Tony has the right to express his opinion as he sees fit that is his god given right and its not my right to try to stop that. I was sadly misinformed in the facts of my decision. After looking at both sides of the issue I should have done a better job of finding out all the facts before I acted and for that I am truly sorry. In the future you can rest assure this will not happen again.
ORIGINAL POST: Anthony Bono, a vendor at the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market, has asked city staff to address an alleged threat by fellow vendor Brian Gann.
Bono writes in a letter to staff (link to letter here) that on the first Saturday of this month Rodney Gann, Brian's brother, approached him as the market was closing for the day and said, “That goddamn David Craft and his proposal are going to ruin the market.”
Bono said he listened to Gann, and then offered his own opinion: “I thought Craft’s proposal was much more professional and addressed all the issues in the market and included as many people as possible.”
Gann and Craft have submitted competing proposals to the city to privately manage the farmers market. A review committee recommended (link to meeting summary here) that the city negotiate a contract with Craft’s organization, Greensboro Farmers Curb Market Inc. The week following Gann and Bono’s exchange, the council voted to send the matter back to the city manager, citing concerns that the two most qualified proposers were embroiled in a longstanding dispute that has roiled the market over the past three to four years.
Bono’s letter includes messages sent by Brian Gann to Craft’s Facebook page.
The first, dated June 6, reads: “Craft: Piece of adivse you best tell tony the lettuce man to back off this jumping on us trying to shove this rfp crap down our throat best stop bg.”
The second, dated June 7, reads, “Craft, have you done anything about tony? Or do I need to have a few friends of mine stop by and have a chat! Bg.”
Brian Gann acknowledged to me in a Facebook conversation last night that he did communicate with Craft that he wanted Bono to “back off” and that a conversation did take place between Bono and Rodney Gann at the farmers market. Brian Gann also acknowledged that he asked Craft “again to have Mr. Bono back off or do I need to have two gentlemen come by for a talk.”
Gann elaborated in the message to me: “Meaning that I would have my attorneys come by and ask him to back off. I never meant the two gentleman comment as a threat at no time and I am very sorry that Mr. Bono feels that I have threaten him. In hind site I should have left Mr. Craft out of the picture and went directly to Mr. Bono and ask him to back off. Again I had no threat in mind at any time in my conversations with Mr. Craft I was trying to calm down a very bad problem. I have a lot of fences to mend and I intend to do that.”
Gann called Bono to apologize last night. Bono confirmed in an e-mail today that he received the apology, but says he still views Gann’s words as a threat and expects a response from the city.
Bono wrote in his June 18 letter:
I would like to know how you are going to address this issue. I expect the city to provide a safe place to do business. I did not approach Rodney or Brian; Rodney approached me and started talking about the RFP. Mr. Craft did not instigate the exchange with Brian Gann concerning the threat against me.
If I do not receive a response from you within a reasonable amount of time, I will have to report this threat to the police department and warn other vendors….
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