Yes Weekly's Ginsburg: "Flushing money down the drain"

"...Our current development model is part of what got us into this mess.

A very small number of people
seem to receive our public money for projects with a lot of overhead or a wide profit margin
that don’t seem to measurably improve things for most of us.

We’re supposed to accept this model
because we’re told some day the jobs will trickle down to us.

The tax revenue from these new commercial and residential properties,
the story goes,
will eventually mean more operating money for the city.

...Our spending priorities seem to have little to do with what people need and want,
except for the abstract idea of job creation
where we hope that creating “shovel-ready sites”
will pave the way for jobs to rain out of the sky.

While lip service is paid to some locally based companies
and a few local developers are able to suck up a lot of public money,
we’re still stuck on this idea that jobs have to move here
rather than being created and sustained here.

...I want M’Coul’s to have a blowout party.

...where everything isn’t tailored to one person or one demographic.

If we follow the money, whether it is coming from the city or Downtown Greensboro, Inc.,
it’s hard to believe things couldn’t be done differently.

...it’s time to seriously focus on infill and creating a city for all,
letting people who will pour everything they have into a project take the wheel."

Ginsburg