Latin Kings leader to make second try for city council

I decided after a brief editorial discussion at the end of the hallway at YES! Weekly's office in Adams Farm to discard the following headline: "Latin Kings leader to take second shot at city council."

In all seriousness, North Carolina Latin Kings leader Jorge Cornell says he made the decision today to seek an at-large seat on Greensboro City Council in this year's municipal election. Cornell ran for the seat two years ago, and placed 10th in a slate of 11 candidates in the primary election.

Cornell is currently appealing a superior court conviction of resisting public officer stemming from an arrest during his 2009 campaign.

"[I'm] tired of the city council that we have now," he said. "The sad thing is that if I would have made it on this city council [two years ago], then the White Street Landfill wouldn't be opening up. The things that they're doing in our community are ridiculous, from the White Street Landfill to the $5 million energy-efficiency grant that they're trying to take from us to give to the upper-income areas. This has got to stop."

Cornell said he plans to run a grassroots campaign and will not accept campaign contributions.

"The most important thing is that people know I am serious about running for city council. I didn't have no hidden agenda the first time. I was sincere. I'm running again. I'm going to keep running until I get a seat."

Those who have previously announced plans to run for the three at-large seats include incumbent Danny Thompson, Wayne Abraham, Chris Lawyer and Tony Wilkins. Former Mayor Yvonne Johnson has indicated she is considering running at large also.

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