Why Has Greensboro Become So Violent?

If you don't already know, Greensboro saw record murder rates in 2019 and people are wondering why. To get to the bottom of what breeds violence I decided to look into what breeds violence in other cities across the nation. Here are some of the things I learned.

From the Chicago Tribune in an article entitled, Why is there so much shooting and killing in Chicago?

“We are not just the most segregated city in America, but the level of concentrated poverty we have in our neighborhoods is unlike anything in Los Angeles or New York. You would not find an Englewood or Garfield Park anywhere in Los Angeles and New York.”

Next we go to The Hill with an article entitled, Violence is a symptom of poverty, not a cause:

"According to the most recent census data for Baltimore, the poverty rate is 24 percent. A quarter of a city that is 63 percent black. Of those people in poverty, only six percent will ever escape it in their lifetime. When you need to pay rent, or feed your family, or just find something to eat yourself, and there is nowhere else to turn, the poor turn to crime, and that usually means selling drugs.

The illegal drug trade is fueling most of the violence that’s occurring in the streets of Baltimore and in the streets of most other cities that face the same problem. There aren’t a lot of positive outcomes once you enter the drug game. Usually, it means prison, which is another of the main forces that drives poverty. If it’s hard to get a job coming from poverty, coming from prison it is almost impossible, and so to survive you return to selling drugs, and on and on it goes."

Now two articles certainly doesn't establish a trend so I went on to see what academics have to say about it and in this abstract from a study called Poverty and Violence it appears academia is in agreement that violence is a symptom of poverty:

"Poverty is widely believed to cause violence. The general public treats this notion as a truism, and most academics also accept it as such. Debates among the latter tend to be over which social mechanisms cause poverty to affect violence. But there are other positions to be sure. Poverty has been linked to violence in a number of ways. Most scholars as well as lay persons believe that those who live in poverty more frequently engage in acts of violence as a consequence of conditions that they are subjected to. There is, however, disagreement among scholars about which conditions are important and how and why they lead to violence. These conditions may include poor housing (Stark, 1987), distressed neighborhood (Krivo & Peterson, 1996), and disrupted families (Sampson & Groves, 1989). Living conditions of this sort are ordinarily defined as social structural consequences of poverty. While this structural approach has usually viewed poverty as the independent variable and violence as the dependent, some scholars have also argued that violence can cause poverty at the aggregate level by creating an unstable or dangerous environment which is not conducive to economic development or growth (Staley, 1992). It may also be that those who are financially better off will move out of areas with high rates of violence leaving only those who are economically unable to relocate (Wilson, 1996)."

So what are economic conditions like in Greensboro? Well let me just put it to you this way. The December 5, 2019 Scott Yost article in the Rhino Times, entitled Officials Charged Up Over New Battery Plant In East Greensboro, is tagged as Satire.

https://www.google.com/search?q=economy+in+greensboro+nc&source=lnms&tbm=nws&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjqhNTixsrmAhVBm-AKHdp_Bc8Q_AUoAnoECBEQBA&biw=1271&bih=872


And very poorly written satire at that.

So what is the Greensboro City Council doing about the poverty that is the root cause of the increasing violence in Greensboro?

Publix' "Project Sky"; From the City of Greensboro's secret meeting on the Publix incentive deal, compliments of Roch Smith Jr.; $250 million turned into $400 million

Those who knew;

How did $50,000 per year turn into $42,000 per year?;

Did the City exempt Publix from unreported fees?;

How did less than $10 million turn into $17 million plus?

How did $249 million turn into $400 million?;

And Roy Carroll's win win, from a council he purchased, and with a newspaper he controlled the messaging;

Sunday, March 18, 2018, and no one knows what the Publix give away for Roy Carroll looks like

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2018/03/sunday-march-18-2018-and-no-one-knows.html

Please provide all documentation and communications concerning Publix' investment of $400 million on Roy Carroll's land in Eastern Guilford County, since 1/1/16.

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2018/03/please-provide-all-documentation-and_21.html

Please provide all documentation and communications justifying Publix' average salary expectations of $42k per year for the City of Greensboro's proposed deal giving Roy Carroll $3 million in taxpayer funded water and sewer infrastructure

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2018/03/please-provide-all-documentation-and.html

"Carroll seeks $4M from Greensboro for shovel-ready site"
http://hartzman.blogspot.com/2012/03/carroll-seeks-4m-from-greensboro-for.html

...The nine areas were labeled as ...Birch Creek, Rock Creek and Carolina Corporate Center."
http://hartzman.blogspot.com/2012/08/city-to-become-land-developer-by-rhino.html

More proof from the NAIOP that TREBIC illegally lobbyied at the state level? Plus Roy Carroll and Marlene Sanford's 9000 acres outside city limits

http://hartzman.blogspot.com/2012/10/more-proof-from-naiop-that-trebic.html

Greensboro City Council Candidate Questionnaire 2013; On Roy Carroll

11. Would you ever vote to raise water fees for Greensboro residents?

Greensboro and Guilford County's residents were fleeced by Roy Carroll, Richard Beard and Robbie Perkins in the American Express back room incentive for their data farm deal, because of which Roy received water/sewer for his Birch Creek development, after AMEX fired more than 1,500 workers on the other side of town.

http://hartzman.blogspot.com/2013/08/conservatives-for-guilford-county.html

City Council Give Away; June 16, 2015; $188,280.87 of water and sewer for Roy Carroll hidden in item 9 of the consent agenda for Greensboro's City Council meeting

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/06/city-council-give-away-june-16-2015.html

How much did the city spend to get the sewer line installed under I-40 for Roy Carroll's AMEX backup data center project?

http://hartzman.blogspot.com/2014/01/how-much-did-city-spend-to-get-sewer.html

Rhino Times Paid Off By The City Of Greensboro?

Could it be true? Is the Rhino Times being paid off by the City of Greensboro? In response to public information request # 7044, Sal Leone, Candidate for Greensboro City Council District 5, sends the following documents he received from the City of Greensboro:

 

Isn't it amazing all the things, rich people like Roy Carroll, owner of the Rhino Times, get for free? An amazingly, Roy's "enemy" Marty Kotis, also gets free  Schiffman Diamond Club Seats. I wonder if they're side by side.

60,000 print readers read 5,000 Rhino Times per week?

http://www.rhinotimes.com/

Thursday, January 12, 2017; Once again, Greensboro's Rhino Times inflates readership estimates to mislead advertisers; 50,000 readers

The Rhino increased readership by 10,000 per week in a few months?

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2017/01/once-again-greensboros-rhino-times.html

The Rhino prints 5,000 papers per week. which comes out to 60,000 readers?

If every copy is read, 12 people read each copy?

How many papers aren't read?

Same lie, different year.
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John Hammer admits printing 5,000 Rhino Times per week =

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2016/10/john-hammer-admits-printing-5000-rhino.html

The City of Greensboro blowing off a legitimate taxpayer inquiry concerning the Rhino Times circulation numbers and links

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-city-of-greensboro-blowing-off.html

Has anyone seen the Rhino Times' circulation audit? About 16% of the Rhino's ads are taxpayer funded.

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/05/has-anyone-seen-rhino-times-circulation.html

Roy Carroll's Rhino Times questionable circulation subsidized by Greensboro's taxpayers

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/05/roy-carrolls-rhino-times-questionable.html

How can the Rhino claim to have 70,000 weekly readers if Roy is only distributing about 17,500 issues per week, many of which don't get read?

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/03/how-can-rhino-claim-to-have-70000.html

City of Greensboro Rhino Times Circulation Audit Information Request

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/05/city-of-greensboro-rhino-times.html

Rhino Times Greensboro Coliseum Advertising

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/03/rhino-times-greensboro-coliseum.html

Rhino Times; N.C. Gen. Stat § 75-1.1: Unfair & Deceptive Trade Practices Under North Carolina Law

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/03/rhino-times-nc-gen-stat-75-11-unfair.html

From an EZ Greensboro Fan on the Rhino Times Circulation/Reader Inflation Issue

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/03/from-ez-greensboro-fan-on-rhino-times.html

Communications between Roy Carroll's Rhino's John Hammer and the City of Greensboro's Donnie Turlington on the Rhino's Circulation numbers

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/06/communications-between-roy-carrolls.html

The City of Greensboro's response to the Rhino Times Circulation Audit Mystery

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-city-of-greensboros-response-to.html

John Hammer admits printing 5,000 Rhino Times per week =

"Last Thursday I did something I don't think I've done in 20 years: I delivered papers for the Rhino Times.

I have taken papers to stops that were missed over the years, but I really don't think I've done a full route since I had my one delivery driver quit about 1993.  Instead of quitting on Wednesday or even Thursday morning, he quit after having picked up the papers; and he carried the full print run, about 5,000 papers, upstairs to our second floor office and stacked them in the hall outside my office.  He was really mad about something but I don't remember what."

http://www.myvirtualpaper.com/doc/rhino-times/september-29-2016/2016092801/#2

From Roy Carroll's billboard;

70,000 / 5,000 = 14 readers for each copy of the Rhino?

The City of Greensboro blowing off a legitimate taxpayer inquiry concerning the Rhino Times circulation numbers and links

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-city-of-greensboro-blowing-off.html

Has anyone seen the Rhino Times' circulation audit? About 16% of the Rhino's ads are taxpayer funded.

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/05/has-anyone-seen-rhino-times-circulation.html

Roy Carroll's Rhino Times questionable circulation subsidized by Greensboro's taxpayers

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/05/roy-carrolls-rhino-times-questionable.html

How can the Rhino claim to have 70,000 weekly readers if Roy is only distributing about 17,500 issues per week, many of which don't get read?

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/03/how-can-rhino-claim-to-have-70000.html

City of Greensboro Rhino Times Circulation Audit Information Request

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/05/city-of-greensboro-rhino-times.html

Rhino Times Greensboro Coliseum Advertising

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/03/rhino-times-greensboro-coliseum.html

Rhino Times; N.C. Gen. Stat § 75-1.1: Unfair & Deceptive Trade Practices Under North Carolina Law

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/03/rhino-times-nc-gen-stat-75-11-unfair.html

From an EZ Greensboro Fan on the Rhino Times Circulation/Reader Inflation Issue

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/03/from-ez-greensboro-fan-on-rhino-times.html

Communications between Roy Carroll's Rhino's John Hammer and the City of Greensboro's Donnie Turlington on the Rhino's Circulation numbers

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/06/communications-between-roy-carrolls.html

The City of Greensboro's response to the Rhino Times Circulation Audit Mystery

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-city-of-greensboros-response-to.html

Greensboro's News and Record's Margaret Moffett misleads readers for Mike Barber and Nancy Vaughan

Whether the council’s actions were legal

depends on whether a majority of members continued to discuss the contract issue privately...

...They didn’t, reported the News & Record’s Margaret Moffett.

Doug Clark and Allen Johnson

John Hammer; "Speaker Drives Council into Kitchen

As a result of deliberations at what was clearly an illegal private meeting, the Greensboro City Council postponed action on awarding the contract to allocate the downtown Business Improvement District (BID) funds at its regular meeting on Tuesday, May 17, in the Council Chambers.

The problem is that the deliberations on how to handle the contract were not done in the Council Chambers with the public present and in front of the television cameras, or even with the city clerk taking minutes.  It was done in the backroom with only councilmembers and two reporters present.

The fact that the reporters were welcomed into the meeting doesn’t meet the definition of a public meeting according to the North Carolina open meetings law.  The meeting in the hallway outside the council offices and in the small kitchen area was clearly held to make a decision in private rather than in public, as is required by law.  It’s not enough to simply allow two reporters to attend the meeting; the public has to be invited and have access, and they did not.

Whether the council’s actions were legal

depends on whether a majority of members continued to discuss the contract issue privately...

...They didn’t, reported the News & Record’s Margaret Moffett.

Doug Clark and Allen Johnson

The public, the city clerk, the city attorney and Councilmember Tony Wilkins were all left in the Council Chambers when seven councilmembers (Councilmember Yvonne Johnson was absent) and two reporters went in the backroom to make a decision.

...Robert said that he had been told about an hour before the meeting that Downtown Greensboro Inc. (DGI) was allowed to revise its proposal five days after the deadline.

Zack Matheny cheated with David Parish's help

DGI used David Parish as a reference in the proposal

...Once they got back to the council offices, Barber said in response to a question from Banks about what was going on, “Based on the history of litigation, I think we need to postpone this for two weeks.”

Mike Barber violated North Carolina open meeting laws

by discussing the issue

...the other councilmembers did discuss the matter among themselves.

Margaret Moffett lied

It was certainly not a formal meeting in any fashion since most of the deliberation appeared to take place in the small kitchen where there were chicken wings and pizza, so there was a crush around the food, but in that crush the councilmembers were discussing what to do about the contract to award the downtown BID money.

Right after Barber made his statement, Councilmember Sharon Hightower asked if there were a time element involved in awarding the contract.

Margaret Moffett lied to News and Record readers

Mayor Nancy Vaughan said that DGI was funded through the end of the fiscal year, June 30, so delaying the contract for two weeks shouldn’t be a problem.

Nancy Vaughan discussed and deliberated illegally

Then councilmembers discussed rebidding the contract, since questions had been raised about the bid process.  But the decision made in the backroom was to have the staff go over the proposals and make certain that everything was in order and then award the contract at the next meeting, scheduled for June 7, the date of the congressional and state Supreme Court primaries in North Carolina.

City Attorney Tom Carruthers was late arriving at the backroom meeting and warned that no deliberations should be taking place.

Doug Clark and Allen Johnson misled News and Record readers

The councilmembers who were in the midst of deliberating said none were, but were still discussing whether to rebid the contract or not while they ate pizza and chicken wings..."

http://www.rhinotimes.com/Content/Default/One-Click-Reading/Article/Speaker-Drives-Council-into-Kitchen/-3/6/1222

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Allen Johnson and Doug Clark; "Whether the council’s actions were legal depends on whether a majority of members continued to discuss the contract issue privately, Jonathan Jones of the N.C. Open Government Coalition said in an email to blogger Roch Smith Jr. that was copied to media and council members. (They didn’t, reported the News & Record’s Margaret Moffett.)

...It gives the appearance of backroom discussion even if there was no violation of the open meetings law or if there was perhaps a relatively minor violation.

Doug Clark and Allen Johnson misled News and Record readers

...The question of DGI is especially sensitive. Its CEO, Zack Matheny, is a former council member. What’s more, before Matheny got the job in 2015, a DGI administrator alleged that a councilman — Barber — had pressed the nonprofit’s board to hire Matheny or risk losing city funding.

...Appearances do matter. And right now, our City Council isn’t looking so good."

http://www.greensboro.com/opinion/n_and_r_editorials/our-opinion-a-pregnant-pause/article_f086e976-4e4b-5904-8549-efe352a8d512.html
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Margaret Moffett; "Council halts discussion on downtown contract amid allegation

In previous years, the council didn’t have to let other groups compete with DGI to get that contract. But a vote by the General Assembly changed that last September...

Councilman Mike Barber then asked for a recess. Council members left the chamber and walked back to the common area outside of their offices. John Hammer, editor of the Rhino Times, and I accompanied them.

Barber told council members they needed to stop the discussion until the city’s legal staff could investigate the matter.

“Based on the history of litigation, 

I think we need to postpone this for two weeks.”

Mike Barber

The council returned to open session a few minutes later, then voted to postpone its decision on who should get the contract.

Barber said afterward that he stopped the meeting after “hearing an allegation from one of the legal bidders that completely put the process in another context.”

The move was necessary, Barber said...

...Mayor Nancy Vaughan said the council needed to stop the meeting to make sure there is no hint of controversy when the council finally does vote on awarding the contract.

Mayor Nancy Vaughan said that DGI was funded through the end of the fiscal year, June 30, 

so delaying the contract for two weeks shouldn’t be a problem.

John Hammer

When someone with a history of litigation against the city makes an allegation, “you want to make sure you get it right,” she said."

http://www.greensboro.com/news/council-halts-discussion-on-downtown-contract-amid-allegation/article_b0dc63cc-a825-5901-8437-f9ed5e561e33.html

Margaret Moffitt lied for Nancy Vaughan, Mike Barber and the rest of council

Margaret should be removed from her position covering Greensboro's City Council
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News and Record's Margaret Moffett; "Council halts discussion on downtown contract amid allegation"

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2016/05/news-and-records-margaret-moffett.html

On DGI at this evening's Greensboro City Council Meeting; This is what non-transparency looks like

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2016/05/on-dgi-at-this-evenings-greensboro-city.html

The City of Greensboro shafted their own employees; "401(k) Fees, Already Low, Are Heading Lower"

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-city-of-greensboro-shafted-their.html

Zack Matheny Linkfest, Part One; Robbie Perkins, Rhino Times, Sam Simpson, Nancy Vaughan, Jim Melvin, David Powell etc...

Don't expect the News and Record, 

Triad City Beat, Rhino Times or Yes Weekly

to report any of this, 

or anything damaging to Zack and friends.

Most of the following information 

was never reported by our local press

in the first place,

which makes them partially responsible.

Compare Sam Simpson and Zack Matheny's current exploits to; 12/31/13; "Robbie Perkin's 9,000 acres, Project Haystack, "Incentives" and the Rhino Times"

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/02/compare-sam-simpson-and-zack-mathenys.html

Greensboro City Manager colluding with Sam Simpson and Bonnie Renfro on Nancy Vaughan's Megasite talking points

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/03/greensboro-city-manager-colluding-with.html

DGI, Jim Westmoreland, Nancy Vaughan, Zack Matheny, Tuggle Duggans, Roy Carroll and the Triad Good Government PAC

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/05/city-of-greensboro-information-request.html

From; Zack Matheny To; Jason Cannon On Wed, Nov 12, 2014 at 8:43 AM

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/06/from-zack-matheny-to-jason-cannon-on.html

Zack Matheny violates the City Charter and his oath of office etc..., again, by discussing "Economic Development" in Greensboro's budget, while a candidate for DGI's top job

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/05/zack-matheny-violates-city-charter-and.html

Triad Business Journal; "A month later, Greensboro police are nowhere on Powell investigation"

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/05/triad-business-journal-month-later.html

Randolph County Megasite Con Update

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/05/randolph-county-megasite-con-update.html

Goodbye Mike Barber and Zack Matheny; "Greensboro group pressured to hire new CEO"

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/04/goodbye-mike-barber-and-zack-matheny.html

Piedmont's Triad Partnership's Triad First Capital has disappeared; Jim Melvin, Sam Simpson, David Powell etc...

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/04/piedmonts-triad-partnerships-triad.html

John Hammer; "Mayor Nancy Vaughan had said that Melvin didn’t have any personal investment in the area that it was all Bryan Foundation money."

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/03/john-hammer-mayor-nancy-vaughan-had.html