Hoffmann exemplifies cronyism on City Council

by Gary Kenton

Cronyism takes place when friends and business associates of government officials are given unfair advantages in the form of votes, loans, or contracts.  Unfortunately, this describes what you see in Greensboro when you connect the dots between Nancy Hoffmann’s voting pattern and the list of developers who have made her by far the biggest fundraiser in the City Council elections.

When Hoffmann first ran for City Council in 2011, she campaigned as a progressive liberal who would represent the interests of the people in District 4.  Since getting elected, however, her votes have increasingly been focused on downtown development, which she benefits from directly and indirectly, and against the interests of her constituents.

After getting elected, Hoffmann became either the owner or manager of a number of properties in Downtown Greensboro under corporate names of four LLCs she registered with the Secretary of State: Those are South End Partners LLC, Aquarian LLC, Enfield LLC and Enfield Tenant LLC.  South End Partners owns properties in the immediate vicinity of South Elm and Lewis Street, an area that has received considerable support from the City Council in recent years.  During the November 17, 2015 City Council meeting, Hoffmann oversaw the process of making a “Forgivable” loan of $150,000 to AZ Development LLC owned by Andy Zimmerman, one of her business associates.  Not only did Hoffmann fail to recuse herself from voting for a loan that enriched her business partners, but she failed to disclose her relationship to the recipient at the time of the vote.

Hoffmann continues to defend her betrayal of District 4 residents with her vote to rezone the property at Friendly Avenue and Hobbs Road.  Supporting her position on this issue are a number of real estate developers, including two men who represent Halpern Enterprises, the Atlanta-based developer of the Friendly-Hobbs site.  Their letters published in the Greensboro News & Record recently make it clear what they and Hoffmann believe: that more commercial property on West Friendly Avenue is just what Greensboro needs.  The people who live in that area do not agree.

Cronyism is not just a violation of public trust; it is a form of corruption that advances the profit motive of special interests ahead of the public interest.  Who are the special interests in Greensboro?  There is a list available. All candidates are obligated to give the Board of Elections the name of every individual who gives money to their campaigns. Look at Hoffmann’s Campaign Financial Reports and see the Who’s Who of Greensboro developers and real estate attorneys who bankroll her campaign: Kotis, Samet, Weaver, Shavitz, Brown, Cavanaugh, Isaacson…the list goes on.

Recently, Hoffmann voted in favor of building a $7 million parking deck downtown.  As reported by Yes Weekly in 2014, she has received at least one contribution from the wife of Randall Kaplan, the principal of the group that seeks to build the new parking deck.  Developer John Lomax, whose downtown buildings will benefit from the new construction, is also a Hoffmann contributor.  This is “business as usual.”

Another indication of Hoffmann’s intentions can be found in the Friendly Area Plan that she often brags about.  The tone of the document is set with a recommendation “for how these new developments could best fit into the existing context of the surrounding neighborhoods.”  This reflects a view of residential property as untapped opportunities for development rather than as neighborhoods to be valued and protected.  Public comments tacked on to the end of the Friendly Plan reflect quite a different point of view, clearly showing that Hoffmann is out of touch with area residents.

If you connect the dots between Hoffmann’s backers and her votes, I think you will conclude that cronyism is a real issue in Greensboro.  The solution is to elect someone with integrity who believes in transparency and would be beholden to no one but the voters.

Gary Kenton is a candidate for Greensboro City Council District 4

Greensboro Police Used To Manipulate Upcoming Election

An e-mail from District 5 Candidate Sal Leone. Click on the image to view full size.

Another Deposit In Greensboro's Land Bank

By Sal Leone

There are times when you get news that is interesting and at times you get news that is boring or just plain pointless but today I got news that is interesting. I like people to open their minds and think like a crook because when you have money and lies, well you have crooks. The call I got today was from a CI that had information on the News and Record building and the meeting council had to discuss same. The city is the best bidder for this property and I will not be shocked if others bail out. The property is worth 9 million dollars and now is when you should think like a crook. The price will go up if developers want the property because they have capital and a special interest in the property, so what do you do as a local developer to keep the price down. The first thing is not to bid because you want to show no interest in the site and then you let someone else buy it that is working for you. The city will buy the property because it has the money and the seller will see no interest in the site and sell it quick. The city will buy the property and the developer who wants it will first clear any remaining debt he has so he can get a good bank loan because who has 9 million in cash. I hope people by now see that buying a building from the city at cost or below cost is better then bidding and increasing the price and why buy it for 11 million when you can get it for 9 or less. The city will unload the property and claim its to build something for the people but if the city buys the property what happens to city property tax, oh yes it don't collect it since it owns it so the city starts to lose right away. The City will buy the property and unload it for some rich pal who has given money to council for their elections, but people in this town are not the sharpest knife in the draw and will buy what Nancy and company are saying. My hopes is the truth will cause the people to speak out and force the property to be sold the right way. The city can buy the place and make a domestic violence shelter and hell it has room for a homeless shelter, many services can be located here to help people. I will support buying it to help people, not developers.

Sal Leone Responds To John Hammer

I am running in District 5 City Council race and like always the Rhino Times trashes me. I ask that people pray for this man. I ask why is John so worried about me or is it a bigger story, Well lets look at it as an investigation. The Rhino Times is a free paper because who in their right mind would pay for it. The Rhino Times makes money off advertisement, very simple concept.

The next question is who advertises with them, Tony Wilkins being one, he running in District 5, I don't advertise with them so kicking me is in their best interest. The Greensboro Coliseum does business with them, guess who manages the coliseum or at least has control, City Council, the dots are connecting now. I think you might ask who else in the past might have advertised, Marty Kotis, who is Marty Kotis, only Tony Wilkins biggest sugar daddy and that's no secret.

The biggest fear is that I have no price tag because money is not important to me, doing right is, but people are blind to facts. The first thing I like to do is start an ethics bill in council that no one or company connected to a donor can give to a local council elections. I will be fair and say anyone or company doing 10,000 or more with the city can not give directly or indirectly. I really hope people are not blind to think that council can stay fair when they get money from these people, do you really think money is given without a string.

I will give more of my plans in the future but this is my start as I want to respond to John Hammer and his paper who from what I hear inflates his paper numbers, because I don't see many people reading it, my cat's love the paper in the litter box and that's why I use it.

Guilford County Schools Can't Manage 4 Person Board

Earlier today I posted Guilford County Schools Seeks To Restrict Access To Public Records. 

That meeting has since been cancelled.


Minutes ago I received the following e-mail addressed to Guilford County School Board Chairman, Alan W. Duncan. I'm posting it in our Letters to the Editor section without further comment.


"I am writing to uplift a concern regarding the lack of public notice for Board Meetings and Board Committee meetings.+

My hope is the chair you will support better transparency with the public as it relates to public notice.

As you know the June Policy Committee Agenda included the July 13th meeting date however NO staff member nor board member has communicated with the public regarding the fact that the meeting has been cancelled or a notice was not sent out.

http://www.gcsnc.com/dynimg/_eNAAA_/docid/0x0B2907DF0D743964/10/Policy%2BCommittee%2BAgenda%2B06-14-17.pdf

While I understand that confirm schedules can be challenging with such a small committee 4 board members but being more transparent to allow public an opportunity to attend open meetings for constituents should be considered and timely notice should be done.

As you know policies in our district are very important and we must not allow policies to be created or updated without valid supportive evidence that would warrant implementation of any charges or policies.

My hope that as the chair you will strongly consider improving this important communication and public notice expectation as a public body.  

Thank you,

DeMuriel 

Jamestown, NC"

The Dead End

The following is a guest post by Fred Gregory, previously posted at EzGreensboro Posts Only-- a publicly viewable Facebook forum. It was previously posted as a guest post at The Burning Platform. I am presenting it here in our Letters To The Editor section without comment except to say that while I cannot agree entirely, there is much truth and much to be learned in these words. As for Mr Gregory's lack of politically correct speech-- get over it and take the good with the bad.

The Dead End
Posted on June 15, 2017

Most of the issue that plague our modern societies stem from the unwillingness of our policy makers to consider the obvious solutions. In the 80’s, we had a bum crisis due to the states being forced to fling open the doors to their nervous hospitals. The former patients had no one willing to care for them and no ability to care for themselves, so they ended up on the streets as bums. The obvious answer was to put them back into the asylums, but that was ruled off limits and we still have a bum problem to this day.

The solution to the bum problem was to ignore it and build up a big new bureaucracy for dealing with the bums, while not actually getting them off the streets. That meant a proliferation of not-for-profit organizations that dealt with the bums, using grants from the city, state and federal government. The result is we now have a special interest that works to thwart any effort to get the bums off the streets. Bum maintenance has become an industry with lobbyists and political power. And we still have bums.

The thing is, the Cloud People do not have a bum problem. They “solved” the “homeless” problem by agreeing to use their tax dollars to build flop houses in your neighborhood and they also make sure the bum services industry is located in your neighborhood. You will never see a homeless shelter next to a Starbucks. The cops in Cloud Country are adept at putting the stray bum on a bus and sending him to Dirt Country, where the shelters are located. After all, they are public servants and that is the humane thing to do.

For a minor annoyance like the bum problem, this is not an untenable situation. Even in the ghetto, the crazy guy screaming at cars as they pass by is just local color. For bigger issues, like the black underclass, this approach is unworkable. For fifty years white liberals have been playing a weird game of Old Maid, in which they find new ways to dump blacks from their neighborhoods into the normie middle-class. The normies respond by moving away, but Lefty keeps finding ways to inflict the problem on them.

The primary source of racial conflict in modern America is the Cloud People habit of blaming typical white people for the bad behavior of blacks. Whites don’t care if Ray-Ray guns down Trayvon over a sneaker beef, but they do care when they are told they are responsible for it. Instead of addressing the issue of ghetto violence, we have a whole industry built around race hustling. The dysfunctional black under-class is the source of income for thousands of people with an interest in never solving it.
The Exploding Mohamed is looking like a problem for which the Cloud People have no way to ignore, but they are working hard to find a way to turn this problem into a weapon against the Dirt People. Take a look at this Spectator piece after the most recent incident. It reads like a meditation on how to avoid facing reality. The proposed suggestions, they don’t qualify as solutions, are laughably pointless. You could be forgiven for thinking the writer started by eliminating what will work and then came up with his list of solutions.

The most obvious solution to the exploding and stabbing Mohameds is to stop importing Mohameds. If BMW’s exploded at this rate, Britain would ban the importation of BMW’s and demand the manufacturer recall those in the country. Volkswagen is facing billions in fines for violating trivial emissions regulations. Yet, no one dares say, “there’s a problem with these Mohameds. Let’s put the brakes on importing more of them until will can figure out what’s going on with them.” Nope. It is a mad dash to import more of them.

The trouble is they can’t ignore it, like the bum problem, or even blame the honkies, like they do with black crime. This one is all on the Cloud People, but they can’t bring themselves to face the cause of the problem. Instead, they build out the police state, install more cameras and turn the country into a game preserve. Cynics say this is deliberate, but that assumes facts not in evidence. These people are not that clever. It’s that their multicultural religion forbids them from considering the right answer to the problem.

It is the aspect of anarcho-tyranny that most people don’t get right away. It’s not that the authorities are lazy or disinterested. It’s that they are afraid of their own bizarre religion of multiculturalism. When you rule out the reality of human nature from the tool set, you’re left with solutions that are contrary to human nature. The thing that allows them to rule like tyrants over their own kind, prevents them from raising a finger against strangers and aliens. It is as if a form of Toxoplasma gondii has infected the brains of the ruling elites.

This is not a terrible way to think of it. The typical person in the managerial elite has never had to face the hard decisions most of us take for granted. Theirs has been a life without accountability in a world stripped of the harsher aspects of the human condition. If you have spent your life in the dream world of the academy and the government campus, you can be forgiven for not wanting to question the underlying orthodoxy. As Tucker Carlson pointed out in this speech, it is a great life and no one would choose to leave it.

The trouble is, once you eliminate the axiomatic, you inevitably end in a logical dead end, with no real options other than retracing your steps. Since questioning the one true faith is off limits, the Cloud People spend their days dreaming up fantasy solutions to real problems that just keep getting worse. For something like bum control, nature tends to step in and solve the problem. For a Muslim invasion, the problem will not resolve itself, at least not in a tolerable way, until the fever breaks or the system collapses.

This will not end well.

Over 3,033 Guilford County Children Go Hungry, Over 51,000 State Wide

From the governor of North Carolina: "Senate Republicans quietly inserted a provision in their budget to cut SNAP food assistance benefits for 133,000 North Carolinians last week, including 51,000 children. The cuts were not debated or mentioned by Republican leaders, and would not save the state any money, as the food assistance program is 100% federally funded. The cuts are also expected to cause many students from low-income families to lose free and reduced lunch eligibility." NC Gov. Cooper: Senate GOP Cut Food Assistance for Families and Children NC Gov. Cooper: Senate GOP Cut Food Assistance for Families and Children Senate Republicans quietly inserted a provision in their budget to cut SNAP food assistance benefits for 133,000... "Dear Guilford County Schools: Parents Supporting Parents would like to make a public information request of how much of a financial impact of loosing 3,033 eligible Free & Reduced students would  have on Guilford County School district.  We do not recall hearing during our last Board of Education meeting the negative financial impact it will have on Guildford County Schools if there are 3,000 plus students who qualify for Free & Reduced and what those proposed Federal fund amounts could be for eligible students under the Title I criteria. Has the district Finance or Title I department done any type of estimated figures or documentation if so please share this information?  Considering the link attached is from the Governor Coopers press release on May 17, 2017 our hope is that there will be some type of press release alerting our county of the potential financial impact this could have on our district. As a community and educational stakeholders it is vital that we are looking out for families and our Guilford County School students negatively impacted by poverty.  In addition, as a community when we advocate to the state leaders, county and locally for our district and the youth in Guilford County. In addition, as a community we will identify which members of the North Carolina Legislative Assembly and/or Guilford Delegation are supporting cutting funds and stripping the food from tables in Guilford County and all over our state. Parents Supporting Parents will be increasing our collaboration with other partnering organizations and stakeholders statewide as we address this and many other attempts to create negative barriers for families and students in Guilford County and statewide to have a Sound Basic Education!! Our hope is that other organizations will include this in their announcements and meeting agendas!!"

Going to be hard to teach hungry children, harder perhaps to keep them in school without food to entice them yo go. The war against the poor continues.

The Truth at 2 Mistywood Ct.

Greensboro resident Sal Leone sends the following letter to the editor along with an attachment.

"You can post this with my name on it, my first story, we can call it

 

The Truth at 2 Mistywood Ct."

Short and conceive. And here's a link to the attachment: List of Events 2 Mistywood Ct.

Editor's Note: The redactions were made by the City of Greensboro, Greensboro Police, Legal Department.

Dishonesty reigns by Roch Smith jr

Below is an e-mail that was sent this morning from Roch Smith jr, owner of Greensboro101.com, to Greensboro Mayor Nancy Barakat Vaughan and the Greensboro City Council concerning my efforts to get the City of Greensboro to release video of Zack Methany's arrest.. I decided to publish it as a letter to the editor as Roch didn't tell me to keep it to myself. It will be followed with screen grabs to prove its validity.

There are the known recipients of the e-mail:

Billy Jones , Sharon Hightower , Jeffrey Sykes , "Carter, Katherine" , "Vaughan, Nancy (Mayor)" , "Wilkins, Tony" , Justin Outling , "Abuzuaiter, Marikay" , "Yvonne.Johnson@greensboro-nc.gov" , Mike Barber , "jamal@jamalfox.com" , "Hoffmann, Nancy" , Lewis Pitts , "Moffett, Margaret" , Allen Johnson

And the e-mail itself:

"Dishonesty reigns

Dear City Council People,

The city wrote the following to Billy Jones regarding his request for police body camera footage.

"To further clarify the City’s position: Body Worn Camera recordings are not a public record.  Until House Bill 972 goes into effect on October 1, 2016, the City operates under the Body Worn Camera Policy adopted by City Council on May 9, 2016."

This is a bogus excuse. The policy the city adopted said this:

"This policy shall only be effective upon a Court of competent jurisdiction ruling upon its legality."

There has been no such ruling, yet the city is telling a citizen the policy is in place. Do you people have no shame? Are you asleep? Do you have no reaction to yet another misrepresentation made to the public on this issue? Seriously, something is terribly wrong here, it must either be gross incompetence or a supreme contempt for honesty.

It's disgusting. Confront the city's actions on these cameras and tell us you've dealt straight with citizens:

1. Eight of the current nine current council members approved initial use of these cameras as a means for "public accountability and transparency." That turned out to be false and yet, even when clear there would be no public accountability, seven of you went ahead and approved $2 million to maintain these cameras for another five years -- given your stamp of approval to a public betrayal.

2. The public was told council was to take up a policy governing these cameras on March 24th. Instead, at a meeting on March 9th, where the policy was not on the agenda, Jamal Fox and Nancy Hoffman moved for the adoption of a policy no council person had yet read.The mayor refused to allow public comment on the policy before its adoption (and joked before returning to public session, that council members could convene in the bathroom if they wanted to talk about it contrary to N.C. open meetings law.)

3. Although the policy clearly states it shall not be effective until it has been ruled on by a court, city staff is telling the public it is in effect even without such a court ruling, and using that lie to deny access to camera footage.

Lies, lies, lies. Yet, you all just sit quietly.

Shame.

-- Roch"

I can smell more law suits in the making.Lots of them. And a whole bunch of people that you thought might be running for Mayor that won't be.

Greensboro's elected leaders and high ranking staff lie to myself and others on a regular basis. Only this time it's Roch, instead of myself, calling them on it.

Karen D. Spigner: Bring Back The Benches

From a post by Karen D. Spigner at Greater Greensboro Politics:

It seems that in light of other Police Departments trying to come together in communities Greensboro Police insist on creating further distance between members of the community and themselves.

I live work and socialize in the downtown community I pay quite a bit of  money to utilize the GTA Public Transportation System, I utilize the Amtrak and I shop and eat in the downtown area. 

Imagine my surprise when me and a few other seniors decided to have lunch at the depot only to find that all of the tables and benches were removed because the police or the security do not want to do their jobs by enforcing safety at the Depot Square. Do I have to mention that many of the people who utilize this area are mainly African American

I received a call from the City Managers Community Relations office and am informed that the Greensboro City Police are trying to prevent some who are obvious troublemakers from hanging around. But what about those of us who are tax paying citizens, pay good money for the resources of the Depot and are being penalized by a few bad apples. Oh Did I mention most of use who utilize this resource are African Americans.

Put the benches back, accept the Urbaness of Greensboro and tell security staff to do their damn job

More Megasite Concerns

Why yes, we do post letters to the editor and news from Randolph County that effects Guilford County and Greensboro:

ALL:

Please note that this coming Monday, June 6th, 2016, at 6pm is the Randolph County Commissioners’ meeting for June, 2016.  

The agenda is included below as part of this email; if you can attend, please do so.  Highlighted in red are a couple of items that may be of interest and somewhat summarized below.

1)  West Randleman Business Park item was approved by commissioners to be pursued via a loan of $762,000 in February, 2000.  Randolph County agreed to pay interest costs that was estimated then to be $53,000—$58,000 per year.  I think the Park only contains an emergency response facility.  I also think the offer to purchase the remaining property is in the neighborhood of $400,000ish.  It is assumed that the market value is in the neighborhood of the original price of $762,500, and since the County cannot sell for less than the market value, I think the plan is to "sell @ market value" while giving the buyer incentives to offset the differences from market value ($762K??) versus offered value ($400Kish???).  I think the incentives are centered around the buyer agreeing to provide 50ish jobs over the next 5 years or so.  Not sure of complete accuracy of this paragraph; however, the gist of the paragraph is believed to be correct. 

 

-  Specific verbiage from minutes of February 7, 2000, commissioners’  meeting states: “Bonnie Renfro, President of the EDC, stated that Randolph County has very few industrial sites or facilities available for industries seeking placement here.  Therefore, EDC has purchased an option on a 47.3 acre industrial tract in Randleman that can be marketed, developed, and sold to support quality economic development to benefit Randolph County.  Ms. Renfro said that EDC is seeking a 100% loan of $762,500 through voluntary partnership of local financial institutions who are members of Randolph County Partnership, the private membership of the EDC.  The EDC board  is requesting that the County pay the interest costs associated with the purchase, which should be $53,000—$58,000 per year, depending upon the interest rate.

-  On motion of Frye, seconded by Davis, the Board unanimously agreed to pay interest costs on the loan for the EDC’s purchase of the 47.3-acre tract located at the intersection of Commonwealth Road and Island Ford Road in Randleman.

As I understand one of the suggested items of the recently developed strategic plan for Randolph County is the desire by our economic developers to have multiple ‘site-ready’ sites for economic development.  Apparently this Randleman site, available for the past 16 years, has not been successful in helping fulfill that role.

2)  Reference the "Approve Repayment Agreement with the Department of Commerce-PetPro Resources—Bonnie Renfro”.  I have heard that PetPro may have entered bankruptcy.  You may remember that PetPro received a grant from the State of NC to set up manufacturing in Seagrove (I think utilizing an existing building) during the past couple years or so.  Randolph commissioners approved support for PetPro receiving the grant, and Randolph may have had to put some matching funds into the effort for PETPro to get the State grant??.  Now that PETPro has entered into bankruptcy, I understand that the State of NC wants their grant dollars returned by Randolph County (think this is somewhere around $100,000?).  I don’t think this information was made available to the commissioners when they originally approved support to the PETPro grant.  Regardless, it looks like the people of Randolph County are again being asked to ‘bail out’ County action.   As stated above I am not sure of the complete accuracy of this paragraph; however, the gist of the paragraph is believed to be correct. 

3)  It seems that the above two items certainly have a correlation to the megasite efforts including some of the people supporting/working the megasite efforts.

  

Your attendance and support continues to be important as we continue to address the megasite concern. 

Thanks, and hope to see you Monday night.

Bobby Ferguson

Bobby Ferguson is a resident and farmer in Randolph County and has been a leader in the fight against the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite.

Define Who Are We, Councilman Fox

Tuesday night's Greensboro City Council meeting included some comments about Black on Black crime from Greensboro City Councilman Jamal Fox in which Mr Fox accused the community of not working to reduce black on black crime. In his comments Mr Fox said we are working on it but when the speaker from the floor asked Mr Fox to identify who we is, Mr Fox failed to reply and Mayor Nancy Barakat "Grasshopper" Vaughan cut off the speaker's microphone.

Why that's just rude as shit! Especially coming from a man with domestic violence problems of his own.

The fact is: there are numerous groups in Greensboro working to solve the problems of black on black crime. There are also other groups who seem to only want to talk about black on black crime while listening to no one else. Apparently Mr Fox and his unidentified group is among those who want to do all the talking and no listening.

The following is a Facebook post I'm reusing as a letter to the editor with permission from its author Irving Allen:

"Just watched the city council meeting from yesterday only to see Rep. Jamal Fox blame his community (District 2) for not addressing violence in the community, which he classified as "Black on Black crime". I lived in district 1 and 2 for 10 years. I attended Middle and high school in district 1 and I still work in both those communities and well Mr. Fox is totally wrong on this one and here's why. 

1) Indeed there is violence in our community, there is also rampant poverty, food deserts, failing schools, and no investment in the people. I would argue that these conditions left unaddressed is what lead to the violence and hearing him address this without any mention of that context or the role that the council and police department play in creating and sustaining these conditions is irresponsible and dangerous. 2) to juxtapose protests against systematic racism within the police culture and judicial system against acts of individual violence and crime is a misleading and disingenuous response to an institutional problem that has been in our community for decades. 3) the Police department has never earnestly come to the table to partner with the community. A partnership involves access and input on many levels the community conversations that are being offered is not a partnership it's a therapy session. If GPD can't come to the table willing to open the doors to their back rooms when it's time to make decisions then it serves little purpose. The GPD just showing there face in the communities they have terrorized, even with there trusty city councilman by their side, does not create trust or security. 4) Jobs, Jobs, Jobs...if you want to help with violence in our community then you should focus on bringing job and development to district 2, partner with the school board to raise local teacher pay and invest in our schools and communities and not the police department!

Justin Outling Sharon Melvin Hightower Marikay Abuzuaiter Nancy Barakat Vaughan 

The community has been engaged in combating violence in our community from individuals and institutions. Instead of suggesting that nothing is being done uplift and support the efforts that have been for years active on these issues. We affirm that Black Lives Matter and it would be great if you would affirm that also! I am open to any dialogue around this issue as always but I am extremely disappointed with the statements made with lack of context and perspective. 

Revolutionary Love!"

As usual, Jamal Fox and the Greensboro City Council has shown a refusal to listen to both sides for fear of having the "Grasshopper's" own political agendas overturned. Liberal and conservative, we here at EzGreensboro.com are not scared of the voices of the left and the right as we work to empower Greensboro's working classes as we know the corruption being hidden by our political elite through discrimination and the improper use of taxation is our mutual enemy.

We Encourage Your Letters

Some might remember me as a poet. As a matter of fact: the first poem any of you ever saw from me was a protest poem that none other than John Hammer published in the old Rhinoceros Times many years ago before even he knew who I was. Today I'm going to share with you a poem sent to me by a regular reader of EzGreensboro.com who I know and whose political views I might not completely agree with but certainly understand. I think it's time those in power came to understand as well.

And So It Goes

There's people in the street, revolution in the air
It's not constrained by a border, if you look it's everywhere
Your collective idea, the world has been down that road
So watch out for that strong arm, don't let him get you in his hold

And so it goes, and so it goes

Now the paradigm has shifted, where it's gone no one knows
Whats over that horizon, should keep you on your toes
The old ways have gone and we're starting anew
When the things you've believed in, you're told were never true

And so it goes, and so it goes

They claim to be right, the only option is left
taking from me to give to him, in old, would be called theft
But those days are gone, and words, what are they?
You fell asleep, and have awoken, to a new utopian day

And so it goes, and so it goes

Letters to the Editor can be sent to RecycleBill@gmail.com

Another anonymous letter to the editor concerning our schools:

"Legislators have continued to take jabs at the states funding for education but you would not be able to tell it by reading the salaries for some of the highest paid in Guilford County Schools (GCS) staff members!

Guilford County Schools is the third largest school district in North Carolina and each year staff from Charlotte and other school districts are coming to Gulford County to cash in on the benefits.  Maurice "Mo" Green the current superintendent is from Charlotte Schools and so are several of the members of district staff.   Mo continues to play his role of not taking a raise each year but as we all know there are thousands of perks of being the top of the educational food chain.

One of the top highest paid includes Nora Carr, Chief of Staff who serves as the Public Relations gate keeper for the district.  Mrs. Carr and her husband both who work for GCS are both from Charlotte, NC school district.

New Western Regional staff leader Anna Sheehan has come in the door this month straight from Wake County making a nice six figure salary.

Make no mistake the educators in Guilford County classrooms have a full time job educating over 71.000 students.  The hot spot to make the "duckies" is clearly in Superintendent's Cabinet, Regional Offices and the Exceptional Children's Department's Dream Team.  Many principals of low performing schools are also calling in the educational dollars.  

Its sad to see so many thousands of uneducated students who are faced with poverty be abused by the district cashing in on grants and pockets of money the Board of Education needs to take a deeper look at.

Point is the rich keep getting richer and the poor continue to have to deal with bad decisions from leaders of the school district!  

It is very clear that the November, 2015 Salary report is a areas that was not included in the Say Yes to Education audit or there spill to elected officials (Greensboro and High Point City Council and County Commissioners) when they road in to do all the back door presentations to promote Say Yes.   Before several organizations and individuals started to open there check books.  

Guilford County Schools must start improving the educational outcomes for the thousands of students who are not receiving their constitutional right to a "Sound Basic Education"!!  But at this point with salaries rising for top lead staff the community should be advocating for why are the leaders in the six figure salaries not held to a higher accountability for the failures of students in Guilford County Schools."

SUPERINTENDENT'S CABINET

http://www.gcsnc.com/pages/gcsnc/District/Contact_Us/Superintendent_s_Cabinet

DISTRICT OFFICE STAFF

http://www.gcsnc.com/pages/gcsnc/District/Contact_Us/Administrative_Staff

REGIONAL DIRECTORY

http://www.gcsnc.com/pages/gcsnc/District/Contact_Us

PRINCIPALS DIRECTORY

http://www.gcsnc.com/pages/gcsnc/District/Contact_Us/Principals

GCS BY THE NUMBERS

http://www.gcsnc.com/pages/gcsnc/District/About_GCS/By_the_Numbers

And it came with 2 attachments.

Attachment 1. Annual Salaries For All Employees

Attachment 2. Annual Salaries $50,000 or Greater

Scare The Community, Keep SRO Funding

The following is an anonymous letter to the editor:

 "Scare the community AND YOU GET TO KEEP YOUR 2.5 MILLION DOLLAR FUNDING for the SRO Program in Guilford County!!!

 I know this may sounds far off but just so you will know the history of these incidents YOU MAY WANT TO RESEARCH ACTUAL STUDENTS WHO HAVE HAD WEAPONS OR GUNS ON CAMPUS SINCE SRO PROGRAM HAS BEEN IMPLEMENTED Incidents staged to create to fear because of recent SRO conversations! 

1) Historically all these stories to prove why SRO are needed will flood emails, social media and news outlets EVERY TIME SRO discuss starts with the school district RESEARCH WHEN THESE INCIDENTS HAPPEN 

2) Practices to have incidents around the time the board has conversations primarily happens at county schools today Ragsdale and Southeast High School 

3) Primarily INCIDENTS NORMALLY ARE REPORTED TO BE MINORS by doing this student's information is protected 

4) Normally when the incidents are created to cause fear in the Guilford County it is done in a manner in which weapon is either not on campus or not found on the students person Ex. Ragsdale student reportedly hid it outside Southeast High School reportedly had his hunting riffle in his trunk today 

 5) MAJORITY OF THESE INCIDENTS OR ACTUAL GUN ARE AT COUNTY SCHOOLS WERE THE SAME LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY AND CONTROL THE STORY AND REPORTING POINT IS SCARE THE COMMUNITY AND YOU GET TO KEEP YOUR 2.5 MILLION DOLLAR FUNDING FOR THE PROGRAM"

Is it time someone other than the Guilford County Sheriff's department investigated this?  I know as a civilian investigator I haven't the means or authority to conduct an investigation of this magnitude.

Joe Voter Asks

The following is a Letter to the Editor:

"The Mayor and Council have spoken a lot about diversity in board and commission appointments, contracting, and in welcoming diverse immigrants to Greensboro. However, when it comes to the only two employees Council has, it went from at the start of 2014 having diverse employees with an African-American woman as City Manager and an Indian-American man as City Attorney, to replacing those employees with two older White males. In both cases, the Council did not conduct a nationwide search or any search for the replacements. For incumbents: How can Greensboro's citizens resolve the conflict between talking about diversity, yet not considering diverse candidates for your only two employees? For challengers: Would you continue the current Council's focus on diversity and would you make changes in future hiring processes for Council's only employees?

 

Thank you for your consideration of this question.  

 

-Joe Voter "

 

This question has also been submitted to tonight's City Council Candidate's Forum.

We do accept Letters to the Editor. Usually LTEs are solely the opinion of the writer thus we require real names. In the case of an anonymous LTE it has to be something I would be willing to accept personal responsibility for posting. I saw no reason as to why I should fear posting this letter. Send your LTEs to RecycleBill@gmail.com

How Not To Send Me A Tip

Got the following e-mail a few days ago. I don't like the people involved and would love to slam the names I have redacted but the anonymous coward who sent me the e-mail provides me with nothing credible to back up his or her statements so as it stands it is pretty much worthless:

Parental Choice <sayfairness@gmail.com>

Oct 17 (3 days ago)

to me

I was told at a parent meeting at our church this morning that REDACTED, REDACTED and REDACTED are saying that the donors to Say Yes knowingly are discriminating against thousands of disabled, disadvantaged and minority children and "they are good with it" with there money?

Do you really think the people that pledged the money do not know they are intentionally hurting these kids just so REDACTED can get a better job when he moves on and they can all pat themselves on the back at their little country club cocktail parties.

Who pays the bills when the $15 million grant runs out that they use to set up all of the positions to administer the program? I would bet that falls on the tax payers and blows up in the faces of the people in the county to hold the bag like it has in New York (https://www.facebook.com/sayyestofairness)

Say Yes said GCS is wasting 24 million a year - haven't seen anyone cover that story in the media. Just another cover up like the $1.6 million wasted on moving from REDACTED to REDACTED.

I hope people in this community wake up to the dirty back room politics of these people while they are stepping on these children and their families just so they can get better jobs and get another REDACTED award.

Concerned Parent

 

Seriously folks, it doesn't and never has worked that way. We print facts here at EzGreensboro.com, not innuendo. 

Voter Turnout Is Low

A Letter To the Editor:

All I hear from some people is they hate Voter ID laws and the cutting back of early voting. The people hate SB 36 and didn't want their votes cut down. I ask the people where were you during the 8 days of early voting. The total number in a city of nearly 300,000 people with about 190,000 voters, the number of early voters was, 560, so about 70 people per day voted. There were more people at City Council chambers complaining about SB 36 then voted, can this prove my theory that the protesters mostly don't vote or live outside the City. I like people to understand that early voting is not a right, its a gift. There are states that don't have early voting or as much, some have by mail. So if we are going to complain, THEN VOTE. There are some that naturally complain and if the voting machine was to come to their front door, they complain why they couldn't come in their living room, some people do nothing but complain.

--Sal Leone 

Mr Leone is a candidate for Mayor of Greensboro.

The following chart was provided by the Guilford County Board of Elections

Tax Hikes Coming To Greensboro

 The following is a letter to the editor:

 

The people are blind if they do not see a tax hike and guess what, its coming like the election is. The tax hike is set for the 16-17 budget, well after the election and is a 1 cent property tax hike. The people will ask why and its not for food hardships, mental health, food deserts or East Greensboro but for debt service. The people can rejoice they are paying for the megasite water extension and TPAC. The statement is clear in the budget highlights, highlights for whom I ask?

 

So people I say be happy with your council that they will increase property taxes, Go vote them back in and we can be proud to have the highest property tax for any city,number one in something I guess is better then nothing. I also like to mention we had little to no budget meetings, wow I wonder why.

http://user-kcmpnye.cld.bz/Adopted-Budget-2015-2016

http://user-kcmpnye.cld.bz/Adopted-Budget-2015-2016#134/z

 

 

-Sal Leone

 

 

Sal Leone is a candidate for Mayor of Greensboro.

Letter To The Editor: Arrest in Glenwood Neighborhood

By Jacqueline Oates

 

Good folks,

I read in Yes Weekly  that Bulent Bediz was arrested in the Glenwood neighborhood while the city was impounding cars on his property. While I understand that there has been an ongoing issue regarding unregistered vehicles in Greensboro, this is disturbing on another level.

Several years ago amid great fanfare, Greensboro council members brought in Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class to discuss raising the quality of life for people in small cities by concentrating on attracting people rather than corporations. If I remember correctly, the major foundations as well as the city council applauded this concept and it was applied with some success to lower Elm Street. It was wonderful to see hardworking, joy-giving creative people begin to turn the scary-empty buildings near Lee into havens for diverse ideas and artwork. Of course, the inevitable gentrification is now occurring since the the less wealthy made a go of those blocks and the creatives are getting squeezed out by the privileged. But that's ok I guess, that's how things go in business districts.

This leads to why I am so concerned about Bulent. He has concentrated on an area that is not right smack downtown. He has created skilled employment opportunities and re-purposed fine materials that would otherwise end up in land fills. He has concentrated his efforts on an area that would make being an artist or a creative in Greensboro economically plausible. He has taken his artistic vision to a real working poor and middle class area and created bit by bit exactly what Richard Florida spoke of so well. Neighborhoods are people and people who care about communities and dedicate their time/ work/ talent/ lives need to be nurtured. 

I know that collectively you folks can come up with a strategy that won't discourage good folks like Bulent who wish to make better neighborhoods for all of us, not just the monied classes.

Sincerely,

Jacqueline