensboro so that we might compare violations between Heritage House Condominiums and Heritage House Apartments. How long will it take for the City of Greensboro to reply to our public records request?

Well allow me to put it this way. In previous attempts to get public records I successfully sued the City of Greensboro after waiting over a year and still waited months. Seems they like to give things time to blow over before they let the facts be known.

But here are the facts we know thus far:

From Fox 8 Smoke alarms not working in apartment where deadly fire happened in Greensboro:

"The Greensboro apartment where a deadly fire happened early Saturday morning had smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms but they were not working at the time of the fire, according to a press release from the N.C. Department of Insurance."

The N.C. Department of Insurance, lead by elected representative Mike Causey, is the State level agency who investigates these sorts of things. Their opinion will stand up in any court in North Carolina.

Also from Fox 8:

"They weren't getting the attention they needed as it related to home repairs," said Walker.

She said the father of the family complained about small fires around the stove three days before the fatal fire."

Now if this can be proven we have the beginning of a criminal case, possibly for negligence or 5 counts of manslaughter. Does anyone know what became of 3 year old Marissa Ayun who got lead poisoning at the hands of the Agapions in 2004?

Greensboro Fire Marshal Timothy Henshaw confirmed there were no working smoke or carbon monoxide detectors in the unit. Also, from the Winston Salem Journal:

"Henshaw said some of the fire extinguishers, which were left on hooks outside the buildings, were missing and that others had faded labels, which he attributed to damage from the weather."

And while Irene Agapion-Martinez, whose family owns the property, claims the property was up to code just 18 months ago the history of the Agapions in Greensboro tell a very different story.


From Eric Ginsburg at Triad City Beat on February 18, 2015:  

"A similar cycle occurred with 2335 Floyd, which was also continued from June, July and August before being upheld in September. It was later rescinded in December after repairs to the entire building, and Irene said all but one unit are rented.

But even though the entire building was supposed to be cleared at the same time, and the inspector’s notes in the city’s online code compliance tracking system says every unit was in compliance, both windows for Apt. F — a unit in the back corner of the building —are currently boarded up."

Were all the apartments in compliance 18 months ago? Were they all inspected? How many of the Agapion's 400 plus properties are death traps, baited and set to kill innocent children?

And then there is this:

"By the end of 2014, 11 entities or individuals each owed the city more than $1,000 under the new fine structure. Some were larger institutions like Fannie Mae, that owed $1,475, while others were limited liability corporations or individual property owners. Three owed the city far more than anyone else. With $346,775 outstanding, the Agapion family is at the top of that list, and they have no intention of paying."

The Greensboro City Council has failed to act against the rich Agapions, the owners of Heritage House Apartments and hundreds of other slum properties here in Greensboro in collecting what is now in excess of $439,000 but had no problem stealing 177 private residences at Heritage House Condominiums over a $49,000 water bill.

"The Heritage House Homeowners Association owes nearly $49,000 on its water bill."

Now do you understand the problem? It's not just the Agapions, it's a complicit Mayor and City Council who bend over backwards to help the rich steal from the working classes.

And the new law suits are soon to start rolling in with your tax dollars paying for every bit of the damage except for the pain in a mother's heart. I can tell you from personal experience, nothing will ever compensate the loss of your children.

The Other Heritage House

Perhaps you remember July 2014 when Ben Holder, a very close friend of Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan, filed a complaint about the conditions of Heritage House Condominiums. Despite the fact that Mr Holder had never set foot in Heritage House Condominiums, the Greensboro City Council took possession of 177 individually owned properties and threw everyone out.

Update: Some have argued with me that Ben Holder did in-fact visit Heritage House in 2014. Ben Holder was well known for his videos in which he always stared, highlighting the many violations he found on the properties he inspected. I challenged Mr Holder to produce evidence to prove he actually went to Heritage House back in 2014. He avoided the question in his response. Four years have passed and still no evidence.

This was at a time when Greensboro was fast becoming the North Carolina city with the highest eviction rate and the city with the 7th highest eviction rate nation wide.

"Nearly 5,000 renters were evicted here in 2016 — the most recent year available — according to a new survey by Princeton University's Eviction Lab. That ranks us seventh in the nation."

But way back in 2008 another Heritage House had previously made the local news in an article titled, Agapion tenants are last on inspection list:

"But there remains the other side of the coin: the shoddy legacy of Heritage House Apartments. The 42-unit complex, which since 1992 has mostly housed Montagnard refugees from Vietnam, has a history of hundreds of major code violations that have continued unabated since Bill Agapion bought the complex in 1963.

And with only five months remaining before the deadline for every rental property in the city to be inspected under the new law, it was business as usual at the three dilapidated buildings in plain sight of one of the city’s busiest intersections.

“It slipped through the cracks,” inspection supervisor Lori Loosemore said in late June during a visit to Heritage House requested by the News & Record. “This would be a good candidate to take before the Housing Commission and get whole buildings under inspection.”

So did it slip through the cracks again? According to Fox8:

"The victims were a refugee family that came to the area from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2016, according to Latosha Walker, North Carolina African Services Coalition operations manager.

Walker said the coalition started to house refugees at at the complex that year, but that stopped just a year later.

"They weren't getting the attention they needed as it related to home repairs," said Walker.

She said the father of the family complained about small fires around the stove three days before the fatal fire."

How many fires would you put out before calling an electrician or other professional to come fix the problem? That's what I thought.

No one died at Heritage House Condominiums but the Mayor and Greensboro City Council took people's homes away from them. These five children aren't the first to die at Heritage House Apartments.  From the linked News & Record article:

"Yet the overall picture is hardly of recent vintage. In 1970 — the year Agapion-Palamaris was born — a group of tenants marched past Agapion’s South Elm office holding a sign: “When does this city plan to do something?”

The answer, presumably, was 2004, when the clock began ticking on the comprehensive citywide inspections. Why then, as of this summer, hadn’t the efforts reached Summit and Cone, the glaring bull’s-eye of the target?"

When does the City plan to do something?

It's now 2018 and still the Greensboro City Council now lead by Nancy Vaughan, fails to hit the target. Inflated crime rates were touted by City Council members to help justify the closing of Heritage House Condominiums but no crime rates for Heritage House Apartments have ever been made public.

Third party inspectors were brought in to access the condition of Heritage House Condominiums after it was closed despite the fact that City of Greensboro inspectors had deemed it safe every year. But across town at Heritage House Apartments it again appears that no one was checking to see if the conditions were safe or not.

When 177 individual property owners can't protect their homes but one rich family can own over $30 Million Dollars in slum properties and get away with it for multiple lifetimes, one can't help but wonder who our Mayor and City Council actually work for.

After all, 48 years is a long time to wait to have your home brought up to code.

And how many more innocent children must die?
Please continue reading The Other Heritage House-- Part 2

Truth And Reconciliation Comes Hard

Truth and reconciliation comes hard. Greensboro has waited many years, since 1979. And a formal apology from the Greensboro City Council all these years later might help but it still won't close the divide.

But the circumstances were perfect. The tragic events in Charlottesville, Virginia brought 1979 back into the minds of those of us who were here then. The death of a young white Charlottesville woman at the hands of an out of town racist Nazi, KKK sympathizer and injuries to 19 others played so much like the events of 1979 that we couldn't help but remember.

In 1979, left wing activists organized a protest in a neighborhood were they weren't wanted after having gone to China Grove, North Carolina and interrupted the KKK while watching a private viewing of the movie Birth of a Nation. Feeling emboldened they dared the Klan to come to Greensboro and battle it out.

In Charlottesville, heavily armed, Nazi, KKK, and other right wing white supremacist groups went to a town were they weren't wanted and were met by left wing groups. Fighting ensued.

In both Greensboro and Charlottesville,  police were either unwilling or unable to respond as needed. You know, depending on who is telling the story.

Last night the Greensboro City Council voted to formally apologize for 1979 and thus accept the blame.

Did it look scripted to you? These same city council incumbents have been seated for years. Many of these same council members were involved in the Truth And Reconciliation process. Why now? Why not before? 

Just remember: this is an election year.

Maybe a bigger question is: why is the Greensboro City Council planning to put off the sale of Heritage House until after the election?

While the City and County continue to tax the property owners there?

Just remember: this is an election year.

How Much Are Heritage House Owners Being Paid?

Remember back less than 2 years ago when the City of Greensboro took possession of Heritage House Condominiums, kicked the residents out and sent everyone packing under the guise that the building was unsafe and crime was simply out of control there?

Well despite my having made public documents proving the City of Greensboro deliberately failed to provide reasonable and adequate police protection and grossly overstated the number of calls to Guilford County 911 the City never changed their story.

Despite the fact that I made public documents showing that City of Greensboro Building Inspections had inspected the building and every unit ever year since it opened in 2004 and never found any of the building to be structurally deficient the City stuck to their story that the building was crumbling to the ground-- a determination that wasn't made until after the fact.

And despite the fact that I produced copies of checks written by Mayor Nancy Vaughan's business partner to the City of Greensboro to pay the Heritage House Water Bill (the 3rd excuse the City used) our local media never reported this connection to our mayor.

Well thanks to the remarkable work of people who care about exposing the truth I can now disclose the final insult.

When Heritage House Homeowners bought their new homes in 2004 they paid from $35,000 to $60,000 per unit to move in. Keep that in mind as you click on this link and see what they are being offered today.

I have little doubt you will believe as I have said all along, this was a land grab orchestrated by the Greensboro City Council..

It's Called Division... With Updates

This post was first published on January 30, 2016. I have brought it back because of several updates that EzGreensboro.com readers will find very enlightening. Begin original post:

I worked long and hard to prove the City of Greensboro handled the Heritage House fiasco improperly writing over 100 articles and posting dozens upon dozens of documents for well over a year but tonight something came to me: Perhaps we all asked the wrong questions?

The City told us the property was out of control, full of drug dealers and criminals,  as if everyone living there were thugs and had to be run out but we all know that wasn't the case. Councilman Mike Barber waved about a list of 2800 calls to Guilford County 911 as if every one of them were to the same place but there are 177 individually deeded units in Heritage House.

Now lets say that a few drug dealers and criminals moved into say, New Irving Park. Would the City of Greensboro take possession of all of New Irving Park and force everyone from their homes then come back after the fact and conveniently find a 3rd party inspections company to declare all the homes in New Irving Park unfit to live in?

Don't be silly, you say? That is exactly the chain of events that took place at Heritage House. As a neighborhood, what's the difference between Heritage House and New Irving Park? Money, influence and power.

So over a year later I've decided to submit the following public information request to the City of Greensboro:

"The City of Greensboro released crime stats that indicated 2800 calls to Guilford County 911 for a property known as Heritage House.

The calls were lumped together as if Heritage House were 1 property with 1 deed but in reality Heritage House consisted of 177 individually deeded properties.

I would like to see a listing of all 911 calls broken down by individual properties.

-Billy Jones"

 

Let's see how long they drag their feet on this one, shall we?

Update: February 4, 2016, got the following response today:

"Hello Mr. Jones,

Thank you for your public records request (PIRT 5442) in which you stated, “The City of Greensboro released crime stats that indicated 2800 calls to Guilford County 911 for a property known as Heritage House. The calls were lumped together as if Heritage House were 1 property with 1 deed but in reality Heritage House consisted of 177 individually deeded properties.  I would like to see a listing of all 911 calls broken down by individual properties.”

I have been working with Guilford Metro 911 to formulate a report that will gather the information that you are requesting.  However, if you could please clarify the questions discussed below, I would greatly appreciate it.

1)      In your request you discuss crime statistics, but you ask for “all 911 calls.”  Please advise if you are requesting just calls designated for a Police response, or if you are also asking for records of fire and medical responses.

2)      Also, my understanding is that the previously provided record of 2800 calls, referenced in your request, is for a time frame of approximately the 2 previous years.  Would you like us to also run the new report for the past two years so that you can compare?

Unfortunately, we cannot break the requested information down by deed owner, but we can provide you with a report that distinguishes between apartments.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Katherine Carter, Public Records Administrator

Communications and Marketing Department - 336-373-3282

City of Greensboro

PO Box 3136, Greensboro, NC 27402-3136

www.greensboro-nc.gov "

My response:

"Yes Katherine, let's break it down by designated for a Police response, per apartment and for the same 2 year time period as was previously released by the City of Greensboro.

Thanks -Billy"

Let's see how this compares to the numbers Mike Barber waved around.

Update 2: February 18, 2016 I get the following e-mail:

 "Hello Mr. Jones,

Regarding your public records requests (PIRT # 5442), you were sent the email below on February 4, 2016, outlining what further information was needed in order to process your request.

To date, I have not received a response from you providing the necessary information.  As a result, this PIRT has been closed per lack of response.  Pursuant to our PIRT policy, “The requestor will be deemed unresponsive and his/her PIRT request will be closed if two weeks have passed (10 business days) and he/she has not responded to the PIRT Administrator’s follow-up inquiry.”

If you can supply the requested information, I will be happy to reopen your request, and provide you with the responsive records, in accordance with State Law and our Public Records Policy.

Sincerely,
Katherine Carter, Public Records Administrator
Communications and Marketing Department - 336-373-3282
City of Greensboro
PO Box 3136, Greensboro, NC 27402-3136"

Seriously? I e-mailed my  February 4, 2016 e-mail shown above to Ms Carter again.  Since I haven't been e-mailing hyperlinks to this post perhaps no one downtown knows I'm keeping track. Usually she ignores me altogether. Perhaps her response is in response to as passage that can be found in Corrupt City by Fec.

"Left to their own devices, Nathan and his kind might have ruled Corrupt City forever.  Unfortunately, the detritus of corrupt government – inside deals and forgotten neighborhoods – became so numerous as to be obvious.  And people began to notice how city staff and the local media sought to hide these problems.  Of course, it was only natural that the technocrats, not unlike Auschwitz  Nazis, worked diligently on behalf of Corrupt City, if not its actual citizens."

Or not...


Update 3: February 19, 2016: Amazingly some strange events took place just about the same time Katherine Carter was getting back to me with a PIRT request that was about to be lost. The first was my posting of Union Still Out Of Square on Tuesday February 16, 2016 in which I complained about having submitted a different public information request twice without getting results. That prompted several of our EzGreensboro.com readers to submit their own PIRTs to the City of Greensboro. A spark had been created.

Then on Thursday, February 18, 2016, Jeff Martin at Carolina Under Siege posted City Legal Running Greensboro in which he wrote:

"Worse, Zack Matheny and Nancy Hoffman have left unpleasant voice mails with several downtown business and property owners.  Some of these may yet surface.  This is just more anecdotal evidence of a total breakdown on council.  The mayor is practically catatonic for many reasons and languishes in the details, while remaining  oblivious to the bigger picture.  It may well be that she was a creature of Don Vaughan after all and has been cast adrift.

We are dealing with a variety of mental illnesses expressed by several public officials.  The H3 architect for the IGMFUPAC got a good picture of the situation and ended up mocking them.  There are great people on city staff and on council.  Unfortunately, they are not in a position to do much about what is happening.

The natural result of this political vacuum is Roy Carroll and Marty Kotis are getting pretty much whatever they wanted.  This type of catabolic collapse was predicted by John Michael Greer and will occur as city government slowly devolves into anarchy, with one wealthy actor after another feasting on its rotting carcass.

Lest you doubt me, things are so bad now the city can’t even put down the meter maids."

My series  Thomas Carruthers Attacked By Rabid Dogs might have also had an effect as City Attorney Thomas Carruthers knows the attack was in direct retaliation for his covering up for Donald Vaughan and others in the Eric Robert vs. City of Greensboro lawsuit. What Carruthers didn't know is that I wasn't really all that concerned about Aunt Dorothy. Yeah, he ripped her off but the civil suit was a fight between her and her step daughters (my cousins) that had nothing to do with me. Dumbass Carruthers would have made more money if he hadn't of dropped the suit as they fought for years but in the end none of them walked away poor and only the lawyers made out. Dumbass walked away from more money than he took from Aunt Dorothy.

Now the entire City Legal Department is on notice that their own dirty laundry can be aired should they continue to support a corrupt Mayor and City Council. Expect to see any number of resignations coming from the City Legal Department as they look to jump ship before we shoot them from the bow.

Update 4: March 5, 2016 Just as I suspected, someone is trying to make this go away quietly. Someone is trying to make a lot of things go away quietly. Like who got the money from Greensboro's South Elm Development Project they are also covering up something at Heritage House:

You see, despite the fact that on Feb 18, the same day Ms Carter e-mailed me I replied to Ms Carter she still closed public information request #5442 as if I had never replied to her at all.

Here's the e-mail as sent to Ms Carter:

And just for the hell of it my actual Feb 4 e-mail to Ms Carter:

If you haven't read Union Out Of Square And Out Of Plumb I highly recommend you do so at this point for not only is it becoming quite obvious that someone with the City of Greensboro is keeping secrets about a great many things that somehow involve Mayor Nancy Barakat Vaughan (Heritage House, Robert v. City of Greensboro etc...) but others besides myself are catching wind of the problem for immediately after I posted Union Out Of Square And Out Of Plumb,
none other than Roch Smith jr. who had worked long and hard along side Mayor Vaughan to help craft what was at one time a very responsive and very workable public records response system (probably the best in the nation) sent the following e-mail to Mayor Vaughan, Councilman Mike Barber, City Attorney Thomas Carruthers, myself and several other recipients on March 4, 2015:

"Billy,
When the City writes to you that your request for public records will "require the extensive use of information technology resources and extensive clerical assistance," they are quoting, verbatim, language from the North Carolina General Statutes that provides for charging for fulfilling public records requests.
While this could just be a ploy to waive you off of this request and while I think it would be problematic for the city in the long run to fairly and equitably start charging the public for use of technology resources and clerical assistance, may I suggest you give them the benefit of the doubt at this point and see if maybe there is some way you can get the information you are looking for without blowing up the system for all involved?
While you are asking for "receipts" I gather that what you are trying to know is who got paid, how much and for what? I think that information could probably be generated with relative ease from the electronic records of Finance -- but it won't be receipts. Still, it will probably tell you what you are wanting to know and, if some portion seems worthy of more investigation, you can then probe a specific expenditure, project or vendor.
Also, I'm not sure how long the South Elm Street Development Project has been in existence, but I think it has been at least fifteen years or more. Is it really those entire fifteen years you need at this point, or can you begin with a smaller period?
Katherine Carter says in her email that anything you can do to narrow the scope of your request would be greatly appreciated. I too would appreciate it if you didn't back the city into a position of having to make it harder to get public records. I encourage you to consider if there is an alternative way for you to ask for what you are seeking -- not to compromise your curiosity, but simply to make the result more achievable.
Cordially,
Roch"

Wanting to make every effort to be correct and hoping to reduce the cost to taxpayers if possible I replied with the following:

If what Roch is proposing is true I would consider electronic records of finance as Roch suggests. (Seriously folks, isn't that what receipts are these days? Real money doesn't change hands, nobody actually writes receipts, everything is done electronically.)

But will someone please explain the months of delay?

Will someone explain to me why the e-mail I got today wasn't sent in response to my December 30, 2015 PIRT request for the exact same information?

Why wasn't my previous PIRT for the exact same info fulfilled, why wasn't it reopened when I requested the City do so, and why was I ignored?

Because all of you can clearly see this has taken far too long: http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2016/03/union-out-of-square-and-out-of-plumb.html

Anyone?

Mr Carruthers? Madam Mayor? Councilman Barber? I'm sure everyone receiving this e-mail would love to read your response. So would my readers. And yes, I am e-mailing myself a copy of this e-mail to post online.

As I have documented, the City's response to my PIRT request thus far has been completely unacceptable and as noted Mayor Vaughan and Mr Carruthers have been made aware of the situation repeatedly.

It is time we got some answers.

-Billy Jones"

At 8:00 AM the following morning, a Saturday, Roch again e-mailed us all again:

"There has been a marked slow-down in responses to records requests. Even email questions are taking days to get answered. This is not good."

Well so much for my having imagined a slowdown in PIRT responses, Roch sees it too. I replied to Roch, Mayor Vaughan, Councilman Barber, Mr Carruthers and the others who received the e-mail making sure to remove Ben Holder as he had replied asking not to be e-mailed.

"Indeed, Roch, the process has gone very much down hill in recent months with PIRTs not being answered, PIRTs ignored, requests to reopen ignored.... I have solid documentation of all these things as I've saved everything.

Now the question becomes: Is this because Ms Carter has been unwilling or unable to do her job or is Ms Carter doing exactly as she has been instructed by her superiors? The fact that I have previously e-mailed Mayor Vaughan, City Attorney Thomas Carruthers, numerous other City Council members and city staff to complain about this and have seen no improvement nor a single reply might lead some to believe Ms Carter has been doing exactly as she has been instructed to do.

Keep in mind that g-mail allows me to keep even sent messages that I might forget to send to myself all in an easily searchable database protected by a telephone password. Very hard to hack.

Now I'm not saying that Mayor Vaughan and Mr Carruthers are actually participating in some sort of conspiracy to hide, delay and obscure public records... Not yet, anyway. And up until now if Ms Carter were simply doing as instructed she would simply be doing her job. (No fault there.) But if Mayor Vaughan and Mr Carruthers are actually participating in some sort of conspiracy to hide, delay and obscure public records and Ms Carter begins to get wind of it then at some point her involvement becomes aiding and abetting. And for that Ms Carter could be prosecuted along with Mayor Vaugnan and Mr Carruthers and anyone else involved in the conspiracy to hide, delay and obscure public records and whatever it was they were attempting to cover up. If that were the case Ms Carter would be wise to contact legal council not connected to the City of Greensboro.

But hey, how was that you described me Roch? Something about conspiracies and a gangster behind every bush. You could be right.

By the way, as Ben Holder replied to the last e-mail telling me not to e-mail him I removed him from the e-mail list.

Thanks -Billy"

As you can see above I have proof that what I had to say was in-fact true.

It's still Saturday, March 5, 2016 as I finish up this post. I don't expect any reply from Mayor Vaughan, Councilman Barber or City Attorney Carruthers before Monday at the earliest and to be perfectly honest neither of the 3 of them have replied to anything I have asked them in what seems like more than a year so I don't really expect them to reply at all but if you would like to contact them and ask that they provide the documentation to you that has been kept from me you can do so by e-mailing Mayor Vaughan at NVaughan@triad.rr.com Councilman Barber at mikebarberlaw@aol.com and Thomas Carruthers at Thomas.Carruthers@greensboro-nc.gov

Yes, those are the personal e-mail addresses for Mayor Vaughan and Councilman Barber but then it was their decisions to opt to use personal e-mail for City Business despite the fact that the City of Greensboro provides them with free e-mail service.

But then all the e-mails sent to their City issued e-mail addresses get permanently logged into the City's data base.

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” John F Kennedy

Remember: When the conversation stops the fighting begins. I'm still talking, are City leaders still willing to talk? I've still yet to prove that Heritage House was a scam perpetuated by Greensboro leaders or that anything has been stolen from the South Elm Redevelopment Project but I have proven beyond any doubt that someone is hiding something, blocking my attempts to find out and attempting to cover something up in both instances.

And I'm not the only one who knows it.

Update 5: March 24, 2016. Again, I;m writing to Katherine Carter, Mayor Nancy Barakat Vaughan, City Manager Jim Westmoreland and citizen Roch Smith jr in an effort to resolve this problem:

"Ms Carter,
I am writing to you once again to inquire about the status of PIRT # 5442, first submitted on January 30, 2016. I realize the PIRT tracking system indicated that it was closed due to lack of response by requester but as I have documented with screen grabs of actual e-mails that simply isn't the case: http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2016/01/its-called-division.html

I still have all the e-mails, even those I copied and pasted. When can I expect to see:

"Yes Katherine, let's break it down by designated for a Police response, per apartment and for the same 2 year time period as was previously released by the City of Greensboro.

Thanks -Billy"

As was my reply to you on February 4, 2016.

Roch and Jim,
If you will read the link posted above you will see I've made every effort to get this PIRT filled and documented my long wait. And that is just 1 of several PIRTs that have gone unfilled, obfuscated, manipulated or otherwise lost in the last few months. After working so long and hard and without pay to help Greensboro to create a workable PIRT policy I am quite sure Roch is saddened to no end to witness what is now going on.

Mayor Vaughan,
On a happy note. (I know, right?) Last year you and I communicated about the Urban Farm Project on Phillips Avenue. For those who might not know, the project was dead for all intents and purposes because I had discovered its director had established a fake board of directors with names of people being listed on the board who knew nothing of the project or anyone involved in it.

Well I'm happy to say the first of 3 planned greenhouses appears to be built and the City of Greensboro has supplied water to the site.

So being that I know that Nancy Vaughan took an active roll in bringing that project back to life I'm hoping you, Mayor Vaughan, and I can exchange a few e-mails so that I may write a better story about how you saved the day for a project this city desperately needs.

Thanks 

-Billy"

Hey, when they do right I'm happy to tell it. I even stopped and took pictures of the greenhouse.

Update 6: April 12, 2016. What began on January 30, 2016 continues unanswered. Today I got the following e-mail from the City of Greensboro:

"Dear Mr. Jones,

Thank you for your public records request (PIRT 5442) regarding 911 calls made to the Heritage House.

Please find the attached record responsive to your request.  Information regarding the section of the building associated with the call has been included when the same was available in our system.  Information protected by NCGS 132-1.4 has been redacted in accordance with State Law.

As discussed, the information provided in the attachment is representative of Greensboro Police Department calls.  Fire and medical responses have been excluded.

I hope this information is helpful to you.

Sincerely,

Katherine Carter, Public Records Administrator

Communications and Marketing Department - 336-373-3282

City of Greensboro

PO Box 3136, Greensboro, NC 27402-3136

www.greensboro-nc.gov "

The attached file is labeled Calls By Location Redacted. The first 16 of 35 pages include no addresses so presumably those calls could have come from any address, anywhere in Greensboro or Guilford County. As if I needed to make a case for that last statement the address listed for one of the 911 calls on page 27 was AT THE RITE AID. There is no Rite Aid or any other store or drug store on or adjacent to the Heritage House property.

On Page 28 there is a call listed as being at BIG BROTHERS AND. I've no idea where that is.

Now that may be neither here nor there but 16 pages with 35 calls per page and no addresses is concerning. That's 560 of the total calls unaccounted for, not counting the reactions. And 35 pages of calls at 35 calls per page is less than half the 2,800 calls Zack Methany and Mike Barber both claimed to have come from Heritage House. Why such a huge discrepancy?

And why the long delay in fulfilling my public information request only to send me a reply that is only half filled?

But I think the biggest issue is that anyone can look at the Calls By Location Redacted. and see for themselves that a certain few apartments were where the majority of the calls came from.

So why not deal with the law breakers in those few apartments rather than punishing 6 floors and hundreds of innocent victims by taking their homes away from them?

Why Mayor Vaughan, when you talk about equal rights, does your version of equal rights not include equal rights for the working class citizens of Greensboro be they straight, gay, trans, conservative, liberal, black, white, Hispanic or Martian?

Are equal rights something that only apply to those people with money?

Heritage House Proposed Offers

Here is a link to the City of Greensboro Heritage House Proposed Offers as of March 3, 2016.

Keep in mind that 8 years ago those same units sold new for $50,000 to $70,000 Dollars and remember that the City of Greensboro Code Enforcement and building Inspections departments inspected each and every rental unit annually.

Keep in mind that when crime was lowered inside of Heritage House, someone with the Greensboro Police Department decided to replace the Southern Division Commander and remove the walking patrols from the neighborhood resulting in an immediate spike in crime.

Keep in mind that the City of Greensboro appears to be deliberately hiding the unit by unit 911 calls as I requested in Public Information Request #5442, and has yet to reply to me on reopening the prematurely closed PIRT.

And keep in mind that Mayor Vaughan, Councilman Mike Barber and City Attorney Thomas Carruthers are among those who are receiving my e-mails.

City Makes Offer On Heritage House

I'm waiting on the documents to come but have been told by homeowners at Heritage House that the City of Greensboro is offering them $600.oo per unit after having forced them from their homes in 2014. Sadly, property owners are still paying City and County property taxes on homes valued many times that amount.

So far I've written over 100 articles on Heritage House and Mayor Vaughan has never addressed her business partner's involvement. Why?

Will The Heritage House Lies Ever End?

To date I have written 103 posts about Heritage House documenting how the City of Greensboro led by Mayor Nancy Barakat "Grasshopper" Vaughan has constantly changed their story from day to day. Recently, at a candidates' debate at Friends Home, Councilwoman Marikay Abuziater stated it would cost $16 Million Dollars to repair Heritage House.

But according to the Rhino Times:

"Walliser said that if the City Council will agree to a grant of $1.2 million, and possibly a loan, that she can raise the rest of the $6 million to $7 million she estimates it will take to renovate the building that has been condemned and declared blighted by the city into “fancy” affordable housing."

Let's see:

$16,000,000
-- 7,000,000
____________
$9,000,000  Difference

Who is  Kathy Walliser that the Greensboro City Council would believe she is somehow more qualified than the 3rd party investigators and city employed professionals who previously came up with the $16,000,000 estimate repeated by Councilwoman Abuziater, the rest of City Council, City Staff, local media and everyone else involved in the project? And why is she only showing up at the last minute?

Again, from the Rhino:

"Walliser said that before moving to North Carolina in 1990 she owned Priority Investments, a real estate company in Kentucky that bought and rehabbed distressed property.  She said she was successful in rehabbing property in Kentucky and, after being in the medical field for years, she wanted to get back to real estate."

Her Linked-in profile agrees but what kind of properties was she rehabbing in Kentucky-- single family homes, condos, commercial properties, skyscrapers... And does she have references? Verifiable references?

Speaking of Linked-in profiles, My Linked-in profile says I'm a Tyrannicide For Hire and my friend John Godwin is the owner of Spaceships inspections and maintenance. Yes Folks, you really can make this shit up. Not that John would ever do such a thing.

And has Kathy Walliser ever set foot in the building we call Heritage House?

Again, from the Rhino:

"In her research she said that she didn’t find a single owner-occupied condo, but if there was an owner-occupied condo she would pay the owner the full price they paid for it."

My friend Mel Will lived in one of the 3 units she owned at Heritage House. And she's not the only one I know. Others lived in units owned by family members who helped to care for them.

Kathy Walliser has some good ideas like:

"add on-site medical personnel to larger apartment communities to provide a Safer Way to Live."

And she tried writing a blog called Unlimited Future for about a month, claimed to be attempting a world record, is said to be the Founder/President at Unlimited-Future of Norfolk, Virginia, a company which manufactures an endurance food she invented called KHW.

By the way, her company, Unlimited Future only seems to exist on this one website. And now this one too as soon as the Google search indexing bots update their crawls.


She's a member of the Bellemeade Association. 2205 New Garden Rd, Greensboro, NC 27410 which just happens to be the same address as Lincoln Green Apartments, a Bell Partners property owned by none other than Nancy Barakat "Grasshopper" Vaughan's Irving Park neighbor, fellow Greensboro Country Club member and Zack Matheny's former employer Stephen D Bell.

How convenient. According to the Guilford County Register of Deeds, Ms Walliser owns no property in Greensboro, High Point or anywhere else in Guilford County under her name.

The Bellemeade Association has one employee. Could that one employee be Bellemeade Association founder/agent Kathy Walliser?

Kathy's son David survived a horrific crash in 1988 when he was 14 years old that left 27 people dead and many more injured when a pick-up truck collided head-on into the church bus he and others were riding in. But thus far I can find nothing to convince me she has the means nor the experience to rehab 177 homes that were stolen from their rightful owners.

So who is she working for? Steven D Bell or Donald Vaughan and Paul Mengurt?

See the address on that check, you lame ass, shit for brains reporter, Eric Ginsburg? That is inside the same building as the office of Vaughan Law Associates 612 W Friendly Ave, a building owned by VM LLC, a company jointly owned by Don and Nancy Vaughan and May Gayle and Paul Mengert of AMG Property Management. 

How is it that none of our media reported that AMG was also involved in Heritage House? Was it because of AMG's connection to Greensboro Mayor Nancy Barakat "Grasshopper" Vaughan?

Are you scared to stand up to a grasshopper, Eric? Freedom fighter, my big old hairy ass. Life gets cushy and you turned into a pussy! Maybe even an anteater in drag.

Do I have to keep asking my readers to e-mail Brian at  brian@triad-city-beat.com and call their office at 336-256-9320 so that he can forward this post to you to get you to do some journalism for a change?

And you lame ass readers complain the media isn't doing their jobs but you won't even move your fat fingers and send an e-mail-- you're as fucking useless as the media.

Update: Friday October 9, 2015 It appears Ms Walliser was sued in Norfork, Virginia, left Virginia without paying off the suit and again taken to court in North Carolina for the same offense. And these are the people our Greensboro City Council wants us to get in bed with.
 

Heritage House Homeowners Shafted by Greensboro's City Council; Fix up costs cited to take the property were $16,962,000, now it's $2,656,822

SKA Consulting Engineers 

has estimated the total costs of repairing the building

at $16,962,000.

Billy Jones

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

"Wednesday saw the first meeting of the city’s Infrastructure Committee, composed of council members Marikay Abuzuaiter, Nancy Hoffmann, Justin Outling and Jamal Fox. Hoffmann is the chairwoman of the committee. Mayor Nancy Vaughan and Councilwoman Sharon Hightower also sat in on the meeting.

The estimated redevelopment cost, 

according to the plan, is $2,656,822.

Joe Killian

News and Record

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

The committee unanimously approved a resolution adopting the Heritage House redevelopment plan. The plan, which still needs to be approved by the full council, calls for acquiring all the blighted parcels and preparing the troubled former apartment complex for redevelopment.

Proposed uses for the site include a business park, senior health care, indoor recreation and event center expansion. The estimated redevelopment cost, according to the plan, is $2,656,822."

http://www.greensboro.com/news/government/first-meetings-of-city-infrastructure-community-services-committees-upbeat/article_1d62b07b-59f1-5de6-a8d6-5cae26e2f9b4.html
.
.
Billy Jones on Wednesday, March 25, 2015; "Costs To Repair Heritage House: $17 Million"

"I asked the City of Greensboro to provide me with a copy of a report/study on the costs of repairing/rehabbing Heritage House, the condominium project condemned last July and property owners--some of them residents-- locked out by the City of Greensboro for a myriad of changing excuses .

SKA Consulting Engineers has estimated the total costs of repairing the building at $16,962,000.

The estimated redevelopment cost, 

according to the plan, is $2,656,822.

Joe Killian

News and Record

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

What I find interesting is that the City of Greensboro building inspections department passed the building in 2008 when 177 units were sold to individual homeowners. From perfectly safe structure to a building recommended for destruction at a cost of $1,056,100 to the taxpayers in just 6 years must surely be a world record in inept governance.

And an excellent example of well-to-do developers getting their way while building inspections personnel are told by their bosses to look the other way.

Expect 0 accountability from our paper of record.

Current City Council can do no wrong, 

according to the News and Record

If this doesn't justify a Federal investigation I don't know what does.  And just so you know, as of last week Heritage House homeowners reported to me they have yet to be paid anything for their properties.  As a matter of fact: no one from the City of Greensboro has contacted them since last August.

Their properties have been stolen.  Pee and dog poop did not destroy the structural integrity of a concrete and steel building or cause the roof to leak."

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/03/costs-to-repair-heritage-house-17.html
.
.
Heritage House Meeting April 30, 2015, 9 Months After

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/04/heritage-house-meeting-april-30-2015-9.html

The Faked Heritage House Police Investigations

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-faked-heritage-house-police.html

Councilman Barber Attempts Heritage House Damage Control

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2014/09/councilman-barber-attempts-heritage.html

The Big Heritage House Cover-Up

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-big-heritage-house-cover-up.html

Mel Will Is Homeless

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/08/mel-will-is-homeless.html

Billy's Heritage House Prediction Comes True

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/07/billys-heritage-house-prediction-comes.html

Heritage House Home Owners Want Property Tax Reimbersements

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/08/heritage-house-home-owners-want.html

Heritage House Inspection Questions Remain

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/08/heritage-house-inspection-questions.html

Is The Heritage House SKA Report Real?

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2014/10/is-heritage-house-ska-report-real.html

More Heritage House Refugees On Greensboro Streets

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2014/09/more-heritage-house-refugees-on.html

What Was Mayor Vaughan's Involvement In Heritage House?

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-was-mayor-vaughans-involvement-in.html

City Breaks Own Rules In Heritage House Condemnations

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2014/08/city-breaks-own-rules-in-heritage-house.html

Heritage House Vultures

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2014/08/heritage-house-vultures.html

City Attorney Admits Heritage House Property Seizure Illegal

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2014/08/city-attorney-admits-heritage-house.html

More Bad Luck For Heritage House Refugees

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2014/08/more-bad-luck-for-heritage-house.html

Who Are The Real Heritage House Outlaws?

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2014/09/who-are-real-heritage-house-outlaws.html

The Big Heritage House Cover-Up

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-big-heritage-house-cover-up.html

Councilman Barber Attempts Heritage House Damage Control

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2014/09/councilman-barber-attempts-heritage.html

Heritage House: Still No Mention of Paul Mengert


http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2014/09/heritage-house-still-no-mention-of-paul.html

Mel Will Is Homeless

You still think Mayor Nancy Barakat Vaughan and the Greensboro City Council did the right thing by closing Heritage House and kicking out the rightful owners in July of 2014? Mel Will doesn't think so. She owns 3 units in Heritage house. She lived in 1 unit, rented a second unit and was remodeling the 3rd unit. Non of Mel's units were found in violation by City of Greensboro inspectors and yet she and the person renting from her were tossed out. Where is Mel living today? On Greensboro's streets. from Mel's Facebook page:

When Mel had a home she worked as a volunteer for Greensboro's Project Streetwatch 
going out with other Streetwatch team members in the middle of the night to provide food, blankets and other neccesities to Greensboro's homeless working without pay and asking nothing in return. Now she needs someone to watch over her.

And this is how Nancy Barakat Vaughan and the Greensboro City Council repays Mel for her selfless acts of generosity and kindness.  And this is far from the first time I've made the Greensboro City Council aware of Mel's plight.

Please share, please share this post with everyone you know so that everyone in Greensboro knows our elitist leaders do not give a damn about Greensboro's working class and would take our homes to fuel their greed.

Robin Hood Returns To Greensboro: Updated

Yesterday I posted More Questions Concerning Our Mayor's Business Partner
Today Robin Hood leaves me the following message:

"Hi !


Thanks for printing my note about the Mengerts and Biz Corporations. Apologies for all the typos!

Our Association has some serious issues and AMG, Mengerts, and Steve Black - all are under investigation by the WSPD (report #1157576) and the IRS. Mr. Black is also under a separate investigation by the NC Bar.

I have a .jpeg of all the SoS biz corps in progress by theses monkeys. If you want to contact me at (e-mail redacted), I'll send it right out to you.... Or let me know how to upload it to you here.

Thx,
Robin Hood
"Taking back from the rich what they took from the poorer." 

Update: Tuesday, 4:38 PM: Robin Hood sends the first .jpg file taken from the NC Secretary of State website: Click on the image to view full size.

Things are about to get very messy for Paul Mengurt and his business partners Donald Vaughan and Greensboro Mayor Nancy Barakat Vaughan right here at election time.

And that check Nancy Vaughan lied to me about still looms:

Please share, Dear readers, every citizen of Greensboro and North Carolina needs to know of the activities of Mayor Nancy Barakat Vaughan and her husband senator Donald R Vaughan.

Imagine, the mighty Robin Hood teamed up with Billy Jones, your friendly freelance, neighborhood Tyrannicide and the rest of the team here at EzGreensboro.com.

More Questions Concerning Our Mayor's Business Partner

On September 24, 2014 I asked, Heritage House: Still No Mention of Paul Mengert concerning those strange checks written to the City of Greensboro on behalf of the Heritage House Homeowners Association from an account managed by Paul Mengurt, Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan's business partner.

Earlier today a commenter known to me only as Robin Hood left the following comment on said post:

"Now what are the Paul and May Gayle MENGERT / ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT GROUP (AMG) and their attorney Steve E. Black oF ROSSABI, BLACK & SLAUGHTER up to?

After questions arose in February 2015 and possible fraud in Association Financial statements provided by AMG, 2 weeks later Mr. Black was registering with the NC Secretary of State for identical and indistinguishable BUSINESS Corporations for several well established NON PROFIT HOAs managed by AMG, including the following Associations "in process":

Dover Villas Homeowners Association, Inc. (S. Black)
Kings Creek Property Homeowners Association, Inc. (S. Black)
Porters Landing Property Homeowners Association, Inc. (S. Black)
Trillium Townhome Owners Association, Inc. (S. Black)
Breckinridge Association, Inc. (S. Black)

Partners T. Keith Black and James Slaughter are also suddenly applying for Biz Corps for non profit Associations. After reviewing over 12,000 SoS HOA Corporations, these are the ONLYREPAIRS Associations that will have Business Corporations in addition to their anon Profit Status ... and all "in progress" at the exact same time. What are they up too?"

Does this prove anything? No, but if local media outlets are interested in doing real journalism they'll be looking into the story.

You can easily verify this yourself by clicking on the NC Secretary of State Website and searching for yourself. Send me the links when you find out.

Heritage House Inspection Questions Remain

On February 22, 2013, Sue Schwartz of the Greensboro Planning Department sent the following letter to then Deputy City Manager Jim Westmoreland concerning follow up inspections at Heritage House Condominiums.

Nowhere in that letter is there any mention of the $Millions upon $Millions of Dollars in structural repairs the City of Greensboro made claim to being necessary in late July of 2014. What was the figure-- $13 Million Dollars? $17 Million Dollars? $22 Million Dollars? $100 Million Dollars? $300 Million?

Who knows, might as well be making up numbers as there is no mention what-so-ever of any need for structural repairs of any amount. Could be anything the City wants it to be as long as the voters will believe it.

Interestingly enough, when Central Carolina Bank and Trust sold that very same building to a newly formed company named Heritage House 310, LLC in 2005 the City of Greensboro building inspectors who oversaw the conversion from Heritage Greene Retirement Home owned by Greensboro Housing, to Heritage House Condominiums, never noted any structural problems either.

Then there were the RUCO building inspections every single year from 2006 until 2014-- no structural problems ever noted. Not even one.

How can a concrete and steel building go from structurally perfect to  "$13 Million Dollars? $17 Million Dollars? $22 Million Dollars? $100 Million Dollars? $300 Million?" in needed repairs in just 1 year? Or even in just 9 years?

And not even one explosion, fire or natural disaster on record....

And no one in the main stream media has yet to address checks written to the City of Greensboro from an address owned in part by Greensboro Mayor Nancy Barakat Vaughan and a business owned by Paul Mengurt with which Nancy Vaughan and Don Vaughan are both partners. Wonder why that is?

Don't believe Nancy and Don are partners with Mengurt? Do your own  Public Information Request, ask for Mayor Vaughan's 2014 City Council Disclosure Form and then look up VM, LLC at the North Carolina Secretary of State.

Heritage House Home Owners Want Property Tax Reimbersements

Owners of properties at Heritage House have just been billed their combined Greensboro City and Guilford County property taxes for the second year in a row after being forced to leave their homes against their will by Greensboro Mayor Nancy Barakat Vaughan.

That's right, despite the fact that their properties are condemned under questionable circumstances, they are not allowed to enter or repair their properties, and the Greensboro City Council has made no decision as to if and when the City will take possession of the properties, the owners of these 177 homes must pay taxes on homes they cannot live in nor rent for fear of being arrested.

And according to the latest reports in the News & Record the process will take at least 2 more years if not much longer.

Will Mayor Vaughan reimburse Heritage House refugees for their property taxes or will they be forced to take up refuge and march at 902 Sunset Drive.

Heritage House Meeting April 30, 2015, 9 Months After

The Greensboro Planning Board voted unanimously to designate Heritage House as a blighted property citing North Carolina Statute 160A-22 in September of 2014. Problem is: the City had previously seized all 177 units and locked the owners out of their homes without due process in late July.

In other words they put the cart before the horse.

Then there's this:

"§ 160A-504.  Formation of commissions.

(a)        Each municipality, as defined herein, is hereby authorized to create separate and distinct bodies corporate and politic to be known as the redevelopment commission of the municipality by the passage by the governing body of such municipality of an ordinance or resolution creating a commission to function within the territorial limits of said municipality. Notice of the intent to consider the passage of such a resolution or ordinance shall be published at least 10 days prior to the meeting.

(b)        The governing body of a municipality shall not adopt a resolution pursuant to subsection (a) above unless it finds:

(1)        That blighted areas (as herein defined) exist in such municipality, and

(2)        That the redevelopment of such areas is necessary in the interest of the public health, safety, morals or welfare of the residents of such municipality.

(c)        The governing body shall cause a certified copy of such ordinance or resolution to be filed in the office of the Secretary of State; upon receipt of the said certificate the Secretary of State shall issue a certificate of incorporation.

(d)       In any suit, action or proceeding involving or relating to the validity or enforcement of any contract or act of a commission, a copy of the certificate of incorporation duly certified by the Secretary of State shall be admissible in evidence and shall be conclusive proof of the legal establishment of the commission. (1951, c. 1095, s. 4; 1973, c. 426, s. 75.)"

According to the letter sent to homeowners it was the Greensboro Planning Board and not the Greensboro Redevelopment Commission that designated Heritage House as a blighted property. Problem is: the Greensboro Planning Board does not have the legal authority to make that designation.As a matter of fact: there is no such thing as the Greensboro Planning Board-- no such legal entity exists.

The City could have chose the following option:

§ 160A-505.  Alternative organization.

(a)        (See note) In lieu of creating a redevelopment commission as authorized herein, the governing body of any municipality may, if it deems wise, either designate a housing authority created under the provisions of Chapter 157 of the General Statutes to exercise the powers, duties, and responsibilities of a redevelopment commission as prescribed herein, or undertake to exercise such powers, duties, and responsibilities itself. Any such designation shall be by passage of a resolution adopted in accordance with the procedure and pursuant to the findings specified in G.S. 160A-504(a) and (b). In the event a governing body designates itself to perform the powers, duties, and responsibilities of a redevelopment commission, then where any act or proceeding is required to be done, recommended, or approved both by a redevelopment commission and by the municipal governing body, then the performance, recommendation, or approval thereof once by the municipal governing body shall be sufficient to make such performance, recommendation, or approval valid and legal. In the event a municipal governing body designates itself to exercise the powers, duties, and responsibilities of a redevelopment commission, it may assign the administration of redevelopment policies, programs and plans to any existing or new department of the municipality."

There is such a thing as the Greensboro Housing Authority. As a matter of fact, GHA once owned the property we now call Heritage House but GHA is in the low income apartment rental business and has no authority over private properties.

You see, state law defines Redevelopment as follows: "The acquisition, replanning, clearance, rehabilitation or rebuilding of an area for residential, recreational, commercial, industrial or other purposes, including the provision of streets, utilities, parks, recreational areas and other open spaces; provided, without limiting the generality thereof, the term "redevelopment" may include a program of repair and rehabilitation of buildings and other improvements, and may include the exercise of any powers under this Article with respect to the area for which such program is undertaken."
State law defines Redevelopment Commission  as "A public body and a body corporate and politic created and organized in accordance with the provisions of this Article."

And North Carolina law defines a Planning commission as "Any planning commission established by ordinance for a municipality of this State. "The planning commission" shall mean the particular planning commission of the city or town in which a particular commission operates."
Now why would the State of North Carolina have different definitions for redevelopment commission and planning commission if they were both one in the same thing? The answer: They wouldn't.

Planning and redevelopment are sometimes one in the same. But sometimes they are very different. The Greensboro Planning Board doesn't understand when the two are not one in the same.

The disaster that Heritage House became was created by the City of Greensboro. Police patrols were deliberatly removed to increase the crime rates. The building was certified as structurally sound in 2007 when Heritage House residents were sold their individual units. Greensboro building inspectors signed off on inspections every year between 2008 and 2014. Dog poop and urine in the halls did not cause the roof to leak, walls to crumble and steel beams to become unable to support their loads. The vast majority of the 177 units passed inspection on the day the residents were forced to move out.

The City made the claim they were taking the property because of an overdue water bill but when you condemn a property you don't lock the owners out then go looking for some excuse you can use to justify your actions later. But that's exactly what Greensboro did.

And you don't wait 9 months to meet with homeowners who haven't been paid for the homes you stole unless you're hoping it will all go away.