Nancy Cries RUCO

In a Facebook discussion with Cara Michelle Forest about a Heritage House refugee about to become homeless despite the fact that I personally made Mayor Vaughan aware of this person's situation via e-mail weeks ago (Parts 1 , 2 ,  3 and 4) Greensboro Mayor Nancy Barakat Vaughan cites the loss of RUCO, the Rental Unit Certificate of Occupancy, as the reason for the conditions at Heritage House becoming as bad as they were but RUCO which was rendered illegal by the State Legislature in 2011 doesn't explain this 2007 letter from a Heritage House resident. Does it Mayor Vaughan?

"The exterior is nice-looking, and the rooms are not bad (it used to be hotel once). The tenants, however, are a different story. Since I've been here, I have encountered drunks, drug dealers, theives, and prostitutes (I only wish I were exaggerating!). Police officers have become a common sight for me, as fights (particularly domestic situations), confrontations, and robberies occur regularly. Then, there is an idiot that has decided that sounding the fire alarm at night when everyone is sleeping is "fun." Add to that the mentally challenged individual who not only vandalizes the laundry room, but urinates in the washer and dryers."

Would that not have been a RUCO violation? Nancy?

Got a screen grab of that Nancy, don't bother trying to pay them to take it down.

Nancy wants dearly to hide but in a Sep 12, 2010 News & Record Editorial they wrote:

"Council member Nancy Vaughan had questioned whether RUCO might be less costly if it were converted into a complaint-only  process."

Don't bother to beg Ed Cone to take the link down, Nancy, I took screen grabs of that too. I long ago learned how you operate when you started deleting my questions from your Facebook page before you blocked me there for catching you at a lie. Then there was Jordan Green's report in July of that same year:

"A recent report that Greensboro Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Vaughan wants to explore the possibility of revising the city’s RUCO program — that’s an acronym for Rental Unit Certificate of Occupancy — and go back to a complaint-driven system pricked my curiosity about whether the units at JT Hairston Memorial Apartments have a RUCO certificate and whether reports of bedbug infestation there would constitute a violation."

A complaint driven RUCO would not have been RUCO at all. Have no doubt, Then Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Barakat Vaughan was attempting to dismantle RUCO one brick at a time beginning with the very foundation, the piece most objected to by slumlords-- the ability of inspectors to inspect without first being called upon.

On August 10, 2010, Cara Michele Forest wrote: 

 "The worst part about the push to go to elimination of RUCO and self-report of violations is that it pits power and money (TREBIC, Greensboro Landlords Association) against poor people who are most likely to live in substandard housing and fear reporting housing code violations.  Power vs. poverty is an unfair fight. Too often, power wins. I’m hoping and praying that many advocates — and renters! — will step up and fight for the continuation of this successful program."

Yep, the Wayback machine... Michelle spoke to me for the first time in about a year just recently. (In an e-mail) She didn't want to get dragged back into politics, I suspect it will be at least a year before the beautiful young woman I first met over 30 years ago will speak to me again. Despite my well known adoration for her I have a long history of blowing it with Michelle, it's nothing new so after Michelle and I argued today about her intent to remain apolitical I'm dragging her back in kicking and screaming, like it or not.

And while Nancy was working to undo RUCO at the local level hubby Don Vaughan, himself a former Greensboro City Councilman, State Lobbiest and then State Senator had already began work to dismantle RUCO at the State level. From Yes-Weekly, October 15, 2008:

"Despite the low premium on rhetoric, lawyer Don Vaughan took his place in line for the second round of speeches after a bluegrass band stopped playing and the registered guests had made a pass through the barbecue line and turned in their drink tickets. A business-friendly Democrat, the candidate for the state Senate seat being vacated by Kay Hagan was in familiar territory. Individuals employed by real-estate companies and law firms represented by the Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition, or TREBIC, have donated at least $5,525 to Vaughan’s campaign. If the total seems unimpressive, then the increments — 33 checks averaging $167 — at least suggest a set of relationships marked by mutual ease and assurance.

 “Real estate is the beginning of economic development in Guilford County,” said the emcee, a Greensboro lawyer named Tom Terrell who argues zoning cases before the High Point City Council. A sign urging, “Stop the Jordan Lake Rules,” rested on an easel at the head of the candidate line to underscore TREBIC’s agenda. Requirements put forward by the state Environmental Management Commission to reduce upstream nitrogen pollution in the Haw River to clean up the Jordan Lake, which provides drinking water to a number Triangle communities, has been roundly opposed by developers, municipalities and manufacturers alike. The estimated cost of the cleanup to Greensboro is $70 million.

 Terrell introduced Vaughan at the TREBIC reception as “a real-estate attorney and former city council member.” Favored to win his race, Vaughan served seven terms on Greensboro City Council before losing a reelection bid in 2005. A busy law practice in which he has represented everyone from clients charged with driving while intoxicated to residents from neighborhoods such as Glenwood and Westridge lobbying to block infill development has won him supporters. A consummate insider, the candidate has served on the NC Banking Commission and the board of the state chamber of commerce. From 1993 through 2007, Vaughan acted as a lobbyist in Raleigh for a string of clients, including the National Solid Waste Management Association and what is now the Greensboro Partnership."

Don Vaughan went to Raleigh with 3 goals: eliminate RUCO, eliminate Protest Petitions and do away with the Jordan Lake Rules. Having achieved the first 2 he retired after 1 term in the State Senate figuring 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

You see, Nancy Barakat Vaughan has been the problem all along. TREBIC was the #1 opponent of RUCO. And when it was pointed out to Nancy Vaughan in October of 2011 that the City funded Greensboro Partnership was a dues paying TREBIC member that opposed RUCO Nancy said:

“...I’m very aware of what’s going on in the partnership and the chamber, and I support them 100 percent. This year, our funding was cut by 10 percent during our budget process. I advocated very strongly to restore that 10 percent. Unfortunately, I was not successful..."

Could it be Nancy has already decided to be a one term mayor having already done all the damage she set out to do just as Don accomplished all he planned to do in one term in Raleigh? One can't help but wonder if everything hasn't already been arranged.

When I first saw the screen grabs of Nancy and Michele's Facebook conversation I sent Nay-saying Nancy an e-mail that included the following:

"Also, progress was being made at Heritage House, crime was going down. Then command of the Southern Division was suddenly changed, the walking patrols ended and crime there skyrocketed again. Why was the command changed? Who wanted Heritage House to fail?

The city is rushing the process to take ownership and resell the property in hopes of beating an court orders stopping the sale. They're almost sure to pull that part off. And the lawsuits, the taxpayers pay them so the politicians lose nothing. But those in charge were so sure myself and others would fall for the slumlord story and take their side. They didn't know I already knew homeowners living in Heritage House. They didn't know Ben Holder's first Heritage House contact found Ben via me: http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-was-billy-jones-and-ed-cones.html was back in 2012. They didn't know that I knew before the first story hit the media that it was a land grab in the making.

And they didn't know I would leave all the dots behind so that they could be easily connected: http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/search/label/Heritage%20House

Oh, and we know this began under Robbie Perkins buy why go after him when Nancy is every bit as guilty and still in office? What's really sad is that Barber is going to slip away because Nancy won't open her mouth and Barber becomes the next crooked mayor.

Remember this Nancy: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9h2K8JxTQUjemsyVGJkdFI2ekd5SUdxZlhWMEZjUmVwME5V/edit?usp=sharing No, Michelle didn't send it to me, she's usually made at me. I've got the entire conversation. You can't block everyone like you block me from Facebook and the more you block the quilter you look."

Nancy Barakat Vaughan'r reply:

"I fully expected you to see my response to Michele, or I would have called her. After all your "Team" is a "friend".   

But Mayor Vaughan failed to address any of my concerns just as she dodged Michelle's questions and has continued a long campaign of lies and deception that has gone on for years. I replied to Madam Mayor with the following:

"If this is how you want to play the game then have at it."

And I included a link to this post.

Greensboro Should Condemn Ashley Creek Apartments

Item # 43 on tonight's Greensboro City Council agenda: The owners of Ashley Creek Apartments are seeking a loan. Seems the apartments were knowingly built in a flood zone. The City of Greensboro has bailed these developers out before for this same property and now they've come back to the well asking for more taxpayer dollars for a building that should have never been built in the first place.

Their bright solution is to turn the lower floors into mini-storage but the black mold problems that exist now will not go away simply because the lower floors are converted to storage. And the black mold will climb up into the living spaces above. Black Mold has long been known to be a very dangerous and often deadly hazard to humans, especially children and the elderly. 

The solution: The City of Greensboro should move to condemn and destroy the property, not fund the eventual deaths of children and the elderly.

GPAC Contributor Has History Of RUCO Violations

Remember the $3.5 Million from the Phillips Foundation to fund the building of the downtown Greensboro Performing Arts Center. Well it just so happens ol' Kermit Phillips "earned" his riches as the owner of one of the largest property management companies in the Southeastern United States with low rent properties in several states including North Carolina. And it just so happens the Phillips family ran afoul of RUCO standards multiple occasions.

Could you imagine expecting people to pay rent to live in apartments damaged by fire, smoke and water? Phillips Management did.


Isn't it sweet how 25 year old Ms Elizabeth Phillips is giving back her Daddy's ill gotten gains by donating to Greensboro's elite? Like so many of Greensboro's elites, Ms Phillips is now learning it's best to stay hidden in your caves.

This and more as Hell Day continues right here in Greensboro.

Bryan Trexler House Choice

I was looking through Craigslist when I came upon a rather unusual barter listing from someone wanting their rental property repaired in exchange for labor and materials. A couple of things that caught my attention were the expectation that a carpenter not only provide materials but also be expected to be proficient at plumbing and electrical. The link won't be live forever so I used my handy grabber tool.

You see, while it's not impossible for a carpenter to be proficient at plumbing and electrical it would require about 14 years of work experience for one person to be licensed to do both in the State of North Carolina. Not to mention the HVAC a little farther down the page.

Could it be the owner of this rental property is seeking some unlicensed plumbing, electrical and HVAC work on his property?

So I googled the telephone number, 336-285-5000  and learned it belongs to Bryan Trexler House Choice http://bryanshousechoice.com/ who claims to be "... a Native Guilford County. License Real Estate Broker for over 15 years. Experienced in Property Management, Sales, and Listings."

Then I went to the NC Secretary of State website to search for Bryan Trexler only to learn his business has been suspended by the Secretary of State.


Mr Trexler is also the owner or former owner of the Sedgefield Trading Post a seller of used cars and heavy trucks but that can't be right as 4408 Westbourne Road  is in the Starmount/Hamilton Lakes neighborhood. And while the Sedgefield Trading Post is listed with Dun & Bradstreet (Updated 3/13/2013) the company is not to be found on the NC Secretary of State Website. Wonder why that is?

So I decided to do a public records request from the City of Greensboro to see if Bryan Trexler has ever had a history of RUCO violations.

"Please check to see if the following are listed as RUCO violators and send me what you find:
Trexler
Bryan Trexler
Bryan Trexler Inc.
Sedgefield Trading Post
Bryan Trexler House Choice
Any business listing their address as 4408 Westbourne Road, 27210 or using the telephone number 336-285-5000

Thank you -Billy Jones"

I'll let you know what I find out.

 Update:   As you can see from the following response to a recent public information request from the City of Greensboro, the Trexlers have a history of being bad landlords.

CLARENCE IZZARD: The Reason We Need RUCO

Clarence Izzard has never lived at 1203 Willard St in Greensboro but according to the Guilford County Register of Deeds,  that is where the property tax bill is mailed each year for the property taxes on the house at 1203 Willard St which Mr Izzard rents to a single mother of several children who has lived there for the last 12 or more years.

As a matter of fact: Clarence Izzard has never lived at 1203 Willard St in Greensboro-- not even for a day. The last property owner to actually occupy the house at 1203 Willard St was Roger Julius Hayes who sold the property in 1983. It's changed hands several times since then. How do I know that to be true? Roger was like a big brother to me. He looked after me, my brothers and even my parents when I was out of town working.

Roger grew up there, two doors behind me. Between he and I were his first cousins, the Pinnix brothers of which I have written before. When Roger was able he bought a home of his own and left the neighborhood. Upon his mother's death he inherited a house he didn't need. Roger tried renting the house out for a few years but it wasn't much of a money maker so he eventually put it on the market. Fact is: if you've ever tried to work 2 full time jobs, raise kids, take care of the house your family lives in plus take care of a rental home... Well Roger simply found himself too tired to do it all. Who could blame him? Certainly not me.

Many a horrid tenant lived there until the family who lives there now moved in. It took me a while to get used to them but they turned out okay. But why does Clarence Izzard claim to live there? And why is Clarence Izzard is said to live on Brookside Ct in Kernersville in another low priced home or on Hazelwood Dr  in East Greensboro in yet another low priced home?

And did the City of Greensboro ever know that Atlanta slumlord, Clarence Izzard, was even buying, selling and renting houses in Greensboro? And did they care?

For those unaware, RUCO is a set of safe housing rules that used to apply to Greensboro landlords until the City of Greensboro helped lobby the State of North Carolina to make the City's own regulations null and void. Yeah, I know it sounds crazy but so does most everything else Greensboro government does. You know, like building a dam we never needed.

Half Truths

Today the local media is lamenting how Raleigh lawmakers are blocking Greensboro's efforts to make rental housing safer. But what our local media doesn't tell you is that the City of Greensboro lobbied state lawmakers to make the very changes the media and our "leaders" now publicly lament.

They even used our tax dollars to do the deed. Bastards.

City Of Greensboro IFYI Friday, April 26, 2013

Along with the usual we have Illegal signs, concieled weapons in restaurants, Stricter ethics rules for city council members (HB 659) and finally, Current Public Records Requests. I thought the City was supposedly swamped with PIRT requests, that list doesn't look to be that big.


And today's City of Greensboro Announcements:

Post RUCO Work Session

Heritage House Owners Still Not In Compliance

It seems some of the owners of Heritage House have still not brought their rental properties up to code. And people still ask if we really needed RUCO.

Mayor Perkins, What Facts Did George Misrepresent?

Mayor Perkins accuses George Hartzman of misrepresenting the facts but doesn't say what facts George misrepresented.



Calling a man a liar is easy when you don't back up your claims, Mr Mayor. Now show us the facts.

George Hartzman's Remarks At The Post RUCO Hearing Yesterday

 Update: The News & Record proves George correct.

"Heritage House: 60 passed, 117 didn't

Some have the blood of poor renters on their hands.

The Minimum Housing Standards Committee is stacked with landlord representatives.

TREBIC, which is Marlene Sanford, Robbie Perkins, Roy Carroll and others, acted to limit RUCO in 2008.

This is what Marlene Sanford and Robbie Perkins' TREBIC brought Greensboro, and tomorrow night, City Council will vote to give Marlene Sanford money to lobby on Greensboro's behalf.

Robbie Perkins, when talking about how the state legislation eliminated RUCO, was disingenuous and misleading as he funded TREBIC and stacked the RUCO board to get rid of it at the state level, and Marlene illegally lobbied for it with taxpayers money.

If Robbie Perkins supported RUCO, why would he vote to eliminate sampling inspections of multifamily properties?

Mayor Robbie Perkins lied to renters of the City of Greensboro, illegally funded the outfit that got the ordinance eliminated by deducting his donations to TREBIC for lobbying, voted to limit rental inspections, and the News & Record, The Rhino Times and Yes Weekly won't report it.

TREBIC and Robbie Perkins are responsible for harming poor renters.

Robbie Perkins misled Greensboro's African American community along with other elected officials who didn't lift a finger.

TREBIC actively directs campaign donation bundles.

This is what Robbie Perkins brought Greensboro.

Robbie Perkin's campaign money came from those who wanted RUCO eliminated.

If taxpayers fund the Greensboro Partnership which funds TREBIC, some of Greensboro's taxpayer money was spent to eliminate RUCO.

The Greensboro Partnership receives public money.

City Manager Denise Turner Roth was the Greensboro Partnership's lobbyist.

The City of Greensboro funds the Greensboro Partnership with taxpayer money.

If the Greensboro Partnership is a dues paying TREBIC member, and the Partnership receives taxpayer money, the City of Greensboro funded the harming of poor renters state wide.

News & Record publisher Robin Saul is a board member of the Greensboro Partnership, which is a TREBIC member.

The Greensboro Partnership helps fund TREBIC, therefore, public money was used to harm poor renters from money enabled in part through the City's Manager, who was the Greensboro Partnership's ex-lobbyist, and the News & Record, The Rhino Times and Yes Weekly won't report it.

This is what Marlene Sanford illegally lobbied for with money, that was illegally deducted by TREBIC contributors.

Lobbying is not tax deductible, therefore it appears TREBIC members defrauded the government on their tax returns.

If TREBIC illegally lobbied, TREBIC dues paying members among others illegally deducted portions of their payments supporting TREBIC.

TREBIC is responsible for this.

This involves board members of DGI and the Greensboro Partnership.

Dawn Cheney is a TREBIC member and landlord on the committee to fix DGI.

She is on DGI’s board.

Dawn Chaney was on the RUCO taskforce.

Now she is on the post RUCO study committee.

Dawn Chaney also chairs Greensboro's Redevelopment Commission and is on the executive committee for The Greensboro Landlord association.

Those who have harmed poor renters have been left unaccountable for their actions.

Those who harmed poor renters include those city council members who did nothing to prevent it.

The News & Record, The Rhino Times and Yes Weekly share part of the blame for letting Robbie and friends get away with it without holding anyone publicly responsible.

TREBIC, Robbie Perkins and friends have harmed poor renters state wide and our news industry won't report it."

City Council Ditches Their Responsibilities

After years of public comment at City Council meetings, in blog threads, e-mails, telephone calls, Facebook, Twitter and every other means possible Mayor Robbie Perkins has established yet another way to ignore public comment on local housing laws.

According to today's News & Record:

"A meeting has been scheduled for 3:30 p.m Monday in Greensboro city council chambers.

A council subcommittee will hear public comments about the city’s minimum housing code, which is meant to ensure that homes and apartments are safe."

Really, when most apartment dwellers will still be at work, unable to take time off because doing so will cause them to not have enough money to pay the rent on their substandard apartments and rentals houses. Yeah, that's giving voice to the people alright.

Isn't it funny how when the Mayor is trying to sell a community on an idea he has a community summit in that community but when it involves protecting his on business interests it's downtown at a time when most folks can't be there? Coincidence? Hardly.

The Mayor knows what the public wants, he's simply trying to avoid doing it.

Over 1000 Made Sick By Robbie Perkins

Let's not forget that while a city councilman, Mayor Robbie Perkins worked overtime to eliminate housing inspections by the City of Greensboro, North Carolina and helped to eliminate the RUCO safe housing standards at the request of his friends in the Development and Real Estate Industries in which the mayor works as the owner of NAI Piedmont, one of the largest commercial real estate company in North Carolina. And there there's this:



It's time he paid for his lies.

Neighborhoods Face Risks As City Fails Its Duty

An op-ed from Thursday's News & Record:

"The demise of Greensboro’s Rental Unit Certificate of Occupancy (RUCO) ordinance left at risk tenants living in existing single-family rental houses never inspected for safety. More endangered tenants now live in the rental houses placed on the market since March 2011.

Currently, Greensboro does not have proactive inspection of rental housing units. Tenants are reluctant to report dangerous situations, fearing eviction and having no other housing. In addition, Greensboro has less than half the median number of housing inspectors per capita of other North Carolina cities.

Renters living in houses with faulty wiring, leaking plumbing and worse conditions should concern everyone. Unsafe occupied houses, which could cause residents to become ill, have an accident or even die, are a more urgent need than repairing or tearing down rundown empty houses..."

And to date I've seen no one make mention of the fact that in densely packed neighborhoods, faulty wiring and other fire hazards not being proactively managed could lead to hundreds of deaths and entire neighborhoods burned to the ground. Are Mayor Robbie Perkins, Councilwoman Nancy Hoffman and the rest of the Greensboro City Council prepared to accept the blame when tragedy strikes? Have I been gazing into my crystal ball? you'd best hope not.

Can you spell, C-L-A-S-S A-C-T-I-O-N? Because once you have been warned it becomes negligence. Consider yourself warned.

More Post RUCO Lies From Sue Schwartz

 Correction:
Council Woman Nancy Vaughan e-mailed me the following:

"Billy, I just read your latest RUCO post. There was a task force meeting on October 24th and a had a additional three hour meeting on the 30th. I assume you made that assumption based on lack of posted minutes?  Nancy Hoffman and I attended both those meetings, as well as some earlier meetings."

My thanks to Nancy for setting the record straight but as I told her in my reply, Sue Schwartz's letter still stinks.

Begin original post:

Sue Schwartz, FAICP Director for the City of Greensboro writes in her Post Ruco Study Committee Update to the Greensboro City Council and citizens of Greensboro:

"...The committee had been working diligently in the hopes of completing their work by October 31, 2012..."

Well, for starters, not only did you miss the deadline but you were proven wrong before you made the claim and wrote the letter. Try clicking on the words, proven wrong if you're unsure of how websites work.

"...They have made great strides..."

Really? There's nothing in the Post RUCO Meeting Minutes to indicate any progress. And being that there hasn't been a Post RUCO Board meeting since October 18th, just when did you make these "great strides?"

And finally:

"...Please let me know if you need additional information or have any questions."

Well, Ms Schwartz, being that you brought it up I do have one question: I mean, I know your bosses are putting you under a lot of pressure right now but does that justify your lying to the citizens of Greensboro you were hired to serve?

Here's a suggestion: Ask the Greensboro City Council to ask the State Legislature to strike down the ban on RUCO. Problem solved.

Interesting Notes About The Murder of Reginald Demarcus Wrenn

Now that the media is reporting that Antonio Emmanuel Watkins has been arrested for the murder of Reginald Demarcus Wrenn I have but a few more interesting observations that I would have never been able to make had I not been so close just a few nights ago. It's not as if I had much faith in our local media to begin with but having been an eye witness to a murder has taught me that nothing our local media outlets prints can be taken for true. Nothing.

You don't forget watching police officers attempt in vain to bring life back to a dead body while they wait for EMS to arrive. I know, it's not politically correct and I don't mean anything bad about it but while we call them men, in the grand scheme of things, Reginald Demarcus Wrenn was still a boy, a man child with a precious lifetime ahead of him.

And while I'm sure a lot of people aren't feeling it right now, the same is true for the 22 year old shooter, Antonio Emmanuel Watkins. Two lives wasted. Having grown up right there in that neighborhood do you realize how many times I almost became a Reginald Demarcus Wrenn or a Antonio Emmanuel Watkins. I got lucky-- they didn't.

As I've told people for many years, most of the guys I grew up with either died, went to prison or skipped town and never came back to keep from going to prison. I could name names but it's water under the bridge.

The listed owners of the property at 2603 Textile Drive where the murder actually took place are at an address in Burlington, North Carolina that appears to be in foreclosure. Seems to me a little more oversight of absentee landlords on the part of the City of Greensboro might have helped at least in a small way to prevent a useless death and a long prison sentence brought on by the Instutional racism that has long governed Greensboro. But hey, this is Greensboro where we don't need no stinking regulations governing slumlords even if the North Carolina State Legislature does allow other cities to do so.

The liquor house at 2603 Textile is still in operation albeit not as busy as it was before and most of their customers on foot instead of driving.

The media reports still make it look as if it was a road rage incident when in fact it happened in the yard.

And the photo the many media reports are circulating isn't the location where the murder took place and is in-fact property belonging to my mother who slept through the entire thing. For many years I've tried to get her to allow me to cut down that tree and those shrubs as I think them unsightly-- now I think I'll plant even more.

How would you like it if your home were being portrayed as the place were a murder took place when in-fact it wasn't true? Yes, I am very angry and I have every right to be. Everything about this incident has been wrong. You should be angry too.

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Interesting Notes About The Murder of Reginald Demarcus Wrenn
Why The Media Cover-Up Of Reginald Demarcus Wrenn?
Don't Put That Shit On Me
I Witnessed A Murder Last Night
There's Racism And Then There's Racism

Had They Fired Sue Schwartz She Would Have Talked

The News & Record is reporting today that the City may demote director of planning and community development, Sue Schwartz because of the "problems in the code inspections division, including a recent revelation that inspectors lost track of hundreds of code violation cases."

Why isn't Mayor Robbie Perkins and the Greensboro City Council being held responsible? It was their decision NOT to ask state lawmakers for an exemption from the RUCO ban like Charlotte, Raleigh and other cities asked for and received. The changes were designed to make the system fail and everyone involved knows it's true. That's why the Ms Schwartz being demoted and not fired-- because she did EXACTLY as her bosses wanted her to do and never rolled over on them. Had they fired her she would have talked.

"“Obviously, we are letting things slip through the cracks,” Councilman Zack Matheny said Tuesday, adding that Schwartz has been a “solid employee for Greensboro.”

An admission of guilt from Councilman Matheny? Why not tell us more, Zack, like how Robbie Perkins and TREBIC engineered the whole thing from the RUCO ban to failing to ask the State Legislature for an exemption to the ban as Raleigh and Charlotte received, to the stacking of the Post RUCO Board in favor of slumloards and the tearing down of a solid inspections department that had worked flawlessly for years under the previous leadership. Please Zack, tell us more and start with the truth.

After all, had they fired Sue Schwartz she would have talked.

TREBIC Couldn't Have Planned It Better If They Tried

Not only did the Greensboro City Council deliberately bow down to TREBIC when they failed to ask state lawmakers for an exemption ti the RUCO ban like Charlotte, Raleigh and other NC cities asked for and received but now we learn that since the end of RUCO the City of Greensboro has lost track of housing inspections.

They're blaming it on a software glitch but I think we all know an overall attitude problem is the real reason and we only need look at recent history to see its so.

Previously we learned of a stacked and ineffective Post Ruco Planning Board.

Before that it was TREBIC's TREBIC's admission of being an illegal lobbying group

And still TREBIC runs Greensboro and Guilford County Government with Robbie Perkins and Roy Carroll leading the way.

TREBIC couldn't have planned it better if they tried.

What Are You Scared Of, Mayor Perkins?

Why doesn't Mayor Perkins want tenants on the Post RUCO board? What does he have to fear? Will a secret agent from TREBIC put a bullet in the back of his head if he fails them? Will he die in a mysterious accident involving an overturned mountain bike? Was his previous mountain bike crash and broken bones a warning? Who knows how far they might go? And why is he ducking out early from tomorrow night's Gathering of the Trolls? Is the Mayor scared of trolls too?



With a tip of the hat to George Hartzman for making this video available.

Council Is Damned If They Do, Damned If They Don't

The Greensboro City Council has got itself into a bit of a jam, between a rock and a hard place. As I pointed out yesterday, the developer and landlord stacked, post RUCO board has been unable to recommend enforceable any rules and as my buddy, Roch points out, their pathetic efforts at enforcement violate the Fourth Amendment.

All the while the solution is right in front of their faces. City Council simply needs to lobby the State Legislature to add Greensboro to the list of cities exempted from the RUCO ban. Just like Charlotte did.

Buy why will Greensboro's City Council not go that route? Are they all really that dumb? Or is it because they are all bought and paid for by TREBIC-- the people who illegally lobbied the State of North Carolina to strike down RUCO in the first place. Which would you venture to guess?

Post Ruco Board Violates Constitution

Roch Smith Jr has been looking at the minutes of the meetings of the Post Ruco Committee and has discovered the City committee rides roughshod over Fourth Amendment in inspections discussions. Does no one in Greensboro government care about protecting citizens' rights?

Roch, you're our hero!