Something is very wrong with Zack Matheny's DGI proposal, which just won approval by the City of Greensboro

On May 4, 2016, the City of Greensboro approved the selection of DGI's proposal as "the sole Vendor of Choice" to manage downtown with City of Greensboro taxpayer monies;

. .
From the Request for Proposals;

Says the budget is to be $600,000, and "Activities proposed in excess of the program budget will not be accepted;

The budget is $600,000;

If 80% of the total budget is supposed to go to "program expenditures", only 20% is supposed to go to "Administrative and Maintenance Operations"; 

From Zack Matheny's DGI proposal submitted to the City, which David Parrish is said to be directly involved in the selection process.  Note Nick Piornack, who was in on Revolution Mill's incentive take and the South Elm parking lot loss etc...;

Zack's references, which includes David Parrish, the Greensboro Assistant City Manager involved in the selection process for the RFP = Conflict of Interest;

Zack's proposed budget is more than $600,000;

$81,157 + $84,805 = $165,962 for Admin and Maintenance, is supposed to cover all the employees salaries and rent etc...?

David Parrish and Jim Westmoreland have some questions which need answering.

Why was the proposal accepted if it was more than $600,000?

How is DGI going to be able to pay all it's ongoing overhead with $165,962?

City Continues Campaign Of Lies

As the EzGreensboro.com team continues to investigate Who Got The South Elm Street Redevelopment Money we run into constant roadblocks thrown at us by the City of Greensboro. For example: when investigator Sal Leone submitted a public information request asking for Mayor Nancy Barakat Vaughan's deposition in the Eric Robert vs City of Greensboro trial he was refused citing NC state statute § 132-1.9. as seen in the e-mail from the City of Greensboro below:

Of course we were expecting such a response but this time it just didn't make sense. You see, that's the problem when you begin with the intention of telling lies, you can't always keep track of what you've already said and done and as it so happens Katherine Carter of the City of Greensboro Public Relations and Marketing Department had previously given us the court order to release Mayor Nancy Vaughan's Deposition.

And we'll be using it when the time comes. In the meantime we hope you'll share this news with everyone you know so that all may see the cover-up that is still going on. After all, there are still things going on in government other than the Presidential elections.

By the way, we recently learned that Nick Piornack who you might have recently heard has taken control of the City funded Revolution Mill Project is behind on his taxes at his company Momentum Development. To the tune of $23,000. Rumor has it that the parking lot he owns jointly with James Budd and City Councilwoman Nancy Hoffman is also in trouble and is up for sale.

And while the News & Fishwrap loves to tell you stories about the losses at the International Civil Rights Center & Museum they don't talk much about Nick, James and Nancy being hundreds of thousands of dollars in the red and their combined dozens of bankrupt business ventures all with no means of paying back the City of Greensboro or the taxes they are never going to pay.

Nancy Vaughan Could And Should Do More

In today's News & Record, George Hartzman writes:

"Mayor Nancy Vaughan has asked Greensboro’s City Council to adopt more transparent ethics disclosures for some very good reasons.

For example, at the Dec. 17 City Council meeting, Nancy Hoffmann nominated her business partner, Nick Piornack, to Downtown Greensboro Inc.’s board, after voting to loan Piornack’s firm $200,000 for a parking lot that created spots where patrons of her three recently purchased buildings will likely park for a fee.

Hoffmann also nominated the architect for her now-taxpayer-subsidized project at 304 S. Elm via a DGI grant, which city taxpayers funded via a Hoffmann City Council vote. The interior designer for the same property now serves on the Minimum Housing Standards Commission.

If council members place citizens who do business with them on city boards, they should disclose the connections. Members should disclose financial interests in businesses and nonprofits, as well as organizations they are involved with that may become reliant on City Council votes bequeathing everyone else’s money.

Even though participation would be voluntary, identifying and following the actions of those who choose not to provide sunlight on their financial dealings should be enlightening."

Problem is: Mauor Vaughan's new disclosure rules won's stop Councilwoman Hoffman from lying or force her to disclose her associations. Case in point: Council members are already required to disclose all property they own to the City staff and voters but back in 2012 when I pointed out that Nancy Hoffmann had intentionally hidden her purchase of  304 S. Elm, the same building Mr Hartzman writes of in his letter to the editor, Greensboro City Councilwoman Nancy Hoffmann faced zero consequences.

On November 16, 2012, Greensboro City Attorney S Mhjeeb Shah-Khan wrote a letter (PDF) to the City Council defending Councilwoman Hoffman of my charges. Time has proven the city attorney to be wrong-- again.

You see, I spoke on the telephone with Frayda Bluestein of the North Carolina School of Government back in December of 2012 when I penned The Plight Of Local Governance and it was with tears in my eyes that I wrote:

"Recently I wrote of my concerns that Council members Zack Matheney and Nancy Hoffman had not filed their property disclosure forms as is required by Greensboro City Law only to find out from the Greensboro City Attorney that property disclosures are not required by Greensboro City Law. Well, they are required but they're not required.

You see, there is no penalty, no loss of voting privileges, no fines, no fees, no nothing that can be done to a council person who breaks any council rule imposed by City Council.

I didn't believe it either. I thought the City Attorney was playing me for a dumb redneck so I contacted the North Carolina School of Government to find out. The NC School of Government agreed. When they returned my call yesterday just minutes before I rushed out to get an early place in line at last night's Greensboro City Council meeting, the experts from the SOG explained to me that while all local governments in North Carolina have the right to pass laws regulating their own conduct, none have authority to establish or impose penalties upon members of their  own boards.

Sadly, this is why it is impossible for the Greensboro City Council to police itself and any effort to impose self-regulation no matter how well intentioned, is merely a farce. This is why the rich will always control our local governments. This is why the poor will always suffer at their hands."

Nancy Baracat Vaughan can and should do better. Instead of wasting Council's and staff time drafting and passing feel good resolutions that will not be obeyed and have no means of enforcement, Mayor Vaughan should be asking the Greensboro City Council to pass a resolution to lobby the North Carolina House and Senate to enact laws with teeth-- laws that can and will be enforced.

But Nancy Baracat Vaughan, who first ran for city council on a platform of ending local corruption only wants to put up more smoke and mirrors-- why?

If you can't do something the right way then don't do it at all.

New Appointments To Downtown Greensboro Incorporated

Theresa Yon and Al Leonard on the downtown Greensboro Inc board? Appointed by Greensboro City Council? Really? And then Nancy Hoffmann appoints her business partner Nick Piornack? It would appear Roy Carroll has stacked the deck in his favor.

I thought Nancy Baracat Vaughan was supposed to have gotten a handle on DGI?