Councilmembers Robbie Perkins, Dianne Bellamy-Small and company
set out to give Mayor Bill Knight a symbolic slap in the face...
...Perkins and Bellamy-Small were in the backroom plotting their strategy, and it worked.
The strategy is easy.
Anything that makes Knight look bad is good.
...Perkins is simply better at political scheming than anyone else on the council.
John Hammer
"Greensboro City Councilmember Robbie Perkins...is running for mayor.
Perkins made the announcement before a group of about 40
in the Greensboro Regional Realtors Association...
If the announcement is any indication of how he is going to run his campaign,
Perkins is going to be difficult to beat.
He picked a great time...
...Perkins is at home behind the microphone
...He didn't read a speech written by someone else...
He simply stood ...and spoke mainly about his love of and vision for Greensboro.
...Perkins, the head of the left-wing coalition on the council, fought the entire night,
losing just about every contested vote but never giving an inch
that he didn't make the conservatives pay for dearly.
...Perkins and Councilmember Dianne Bellamy-Small had made a motion...
...Perkins and Bellamy-Small wanted to adjourn and ignore the speakers,
but Knight rallied six votes to hear speakers.
Bellamy-Small left the meeting when her motion to adjourn failed,
but Perkins sat back down and listened to the speakers
and then voted against adjourning after the last speaker had finished at 1:53 a.m.
He's a good speaker and would certainly represent Greensboro well.
...Perkins understands development and selling Greensboro,
which, particularly in this economy, can be a real plus.
...Perkins noted that Greensboro, because it has the most reliable electricity in the country,
is a prime location for data centers like the ones American Express is building.
But not more than 1,500 jobs at a call center?
Perkins said that with the interstate system, and what some are calling the aerotropolis
– the area around the airport – that Greensboro has everything in place to grow.
How many listing does Robbie have where?
...When asked if he was in favor of raising water rates,
Perkins neatly sidestepped the question and said he was in favor of having enough money
to properly maintain a billion dollar water and sewer system.
...Perkins was in rare form and even snookered the conservative majority
into holding two public hearings during the meeting...
...So Perkins shamed the council into holding another public hearing,
during which mostly the same people who oppose everything this council does spoke.
...the City Council passed Plan E on a 7-to-2 vote,
with Perkins and Bellamy-Small voting no.
...One point that Perkins made several times
...is that everyone he has served with on the City Council over the years
has wanted what was best for Greensboro.
...Perkins and the Perkinettes are allowed to participate by phone
but the conservative majority on the council is not.
...Perkins manipulated the council concerning early voting.
Perkins...at his prompting, Danish came up with her ruling
that was not based on the ordinance or policy
– to bar Thompson from voting.
He said they may have disagreed about what was best or how to achieve it,
but that everyone on the council has served because they cared about Greensboro
and wanted to make it a better place to live.
...Greensboro has had two female mayors and Johnson was the first black mayor.
...Perkins is right on schedule.
The election is next fall,
so if Perkins can delay the awarding of the contract for a couple of months
he has a chance of gaining a couple of votes.
...Bellamy-Small, following Perkins' lead...
Bellamy-Small's motion failed 3 to 4
with Perkins and both Perkinettes (Kee and Bellamy-Small) voting in favor.
Perkins has an undergraduate degree and a master's in business administration
from Duke University,
and while at Duke was a world-class distance runner.
Perkins, who is president of NAI Piedmont Triad Commercial Real Estate,
has signs in front of some of D.H. Griffin's property.
Perkins said that the agent who had listed those properties was an independent contractor
so he didn't actually work for Perkins
and the amount of money that Perkins would actually get from a sale would not be enough to matter.
Perkins still holds the Duke records in 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters.
He set those records in 1975 and they haven't been broken in 36 years.
...Perkins' latest ploy on the landfill
is to insist that the city put in a proposal to run the landfill
like it did before it was closed.
...in this case it is simply being used as delaying tactic.
That's an incredible accomplishment."
John Hammer
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