Have many been played for a bunch of chumps?

"A rezoning case turned on its head

It seems absurd to think that an out-of-state company
could convince High Point residents and the city’s zoning board
to support its plan to set up a hospital for the criminally insane.

But that’s exactly what GEO Care has done.

...GEO Care wants to convert the former Evergreens nursing home
to a 90-bed facility
for people who need treatment before standing trial
or after their convictions.

A jail?

Some of the patients
would normally be housed in maximum-security prisons.

A jail in a residential area?

...Residents balked initially.

That’s understandable.

Who wants to live near a mental hospital,

even if the prisoners are kept under guard

and behind high fences and razor wire?

Like at a jail?

Like one flew over the cookoos nest?

...The project would create jobs (185, many of them professional),
generate property taxes ($200,000 per year)
and economic impact ($40 million annually).

What is the source of the $40 million number?

How much would the White Street Landfill reopening save?

$7 million per year,

compared to $200,000 for property taxes?

What is hypocritical?

...GEO Care said it has never had a patient escape
from its high-security facilities elsewhere.

Really?

It said the security fences would be attractive
and not topped with barbed wire.

Why no barbed wire?

It promised to set up a community advisory board
to address safety and security concerns.

To top it off, GEO Care flew six area residents to South Florida
to see a comparable facility.

WOW

Residents came back impressed
and spoke on the company’s behalf
at last week’s zoning commission hearing.

Who would have thought?

Have said resident's been interviewed?

Stay in a nice hotel while in South Florida

did they?

Remember that preacher

that came to speak for the trash company

that said it's all good,

until someone asked how much he got paid off for?

The commission sided with the company and on Tuesday night
voted unanimously to reject the council’s request.

Have the commissioners had any contact

with company employees,

and if so, how nice?

Guilford County, which owns the property, also weighed in,
filing a protest petition to try to block the rezoning.

Do the commish's want their cut before acceding?

...council members need to be realistic.

There aren’t any hotels and restaurants
looking seriously at the old Evergreens site.

Proof?

What is the source of the information?

Are we just supposed to believe them?

How much money has the GN&R received

from said company for Propaganda dissemination?

And there aren’t any other companies
offering to bring nearly 200 jobs
and add a significant chunk to the tax base.

How is this known?

What is the source?

Doesn't it seem desperate?

Doesn't it seem like the Editorial Board

is pushing the boundaries of advocacy and profit?

Did the lobbyists get in touch with the Editorial Board?

Dinner at a nice restaurant?

Pardon the expression,
but the City Council would be crazy to stand in the way of this plan.

GN&R Editorial Board

Who gets to live how close

to a Mental Hospital/Prison?
.

Are there schools nearby?
.

How residential is the neighborhood?
.
Have any gifts been exchanged?
.

Who got bought for how much?
.

How far away do Allen, Robin and Doug live?
.
How is this not like the White Street Landfill,
only opposite?
.
How can the editorial board
compare $200,000 in property taxes for a mental hospital/jail
to the White Street Landfill
and not lose some credibility by the hypocrisy?