Now that the filing is over for the fall elections in Greensboro , we now have a new member to add to the list of candidates who need to get off Greensboro City Council or not even get elected to council at all for a myriad of reasons with the main one being the total conflicts of having people assosciated with the development industry and the influence on council.The newest member of this "Dump The Developer" bunch is Jim Kee who is running in District #2 to replace Goldie Wells.
Here is what was reported on the Yes Weekly! blog post CLICKHERE here is a part of the post
"And, according to a blurb in his kickoff program, he has the support of Henry Isaacson, the dean of real estate and development lawyers in Greensboro. Isaacson argues rezoning cases on behalf of developers, who make significant campaign contributions to council members considered friendly to their interests."
It is very disturbing to see Henry Isaacson in support of candidates and giving campaign money to candidates when we all know that he comes in front of council on numerous occasions to rezone cases all over the city and with all the ethical lapse of judgement in the past few weeks with the mayor and local developer Roy Carroll guess who is his main lawyer on zoning issues for Roy Carroll none other than Henry Isaacson.
Call me out for this but there should be a state campaign law that if you have to come in front of any municipality for a quasi judicial setting like a zoning case, that if you have given money to any candidate than each council member who did get money from the applicant or the lawyers for either side then they need to recuse themselves. This would stop the Henry Isaacson's of the world from giving money to the candidates and the council would actually look at each case for the merits.
The other 3 candidates in sitting council members Sandra Anderson Groat, Robbie Perkins and Zack Matheny are also on the list of dumping the developers.
If you would like to see how the whole make up of the Greensboro City Council is beholden to the development industry or as we call them around here TREBIC which is the Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition(TREBIC) all you need to do is go to this blog called Protest Petitions for Greensboro CLICKHERE .This blog is full of information on where the citizens of Greensboro came together to fight to restore a state law that every other municipality in this state had the right to use in zoning cases but not Greensboro , they were exempted .
Also one city council candidate with one of her main reasons for wanting to get back on the Greensboro City Council was the waffling on Greensboro City Council on bringing back Protest Petitions to Greensboro, here is that post CLICKHERE
After witnessing and being a part of a great contingent of people who restored Protest Petitions to Greensboro . To see the council want to compromise with TREBIC and state law was absurd and stupid on their part because they got exposed for all the citizens of Greensboro to see.
The Greensboro City Council did vote 9-0 to restore Protest Petitions to Greensboro but they all knew that if they didn't vote for this bill on the state level they might go ahead and not want to run for election this fall because a lot of citizens would have reminded each one that they chose the special interest group over the citizens of Greensboro.
It will be good to keep this up as a campaign issue as well because lately we have seen undo influence from one developer in Roy Carroll wanting to fly elected officials to D.C. and who knows what else the TREBIC's want in this city and county or how many more TREBIC members will be appointed to a board or commission.This week we will see the new manual of the Greensboro Land Development Ordinance rewrite with plenty of influence from the TREBIC's of this county, a new post on this to come so that we all can be reminded again who had the influence on this rewrite.
So in conclusion we have a new member of the "DUMP THE DEVELOPER " on Greensboro City Council elections for fall 2009 in Jim Kee who is running in district #2 with a cast of other members to dump as well in Sandra Anderson Groat, Zack Matheny and Robbie Perkins.
This is the time for a huge change on council and to get out the vote.
46 comments:
You can thank the 1990's developers on City Council for the Randleman Dam Scam! Names like Perkins and Grubar come to mind. Randleman's water was wanted for GROWTH, not survival as Greensboro would have you think.
Google just two words--dam scam--to learn about Greensboro water fraud.
thanks Mike for this comment. It was always interesting to note that the guilford mills was one of the biggest users of water and where did all that demand for water go once they were not here as a company.
By your logic, everyone who donates money to a presidential candidate or any other public office should not be able to have a voice of influence. Is this what you want? It cost to run an election. Do you not lend an ear to those who support you? If we were to only use information supplied to us by those who have zero interest in what we as individuals choose to do,then we would rely only on information contrary to what we believe. It is important to have information from all sides, those in support and those in opposition. Everyone has an interest in supporting someone who has the same beliefs as them. That's democracy. You need to review the state board of ethics statutes. Believe it or not, they are not ignorant to the fact that public positions are impossible without the support of private funding. Therefore, they have created a nice set of rules that govern monetary contributions. How can you blame any developer or any individual for doing all he can to advance his interest, which are shared by, believe it or not, many people. Greensboro was a dump six years ago. Thanks to those developers and individuals who influenced the city and other developers to invest in our downtown and elsewhere. Continue the good work. There will always be bloggers with have the facts making ludicrous cries demonstrating they lack a real understanding of government. When you, dear author, figure out that it really is all about influence, how you choose to use it, and how little you have, perhaps you'll get your checkbook out and support a cause that your elected officials stand behind. You also fail to mention that those checks are not for specific expenditures (See NC Gen Stat. Campaign Contributions). Rather, they are given in support of the politicians platform. The politician still has the ultimate decision. Personally, I hope the check I wrote will help my politician serve me and you and everyone else better. And if they do, I'll write em' another one next year, because I can.
anon,
go ask action greensboro how was that $5,000 donation to the simkins pac doing.
So with your logic it must be a pay to play atmosphere for influence in guilford county.
I'd rather avoid the veil misconception and acknowledge that it most definitely is a pay to play arena: in GSO and in every corner of this earth. Get real. If you lack funding, you better make it up with bodies. Let's be honest, the more you contribute to a city's economic well-being, the more a public official is going to want to keep you around. I make so darn little that I hardly pay taxes. Do you think the mayor gives two flips about my opinion? No. But I bet she will when I storm up the steps with 100 folks. But I'm not going to waste my time garnering up 100 folks. That's your job, triad. I'll take my chances at the poker table, where I "pay to play". Hopefully, I'll hit that royal flush someday. When I do, I'll be sure to use my money bags to influence the city council in hopes they'll advocate my view and anyone else who shares it-even you. Anyone who tells you it's not about money, has too much of it. Our belief is, however, that the city is working to procure money for us. Isn't that why we elect our official? So they create an environment that's vibrant and successful. -There ain't no free lunch or spot at the table - poker or city council - here, or anywhere else.
all right anon your new name is mini melvin fof this blog
Great argument Keith. I hereby rename your article, "Operation 'Dump the Truth Out The Window' Has a New Member -- Keith Brown". Stop dodging a response to my (Anon) post? If this whole Blog thing doesn’t work out, you should consider being a Politician. Your new name is Keith “BAILOUT” Brown. It’s good to know that if you were to ever face a tough question in public you’d dodge it and call the concerned inquirer an “ass” or "mini". Calling people callous names is not a very good way to get your point across. Seems a bit weak and childish. Answer me this, why do you use the words "undue influence"? Please explain.
anon then why don't you come out of hiding mini melvin
Does anyone else have a problem with triadwatch bashing these lawyers and one else that has to appear in front of a public board? Lawyers advocate another's ideas. I would love to see triad in front of the council, calling everyone assholes and mini mayors when they ask him why he supports what he does. People like the Issacsons save the world from having to hear people like you from speak publicly. The council respects him and he appears to be good at what he does. Recused for contributing, huh? Almost every person in the country would be recused from appearing in front of a judicial/quasi judicial body if you were in charge. Public officials are our employees. They work for us. We pay their salary. We have a right to influence them. It is their duty to see that our interest are met, or we oust them. Special interest groups, like your petition, are essential to getting the word out the legislators. How do they get paid: Taxes. Taxes come from private individuals and businesses. How do they get elected? Contributions from private individuals and, in some cases, the public (which is really tax dollars from private individuals and businesses....). If you are a member of a political party (and especially check that box on your tax return to donate a buck or two to your party), you contribute money to candidates. You've got it all wrong. Those that can't afford to contribute money, support and influence candidates to legislate in their favor in many other ways - like volunteering, non profits, or writing a blog!
Your right mikey. Triadwatch, you should be careful what you wish for. Sounds like you would like hitler to run things for. There'd be no outside influence because all opposition would be dead.
You are exactly right mikey in that people have the right to express their opinions in any way shape or form and i do that by having a blog and talking about it.There is a lot of information that you will not see on news 2 or fox 8 or in news and record or in the weekly's like yes and rhino. Some of us like to talk about different aspects of government.
WHo do you think brought up the ethical lapses of judgement of the mayor taking a local developers plane trip to D.C. it was the ed cone's blog with a post and triadwatch with a post as well around a hour later. Someone got to the mayor about this trip and someone in the attorneys office sure did find out.
How about the $5,000 illegal contribution to the political action committee simkins pac from a non profit in action greensboro. This was brought to the attention of the state by this blog.
here is the link to that story
ILLEGALCONTRIBUTION</A
I agree that you were king reporter for a day (even though it was an hour after Cone), but there is another side to every coin. You conclude too quickly. Yes, you can express yourself, but when your wrong expect to get called out on it and be a little less adolescent about making mistakes. I could understand if you misunderstand, but you just go out of your way to hide the other side. Like, by not acknowledging that UNC lawyers agreed there was nothing wrong with the plane ride and or public/private relationships and you didn't mention that the 5k was a prohibited receipt and not criminal or that action/pac had nothing to hide and acknowledged the ordeal. You also don't note that the cause was rather worthy. Its not like the council was flying down to argentina for some hooker. they were trying to bring us 15 million dollars for an education building. We all had an interest in that.
FYI: There is no "lax reporting", triad. The funds were reported.
Good article, Keith. What is this Greensboro Land Development Ordinance rewrite and what's the deal there? Seems to me that it has something to do with the land swapping deal you were talking about in your other post. Why haven't we heard about it earlier?
i am not here to play both sides it is my opinion on triadwatch.
I personally sent a e-mail to fleming bell and said that he was flat wrong on the ethical aspects of this issue. You can't be having a local developer who comes in front of council for plenty of reasons and who has been given tax icentives from all the residents of this county flying elected leaders to D.C. and how about a court case where as we speak both roy carroll and the city of greensboro are defendents in a court case brought on by Kotis Properties with a dispute off of horsepen creek road.
Mikey they all could have gone on the trip to D.C. but not with elected leaders on the plane as you probably know every single council member and commissioner has a travel budget. They didn't have to cancel the trip all they had to do is find a different avenue to have the elected officials get there and not on a local developers plane. It seems like they took the advice of terry wood the city attorney instead of the folks at UNC school of government.
I took the ethical aspects on this blog, ed just reported that they were going to fly to D.C.
There is pending legislation that will cover the ethical aspects of city and county government that
anon if you want to see lax reporting then please check out 2007 year end from Mayor Johnson and while you are at it look at local politicians who had to amend their returns, paul gibson, skip alston, larry proctor and the mayor.
You will probably see more amending come fall
Alan,
the new land development ordinance committee where 8 out of 14 members are from trebic started back in 2005 to rewrite the land development ordinances for the city of greensboro.Every single home will get a new classification in the zoning process . It is very technical but going to the meeting was very helpful it is hard to put in to words what they all explained .
the first community meeting to get a overall picture was last night at leonard rec center. I was there to see the overall aspect of this and the one thing that jumped out was the Neighborhood communication summary , this is the guidlines for notifying the neighbors when zoning issues come before the city and the process.
This process was heavily slanted to the special interest to keep business as usual. I am sure once the citizens see this part of the land development ordinance rewrite they will not be happy one bit and heard that the greensboro neighborhood congress is already aware of this.
Will post about this in a upcoming blog with the scanned in copy of section 30-4-1.2
Anyone could have gotten the tax incentives Center Pointe got. The building had to meet strict requirements outlined in the Urban Development Investment Guidelines, Keith. Anyone can still get the same incentives that project got. The incentives are open to whatever building/project can qualify.
The new zoning ordinance on the table is an overlay. Don't say its slanted. You can't even explain it! You hope that it is slanted so you'll have something to write about. If you read it you would realize that, compared to what we have now, it's an awful lot more regulation on development.
don't say it is slanted when 8 out of 14 of the land development ordinance committee maybe even more if you add gary hill to the mix are all members of trebic, yea right.
What! its not! Demonstrate it. I challenge you too. It disfavors development. Just read the news and record and all your blogger friends. Your saying that the citizens aren't going to favor it, Well guess what? None of Trebic favors it either. Just read their website and all the press. You have to read the damn law before you say its slanted! the committee only made recommendations. The public was involved at several citizen meetings. Your late to the table.
Operation dump this blog.
And what is with those terrible videos at the top of the screen?
No one want citizens like you sitting on the committee responsible for making recommendations to the City regarding drafting zoning/development laws. You gotta ask the people who are experienced. Trebic has a ton of companies as members. So you can't say 8 of 14 is slanted when Trebic makes up nearly the entire industry. The point is that Trebic represents getting the development industry together to and working as a team with the city, with the people, etc. They know their clients well. That's us. If they build crap, we don't live in it. They've done pretty damn good though.
Yes, they have. Every organization is going to run into problems, like whimpering from Keith, now and again, but they have achieved getting together to work with the city. When it comes down to it, I think that you should be able to do whatever you so please with your own property, and that's your absolute right except with what zoning classification you are. So, the fact that they make any arrangements with the city is fairly nice. Center Pointe for instance is nice having open. He did a real good job turning that around from a dump to nice place. He probably got that tax cut cause no one else wanted to do it or could make any money from it, well for a long time at least. I have been here for over 15 years and as for as i can remember that building was vacant. Shoot, he could of built a giant middle finger building if wanted but he did real good.
I was at the last LDO meeting and did not hear anything about any special interest "slant". You hear what you want. Rather, the city is seeking to increase the notice requirements that the city must provide after a property submits a request to rezone/amend/vary the comprehensive plan. As I see it, a developer, as keith makes them out to be, would want things to move as quickly as possible because time is money. However, even though the draft notice requirements are more strict, all the developers whom I spoke with and heard, actually liked it. They all said that the city has tried to 'legislate' by night as one said and slip new zoning regs in books under everyones nose. What you don't understand keith is that what is good for citizens is good for developers and vice versa. We've got to rely on someone to bring in cash to our city. I think its been definitively proven that we can't rely on you for that, nor do you have any better idea. Why not let the one's who've made good progress thus far continue on?
Operation Truth Dumpster
Amended tax return, means 'amended tax return' and nothing else. It doesn't mean tax evasion, which would be criminal. Nor does it mean lax reporting. You wouldn't know that though, keith because you don't pay taxes! Lot's of people amend their taxes. Usually, when you have a business and or make more than minimum wage, taxes get fairly complicated especially when you get into the capital gains/losses, business expenses/deductions, etc. The IRS and state government recognize this and allow you to amend if you find a valuation mistake (or anyone else like yourself breaks the big 5k conspiracy). It's really no big deal at all. Sorry to foil your plans for the next conspiracy theory.
Top Ten Facts about Amended Returns
IRS Tax Tip 2009-71
Taxpayers who need to make a change or adjustment on a return they already filed can do so by filing an amended return. Here are the top 10 things every taxpayer should know about amending your federal tax return.
1. Taxpayers needing to amend their return use Form 1040X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.
2. Taxpayers can use Form 1040X to correct previously filed Forms 1040, 1040A or 1040EZ. The 1040X can also be used to correct a return filed electronically.
3. Taxpayers should file an amended return if they discover any of the following items were reported incorrectly: filing status, dependents, total income, deductions or credits.
4. Generally, you do not need to file an amended return for math errors as the IRS will be able to make the correction for you.
5. You also do not usually need to file an amended return because you forgot to include forms – such as W-2s or schedules – when you filed; the IRS normally requests those forms from you.
6. Be sure to enter the year of the return you are amending at the top of Form 1040X. Generally, you must file Form 1040X within three years from the date you filed your original return or within two years from the date you paid the tax, whichever is later.
7. If you are amending more than one tax return, prepare a 1040X for each return and mail them in separate envelopes to the IRS processing center for the area in which you live. The 1040X instructions list the addresses for the centers.
8. If the changes involve another schedule or form, attach it to the 1040X.
9. If you are filing to claim an additional refund, wait until you have received your original refund before filing Form 1040X. You may cash that check while waiting for any additional refund.
10. If you owe additional tax for 2008, you should file Form 1040X and pay the tax as soon as possible to limit interest and penalty charges. Interest is charged on any tax not paid by the due date of the original return, without regard to extensions.
NC has almost, verbatim, the same regs. You should read the IRS code. Then come back and report to us on it. Accountants and lawyers still don't understand it. Its awful. So, your big "5K Foil" was no big deal. Those letters are a dime a dozen. Improper deduction and contribution by unauthorized organization is an everyday occurrence. Campaign finance is just about as tricky as the IRS, and intertwined. No big conspiracy there, just a letter and 5k less going to a great african american committee that does good for our city. - but who cares right?
Yeah, but still shady.
Keith, keep doing what you are doing! Apparently you got them where it hurts! If you were not right they would not get bent out of shape like this. You have the courage to stand behind your words. These folks ("Elite"s) hide behind "anonymous" "greengrl" (must bee Marleen)"Angel" etc!
Anon, everyone here has asked Keith great questions, to which he has responeded with hate. When he tried to respond otherwise, he was flat wrong. Your hiding just like everyone else.
Keith, in your profile and other blog, you call your neighborhood a great place. Who built Sutton Place? A developer!
Elites? No, just people who appreciate good growth that makes a vibrant place as well as the process that it takes to achieve that.
here is the deal ,i am not going to comment when people start saying stuff like this
"You need to get laid!"
or
"Not only are you pathetic, but you're retarded!"
and angel gets in to the act as well with this
"Hey, greengirl, maybe caroll will fly keith to argentina and get him a hooker."
It is uncalled for and i am sorry for telling you to f yourself but calling people the R word is pathetic.
WHen the comment road goes to this level. Wonder why people moderate their comments in the blogosphere,
I am a free speech kind of person with no moderation but if you see comments like this than it might just happen.
Triad, your comments are worse than anyone else's! How dare you stab at your readers the way you do, then get upset when they do it back! Mini Man.
Maybe if you wouldn't write such outlandish BS with nothing to back it up, you wouldn't get the response you do.
This is why Bloggers should be outlawed!
http://greensboro.rhinotimes.com/Articles-i-2009-07-02-197229.112113_Buzz_Gets_Louder_To_Ditch_Design_Manual.html
The City will hold a community meeting to get public input on the draft Land Development Ordinance (LDO). The meeting will take place Thursday, July 30, from 6-8 pm in the Continuing Education Center Building, Room 152, on GTCC's Greensboro campus, 3505 E. Wendover Ave. For more information, call the Planning Department at 373-2144.
The draft LDO, which is the result of more than four years of work by City staff and the city manager-appointed Citizens’ Advisory Team, will serve as the source for standards and regulations related to land-use and development in the city.
"The draft LDO, which is the result of more than four years of work by City staff and the city manager-appointed Citizens’ Advisory Team, will serve as the source for standards and regulations related to land-use and development in the city." -triad/keith
This comment looks exactly like Ryan Shell's - candidate for city council. What's going on here? Are you in his pocket! Conspiracy! Poor Ryan Shell- I'm sorry your name is now attached to Keith doo doo Brown's.
His states, " The draft LDO, which is the result of more than four years of work by City staff and the city manager-appointed Citizens’ Advisory Team, will serve as the source for standards and regulations related to land-use and development in the city."
Your nothing but a plagerizer!
it was from a public document and yep i sure did take the post down because i can
Take the posts down, but with it comes your credibility and dignity.
i am fine with my credibility and dignity is intact as well.
You are, but the rest of the world isn't, save maybe Fecund Stench. You have taken down alot of good posts with the bad. Why? What is your policy on freedom of speech.
my policy is that this is my blog and i can do whatever i want to, leave up or take down post it is my call.
Post a Comment