Which Guilford County Prison Farm are we talking about? For those who might not know, Guilford County isn't only the only county in the state with a county prison farm-- we've got two. Only, one of them is currently closed. And it appears that the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance (a non entity) is trying to give one or both of them away.
In today's News & Record they promise 400 new jobs at the expense of 740 acres of prime farming and hunting lands, 120,000 gallons of water a day, 80,000 gallons for sewage a day and 700 to 800 tractor-trailers a day running into the quiet little towns of Gibsonville and Elon.
Would someone please remind me why we needed to give Roy Carroll $Millions of Dollars in water and sewer services when the County was sitting on 740 empty acres almost next freaking door? No, the two projects aren't related as the Town of Gibsonville will supply water and sewer to the mystery manufacturer brought to us by the mystery Greensboro Economic Development Alliance in a mysterious location that borders Alamance County and the Burlington and Elon City Limits. Maybe they should rename themselves the Burlington Economic Development Alliance.
Poor Roy, now he has to compete with free. I guess the Greensboro City Council will just have to buy his land from him after the taxpayers finish paying to install water and sewer. You know, so Roy doesn't face a loss. With a tidy profit, of course. After all, Roy did "improve" the property.
Judging from those water and sewer figures I can only speculate the company being lured there is a chemical company. Companies often want their land purchases kept secret to keep rural land owners from jacking up prices but if we're giving away the land then why keep the name of the company a secret unless it's someone who might not be considered a good neighbor to the folks in Gibsonville, Elon and Burlington?
Look, I was born in Gibsonville in a house with a back yard that bordered the Prison Farm's chain link fense. I have friends and family living next door to that prison farm today. I have lots of family and friends in Gibsonville, Elon, Burlington and Alamance County that I don't usually drag into Greensboro political issues. And while I wish all of them prosperity and wellness I believe this is one Greensboro issue the Alamance County part of the Jones clan just might want to know about.
And just so you know, while we might not have the money they have, in Guilford County alone we outnumber the Cones and several other well known families combined. And that's not counting the inlaws. I'm calling up the family!
Showing posts with label Urban Sprawl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Urban Sprawl. Show all posts
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
The Highest Vacancy Rate In Greensboro, Or Pay Now Or Pay More Later?
I was doing some research on Greensboro when I came upon this paper by Megan E. Culler analyzing the problem of brownfields and vacant property in Greensboro, N.C., which was written for Prof. Raymond Burby's class on Development and Environmental Management."
Megan points out a lot of the problems Greensboro faces:
But what struck me was this chart that shows my Northeast Greensboro neighborhood, the area containing the little green circle as having 11.11 to 17.63% housing vacancies as of the year 2000-- 7-8 years before the housing crisis began. So what's the vacancy rate for my neighborhood now? Higher. How much I can't say but most definitely higher. Click on the chart to enlarge.
So why is this a problem for downtown and the rest of Greensboro? Ms Culler continues:
In other words, my neighborhood's problems are at risk of spilling over, putting downtown Greensboro at risk and are creating problems that downtown Greensboro will someday be forced to pay for. So my question is this: Do you want to pay now or add interest to an account you'll have to pay later?
Megan points out a lot of the problems Greensboro faces:
"In February 2009, Forbes.com listed Greensboro/High Point as fourth in a list of America’s emptiest cities, based on Census vacancy data (Greenburg, 2009). This ranking was repeated in the national media, debated by local newspapers, and contested by elected officials. Is Greensboro as abandoned as these reports claim? Census data indicate that, while housing vacancy is not as widespread as the Forbes report claimed, certain sections of downtown Greensboro have very high housing vacancy rates, and based on what data are available, Greensboro appears to have a higher number of brownfield sites than many other North Carolina cities."
But what struck me was this chart that shows my Northeast Greensboro neighborhood, the area containing the little green circle as having 11.11 to 17.63% housing vacancies as of the year 2000-- 7-8 years before the housing crisis began. So what's the vacancy rate for my neighborhood now? Higher. How much I can't say but most definitely higher. Click on the chart to enlarge.
So why is this a problem for downtown and the rest of Greensboro? Ms Culler continues:
"Encouraging the redevelopment of brownfields and other vacant or underutilized sites is important if Greensboro wants to meet its goals of compact development and revitalizing its downtown. Identifying and remediating brownfield sites, as well as other vacant or unused sites, for redevelopment and infill takes pressure off of greenfield sites at the city’s fringe. By funneling more redevelopment to the city’s downtown rather than its fringes, the city has the opportunity to reduce its infrastructure costs while preserving open space and farmland.
Brownfields and vacant sites can also play a role in troubled urban neighborhoods. In their current state, they pose health and safety risks to residents. They might also have negative effects on property values, and discourage nearby development. Greensboro’s comprehensive plan asserts that brownfields and vacant properties are disproportionately located in low income and minority neighborhoods. An analysis of census data confirms this claim; the census tracts with the highest housing vacancy rates also tend to be African-American neighborhoods. Brownfields and inactive hazardous sites are more dispersed, but are somewhat more common in neighborhoods with larger African-American populations. For example, the South Elm Street neighborhood, home to a large planned brownfields remediation and redevelopment project, is 76 percent minority and has a 31% poverty rate (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2010). The city should monitor the condition of the surrounding neighborhood throughout the redevelopment of this site to learn what effects this site has on the neighborhood and to provide insight into the effects of potential future brownfield redevelopment projects.
The location of brownfields or vacant properties in low-income and minority neighborhoods is significant for two reasons. First, it can have a negative impact on these neighborhoods, putting residents’ health at disproportionate risk and having a blighting effect on the neighborhood. Abandoned buildings can also result in increased crime rates in surrounding neighborhoods (Spelman, 1993). This raises serious equity concerns. At the same time, these neighborhoods are generally seen as riskier by developers and investors, creating additional disincentives for their redevelopment on top of inherent risks associated with contaminated sites. The equity issues associated with the location of brownfields and vacant properties in disadvantaged neighborhoods, coupled with the general difficulty of spurring development in these neighborhoods, provides an ethical impetus for government intervention.
Another reason brownfield and vacant sites are important is the historic character of many of these sites. Abandoned or unused sites are at high risk for deterioration and vandalism. Sites that add to community character or have significant historical or aesthetic value could be lost if barriers to rehabilitation and redevelopment cause them to continue to site idle."
In other words, my neighborhood's problems are at risk of spilling over, putting downtown Greensboro at risk and are creating problems that downtown Greensboro will someday be forced to pay for. So my question is this: Do you want to pay now or add interest to an account you'll have to pay later?
A Kid In The Candy Isle
When my son was a little boy I took him to the store to get candy explaining that he could have one of anything he liked but only one. Jason was a smart child and understood the concept of just one as well as any adult but when he walked to the cash register he was carrying so much candy that he had to carry it by pulling up the front of his t-shirt and using it as a bag. Thinking back all those years I'd be surprised if there were less than 100 pieces of candy in his shirt.
Over the objections of his mother I made him put every piece back where it belonged. Exactly where it belonged. "But he's just a little boy," she complained, "why must you be so mean to him?" She always confused sound parenting with being mean so I wasn't surprised.
"For starters," I replied, "unless you want him to go into a diabetic coma and die, he doesn't need that much candy. Besides, as a child he has to learn to make good decisions so that he can carry the process into adulthood."
Now let's take a look at our current "city leaders" and their best friends, the local development lobby. Take Mayor Perkins for example. I can't speak to what it was like for the Mayor growing up but since Robbie Perkins first landed here in Greensboro circa 1974, every thing he has ever wanted has come his way due at least in-part to his various positions on the Board of Guilford County Commissioners, Greensboro City Council and most recently as Mayor of Greensboro. Robbie has managed to get himself elected to whichever board or council it was that held sway over the properties he was and is pushing for development. And if that wasn't enough candy, Robbie even dumped his wife for a younger woman.
Then there's Roy Carroll. Roy grew up in Greensboro, the son of a well to do developer who no doubt gave Roy everything he needed to get all the candy he ever wanted. By the time Roy was old enough to take a trip down the candy isle, Roy Sr was already introducing little Roy to all the local candy men like Jim Melvin, Ed Kitchen and the like.
You see, men like Robbie and Roy get used to not having to choose. They're used to having it all and when the economy was good that might have been okay but now that we're in a down economy they still can't decide between a downtown performing arts center, thousands of acres of unnecessary development along the Alamance County line, thousands of acres of unnecessary development along the Forsyth County line and anything else they can dream up as long as we-the-taxpayers are footing the bills.
Roy and Robbie are men of wealth and privilege who are used to getting anything and anything they want when they want it. They still want it all. It's time they learned to decide.
Continue to article #92. GPAC Visits DPAC.
Over the objections of his mother I made him put every piece back where it belonged. Exactly where it belonged. "But he's just a little boy," she complained, "why must you be so mean to him?" She always confused sound parenting with being mean so I wasn't surprised.
"For starters," I replied, "unless you want him to go into a diabetic coma and die, he doesn't need that much candy. Besides, as a child he has to learn to make good decisions so that he can carry the process into adulthood."
Now let's take a look at our current "city leaders" and their best friends, the local development lobby. Take Mayor Perkins for example. I can't speak to what it was like for the Mayor growing up but since Robbie Perkins first landed here in Greensboro circa 1974, every thing he has ever wanted has come his way due at least in-part to his various positions on the Board of Guilford County Commissioners, Greensboro City Council and most recently as Mayor of Greensboro. Robbie has managed to get himself elected to whichever board or council it was that held sway over the properties he was and is pushing for development. And if that wasn't enough candy, Robbie even dumped his wife for a younger woman.
Then there's Roy Carroll. Roy grew up in Greensboro, the son of a well to do developer who no doubt gave Roy everything he needed to get all the candy he ever wanted. By the time Roy was old enough to take a trip down the candy isle, Roy Sr was already introducing little Roy to all the local candy men like Jim Melvin, Ed Kitchen and the like.
You see, men like Robbie and Roy get used to not having to choose. They're used to having it all and when the economy was good that might have been okay but now that we're in a down economy they still can't decide between a downtown performing arts center, thousands of acres of unnecessary development along the Alamance County line, thousands of acres of unnecessary development along the Forsyth County line and anything else they can dream up as long as we-the-taxpayers are footing the bills.
Roy and Robbie are men of wealth and privilege who are used to getting anything and anything they want when they want it. They still want it all. It's time they learned to decide.
Continue to article #92. GPAC Visits DPAC.
Who's To Blame?
Greensboro's "movers and shakers" are touting a downtown location for the Greensboro Performing Arts Center but at the same time they are also supporting urban sprawl well beyond our city limits at taxpayers' expense. From the News & Record, a letter by Sam Howe of Greensboro:
So now Greensboro's elite expect you and I to become their personal bankers? How nice. How do the rest of us get in on that deal? Sam continues:
Great points, Sam. I think you're being too nice by calling these men, gentlemen, when robbers are seldom considered gentlemen. As a social liberal and fiscal conservative I see public investment as a means to generate new wealth but our localgrifter class developers only see it as a way to increase their own share of the existing wealth. Generating new wealth means more money for everyone but the development driven model Greensboro has followed for the last 50 plus years only serves to increase urban sprawl and keep the poor down. Same ends with:
And I agree. Like I've said before, I don't know if the economic hocus-pocus works or not but if it does work then Greensboro's poorest neighborhoods deserve to be home to City owned gems like the performing arts center. Click here to tell the Greensboro City Council to put the performing arts center in the little green circle or build it entirely with private funding right down to the last inches of water and sewer lines.
PS: I find this disconcerting: The News & Record also reports that the Greensboro City Council has voted to put downtown clubs out of business. Oh, I know that's not what the article says but what do you think the effects of the new ordinance will be in six months considering that many of these club owners are already strapped and struggling to stay in business?
What? That's why we're told the PAC has to be placed downtown-- to pump up downtown business development, right?
Continue to article #91 A Kid In The Candy Isle.
"As reported in the News & Record (March 31), three large land developers have asked to be given loans and grants by the City Council to prepare industrial sites that are not even in the city limits! Shockingly, the developers admitted that “banks aren’t willing now to take a risk on speculative developments such as these.”
So now Greensboro's elite expect you and I to become their personal bankers? How nice. How do the rest of us get in on that deal? Sam continues:
"Gentlemen, you are private companies. It is your job to either take the risk of your core business or not based on your own risk analysis. Further, is there anyone on council who is more qualified to assess these risks than our local commercial bank officers? Not a chance."
Great points, Sam. I think you're being too nice by calling these men, gentlemen, when robbers are seldom considered gentlemen. As a social liberal and fiscal conservative I see public investment as a means to generate new wealth but our local
"...quit asking the taxpayers of Greensboro to take financial risks you will not take yourselves."
And I agree. Like I've said before, I don't know if the economic hocus-pocus works or not but if it does work then Greensboro's poorest neighborhoods deserve to be home to City owned gems like the performing arts center. Click here to tell the Greensboro City Council to put the performing arts center in the little green circle or build it entirely with private funding right down to the last inches of water and sewer lines.
PS: I find this disconcerting: The News & Record also reports that the Greensboro City Council has voted to put downtown clubs out of business. Oh, I know that's not what the article says but what do you think the effects of the new ordinance will be in six months considering that many of these club owners are already strapped and struggling to stay in business?
What? That's why we're told the PAC has to be placed downtown-- to pump up downtown business development, right?
Continue to article #91 A Kid In The Candy Isle.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
He Who Squeaks The Loudest Gets The Grift
Tonight, the Greensboro City Council meets to vote on giving developer Roy Carroll over $5 Million in incentives from a pool of $10 Million in economic development bonds passed by Greensboro voters a few years ago so that Millionaire developer Roy Carroll can sell an industrial park that lies very near the Alamance County line and roughly 10 miles outside of the Greensboro City Limits. Have no doubt, when it comes to economic development, the City of Burlington will see far more positive economic impact than will the City of Greensboro.
For me, that's not necessarily as bad thing. You see, my business partners and I are preparing to open a small green business in Burlington and could use the economic impact.
But what about those of you who are being left behind-- don't you deserve economic development as well?
Oh sure, Mayor Perkins will point to things like a downtown performing arts center as economic development for Greensboro but I'm beginning to sense a pattern here. Perhaps you are too? Mayor Perkins represents a small group of elites who own property downtown and along the fringes of the county and now he and they plan to spend the majority of Greensboro's economic development funds to increase the value of their own investments at the expense of Northeast Greensboro and every other Greensboro community, under the guise of economic development using a myth known around the world as "shovel ready." Which, by the way, doesn't Mayor Perkins own a number of as yet, unsold, "shovel ready" sites along North Elm street that we-the-taxpayers incentivized several years ago and have yet to reap any tangible economic development from? And doesn't Roy Carroll own at least 1 empty housing development outside the city limits that we paid to pipe?
From Wikipedia:
Roy Carroll's project has no tenants, no architecture and no contracts from buyers. In other words, Roy Carroll's 104 acre industrial park is and will remain anything but shovel ready. But we plan to invest over $5 Million Dollars anyway? What's up with that?
And need I mention Roy's planned increase in Greensboro's urban sprawl issues?
On the downtown noise issue, the Greensboro News & Record wrote:
Shouldn't the same be true when it comes to spending $Millions in Greensboro taxpayers dollars? And shouldn't the same be true when deciding where to place performing arts centers and other forms of economic development?
There have been too many broken promises for far too long (Anyone remember War Memorial Stadium?) our homes, history and legacy are being destroyed at the hands of a wealthy few and the Greensboro City Council.
And finally, who is buying the A&T Farm and what do they plan to do with it?
Update: Jeff Martin on the War Memorial Stadium:
Continue reading article #89. Maybe The Task Force Has The Wrong Charge?.
For me, that's not necessarily as bad thing. You see, my business partners and I are preparing to open a small green business in Burlington and could use the economic impact.
But what about those of you who are being left behind-- don't you deserve economic development as well?
Oh sure, Mayor Perkins will point to things like a downtown performing arts center as economic development for Greensboro but I'm beginning to sense a pattern here. Perhaps you are too? Mayor Perkins represents a small group of elites who own property downtown and along the fringes of the county and now he and they plan to spend the majority of Greensboro's economic development funds to increase the value of their own investments at the expense of Northeast Greensboro and every other Greensboro community, under the guise of economic development using a myth known around the world as "shovel ready." Which, by the way, doesn't Mayor Perkins own a number of as yet, unsold, "shovel ready" sites along North Elm street that we-the-taxpayers incentivized several years ago and have yet to reap any tangible economic development from? And doesn't Roy Carroll own at least 1 empty housing development outside the city limits that we paid to pipe?
From Wikipedia:
"A project is considered shovel ready if it has advanced to the stage that laborers may immediately be employed to start work. The term is used in reference to projects which are candidates for economic stimulus spending: money put into a shovel ready project will have a more immediate impact on the economy than money spent on a project on which a great deal of time must elapse for architecture, zoning, legal considerations or other such factors before labor can be deployed on it."
Roy Carroll's project has no tenants, no architecture and no contracts from buyers. In other words, Roy Carroll's 104 acre industrial park is and will remain anything but shovel ready. But we plan to invest over $5 Million Dollars anyway? What's up with that?
And need I mention Roy's planned increase in Greensboro's urban sprawl issues?
On the downtown noise issue, the Greensboro News & Record wrote:
"In any event, Carroll shouldn’t receive any greater consideration than any other taxpayer with a complaint."
Shouldn't the same be true when it comes to spending $Millions in Greensboro taxpayers dollars? And shouldn't the same be true when deciding where to place performing arts centers and other forms of economic development?
There have been too many broken promises for far too long (Anyone remember War Memorial Stadium?) our homes, history and legacy are being destroyed at the hands of a wealthy few and the Greensboro City Council.
And finally, who is buying the A&T Farm and what do they plan to do with it?
Update: Jeff Martin on the War Memorial Stadium:
"If city leaders have any notion of building a $50M Performing Arts Center, it is mandatory that they also fund this."
Continue reading article #89. Maybe The Task Force Has The Wrong Charge?.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
There's Greensboro Economic Development And Then There's...
From Fox8:
And from TW14:
You can't really blame the task force for not looking at other neighborhoods as that was never their charge but you can blame task force leader, Ross Harris, for censoring their Twitter feed to keep out opposing views. But then, Ross Harris is employed by Mayor Perkins who made the decision to never consider the rest of Greensboro. As a matter of fact: the Mayor is planning to skip over Greensboro altogether and spend over $5 Million Dollars in taxpayer funded economic development bonds to help his buddy, Roy Carroll, build a 100 acre industrial park 10 miles east of Greensboro.
There's economic development and then there's bailing out your rich friends who mistakenly invested their money in failed ventures. If Robbie Perkins want to give Roy Carroll millions of Dollars then let the Mayor write a check on his own bank account-- not ours!
And just so you know, GPAC2012 isn't the only site with a Twitter feed. On the right side of every page on this website there is a widget that displays every twit tagged #GPAC2012 even if you disagree with me. After all, how can we have open and honest conversations that only present one side of the story.
Continue to article #86. Bad News For Mayor Perkins.
"“The reason everybody wants to come downtown right now is because it’s taken care of,” Billy Jones said. “My neighborhood’s not, and it hasn’t been in over 50 years. It’s about time it happened.”
Jones wants the city to build the performing arts center in his neighborhood in northeast Greensboro. City council asked the task force to study the economic impact of a performing arts center downtown, so it’s not considering other areas."
And from TW14:
"Lifelong Greensboro resident Billy Jones said the city should look beyond the downtown, "by building one of Greensboro's gems in a community, then the city is invested in that community and is forced to look after the needs of that community."
You can't really blame the task force for not looking at other neighborhoods as that was never their charge but you can blame task force leader, Ross Harris, for censoring their Twitter feed to keep out opposing views. But then, Ross Harris is employed by Mayor Perkins who made the decision to never consider the rest of Greensboro. As a matter of fact: the Mayor is planning to skip over Greensboro altogether and spend over $5 Million Dollars in taxpayer funded economic development bonds to help his buddy, Roy Carroll, build a 100 acre industrial park 10 miles east of Greensboro.
There's economic development and then there's bailing out your rich friends who mistakenly invested their money in failed ventures. If Robbie Perkins want to give Roy Carroll millions of Dollars then let the Mayor write a check on his own bank account-- not ours!
And just so you know, GPAC2012 isn't the only site with a Twitter feed. On the right side of every page on this website there is a widget that displays every twit tagged #GPAC2012 even if you disagree with me. After all, how can we have open and honest conversations that only present one side of the story.
Continue to article #86. Bad News For Mayor Perkins.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Impact Greensboro: Always From The Top Down
Greensboro's downtown boosters and real estate developers never give up in their efforts to get you and I to pay for their projects. The latest is from Impact Greensboro another arm of the Center for Creative Leadership and Jim Melvin's Bryan Foundation:
But no mention of economic feasibility for other Greensboro neighborhoods. How can a feasibility study only include one neighborhood-- downtown?
No one from my community is there to represent us. No one is talking about growth for Northeast Greensboro or jobs in Northeast Greensboro. As a matter of fact: Impact Greensboro and their partners in crime plan to skip right over East Greensboro to the county line 10 miles to our east.
And you can bank on the fact that none of their 50 chosen participants will do anything other than echo the wishes of Jim Melvin and Mayor "Pave-it" Perkins.
Where's the Citizens for Economic & Environmental Justice when we need them most?
Impact Greensboro is just another of Jim Melvin's top down organizations that, like Action Greensboro, Downtown Greensboro Inc, the Greensboro Partnership and others, are simply public relations arms to spread the TREBIC and downtown developers' propaganda: build at any cost as long as the taxpayers foot the bills. And let us not forget that these are the same people who destroyed my home and the homes of thousands of other Greensboro residents to make themselves rich.
Change agents or more of the same top-down promotion that got Greensboro to where it is today-- another dying city.
Continue to article #78 The Plan: Leave Greensboro Communities Out In The Cold.
"In January 2012, Greensboro City Council asked the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro to facilitate a diverse, representative and community-wide Task Force to study the economic feasibility of a downtown performing arts center."
But no mention of economic feasibility for other Greensboro neighborhoods. How can a feasibility study only include one neighborhood-- downtown?
No one from my community is there to represent us. No one is talking about growth for Northeast Greensboro or jobs in Northeast Greensboro. As a matter of fact: Impact Greensboro and their partners in crime plan to skip right over East Greensboro to the county line 10 miles to our east.
And you can bank on the fact that none of their 50 chosen participants will do anything other than echo the wishes of Jim Melvin and Mayor "Pave-it" Perkins.
Where's the Citizens for Economic & Environmental Justice when we need them most?
Impact Greensboro is just another of Jim Melvin's top down organizations that, like Action Greensboro, Downtown Greensboro Inc, the Greensboro Partnership and others, are simply public relations arms to spread the TREBIC and downtown developers' propaganda: build at any cost as long as the taxpayers foot the bills. And let us not forget that these are the same people who destroyed my home and the homes of thousands of other Greensboro residents to make themselves rich.
Change agents or more of the same top-down promotion that got Greensboro to where it is today-- another dying city.
Continue to article #78 The Plan: Leave Greensboro Communities Out In The Cold.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
It Has To Start In Downtown Greensboro
It was never my intention to hinder the building of a Greensboro performing arts center but I feel it only appropriate to tell the story of how one city (Greensboro, North Carolina) has long used downtown development as a means to enrich the lives of a few downtown businesses and developers at the expense of an entire city.
I suspect the same in other cities across America and around the world.
I won't argue against the idea that cities like Greensboro, known for its urban sprawl in the midst of a 400 mile long corridor of sprawl that runs from Raleigh, North Carolina to Atlanta, Georgia, needs to increase its density before expanding its footprint-- it does need to do so-- but I think it also needs to be remembered that while downtown developers are using increased density and urbanization as their reasoning behind promoting downtown, these same developers, lead by a mayor who is a partner in one of the largest commercial real estate firms in the Southland, are working to expand water and sewer to areas that are 10 miles beyond the Greensboro City Limits and continuing the expand the sprawl while the City of Greensboro continues to hold almost 2000 acres of unused and underutilized properties in the northeast corner of the city. There are also over 2000 acres of undeveloped East Greensboro commercial and industrial properties that are privately owned.
If I were the owners of these properties on Ward Road and East Wendover I would be rethinking my contracts with NAI Piedmont as they are currently promoting 10,000 acres of development outside the city that competes with the very properties I own and doing so at mine and other taxpayers' expense. The same is true for any Greensboro property owner who lists their properties with Mayor Perkins' NAI Piedmont commercial real estate firm. Competing with your customers is always shady business. But then, I don't own said properties so I'll not make that decision.
Promoters of a downtown performing arts center will tell you that a city must grow, starting from its center and working its way out. But if that is true then why has the City of Greensboro repeatedly annexed and expanded its borders without addressing its empty spaces within, as Greensboro has done for the last 100 years? There is a level of responsibility that goes along with annexation and to date, under the leadership of Mayor Perkins and the development czars before him, that responsibility has never been met.
People like to insist that cities grow from the inside out but that simply isn't true of most of the world's greatest cities. Most great cities began at or near a river, ocean, lake or mountainside and work their way away from the thing that holds back their expansion. And yet, Greensboro, which has no river, has spent the last 55 plus years growing away from an obstacle of their own making then asking, no, demanding, that taxpayers bail out the downtown their taxpayer funded expansions have destroyed.
It's time this ended once and for all. Using public monies to ramp up downtown businesses while at the same time, using public monies to expand the foot print of Greensboro and increasing its urban sprawl, must stop. It's simply not sustainable by liberal, conservative, environmental or economic standards.
If a performing arts center must be built then the only right thing to do is to build it in the little green circle in Northeast Greensboro and forever end this unsustainable expansion.
Continue reading article #76. Greensboro Downtown Performing Arts Center Community Forums.
I suspect the same in other cities across America and around the world.
I won't argue against the idea that cities like Greensboro, known for its urban sprawl in the midst of a 400 mile long corridor of sprawl that runs from Raleigh, North Carolina to Atlanta, Georgia, needs to increase its density before expanding its footprint-- it does need to do so-- but I think it also needs to be remembered that while downtown developers are using increased density and urbanization as their reasoning behind promoting downtown, these same developers, lead by a mayor who is a partner in one of the largest commercial real estate firms in the Southland, are working to expand water and sewer to areas that are 10 miles beyond the Greensboro City Limits and continuing the expand the sprawl while the City of Greensboro continues to hold almost 2000 acres of unused and underutilized properties in the northeast corner of the city. There are also over 2000 acres of undeveloped East Greensboro commercial and industrial properties that are privately owned.
If I were the owners of these properties on Ward Road and East Wendover I would be rethinking my contracts with NAI Piedmont as they are currently promoting 10,000 acres of development outside the city that competes with the very properties I own and doing so at mine and other taxpayers' expense. The same is true for any Greensboro property owner who lists their properties with Mayor Perkins' NAI Piedmont commercial real estate firm. Competing with your customers is always shady business. But then, I don't own said properties so I'll not make that decision.
Promoters of a downtown performing arts center will tell you that a city must grow, starting from its center and working its way out. But if that is true then why has the City of Greensboro repeatedly annexed and expanded its borders without addressing its empty spaces within, as Greensboro has done for the last 100 years? There is a level of responsibility that goes along with annexation and to date, under the leadership of Mayor Perkins and the development czars before him, that responsibility has never been met.
People like to insist that cities grow from the inside out but that simply isn't true of most of the world's greatest cities. Most great cities began at or near a river, ocean, lake or mountainside and work their way away from the thing that holds back their expansion. And yet, Greensboro, which has no river, has spent the last 55 plus years growing away from an obstacle of their own making then asking, no, demanding, that taxpayers bail out the downtown their taxpayer funded expansions have destroyed.
It's time this ended once and for all. Using public monies to ramp up downtown businesses while at the same time, using public monies to expand the foot print of Greensboro and increasing its urban sprawl, must stop. It's simply not sustainable by liberal, conservative, environmental or economic standards.
If a performing arts center must be built then the only right thing to do is to build it in the little green circle in Northeast Greensboro and forever end this unsustainable expansion.
Continue reading article #76. Greensboro Downtown Performing Arts Center Community Forums.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Mayor Robbie Perkins' Record Of Failure
While Mayor Perkins and the Piedmont Triad Partnership are talking about extending Greensboro's water and sewer lines to the Alamance County line to help sell commercial properties owned by Mayor Perkins' buddies, the folks in Montgomery and Moore Counties are already 5 years ahead in building a 3400 acre Mega Park-- said to be the largest industrial park in the history of North Carolina.
Does that sound smart to you?
Meanwhile, the 2500 acre North Carolina Global Transpark established by the State of North Carolina over 20 years ago, still has 5,775 empty acres. And the GTP has railroad access, 2 Interstate highways it's own airport capable of handling the largest airplanes in the world, State funded incentives and 900 acres ready to move to today.
And to add insult to injury, in East Greensboro alone, over 2000 acres of undeveloped commercial and industrial properties lie unused with water and sewer already in place. If you'd like a tour shoot me an e-mail to GreensboroPerformingArtsCenter@gmail.com and I'll arrange it. In my younger days I used to hunt and fish those very properties.
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I bring this up because Mayor Perkins and his developer buddies are the current "leadership" of Greensboro and Guilford County and have repeatedly tried to develop outlying areas of the county while ignoring infill development as was made the City's development policy several years ago. Previously, Mayor Perkins was pitching Greensboro taxpayers' dollars be spent to develop the Heart of the Triad-- a 7.500 acre site on the western edge of the county.
Meanwhile, the industrial park at I-85 and Mcconnell Road, built by Mayor Perkins and paid for by Pete Goria, has 2 buildings and 1 tenant. The Eagle Equipment building across Mcconnell Rd. was built by my uncle in 1970. I used to hunt and fish there as well.
View Larger Map
Greensboro-- especially East Greensboro-- is filled with empty commercial and industrial properties that already have access to city water and sewer and yet all the Mayor and his cronies are interested in are developing downtown and the farthermost reaches of the county. Why? Because they own the land and they want to develop it with taxpayer's dollars. Have we forgotten that Mayor Perkins was a partner in the Shoppes at Gunter’s Crossing? Private developers no longer want to deal with Robbie Perkins because he has a history of loosing clients' monies so Mayor Perkins plans to waste your money instead.
View Larger Map
And these are the people you want in charge of building a performing arts center in Greensboro?
Continue to article #64 A Letter To The Business Journal.
Does that sound smart to you?
Meanwhile, the 2500 acre North Carolina Global Transpark established by the State of North Carolina over 20 years ago, still has 5,775 empty acres. And the GTP has railroad access, 2 Interstate highways it's own airport capable of handling the largest airplanes in the world, State funded incentives and 900 acres ready to move to today.
And to add insult to injury, in East Greensboro alone, over 2000 acres of undeveloped commercial and industrial properties lie unused with water and sewer already in place. If you'd like a tour shoot me an e-mail to GreensboroPerformingArtsCenter@gmail.com and I'll arrange it. In my younger days I used to hunt and fish those very properties.
View Larger Map
I bring this up because Mayor Perkins and his developer buddies are the current "leadership" of Greensboro and Guilford County and have repeatedly tried to develop outlying areas of the county while ignoring infill development as was made the City's development policy several years ago. Previously, Mayor Perkins was pitching Greensboro taxpayers' dollars be spent to develop the Heart of the Triad-- a 7.500 acre site on the western edge of the county.
Meanwhile, the industrial park at I-85 and Mcconnell Road, built by Mayor Perkins and paid for by Pete Goria, has 2 buildings and 1 tenant. The Eagle Equipment building across Mcconnell Rd. was built by my uncle in 1970. I used to hunt and fish there as well.
View Larger Map
Greensboro-- especially East Greensboro-- is filled with empty commercial and industrial properties that already have access to city water and sewer and yet all the Mayor and his cronies are interested in are developing downtown and the farthermost reaches of the county. Why? Because they own the land and they want to develop it with taxpayer's dollars. Have we forgotten that Mayor Perkins was a partner in the Shoppes at Gunter’s Crossing? Private developers no longer want to deal with Robbie Perkins because he has a history of loosing clients' monies so Mayor Perkins plans to waste your money instead.
View Larger Map
And these are the people you want in charge of building a performing arts center in Greensboro?
Continue to article #64 A Letter To The Business Journal.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Making My Point For Me
From today's Greensboro News & Record:
These people want to bulldoze 2000 acres for a mega-site that people living in East Greensboro will have to spend 2 or more hours to get to by bus when we already have an empty 1000 acre tract less than a mile from where we live. Make sense to you? The Piedmont Triad Partnership and Mayor Perkins are in the sprawl business. Remember that when you hear these same parties talk about downtown development and ask they why they're not interested in putting the performing Arts center and the jobs in the little green circle on Phillips Avenue?
Continue to article #55. No Room At The Inn.
“We have to regain a significant amount of the ground we have lost,” Powell said. “A game changer would be a project that could potentially bring thousands of jobs.” In recent months, Powell has touted two such possibilities: • Identifying and developing what he calls a mega-site, a tract of about 2,000 acres that would be suitable for an aviation, auto or other large manufacturing operation. Likely sites include land near Linwood in Davidson County and Liberty in Randolph County. According to one estimate, buying and preparing infrastructure for such a large parcel could cost $15 million to $30 million. Others call that number conservative. • Securing and developing land west of Piedmont Triad International Airport for aviation tenants. That project would require the airport to build a taxiway over future Interstate 73 to access the expansion area. "
These people want to bulldoze 2000 acres for a mega-site that people living in East Greensboro will have to spend 2 or more hours to get to by bus when we already have an empty 1000 acre tract less than a mile from where we live. Make sense to you? The Piedmont Triad Partnership and Mayor Perkins are in the sprawl business. Remember that when you hear these same parties talk about downtown development and ask they why they're not interested in putting the performing Arts center and the jobs in the little green circle on Phillips Avenue?
Continue to article #55. No Room At The Inn.
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