A bird flying by tells me Nancy Vaughan, DGI's Zack Matheny and City staff threw Roy Carroll under the bus to enrich Randall Kaplan and Kathy Manning, Congressional Candidate,George House and Justin Outling and Greensboro's elite oligarchs

Sounds like Nancy Vaughan made the ultimate call, and Zack was in on it, with the help of past and current City staff.

Kathy Manning is going to have a boatload of leftover campaign cash to hand out, in exchange for her hubby Randall Kaplan's $32 million parking deck for his hotel which stands to profit from Kathy, George and CFGG's Walker Sander's play for the Steven Tanger Performing Arts Center residual leisure stay profits.

A full D City Council and Zack going for a clear win in the next election with Manning's money seems entirely plausible, now that Kathy's in with the national establishment.

Roy Carroll's Rhino endorsed those running for County Commissioner this year, after they voted for about $18 million in tax breaks to enable his $3 million water and sewer payday for the Publix distribution center.

The City is slow to produce the 1,700 plus emails related to former Greensboro mayor Robbie Perkins' involvement in the deck and Publix deals.

Who would have thought?

Can most let most of City Council and executive staff off the hook after Roy Carroll went after the competing deck with John Hammer and the Rhino Times, considering Roy's paper endorses candidates for local office while extorting votes for Carroll's real bottom line?

Maybe if our local sold out or negligent press would have taken the Rhino to task for influencing who wins and loses private profits from local taxpayer paid for deals originally conceived to enrich most of the big campaign supporters on both sides.

But they didn't.  Both the News and Record and the Rhino endorsed Skip Alston, which is a good indication of what underlies the decision making.

Skip, Nancy Vaughan and Sharon Hightower went to see the Publix distribution center Publix probably wants to downsize with more $400 million high tech, robotic enterprises as planned for Eastern Guilford County. 

Either way Roy Carroll walks with $3 million of water sewer good idea or bad with no skin in the game.

The whole gang gets away with Greensboro's taxpayers on the hook for the STPAC plus interest;

As of November 14, 2017, only $20 million of the private donations had been "raised"; If the City of Greensboro's bond council (Robinson Bradshaw) doesn't know how much Walker Sanders of the Community Foundation has actually brought in for the Steven Tanger Performing Arts Center, then who does?


http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2018/04/as-of-november-14-2017-only-20-million.html

Greensboro's News and Record has not reported "END CITIZENS UNITED ENDORSES KATHY MANNING IN NC-13" since March 1, 2018, after which she continued to take money from PACs

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2018/04/greensboros-news-and-record-has-not.html

Greensboro's latest slush fund balance the City's employees want a chunk of;


http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2018/05/greensboros-latest-slush-fund-balance.html

STPAC VIP Parking Control Fraud Math

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2017/12/stpac-vip-parking-control-fraud-math.html

Downtown Greensboro Parking Deck Math = City Council lied to our community and may have broken a few laws


http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2017/12/downtown-greensboro-parking-deck-math.html

For as many times as this information has been posted, 

has there been a single refutation?

Hey April Parker, Remember Billy Jones?

I hear April Parker is planning to run against Skip Alston for County Commissioner.

Long time readers know I've never been a fan of Skip Alston but here's what I know about Skip Alston: You can have a reasoned and thoughtful conversation with Skip Alston about anything you wish to talk about. Skip knows how to listen. It can even be a pleasant conversation if you allow it to be so. Why just Tuesday night I had a brief but pleasant conversation with Skip and his lovely wife. Skip and I are both hoping more of you will visit and contribute to the International Civil Rights Center & Museum.

Now folks that have seen Skip and I argue with each other in public might think differently but trust me, it's true.

As for April Parker, entirely different story. I'm being told by very reliable sources that Ms Parker

"...has never had a decent conversation and everyone finds it impossible to work with her. In meetings I've never heard her follow through with Roberts Rules of Order."


I found her to be exactly the same way in online conversations at Greensboro's Black Lives Matter forum on Facebook. It was as if she hated the fact that I am white, male, heterosexual, and older.

Never mind that I've lived in a majority black neighborhood for over 60 years, support the efforts of my black neighbors and are highly thought of by them. Never mind that I've written extensively of the problems of institutional racism and racist liberals, Ms Parker just assumed that because I'm white, male, heterosexual, and older, that I must be the enemy.

Never mind that I've publicly expressed that poor white people living in black neighborhoods suffer from the same problems forced on poor black people.

Never mind that I support the rights of the trans community and spoke out against HB 2 right here on the pages of this website, April Parker and her co conspirator Cherizar Crippen branded me an enemy and threw me out of the forum because...

Well, it looked to me like they have control issues. Like they expect everyone in the world to be up on all the latest phrases and ideas, and know exactly what everything means. And if you're white, male, heterosexual, or older, and don't know what everything means then obviously, in the minds of April and Cherizar, you're the enemy.

Well guess what ladies, if you're lucky you'll live long enough until you get to the point that you won't be able to keep up either.

And April Parker will never hold elected office. Our local black and LGBT communities have so many others who are better suited for the job. I'm all for new blood but April ain't it.

Yes Weekly's Jeff Sykes on Skip Alston, Earl Jones and the Civil Rights Mueseum

"...Grant’s Over land Campaign and the Battle of Hampton Roads seem ripe comparisons for the standoff between the International Civil Rights Center and Museum, the City of Greensboro, and those white male critics who cry about “Skip and Earl this” and “Skip and Earl that” every time the ICRCM is mentioned in the press.

Sweeping generalization

That all the critics are racist is absurd on it's face,

and not true in fact

The museum has a long and divisive history in Greensboro. Skip Alston and Earl Jones are no strangers to making enemies, and it seems that this legacy is what an overwhelming majority of vocal white male observers cling to when the ICRCM comes to mind. Even veteran local politician Mike Barber, currently an at-large member of the city council and a rumored potential mayoral candidate in 2017, clings to the notion that “Skip and Earl” might be able to make some money by selling the museum at some point in the future.

Can they Jeff?

Who owns the building?

Who could profit from a sale or rental as something other than a museum?

Then there’s the mantra trotted out by white male haters of the ICRCM that “Skip and Earl” are somehow making money or will make money off of once and future rent payments at the museum.

I don't hate Skip and Earl

I have been told by insiders at the museum that they could profit

I have been told by the City of Greensboro that they could profit

It’s an unfortunate blight on the community as a whole in Greensboro that the divisive reputation of two of the museum’s tireless champions seems to subsume the potential for good inherent in the museum’s existence beneath a thick layer of racial animosity.

There is racial animosity among some, but not all critics

Leaders, and I mean real leaders and not the fake developer-backed politicians that pass for leaders in Greensboro, need to step up to the plate and solve this one once and for all.

Does the Museum’s Landlord stand to earn income from the property under any scenario?

"Possibly, if their museum tour/ticket sales increase."

Thank you,

Public Information Desk

...I’m sorry. Zack is a great guy. I get it. Roy is awesome and so is Union Square and LeBauer Park. And who doesn’t like baseball? But until the festering open racial sore that is the public conversation about the future of the ICRCM is healed, the frilly greatness that is the vision of Action Greensboro and their private foundation financiers will be a Pyrrhic victory that achieves little of substance.

I don't consider it a racial issue

It's an issue of transparency

Why not find the answers before blaming all wh

...The hype around the Tanger Performing Arts Center will be deafening. All this chummy goodness just oozing with selfcongratulatory hype will be as thick as the humidity during the past month.

In the coming months?

But sitting there, right in the middle of the Center City, is the ICRCM. It’s been scrutinized and audited and hung in public by the city council and on the pages of the Greensboro News and Record over and over ad nauseam. It continues to amaze me that white Greensboro can go on and on about the $35 million for this and the $7 million for that and the $25 million for Zack Matheny to redo downtown in his own image but goes absolutely apoplectic at the thought of the ICRCM being assisted by taxpayer dollars.

Agreed

The City of Greensboro agreed to float a $1.5 million forgivable loan to the museum in early 2014 in order that the museum would not default on the complicated federal tax credits that helped finance the construction. This was a wise and prudent move by the council.

During and after an election in which Roy Carroll sponsored a golf tournament

meant to win votes for Robbie Perkins from East Greensboro

Revisionism

...At present, city bean counters calculate that the museum raised about $700,000 against the total loan debt, leaving $800,000 to be repaid. Museum officials counter that more was actually raised, leaving a debt of about $250,000.

You may want to interview Len Lucas

but it won't be allowed

The federal tax credit structure falls away this month as those credits are repaid in full. The museum should be in a much clearer cash flow picture after that.

The cash flow picture should be clear in real time

...I’ve studied the tax credits for two years and barely understand them now.

Which shouldn't be the case 

along with understanding attendance, cash flow, expenses etc...

before accusing all the critics of racism

When they go away, that will be good for everyone involved.

Agreed

Lingering, however, is the city having written off $1.2 million for the Nussbaum Center after the small business incubator was unable to pay back a similar loan.

Moral relativity

My understanding is everything was transparent on the Nussbaum deal,

which I also opposed

Disclaimer; I worked with Nussbaum's CEO at Merrill Lynch

Former Yes Weekly's Eric Ginsburg, Brian Cleary and Jordan Green

operate out of Nussbaum

In my view, the city should forgive the loan to the ICRCM.

As long as Skip and Earl etc... have no potential financial stake

Residents could then move forward into this new, splendid future our private foundation shadow government has planned for us without there to bloody the pristine white concrete at LeBauer Park."

Not going to get the money back anyway

http://yesweekly.com/article-21663-greensboro%25E2%2580%2599s-civil-war.html

Am I a racist Jeff,

or just a radical bean counter and believer in principle over politics?

Margaret Moffett's answer to who owns the Civil Rights Museum property

"City attorney: City Council could use museum building as collateral on loan

The city could use the International Civil Rights Center & Museum building as collateral on money owed to local taxpayers, City Attorney Tom Carruthers said Thursday in a letter to museum officials.

...the city expects either cash or collateral for the remaining amount, he wrote.

...“We will, however, recommend to council that it accept an appropriate deed of trust against the museum building to secure our debt in lieu of our rights under our current agreement,” he continued.

...The City Council is poised to discuss the loan balance during a special meeting Monday. Museum officials said earlier this week that they won’t attend, hoping instead to work out these figures with city staffers.

But in his letter Carruthers urged them to reconsider.

“This meeting was specifically set for council to consider these items and discuss them with you,” he wrote...

How can the cash-strapped museum get the money to make those payments?

Carruthers’ letter points to a new solution, one that would give the city financial leverage but possibly ratchet up tensions between the two parties.
Using the old Woolworth’s building at 134 S. Elm St. as collateral.

The building sits in the very heart of downtown — the corner of South Elm Street and February One Place. Its tax value is about $3.8 million, according to the Guilford County Tax Department.

...such a move would put the city at the front of the line for payments if the nonprofit museum’s board were ever to sell the building.

It was unclear Friday how museum officials might receive the suggestion."

http://www.greensboro.com/news/city-attorney-city-council-could-use-museum-building-as-collateral/article_5d5e9928-329f-57d6-af41-ed704923fc2e.html

Bruce Wiley · The University of North Carolina at Greensboro - UNCG

Margaret, who owns the building? Names of people not corporations. Is the museum being run as a for profit entity? Do Skip and Earl have offices in the building and do they conduct business not related to the ICRM from those offices. Who pays for their cell phones? Are they subject to FOIA requests due to the use of taxpayer provided funds?

Like · Reply · Jul 30, 2016 10:55am
.
.
Margaret Moffett · Reporter at Greensboro News & Record

Bruce those are all very, very good questions. Who owns the building? When the museum entered into this complicated tax-credit system, it had to create 4 or 5 new for-profit entities to set up the system. One of those for-profits is called "Museum Landlord." It technically owns the building. It's directors are Earl Jones, Deena Hayes-Greene and Doug Harris.

What is Museum Landlord on the hook for?

Nothing

Can the owners take rent payments out of what could be a non-profit Museum?

Yes, which Margaret didn't report

Now, at some point in the next few months, when the tax-credit structure expires, the museum will revert back to a nonprofit. I have no idea whether they'll use the old nonprofit structure or create a new one. And that gets me to the answer to all of your other questions: I don't know.

Journalistic negligence

The museum isn't subject to any public records laws. Anything connected to the city (or the county or state) is public record by extension, and I make sure I always get those records. But their own records? No. I can't compel them to make them public. All I can do is explain that transparency is the absolute best answer to every question. I'm just as frustrated as you and other people are by the lack of information. As always, I appreciate your comments and that you continue to ask for answers.

Like · Reply · Jul 30, 2016 3:53pm

Bullshit

Look up the deed Margaret

Ask Len Lucas

Not knowing rigged 2013's Mayoral race

Now you don't want to admit it

From the Comments;

Not that it matters;

Does the Museum’s Landlord stand to earn income from the property under any scenario?

"Possibly, if their museum tour/ticket sales increase."

Thank you,

Public Information Desk
City of Greensboro
300 W. Washington Street
Greensboro, NC 27401
.
.
That means now that the City has forgiven some of the loan, Skip Alston and friends stand to financially benefit.
.
.
"...Some LLCs are responsible for the museum’s debt, others aren’t.

...Sit-In Movement Inc. is one of the five companies that make up the museum. The other four are Civil Rights Museum LLC, ICRCM LLC, Museum Tenant LLC and Museum Landlord LLC.

...Sit-In Movement Inc. does not own the building. According to Guilford County tax records, the building is owned by Museum Landlord LLC. The North Carolina secretary of state’s office lists former Guilford County Commissioner Skip Alston as its manager and agent of this for-profit corporation.

Alston has said the owners of Museum Landlord LLC are Alston, Greensboro attorney and Sit-in Movement LLC board member Doug Harris, retired Vice President of Community Relations for WFMY-TV Shirley Frye, Smith Moore Leatherwood attorney Carole Bruce and former President and current adviser to the Weaver Foundation Skip Moore.

Matheny, however, said that Frye, Bruce and Moore have withdrawn from the LLC, which leaves Alston and Harris.

Alston is also listed as the agent and manager for Museum Tenant LLC and Civil Rights Museum LLC, and the agent for Sit-In Movement LLC and ICRCM LLC.

Of the five LLC’s, only one lists more than one company official. ICRCM LLC lists five managers: Alston, former City Councilmember and state House Rep. Earl Jones, City Councilmember Yvonne Johnson, Robert Brown and Harris. Johnson said she has never been to company meeting.

Sit-in Movement LLC was incorporated in 1993 by Alston and Jones.

...Both Museum Landlord LLC and Museum Tenant LLC are controlled by their managing member, ICRCM LLC.

ICRCM LLC is the managing member and owns 80 percent of Museum Landlord LLC. Another 10 percent of Museum Landlord LLC is owned by Museum Tenant LLC. The remaining 10 percent ownership stake in Museum Landlord LLC is owned by Stonehenge Community Develop LLC, which manages the investments of investors who got new markets tax credits for investing in the museum.

ICRCM LLC is the managing member of Museum Tenant LLC, but only owns 0.01 percent of it. The other 99.99 percent of Museum Tenant LLC is owned by Community Historic Credit Fund LLC, which apparently represents investors who got historic tax credits for investing in the museum.

...Museum Landlord LLC subleases aspects of the museum to Museum Tenant LLC, Civil Rights Museum LLC and Sit-in Movement Inc., which rents the second floor of the building.

The LLCs also owe each other money."

John Hammer

Skip Didn't Do It This Time

A rumor has been circulating that Guilford County is still paying for cell phone service for retired County Commissioner Skip Alston.

Now mind you Skip and I butt heads on a lot of issues and if you scroll through the many posts labeled Skip Alston you'll see I've accused him of nefarious deeds on various occasions so I decided to get to the bottom of this by contacting 2 current Guilford County Commissioners, Justin Conrad, a Republican and Raymond Trapp, a Democrat and ask both of them to look into this matter.

Neither wasted any time.

In an e-mail on Sunday, Commissioners Conrad and Trapp sent the following to Marty Lawing:

"Marty-

A constituent emailed me over the weekend with a concern that the county was still providing cell phone service to a former commissioner. Do you know anything about this? Thanks"

You'll notice no names were mentioned. Today came the following reply from Marty Lawing:

 "I have checked with Reid Baker in Finance and they have reviewed all of the cell phone bills for the county and there is no evidence that the county is paying for cell phone service for a former commissioner.  We are also not continuing to pay a stipend for a previous commissioner.  We do know that many of them have the same cell phone number as they did when they were on the Board.  Maybe that is why someone thinks the county is still paying for the service.  

Thanks,

Marty"

I think it's pretty safe to say Skip didn't do it this time. It was simply a matter of transferring ownership of a telephone number. 

Our thanks to Commissioners Conrad and Trapp, Marty Lawing, Rick Baker and the folks in Guilford County Government for straightening this out.

Now please share this just as if I'd actually caught Skip at something. Prove to yourselves you're better than the folks who depend only on those other places for news. Don't worry, I'm not going soft on Skip, I'm just trying to be fair.

And folks, does it make you wonder why I can get questions answered by our County Commissioners in a single business day but City Council members avoid my questions altogether? Yeah, me too. That's why I write so very little about the County Commissioners, while I might disagree with them they seem to have little to hide.

True Confessions Of Ben Holder: Episode 8

When I began this series, True Confession Of Ben Holder it was because I believed Ben was finally ready to tell the world the answers to a list of questions involving the stories Ben has "broken" as an activist, journalist and blogger. How was I to know that his intentions were no more than to threaten, curse me out and berate me?

Okay, I know what you're thinking, threatening, cursing and berating has been Ben Holder's Modus operandi for as long as any of us have ever heard of him, why should I expect any different? Right?

And amazingly, every time I get close to finding the answers to questions concerning Ben Holder I end up stumbling upon more questions. For example: did you know Ben Holder seems to think he runs the City of Greensboro. During the recent appointment of the new Chief of Police, Mr Holder got angry because he was not allowed to participate in the process of choosing our new Chief of Police.

Can I prove that? I sure can, you only need click here to read this e-mail sent to Mayor Vaughan, Councilman Barber, Donnie Turlington and Sarah Healy.

Now I ask you, why would Ben Holder's name come up in a conversation about who the Greensboro Police Department was going to appoint to be the new Chief of Police? Ben has never Ben a police officer, Ben has a felony Correction: criminal record. And as far as I know Ben Holder was never reported by any of the local MSM outlets as being considered for the job.

Methinks Ben is delusional. Or it brings up the long held political adage, "How do you get rid of an activist? You give him a job."

Which brings up another question Ben has long refused to answer: With Ben being so close to the edge why did Mayor Vaughan, Councilman Barber and Skip Alston all 3 sign a letter of referral so that Ben could get a 6 month gig working in code enforcement with the City of Greensboro just last year right after Ben and 4 of his friends signed papers saying Heritage House was unfit to live in? Were they paying Ben back for helping them work out a land grab? Giving him a job?

And don't you find it interesting that Skip Alston is brokering the deal to sell Heritage House even before the City of Greensboro has legal possession of the property?

So to learn more I sent the following Public Information Request to the City of Greensboro:

"The following link displays an e-mail from Ben Holder that was sent to Sarah Healey, Nancy Vaughan, Mike Barber and Donnie Turlington: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9h2K8JxTQUjVTFLTkUzM05CWnd0SFpkSjdhWWJhUFBQTEVR/view?usp=sharing

It appears Mr Holder has some concerns about who was appointed Chief of Police and considers himself in a position to be able to dictate who runs the City of Greensboro and is upset that then Interim Chief Anita Holder has left him out of the process.

Last I checked Ben was neither elected nor appointed to any position with the City of Greensboro.

Now on to my actual PIRT request: I would like all the information that was made available to Mr Holder as per his request.

I'm sorry I don't have a PIRT # to give you as I'm sure that would make your job easier.

Thanks -Billy"

So is Ben Holder simply suffering from delusions of grandeur, a god complex, therefore feeling the need to strike down with impunity anyone who questions his deeds and authority?

Or is Ben Holder caught up in something bigger, afraid to tell the truth for fear he too might be implicated, perhaps even arrested and carried to jail, the fall guy while the real criminals get away.And are Mayor Vaughan, Councilman Barber and Skip Alston the real criminals?

I've asked Ben to answer my questions. He has chosen instead to tell his own story. So we'll work with what Ben gives us.

Currently Ben is telling his story over at his blog, the Troublemaker, in a piece titled Hush Money, Part 1 where he tries to make himself out as some sort of a hero for cleaning up derelict and blighted properties. He even includes a video of himself illegally breaking and entering into a property Ben identifies as being located at 2415 Charlotte Street and pointing out all the problems he has found with the property but did you happen to notice the new kitchen counters or the new dishwasher with the tape and sales stickers still intact at 02:31 in Ben's video? Here's a screen grab taken from Ben's video just in case you missed it. As with all my screen grabs you can click on it to make it bigger.

Now wait a minute, who puts a new dishwasher in an apartment they don't intend to fix? Yeah, I see lots of problems with that address beginning with Ben Holder breaking down the door.

From Ben's post on the subject:

"After Mitch was removed for the office of city manager, The city brought in Rashad Young as the city manager.  Shortly after his arrival, I was contacted by the city and was told that the new management team wanted to find a better way to work with me.  They wanted to know what I thought of that.  I detailed to several staff members how I could easily and effectively help them fight blight in district 1.  Never once was it mentioned I couldn't blog, talk to media or the police.  They just wanted to see what I could actually do in regards to helping the city.

A model project was started where I would go out and find nuisances.  If the nuisance I reported was not listed by anyone else, I would get the contract to clean it IF the owner didn't clean it themselves in the allotted time.  The city would get 100's of free inspections and re-inspections.  I worked with the police and cleaned up several of Greensboro's most horrible situations.  I was a beast on blight and everyone knew if they wanted something done, they should call me.  I took a camera with me just about everywhere I went to document and show people had bad things were.  Below is one of the videos taken during that time."

Rashad Young left the City of Greensboro in 2011. And Ben was kicking down the doors of unoccupied apartment buildings in 2011 while the owners were attempting to repair them.

So who owned the property at 2415 Charlotte Street? According to the Guilford County Register of Deeds as of July 29, 2011 that property belongs to none other than the City of Greensboro funded, taxpayer supported East Market Street Development Corporation who was at the time working to rebuild the property

And Ben Holder was running up the bill kicking down doors and tearing things up after EMSDC had already started trying to fix the place up. Smooth move, Benny Boy.

Seriously Ben, you solve problems by breaking down doors of already condemned apartments already being repaired at taxpayer expense by kicking in doors? Did you not see the yellow condemned signs on every door you walked in 'cause your audience damned sure saw them?

Ben Holder fails to take into account all that is involved in rehabbing any structure. Take for instance the following August 3, 2015 facebook post by Eric Robert. Eric is complaining that the City won't allow him to go ahead and start repairs on a building Eric has just bought.

Here's a photo of the recently refurbished Jonesboro Landing (Ben's infamous 2415 Charlotte Street) which were reopened on Thursday, March 1, 2012 snagged from Google maps:

Did you notice in Ben's video that even the grass wasn't all that very high outside the apartments?

It's not uncommon to find pizza boxes and wine bottles laying around construction sites. Construction workers have to eat and a few of them have been known to drink cheap wine. Not all, but a few-- what was Ben Holder drinking? Many of the migrant workers hired to work in construction these days choose to live on the very sites on which the work in conditions most of us would find to be quite deplorable. Many of my years in trucking was spent delivering construction materials to job sites. Often I would arrive in the middle of the night hours before my delivery appointment only to find construction workers and their entire families living on site. And then there are also the squatters who will come if construction workers aren't allowed to live on site.

From the Jonesboro Landing website:

Scroll back up, wasn't that new dishwasher I snagged from Ben's video also black?

I left a comment on Ben's blog post, let's see how long it stays there.

To add insult to injury, Ben claims to have run a company called NC Housing, Inc from his home address at 1306 Oak Street. Well if Ben ever told the truth he told it when he said he doesn't read my blog otherwise he would have known I search the NC Secretary of State website anytime a corporate name comes up in one of my investigations and I found no NC Housing, Inc but you are welcome to try. I also searched for North Carolina Housing, Inc but it didn't come up that way either.

Has Ben Holder been ripping off the State of North Carolina, not filing his incorporation papers, pocketing his share of his taxes and not carrying his weight? I sent the following public information request to the City of Greensboro to find out.

"Howdy, howdy, howdy!!!

And a wonderful day it is!

Please send me all information concerning Greensboro City Business with a company called NC Housing, Inc.

Please include e-mails, contracts, billing, invoices, insurance records, payments, videos, photographs and any other documents you may stumble across.

Thanks -Billy Jones"

Now Ben does write:

"Please note that they got my business name wrong and I never claimed to the city to be an LLC. That would be their mistake, just in case anyone wants to jump all over me for that. "

Well for starters the letter says "Inc". not "LLC"  as Ben wrote (I snagged a screen grab in case he changes it.) but if Ben never made any claim to a business name then where did the City come up with a business name? Does the City have someone on payroll who thinks up business names for people like Ben Holder who can't think up their own business names?

Yeah, I kinda doubt it too.

Good job, Ben, I look forward to Part 2. That is: if you have the balls to post it. Remember: the more you lie the easier my job gets. You'd be a lot better off to start answering my questions instead of giving me more things to question you about, Benny boy.


Continued in True Confessions Of Ben Holder: Episode 9

Does Greensboro Want A Civil Rights Museum?

The question isn't can the International Civil Rights Center and Museum make a profit? It never will. The Greensboro Historical Museum has lost money every year since it opened it's doors in 1925. We all know the Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts will never make a profit. The Greensboro Public Library system looses money every year. So does Greensboro Parks and Recreation, Greensboro Police and the Greensboro Fire Department.

Museums historically loose money. The NASCAR museum in Charlotte had to be bailed out this year.

So it's no surprise that today's News &  Record tells us the ICRCM is again loosing money according to the latest audit.

Skip Alston says,

“The bottom line is, it’s a clean audit,”

And therefore he believes the ICRCM should be given the last $250,000 payment that was promised to them by Greensboro Mayor Nancy Barakat Vaughan who sits on the board of the ICRCM and should have known all along what was going on but is apparently clueless. Or would at least like you to think she is clueless.

Councilman Tony Wilkins says,

“I think we all agree that we need the museum. It’s a part of our history and we need to keep it open.

I’m not sure as to how to do that at this point."

How do we keep it open? Greensboro has to decide if we really want the ICRCM to remain open. If the answer is yes then Greensboro will figure out a way. Councilman Wilkins has stepped up and shown leadership in saying we need to keep it open, will the Mayor and the rest of Council have the courage to do the same.

Or are they all a bunch of cowards who like before, forced the resignation of City Attorney Mujeeb Shah-Khan for approving the signing of a check with the approval of the Mayor and City Manager and then paying him a big bonus to keep his mouth shut? After all, if you've got a man dead to rights you don't give him a huge bonus as you're forcing him out the door.

So ask yourself Greensboro, do we want it or not? Screw Skip and Earl, they won't live forever but the history of our city will remain alive for as long as we want to keep it alive. A lot of Greensboro memories good and bad are housed in that building on Elm Street-- does Greensboro intend to keep them alive or not?

And to those of you who think the Greensboro Historical Museum should house the ICRCM collection... Obviously you have not recently been inside as the ICRCM collection is far too large to be housed in the Greensboro Historical Museum.

Billy's Heritage House Prediction Comes True

On Saturday, August 9, 2014 I wrote the following about the closure of Heritage House Condominiums:

"Sharing the same building with Heritage House is Meridian Event Center.

The Greensboro business license for Meridian Event Center showed the owners to be Jawahar Muniyandi  and Shanthi Jawahar of Cary, North Carolina. They also own ISHA Homes LLC. which currently has title to 7 units at Heritage House. Previously ISHA Homes owned many more units at Heritage House having sold many to their current owners. Meridian was in-fact part of the "new management" that took over Heritage House when everything started going down hill so rapidly.

Jawahar and Shanthi made a lot of money selling off those units at Heritage House but running a business that caters fancy weddings to young brides and holding conventions must have been hard with all the reported goings on there. Besides, where are all the wedding guests and conventioneers to go after they get liquored up if there's no hotel next door to sleep it off in? Jawahar and Shanthi needed a hotel to grow their wedding and convention business."

In that same post I mentioned connections to Skip Alston.

On May 4, 2015 the News & Record published.

"On Monday, Alston said he and some investors have an idea in mind for the 6.7-acre site on West Meadowview Road.

Alston declined to reveal his idea, saying any discussion of his potential project is premature until the city controls the building.

Alston said his group wants to avoid negotiating separately for the 177 units, which are owned by 50-some different groups or individuals."

Today Jeffery Sykes of Yes-Weekly reports:

 (Photo, Yes-Weekly)

 

" Two of the concepts would add a total of 24,000 square feet of industrial space at the back of the property along Village Green Drive. One option would include a 15,000 square foot senior services facility at the southeast corner of the parcel next to the existing Maple Grove Health and Rehabilitation Center. An expanded outdoor component of the Meridian Events Center, complete with a year-round tent, courtyard and permanent buffer, would replace the demolished high-rise in the center of the property. The second option includes similar industrial space along Village Green Drive, but adds a 28,000 sqf indoor soccer facility in place of the Heritage House. Plans show two complete indoor soccer fields in addition to an entry plaza next to the drop-off area."

Okay, so I was wrong about the hotel-- they swapped it for a big tent and an indoor soccer center.

It's about time we got that investigation Councilman Barber and Mayor Vaughan both said they welcomed, but never happened.

Civil Rights Center Questions Unanswered

Today the News & Record published Civil rights museum: Debt reports are misleading prompting me to post the following open letter to  Deena Hayes-Greene, chairwoman of the board of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum.


As the title suggests, the debt reports are misleading, did you write the title or is that a product of the News & Record propaganda machine?

I ask because your letter really didn't address the discrepancies in the debt reports. For example: the Rhino Times and News & Record reported Mayor Vaughan as saying the ICRCM as being $25.9 Million Dollars in debt but the financials leaked to me indicate the ICRCM is actually $29.5 Million Dollars in debt as of October 1, 2014.

Attendance and revenue are dropping, not going up.

The ICRCM owes $3.14 Million Dollars to their landlord, Museum Tenant Llc. The value of the building they occupy is $1.9 Million Dollars and change. http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2014/11/civil-rights-museum-financials-worse.html

Can you please address this $5 Million Dollar Discrepancy in the reporting of not only the News & Record but also the Rhino Times and the Mayor of Greensboro? Were none of them shown the actual financial records? Were you?

Thank you, Deena.

Please understand, I'm not accusing Deena of anything, I'm just asking the questions that no one in local government or the local media has asked. After all, $5 Million is a lot to ignore and if it's true that numbers don't lie then it is past time our questions from over a month ago were addressed.

Civil Right Center Screws Itself Again

I've got news for you ladies, you can call it what you like but eight to eighty, crippled, blind or crazy, all red blooded, heterosexual males will look down a low cut blouse when given the chance. Teachers, preachers, husbands, fathers, sons and brothers will all deny it to your face and do it anyway. It has nothing to do with sexual harassment, religious views, political affiliations or where we stand on women's rights-- 'tis simply the nature of the male beast. And if Lacy Ward was fired from his position at the International Civil Rights Center and Museum as is being reported by the Rhino Times and the News & Record for no more than staring down the low cut blouse of an attractive woman who bent over in front of him then it appears Mr Ward's rights have been violated.

After all: every human on Earth has the God given right to look at anything that is in plain view before his or her eyes and unless there's a whole lot more to this story than is being told the ICRCM has screwed itself once again.

Skip Alston and Earl Jones should have come up with a better plan.

Skip And Earl Knew About The Water Problems Before Construction Of The ICRCM Began

Those who have kept up with the long struggle of the International Civil Rights Center and Museum will remember how during its construction the Board Of Directors was forced to come begging the Greensboro City Council for unexpected funds to repair what had been reported as previously unknown water problems in the building's basement. Well it just so happens that in the comments to Bill Bankovich's Letter to the Editor today, Michael Paquette tells a completely different story:

"Suzanne that is what the museum needs is fresh ideas. I was selected to be on the first advisory board for the INCRM because of my knowledge of history and construction. On my first tour ( long before the museum opened) I pointed out the water problems in the basement and the fact that the roof would not be able to hold the mechanical systems ( HVAC). I was then told that I was selected to be a fund razor ( sp ment). How is a redneck white boy going to raise funds ? After a confrontation with Skip and Earl , I soon submitted my resignation."

 

 

Like wow, that's a completely different story than was told in the media. We were told the water problems weren't discovered until long after construction began. The opening was delayed because of the need to repair the water damage. From Sarah Lance of WFMY TV:

"The museum was scheduled to open on the 45-th anniversary of the sit-in in 2005, but the date had to be pushed back. 

"As we started initial demolition, there was water infiltration everywhere. The water table as most know, in downtown Greensboro is very high. And so this building along with others along Elm Street face constantly challenges of water permeating foundations," says the museum's executive director, Amelia Parker. 

Last February first, museum leaders announced they had enough money to open the museum on February 1, 2010, the 50th anniversary of the sit-in"

Wow, a 5 year delay because Skip and Earl refused to listen to Michael Paquette? Or was it delayed 5 years while Skip and Earl did something else with the money?

You decide.

Civil Rights Museum Financials Worse Than Reported

Interestingly John Hammer reported today in his article Sit-in Museum’s Financial Straits Not As Dire As Reported:

"The International Civil Rights Center & Museum (ICRCM) isn’t $25.9 million in debt.  ICRCM board member and attorney Doug Harris planned to send the News & Record a letter this week promising legal action if the News & Record doesn’t retract the statement that the museum is $25.9 million in debt and apologize.

It is a little hard to believe that the N&R would write that the museum is $25.9 million in debt when that is based on a complete and utter misunderstanding of federal tax credits and how they work.

To be honest, I’m as confused as anybody about tax credits.  However, I do know that it isn’t like a mortgage that you get from the bank.  A tax credit also is not the same as a tax deduction.  If you owe $1 million in federal taxes and you buy a $1 million tax credit, then you don’t pay any taxes."

But like John said, he's confused. And why wouldn't he be when everyone with any real knowledge of what is actually going on is insistent on keeping everything a secret, keeping you, me, John and everyone else in the dark.

And as it turns out, the International Civil Rights Center and Museum isn't $25.9 Million Dollars in debt. Nope, the ICRCM is $29.5 Million Dollars in debt as of October 1, 2014.

Attendance and revenue are dropping, not going up.

The ICRCM owes $3.14 Million Dollars to their landlord, Museum Tenant Llc. The value of the building they occupy is $1.9 Million Dollars and change. How could that be possible? Who is their landlord? Skip Alston and Earl Jones.

How is it I happen to know these things?

The ICRCM Financial Records. That's how. Everything you've been told was a lie. Everything.

Skip?

Earl?

Madam Mayor?

You've all been turkeys for too long.

Why Skip And Earl Turned Down Nancy's Offer

By now everyone is aware that Earl Jones and Skip Alston turned down Mayor Nancy Barakat Vaughan's offer for the City of Greensboro to takeover ownership of the International Civil Rights Center and Museum. And quite frankly it just doesn't make sense.

If the IRCM is doing so well financially ($26 Million in Debt is doing well?) then why did they feel the need to borrow $1.5 Million from the City of Greensboro just this year? Earl's insistence that the IRCM is on sound financial ground sounds like the lunatic ravings of a desperate man.

The insistence by Earl Jones that the Mayor's offer is a white takeover of a black institution for the purpose of whitewashing history just doesn't fly. You see, the Mayor made no demands, just an offer-- the decision is up to the board of the IRCM. Neither the Mayor nor the City of Greensboro can force the takeover of the IRCM.

As owners of the building, Skip Alston and Earl Jones stand to profit from the Mayor's offer by finally having a reliable tenant that can actually afford to pay the rent. That is, provided everything has been on the up and up all along.

But as George Hartzman so aptly pointed out before, the IRCM is made up of 5 separate legal entities of which Skip and Earl have financial interest and control. A City takeover of the IRCM would reduce that to just 2-- Museum Landlord Llc (Skip and Earl) and the IRCM owned and managed by the City of Greensboro.

And with that reduction in entities the City of Greensboro would have complete access into all of Skip and Earl's banking and accounting records involving the International Civil Right Center and Museum since day 1. 

Something Skip and Earl cannot afford to make public.

The IRCM will go broke in order to protect Skip Alston and Earl Jones. Then Skip and Earl will attempt to secretly sell off the IRCM assets before the creditors can complete their collections process. Greensboro's African-American and other minority communities should keep an ever watchful eye lest your legacy and history be sold out from underneath you to hide the crimes of Earl Jones and Skip Alston.

Remember: you've been warned.

Skip And Earl: Keep Your Museum

Everyone knows me as a constant critic of the current Greensboro City Council. It seems as if they never do anything right. And to be perfectly honest were I mayor I would have never gone so far as Mayor Nancy Barakat Vaughan went in offering to save the International Civil Rights Center and Museum by having the City of Greensboro take over ownership and operations of the financially troubled institution but the Mayor made the offer because Greensboro wants to save the ICRCM despite its troubled past.

But Earl Jones' Refusal of the Mayor's offer leaves the Greensboro City Council no other choice: Skip and Earl, keep your museum, pay your own bills and go it on your own.

And don't forget to pay your debts to the City of Greensboro.

Madam Mayor, I'll beat you up for lots of other things but hold your ground on this one. You offered Skip and Earl the deal of a lifetime, the chance to keep a forever tenant in a building they own and the dumbasses turned you down. Let the bastards drown in their own swill or learn to swim.

Why Did The Media Lie For Ben Holder?

News media reports dating back to 2012 like this Fox8 report Greensboro inspects crime ridden housing complex repeat the phrase:

"City leaders received a petition three weeks ago from residents in the Heritage House Community."

The video states that Ben Holder started the petition but the text says it came from residents:


But as you can see by clicking on the 2012 Petition, not one of the signers lived at Heritage House, 310 West Meadowview Road. That's one of two instances in which warrants used to inspect Heritage House were based on fraudulent petitions and Ben Holder committed perjury. You see, our investigative team has audio recordings of Ben Holder admitting he never entered Heritage House. Not in 2012 and not in 2014.

This isn't just a problem for Ben Holder. A warrant based on a lie is not a valid warrant and the use of an invalid warrant makes the inspection unconstitutional. And if the inspection is unconstitutional then the citations issued cannot be enforced. Now homeowners and residents of Heritage House in 2012 and 2014 are free to sue the City of Greensboro not once but twice.

Hundreds of residents, possibly as many as a hundred different homeowners in the 2 inspections combined, Ben Holder, Nancy Vaughan, Mike Barber and Skip Alston are beginning to get too darned expensive for Greensboro to keep around.

It also points out very big problems with the City of Greensboro's petition process which will no doubt be declared unconstitutional before all of this is over with. You see, the City requires 5 residents sign the petition but the City does nothing to verify that the residents are real people, the addresses are where they really live or that the signatures actually belong to the people whose names are on the petition. Only Ben Holder appeared in person, the rest of the signatures could have been forged. People hollar IDs for voting? How about IDs for warrants that result in throwing people out of their homes and taking their property away from them forever?

There's also the issue of abuse. Ben never saw Heritage House. Was he hired to do this? Not the first time. I happen to know he was acting on behalf of a resident of Heritage House the first time-- a resident who was scared to come forward. But the issue of abuse remains.

If I wanted to I could start a petition to inspect Mayor Nancy Vaughan's home. All I need is 5 signatures and 5 addresses within the Greensboro City Limits. Once I fill out the form the Code Enforcement Department is bound by City Code to secure a warrant and inspect the Mayor's home. Yes, a waste of time and taxpayers' dollars but you can easily see how the system is just waiting to be abused and possibly already has.

Of course the first time around was all on Ben. It wasn't until Skip Alston started demanding he get repaid for having lost out on the Bessemer Shopping Center deal and threatening to withhold the Simkins PAC endorsement that Nancy, Mike and Yvonne Johnson gave in and offered up Heritage House as a means to make up for Skip's losses as Skip brokers the deals for the upcoming Rehabilitation, Conservation and Recondition of Meridian Event Center and Heritage House.

That's right, despite the fact that Meridian got it's own water meter just last month and has almost completely finished a $2.5 Million Dollar remodeling of their half of the building (I've been inside and seen it for myself) the City of Greensboro plans to take that as well.

If there was ever any doubt that this entire event hasn't been a land grab from the beginning it's all over with now.

So Who Dropped The Bomb At Heritage House?

"All kinds of political systems (democracy, monarchy, feudalism, etc.) put enormous emphasis on the personal "loyalty" of subordinates - not loyalty to the public, or even to the government, but to their immediate supervisors - thereby sealing off a source of leaks of knowledge to outsiders." - Thomas Sowell, Knowledge and Decisions, pg. 115, 1996 edition

The linked January 4, 2013 letter from Barbara Harris, Neighborhood Services Division Manager, City of Greensboro to then Deputy City Manager Jim Westmoreland indicates that while things were bad at Heritage House, the City and the Heritage House Homeowners Association were moving in the right direction.


The letter indicates that police and a majority of property owners were meeting to explore options as to how to move forward.

This clearly isn't the picture put forth by the City in the local media 18 months later when out of the blue Ben Holder who was at the time neither an employee of the City nor a contractor rushed in with his petition to force the inspection of Heritage House. A petition that was then carried to a magistrate to be used as probable cause with which to get a warrant of which one was issued for each floor.

Of course that wasn't the first time Ben Holder had put forth a petition to inspect Heritage House. Ben Holder was also behind the 2012 petition to inspect Heritage House.

Those petitions will be examined in greater detail in a later post. The astute among you might want to give them both a look. Yes, Ben filled out petitions for each and every unit the first time 'round I just didn't link to them all because all the pertinent information is the same.

Just days after Ms Harris wrote her letter the City of Greensboro released a press release:

“We are committed to making the Heritage House a safer place for people to live,” said Capt. Shon F. Barnes who commands the Southern Patrol Division. “School-age children live in this building and they deserve to grow up in an environment that is drug-free. Elderly people live in this building and they deserve to live their lives in peace.”

And this:

"The six-story 177-unit Heritage House, which is located in Barnes’ patrol division, had more than 1,200 police calls for service in 2013. Of those calls, approximately 150 were narcotics related and 178 were in reference to disorderly persons or crowds.

To address these crime and disorder issues, Barnes implemented a problem-oriented policing strategy that included more police presence and increased involvement from residents and landlords. “This sounds like a simple strategy,” said Barnes. “And it is simple in theory, but not so easy in practice. It has taken us a while to develop relationships with some of the people who live in the Heritage House. We’ve had to get back to basics; back to foot patrols; back to walking the hallways and talking to people and hearing about what’s important to them. Based on those conversations, we can take action and improve their quality of life.”

But was the City committed to making Heritage House a safe place to live or was the City already committed to closing Heritage House?

So if things were going so well that Barbara Harris was writing positive progress reports to Jim Hightower in January of 2013, why was it that Ben Holder and his band of little freelance housing inspectors-- none of which who lived at Heritage House in 2012 or 2014-- were sent in to provide excuses for Code Enforcement Officers to rush back in come June of 2014 and not find a single unit they could condemn thus forcing the City of Greensboro to turn off the water and hide the water bill from the public?

Had what Capt. Shon F. Barnes said actually been implemented and remained in place, crime would have gone down at Heritage House but instead in July 2014 Councilman Zack Matheny is heard telling us there have been over 2800 police emergencies at Heritage House. The only way that could have happened with Capt. Barnes problem-oriented policing strategy still in place would be if the police were in-fact themselves selling the drugs and committing the crimes. Do we need to call in the FBI to investigate GPD as well?

Methinks Commander Barnes was redirected elsewhere, as far from Heritage House as possible. In a letter dated April 24, 2014, Barnes wrote to GPD Chief Ken Miller promising a 35% reduction in crime across the board at Heritage House but according the the GPD Website the Commander of the Southern Division is not Capt. Shon F. Barnes but is now in-fact Captain Jeffrey Lowdermilk.

And so while Barnes and Councilwoman Hightower of District 1 were working to resolve the issues at Heritage House, forces greater than them, forces within Greensboro City Government were working to undo and destroy their every effort. Hence the reason Ken Miller refuses to investigate. Ken Miller was under orders to let Heritage House fall apart.

Remember: Crime went up, not down. Why did Chief Ken Miller replace Barnes? It has been suggested to me off the record by several sources within the Greensboro Police Department and elsewhere that Ken Miller was frustrated that his department was being micro-managed by the City Manager's office and by members of City Council and thus the reason Miller is leaving Greensboro to take the job as Chief of Police in Greenville, South Carolina despite the fact that his retirement won't carry over from one state to the other.

We also know that on July 7, 2014, in the lead-up to the events at Heritage House the City of Greensboro made a payment of $7,239 ( PIRT # 3729, titled  Interactive Resource Center)  to the non profit IRC where Heritage House refugees were eventually housed in a day room turned shelter. Had the decision already been made to close Heritage House no matter what? Going back many months, despite the efforts of Sharon Hightower and others who worked to save it, everything points in that direction.

Mayor Vaughan, you, Councilman Barber you and little Benny Boy have already lost-- the longer you hide the worse this gets. There are too many people involved, too many loose ends and more evidence left lying around than you ever knew existed to begin with.

Sonny Vestal claimed that his real estate company ran the Heritage House HOA in name only but witnesses have told me that Nina Coffey always carried the HOA payments directly to Sonny's office every month. Anyone see a conflict there? Now Charles and Nina Coffey are missing and yet the Greensboro Police Department refuses to acknowledge  that any crime(s) might have been committed. Methinks a lot of crimes have been committed including the theft of 177 individually deeded properties by high ranking officials with the City of Greensboro.

There were so many other options for Heritage House but instead Heritage House became a study in how cities design and build bad neighborhoods. The first floor could have been rezoned for commercial allowing for stores to go in to provide for the needs of the community there and push property values up instead of down-- you know, mixed-use just as is being pushed Downtown. But no, no options were considered.

Investigators with experience in document forensics have suggested to me that Skip Alston, real estate broker and treasurer of the Simkins PAC, is somehow involved-- perhaps council is repaying him for having to reign on their promise to give him the Bessemer Shopping Center last year. After all, his name was first on Ben Holder's application to the City along with Mayor Vaughan, Councilman Barber and Councilwoman Johnson. Coincidence? Is it coincidence that Ben Holder has never had anything good to say about Skip Alston in the past? Is it coincidence that Ben Holder-- one of Greensboro's most vocal activists-- is suddenly silent and has hidden his blog from public view just as the City hides evidence from the public?

People ask why Heritage House was ignored? Heritage House wasn't ignored, Heritage House was planned.

Removing renters from an unsafe situation was the right thing to do. Removing renters from an unsafe situation created with help from the Fascist Totalitarian City of Greensboro makes you co-conspirators in a land grab that threatens neighborhoods all across America. This, Madam Mayor is a felony. Have you seen the Federal low security women's prisons in Florida? Hope you like the heat 'cause you spend a lot of time outdoors in the summer. You call what I do sport, a pastime, I call it restoring truth and liberty to the City in which I've spent my life. Unless you release the truth, Heritage House, Madam Mayor, will be your Ferguson, your Watts Riots and your Waterloo.

But I think Frank Zappa said it best:

A Fictional Heritage House Scenario

Sort of...

Let's begin with citizen Ben Holder who signed the petition to inspect Heritage House along with 4 other people who didn't live at Heritage House. None of the 5 signers of the petition lived at Heritage House. 177 units and 400 residents and Ben Holder couldn't find a single one who would complain. Also, Ben was not yet under contract when he did his stories on Heritage House so odds are he was trespassing on private property.

Then we add in the people who recommended Ben for his contract inspecting homes for the City of Greensboro: Mayor Nancy Barakat Vaughan, Councilman Mike Barber, Councilwoman Yvonne Johnson and a man Ben professed to not liking, retired Guilford County Commissioner and Commercial real estate broker Skip Alston. They were all listed among Ben's business references on his response to the City's request for proposals. What kind of business Ben had done with these people the response did not say.

You might also remember that Skip Alston was involved just last year in that backroom attempt the get the Greensboro City Council to give the Bessemer Shopping Center and $2 Million Dollars of taxpayer monies to 2 developers for which Mr Alston would receive a brokerage commission of $150,000 before myself and others exposed the plot and put the brakes on that crooked deal.

Sharing the same building with Heritage House is Meridian Event Center.

The Greensboro business license for Meridian Event Center showed the owners to be Jawahar Muniyandi  and Shanthi Jawahar of Cary, North Carolina. They also own ISHA Homes LLC. which currently has title to 7 units at Heritage House. Previously ISHA Homes owned many more units at Heritage House having sold many to their current owners. Meridian was in-fact part of the "new management" that took over Heritage House when everything started going down hill so rapidly.

Jawahar and Shanthi made a lot of money selling off those units at Heritage House but running a business that caters fancy weddings to young brides and holding conventions must have been hard with all the reported goings on there. Besides, where are all the wedding guests and conventioneers to go after they get liquored up if there's no hotel next door to sleep it off in? Jawahar and Shanthi needed a hotel to grow their wedding and convention business.

Another big player is Southern Community Bank and Trust who foreclosed on the property when the developer Heritage House 310 LLC went belly up in 2008. Southern Community Bank and Trust sold numerous properties directly to homeowners and retained ownership of all the parking lots, halls, elevators and commons areas totaling 5.87 acres. In effect, Southern Community Bank and Trust owned the entire outside structure and infrastructure of the building and yet their property was listed as having zero tax value.

Despite the fact that the bank's property value was listed at zero property value, had someone been injured in say a falling elevator, Southern Community Bank and Trust would have been liable to pay medical bills and damages. More likely would have been the falling of the poorly maintained canopy over the main entrance weighing several tons. Or someone falling in a poorly maintained stairwell. Already Sonny Vestal of Vestal Property Management had absconded with the money that was meant for repairs and maintenance and the property was going downhill fast. Southern Community Bank and Trust was recently acquired by Capital Bank Holdings. It could be the new bank's owners looked at the possible liability of owning property that was returning zero revenue and located in what had quickly become a bad neighborhood and got imaginative about how they might get rid of said liability.

Of course, there's plenty of motivation for Jawahar and Shanthi and the bank but how do we get the City to go along? City employees aren't going to lay it all on the line for something like this. Jawahar and Shanthi start by approaching Skip Alston who is well known locally for pulling off shady deals as he knows all the right people like mayors and council members. Skip knows who will deal and who won't. After all, he just got away with $750,000 of taxpayer money that he ripped-off from the International Civil Rights Center and Museum, remember? Skip calls Mike Barber and Don Vaughan to help him out. For those who might not know, Don Vaughan is a former Greensboro City Councilman and retired North Carolina State Senator who happens to be married to Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan. He'll walk Nancy through the entire process slick as a whistle.


In the meantime there's the problem of first time District 1 Councilwoman Sharon Hightower, earnest in her attempts to solve the problems at Heritage House and prove her worth to District 1 residents as well as the rest of the city. Sharon couldn't be bought, they didn't even dare approach her with the deal so they made up a lie about turning the property into a privately owned retirement home for poor people of which there are many in Sharon's district and few safe places to go.

But there's still the problem of getting the people out of Heritage House. Nancy might break a nail and Mike is intent on being the next mayor. Nancy and Mike call Ben Holder and tip him off to a story with the promise that if he does a good job he'll make some real cash this time. Having been a street hustler his entire life Ben sobers up long enough to take the bait, writes some stories about Heritage House and talks 4 college kids into signing a petition to issue a warrant to inspect the property. Even newly elected District 2 City Councilman Jamal Fox complained publicly that Ben had been promised a job. Jamal was another who wasn't going to be invited to their game. And the petition? You know college kids, they're per-programmed to sign every petition that comes along. For all they knew they were saving the whales or stopping the cutting of the Amazon Rain Forests. Not that there's anything wrong with that, being a lifelong liberal I signed those petitions myself.

But their plan still didn't work. Too many units passed inspection and the City issued Certificates Of Occupancy to the homeowners. The animal feces on the floor? Fifi had an accident before mommy got home from work to clean it up. It happens in homes all across America-- it's even happened in Mayor Nancy Vaughan's Irving Park mansion when she brings her prized hunting dog, Remington's puppies inside for her daughter Katheryn to play with. You can't condemn a home with a valid certificate of occupancy. Nope, they had to come up with something better and getting rank and file code enforcement officers and police officers to lie wasn't going to work.

Besides, if you pay off everyone all your profits are soon gone.

Their solution: turn off the water and declare the property unlivable. And if the media should ask to see the water bill then do exactly as was reported in the News & Record: say State law does not require its release and refuse to release it.

Naw, that couldn't have happened... could it?

Trouble Hangs

In the Greensboro News & Record they write, Greensboro officials question $45 an hour contract with activist. Me, I'm questioning why Ben Holder was awarded a contract at $45 an hour while Beth McKee-Hugler and the Greensboro Housing Coalition is only charging the City $27 per hour while providing what appears to be decidedly more services.

Ben? Roch? Ed Cone? Mike Barber? Nancy Vaughan? Yvonne Johnson? Skip Alston? Is there anyone in Ben Holder's corner willing to 'splain these many questions or have you already hung Ben out to dry?

You see, Ben listed Mike, Nancy, Yvonne and yes, even Skip Alston as references to the City of Greensboro but now none of them are sticking up for Ben. Did anyone from the city call them? What did they say?

Quoting John Robert Kernoodle III in the comments at Allen Johnson's blog:

"The question about how Holder was hired is - at its core - an ethical question. I recognize that in a city where most business has been done behind close doors for decades ethics seems to a lot of people - like Mr. Matheny - like the weeds. But the fact remains that an ethical and transparent hiring process would go a long way to restoring (or creating in the first place) trust between voters, their elected council (and thus, advocates), and city staff.

That so many continue to minimize concerns about ethics and transparency is a testament to a city that is not whole and healthy.

You are right, Allen, that it's a shame Mr. Holder has gotten sucked up into a mess he might otherwise be shining a light on. That doesn't mean we should minimize the mess or pretend its distracting our city leadership from what's really important.

As a baseline we, the residents of Greensboro, should expect from our leaders and the staff they oversee that ethics is in all cases accorded primacy of place instead of shabby boosterism for new Hotels and entertainment venues."

You see, this is an ethics issue and people telling me to investigate things like the International Civil Rights Center and Museum (been there, done that) is a nonsensical response to news you don't want to hear. I gave Ben Holder every chance I could to clear his name starting with the way I broke the story even before the media did without naming names but did Ben or anyone else step up and tell us the truth?


I tried to cut Ben some slack but he wouldn't take it.

Supporting a friend when he's doing wrong is the very thing that drives dirty politics and yet some of Greensboro's most vocal critics of dirty politics are suddenly silent when each and every one of us knows Ben Holder has crossed the line. It may be he's your friend but you can still tell him he's wrong. If he can't handle the truth then he wasn't really your friend in the first place.

And there-in lies the problem for Mr Holder and the rest: Instead of shining a light on the problem as Ben has always done in the past, a desperate Ben Holder took Mike Barber up on the promise of a job with the City of Greensboro. That's why Ben set his blog to private rather than taking it down altogether-- he can always threaten to put it back up when he needs more money. And this isn't the first time Ben Holder has set his blog to private then later made it public again.

Then there was Ben and Jamal Fox. When Ben ran for City Council last year he wasn't running against Jamal Fox but he accused Jamal of being hired in an unethical way because Mr Fox had met the then city manager while Jamal worked at a restaurant. Seems Jamal asked the city manager for a job, filled out an application and was hired. But when Ben wants a job the job is made up especially for Ben. Why was Ben criticizing a candidate he wasn't running against? Could it be Ben was trying to appeal to those who were already in power and were hoping to keep Jamal out?

I e-mailed Beth Mcgee-Hugler of the Greensboro Housing Coalition earlier today. I really didn't want to involve her at all but getting to the truth has made it painfully necessary. I had for her a simple question that no one has yet to ask her. I'm hoping she'll reply soon. My question: How did she first learn about the request for proposals?

I think her answer might be very telling, don't you?

Allen Johnson Calls Skip Alston, Self Serving

For the record, this is what News & Record Editor Allen Johnson had to say about Skip Alston:

"If Alston would just mellow a little and truly try to be a servant leader — rather than a self-serving one — he could go far."

And may it never be forgotten and may Skip Alston never again hold political office.

Greensboro: Once Bitten Twice Shy

A month later and still questions are yet to be answered concerning the International Civil Rights Center and Museum. From Amanda Lehmert:

"The information, including employee salary data and the status of the museum’s tax credits, was requested by council members in light of the discovery that the city staff gave the nonprofit $750,000 without a signed loan agreement.

"Supplying this information should not be taken as an agreement to amend the already negotiated and final contract," Hayes wrote to Westmoreland.

In response, Westmoreland sent the museum a round of follow up questions. He reminded Hayes that the council instructed him not to sign the loan agreement until all of its questions were answered."

Get the whole story, beginning to end at The Complete Story Of The $750,000 Oops!