What the movement is about

Taft Wireback and J. Brian Ewing report in the News & Record today that Deena Hayes is threatening a march on the International Civil Rights Center and Museum during its grand opening on Feb. 1 if hotelier Dennis Quaintance and Mike Weaver don't back off of efforts to obtain city and county records about the luxury hotel project Hayes is promoting.

Forget for a moment the weirdness of the fact that Hayes is a member of the museum's board of directors and Skip Alston, the real estate broker assigned to the luxury hotel project, is a cofounder of the museum.

The article quotes Hayes as saying, “This is very symbolic of what the whole movement is about.” Wireback continues with this paraphrasing of Hayes' case:

The entire Ole Asheboro neighborhood stands to benefit from the revised, relocated project. Critics are simply looking to maintain the power of a few families and monopoly interests, she said.


Hayes is a member of the neighborhood association, but I wonder if she stands to benefit from the project in a more direct and substantial way.

Lawyer Henry Isaacson introduced JCG & Associates as one of the principals in the Urban Hotel Group, the development group led by Bridget Chisholm that is a partner in the hotel project. JCG & Associates is a Greensboro construction and general contracting company owned by John C. Greene. Hayes and Greene both reside at 454 Gorrell St. in Greensboro, according to voter registration records.

UPDATE: Cone assembles further evidence of a relationship between Hayes and Greene.

UPDATE 2: As added confirmation, Guilford County tax records indicate that Hayes and Green own the residence at 454 Gorrell St. together.

2 comments:

Greensboro Teach-In said...

Is this relationship a repeat of a prior event related to GCS construction?

Jordan Green said...

Yes. There's a 2007 Rhino Times article by Jana Banscoter that notes that Greene "has an intimate relationship with Hayes."

The phrasing makes me a bit squeamish. I think having an “intimate relationship” with someone is not really what matters here. Whether the two are maintaining a household together is more relevant to Hayes’ financial interests.