PHOTOS: New Greensboro City Council sworn in

Outgoing mayor Robbie Perkins listing the council's accomplishments since 2011

Council and the audience gave him a standing ovation

Outgoing councilwoman Dianne Bellamy-Small and Perkins hugging

Mayor Pro Tem Yvonne Johnson talking with new Councilman Jamal Fox

Left: New Councilman Mike Barber. Background: Fox.

District 2 Councilman Jamal Fox poses for a picture

NC Rep. Marcus Brandon photo-bombs new Councilwoman Sharon Hightower before she is sworn in

Tony Wilkins takes a picture of Nancy Vaughan in the mayor's seat. Marikay Abuzuaiter did next.

Greensboro's new Mayor Nancy Vaughan being sworn in, surrounded by her family
(Read more about her and her family in this week's cover story, SLAP SHOT).

NC Homeowners Alliance funds mailer for Robbie Perkins

I came home yesterday to find a mailer for Mayor Robbie Perkins' reelection bid in my mailbox, and immediately wondered if his campaign was switching approaches because of the color scheme and slogans.

That's when I realized it came from the NC Homeowners Alliance, with a donation from the National Association of Realtors. On the front, the mailer shows several stock images (including the same one of Perkins that's on the back) on top of a shot of downtown Greensboro and featuring the catchphrase "The experience we want - The vision we need."

On the back (below), what looks like a stock image of a black family accompanies a checklist of the reasons why the NC Homeowners Alliance supports Perkins over Councilwoman Nancy Vaughan for mayor.


I've written about the NC Homeowners Alliance twice before, once about its donations to NC Rep. Marcus Brandon and then in a little more detail in an article about the Triad Real Estate & Building Industry Coalition, or TREBIC. From the article: 

The NC Homeowners Alliance is tied to the North Carolina Association of Realtors, a Greensboro-based organization that is not part of TREBIC. The association’s president, Lou Baldwin of Baldwin Companies in Winston-Salem, is a board member of the PAC, association employee Bryan Jenkins keeps the PAC’s books and association vice president Andrea Bushnell is the board’s secretary. NC Homeowners Alliance board member Amy Hedgecock works for Fowler & Fowler Realtors and has served as the president of the High Point Association of Realtors, which is one of TREBIC’s member organizations.

PHOTOS: Tonight's Greensboro mayoral candidate forum

Here are four outtakes from tonight's forum with Greensboro's two mayoral candidates, incumbent Robbie Perkins and at-large Councilwoman Nancy Vaughan. We wrote about the race (when challenger George Hartzman was in it) and will have a second article on the match up in next week's paper, including coverage of the forum and a second hour-long sit down interview with each candidate. 

Next week's issue will also include our endorsements in all of the Greensboro City Council races (including this one). 

Photos by Quentin Richardson and Eric Ginsburg.

PHOTOS: Mayor Perkins' pre-election party

Mayor Robbie Perkins held a pre-election party on Monday night at Tavo in downtown Greensboro. Perkins said the event wouldn't help his campaign if it was held on election night after people already voted, and said that it would help encourage turn out and support for the campaign.

Perkins faces Councilwoman Nancy Vaughan and challenger George Hartzman in Tuesday's primary. Perkins and Vaughan are widely expected to knock of Hartzman in the primary and proceed to duke it out in the general election.

Left, an ice sculpture for the campaign seen from behind with a band performing in the background. Below, Perkins talking to Theresa Yon, a former Republican NC House candidate who wanted the city to pass a stricter noise ordinance. Perkins, who used to live in Center Pointe like Yon, initially pushed for a tighter ordinance at the beginning of 2012 at Center Pointe developer Roy Carroll's request.

Halfway through the event, about 30 people were in
 attendance, but campaign staff said "well over 100" people attended in total last night. Tayna Wiley, his campaign manager, said that he will be watching the election results from his State Street office on Tuesday evening.

Challenger Nancy Vaughan (who, of course, was not at the event) said that she will initially watch the results come in at home with her family before heading down to the Guilford County Courthouse where candidates traditionally watch the results trickle in.

Below, Perkins greeting former Guilford County Commissioner Skip Alston, who was tied up in two major items that came before city council recently (the Bessemer Shopping Center and a loan for the International Civil Rights Center & Museum). Alston spoke with Perkins briefly at the door, stopping to pin on a Perkins campaign button before trying a shrimp cocktail and mingling like the mayor.

(Not everyone in attendance was a highly-visible power broker in the city —though developer and DGI Chair Dawn Chaney came, too — but the room was dimly lit and numerous other photographs did not come out well).

Read about the three mayoral candidates here, and make sure to vote in today's election if you haven't already cast your ballot during early voting!

Outsourcing booking at Joel integrates Triad entertainment market

All sides are insisting that the deal unveiled last week to outsource booking of Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem to the staff at the Greensboro Coliseum is a good leverage of the Piedmont Triad’s regional entertainment market and not a setback for each city’s parochial interests.

“When you put this type of creativity together with facilities that are really not duplicated over at our place and you mesh together the type of energy that really is incumbent on Wake Forest,” Greensboro Mayor Robbie Perkins said, “then you’ve got something special.”

The Winston-Salem City Council forfeited any control over booking at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum with the recent sale of the facility to Wake Forest University, which was looking for a permanent home for Demon Deacons basketball.

Ron Wellman, director of athletics for Wake Forest University, said hiring out booking to Greensboro Coliseum was among three options, which included hiring a national agency or standing up an in-house staff.

“We were just looking for the best scenario to have the type of events we feel that this city could attract,” Wellman said. “We believe the Greensboro Coliseum has the ability, reputation and proven success to help us meet our goals. Once we talked to them it became an easy decision.”

Greensboro Coliseum is significantly larger than its counterpart to the west, seating more than 20,000 people for basketball games, compared to 14,500 at the Joel.

Wellman said he has no concerns about the staff in Greensboro taking first dibs on premier acts in the pipeline for Winston-Salem; the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum has in the past landed high-caliber if not top-selling acts such as Bob Dylan and Elton John.

“They recognize that while most of the time the two different venues have traditionally attracted different types of acts, there has been some spillover,” Wellman said. “We are very confident that they are going to represent us in an exceptional way. Often, a great act will be available, but one or the other venue will not be available. If the Greensboro Coliseum is not available, then they have the opportunity to switch them over here.”

Spokesman Andrew Brown declined to comment on whether the arrangement creates a conflict of interest for the Greensboro Coliseum, which holds a fiduciary duty to generate maximum revenue for the city of Greensboro but will collect a $115,000 base management fee from Wake Forest University.

“If Taylor Swift is interested in playing this market and we already have a UNCG Spartans game or a convention, that gives us another option,” he said.

“There are some events that have played there that we’ll continue to do there,” Brown continued. “We’ve had artists play in Greensboro and the tour went well, but you don’t want to overplay the market. It might make sense for someone to come to Greensboro and in two or three years they’ll play Winston-Salem.”

Brown said he’s not aware of any other arrangement like it in the country.

For both facilities, booking the maximum number of nights helps defray the monster costs of maintenance.

“There are a number of dates that the coliseum is dark, and that’s typical with any coliseum,” Wellman said. “Every date it is not used is a missed opportunity. And we want to take full advantage of every opportunity we have.”

Greensboro settles several police discrimination lawsuits

Mayor Pro Tem Yvonne Johnson and Mayor Robbie Perkins

The City of Greensboro and plaintiffs in three lawsuits alleging racial discrimination within the city's police department announced a $500,000 settlement today after city council voted in favor of the settlement in closed session last night. 

Though confident the city would have prevailed in court in two Alexander vs. City of Greensboro cases and the Fulmore vs. City of Greensboro case, Mayor Robbie Perkins and Mayor Pro Tem Yvonne Johnson said they voted in favor of a settlement to save the city money on legal fees, provide a sense of closure, protecting residents from enduring a lengthy trial that would focus on trauma and negativity and allow the city to focus on other important issues like jobs and economic development.

"It's a way to close it with dignity and honor," Johnson said at a press conference this afternoon. City Attorney Mujeeb Shah-Khan, Police Chief Ken Miller and City Manager Denise Turner Roth also answered questions. 

Perkins said the cases have "burdened" the city for a long time, adding that "It's time to move on."

L to R: Shah-Khan, Turner Roth and Miller

Councilmembers Nancy Vaughan, Zack Matheny and Tony Wilkins voted against settling the suits, according to city spokesperson Donnie Turlington. 

The city has already spent $2.3 million in legal fees related to the lawsuits, Shah-Khan said, and Johnson said the city previously offered a larger settlement sum for the cases that was turned down by plaintiffs.

A press release today from Higgins Benjamin, one of the law offices representing the plaintiffs, said the officers feel "vindicated." Here's the full statement:

"After suffering years of hostility during the Wray administration due only to their race and then being vilified in certain local media outlets, 38 of the plaintiffs in the Alexander cases have finally gotten justice.  Those plaintiffs who have now settled their claims against the City and other defendants feel that they’ve finally been vindicated.  These current and former Greensboro Police Department officers have done a great service for this City and civil servants everywhere who have endured a racially hostile work environment.  Likewise, settlement – and the closure it brings – is in the City’s best interest as well."

Miller and Shah-Khan talking before the press conference

The city did not admit liability in the case but did point to numerous ways it has improved police practices and procedures in the wake of the discrimination suits. Former officers Charles Cherry and Joseph Pryor did not agree to the settlement and will continue with their cases with the city, and separate but related cases from current Capt. James Hinson, who is black, and former Chief David Wray, who is white, are not resolved. Hinson's case is scheduled to go to court on Oct. 8.

Perkins said the police department has improved significantly and that he's very proud of the department. In a press release, Perkins acknowledged that the lawsuits stem from a time "in the history of the city and police department where some unfortunate actions on the part of the city and plaintiffs occurred," but continued to say that "confidence in the Greensboro police has been restored."

Activists and community members continue to push for greater oversight for the police department around issues of disparate treatment and racial discrimination, focused primarily on interactions between officers and residents rather than within the department. 

The city's press release cited a survey claiming that more than 80 percent of residents are pleased with the police department's work and said the department implemented 200 of 226 recommendations from a 2008 management and staffing study. Chief Miller said at the press conference that his department is still reviewing 15 of the additional recommendations but said some would have a budgetary impact. A recent presentation by the chief included similar numbers about positive community perceptions of the department but noted a disparity in perceptions based on race.

Greensboro mayoral candidates meet at League of Women Voters forum

The three Greensboro mayoral candidates squared off in front of a packed house at a discussion hosted by the League of Women Voters today. Mayor Robbie Perkins (at left, standing), Councilwoman Nancy Vaughan and challenger George Hartzman spoke on a wide array of issues, including several outside of council's purview.

Three of the questions for the moderated panel focused on immigration reform, an issue of concern for the League of Women Voters that Greensboro City Council doesn't actually have any direct role in creating. The questions hit on Secure Communities, comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship and in-state tuition for undocumented youth, and the candidates appeared unprepared and puzzled for the line of questioning. No questions directly addressed several of the key issues council has dealt with in the last two years since Perkins was elected mayor — the curfew, performing arts center, noise ordinance, tree ordinance, incentives, etc. — but candidates worked the issues into their responses.

Candidates were also asked about public education and healthcare — two other issues that would be better suited for the Guilford County Commissioners given council's lack of governance on the topics, but the three candidates attempted to answer them anyway, often suggesting more partnership or communication between government bodies. Hartzman went a step further, suggesting the creation of a charter school in east Greensboro specifically for children of single-parent homes.

The candidates responses were in line with their previous positions at city council meetings — Perkins and Vaughan speaking from their council seats and Hartzman as a frequent public speaker at the podium. When asked why residents should vote for them, Hartzman's answer was simple: Standing up, he said, "I'll tell the truth," and sat down. Several of his other comments, as usual, focused on the need for transparency and what he said is a corrupt local government lacking transparency.

Hartzman pacing (barefoot) in front of the panel.

Perkins repeated the same question at the beginning and end of the forum, asking attendees if the city is better off than it was two years ago and stressing the strides the city has made under his big-picture leadership. Vaughan said she had more than just a vision for the city, but a record that showed that she is great at following through on issues and tackling them in detail to make informed decisions.

YES! Weekly will have complete coverage of the forum and the three mayoral candidates in next week's Sept. 25 issue after sitting down with each of the candidates to discuss their platforms and why they're running in greater detail.

Can't wait a week? Read our basic candidate profile information on the trio, or tune in to tonight's city council meeting starting at 5:30 p.m., where it's fair to guess that they may butt heads over the curfew, the performing arts center, the High Point Road Streetscape Project and the noise ordinance.

The three contenders will go head-to-head in the Oct. 8 city council primary election. The candidate who receives the lowest number of votes will be eliminated, and the other two will move on to the general election.

Greensboro candidates connected to women's college, prominent consultants, finance questions

Our candidate profile for YES! Weekly's online voter guide at www.triadpolitics.info is pretty straight-forward (candidates answer basic questions about who they are and their campaign, and we post it along with a photo) but every so often there's something interesting or unexpected in the response.

Like that at-large candidate Ben Holder graduated from Salem College in Winston-Salem. It came as a surprise to us that the women's college has a co-ed adult education program for students who are 23 or older, and Communications Manager Jennifer Handy confirmed that Holder graduated from the program in 2009 with a degree in communication.

Or that Councilwoman Nancy Vaughan, who is running for mayor, hired well-known political consultant Bill Burckley. We reported that Vaughan worked with him in 2009, when he was also consulting for Bill Knight's successful mayoral bid.

Or that Tanya Wiley is managing Mayor Robbie Perkins' reelection effort. Wiley served as treasurer and consultant for the Winston-Salem Black Political Action Committee, an entity with finance problems. From Jordan Green's May 30, 2012  YES! Weekly article: 

"The committee failed to file second-quarter or third-quarter plus reports, prompting an official notice of noncompliance to Wiley from Kim Westbrook Strach, deputy director for campaign reporting at the state Board of Elections, on Nov. 12, 2008.

"Instead of catching up on its second-quarter and third-quarter plus reports the committee skipped to the 2008 year-end semi-annual report, which the board of elections received in February 2009. The report showed a balance of $164. Cash on hand at the end of the previous report should equal cash on hand at the beginning of the subsequent report. That $4,008 dwindled to $164 indicates that $3,844 remains missing or unaccounted."

Other interesting tidbits from the candidate profiles: At-large candidate Joseph Landis works as a flight attendant, District 2 challenger Jamal Fox is only 25 (Landis is 27), former councilwoman Florence Gatten is working as a paid consultant on Nancy Hoffmann's reelection campaign in District 4, District 5 challenger Alex Seymour co-founded the Beard & Moustache Club of NC and the Piedmont Old-Time Society and former NC House candidate Theresa Yon is District 5 Councilman Tony Wilkins' treasurer. 

Read more about the candidates here.

GPAC to be named the Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts

Steven Tanger

The downtown Greensboro performing arts center hasn't exactly been born yet, but this morning we found out what it will be called: the Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts.

The Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro announced that Tanger, the president and CEO of Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, will donate $7.5 million to the project — the largest gift yet — as long as private fundraising reaches $35 million.

The original target for committed private funds was $20 million, but Greensboro City Council voted last month to move forward with a plan build the center with $30 million from both the public and private sectors, a goal Community Foundation President Walker Sanders said was attainable. Including Tanger's donation, private commitments already reach $28.3 million, and the foundation said the new $35 million challenge is feasible.

Council and community members had already called the private fundraising "unprecedented" for the "game-changing" performing arts center, and Mayor Robbie Perkins said in a press release that he is "overwhelmed by the generosity of this gift."

The Community Foundation also released the logo for the center and said it expects the project to break ground in June 2014 and open in 2016. Here's the logo: 

Greensboro hoping third time's the charm with noise ordinance

A flyer by Bennett College this week

Knock knock. It's your old friend, the Greensboro noise ordinance.

When the Greensboro City Council meets on Tuesday, there will be a familiar item on the agenda. Councilwomen Nancy Hoffmann, Marikay Abuzuaiter and Nancy Vaughan are bringing forward two significant revisions to the noise ordinance that are likely to pass, several council members said.

After lowering the nighttime threshold from 75 to 65 decibels and switching from A to C weighting (which is designed to pick up bass frequencies better but essentially drops the reading an additional 10 decibels) in July, the threshold level is back on the agenda for a very good reason: the current level is unenforceable. 

Opponents of the July revisions — the second round of changes since council first tackled the issue in early 2012 — argued that ambient noise would be a problem with C-weighted 65 decibel level, and that's exactly what police and council members found out. Vaughan said that readings taken outside of closed venues were crossing the 65 decibel threshold. (Council initially considered a 60 dB limit in July but Vaughan convinced a majority of members to bump it to 65 dB).

To reach an enforceable level, council will now consider raising the decibel threshold back to 75 but will retain the C-weighting system it put in place in July. But before you rejoice or panic, there's more.

Council will also consider — and likely pass — a ban on outdoor amplified noise after 11 p.m. Greene Street Club and Syn & Sky, two downtown clubs with rooftop venues, are the obvious target of the ban. Greene Street's lawyer Norman Klick and Syn & Sky owner Mike Carter could not immediately be reached for comment.

Reiterating her statements from council's discussion in July, Vaughan said club owners did not protect the initial ordinance changes that turned Greensboro into the loudest city in the state and possibly the Southeast.

"I was pretty frustrated with some of the clubs and the way they were managing noise and it just appears they can’t do it," she said. "It really didn’t seem to matter to them. It’s unfortunate that we have to come back a third time but hopefully the third time’s the charm."

Vaughan and Hoffmann said they were responding to feedback from the Greensboro Police Department about issues with amplified noise, and Mayor Robbie Perkins said this round of changes will make enforcement easier because the 11 p.m. ban will be more clear cut. 

"I think the big thing is, do we want our officers out after noise complaints or do we want them out after more serious crimes?" he said. "I’d have voted for this in the first round, we just didn’t have the majority of the council where we needed to be at that time. We’re at the end of a long road."

Hoffmann said she would be surprised if any revisions were needed after this, but added, "I never say never." 

Hoffmann said that part of the issue was that the C weighting hadn't been adequately tested before council's vote in July, but Vaughan said she and Abuzuaiter went out with police to see the C weighting in action before the last round of revisions. Yet after having the rules on the books for several weeks, Vaughan said it was clear that the ordinance wasn't workable based on more experience with the changes. 

The changes are necessary, Vaughan said, but she's disappointed the noise ordinance needs to be placed on the agenda again. So is Mayor Pro Tem Yvonne Johnson.

"I don’t know what I can make of that," Johnson said less than an hour after finding out it would come before council on Tuesday. "I think we ought to do something fair… and we need to stick with it. I just want us to get to a point where it’s a win-win and leave it there. I’m tired of it."

More candidates join Greensboro City Council races

Several candidates filed to run for Greensboro City Council today, and some of them are names you're apt to recognize.

Mayor Robbie Perkins and at-large Councilwoman Marikay Abuzuaiter both filed to run for the same offices again today. Joseph Landis, a newcomer to Greensboro politics, also put his name in for the at-large race today. There are currently seven candidates signed up to run at large.

For now, Tony Wilkins is the only person running for District 5 and Tigress McDaniel is the sole candidate running for District 1. Districts 2, 3 and 4 each have two candidates, though past years the fields have been more crowded. Perkins and challenger George Hartzman are the only people who already filed to run for mayor, though at-large Councilwoman Nancy Vaughan said she will run and stickers and magnets for her mayoral bid have already appeared in a few scattered places across town.

Filing ends this Friday, July 19.

UPDATE July 17 (1:45 p.m.): At-large Councilwoman Nancy Vaughan has filed to run for mayor today. Corey Pysher is running in District 3, along with Councilman Zack Matheny and Wendell Roth.

Yesterday, John Alexander Underwood filed in District 4 (joining former Mayor Bill Knight and Councilwoman Nancy Hoffmann).

Charles Cherry has more choice words for mayor, city manager

Former Greensboro police captain Charles Cherry has developed a reputation amongst Greensboro City Council members for his choice words at council meetings to such an extent that they considered limiting speech and the public comment period at their meetings last summer. Mayor Robbie Perkins, a frequent target of Cherry's criticism, explained his thoughts about speakers like Cherry again this April:

"Frankly, the concern I have is that they are taking away from folks that really need our help," he said. "Some may want to come in and don’t because they don’t want to be in middle of acrimonious discussion." 

Today, the saga continues. In a dual complaint/public-information request to the city, Cherry wrote to "Deadbeat, Non Taxpaying, Looking for Preferential Treatment Mayor Perkins and the other eight members of city council." Cherry criticized Perkins' bankruptcy and non-payment of taxes, going on to call City Manager Denise Turner Roth "a corrupt stupid liar."

Cherry has repeatedly argued that the city refuses to investigate his complaints about police misconduct. Roth contends that the city has answered his requests and staff recommends that council not address Cherry directly because of his pending lawsuit against the city. 

There is another gem in Cherry's complaint, too:

"Robbie, never forget, I am strengthened by the Mighty God in Heaven. Greensboro, observe the power of a God-fearing man, as I mentally dominate, control and force this corrupt deadbeat mayor to do his job." 

He ends the letter by requesting the name, dates, result and amount of money spent on each pending or current lawsuit involving the Greensboro Police Department since January 1, 2010, including outside lawyer fees or estimated cost of staff time based on salary. YES! Weekly asked the city to release the results of Cherry's public-information request to us as soon as it is available to him. 

Cherry's case is one of many cited by a report, Our Democratic Mission, released by the Beloved Community Center earlier this year highlighting issues that point to a "subculture of corruption and double standards" in the police department. The center is holding a community meeting on June 13 to discuss issues related to the department.

Greensboro mayor clarifies public comment position

The City of Greensboro just sent out the following press release for Mayor Robbie Perkins on the public comment portion of city council meetings. In a telephone interview, Perkins said his comments at the end of a recent council meeting were misconstrued by the News & Record and the Rhinoceros Times, adding that he wanted to set the record straight. 

Perkins said part of the problem was that at-large Councilwoman Nancy Vaughan, who announced she will run against Perkins for mayor in the fall, tried to spin the situation to indicate that he was not in favor of the speakers from the floor portion as part of her bid for mayor. Vaughan could not immediately be reached for comment. 

Perkins' primary concern is that certain people dominate the public comment period with repetitive statements at each meeting, adding that some people speak so regularly that residents have come to know them on a first name basis. 

"Frankly, the concern I have is that they are taking away from folks that really need our help," he said. "Some may want to come in and don’t because they don’t want to be in middle of acrimonious discussion." 

Perkins said he did not have any specific changes that he wanted council to consider but that the discussion was "a function of being practical." While the majority of council is also frustrated, he said, the mayor isn't sure the issue will be formally discussed. Perkins also emphasized that he is not supportive of putting the speakers from the floor at the end of the meeting, a move made by previous mayor Bill Knight that was reversed when Perkins took the helm. 

Here's the full press release: 

 

GREENSBORO, NC (April 26, 2013) – City of Greensboro Mayor Robbie Perkins has released the following statement regarding proposed changes to the speakers from the floor portion of City Council meetings:

“Speakers from the floor are an integral part of our City Council meetings.  We currently allow two 30 minute periods per month for speakers to address Council on non-agenda items. Greensboro’s time allotment is double what the State of North Carolina requires of its municipal bodies. I want to reiterate that I believe in the RIGHT of Greensboro’s residents to speak freely to Council. That’s why one of the first changes I made as Mayor was to bring the speakers portion back to the beginning of Council meetings – and it will remain that way.

However, the acrimony and repetitiveness displayed by some speakers has been a growing concern of mine. Moving forward, any proposed changes will be fully discussed and voted on by the entire City Council in an effort to hear the concerns of residents that need our assistance.”

Allen Joines loses bet, will wear Duke blue

Greensboro Mayor Robbie Perkins was in the Camel City on Sept. 29 for the Duke-Wake Forest football game as a guest of his Winston-Salem counterpart, Allen Joines.

The Demon Deacons went down in defeat to Blue Devils, with a score 34-27. As a result of a lost bet, Joines will be wearing a Duke jersey sometime in the near future.

At last night’s city council meeting, Joines was wearing his usual suit and tie. He said today that he hasn’t fulfilled his obligation because he’s waiting for Perkins to send him the jersey. He said he made a commitment to wear the jersey for at least half a day at City Hall at a time when a wide number of people will have the opportunity to witness the display.

“It was a fun thing and we were just glad to have him over to the Wake Forest game,” Joines said. “It was a good day but not a totally good day for Wake Forest. In a spirit of good Triad-ism, it was a good experience to spend time together as two mayors.”

Emails show source of noise complaint

Through a public information request, YES! Weekly obtained 1727 pages of emails to and from city staff — including Chief Ken Miller, Greensboro City Council members and various city employees — related to noise complaints or the ordinance since the current council took office at the end of 2011. Here are some of the more telling emails, to accompany our print article in this week's issue about Roy Carroll's influence on the noise ordinance. I apologize for the small print size and formatting issues — we'll try to upload the documents using Scribd so it's more reasonable, but it may take a few days.

Occupy Greensboro endorses Perkins, Johnson, Abraham and Abuzuaiter

The Occupy Greensboro Media Group endorses in tomorrow's Greensboro City Council election.

We feel, based on the candidates’ positions on economic inequality, local job creation, support for local small business development, records on human relations issues, position on the White Street Landfill, and other issues, that these candidates will best represent the positions of the Occupy Greensboro movement: addressing the gap between wealthy and poor; representing the voters and not the corporations; addressing social injustice; and improving civil rights for all residents of Greensboro.

For mayor: Robbie Perkins

For at large: Wayne Abraham, Marikay Abuzuaiter and Yvonne Johnson

For District 1: Dianne Bellamy-Small

For District 2: No choice

For District 3: Jay Ovittore (strong)

For District 4: Nancy Hoffmann

For District 5: Jorge Cornell (with reservations)

We aren’t really thrilled with either choice. Fiscal Conservative, former CPA Bill Knight has clearly proven to be in the pocket of developers and social conservatives in North West Greensboro. He has repeatedly represented their interests over those of the 99%. His key position appears to be in opposition of any raise in taxes or water rate hikes to off-set the declining City revenues (tax re-evaluation is next year and it does not look good). Meanwhile, under his watch we have lost first City Manager Mitchell Johnson and now Rashad Young. As a cost-cutting measure, Knight was in favor of re-opening the White Street landfill against the will of the residents of the neighborhood in which it was located.

Robbie Perkins, while a commercial real estate broker and long-time politician in Greensboro, has come down against the landfill and is a proponent of a regional solution to waste. He also favors investment in infrastructure and has supported regional public transportation. His rhetoric reflects the sentiment of many Occupiers’ “We want to try to create the kind of jobs that are going to be a living wage for people because it’s awfully hard to live off of minimum wage. You can’t work enough hours in the day to do that. So we’ve got to create the kind of jobs that are going to pay reasonable money so that you can support your families and keep a little bit for retirement.” (Campaign speech as quoted in Yes! Weekly 10/5/2011)

One correction: City Manager Mitchell Johnson was fired by the previous council before Knight was elected mayor, although Knight advocated as a private citizen for Johnson's termination.

Taxes and spending: Where Greensboro City Council candidates stand

Assuming a new city council reaches an agreement on what to do about solid waste early in the next term, the budget is likely to be the major challenge in the next two years. Revenues are likely to be lower than hoped for because of the depressed housing market, while services and infrastructure remain in demand. Mayoral challenger Robbie Perkins would like to move forward with the Downtown Greenway. At-large challenger Wayne Abraham wants to repair city roads. District 3 challenger Jay Ovittore wants to hire additional police officers.

No surprise that the four conservative incumbents on council, including Mayor Bill Knight, have pledged to not raise taxes or water rates, as documented in a video clip produced by Conservatives for Guilford County. At-large incumbent Danny Thompson and at-large challenger Chris Lawyer also took the pledge. Mayoral challenger Robbie Perkins has left his options open when asked the question.

“It’s a qualified maybe answer,” said Perkins when asked during a candidate forum hosted by the Greater Greensboro Republican Women’s Club on Oct. 25 if he would vote to raise taxes. Asked if he would raise water rates and if he would cut spending, he responded, “It depends.”

Abraham may be the only challenger that has campaigned against cutting taxes, calling the council vote in 2010 to cut property taxes by a quarter of cent, “a jobs-killing tax cut.” He argues that the reduction had an insignificant impact on taxpayers, but stripped the city budget with the result that council cut funding to the Greensboro Partnership, which works to recruit new businesses to the city.

Only one candidate has expressed active interest in raising taxes.

“I don’t believe we can move Greensboro forward if we keep our taxes the way they are,” District 2 challenger C. Bradley Hunt II told an audience at the downtown public library for a forum hosted by the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress on Oct. 24. “I am a citizen and I believe that everyone wants to keep taxes low. It makes us all comfortable. But in order for us to spur economic development, in order for us to improve our infrastructure and to improve our services we must look for new ways to generate income for the city. So I believe we have to look at new ways that we may increase our tax rate so we can provide services for our citizens. So I think that in order to improve our services and infrastructure, in order to increase our police department, fire services, and also to give small business owners and minority business owners a chance to compete, we must look at ways to raise taxes.”

Incumbent Jim Kee was happy to take the opposing side on the issue.

“Certainly I would not advocate raising taxes,” he said. “Matter of fact, I voted to lower taxes. In this type of economy, citizens could not afford any increase in taxes. The way we can expand the revenue in Greensboro is to bring more businesses, to create more small businesses right here in our city. And that’s exactly what I have been doing.”

Kee, a developer, said he worked with Kotis Properties to open the H&F cafeteria at the corner of Church Street and Pisgah Church Road, creating 60 jobs. He said he has also worked with Kotis Properties to open Pace Medical at the intersection of East Cone Boulevard and Summit Avenue, which employs 30 people.

“That’s the way we keep taxes low and keep services great in Greensboro,” Kee said.

Zack Matheny, a registered Republican seeking reelection to the District 3 seat, told the audience at the Greater Greensboro Republican Women’s Club Forum that he would not vote to raise taxes. One day earlier he gave a somewhat more qualified answer to the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress.

“I don’t know, quite honestly, what’s going to happen with taxes,” he said. “My goal would be to not increase taxes. I’ve said that and we’ve been able to accomplish that by not increasing and actually have a very small, slight decrease for the city. One of our major issues is going to be real estate valuations in the next couple years.”

Historically, home values have appreciated over all, with the result that local governments can cut the tax rate and maintain neutral revenue. Real estate is revalued every eight years, and Guilford County is due for a revaluation next year. If, as expected, property values have depreciated overall because of the foreclosure and housing crisis, then local governments will have to choose between increasing the rate to maintain neutral revenue or cutting spending to compensate for reduced revenue at the current rate.

After the candidate forum Matheny said in an interview that his ultimate objective is to keep the tax bill flat, whatever that requires.

Jay Ovittore, who is challenging Matheny for the District 3 seat, stressed spending needs.

“I don’t want to make promises that I can’t keep, so I don’t want to say that I’m not going to vote to raise taxes, if necessary,” he said. “We need 200 more police officers on our police force. We need more fire people. We need our roads taken care of. We need to upgrade the Osborne water treatment plan so we can handle a capacity that’s almost near full at this point and continue to bring clean water to our communities. So that money’s going to come from somewhere. We can either get creative and do something about the landfill: Keep it closed, make it a regional solution, maybe own a regional solution, maybe cut off some of that as a portfolio, do some waste to energy. And if we spend the money on waste to energy now, that waste to energy is going to make us back millions more. And if I can keep your tax rate flat, I’ll do that. But I simply don’t know until I have the numbers in front of me.”

Mary Rakestraw, the conservative District 4 incumbent, has consistently pledged that she will not vote to raise taxes.

“With the present economy that we have we’ve got to be good stewards of your money and my money,” she said. “And I pay taxes, too. And this is a situation, y’all, that we cannot go the well but so many times. You have a budget in your own home. And you have to look at how you spend your money. And when you don’t have enough money, what do you do?... And, you know, I bet you even if you go home this coming week and you say, ‘What could I cut out that would not hurt my lifestyle, what would it be?’ Surely there is something. And we’re going to have to look at that as we go into the next two years. We have to be smart. We have to be prudent. And again, y’all, I cannot say this enough: We cannot tax ourselves out of this situation that we’re in at the present.”

Like Ovittore, District 4 challenger Nancy Hoffmann emphasized spending needs, prefacing her remarks by saying she is “committed to sound financial stewardship.”

“No one can predict the future,” she said. “So we really have to see what the situation is next year or the following year, but we know that we have possibly deferred some very important maintenance in this city. Those things catch up with you sometime down the road, and when they do the cost may be greater. We bear the cost of training the police staff and the fire staff in this city. And if we lose them a year or two years after we train them, then we have lost the cost of that investment in those people, and they’ve gone to High Point, or to Burlington, or Reidsville for another thousand dollars a year.”

Hoffmann said that a city, like any business, must “drill down” to see what spending items are “not absolutely essential” during difficult economic times, and have an honest conversation with citizens about what services they want to maintain, what they’re willing to give up, and what they’re willing to pay for.

Trudy Wade, the conservative incumbent in District 5, said she would not raise taxes.

“There’s two ways not to raise taxes,” she said. “And no, I wouldn’t raise taxes. Two ways to do that. Either you’re going to have to cut things or you’re going to have to bring in more jobs, more people, and increase your base of people paying in. There’s only two ways to do it. I think we’ve tried as a council to bring more jobs here. And I think we’ve done a pretty good job of that. For 12 of 16 years the unemployment rate’s been going up. This last year it’s started to go down again.”

In fact, data for the Greensboro-High Point metropolitan statistical area posted by the NC Employment Security Commission indicates that the unemployment rate increased in eight of the past 16 years. The rate has been declining over all over the past two years, but has remained at above 10 percent since 2009 after bouncing between 3 percent and 7 percent during the period from 1996 to 2008.

Wade credited the city council’s efforts to keep property taxes and water rates low with what progress has been seen in reducing the unemployment rate. During her remarks the councilwoman linked the tax rate to efforts to reopen the White Street Landfill, which she favors.

“If we were using our own landfill, we could save $8 million a year,” she said. “We won’t talk about the $30- or $40 million we’ve lost over the past four or five years.”

The $8 million figure tossed around by Wade, Thompson and The Rhinoceros Times is at odds with the $3.1 million per year in annual cost savings estimated by the city’s solid waste consultant for the plan to reopen the landfill that was adopted by the conservative faction. The difference can be chalked up to closure costs once the currently permitted portions of the landfill are depleted. Those who cite the $8 million figure argue that closure costs should not be included because the landfill would eventually have to be closed anyway. But under the current arrangement, the permitted portion of the landfill accepts a miniscule amount of screening, allowing it to remain open indefinitely.

Wade blamed a group of citizens who filed suit against the city to prevent the landfill from reopening with scuttling the city’s ability to pursue a regional approach, recycling, waste-to-energy technology, investments in infrastructure and cost savings.

“And we tried to take a regional approach,” she said. “And we tried to take the companies on the cutting edge of waste management and bring them into an RFP, and say, ‘What can you do for this community with technology, with recycling, and do a long-range plan for us.’ This is the first council that really stood back and said, ‘Let’s take a look at that.’ What can we do to cut this $8 million-a-year cost? And, of course, we ended up in a lawsuit, so all that technology, infrastructure, all that additional money we were going to have for the city, of course that won’t be the case now.”

Gut punches at the Greensboro Partnership

Mayoral candidates Robbie Perkins and Bill Knight got rough with each other at an otherwise genteel candidate forum hosted by the Greensboro Partnership and SynerG.

“In terms of why I feel like I’m a better candidate for mayor, I have 16 years of experience in working under other mayors to know how to lead this city,” said Perkins, the challenger. “I think it’s been a problem the last couple of years that the mayor’s office has not had a lot of experience. For example, I never would have said that losing 1,600 jobs at American Express was a ‘blip’ on the radar screen.”

He ended his remarks abruptly to let the impact sink in.

For his part, Knight recycled attack lines from the Monday night mayoral debate at Guilford College.

“There are nine people on the council and they’ve got to work together all the time,” he said. “That means working together, paying attention; not sending out texts, not talking, not exhorting members of the audience to show disrespect. When we go on a retreat, it’s not a matter of getting in the mayor’s face and threatening an override if you don’t get your favorite commission appointment.”

Perhaps the question of most interest to the hosts was how the candidates proposed to support or work with the Greensboro Partnership, the city’s top economic and community development organization. The city council voted in June to cut $14,000 in funding to the partnership, along with other nonprofits. A last-minute effort to restore the funding failed, with council members Perkins and Nancy Vaughan on the losing end. Knight and Councilman Danny Thompson voted to maintain the funding cut.

“I think you’ve got to support the Greensboro Partnership,” Perkins said. “And I don’t think you can have a briefing session and have a 5-4 vote against retaining the full support of the partnership because you’re cutting advertising funding for the program…. So number one, you’ve got to support the partnership. Number two, you’ve got to support an environment in our city that small business thinks is stable, that we are going to support them, we’re going to be there for them. We’re going to give them the confidence to invest both money and time to make their businesses grow in our city.”

Vaughan said, “I currently serve on the board of the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance, so I’m very aware of what’s going on in the partnership and the chamber, and I support them 100 percent. This year, our funding was cut by 10 percent during our budget process. I advocated very strongly to restore that 10 percent. Unfortunately, I was not successful. In the city of Greensboro we do not have a large business office where we can be proactive; we’re reactive. We need people who are out there pounding the pavement and helping us find large employers. That’s something the chamber does.”

Knight said the council would continue to work with the partnership, and named a number of initiatives the city was pursuing to help small businesses. He added, “Our responsibility is municipal responsibility. Municipal government: providing for the healthy and safety and infrastructure and the other services that go with it.”

Thompson said he supported the partnership in two undertakings: An allocation of federal funding to create a small business revolving loan fund that will be administered by the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce, and an initiative to join the partnership in funding a national public relations campaign to attract attention to Greensboro.

Remarks from other at-large candidates:

Wayne Abraham: “As a candidate, I have already reached out to the partnership, and so obviously as a city council member I would do the same. I sat down with them to discuss what we can do to provide economic development in Greensboro, and their response to me was, in large part, what I proposed in my platform for economic development in Greensboro. And one of the items I proposed was restoring funding, perhaps even increasing funding for the partnership on specific projects so that we could promote our city and promote our own economic development in this area and in our city: Buy local, implementing our Sustainability Action Plan, restoring funding to our infrastructure, and increasing our funding to the economic development partnership.”

Marikay Abuzuaiter: “We must have those who are able to go out and seek economic development for Greensboro. The city council does not create jobs. It is up to us working with the partnership to make sure that they have the tools available where they can go out and seek these economic development opportunities for us. Now, we need to make sure we have in certain instances the infrastructure, the viability for our city. We need to make sure that we are creating that positive image that will help them help sell Greensboro and in turn bring jobs to Greensboro.”

Yvonne Johnson: “I really think it’s our duty as an elected official to partner and do all we can with the partnership, with the chamber, with all of the groups that are working for economic development. For goodness sake, every candidate at every forum said one of the most pressing needs in Greensboro is jobs, so how can you not do that? And it would also give you an advantage when you are talking to the citizens about what is going on in Greensboro in terms of the effort to recruit jobs so that they become shareholders in that information and proud of what the partnership and the council and all the entities are doing.”

Chris Lawyer: “I think when you have an economic development group you have to bring that group together in order to have sustainable economic development. And as an elected official you certainly are obligated to be part of that discussion because your constituents have brought you to the forefront to be a voice for them in economic development, so we have to work closely together as a city, and as a group with the Greensboro Partnership to find the best solutions. That means bringing businesses to the table, large and small, along with the economic development arms and also the city council and mayor and get the discussion going and talk about real solutions. It’s got to be a very dynamic and very fluid situation in order for this to be a successful process. And if we’re not going to do this, then I don’t think we’re giving our citizens the full economic impact we possibly could.”

An allegation has been circulating in conservative circles that the Greensboro Partnership submitted a question to the Triad Real Estate and Building Industries Coalition, or TREBIC, for a questionnaire on whether candidates would support a prepared food tax. Answers from the questionnaire have been used by an anonymous group claiming to represent the restaurant industry to characterize candidates positions. (See previous posts: 1 and 2.)

Jason Cannon, vice president of government affairs, flatly denied the allegation.

"That is not true," he said. "We did not submit any question to TREBIC about the restaurant tax."

Cannon added that he coordinated with TREBIC on the questionnaire, and he was the only representative of the partnership that did so. He said he saw a copy of the questionnaire just before it was finalized and did not ask to insert any questions.

"There was no formal discussion and no formal activity with us looking at a prepared food tax," he said, adding that he heard some idle talk about it and researched the law to satisfy his own curiosity. Cannon is registered as a lobbyist with the state of North Carolina representing the Greensboro Partnership.

Vaughan said Assistant City Manager Denise Turner Roth told council on Tuesday that a local prepared food tax would require the NC General Assembly to pass enabling legislation. The legislature's Republican leadership has taken a dim view of tax increases and has worked closely with the conservative members of Greensboro City Council on other issues. Mayoral candidate Perkins has called the matter "a made-up issue."