If I Were Mayor Of Greensboro: Part 11

This is part of an ongoing series of posts that begins with If I Were Mayor Of Greensboro and is linked in succession back to here. If you haven't already I recommend you read them all before continuing.

In my post Was Billy Yow Right All Along? I promised to explain to readers how to "make downtown Greensboro and the rest of Greensboro a success for many decades to come." In this post I will explain to you what our problems are.

And seriously folks, if you think solving them can be painless you are horribly mistaken. The Greensboro Disease has long infected us but it has never been what the status-quo would have you believe it is.

The answer lies in the 2010 Action Greensboro funded, Moser, Mayer, Pheonix Associates, Greensboro Downtown Economic Development Strategy which stated:

"Despite demand retail growth has been slow Despite the fact that downtown is attracting significant spending from visitors and a growing residential base, businesses have trouble staying open. Assuming an industry standard of 10% rent‐to‐sales ratio for successful retail, a business would need to generate $420,000 in annual sales in a typical downtown space of 3,000 SF with $14/SF rent. Local market data suggests that retailers in downtown Greensboro are achieving a lower sales volume, and spending closer to 25% of sales on rent. High start‐up costs compound already tight operating margins and impede the success of many storefront retail businesses. Downtown’s retail is currently approximately 15% vacant along Elm St, and anecdotal evidence suggests that many businesses do not survive the first year of operation.

Poor building conditions are the greatest economic barrier to the success of new retail. Many buildings in Greensboro were constructed in the early/mid‐1900s and are in need of major renovations. The cost of rehabilitating ground floor spaces and creating a “vanilla box” for retail use will range from $40‐$80 per square foot depending on the building’s condition and original design. This either drives rents higher or creates an extra upfront burden for the tenant. Many buildings have likely remained vacant because owners are unwilling to undertake the upgrade cost on a speculative basis."

And this one:

“Retail rents cannot fully support the cost of rehabilitating blighted buildings… Absent financial intervention, storefronts will remain vacant or will attract tenants of marginal quality and with a high probability of failure.”

I first pointed this out back on Friday, February 8, 2013 so Action Greensboro reacted by removing the Moser, Mayer, Pheonix Associates, Greensboro Downtown Economic Development Strategy from the Internet.  As you can see both the Greensboro Partnership and UNCG have copies of the same study posted online but both copies are missing the Executive Summary. The UNCG copy even has the words "Executive Summary To Be Inserted" on the last page but no where is the Executive Summary or the full report to be found.

Even Downtown Greensboro Inc has a direct quote from the missing page of the study on their website:

Sad isn't it? They all know what the problem is but none are willing to admit it.

And therein lies the problem: There is simply not enough money to be spent in Downtown Greensboro to support small businesses who must rent the buildings they do business in. There never has been.


And yet, in order to maintain a higher tax base, the Greensboro City Council subsidizes the owners of these buildings as one small business after the other folds. And it's not just downtown. If you are paying rent your business is not sustainable in Greensboro's economy.Never has been, never will be.


Downtown Greensboro was first built by shopkeepers who owned the buildings they did business in. For well over 100 years Downtown remained a success. Then as second and third generation family businesses lost interest in their family businesses and decided they would rather become landlords than actually work for a living, downtown Greensboro, like downtowns everywhere, began to fail.

This is the true story of dying downtowns-- the story those who control our cities like Greensboro don't want you to learn.

Having spent their lives sitting on their asses and with no real skills with which to earn a living or the desire to actually work these entitled adult children cried out, "Save our downtowns!" and as they were best able to pad the pockets of those who would run for political office they got passed bills and resolutions at the Federal, State and local levels to subsidize their rental businesses through something we like to call Downtown Renovation.

Say you've been here 10 to 15 years and you remember when downtown was a ghost town? So what?

I grew up here in Greensboro and am currently witnessing the 4th round of Downtown Greensboro Renovation since 1956. I've seen it become a ghost town 4 times now.  In other words, downtown renovation, as we know it, is not sustainable and does not work over the long term.

But downtown renovation could be made to work. City wide renovation could be made to work. All we need are a few simple changes in how we go about doing it and who gets our help. And it could return a profit to the City of Greensboro.

So how do I propose we do that? For the answer you must read If I Were Mayor Of Greensboro: Part 12.

And folks, even if you don't believe I'm the right man to be the next Mayor of Greensboro you know my ideas are dead on so why not share them with everyone you know so that all of Greensboro will know what they must expect from the next Mayor of Greensboro.

Chancellor Gilliam Story A Story Of Excess

Perhaps readers of EzGreensboro.com remember when we broke the story Chancellor Of UNCG Or Chancelor Of A Kingdom?

 "Anyway, I'm being told the Gilliams are asking for $250,000 in new furniture, a new car, chauffeur, cook, maid and butler to support their lavish lifestyle."

And perhaps you remember when we followed up with UNCG Chancellor Rumor Grows Legs:

"But here are some facts about Mr Gilliam and his time as the Dean at UCLA:

"Franklin D. Gilliam Jr., dean of the Luskin School of Public Affairs, has billed UCLA for roughly $17,000 in premium airfares since September 2008, when he started the job. His doctor’s note cites a medical disability that requires business-class accommodations for extended travel – including trips to the East Coast, Midwest and Australia.

Gilliam also has used the note to justify using a car service. An expense report for 2009 limousine rides between Gilliam’s home and the airport said that “because of Dean Gilliam’s disability, it is recommended that he travel with business class arrangements to allow change of positions.”

And just maybe you remember when we asked  What Is The Actual Cost To UNCG And Taxpayers?

" You see, if this is really happening then UNCG employees, aka state employees, are being asked to spend their taxpayer funded time to provide for the securing of $250,000 in new furniture, a new car, chauffeur, cook, maid and butler.
How long will that take? One man hour? 100 man hours?
And isn't that exactly what the UNCG-3 were improperly fired for in the first place? Improper use of State equipment on taxpayers' time.
So are the Gilliams doing this themselves? On their own time? From home? On privately owned computers?
Or is this yet another case of different rules for those at the top?
And what will the actual cost to UNCG be?"

Some said these things were necessary because of Chancellor Gilliam's disability. Well thanks to Sophie Scholl it has to our attention that Chancellor Gilliam has no disability whatsoever. Anyone who can drive a Shelby Cobra from Greensboro to the The Biltmore Forest Country Club in Asheville is in no way disabled to the point that he or she needs first class flights , chauffeur driven cars or any of the other so called "needs" the Gilliams seem to enjoy:

"Don't get me wrong, that's a sweet car, I'm not denying that, but I wonder if Gilliam has taken it by the staff food pantry recently"

That's right, UNCG has a staff food pantry where UNCG employees-- some of them teachers-- who work minimum wage jobs, can go to get food donated by other UNCG employees while the Chancellor lives like royalty.


And you wonder why college tuitions are so high.

What Is The Actual Cost To UNCG And Taxpayers?

On Thursday when I wrote Chancellor Of UNCG Or Chancelor Of A Kingdom? I only talked about the Gilliams asking for $250,000 in new furniture, a new car, chauffeur, cook, maid and butler to support their lavish lifestyle.

No doubt it will be a few days at least before the uproar of a tiger in the woods in a local golf tournament dies down and our local media finally gets around to doing research on the story but in the interim an even bigger question comes up.

It has been suggested to me that perhaps these lavish expenses on behalf of Chancellor Gilliam and his wife-- if they are true-- are to be paid for with private donations and that makes everything fine and dandy.

Except that it doesn't.

You see, if this is really happening then UNCG employees, aka state employees, are being asked to spend their taxpayer funded time to provide for the securing of $250,000 in new furniture, a new car, chauffeur, cook, maid and butler.

How long will that take? One man hour? 100 man hours?

And isn't that exactly what the UNCG-3 were improperly fired for in the first place? Improper use of State equipment on taxpayers' time.

So are the Gilliams doing this themselves? On their own time? From home? On privately owned computers?

Or is this yet another case of different rules for those at the top?

And what will the actual cost to UNCG be?

UNCG Chancellor Rumor Grows Legs

Yesterday when I wrote Chancellor Of UNCG Or Chancelor Of A Kingdom? I knew so little about UNCG Chancellor Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr that I had to google to verify that he is the new chancellor of UNCG.

And I still hope the rumors about him are wrong.

But here are some facts about Mr Gilliam and his time as the Dean at UCLA:

"Franklin D. Gilliam Jr., dean of the Luskin School of Public Affairs, has billed UCLA for roughly $17,000 in premium airfares since September 2008, when he started the job. His doctor’s note cites a medical disability that requires business-class accommodations for extended travel – including trips to the East Coast, Midwest and Australia.

Gilliam also has used the note to justify using a car service. An expense report for 2009 limousine rides between Gilliam’s home and the airport said that “because of Dean Gilliam’s disability, it is recommended that he travel with business class arrangements to allow change of positions.”

Now folks, just so you know, myself and almost every member of my extended family suffers from a medical condition that requires us to changes positions. It has a long name I can never remember and can cause blood clots in our legs that result in death when the clots reach our hearts. What have every one of our dozens of doctors told us to do about it? Stand up and walk around a few steps every 2 hours. Get up and go to the bathroom. And don't sit with your legs crossed.

I've known I had it for 20 years.

Now in case you don't believe the blogger I linked to because everyone likes to say, "Well he's just a blogger," here's the Center for Investigative Reporting, UCLA officials bend travel rules with first-class flights, luxury hotels  where they not only have paid professional journalists but editors and copy editors who sign off publicly on their stories making them far more accountable than any of our local main stream media rags.

I hope I'm wrong but looking at this guy's track record in the first place, why was he ever hired?

Chancellor Of UNCG Or Chancelor Of A Kingdom?

Rumor has it that the newly appointed Chancellor Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr and his wife are not happy with their accommodations at the Bryan House in Greensboro's Irving Park.

Now I know nobody believes me but nobody believed me when I said the former Chancellor Linda Brady was responsible for drumming out the UNCG-3 and that turned out to be true. As a matter of fact: I broke that story before Greensboro's main stream media even found out there was a problem at UNCG, remember?

 But I'm wrong sometimes.

Anyway, I'm being told the Gilliams are asking for $250,000 in new furniture, a new car, chauffeur, cook, maid and butler to support their lavish lifestyle.

Am I the only one with concerns about public school administrators and their wives living like royalty. Even our Mayor who happens to be their neighbor and I admittedly don't hold in high regard, does not live such a lavish lifestyle. I happen to know for a fact she drives her personally owned car most everywhere she goes.

Did Mr and Mrs Gilliam enjoy such perks when he served at UCLA.

Anyway, I'm sure the offices at the University of North Carolina Greensboro are about to be flooded with Public Information Requests as journalists all over this city read EzGreensboro.com every time our RSS Feed flashes.

 Please continue reading UNCG Chancellor Rumor Grows Legs for more on this story.

Greensboro Partnership and Rentier Capitalist Propaganda in the News and Record

"Public-private collaboration is key to building a competitive advantage, by Keith Debbage

Our community has been sold a bridge to nowhere, 

which has financially benefited many on City Council

and their "supporters" at DGI and the Partnership, 

via allocations of everyone else's money

to a small circle of "friends", 

the News and Record is on board

and we're paying for it.

...A recent survey of companies in the Greensboro-High Point area we conducted on behalf of the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce found that more than 1,000 jobs proved difficult to fill largely because it was hard to find local workers with the appropriate skill sets.

Debbage got paid by the Greensboro Partnership

which includes the Chamber of Commerce,

making Debbage a stooge and lobbyist 

for the Greensboro Partnership.

...The Greensboro Partnership’s recent hire of a new leader with an impressive track record and former Greensboro City Council member’s Zack Matheny hiring as president and CEO of Downtown Greensboro Inc. should help.

DGI hiring a crony who guaranteed DGI funding

is good news to Debbage, as his and Zack's paychecks

are dependent on the good will of Roy etc...

and the boards of the Partnership and DGI,

many of whom are the same people, 

or people who work for the same people

who overcharge poor renters and business owners.

...Any local, government-based consolidation of economic development services would have to require enhanced coordination and collaboration with the private sector.

Enhanced coordination means more public money

into the hands of the private interests

at the Partnership and DGI,

and the News and Record is on board with this theft by our 1%.

...while local government officials are negotiating among themselves, the more private sector-oriented Greensboro Partnership — the city’s lead economic development agency — has been moving forward with its own plans and strategic imperatives.

Zack Matheny pre applied for the CEO job as a sitting City Councilman, 

who voted to fund DGI's giveaways to DGI's members, 

many of whom have contributed to Zack Matheny's campaigns.

...top executives of some of the largest companies in the city and leaders of some of Greensboro’s most influential nonprofit foundations serve on the executive board of the partnership.

Rentier capitalism

Rentier capitalism is a Marxist term 

currently used to describe the belief in economic practices 

of monopolization of access 

to any (physical, financial, intellectual, etc.) kind of property, 

and gaining significant amounts of profit without contribution to society.

Rentier capitalism

...A significant chunk of the partnership’s funding comes from both the private and nonprofit sectors — the “invisible hand” that drives much of the local economy.

Greensboro's News and Record shares in responsibility

for the sorry state of our local political dysfunction

via lies of omission and propaganda.

The elevated tension between local government officials and the partnership is a cause for concern in an era when innovation invariably requires some level of public-private partnership."

Keith G. Debbage
UNCG Professor
Greensboro Partnership Lobbyist
Supporter of Zack Matheny's job at DGI
Advocate for public monies channeled to his paying patrons.

http://www.greensboro.com/opinion/columns/public-private-collaboration-is-key-to-building-a-competitive-advantage/article_6311189a-1b90-11e5-9ec9-6f7da9346da5.html
.
.
Matheny bristled at criticism of DGI earlier this spring
and had his feathers badly ruffled
when a group of downtown property owners
appeared before the City Council
and demanded that the city defund the booster group
because of its poor track record.

Zack Matheny violated his oath of office by applying for the job

as a sitting council member,

and the rest of City Council didn't have a problem with it.

Matheny sent a series of malevolent text messages
to one of the speakers, implying that he saw no reason
to ever support the citizen's projects again,
and that the two would henceforth be at odds
due to the property owner deciding to speak out against DGI.

And DGI hired Zack anyway.

In the text messages
Matheny directly stated that the criticism
jeopardized his potential employment with DGI.

Matheny says in his resignation announcement
that he wants to avoid a conflict of interest,
but that time is too far-gone.

Maybe City Council and DGI believe that if Mayor Nancy Vaughan

can make money from Greensboro's taxpayers 

funneled to her husband Don

via free methane for Wilbur Ross  

while Nancy served on the Sold Waste Committee,

it was okay for Zack to unfairly use his position as City Council member

to land the top DGI job.

Very few in Greensboro believe
that DGI has a rationale for existence.

...the cauldron of conflicts of interest
remains bubbling just below the surface.

Councilman Zack Matheny 

announced that he would apply for the CEO position

even before the search began.

Eric Ginsburg

The trend among Greensboro's elite
is to lead cheers for "all the good things going on in Greensboro."

Absent critical analysis of relationships,
motivations and outcomes by the city's press,
boosterism is about all the city's public discourse amounts to.

Zack Matheny violated his oath of office by applying for the job

as a sitting council member,

and Keith Debbage and the News and Record is on board with it.

Matheny is ...also known as the ultimate insider.

Does Downtown Greensboro need another puppet on a string
controlled by one or two uber-powerful real estate interests?...

Yes Weekly's Jeff Sykes
June 10, 2015
.
.
Blatant Roy Carroll / John Hammer Rhino Times Propaganda

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2014/12/blatant-roy-carroll-john-hammer-rhino.html

News and Record and Carroll Company's John Hammer on City Council shake up

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/01/news-and-record-and-carroll-companys.html

How to purchase City Councilman Jamal Fox, by Marty Kotis among others

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/01/how-to-purchase-city-councilman-jamal.html

Democracy and a free press no longer exists in Greensboro, North Carolina

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/03/democracy-and-free-press-no-longer.html

Ivan Saul Cutler's Nancy Hoffmann Propaganda

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/05/ivan-saul-cutlers-nancy-hoffmann.html

If developers pay for water and sewer extensions, why did we just pay for Roy Carroll and Marty Kotis'?

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/06/if-developers-pay-for-water-and-sewer.html

Clearing Up The Numbers About The UNCG Nanoschool

On several occasions I have stated there are only 10 students enrolled in labs at the much touted UNCG  nanoschool at Gateway South. This morning I present you with a letter from a very respected source that corrects that:


"The projected need in the foundational documents requesting approval of a new degree estimated that steady state enrollment was the equivalent of 110 students:

(By the second year, the nanoscience PMS and Ph.D. projected student enrollment (40 PMS + 15 full time PhD + 8 part time PhD for full time equivalent)  of 59 students. By the third year the PMS would have reached steady state (graduates being replaced with new enrollment) for a flat 60 students forward. By the fourth year, the Ph.D. students would also reach steady state having already graduated any students who came in as transfers as well as graduating the first cohort and replacing with new enrollment for a flat 41 students full time equivalency (32 full time + 18 part-time or 9) or a grand total of 110 bodies with the equivalent for 101 in credit production.)

The actual enrollment in the Professional Science Masters over 5 years has been less than 10 with 2 graduating.

Both the professional science masters and the technical science masters (which was not in the request to establish founding documents) have been used to warehouse students that are not qualified for the PhD program or as a parting gift for students who have enough credits but lacked competence to remain in the PhD program thereby padding the graduation vs drop out rate.

You and Sophie have used the 'less than ten students in labs' a couple of times. Please let me clarify. Those labs represent required survey in interdisciplinary research for first year students. First year students are required to enroll in 2 labs per semester (4 total in the first year). The low number of enrolled represents the inability of the faculty admissions committee to attract qualified students to either nanoscience degree programs despite the claim in the founding documents that this is an attractive degree program with potential for robust growth and necessary for the advancement of science. Notably, nanoengineering has not had that same difficulty.

The final enrollment in nanoscience introductory labs for spring is now 23

 

It is difficult to extrapolate from this information how many of these are actually first year students and how many are continuing students that are padding their schedules to ensure that they have full time status and can receive state support for tuition and stipend or part time employment through Gateway. The 'less than 10' is actually just an estimate since with these numbers, it is unlikely that they have more than 10 qualified students in this cohort. A better indication may be this course

NAN 711-01 ExpCrs: Math Meth Nano II

which currently enrolls 15 students and was created as a two semester remedial math course for students that do not meet minimal admission standards or were considered likely to fail the math and/or physics portion of the qualifying exam."

End of letter.

In other words, the numbers remain pretty damned pathetic and nothing like what they were promised to be.

Sophie's Letter To The UNCG Board Of Directors

Seems the UNCG Board of Directors wants to keep secrets and an iron grip just as Fascist Nazi Germany did under Adolph Hitler. Well Sophie sent them an e-mail a couple of hours ago and I sent them my thoughts as well:

"Susan,

I have to say I am disappointed by your unwillingness to come clean regarding the Paul Mason debacle at UNCG. I think that if explaining yourself is so shameful that you cannot bring yourself to do it, the only acceptable alternative is for you to step down from your position on the board and on the search committee. 

Confession eases the soul and there is no reason why you should suffer from any collateral damage from the explosion caused by Brady, should that be the case. 

There can be no faith that the Board of Trustees is operating with the interests of the UNCG community at heart when you do not even deign to believe we are owed an explanation. There can be no faith, therefore, in a Chancellor selected by such a board - you are dooming the search.

Now is your opportunity to do something larger than yourself. Despite what others may say, I still believe you know this. If you have ever truly cared about UNCG, now is the time for true leadership.

Sincerely,

Sophie"

My reply:

"Fascism breeds contempt-- contempt for those beneath one's self on the social and management ladders. In the view of those at the top the world becomes divided into those who have power and those who seek it as those at the top project their own beliefs on everyone beneath them-- even those who do not believe as they believe and have no desires to seek power.

Thus those at the top live in constant fear, always looking over their shoulders, expecting every hand to hold a dagger just as their own hands hold daggers. No longer can they, themselves plow, build or grow for to lay down their weapons long enough to work is too great a fear for them to overcome. They are enslaved to their own cause. So they've no choice but to steal the crops of the farmers and enslave the workers. Everything they do must be done in secret for fear of peasant uprisings day or night.

And so it is, Fascism breeds contempt for those at the top only because those at the top were afraid to show compassion and forethought.

-Billy Jones, your friendly, freelance neighborhood Tyrannicide, and the man who first broke the UNCG-3 story to the public.

PS. I made this letter public as well:"

And just to be very clear to anyone reading this post, I am a devout Capitalist though not a Fascist. The two are in-fact very different. UNCG has become a Fascist run institution.

Ode To Paul Mason

"I came in like a wrecking ball
I never hit so hard in love
All I wanted was to break your walls
All you ever did was wreck me
Yeah, you, you wreck me...

-author unknown but surely loved by thousands

Will The UNCG Faculty Show Us They're Not A Bunch Of Pathetic, Sniveling Cowards?

"Now there has been a settlement, the final admission by the university that it didn't have a leg to stand on. Not one, not a stump, not a lean-to, not a dream, not a prayer. There wasn't even a whimper despite the promised bang.
Where is the evidence of egregious wrong doing now?
The lies should stick in Linda Brady's throat.
And if the faculty had any guts at all..." Please Continue Reading...

Still Thinking About Union Square?

Still think Union Square Campus will be good for downtown Greensboro? Read this: http://uncgcleanhouse.blogspot.com/2015/02/opportunistic-greensboro-gives.html

Looks as if UNCG's Linda Brady was paid well for padding the pockets of Greensboro's elites with City and State tax dollars.

A Better Picture Of What Is Going On In Glenwood

Bulent Bediz, his business partner Nellie Jones and Bulent's son David Bediz own almost every house in the 800 block of Lexington Avenue pictured below. Bulent has restored 30 historic Glenwood homes in the last 40 years and has sold and given away several of them.




This next picture is the City of Greensboro's Glenwood Neighborhood Plan passed by City Council on September 13, 2011. Note that the 800 block of Lexington Avenue is surrounded on 3 sides by properties marked as Mixed Use Residential and Parks Open Space.

(Click on photo to enlarge.)

Also of note is the fact that according to the Guilford County Property Tax Records, those same properties marked as Mixed Use Residential and Parks Open Space are owned by UNCG, the State of North Carolina and Capital Facilities Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

This information was gleaned from City of Greensboro Public Information Release #4171-- any questions?

Paul Mason Leaving UNCG

The infamous hatchet man Paul Mason will be leaving UNCG as of February 6th 2015, he claims for a better opportunity but will not say where.

Remember: you got it first, while the meeting was still in progress, at EzGreensboro.com

Rhino on UNCG Chancellor Linda Brady October 17 faculty forum contradictions

"The UNCG 3 – who were fired and arrested in the fall for making mistakes on their time sheets and other such heinous crimes – are in various stages of their grievance process, but someone in the upper ranks of the University of North Carolina system needs to be looking at UNCG Chancellor Linda Brady and the faculty forum she held on Oct. 17.  What Brady said at that forum has been contradicted by the courts and now by the grievance committee.

Brady said in her speech, “Let me assure you this is not about a few hours of time recorded inaccurately.”

But District Court Judge Teresa Vincent, when the matter was in her courtroom, said that it was a case of not being careful and she admonished the two photographers, Chris English and David Wilson, to be more careful in the future about writing things down.

Nothing at all was said to Lyda Carpen in court except that the charges were dismissed.  But when Carpen went before the Grievance Committee, they determined that there was no cause to fire Carpen for errors on the timecards.  They upheld her dismissal on the grounds of conflict of interest because she did freelance work for one of the photographers who reported to her and she used a university computer, which she had permission to take home for work other than university work.

They did not find that any issues with timecards for her or her employees rose to the level of a dismissal, much less arrest.

So the question someone in authority needs to ask Brady is, why did she mislead the faculty at her faculty forum?  Was it because she was misled herself and had been given bad information by a subordinate?  Or did she think that it sounded better to say these were “egregious” actions, and then she hoped the truth wouldn’t come out?

It’s a serious offense for the chancellor to mislead the faculty – far more serious than for longtime employees to make a couple of mistakes on their timecards.

Brady could clear the whole thing up by having another faculty forum and explaining why she misled the faculty at the October forum."

Roy's Rhino Times
Roy's wife "Ms. Vanessa Carroll" is on The Board of Trustees

http://chancellor.uncg.edu/bot/members/

Tom Ross Steps Down From UNC

Greensboro native Tom Ross is expected to announce today that he will be leaving his position as Chairman of the UNC System.

While reasons are not given, some are speculating his leaving has something to do with recent events at UNCG and the ongoing scandals there including the firing of the UNCG 3 and real estate scandals that have plagued the nearby Glenwood neighborhood.

Other recent resignations include that of UNCG Chancellor Linda Brady.

Thank You Sharon Hightower

Greensboro City Councilwoman Sharon Hightower and I have locked horns almost since the day she was sworn into office. No matter the subject we almost always take opposite sides. Like myself, she's stubborn and headstrong but time and again she's shown me her heart is in the right place.

Today Bulent Bediz went before the commission that was to determine if 3 of his houses are to be destroyed by the City of Greensboro and to Mr Bediz's surprise, Councilwoman Hightower spoke on his behalf. (See Sharon, I told you I've got spies watching you.)

Thanks to Ms Hightower and Mr Bediz's neighbors who also spoke on his behalf the vote was 3-3 so his houses get to stand a little longer while Greensboro finally learns the truth about the land grab that is going on in Glenwood.

With that said, I'd like to thank Councilwoman Hightower for bucking UNCG and Greensboro's status quo by standing up for the working class. We're hard headed, you and I, and I've no doubt we'll lock horns over something again soon but as of right now I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I only wish we were in the same room so I could do it in person.

Greensboro Makes National List For Prostitution

As reported by News & Record reporter, Joe Killian, UNCG makes prestigious list...of students looking for Sugar Daddies, Mommas:

"According to www.seekingarrangement.com, UNCG is #36 on its annual list of "Fastest Growing Sugar Baby Schools."

The site matches people looking for a...ahem, "mutually beneficial arrangement."

Seeking Arrangement CEO Brandon Wade, who financed his MIT education through loans, thinks the site's growth on college campuses is down to students looking for creative ways to pay for college in a challenging environment.

“While other countries seek to create opportunity and provide a better start for students by abolishing tuition fees or at least lowering them to reasonable amounts, Congress continues to ignore the problem,” Wade said in a Monday press release. “The average debt is more than what most of these new graduates will make in a year.” 

That's right, what has long been Greensboro's most prestigious university is now home to high dollar hookers made possible in no small part with the help of UNCG Chancelor Linda Brady whose wild voyages into speculative real-estate ventures have helped to push already skyrocketing college costs through the stratosphere leaving students no choice but to go down.

Call it what you will it's still trading sex for money and it's the first addition this year to the ever growing list, Merry Christmas From The City Of Greensboro: Proof Greensboro Sucks.

Like wow, who knew when I titled that post last month the first update really would be about sucking? Hey, still want to do that TV show, Greensboro? We've got everything you need on the pages of EzGreensboro.com, mayor having affairs, corrupt politicians, gangsters, murder on the streets, crooked cops, greedy business men, payola, blackmail and now even hot college prostitutes.  (That ought to draw us some keyword traffic.) Why if I could sell the last 4 years of this blog I could get rich, bring a major television show to Greensboro and rebuild our dying local economy almost singlehandedly.

And everybody we've exposed would be hated by the world. Wouldn't that be a hoot?

The Great Union Square, Gateway Center Fraud

The State of North Carolina, City of Greensboro, UNCG, NC A&T University, GTCC, developers Bob Isner and Bob Chapman, Cone Hospital and others are all moving ahead with scaled down plans to build Union Square Campus in downtown Greensboro to house a nursing school.

Amazingly, at last Tuesday's Greensboro City Council Meeting, council members Sharon Hightower and Jamal Fox (Districts 1 and 2) pushed to build Union Square. Here's what they weren't telling you:

The current plan for Union Square is 83,000 square feet.

Gateway North in District 2: http://www.gatewayurp.com/pages/North_Campus

"

• A combined 140,000 square feet between eight existing buildings.
• Potential to add more buildings for a total of 450,000 square feet.Two on-site training rooms equipped with flexible seating arrangements and ample audio/visual technology.
• Tenant benefits include access to event, meeting and training spaces, as well as high performance broadband IP connectivity, teresence suite, 232-seat auditorium, and walking trails.
• Within minutes of North Carolina A&T State University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro
• Nine miles to Central Business District."

Gateway South in District 1 with nothing but a retaining wall between it and Councilwoman Hightower's back yard (Remember having the gateway workers remove the blacksnake from your driveway, Sharon? I literally have spies watching your homes.) http://www.gatewayurp.com/pages/South_Campus

"

• Six Building Pads (25K SF footprint each, two-story)
• Infrastructure and Grading in Place
• 8,000 SF Raw Unfinished Space
• 1,800 SF of Finished Space
• Two (2) 1,000± SF Labs
• Ample Free Parking"

Sharon claims in front of the cameras and on Facebook that she wants to see development in east Greensboro but pushes for more downtown development first. Sure, Greensboro elites are making promises to them both, the exact same promises they made 20 years ago: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9h2K8JxTQUjNFVjSFV1RkhWRnF3Sy1kRFhTM2xtMkFKQy0w/view?usp=sharing

Nothing changed. They claim over $150 Million was invested in the East Market Street Corridor but that includes a football stadium on Lindsey Street. Roughly $148 Million was spent by the State of North Carolina on the NC A&T Campus over the course of 20 years but they claim it all as east Greensboro economic development.They didn't keep their promises then and they don't intend to keep their promises now.

And damn, you still can't walk across East Market without getting run down by a speeding bus!!! Streetscaping was supposed to fix that.

Yvonne Johnson, Goldie Wells, T Diane Bellamy Small and others played this game for many years and got us exactly nowhere-- what makes Jamal and Sharon think they can do any better? They can't, not as long as they follow the rules set forth by the status quo. Black folks on my side of town are already saying worse about the two of them than I've ever said about them. I believe they both know why. Are they right? Prove them wrong.

If Union Square doesn't get built the UNCG / A&T  nursing program moves to east Greensboro because that is where both schools own empty buildings. That is if A&T's rapidly crumbling nursing program is allowed to remain in existence by the regulatory boards which have already close parts of their program. 

 

The Bobs (Isner and Chapman) are under contract to build a mixed use development-- who says a mixed use development must include a college campus? Tell them to meet their terms of the contract, build the development or back out entirely leaving the City owing them nothing. Let them sue the City if they want-- City Council does it all the time. What? Are other city council members afraid of the discovery process? Nancy? Robbie? Zack? Yvonne?

There are others who would like to build bigger projects there if the Bobs don't step up to the plate. And let us not forget, the Bobs never developed the property the City gave them on MLK several years before. So why are we letting them do it again?

But wait, the story gets bigger. The tenants, COIN and Advaero at Gateway South are there in name only. They don't do anything, They didn't bring Greensboro jobs. Gateway South is in reality a ghost town when it comes to commercial tenants. Anyone can have a local telephone number in any city in the country redirected to any other telephone in the world and no one knows the difference.

And at Gateway North, the SERVE Center, the most significant presence in the entire park was making plans to move over a year ago and hasn't filed a Federal Form 990 since the year 2000. Are they even still in business? And if so are they legit?

Sharon Hightower e-mails this morning to say:

Billy, this building is in District 2,  It has now been downsized to 83,0000 due to GTCC not needing as much space.  I support my colleague with efforts in his District as he supports mine. 

Dear Ms Hightower, judging from the information I have given you the fact that Union Square is tucked away in a tiny downtown corner of District 2 hardly justifies the millions of dollars of taxpayers moneys that will be spent when larger, empty buildings owned by the entities involved already exist.

Better taxpayer investments could and should be made in our communities and you, Sharon Hightower should be at the forefront of seeing they are done instead of whining about where developers chose to spend their money. You are a steward of the taxpayers' money, not the developers' money-- get it?

More Bad News For Downtown Union Square Project

On November 30, 2014 we reported:

"NC A&T might not even have a nursing program in a couple of years as they've twice had to get special dispensation to continue probation in the last ten years."

On Friday Fox 8 Reported:

 "Monday North Carolina A&T advisors will meet with pre-nursing majors in the lower division nursing program to discuss their options of transferring or changing their field of study.

In its April 2014 meeting, the Board of Governors completed its annual review of the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) first-time writers’ pass rates for graduates of the nursing programs across the university system. The board suspended new admissions to the Bachelors of Science in Nursing program at NC A&T State University’s School of Nursing after 2014 and called for a full review of the program.

If students decide to transfer elsewhere, NC A&T will provide the students transcripts at no cost."

The same article also states:

 "The suspension does not include their accelerated BSN or RN to BSN programs.

NC A&T’s involvement in Greensboro’s Union Square Campus will not change."

Plans for construction of Union Square have now been twice reduced in size and yet neither UNCG, the City of Greensboro nor the State of North Carolina acknowledges the glut of empty classrooms owned by UNCG on 2 campuses at Gateway East and Gateway North. Together the 2 campuses total almost 500,000 square feet of newly constructed buildings that have yet to be put to use but Union Square is said to be only 85,000 square feet at a cost of $90 Million Dollars. The fact that A&T is continuing to spend taxpayer dollars to build a nursing school in downtown Greensboro despite the fact that their own nursing program is currently being dismantled piece by piece only goes to demonstrate the shift from education to real estate development that is taking place in our statewide university system. Remember Folks, we first reported it even before the students at NC A&T were told about it. From Fox 8:

"A sophomore pre-nursing major from Delaware contacted our station in frustration that the department’s first notification of the suspension was on Dec. 22, 2014."

UNCG Leadership Search: Funk and Scandal

"President Tom Ross spoke to the faculty senate and attendees regarding the upcoming search to replace UNCG’s disgraced chancellor. He stated that he was hoping for someone with integrity, courage, charisma, and vision. I think that’s a good start – it would certainly be a change. Unfortunately, he, and most members of the Board of Trustees believe the best way to get that is by conducting a search where the candidates don’t have to reveal who they are. That is exactly how we received Linda Brady, despite her history of scandal at NCSU (in fact, faculty from NCSU actually contacted faculty at UNCG to warn them of what they were going to be getting) and at Oregon State.

Add to this the fact that the search committee hired to perform this ‘service’ has its own history of scandal." Please continue reading