Latest Local Linkfest: Guarino, A Priori Concepts, Ed Cone, Spag, Roch, Jordan Green and Scott Yost

Melderec Forces Challenged by Conservative Wing of City Council at Greensboro Partnership Meeting
Guarino
The comment thread gets into some deep conspiracy at the end.

Teacher layoffs and closed libraries in Char/Meck
A Priori Concepts

As Greensboro suggests a tax cut while borrowing more money.

Downtown Bonds
Ed Cone

Downtown Hotel Not Such A Good Idea
Spag

Greensboro moves to accommodate greater transparency
Roch

Insights gleaned from Triad transportation summit
Toll roads are always on the table, When Dianne calls, Robbie answers, Financing of Greensboro Loop, Dwindling revenues
Jordan Green
Yes Weekly

Colossal Costs To Run BJ's Bed & Breakfast
Scott D. Yost
Rhino

Why are free meals out of bounds for ABC managers but free tickets to the Circus OK for City Council Members?

ALE investigating Greensboro ABC
Mark Binker
Greensboro News and Record

If Matt Brown underestimated the costs of the Coliseum amphitheater to begin construction without having to get permission…?

Free Tickets To The Circus Handed Out By Greensboro City Council Members, Is This Legal or Ethical or Conflict of Interest?

Why would the Rhino Times, which receives ad revenue from the Coliseum, explain a free ACC ticket issue with a caveat?

Greensboro and Guilford County Information Requests Emailed February 24, 2010

Why would the City of Greensboro respond to an information request by not asking Council Members whether or not they recieved free passes?

Greensboro City Council Personal E Mails Now Directed to a City Account from CIty Manager,Let The Transparency In

On March 19, 2010 Greensboro City Manager Rashad Young sent out a memo to the Greensboro City Council members in regards to e mail accounts and how business is done with the local politicians. Here is what was in the memo .

"Council Personal Emails
 Recently Council has received multiple request for city related emails that are from Council's personal email accounts. We have created an email account named Council_Public Emails. This account was created for your convenience. If you choose to use your personal email account, please forward city business related emails to this address:  CPE@greensboro-nc.gov "


This is great news to see the City Manager take this step in more transparency in local government. It seems like this move was in regards to request from Kotis Propereties to get emails and text messages from Greensboro City Council members because as we have seen in the past where City Council Member Robbie Perkins was text messaging his developer side kick from the council chambers while the council meeting was going on.. We also had Greensboro City Council member Trudy Wade bust out on Greensboro City Council member Zack Matheny for text messaging Ex City Council Member Tom Phillips during a council meeting so that Zack Matheny can get his marching orders from Tom Phillips.These are just a few examples of what is going on locally but need to be more transparent.

It will be interesting to see just how many Greensboro City Council members comply with this new program and if they will start forwarding all city business from their personal accounts to this new e mail. Time for a weekly or monthly access to this email to see who is complying with this memo from the city manager.

While writing this post HAT TIP: Sue's Place CLICKHERE  , who found a great link to what is going on in California, where San Jose City Council is making council meetings not have any electronic devices during a meeting or if they do use their electronic device then they need to disclose who is talking to them during council meetings because public record is a public record and receiving messages during a public meeting is fair game for wanting to know who is talking to council members during this time.

Also sue has a link to the Washington Post with a title "Lawmakers Want To Limit TXT Msgs and E-Mails"
CLICKHERE

Here is a small segment of this post.

"It was enacted months after a series of articles in the San Jose Mercury News last summer called attention to how text messaging between council members and lobbyists skirted the city's promises of open-government reform.



The law also took a lawsuit from an environmental group, which cited the California Public Records Act in suing the mayor and council for refusing to produce e-mails, text messages and other electronic communications about city business from officials' personal cell phones or other devices".


I hope this local memo from the Greensboro City Manager Rashad Young will be a part of every city , county and state law in the State of North Carolina. Also take what the San Jose City did as well to further make transparency in local government a reality.

Sunlight Foundation local spotlight post on this topic above CLICKHERE

How could some describe leaders facing a deficit who simultaneously suggest a tax cut while borrowing to build a swimming pool?

The power of accurate observation is frequently called cynicism

by those who don't have it

George Bernard Shaw

Sunshine Week Is Here , Public Online Information Act Is Here , Sunlight Foundation Is Here To Help

Happy Sunshine Week!


We have some very good news today in the fight to make government transparent and accountable.

Right now, I'm up on Capitol Hill with a lot of Sunlight's staff to announce the Public Online Information Act. This new legislation will require Executive Branch agencies to publish all publicly available information on the Internet in a timely fashion and in easy to use formats.

When we get this thing passed, it will represent a sea change for one very big part of government. Everything you need to know about the bill - including a great, short video - is here:

 http://thePOIA.org

Put simply, government information is still way too hard to find, difficult to understand, expensive to obtain in a useable way, and often available in only a few locations. We need good information available online, 24/7, to hold our government officials accountable - and that's not even close to what we have right now.

It's the 21st century for crying out loud, and we expect to find just about any kind of information online at any time. I can book an airplane ticket from my laptop at 1 a.m. and I can check my latest credit card transactions, view the weather forecast, or get local traffic reports from my phone. I can even buy shoes off a website and have them delivered to my house less than 24 hours later.

However, if I want to look up most government information, I have to travel to Washington and view it on paper or on the screen of a bulky vintage computer in the basement office of a government building, open only on weekdays from 9 to 5. Or I have to file a formal request and wait for weeks or even months for a response - and this is for government information that is already required by law to be made available to the public! This can no longer be the way Washington operates.

The solution to this problem of government information access is, of course, the Internet, and today we're excited about introducing the Public Online Information Act as one big step in the right direction.
http://thePOIA.org

We also want to make clear that we couldn't have gotten to the point of introducing a bill like this without your public support.

Each of you has supported the Sunlight Foundation in some way since our founding 4 years ago - from making sure Congress reads their bills to looking up government earmarks in your spare time or tracking lobbying contributions - and we can't thank you enough.

We're going to continue to need all of you, plus tens of thousands more, to make sure legislation like the Public Online Information Act gets passed, and on Thursday, we're going to be announcing a national, non-partisan campaign that will help us do that.

We hope you'll join us. Stay tuned!

Sunlight Foundation CLICKHERE


Ellen Miller

Co-founder and Executive Director

Sunlight Foundation

_________________________________________________________________________________


TRIADWATCH would like all the readers to get involved this is very important for all of us to understand the way our government works and the more sunshine on government the more informed we are.

Guilford County Commissioner Linda Shaw Shows No Love For The Local Blogosphere

Guilford County Commissioner Linda Shaw during the March 4, 2010 meeting has something to say about the local blogosphere. Check out the video above.

Editorial Cartoons of the Week Compliments of William Warren: Topics, The People Have Spoken, and Driver Veered to Left

the people have spoken

the slaughter solution

driver veered off to the left

ALG Editor's Note: William Warren's award-winning cartoons published at GetLiberty.org are a free service of ALG News Bureau. They may be reused and redistributed free of charge.

Official Google Blog: Think big with a gig: Our experimental fiber network

Official Google Blog: Think big with a gig: Our experimental fiber network

Guilford County Chairman Skip Alston is the Greensboro News & Record's Whippin Boy

At the Guilford County Commissioners meeting on March 4, 2010 during the time where each commissioner gets to comment for everyone to see Chairman Skip Alston had plenty to say about the Greensboro News & Record the video is embedded below. At around the 30 second mark is where the chairman say that the Greensboro News and Record treats him like their" whippin boy". Then later Skip Alston says that the guilford beat writer Joe Killian in his years being a county commissioner has never met someone as unethical as him.It also seem like the chairman also has issues with the News & Record farther up the ladder of seniority.

A lot has been talked about over the last few weeks about this back and forth between the county commissioners Skip Alston , Linda Shaw and the News & Record writer Joe Killian. The Rhino Times has a article out today on this issue  with a title "Commissioners Blast N&R" CLICKHERE

The video last about 3 minutes and 49 seconds but there is a lot to see in this video. This is why local bloggers can fill in the blanks because the News & Record probably doesn't want to report about this and the Rhino Times online edition probably has never embedded a video to save it's life.

So have some popcorn and enjoy Guilford Chairman Skip Alston vs. Greensboro News & Record.

It Is Time For The Greensboro City Council To Take The TREBIC Blinders Off And Require Neighborhood Meetings

The above video is from the Greensboro Zoning Commission on 3-8-2010 and below is the zoning case that was in front of the commission

Z-10-03-001 - 2330 Fleming Road (Northeast corner of the intersection of Fleming Road and Old Acre Court) – An ordinance rezoning from RS-12 (Residential-Single Family) to CD-LB (Conditional District-Limited Business) *[CD-C-L (Conditional District-Commercial-Low)] with the following conditions:

1. Uses: All uses permitted in the Limited Business zoning district except gasoline service station and any use with a drive-thru.
2. Medical, dental and related offices will be limited to a maximum of 30,000 square feet.
3. All other offices will be limited to a maximum of 50,000 square feet.
– for property located at 2330 Fleming Road, generally described as the northeast corner of the intersection Fleming Road and Old Acre Court (0.82 Acres).
– for Keramatollah Lashani (Sheet(s) 224)

Triadwatch has been talking in the past about how neighborhoods all over Greensboro have been getting the short end of the stick in plenty of instances in regards to the zoning process. As you can see from the video  above from 3-8-2010 we had a applicant who was changing a property from residential to commercial and didn't even bother talking with the neighborhood about this rezoning. It is time for the Greensboro City Council to take their Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition Blinders Off and to make a requirement in the zoning process for the applicant to have a REQUIRED MEETING 21 days before the zoning commission meeting. The City of Greensboro is in the process of maybe approving this new Land Development Ordinance and the part of the zoning process has a watered version called meet and confer. It should be mandatory and required as a part of the process not just a meet and confer. 

There has been plenty of talk in the past about this issue but wanted to bring you a video to show you what went on at the zoning commission this past week and to reiterate to plenty of people in the City of Greensboro to write  or call or e-mail your city council members to let them know that a requirement to meet with the neighborhood needs to be a part of the process.

Below is a few more post on this subject

Greensboro Neighborhood Congress Has Issues With The New Land Development Ordinance Rewrite For Greensboro  CLICKHERE

Greensboro Neighborhoods Will Not Get A Fair Shake In The Zoning Process Thanks To TREBIC
CLICKHERE

 

Google High Speed Internet Math and Etc...

If what you pay for Movies on Demand - Free Downloads +- any extra cost- What Time Warner or Satellite Channels you eliminate as many shows become “free”= How much you save with a competitive high speed internet access,

which, if the average cost savings per household is about $50 per month,
about 50,000 households x $50 per month = $2,500,000 x 12 months,

so $2,500,000 x 12 months = $30,000,000
could be spent by Greensboro’s consumers every year
on something other than payments to a national media company
headquartered elsewhere
with some re-spent within our community, for the benefit of our community,
like locally owned for-profit restaurants, venues, clothing stores etc…?

Would it be less expensive without Google?

If so, Google or not, should Greensboro do this regardless?

Could our real estate values increase?

Could our local tax revenues increase, offsetting declines elsewhere?

Better than a hotel?

Isn’t about $400,000,000 of low cost financing available
for a project like high speed internet?

Didn’t TV used to be free,
and now we pay billionaires to watch commercials?

Doesn’t the local technology community have overwhelming expertise
that could easily accomplish something like high speed internet for Greensboro
and surrounding areas?

Why not the whole Piedmont Triad?

Doesn’t North Carolina have about four hundred million dollars
of unallocated stimulus financing available for viable projects?

How many new businesses with new jobs could Greensboro attract
with or without Google’s profit margin
which would increase costs that would otherwise benefity the community?

If water is a municipal service
whose costs and surpluses are shared by the community,
why not internet access if just about everyone uses it,
which could make Greensboro way more attractive to for-profit businesses
looking to expand or relocate?

Or shall we remain Sheeple as the world changes,
as we remain the same waiting for outside help to tell us what to do?

Unless the math is way incorrect.

Should Charlotte Bobcats be Renamed after Local ABA Team Called Carolina Cougars

Charlotte Observer's Scott Fowler has a new article with a title "Michael Jordan Should Change Charlotte Bobcats Nickname", CLICKHERE

Ever since i heard the new name of the franchise Bobcats it never resonated with plenty of people. I would like to nominate the name of a  local triad basketball team from the American Basketball Association in the Carolina Cougars where you can see some of the logos back in the day above.If you would like to get a brief history of the Carolina Cougars who played in the Greensboro Coliseum here is the link to that online web site  CLICKHERE

It looks like some people would like the new name of the Charlotte franchise of the NBA "The Flight" but Triadwatch would like to nominate the CAROLINA COUGARS as the new name of the franchise in Charlotte. We know that both the hockey and football team are both named for the carolina region and it might be time to do the same with this team.

Local Links: Ed Cone, Jordan Green, Sam Hieb, Roch, Ryan Shell and gedblog

Bang for the buck: [Google Related]
Ed Cone
[Best comment thread of the day award: Monty Hagler, President, RLF Communications, John Robinson, Jeffrey Sykes, Triadwatch and Roch]

Joe Williams, the Simkins PAC and the White Street Landfill
Jordan Green
Yes Weekly
[This could be a big story]

City of Greensboro Misses the Boat with Google Twitter Initiative
Ryan Shell
[Seems like he has a point]

Greenland’s Disappearing Ice Lakes
gedblog

Ever seen a $10,000 blog?
Roch

Re: GSO’s 10k Google blog
Piedmont Publius Pubic

Rotten Apples and CIAA Tickets
Pundit House

Spag on Taxes, Linda Shaw, Roy Carroll, the Downtown Hotel, Budget Ethics and Political Morality

…Americans are tired of politicians advancing policies that seem to benefit only the very rich and the very poor, leaving the middle class to pay the majority of taxes while receiving little of the benefits. We're tired of politicians who use their office as a business networking opportunity or who care only about getting re-elected.

Locally we see this in the form of tax policies that subsidize the development projects of millionaires and politicians with YOUR tax dollars.

In 2006, our current County Commissioner Linda Shaw voted to give developer Roy Carroll nearly $1,000,000 in tax subsidies to build an expensive high rise condominium project in downtown Greensboro. Mr. Carroll kept the top two floors of the building as a penthouse residence for himself, valued at nearly $2,000,000.

Did he REALLY need your tax dollars for his project?

…YOU paid for Roy Carroll's luxury penthouse. It's too bad you don't ever get to spend the night there and enjoy the view unless you're friends with Mr. Carroll.

In 2008, Shaw voted for a bond package that was over $400,000,000. We couldn't afford it at the time, and we can't afford it now. As a result of that bond package, the average property tax in Guilford County will increase by a total of $958 per household over five years.

Earlier this year, Shaw voted for a bond package to support a new luxury hotel in downtown Greensboro. Nevermind that studies show that their is no real market for the hotel and that it would have trouble making a profit. If it fails, you will pay for it one way or another.

When fellow Commissioner Skip Alston threatened other elected officials with having them recalled from office if they voted to rescind the hotel bond package, Linda Shaw later accepted his apology saying she would "just like for everyone to get along".

What had Alston so concerned that he resorted to threats? He was brokering the deal and stood to make a lot of money if the hotel project was approved. Just another example of a politician using his office and influence to make money for himself and his friends, and our current Commissioner Linda Shaw was more concerned about everyone "just getting along".

We need to have a REAL conservative in office who won't work for the special interests and who will oppose the continued, irresponsible growth of government. We need a person who does not believe that politicians should use their office to enrich themselves or their friends. We need a person who believes in the free market and not corporate welfare or cronyism. We need a person who will be responsible with your money.

Sam Spagnola
Candidate for County Commissioner
3rd District, Guilford County, North Carolina

Google…Greensboro Lobbyist…Time Warner…Google?

Time Warner and Greensboro’s lobbyist

Saturday Morning Local Linkfest

Before a stunned, horrified audience, Pat Robertson leaps out of his Ken Cuccinelli costume
Blog on the Run, Reloaded

Shady economics survey from the John Locke Foundation
Applied Rationality

Waste proposals submitted to city of Greensboro available for review
Yes Weekly Blog

RNC Chairman Steele coming to Greensboro Monday
Mark Binker
GN&R

In the city’s path
Lorraine Ahearn
GN&R

“there are several hundred homeless in the downtown area alone, living in tents, cars, vacant houses and under bridges or loading docks.”

Utility customers say their heating bills are outrageous
News and Observer

Editorial Cartoons of the Week Compliments of William Warren, Topics:More Beer Summit,Quit Smoking, and Rangel THe CHair

Rangel the Chair, Quit Smoking and More Beer Summit

ALG Editor's Note: William Warren's award-winning cartoons published at GetLiberty.org are a free service of ALG News Bureau. They may be reused and redistributed free of charge.

Local Latest Links

High-speed rail hits a hurdle in Guilford
Yes Weekly

Trouble in High Point
Ed Cone

Board raps Realtors group, calls for more transparency
News and Record

High Point Spends $673K On DC Lobbyist
Rhino

Elected Officials in Charlotte Have Their Own Version of Free Tickets, Time for a State Law Banning Free Tickets

HAT TIP: PUNDIT HOUSE CLICKHERE

As we have seen in the past few weeks with a post on Triadwatch where Greensboro City Council members were given free circus tickets CLICKHERE for that post.

Now we have a situation in Mecklenburg County where a commissioner is raising a red flag on the ethical aspects of giving away free CIAA Basketball Tournament tickets . The post is titled "Rotten Apples and CIAA Tickets". Here is  part of the post.

James took issue last month with commissioners receiving upwards of $9,000 worth of “free” tickets and skybox seats to the CIAA tourney. The select tickets are annually provided to the county, which along with the City of Charlotte “donates” $200,000 a year to the CIAA. The council also receives an allotment of CIAA tickets for its largess with the taxpayers’ money.


James questioned the ethics of elected officials in effect receiving gifts in a de facto kickback from an entity that does business with the county. Along with his fellow GOP board members, James wanted to donate the tickets to a local charity, which could then sell them and make some coin for a good cause. Last we heard the county manager nixed that idea. Not sure which commissioners and councilmembers ended up luxuriating in the skyboxes, but we’re working to track it down.

This situation sounds like a broken record in this state where so many people think it is their right and priviledge to get these freebies as a local elected official.As we have seen this has happened in Greensboro and now Charlotte in just the past few weeks. How many other cities allow this to happen? Is it time to ban the freebies all together? Is this ethical?Does it show a conflict of interest?

 This comes to light on a state level because the Governor of New York is now in hot water today over World Series Tickets here is what was said on Fox News,CLICKHERE

New York Gov. David Paterson, trying to hold onto office in the face of one scandal, was accused Wednesday of violating state ethics laws when he sought and obtained free Yankees tickets for the 2009 World Series and then may have lied about his intention to pay for them, according to a state report.



He faces penalties of nearly $100,000, and the case was referred to the Albany County prosecutor's office and the state attorney general for possible criminal investigation into whether Paterson -- "or anyone else" -- gave false answers to commission questions or backdated a check to pay for the tickets.



It looks like the Governor violated ethics laws of the State of New York. Maybe we can get some ethics laws in this state as well that will cover all local and state elected and appointed officials from banning gift giving of free tickets.

Triadwatch Linkfest of the Latest

Ethics and pseudonyms A Must Read Comment Section: Doug Clark, Spag, David Wharton, Fred Gregory, Bubba, Brian Clarey, and Lorraine Ahern gets into it with Roch.

Hotel Bond Vote Not Final

What else should we expect from Matt Brown?

Hotel Revisionism?

Board of Commissioners Ask Judge to Drop Hotel Lawsuit

Study of Tea Party Activists Reveals Motivations of Political Movement

Company to shutter damaged Slim Jim plant

A few Biblical thoughts before Greensboro City Council’s lobbyist vote; What would Jesus do?

You shall not oppress your neighbor,

nor rob him.

Leviticus 19:13

How are taxpayers not being robbed and oppressed
if Downtown Greensboro Inc., the Greensboro Partnership,
and Greensboro’s City Council hire a lobbyist
that may directly benefit some members
of Downtown Greensboro and the Greensboro Partnership?

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation,

into a snare,

into many senseless and harmful desires

that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

Timothy 6:9

Could fleecing many taxpayers to benefit a few of the elite
not be what many in the middle east are protesting against?

Should Downtown Greensboro Inc. use taxpayer dollars to lobby the City of Greensboro for more taxpayer dollars? 9/28/10

"Downtown development plan lists six key projects

A consultants’ report says the community should focus on six key projects to spur economic development downtown, including the creation of a college/university building and a performing arts center.

A consultant's report solicited by Downtown Greensboro Inc.,

paid for with taxpayer dollars

that recommends taxpayer money be allocated to benefit "Downtown Stakeholders,"

most of whom comprise Downtown Greensboro Inc.

which is funded by the City of Greensboro?

Center city leaders shared the findings with downtown stakeholders Tuesday…“This is the midpoint check-in,” said Ed Wolverton, president and CEO of Downtown Greensboro Inc. “We are looking for affirmation that these are the right projects to advance right now…”

Why is Greensboro’s City Council giving $77,500 of taxpayer dollars

to Downtown Greensboro Inc.?
.

Triad Watch

Monday, May 3, 2010

…A downtown performing arts center has been the subject of at least four studies since the late 1990s and continues to have significant support. “It is the single best project we could do as far as helping the downtown area,” said Rob Johnston, president of Johnston Properties, a commercial real estate development company located in the center city. “This will be a huge amenity. Huge.”

Profit for downtown commercial real estate investors

and “downtown stakeholders”

transferred from money borrowed from taxpayers

to those using taxpayer dollars to lobby for another taxpayer financed venue

that will compete with privatly owned venues

and the Greensboro Colesium?

Other recommendations are:

* Completing the 4.2-mile Downtown Greenway, a $26 million recreational loop around the center city. To date, $13 million has been contributed to the trail.

How much has been/will be “contributed” by taxpayers?

* Continuing to improve streetscapes around downtown…

With money from taxpayers?

“Greensboro should invest in downtown development now so that it emerges from the recession stronger than its peers,” the consultant report said. “A regionally competitive downtown requires significant public support, even in healthy economic times.”

Sound familiar, like the non-independent study for the Aquatic Center etc...?

…downtown leaders will ask the City Council and the Board of Commissioners to adopt the final recommendations.

"Downtown leaders" indirectly funded with taxpayer dollars?

I believe money is fungible

Questions for America

September 30th, 2009

Approval will not commit either group to providing financial support for the projects.

Donald W. Patterson
Greensboro News and Record"

George Hartzman

Melderec Forces Challenged by Conservative Wing of City Council
at Greensboro Partnership Meeting

Guarino
March 23, 2010

Crony Capitalism and Local Developer Roy Carroll
Red Flags on This American Express Incentive Deal

Triad Watch
Wednesday, April 21, 2010

In the left column, please vote whether or not you support allocating taxpayer money...

In the left column, please vote whether or not you support allocating taxpayer money
for a Greensboro Partnership and Downtown Greensboro lobbyist
that may directly benefit a select few City Council Political Campaign Contributors
and some well connected insiders.

On the Greensboro Partnership, DGI, the News & Record, Greensboro's City Council and conflicts of interest

If the Greensboro News & Record Editorial Board Member Robin Saul,
is a Board Member of the (partly publicly funded) Greensboro Partnership,
which gave the Quarter Cent Tax Committee $10,500
whose Action Greensboro gave the Bonds for Schools Committee $70,000,
should the paper disclose Mr. Saul's conflict of interest,
when reporting on Greensboro Partnership Greensboro Partnership
agreeing to pay 25% ($19,500) of the cost of a federal lobbyist?

Resolution authorizing the City Manager
to enter into a contract with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
to represent the City of Greensboro priorities
to Federal elected officials and agencies.

Greensboro City Council Agenda Item #38

Why would the Greensboro Partnership let the City of Greensboro
pay 75% of a lobbyist bill?

Why does the Greensboro Partnership want to pay
for 25% of a lobbyists bill?

Could some members of the Greensboro Partnership and DGI
personally benefit from the public financing of a lobbyist?

If some members of the Greensboro Partnership and DGI
would not personally benefit from the public financing of a lobbyist,
why would who want to pay for 25% of the bill?

Have some members of the Greensboro Partnership and DGI
directly benefited from taxpayer largess before?

Have many members of the Greensboro Partnership and DGI
funded the political campaigns of those who may vote
to fund a lobbyist that may benefit members of the Greensboro Partnership and DGI?

Notable Downtown Greensboro Contributors

Greensboro Partnership, $25,000.00

.

Should Downtown Greensboro Inc. use taxpayer dollars

to lobby the City of Greensboro for more taxpayer dollars?

Triad Watch

Thursday, May 20, 2010

.

Joseph M. Bryan Foundation, $11,000.00

Cemala Foundation, $10,000.00

Bell Foundation (Steven D. Bell), $5,000.00

Brown Investment Properties, $1,500.00

Greensboro Regional Realtors Association, $1,210.00

Cone, Elizabeth W., $1,000.00

Elm Street Center, LLC, $1,000.00 (downtown hotel)

The Carroll Companies, $550.00

Milton Kern & Co., Inc., $250.00

Signature Property Group, Inc., $250.00

Schwartz, Susan, $125.00

Brown III, Chester H. & Martha, $100.00

.

He who oppresses the poor to make more for himself

or who gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.

Proverbs 22:16

Notable Downtown Greensboro Board Members

Brenda Jones Fox, Guilford County

Mayor Bill Knight

Rashad Young, City of Greensboro

Mike Winstead, Guilford County Commissioner, TREBIC
who has contributed to both Zack and Robbie

Dan Lynch, President of the the partly publicly funded Greensboro Partnership
whose Action Greensboro gave $70,000 to promote the bond vote in 2008
and gave $10,500 to promote the Quarter Cent Tax Increase in 2010,
the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance,
whose board members include Linda Shaw,
who recieved campaign contributions from Roy Carroll and Richard Beard
right before AMEX bought their Guilford County real estate,
and Nancy Vaughan,
who recieved campaign contributions from Downtown Greensboro Board Members
Milton Kern, (downtown hotel)
Randall Kaplan, (downtown hotel) whose patner George House is on the Board
and Frank Auman, whose partner Seth Coker is on the board.

Amelia Parker, executive director of the International Civil Rights Museum

Betty Cone, who worked for former Mayor Johnson’s campaign

Robbie Perkins, 09/21/09, $100 Elizabeth W. Cone

Susan Schwartz, board member of the Children’s Museum,
which received $100,000 from Greensboro’s 2010/11 budget
that was set to cut crossing gaurds and loose leaf collection
but then amazingly ended up spending $1 million more than last year.

Robbie Perkins 09/17/09 $100

Zack Matheny, 09/13/07, $75

Zack Matheny, 09/09/09, $100

Milton Kern, (downtown hotel)
who contributed to Zack Matheny's 2007 political campaign.

Al Leonard, Carroll Companies, Trebic, Center Pointe
who works for Roy E. Carroll III, a major campaign contributor
and board member of the Greensboro Partnership

Robbie Perkins 10/13/09 $250 Roy

Robbie Perkins 10/19/09 $100 Vanessa Carroll

Jim Kee 10/27/09 $100 Vanessa Carroll

Jim Kee 10/27/09 $250 Roy

Jim Kee 10/27/09 $100 Alvin Leonard, Carroll Companies

Zack Matheny 10/23/09 $100 Alvin Leonard, Carroll Companies

Zack Matheny 10/23/09 $250 Roy

Zack Matheny 10/23/09 $100 Vanessa Carroll

Linda Shaw, 09, Roy Carroll, $500

Roy E and Vanessa Y Carroll's
North Carolinians for Leadership in Government PAC
gave Zack, Diane, Robbie, Trudy, Kirk Perkins, Paul Gibson, Yvonne, and Sandra
$1000 each in 2007.

Better is a little with righteousness
than great income with injustice.

Proverbs 16:8

Seth Coker, Signature Property Group, Trebic,
who’s partner Frank Auman is a major political campaign contributor.

Seth Coker, Robbie Perkins, 10/18/09, $100

Seth Coker, Zack Matheny, 08/06/09, $100

Frank Auman, Zack Matheny, 08/28/07, $500

Frank Auman, Zack Matheny, 08/11/09, $500

Frank Auman, Robbie Perkins, 09/15/09, $250

Frank Auman, 09/28/09, Mary Rakestraw, $500

The art of government

consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of citizens

to give to the other

Voltaire

Henri Fourrier, President/CEO/Director of Marketing/Communications
Greensboro Area Convention & Visitors Bureau

The same Henri Fourrier

who sold Greensboro’s electorate on an Aquatic Center

with a non-independent, non third party “hypothetical”

that will most likely cost Greensboro millions

in principal, interest, operating and maintenance costs

and who won't release information

documenting how the Visitors Bureau came up with
a $5.8 million dollar econonomic impact number
for an upcoming swim meet?

Why would the “Consultant”

who created a $14,337,210 hypothetical economic impact “projection,”

say only debt free competitive swim centers work?

Questions for America, December 3rd, 2009

E. Durant Bell, Bell & Company, Zack Matheny’s employer,

who's family and other employees have made 12 campaign contributions
to Zack and Robbie since 2007.

When buying and selling are controlled by legislation

the first thing to be bought and sold are legislators

P J O'Rourke

Kimberly Brown

Chester Brown, TREBIC
Who's family has contributed to Zack, Robbie and Trudy's campaigns.

Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism

because it is the merger of state and corporate power

Benito Mussolini

George House, Downtown Hotel,
Partner Randall Kaplan is a Greensboro Partnership board member

John Lomax, TREBIC

who has contributed to Zack and Trudy's campaigns

A democracy will continue to exist

up until the time that voters discover

that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury

From that moment on

the majority always votes for the candidates

who promise the most benefits…

with the result that every democracy

will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy…

…nations always progressed through the following sequence

From bondage to spiritual faith

from spiritual faith to great courage

from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance

from abundance to complacency

from complacency to apathy

from apathy to dependence

from dependence back into bondage

Unknown

Notable Greensboro Partnership Board Members

Mr. Randall Kaplan
Capsule Group, LLC

Mr. J. Edward Kitchen
Bryan Foundation

Mr. Charles E. Melvin Jr.
Smith Moore Leatherwood LLP

Mr. Jim Melvin
Joseph M. Bryan Foundation of Greater Greensboro

Mr. Stephen D. Showefty
Koury corporation

Mr. Arthur Samet
Samet Corporation

Mr. R. Steve Bowden
R. Steve Bowden & Associates