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).

Bellamy-Small asks for recount, releases statement

Long-serving Greensboro Councilwoman Dianne Bellamy-Small is asking for a recount in her District 1 loss to Sharon Hightower at the behest of her constituents, she said in a press release this morning.

Hightower narrowly defeated Bellamy-Small in Tuesday's general election, winning with a mere 15 votes. There were 14 write-in votes in the district and the number did not reflect provisional ballots, but Guilford County Elections Director Charlie Collicutt said at the time that there were too few provisionals to change the  result. A losing candidate can call for a recount if the gap between the turnout numbers is 1 percent or less, Collicutt said. In this year's Greensboro City Council races, that only applies to District 1. 

Here is Bellamy-Small's full press release:

"T. Dianne Bellamy-Small has served District 1 for the past 10 years with dignity, respect, hard work, responsiveness and honor. The body of work that I have been able to accomplish with the professional support of city staff and the community speaks for itself. Being and elected official, who is a change agent and a stoker, has been demanding, challenging and a rewarding experience.

The request for the recount was made at the request of my constituents and I respect them enough to ask for this process. As I have said from the beginning of my service, I serve at the will of the people. I wish the new council well and hope that they will respect all the people they now serve and not themselves. The fact that I attempted to befriend and mentor the new District 1 representative meant that I had the greater capacity to look beyond someone’s faults and see his or her needs. I have encouraged,  mentored and befriended many others successfullly over the years.  District 1 need to have the best leadership possible and I hope that with the new council they will get what they deserve.

The concerns for District 1 and the city are not about whether one likes someone, but about getting out and doing the job for the greater good of our citizens. And finally, I want to thank all of my supporters. They should be proud of what we have accomplished over the last 10 years. Thank you."

If the results stand, Hightower will be one of two new candidates joining the city council. Jamal Fox, 25, upended District 2 Councilman Jim Kee. All other incumbents held their seat except for Mayor Robbie Perkins, who lost to At-large Councilwoman Nancy Vaughan. Former councilman Mike Barber, who last served in 2009, was elected to the at-large seat left vacant by Vaughan.

Who has the chops for District 1?

Bellamy-Small at her birthday concert, October 2012.

Interviewing Greensboro City Councilwoman Dianne Bellamy-Small and challenger Tigress McDaniel, it was quickly clear that there are some significant differences between the two District 1 candidates (which you can read more about in Wednesday's paper, along with coverage of challenger Sharon Hightower). One area where they overlap: singing.

Bellamy-Small, who will participate in the 17 Days festival with a performance on Sept. 21, held a concert to celebrate her 60th birthday last October and to raise money for a nonprofit helping ex-felons that she founded. I was lucky enough to go to the concert and write about it.

McDaniel is a singer too, and we featured her as local talent back in 2009. Among her musical accomplishments: singing the national anthem at a Greensboro Grasshoppers game last summer.

Here's the video, available on her YouTube channel.



Here's a recording of Bellamy-Small singing. We also have a recording of McDaniel singing as her answering machine message, but for whatever reason it's not uploading properly.

Read more about Bellamy-Small, McDaniel and Sharon Hightower in the next issue of YES! Weekly.

Greensboro City Council filings: Trouble!

Among the 11th-hour filings for the Greensboro City Council race, some surprises surface.

The marquee story is in the at-large race, where among the usual gang — incumbents Yvonne Johnson and Marikay Abuzuaiter; old hands like Mike Barber, Jean Brown and Chris Lawyer; and "Who Dat?" candidates like Marlando Pridgen and Joseph Landis — are a couple of familiar names. My old friend Ben Holder, AKA the Troublemaker, has thrown his hat into the ring. I hear he's getting an "S" tattooed on his chest to get properly fired up for the race. And young activist/journalist/scenester Katei Cranford has decided to get into the game, too. Just one of the fascinating things about her is that she's the niece of Billy "Crash" Craddock. 

There are no surprises in districts 1 and 2. In D-1, incumbents Dianne Bellamy-Small has jazz singer and activist Tigress McDaniel and city insider Sharon Hightower looking to take the throne. In D-2 no one has challenged Jamal Fox's move for Jim Kee's seat.In District 3, Zack Matheny will defend his seat against Corey Pisher and Wendell Roth. John Underwood has joined the fray between D-4 incumbent Nancy Hoffmann and former mayor Bill Knight.

And in District 5, Tony Wilkins, who was appointed to his seat after Sen. Trudy Wade took statewide office, faces shapeshifter Sal Leone and another  new name, my old friend Alex Seymour.

I worked with Alex at Bert's Seafood Grille years ago, and we remain friends. He's become active in city government on a grassroots level, and is a fixture (or, at least, he was) in the beard and bluegrass scenes.

Consider this a disclosure. Of course, I've known Wilkins (and most of the other people running) for years, as well.

Greensboro temporarily reinstates teen curfew downtown

This morning the Greensboro City Council voted 8-1, with Dianne Bellamy-Small (far left) casting the lone dissenting vote, to reinstate a teen curfew in downtown for the next 60 days, effective immediately.

Council is holding a public meeting with community leaders to discuss the issue at 2 p.m. Read more about what's happening here, and pick up YES! Weekly next week for full coverage of the issue.

Simkins PAC endorsements: Bellamy-Small in, Wade out

Time was when the endorsements of the George C. Simkins Jr. Memorial Political Action Committee was awaited with anticipation, anxiety and speculation depending on one’s political viewpoint in Greensboro. Named after civil rights pioneer Dr. George C. Simkins Jr., who led successful efforts to desegregate the city’s golf courses and hospitals and the campaign to establish a district representation system, the committee’s recommendations are mailed out to black voters across the city.

I’m not sure now. There is a wide array of civic and media actors with both complex and overlapping ties to various constituencies that are closely vetting the candidates.

This year’s endorsement slate is, not surprisingly, shaped by the White Street Landfill controversy:

Robbie Perkins for mayor: “Robbie has supported our issues across the years, voted and worked to close the White Street Landfill.”

Yvonne Johnson for at large: “Our former mayor who has advanced our issues should be returned to the council.”

Nancy Vaughan for at large: “Voted to close the White Street Landfill and is committed to keeping it closed.”

Marikay Abuzuaiter for at large: “Longtime community activist, against opening White Street Landfill.”

Dianne Bellamy-Small for District 1: “Our senior representative on council who stood against the landfill and continues to represent his district well.”

Jim Kee for District 2: “Has stood against the landfill and continues to represent his district well.”

Zack Matheny for District 3: “We believe we can count on his support in the future.”

Nancy Hoffmann for District 4: “A fresh voice who also opposes opening the landfill.”

The committee did not endorse in the District 5 race between incumbent Trudy Wade and challenger Jorge Cornell.

The endorsement of Bellamy-Small is quite a switch. Two years ago, the PAC endorsed her challenger, Luther T. Falls Jr., reasoning, “He is the change that District 1 needs. He will fight for the people of this district to increase police presence, to stop crime, focus on economic improvements and respond to the wishes of the district.”

Another switch is the withdrawal of support for Wade, whom the PAC endorsed in 2009 without explanation. Wade has voted to reopen the landfill in a series of decisions this past year.

The Simkins PAC’s 2009 endorsement mailer made no mention of the landfill as an issue.

Committee Chairman Steve Bowden acknowledged the omission as a strategic misstep after the election, in which Johnson lost her mayoral reelection bid to conservative upstart Bill Knight.

“The main issue for our community is there’s going to be an effort to open a dump back up in our section of town,” Bowden said at the time. “These new people [who were annexed], I’m sure they wouldn’t want to have dump where the Cardinal golf course is. That’s what the people of east Greensboro are facing. There’s going to be a big push to cut taxes. And [reopening] the landfill is an easy way to make up the revenue if you want to cut taxes.

“The most pressing issue that I see in our community was not put on the forefront,” he continued. “I regret that. I was in a meeting of the Greensboro Men’s Club last night. I made the point to them that I regret that we did not make a concerted effort to let the community know what was at stake.”

This year, Matheny is the only candidate whose endorsement is qualified on an expression of faith rather than a proven record or a stated position. Matheny is considered a swing vote on council, and perhaps it’s not surprising that Wade is courting him, too. A glossy mailer received today by District 5 voters names Matheny as part of a group of “city council members that share her positive vision for the future of Greensboro,” also including landfill proponents Knight, Chris Lawyer, Danny Thompson and Mary Rakestraw.

Other recent endorsements

Mayoral race

Bill Knight: Rhinoceros Times

Robbie Perkins: Professional Fire Fighters of Greensboro

At-large race

Marikay Abuzuaiter: Professional Fire Fighters of Greensboro

Yvonne Johnson: Professional Fire Fighters of Greensboro

Chris Lawyer: Rhinoceros Times

Nancy Vaughan: Professional Fire Fighters of Greensboro

District 1

Dianne Bellamy-Small: Professional Fire Fighters of Greensboro

Donnell “DJ” Hardy: Rhinoceros Times

District 2

Jim Kee: Professional Fire Fighters of Greensboro, Rhinoceros Times

District 3

Zack Matheny: Professional Fire Fighters of Greensboro, Rhinoceros Times

District 4

Mary Rakestraw: Rhinoceros Times

District 5

Trudy Wade: Rhinoceros Times

Candidate profile: Dianne Bellamy-Small

District 1 candidate Dianne Bellamy-Small greets mayoral candidate Tom Phillips at a candidate forum earlier this year. As a former member of council, the conservative-leaning Phillips often put the 1 in 8-1 votes. He was eliminated in the primary.

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.

Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed —

I, too, am America

— “I, Too, Sing America” by Langston Hughes

Dianne Bellamy-Small, who has represented District 1 on Greensboro City Council for four terms, took a vernacular, just-folks approach when introducing herself to NC A&T University students during a candidate forum earlier this month. She cut a striking contrast to Donnell “DJ” Hardy, a challenger more than two decades her junior who comes across as studious and wonkish, by comparison.

“There’s an African proverb that says, ‘The lion’s story will never be told so long as the hunter is telling it,’” Bellamy-Small said. “My leadership style is one of get it done. You’ve got to have someone on council who is a grassroots-er, who gets out here in the community and who can very articulately talk about what’s happening. That’s me.”

Bellamy-Small has always taken care to tell her own story, rarely entrusting something so important to the press. She speaks at length during city council meetings, describing her activities in the community and expressing disappointment in political adversaries at the other end of the dais. She’s been known to express confidence that the press will misrepresent the facts, and compensates through a direct, candid style of speaking at community meetings. She’s the only council member who produces an annual report. Like her remarks at the end of council meetings, the report is chock full of information about how citizens can access city government and avail themselves of resources.

For example, the 2010 annual report describes the roles and responsibilities of various executive staff members and department heads; offers information about how businesses can take advantage of federal and state tax credits if they invest in depressed areas; informs citizens of their right to fair housing without discrimination; and includes updates on the Downtown Greenway construction and sidewalk projects.

The report makes fascinating and provocative reading for any student of urban geography and politics. For example: “Since 2000, the Greensboro [Fire Department] identified the southeast portion of Greensboro with the most significant number of residential fires. Referred to as a ‘burn belt’ this area is generally defined within the boundaries of Highway 29 on the east and Interstate 85 on the southwest and following Wendover Avenue on the north. For the past 10 years, 85 percent of residential structure fires in Greensboro occur in the burn belt.”

What follows naturally is almost a full page of household prevention fire tips.

Bellamy-Small did not respond to repeated requests by phone to be interviewed for this article. She maintains a practice of communicating with reporters by fax. Community leaders and constituents often complain that she is impossible to reach. Other constituents remain fiercely loyal to her because of her untiring advocacy for a district that is considered to be historically under-served by the city.

“It’s sort of like being the child that gets ignored,” Bellamy-Small said at a recent candidate forum. “If you want people to know that you want your piece of chicken then you’ve got to speak up and ask for it. That’s what I’ve done in my last eight years in office.”

Since winning election in 2003, Bellamy-Small has survived a recall effort, weathered battles over the firing of former City Manager Mitchell Johnson and the attempted reopening of the White Street Landfill (she opposed both), defied the Simkins PAC, and endured an effort by Guilford County Commissioner Skip Alston to instigate discontent among constituents over discomfort with the greenway. She has quietly and not so quietly worked with staff on something she calls a “parity plan” to put District 1 on equal footing with the rest of the city.

Bellamy-Small led the effort to establish the Interactive Resource Center, a homeless day center. During her tenure, the district has seen economic development in the form of a nanotechnology center and an O’Reilly Auto Parts distribution center. Over the years, Bellamy-Small has become a champion of the Greensboro Coliseum as an economic development driver. She serves with Councilman Robbie Perkins on the regional Transportation Advisory Committee, which plans new roadways.

Over the past two years, Bellamy-Small has found herself on the losing end of several votes, often joined by Perkins and sometimes also by Councilman Jim Kee. Those decisions included a series of votes to reopen the White Street Landfill before a legal opinion by the city attorney tipped the balance of power, a redistricting plan proposed by Councilwoman Mary Rakestraw that played havoc with Bellamy-Small’s electoral base, actions to deplete financial reserves for infrastructure by reducing water rates, a vote to deny a staff request to hire a federal lobbyist and a successful effort to seek state legislation so that the city attorney would report to council instead of the city manager.

But early in this current term, Bellamy-Small was on the prevailing side of a narrow vote to fund construction of the Greensboro Aquatic Center, part of a coalition that also included Perkins, Kee, Councilman Zack Matheny and Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Vaughan.

“I can truthfully stand here and say that all of the positive things that have been brought up for the city of Greensboro I did vote for them,” Bellamy-Small told a predominantly white audience at Congregational United Church of Christ recently, “whether it was the coliseum complex… whether it was to give more police officers for crime.”

Like every other council member, Bellamy-Small voted to offer incentives to Honda Aircraft Co. to expand its operation at Piedmont Triad International Airport. She told students at the A&T candidate forum that she used her position behind the scenes to hold corporations accountable for equal employment opportunities.

“Every time a new business comes to us and wants an incentive, I ask, particularly when they talk about engineering jobs and that kind of stuff, I say, ‘Have you been over to A&T?’” Bellamy-Small recounted. “They’ll kind of fumble around…. ‘Well-uh-well-uh.’ ‘Have you been over to A&T?’ ‘We’ve got engineering graduates over there.’ You saw in the paper how HondaJet — we’re waiting on them. When HondaJet came before us, I always ask, ‘How many minorities? How many women? And will you hire ex-offenders?’ The last time, HondaJet said, ‘Yes, we’ll hire them.’ You know how many they hired? Forty out of 550. You do the math. When they came this time, I said, ‘Something’s wrong with this picture.’ They said, ‘We’ll deal with it.’ So they thought behind closed doors they tried to answer my question. I asked in public, and the man said, ‘Oh, we talked about it in private.’ ‘Yeah, and I brought it up in public.’”

Bellamy-Small has been consistent in her support for staff and criticism of her conservative colleagues for what she considers micro-management of staff. In other areas, she has not been so predictable. As a former police officer with the Greensboro Police Department, Bellamy-Small might have been expected to support a group of black and Latino police officers who complained about discrimination and retaliation. Instead, like the rest of council, she staunchly backed City Manager Rashad Young as he signed off on a raft of terminations.

Last November, she joined Kee and Vaughan in opposing a downtown teen curfew proposed by Matheny. Earlier this year, she cast the lone vote against a rezoning request to increase the density of a residential development in her district, siding with residents over a local developer. She voted with Perkins, Vaughan and Kee in unsuccessful efforts to restore pay to reserve police officers and to a nonprofit economic development partnership in the recent budget cycle. She cast a lone vote against a plan to scale back early voting in this election.

During much of the recent year, Bellamy-Small’s public face has been one of heightened outrage.

When her conservative colleagues tried to ram through a redistricting plan widely characterized as “gerrymandering” in April, Bellamy-Small said the current council would be remembered for “its elitism, racism, destructiveness, lack of transparency and reckless fiscal management.”

She railed against fellow council members in June after a staff member called her to inform her that the majority of council had reached a “mutual separation agreement” with City Attorney J. Rita McNeil-Danish.

“The high-handed behavior shown by the leadership of this council — and by that I do not mean the mayor — is reprehensible and insulting to the citizens, the staff and members of this council who believe in democracy and not just who is on the ‘winning side,’” Bellamy-Small said. “This ‘mutual separation agreement’ that lacked the participation of all council members until the closed session today is wasteful, mean spirited and undermines the leadership of our city manager.”

In July, Bellamy-Small surprised practically everybody by filing to run for mayor. Political observers wondered why she would risk splitting the vote when her longtime political ally, Robbie Perkins, had declared his intentions to run a year prior and would likely appeal to the same east Greensboro constituency.

The candidate posted the text of Langston Hughes’ poem “I, Too, Sing America” on her Facebook page after filing to run, declaring that she would return “respectful, responsive and responsible government to the people.”

After weeks of speculation, Bellamy-Small and Perkins spoke about their respective political aspirations over the phone. Perkins told YES! Weekly that Bellamy-Small asked him if she would have “a seat at the table” on a council in which Perkins was the mayor. Perkins said he assured Bellamy-Small that every member of council would have a seat at the table, including her.

The next week, just before the end of filing, Bellamy-Small switched into the District 1 race, seeking reelection to the seat she currently holds.

“After further careful consideration of my filing for mayor of the city of Greensboro and more discussions with the constituents in District 1 and in Greensboro,” Bellamy-Small wrote in a letter to the Carolina Peacemaker, “I have decided I can strategically be more effective on the city council as part of a tactical team to bring sensibility back to city government by rescinding my filing for mayor and becoming a candidate for District 1 for a fifth term.”

Differentiating between the District 1 candidates

Aside from the prepared food tax issue — and whether it's an issue at all is debatable — and challenger Donnell "DJ" Hardy's campaign refrain that he will return phone calls if elected to represent District 1 on Greensboro City Council, it's difficult to draw significant distinctions between the candidates on the issues. (As to the latter point, I can attest that Bellamy-Small does not return my phone calls and is difficult to initiate a conversation with; others may find her to be more approachable, for all I know.)

Both candidates emphasize equitable allocation of resources to District 1. Hardy talks about a concept of urban renaissance and creating a venture capital fund to promote entrepreneurship. Hardy pledges to be a "balanced, fair and cooperative voice on a divided council." Bellamy-Small says she has consistently supported citywide interests, specifically noting incentives for economic development and expansion of the coliseum complex.

If any astute District 1 readers can point out distinctions I have overlooked, I would be happy to hear them.

Hardy is a polished and respected candidate, but Bellamy-Small has dispatched the likes of him in previous general election match-ups: Luther T. Falls Jr in 2009 and 2005, and Tonya Clinkscale in 2007.

In remarks at a candidate forum last week at Congregational United Church of Christ, Hardy sounded like a challenger, noting a deficiency.

“Another thing that we can do certainly is to build sidewalks," he said. "I have people outside my house who have to walk in the street. It’s a fairly well traversed street right off Benbow, and it’s unsafe. It’s certainly unsafe for children that are walking to school. It’s unsafe for people who are walking to the bus stop, which is not too far from my house. That shows me that there’s been a lack of priorities for a long time because my neighborhood has been there for 50 years. Where are the sidewalks?”

Bellamy-Small, not surprisingly, came across like an incumbent, charting progress.

“The new [police] chief has made it a priority to deal with break-ins," she said. "I am a strong proponent of community watch. We only have 750 uniformed police officers, and this city is now 255,000 people. Do the math. So we must help. You’ll see me push National Night Out. And this last National Night Out I went to 17 of the National Night Outs. Because I want to encourage the people in District 1 to feel empowered to stop crime in their neighborhood just as you would in your neighborhood. Crime does not know an address. There is crime in other parts of the city. Believe it or not, crime in Greensboro has been down for the last 18 months by almost 12 percent. So we are a safer city.”

Campaign website exaggerates discussion of restaurant tax

UPDATE: Marikay Abuzuaiter, an at-large candidate for Greensboro City Council who has been targeted by the No Restaurant Tax campaign, told me on primary election night at the Old County Courthouse that she discovered a No Restaurant Tax sign in front of Mahi's Seafood Restaurant, which she owns. It turns out that Marty Kotis, the developer and property manager behind the campaign, is her landlord.

ORIGINAL POST: Visitors to the No Restaurant Tax website will find a list of Greensboro City Council candidates color coded to indicate which ones are “good for restaurants” or alternately, “want[s] to tax restaurants” or “undecided.”

The website announces, “We are committed to protecting the restaurant industry and its patrons by fighting the proposed discriminatory Prepared Foods Tax / Restaurant Tax. This latest assault on your wallet comes from an attempt by certain Greensboro City Council Candidates to find money for a wish list of projects too expensive to be funded from the taxes they already collect.”

Hold the presses: A prepared foods tax/restaurant tax has been proposed for the city of Greensboro? City council candidates have proposed it? For anyone who has spent much time at city council meetings and work sessions or at candidate forums, this news may come as a surprise.

At the top of a sample ballot posted on the website, mayoral candidate Robbie Perkins is coded red. Candidates Bill Knight, Chris Phillips and Tom Phillips are coded green. Candidate Bradford Cone is not listed. Marty Kotis, a Greensboro developer who identifies himself as a supporter of the No Restaurant Tax campaign, declined to reveal the source of information relied upon to make the determinations, but several candidates confirmed that they answered a question on the Triad Real Estate and Building Industries Coalition’s questionnaire.

Kotis is a member of the NC Restaurant and Lodging Association. His company develops and manages a number of properties across Greensboro that lease to restaurants. Kotis is backing Knight's mayoral reelection bid.

The question reads, “Would you support a 1 cent prepared foods tax for economic development/quality of life initiatives?”

Many of the candidates recommended by the No Restaurant Tax website, including Knight for mayor; Danny Thompson and Chris Lawyer in the at-large race; Mary Rakestraw in District 4; and Trudy Wade in District 5 are self-identified conservatives. But others favored by the group are in the opposing camp, by virtue of their opposition to reopening the White Street Landfill, including Yvonne Johnson and Wayne Abraham in the at-large race. Conservative Jean Austin Brown, an at-large candidate, is listed as being in favor of the restaurant tax.

Perkins called the campaign a “made-up issue” and accused those behind it of attempting to “mislead the voting public.”

“I think I wrote on my questionnaire that this is something that could be considered if you were going to create a coliseum authority,” Perkins told YES! Weekly. “The only way not to have taxpayers subsidize the coliseum is to create an authority and put in an alternative revenue stream.”

The No Restaurant Tax Facebook page links to a January 2010 article by Fox 8 TV indicating that Perkins proposed an authority to oversee the coliseum. But Perkins has not advocated the creation of a coliseum authority since that time. Last month, he addressed Conservatives for Guilford County and defended the current arrangement in which the coliseum is subsidized by the city of Greensboro’s general fund.

“I look at the billion dollars of tourism business in Guilford County as a huge community asset,” Perkins said. “And the centerpiece of that business is the Greensboro Coliseum. So the million and a half dollars that we are giving the coliseum out of the general fund each year is a small part of the many millions that we bring in through that facility to the benefit of our citizens. I contend that the tourism business, the hotel business and the restaurant business would not be close to the same in our city without the coliseum driving that business.”

Today, Perkins said, “Is it on the table? No. Should it be on the table? Unless we decided to move forward with some kind of authority for the coliseum, there’s no reason for it to be on the table.”

Abuzuaiter, who owns Mahi’s Seafood Restaurant, checked off the box on the questionnaire for “yes.” And on a follow-up question asking, “Would you require a referendum?” Abuzuaiter also checked off “yes.” The questionnaire requires either a yes or no answer, and does not allow candidates to indicate they might consider the idea. The questionnaire provides only a small box for candidates to explain their position.

“My reasoning was the North Carolina sales tax was reduced by one penny on July 1,” Abuzuaiter said. “If we could take that one cent and put it back on for economic development and quality-of-life initiatives in Greensboro, which we so desperately need, I would certainly put it on a referendum before the people.”

Considering that the candidates on the other side of the issue are deemed “good for restaurants” — implying that those who support a restaurant tax in some fashion are not — Abuzuaiter and Hayworth said they view the website as misleading.

“I know that if we can create jobs and improve quality of life, my business will get better,” Abuzuaiter said. “We were paying 1 cent for how many years? That was on a dollar. I will gladly give up one penny if it gives us a chance to create jobs.”

Abuzuaiter said a typical bill at her restaurant is $40. That means that a 1-cent tax would translate into an additional cost to customers of 40 cents per meal.

In District 1, challenger Donnell “DJ” Hardy is highlighted in green while incumbent Dianne Bellamy-Small is coded red.

The campaign’s Facebook page links to a blog post by War Memorial Commission member Tony Wilkins, also dating back to January 2010. Wilkins reports that Coliseum Director Matt Brown presented a chart of organizations that would benefit from $9 million raised from levying a 1 percent prepared food tax in Guilford County during a meeting of the commission.

Wilkins wrote, “As I was shaking my head no, a current council member sitting behind me asked, ‘Why don’t we do 2 cent?” In a comment on the No Restaurant Tax Facebook page, Wilkins identified Bellamy-Small as the council member who made the remark.

Kotis said even though the idea has not been discussed by city council in open meetings or work sessions since January 2010, if the council decided to pursue it after the election it wouldn’t be the first time an issue was discussed behind the scenes before council took action on it.

“What we’re doing is getting the public discussing it now and getting the topic discussed with their council member or with their candidates for council,” he said. “If people don’t agree with it, they should give candidates a call and say, ‘I don’t agree with that.’”

A&T vote inspires fiery city council campaigning

Sal Leone, an at-large candidate for Greensboro City Council, speaks from the well.

About a hundred conservatively dressed, most female students filed into a NC A&T University auditorium to address questions to candidates for Greensboro City Council last night during a forum hosted by the Alpha Mu Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. on Wednesday evening.

At the end of the program Cherrell Brown, chair of the sorority’s political awareness and involvement committee, asked how many of the college students were registered to vote. Virtually every hand went up, prompting applause from council members.

“Myth debunked,” Brown said. “Students are registered to vote.”

The university is located in District 2, and the three candidates for the seat – taking nothing for granted in the run-up to what is traditionally a low-turnout primary – engaged in a spirited debate to try to win the students’ vote. Challenger C. Bradley Hunt II, himself a student at A&T, and incumbent Jim Kee, an alum who serves on the university’s board of visitors, delivered particularly contentious challenges to one another’s character and record of leadership.

Kee discusses his ability to work with conservative council members on matters of common interest such as bringing a grocery store to east Greensboro. Hunt took advantage of the opening to attack.

“There are certain issues in the city that are not worth a compromise,” Hunt said. “When you talk about a landfill that’s going in your backyard, in a backyard where there’s 85 percent African Americans – environmental racism – when you have to deal with the stench and the rodents, the trucks going back and forth in your neighborhoods, we don’t need to compromise on those situations.

“Councilman Kee was willing to negotiate a landfill for economic development,” the challenger continued. “That’s not right. Not in District 2. If you elect me, I’ll give you a voice. I will tell them, ‘No, that’s wrong,’ and I will say it to the top of the Melvin Municipal Building. And let everyone in Greensboro know that it’s wrong. So no, my style of leadership is a fighter, and not a compromiser.”

Kee struck back.

“This young man here is distorting the facts,” he said. “And if you’ve got people that are running for city council that are going to lie to you before they get on council, imagine what they are going to do after they get on city council.”

The incumbent pulled out a June 2001 copy of the News & Record showing him addressing city council on the White Street Landfill.

“I was a community activist fighting to close the landfill,” Kee said. “You know, I was pretty angry then. As a matter of fact, a group that I helped form called Concerned Citizens of Northeast Greensboro is the organization that [got the landfill closed in 2006].”

Kee went on to say that he believed when he got elected and still believes that waste-to-energy technology is a viable alternative to landfilling.

“You call it a compromise,” Kee said. “But let me tell you about waste to energy. Waste to energy is a new technology that [converts trash] to electricity or diesel fuel. And it creates green jobs for Aggies, jobs that pay $50,000 or more. Now, my suggestion was that we form a public-private partnership with a company, the city of Greensboro and North Carolina A&T because A&T can acquire those $30- and $50 million energy grants that President Obama has put out so we can research alternative energy.”

Yvonne Johnson, an at-large candidate, reminded the audience that she had served on the council that made the decision to close the landfill in 2001. Mayoral candidates Robbie Perkins and Tom Phillips, and at-large candidate Nancy Vaughan were also part of that vote. Johnson said the Golden Leaf Foundation, on whose board she serves, gave A&T upwards of a million to research waste-to-energy technology.

“We need to go to waste to energy, but we don’t need to open the landfill to do that,” Johnson said. “We can do that someplace else. We can do it at the transfer station. And so the only thing I am hoping will happen with that landfill one day is that we will have the technology from North Carolina A&T State University to mine that landfill, environmentally safely mine it, and take all that crap out of it.”

Dianne Bellamy-Small, the incumbent in the District 1 race, was in rare form and good spirits. Challenger Donnell “DJ” Hardy, in contrast, took a subdued, low-key approach.

“There’s an African proverb that says, ‘The lion’s story will never be told as long as the hunter is telling it,’” Bellamy-Small said. “My leadership style is one of get it done. You’ve got to have someone on the council who is a grassroots-er, who gets out here in the community and who can very articulately talk about what’s happening. That’s me.”

The incumbent representative used an anecdote about her negotiations with Honda Aircraft Co. to illustrate her commitment to ensuring that people of color and women receive equal access to jobs.

“Every time a new business comes to us and wants an incentive, I ask, particularly when they talk about engineering jobs and that kind of stuff, I say, ‘Have you been over to A&T?’” Bellamy-Small recounted. “They’ll kind of fumble around…. ‘Well-uh-well-uh.’ ‘Have you been over to A&T? We’ve got engineering graduates over there.’ You saw on the paper how HondaJet – we’re waiting on them. When HondaJet came before us, I always ask, ‘How many minorities? How many women? And will you hire ex-offenders?’ The last time, HondaJet said, ‘Yes, we’ll hire them.’ You know how many they hired? Forty out of 550. You do the math. When they came this time, I said, ‘Something’s wrong with this picture.’ They said, ‘We’ll deal with it.’ So they thought behind closed doors they tried to answer my question. I asked in public, and the man said, ‘Oh, we talked about that in private.’ ‘Yeah, and I brought it up in public.’”

One of the students asked candidates how they planned to work with universities to bring jobs to Greensboro.

Robbie Perkins, one of two mayoral candidates who showed up at the forum, leaped form his seat.

“This is one of the great opportunities that we have in our city,” he said. “We’ve got 35,000 college students in our city and we need to keep more of them here, and the only way we’re going to keep them is create jobs. Now, one of the four critical clusters that has been identified by the business community is the nanotech-engineering cluster with the joint venture between A&T and UNCG over on East Lee Street. You’ve got a $21 million building that’s open, and we’ve got a $58.8 million building that should open in the next few weeks. And that’s going to be one of the leading sources of tech jobs in this region.”

Perkins went on to outline his vision for expanding the roadway network to create opportunities for economic growth in the area of the nanoscience campus.

“Now, I don’t think that that’s a big enough area over there to accommodate what I see as a large-growth industry,” Perkins said. “Councilwoman Dianne Bellamy-Small and I have been working for the last several years on the TAC, which is the Transportation Advisory Committee, that basically works on roads in this area. And we think it’s imperative that there’s a new road that’s going to run from that nanotech center north where that stop light hits Lee Street. And if you run it right, you can run it all the way to Penry Road where GTCC has their campus. And if you really want to expand the vision, you expand the vision from a 75-acre park that the university owns and that the nanotech buildings are being built on, you take everything from the east of that road out to our belt loop around the city, and you make that the research park of the future.”

Kee said he supports Perkins’ road proposal, but he would go a step further and extend the road to Cone Boulevard. That has been a politically sensitive initiative, considering that the proposed road would go past the White Street Landfill, and make reopening the landfill more politically palatable by relieving heavy truck traffic from residential neighborhoods. Greensboro voters supported a bond for the project, but the city has yet to issue the debt to finance the Cone Boulevard extension.

Bellamy-Small said she supports the strategy of creating jobs through nanoscience research, but argued the city needs to take a broad-based approach.

“There is no other kind of economic generator in Greensboro at this time that provides the kind of jobs, whether it’s part time,” she said. “I’m over at the coliseum. I was over at the aquatic center today swimming with the little children. We hire A&T students. We hire UNCG students. Yeah, the nanotechnology center is very important, but if you can get a part-time job or a full-time job, or if you can work the ACC, those are the kind of things that do put some money in your pocket.”

Hardy championed a more entrepreneurial approach.

“Portland, Oregon is what I would to model Greensboro after if I have the chance,” he said. “They go and find companies that are two and three big – two and three people in garage – who have a business plan and have something that can work and hire thousands. Out of 20 that they might fund, 15 of them might crash and burn. It’s those five that make it through that will make thousands of jobs.”

Kee went on the offensive against both of his challengers in the District 2 race on the topic of job creation. Kee criticized opponent Dan Fischer for his reservations about the Greensboro Coliseum’s operating deficit, arguing that the coliseum’s economic impact translates to a 100 to one return on the investment. Kee also ridiculed a statement by Hunt at a previous candidate forum acknowledging acknowledging that, in contrast to Kee, Hunt is not a business person.

“You don’t want a council person who’s not business astute,” Kee said.

Hunt hit back.

“You also don’t want a developer as a council member because this creates a conflict of interest,” he said. “Any time that you put development and business over people, it’s when you’re willing to compromise the White Street Landfill. No, I’m not a developer; I don’t think Councilman Kee is either.

“A&T has been around since 1891 and I haven’t seen too much or any economic development for students,” Hunt added. “If you elect me, one of your own, I will see to it that we get jobs.”

Several candidates responded to a question about how they see council working with college students.

“I just created the first ever internship program, where interns from A&T and Bennett College will intern for the city council, get paid for it, get experience, and have something to put on their resume,” Kee said. “That program just started – wasn’t it October 1st, Robbie? Robbie Perkins and I are funding the program.”

Jim Lewis, an activist with Conservatives for Guilford County had questioned whether the program was appropriate at a city council meeting the previous evening. Discussion about the program revealed that, in fact, the funding is coming out of council members’ travel budgets. District 5 Councilwoman Trudy Wade, part of the council’s conservative coalition, said that she, Mayor Bill Knight, at-large Councilman Danny Thompson, District 3 Councilman Zack Matheny and District 4 Councilwoman Mary Rakestraw, returned their share of the travel budget to the general fund, and that the money was reallocated to purchase reflective vests for community watch volunteers.

Tom Phillips, who is also running for mayor, went on the attack against Perkins, who is considered likely to make it through the primary with incumbent Bill Knight. Knight and two other mayoral candidates, Bradford Cone and Chris Phillips, did not attend the forum.

“I believe it’s going to require leadership coming in from outside the current council, because it’s become so divisive,” Tom Phillips said. “But unless you have a massive change on the council – and historically that has not happened; it may happen this time, but historically it hasn’t – unless we have a massive change, we’re going to have several people on the council who will not work with Robbie. So we’re going to have two more years of bickering.

“I also am retiring December 31st,” Phillips continued. “I can’t have any conflicts of interest on zoning cases, things of that nature. Mr. Perkins, being in the development industry, can’t help but have conflicts of interest, whether they’re real or perceived. Those are two the main differences between myself and my good friend, Robbie.”

After declaring his intention to withdraw from the race earlier in the day, at-large candidate Sal Leone resurfaced at the forum. The candidate went on the attack against conservative incumbents and their political philosophy, holding the floor for almost six minutes.

Leone charged that at-large Councilman Danny Thompson broke a promise to residents of east Greensboro when he said during the 2009 campaign that he was not in favor of reopening the White Street Landfill. The line of attack echoed a spirited statement by another at-large candidate, Marikay Abuzuaiter, a week earlier.

“He said he implemented a curfew, which is anti-conservative,” Thompson said. “But he took credit for it because it looked good. More lies. He’s not here because he can’t defend lies. What’s he going to say to you? He didn’t go to the Interactive Resource Center. Know why? There are poor people there. They don’t care. He’s not here because the conservatives think you won’t vote. That’s what they’re counting on. Bennett College, UNCG, A&T, GTCC – you guys have the power, and they know it.”

Bellamy-Small switches from mayor's race to District 1

As predicted, Dianne Bellamy-Small has switched from the mayor's race to District 1.

Bellamy-Small has represented District 1 since 2003, but as recently as yesterday, DJ Hardy was the only candidate in the race.

Bellamy-Small's decision to file for mayor had prompted intense speculation about her motives. Her decision to switch improves at-large Councilman Robbie Perkins' chances at unseating incumbent Bill Knight in the mayor's race.

Hardy notches endorsements from Coad and Sellars

Candidate DJ Hardy strategized with community leader Nettie Coad and communications director Kristen Jeffers last week.

The DJ Hardy campaign is announcing that the candidate has received the endorsements of Daron Sellars and Nettie Coad.

Hardy is the sole candidate for the District 1 seat on Greensboro City Council. The current representative, Dianne Bellamy-Small, has filed to run for mayor. Hardy thanked Bellamy-Small for her service in District 1 in a prepared statement today.

Sellars unsuccessfully challenged Bellamy-Small for the District 1 seat two years ago. Coad, a longtime community leader in Ole Asheboro, ran unsuccessfully in District 2 in 2009. Coad joined Hardy and a group of volunteers at the candidate's house last week to develop a community outreach strategy to reach voters in the district.

UPDATE: Sellars, who is the president and CEO of the National Association of Young Black Elected Officials, says, "DJ is an extremely intelligent, bright guy. He has great leadership, great vision. I think he will bring a new leadership style to District 1. He is aggressive and ambitious. He's passionate about his district. How do you not like DJ, you know?"

Sellars said his duties with the National Association of Young Black Elected Officials, which include organizing round tables at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte and Republican National Convention in Tampa next year, will keep him too busy to run for city council this year.

"Everybody that supported me I would like for them to support DJ," he said.

Bellamy-Small files to run for mayor of Greensboro

UPDATE 2: Robbie Perkins has officially filed.

"You have all kinds of feeling about things like that, but the mayor of the city of Greensboro is a very prestigious job and a lot of people would like the office," Perkins said when asked how it feels to be running against a longtime political ally. "I can’t really assess this particular filing. I do know that our campaign is up, we’re rolling and we're going to run hard between now and the primary, and hopefully now and election day."

UPDATE: Daniel McKelvey Jr., campaign manager for District 1 candidate Donnell Hardy, says Bellamy-Small's mayoral candidacy is "news to all of us." Bellamy-Small is the current occupant of the District 1 seat. The Hardy campaign was holding a press conference outside of the Old County Courthouse, and McKelvey said they saw Bellamy-Small go inside but assumed she was filing for the District 1 seat.

ORIGINAL POST: Dianne Bellamy-Small, a Greensboro City Council member who has publicly battled her conservative counterparts on the board, has filed to run for mayor. She currently represents District 1 in the southeast quadrant of the city.

Bellamy-Small is known as a maverick who charts her own course and surprises during the filing period in Guilford County politics are not uncommon. Bellamy-Small’s decision to enter the race is especially stunning considering that Robbie Perkins, a close ally on council, has made his intentions to run for mayor known for at least a year.

Bellamy-Small and Perkins frequently vote together, confer with each other during meetings and hold many of the same policy position. Both strongly oppose the reopening of the White Street Landfill and expressed disappointment with a series of events that led to the recent resignation of City Attorney J. Rita Danish. They would likely appeal to the same constituency and split each other’s vote.

“You’ve caught me speechless on this one,” Perkins said, when told about Bellamy-Small’s decision. “I’m going to have to call her and ask her: ‘What are you doing?’ I don’t even think the best prognosticator in the city could have predicted this one.”

Perkins said that he and Bellamy-Small were together on Friday for the grand opening of a new student apartment complex in College Hill, and she did not mention anything to him about running for mayor.

Bellamy-Small could not be reached for comment.

“My goal is to be mayor of this city and sell this community like no one has sold it in a long time, and to create jobs and tax base,” Perkins said. “All I know I know is that I’m running for mayor. Whoever wants to compete can file between now and Aug. 12.”

Tom Phillips, a former member of council who is an avowed conservative, filed this morning. Mayor Bill Knight, who is part of the current council’s ruling conservative faction, has also said he plans to seek reelection.

Other candidates who have officially declared since filing opened at noon today include Wayne Abraham and Cyndy Hayworth for at large, Donnell "DJ" Hardy for District 1 and Nancy Hoffmann for District 4.

District 2 constituents want rep to stand and fight against landfill

Untitled from Jordan Green on Vimeo.

District 2 Councilman Jim Kee told residents that the Greensboro City Council appears to have made the decision to reopen the White Street Landfill, and that he thinks it's important to make sure that people who live nearby don't suffer from noise pollution, heavy truck traffic and rodents as a result.

That didn't sit well with many constituents.

"My stand, and I'm sure everyone in the room's stance, is no compromise," Maurice Warren said, adding, "All that you're talking about is compromise."

One woman, exemplary of a spirit of resistance in the audience tonight at Laughlin Memorial United Methodist Church, said, "I marched in the streets in the sixties with Jesse. I will do it again."

Goldie Wells, who represented District 2 before retiring from council two years ago, promised opponents that pro bono legal counsel was preparing to file for an injunction to block the reopening of the landfill. Considerable discussion was held about an advertising campaign to publicize information about the landfill. One man, John Rick, handed over a check for $1,000. Wasif Qureshi of the Islamic Center of Greensboro, a neighboring mosque, pledged another $1,000 on behalf of his congregation.

"I think it has been established that the council the council has decided to go forward with the landfill," Wells said. "And our councilman has decided to make concessions on our behalf."

Then she asked if residents were willing to compromise. The answer was a resounding no.

While the narrow majority on council that favors reopening the landfill has offered no indication that they are willing to reconsider, opponents expressed equal resolution to fight the decision.

Marikay Abuzuaiter, a member of the Greensboro Human Relations Commission, said expects that an ad hoc committee of the commission will have a resolution in opposition to the landfill on the agenda for the city council's next meeting.

Dianne Bellamy-Small, who represents District 1, said she so objected to Mayor Bill Knight's threat to clear council chambers of people disrupted the meeting that she was prepared to be the first to be arrested.

She said she is pressuring the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce to take a stand against the landfill.

"I just got a phone call from them saying they want us to save their 10 percent in the budget," Bellamy-Small said. "I ain't hearing them because they ain't hearing me."

Kee said in defense of the Greensboro Partnership, which closely coordinates with the chamber, that he met with them twice and at the time they were interested in vetting a number of alternative technology approaches. Now that the council has narrowed the options to two companies proposing to reopen the landfill, Kee said it would be good to get the partnership and the chamber to take a stand.

ADDENDUM: One thing the landfill opponents would like to accomplish with an ad buy is to challenge the notion that the landfill was there before the resident were, and with it notion that the siting of the landfill was and is about race. That perspective gained currency with a 2009 opinion column by the News & Record's Allen Johnson describing how he moved into neighboring Woodmere Park as a child with his family in 1968 when it was still predominantly white.

Supporting the assertion that the people came before the landfill, Wells said tonight that the Neal family, which is black, lived in the area as far back as the 1880s, and that some members of the family sold off some of their property to the city for the landfill. The Neals, one of whom spoke at a rally held recently at the landfill, are the namesake of Nealtown Road and the Nealtown Farms community.

New entrants in Greensboro City Council election

DJ Hardy has apparently announced plans to run for Greensboro City Council in District 1. The seat is currently occupied by Dianne Bellamy-Small.

Another new candidate for city council is Chris Lawyer, who is running at large.

Filing begins in July. The primary election is scheduled for October, and the general election takes place on the first Tuesday in November.

Redistricting game: Enter Bellamy-Small

District 1 Councilwoman Dianne Bellamy-Small offers a competing redistricting plan to one unveiled by District 4 Councilwoman Mary Rakestraw on Friday.

The Bellamy-Small plan:


Compared to the Rakestraw plan, which moves 11 precincts and a total of 32,037 registered voters to reduce the variance between the largest and smallest district to 7.0 percent, Bellamy-Small's plan would move one precinct and a total of 2,199 voters to achieve a variance of 5.3 percent.


The plan proposes to move Precinct 62, bounded by Interstate 40, Stanley Road, Hilltop Road and the railroad, from District 5 to District 4.

One clear drawback to the Bellamy-Small plan: It would make the already serpentine District 5 even less compact. I've noted in previous posts that the council could also switch Precinct FR3, with 2,137 voters in the Cardinal, from District 5 to District 4 to achieve almost exactly the same outcome. Both this plan and the one proposed by Bellamy-Small would reduce the variance to 5.3 percent.

Bellamy-Small responds to Rhino portrayal of GSO district funding

Greensboro District 1 Councilwoman Dianne Bellamy-Small responds to a story in last week's issue of the Rhinoceros Times that was prompted by a request by her colleague, District 5 Councilwoman Trudy Wade, for a breakdown of city spending on capital investment project spending by district.

Bellamy-Small has never enjoyed a comfortable relationship with the press, and her response was given in the form of a written statement handed out at the end of tonight's council meeting:

It is irresponsible to attempt to pit one district against the other because, in fact, our true role as representatives of the people of Greensboro is to foster a city of common ground, common need and common well-being. We will only achieve this by working together instead of being at odds with each other.

John Hammer's story in the Rhino is explicitly framed as a retort to Bellamy-Small:

"East Greensboro doesn't get anything" is a mantra that is repeated at City Council meeting after City Council meeting.

District 1 Councilmember Dianne Bellamy-Small brings it up all the time. And District 2 Councilmember Jim Kee joins in the chorus, but not as often or as loudly as former District 2 City Councilmember Goldie Wells did when she was on the council. Representatives of the Concerned Citizens of Northeast Greensboro often repeat the same theme during speakers from the floor.

Wade has not responded to requests from YES! Weekly for comment on her request for data, but the Rhino's John Hammer characterizes her motives without quoting her directly:

District 5 City Councilmember Trudy Wade finally got tired of all the rhetoric and asked the city staff for some facts on how much money the city spends on each council district and how much the city receives in property taxes from each district.

Based on his analysis of data provided by city staff, Hammer concludes that the city has spent three times as much on infrastructure in District 1 over the past 10 years as in District 5. An analysis by YES! Weekly in tomorrow's paper arrives at quite a different conclusion.

Bellamy-Small proposes in a white paper distributed to the press that the city implement a "community indicators system" to gauge equity in development, taking a page out of the Connections 2025 Comprehensive Plan, which calls for the creation of "an ongoing housing and neighborhood condition monitoring strategy."

From Bellamy-Small's "Greensboro Indicators White Paper":

A community indicators system would have numerous benefits for Greensboro, including:

* Help identify neighborhoods or areas that are most in need of enhanced city services, additional or upgraded city facilities, neighborhood or area planning assistance:
* Provide city staff with required data for grant applications;
* Help city council members better understand conditions affecting their constituents;
* Provide data for the next update to Connections 2025 and other long-range plans;
* Help guide development of the city's budget and capital improvement program; and
* Monitor progress in implementing goals and policies of adopted plans.

A personal note: Speaking as both a citizen and a journalist -- and as someone who lives in District 3, works in District 5 and whose wife has family in District 1 -- I can think of no more vital question than the one that is implicit in Wade's request: How is taxpayer money spent and to whose benefit? I hope an open and constructive conversation can take place around this question -- one that includes Wade's full participation.

Loan program at heart of weatherization controversy

The Greensboro City Council voted 6-3 on Tuesday to accept $5 million in federal stimulus funds for weatherizing buildings reflected. Some members such as District Councilman Zack Matheny and District 4 Councilwoman Mary Rakestraw signed on with strong reservations that the money wouldn’t reach its target demographic of the poor and old.

“I don’t fundamentally agree with this,” Matheny said before reluctantly agreeing to vote to accept the funding. “I don’t fundamentally agree with the money not going directly to the poor, the needy and the elderly.”

At-large Councilman Danny Thompson, who voted against the funding, expressed even graver reservations.

“If even a dollar of the ten dollars would actually go to service and labor to the people who need it, I would support it wholeheartedly. It’s like bailing out our financial institutions. It’s not like Washington, DC had $5 million that they found under the seat cushion.”

Most of the debate centered on $2.3 million — not quite half of the allocation — designated for “contracted construction,” or “actual building retrofit work,” estimated to range from $2,000 to $10,000 for single family homes or upwards of $50,000 for multi-family residential, commercial and institutional buildings.

A Sept. 28 memo drafted by community sustainability manager Dan Curry states that “because of the 5 to 1 leverage requirement imposed by the Dept. of Energy, a large portion of the $2,291,963 of BetterBuildings grant funds allocated for construction are likely to be used as a loan loss reserve fund with a lender or pool of lenders. In this way the grant funds will leverage a much larger pool of below-market funding available to property owners who choose to undertake energy efficient upgrades.”

Some council members questioned whether poor people who wanted their houses weatherized would end up trapped in loans they couldn’t afford to pay.

Assistant City Manager Denise Turner acknowledged, “The loan portion of the program is not for poor people.” Turner added, “The great thing about this is its one of the few programs that actually benefits businesses.”

District 5 Councilwoman Trudy Wade, who also voted against the funding, said, “There seems to be a misconception that this is going to help poor people. It’s going to help businesses, landlords and consultants.”

The program offers modest services free of charge to low-income homeowners. According to a recent memo drafted by Turner, a number of items would be installed at no cost during an initial outreach visit, including CFL light bulbs, water-saving faucet aerators, programmable thermostats and HVAC filters.

Turner told council members that the program would not work directly with homeowners, but rather would engage a number of partner organizations to undertake the work. Among the organizations that have expressed interest in collaborating with the city to implement the program are Habitat for Humanity, Housing Greensboro and Affordable Housing Management. According to the Turner memo, Habitat for Humanity “is interested in working with their roughly 200 homes built pre-2003 to determine potential utility cost savings for their property owners,” Housing Greensboro “has set a goal of repairing 100 homes in 2011,” and Affordable Housing Management “has indicated they have 81 rental units undergoing rehabilitation where they would like to partner with the city in making them more energy efficient.”

The memo also indicates that households under 200 percent of the area poverty level already have the opportunity to have homes weatherized at no cost through the State Weatherization Assistance Program, which plans to retrofit 600 homes in the Greensboro area.

A parade of speakers urged council to approve the funding, and representatives of the Greensboro Community Sustainability Council and the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress said their respective organizations had passed resolutions of support.

Former Mayor Yvonne Johnson told the council: “I ask you to consider keeping this money so that many of our low-income residents can have some cost savings and comfort.”

Katie Scherzer, who spoke to council, elaborated on that theme.

“I’d like to ask each council member to raise their hand if they turned up their heat on one of these cold nights recently without giving it a second thought,” she said. “The majority of our elderly and poor can’t have that luxury of turning on their energy and heat. I know the majority of them are sitting in their homes in jackets and sitting on their hands. When we’re giving this money, we’re giving it back to them in savings on their heating bills. We’re not likely to get another chance to do this.”

District 1 Councilwoman Dianne Bellamy-Small drew from Holy Scripture in an attempt to win over her skeptical colleagues.

“This is akin to two fish and five loaves — what we call leveraging,” she said. “If a long time ago a dude cold take two fish and five loaves and leverage it to feed all those people, we ought to be able to take $5 million and make it $25 million.”

Mayor to push speakers from the floor back

Greensboro Mayor Bill Knight said during a city council briefing today that at the council's next meeting on Jan. 19 he plans to begin scheduling speakers from the floor at a time near the end of the meeting. Currently, speakers from the floor is the sixth item, after resolutions and before public hearing items. Knight said he will have speakers from the floor address the council after public hearing items and business items.

"The speakers from the floor will have ample time," Knight said. "This gives them time to go home and get dinner."

District 1 Councilwoman Dianne Bellamy-Small predicted the move will not go over well with citizens, noting that many of those who address council are elderly people who make their presentation and then go home.

"I think the message is going to be that you don't want to hear from them," she said.

District 3 Councilman Zack Matheny and District 5 Councilwoman Trudy Wade said they support the mayor's decision.

"Some of the folks that are going to speak from the floor might have to wait for awhile, but unfortunately people who have business have to wait until 11 o'clock," Matheny said. "We've got to get back to doing the business of the city."

Sausage making

After the Greensboro City Council's 5-4 vote to approve the aquatic center took place last night, at-large Councilman Robbie Perkins stationed himself outside the door to accept the thanks of members of the swim community. District 1 Councilwoman Dianne Bellamy-Small, who was critical of the council's decision to transfer the aquatic center from the auspices of the parks and recreation department to the Greensboro Coliseum, pulled him aside.

"Now you've got to do something for me," she said.

I asked Perkins this morning what their conversation was all about.

"We are exploring an idea that she has for another program," he wrote from his BlackBerry. "Hard to say whether it is feasible at this point."

What kind of program?

"Youth center."

UPDATE: Bellamy-Small elaborates in a phone interview today.

She says she would like the city to consider purchasing the YWCA building so that the city would own all the properties on the block bounded by Davie Street, Church Street and Friendly Avenue. The city could consolidate all of its youth programs under one roof.

Those include Greensboro Youth Council, the human relations department's youth leadership program and the Folk Teen Center.

"The Folk Teen Center is not a destination," Bellamy Small said. Moving the teen center downtown could spur economic investment by creating an opportunity for a fast-food restaurant to open on Church Street, she added.

Whether the community will enjoy access to the newly approved Aquatic Center has been a point of contention. Bellamy-Small said the YWCA has a pool that "is still in excellent working order."

"That would enhance our inventory of indoor swimming facilities that we control," she said.

Of the current council members, Bellamy-Small said the only one she has discussed the idea with is Perkins.

"I need to find out if this present council would like to see if it would be put into some budget considerations this next year," she said. "The first thing is to see if we can acquire the property."

The councilwoman added that she has heard the property is worth anywhere from $1.5 million to $3 million.