Dr. Wade Gets Endorsement from Competitor's Uncle

In the new North Carolina Senate Seat #27 with Greensboro City Council member Dr. Trudy Wade competing against High Point Councilman Latimer Alexander and local businessman  Justin Conrad .

It seems like Dr. Wade got a early endorsement from the uncle of Justin Conrad. Here is the quote in the endorsements section of Dr. Wade's web site.

"Dr. Trudy Wade is an experienced conservative leader who needs to be in the North Carolina Senate. Some people may wonder why I have endorsed Trudy Wade, knowing that I have family in the primary. Actually, that places me in an even better position to know that Trudy Wade is the tried, tested, and true conservative leader who should be representing the people of the 27th district in the North Carolina Senate."

-David P. Conrad

This will be a great race to follow.

Bailout for North Carolina Cities from the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Virginia Does It N.C. Needs To Start

Reading other newspapers all over the area and also in other states like Virginia.Triadwatch came across this article from the Roanoke Times titled "Roanoke Seeks Bailout from Voting Rights Act" CLICKHERE . In the article it talks about how plenty of cities and counties all over Virginia are hiring a lawyer to plead their case that they do not need to be a part of the watch list from the justice department.. Has anyone around the triad area ever heard of a bailout of the voting rights act of 1965?

Here is a few quotes from the article in the roanoke times:

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 -- signed into law 45 years ago Friday -- was put in place to outlaw discriminatory electoral practices such as poll taxes and literacy tests that prevented blacks and other minorities from voting.



It established federal oversight of elections, particularly in Southern states with a history of discrimination. Over the past 15 years, though, many city and county governments -- seeking ways to cut costs and save time by streamlining a lengthy federal process -- have applied to receive a "bailout" from certain sections.


Those parts require localities to receive approval from the Justice Department before taking any actions that affect voting, including moving precincts.


Seventeen counties and cities in Virginia have already received that bailout, including Salem, Botetourt County and Roanoke County. Bedford and Bedford County also are in the process of seeking a bailout from the Voting Rights Act.

then later in article there is this:

Congress renewed the Voting Rights Act for another 25 years in 2006, and last year the Supreme Court broadened the bailout provision to apply not just to cities and counties, but to other government jurisdictions as well. Those decisions, along with the pending need to redraw precincts for redistricting, has prompted an increasing number of bailout applications in recent years.



Alexandria lawyer Gerald Hebert has represented all of the Virginia localities seeking bailouts, starting with Fairfax in 1997.


"There's a list of things in the law that you have to prove, and they're fairly straightforward," Hebert said. "A jurisdiction that's not discriminating in its voting procedures normally has very little difficulty meeting them."


Hebert said the cost of a bailout -- about $5,000, mostly in lawyers' fees -- is quickly recouped when considering the expense to get preliminary clearance from the Justice Department to move a precinct.


"Even without lawyers, just in staff time, preclearance runs about $500," Hebert said. "If lawyers are involved, and it's a controversial or complicated one, then it can run into the thousands of dollars."


Obtaining a bailout would first require the council to take a vote in favor of pursuing the action. The city must then present data to the Justice Department demonstrating that it's eliminated any actions or devices that would discriminate against certain voters.


A three-judge panel ultimately makes a final decision on whether a locality has reached that point and is therefore entitled to be bailed out from the Voting Rights Act.


Why is this so important to cities all over North Carolina is because last year we had the Justice Department reverse the wishes of the citizens of Kinston N.C. to become a non partisan election . Here is a link to the whole situation with a post titled "U.S. Justice Department Spurns Kinston Decision on Elections" from the Carolina Journal online CLICKHERE . In the article here is a few quotes:

Sixty-four percent of Kinston voters said “yes” to a November ballot initiative that would have switched city elections from partisan to nonpartisan. The measure passed by a 4,977 to 2,819 margin, with seven of nine precincts approving the change. The DOJ decision leaves the city as one of five municipalities in North Carolina to hold partisan elections, and the only one east of Charlotte.



King, in a letter overturning the election, said the city did not meet its burden of proof that the change “has neither a discriminatory purpose nor a discriminatory effect.” King’s letter went on to declare, “Removing the partisan cue in municipal elections will, in all likelihood, eliminate the single factor that allows black candidates to be elected to office. In Kinston elections, voters base their choice more on the race of a candidate than his or her political affiliation, and without either the appeal to party loyalty or the ability to vote a straight ticket, the limited support from white voters for a black Democratic candidate will diminish even more. And given that the city’s electorate is overwhelmingly Democratic, while the motivating factor for this change may be partisan, the effect will be strictly racial."

This type of ruling against a city who wanted to have non partisan elections like plenty of other cities all over the state is assinine to hear but hopefully we will see more municipalities look at what is going on across the border in Virginia and start bailing out of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

As you can see from the above photo it seems like only Guilford and Rockingham County are on the watch list from the Justice Department  in regards to the voting rights act in this area while surrounding counties do not have to follow. Triadwatch has been trying to find a complete list of cities and counties that have to follow this act but cannot find it online. If there is someone who can provide this information please do .

Hope the 2 articles enlighten everyone on this issue and understand what our Justice Department is doing lately.

Regulating Our Local Real Estate Lobbyist Group TREBIC Not a Bad Idea.

Headline in Providence, Rhode Island article " Providence could become first RI City to Regulate Lobbyist".

CLICKHERE

Nice to see local politicians who actually are looking out for transparency in government here is a few quotes from article. 

At the state level, lobbyists are required to register with the Secretary of State. But no other city or town has similar requirements, according to the Providence City Clerk’s office.

The current draft of the Providence ordinance would require anyone who is lobbying council members, the mayor, and other city officials—and being paid for that lobbying—to register with the City Clerk. The lobbyists would have to pay a registration fee, likely hundreds of dollars, and file annual reports on their lobbying activities. They could also face hefty fines for not complying with the rules.

Supporters of a proposed ordinance on lobbyists—including Council President Michael Solomon and Finance Chairman John Igliozzi—say the reform would boost accountability and transparency in city government

.


Novel idea and later in article we see that major cities all over this United States already have this in place and it is time for major cities all over North Carolina to do the same.

We have one local lobbyist group by the name of Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition (TREBIC) who are not regulated by anything. They have these annual pigs poultry and politics dinner where local elected officials get in free but should pay their way to a nice dinner with a meet and greet. TREBIC also has meetings or luncheons that they invite local elected politicians to hear what they have to say. To make matters even worse there is a local board in greensboro called the RUCO board which is regulated by the City of Greensboro with a post on July of 2010 titled TREBIC + RUCO = Fox Guarding Hen House CLICKHERE   ,  it was amazing to see the local lobbyist group have the meeting at their place , no such hint of influence there.

This idea for regulating local lobbyist groups might be a long way off but planting the seeds could make this come to reality because as we have seen in the past,  TREBIC wanted to deny the citizens of Greensboro the right to protest petitions CLICKHERE in the zoning process and fought long and hard to no avail. The state legislators were all in agreement that this was a good state law and made Greensboro be like every other municipality in this state and comply with protest petitions. Having the transparency of our local lobbyist groups be regulated on a quarterly basis will make for better government.

 

Greensboro City Council Might Hire a Federal Lobbyist Group for Representation, REPOST

Doc 012110



The briefing agenda for the City of Greensboro for January 26, 2010 has a interesting topic #3 as you can see from above . It looks like council wants to look at hiring a lobbyist to represent them on the federal level.

We have seen this past year in the town of Winston Salem and the county of Forsyth hired a Washington D.C. lobbyist firm in The Ferguson Group CLICKHERE.

Below is from the Forsyth County agenda.

JANUARY 12, 2009 – GOVERNMENT CENTER – 7:30 P.M.

15. Resolution Authorizing Execution of an Agreement Between Forsyth County and the Ferguson Group, LLC for Federal Lobbying Services



Commissioner Bailey moved for adoption of the Resolution Authorizing Execution of an Agreement Between Forsyth County and the Ferguson Group, LLC for Federal Lobbying Services. Commissioner Conrad seconded the motion, which was approved by a vote of five (5) to two (2). Commissioners Whisenhunt and Linville voted in opposition.

Sam Hieb from Piedmont Publius CLICKHERE has a post with a title called "stuck with the tab" back on December of 2007, talking about the lobbyist firm that is used in Forsyth County.

Come to find out it looks like the Ferguson Group represents a lot of towns and counties all over the state of North Carolina. Come to find out High Point N.C. is one of the clients. Who knew? How much wasted taxpayer money does this cost?

Before hiring a federal lobbyist there should be plenty of questions to ask like

Why does any city or county need to hire a federal lobbyist?
Does lobbyist company have many other clients or are you one of the few?
Will the lobbyist company have a experienced lawyer or a young gun handling your case?
Will there be any conflicts of interest with other clients?

Like Cam Cover the state lobbyist for Greensboro in her relationship with time warner and the issue with tiered pricing in Greensboro back last year.

What is the return on investment with hiring this lobbyist company?

These are just a few of the questions that should be asked.

Below is from a NY Times article called "Hiring Federal Lobbyist, Towns Learn Money Talks" CLICKHERE

Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, one of several Washington watchdog groups critical of earmarks, said it was local politicians' mandate to make their needs known — and the job of members of Congress to look out for them.



"If you're a mayor or a city councilman and you have to hire a lobbyist, what a gross admission of failure on your part," Mr. Phillips said. "I would think they have a fiduciary responsibility to not put taxpayer dollars into lobbyists when they're elected to be, really, the lobbyist for the people."


Great point Mr. Phillips and agree 100% with that.It will be interesting to see how this briefing goes next week and if anything comes out of this.

Pigs, Poultry, and Politics + TREBIC + FREE MEAL = Ethical Issues for Local Elected Officials in Guilford County

Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition(TREBIC) our local special interest lobbying group headed by Marlene Sanford has a annual gathering in it's 11th year called Pigs, Poultry, and Politics- Old Fashioned Political Rally. Click on the title above or CLICKHERE


If this is a old fashioned political rally it sure is composed of the most connected sponsors who give plenty of campaign contributions to the local politicians. Let's take a closer look at who is sponsoring this political rally.

2010 Sponsorship Congress members:


President: Signature Property Group

Governor: AT&T; Fairway Outdoor Advertising

Senator: BB&T; Brown Investment Properties; Davenport Transportation Consulting; D.R. Horton Homes; Isaacson Isaacson Sheridan & Fountain, LLP; Smith Moore Leatherwood LLP


Commissioner: K. Hovnanian Homes; Pest Management Inc

This old fashioned political rally is where TREBIC can tell all the local politicians who runs Guilford County and where do you get your campaign contributions from.This is where Marlene Sanford President of TREBIC can say to the local politicians just how many more TREBIC  members can we fit on these boards and commissions in Guilford County, especially in the City of Greensboro.

Governor Sponsor: Fairway Outdoor Advertising and it's main kingpin W.S. Morris III from Augusta Georgia, between the in kind contributions from Fairway Outdoor Advertising and the campaign contributions to local politicians he is one of the most generous campaign contributors in this county and he doesn't even live here.Lately there hasn't been much campaign giving from W.S. Morris but this company is very generous with their influence and sign placements all over Guilford County.


Senator Sponsor: Isaaacson, Isaacson & Sheridan. We like to call them King Zoning Stud Henry Isaacson and his son Little King Zoning Stud Marc Isaacson because if you want to get a zoning case passed in Greensboro or Guilford County these are the one's who give plenty of money to the local politicians campaign coffers and if you haven't seen their DOG AND PONY SHOW it is a masterpiece just go to a Greensboro City Zoning meeting to witness King Zoning Stud Henry Isaacson  in action.

We also have Brown Investment and Chester Brown who is connected to Greensboro City Council member Robbie Perkins with a new shopping center out off of church street and HWY. 150 with Guilford County Commissioner Billy Yow also the well driller on this project. Then we find out that one of Chester Brown's employees Russ Parmele VP of business development has moved right from Greensboro board of adjustment to the Greensboro Zoning Commission without any opposition . It must be nice to go from one commission right to another without any objections and to see if there has been any applications in the databank waiting to get on this board but the TREBIC connected Brown Investment goes right to the front of the line. Amazing

These are just a few of the usual suspects who will be at this Old fashioned political rally. The influence of TREBIC on the local politicians needs to come to an end. When you hear certain politicians come out and say TREBIC has been contacted and TREBIC has some interest, it only goes to show that the FOX is guarding the Hen House and each year they want everyone to know who the FOX actually is.

_________________________________________________________________________________


We also have a new ethical dilemma for any local politician who has received a e mail from TREBIC on this annual gathering . If you would like to go to this event check out the application CLICKHERE . If you see the link it states that this event will cost you $30.00. This poses a real problem and all you need to do is CLICKHERE. This is where TREBIC states this

"Welcome Elected Officials and Candidates!


We invite you to attend our Annual "Pig, Poultry & Politics" event on Thursday, October 14 from 4:30 to 7:00 pm. TREBIC and its member Trade Associations represent nearly 4000 real estate professionals in and around Guilford County, plus all their employees.
Provide your name and mailing address and we'll send you the tickets. See you there!

ELECTED OFFICIALS AND CANDIDATES FREE REGISTRATION"

TREBIC also sent out a email to all the local elected officials and here is what was in the e mail,

"Please plan to attend the 11th Annual Pig, Poultry & Politics Thursday, October 14th! You can reply to this email to RSVP. Your ticket is complimentary, but if you need tickets for guests, they can be purchased for $30 each, $35 day of the event. You can order tickets on our website, www.trebic.org, or you can use the order form attached. "

It states that the local elected official and candidates can get their ticket for free and complimentary.


We have seen plenty of problems on the state level with some DMV workers were given free meals just like the Greensboro ABC Manager Katie Alley who is in a little hot water for her lunch dates with vendors comping the meals for her. How is this different from the most influential lobbyist group in Guilford County TREBIC giving FREE MEALS to local elected officials and candidates right before the elections.

If you are a local elected official and do plan on going to this event it is in your best intertest to NOT take the free meal and buy a $30 ticket and run it through your campaign committee fund because to me this is accepting a free meal and should not be done. Ethics is a real issue and it is time for our local elected officials and candidates understand how this free meal is not right and if you want to attend then pony up the $30 or not go. Triadwatch looks forward to seeing your $30 contribution on your campaign returns from this special interest lobbying political rally event brought to you by the non registered lobbyist Marlene Sanford and the non registered lobbyist group TREBIC.      

Guilford County's New Ethics Policy with No Thanks to Shaw, Yow and Arnold on Censure Procedures

Code of Ethics - Final Approved 050610 for Guilford County Board of Commissioners





The Guilford County Board of Commissioners on 5-6-2010 voted 11-0 to approve the new Ethics policy after a lengthy discussion about the censure procedures where a substitute motion was offered by none other than Steve Arnold who is not the most ethical politician when it comes to unloading property before a court date . Here is a quote from the Greensboro News & Record with a title "Judge Says County Commissioner Can't Avoid 1 Million + Plus Debt" here is the quote

"In issuing the opinion Wednesday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas W. Waldrep Jr. found that Arnold transferred tracts of land to relatives to avoid creditors after defaulting on loans and agreements. Waldrep said there were “multiple badges of fraud” in the case, in which Arnold admitted under oath to trying to keep assets from creditors"  CLICKHERE

It is great when you have a judge saying that a county commissioner had multiple badges of fraud. Would this ethics policy been used for this case? The censure procedures are in place for a reason and to see Steve Arnold try to take this out of the policy really shows his true colors. Then we also had Linda Shaw and Billy Yow as well vote in a substitute motion to get rid of the censure, bad move on their part.

The other day the editorial board at the Greensboro News and Record chimed in on this new Ethics Policy CLICKHERE  Here is a part of the editorial

"Supporting Arnold, Commissioner Billy Yow worried that such actions “could get into the constitution, freedom of speech, perhaps,” and trigger lawsuits.



Yow need not fret about that. The policy allows censure, not censorship. A censure is an official expression of disapproval. It would carry no legal weight and would not remove a commissioner from office. But it would let the board state publicly that it intends to hold its members to a high standard of personal conduct."


The scribd version of the Guilford County Ethics policy is above and hopefully in the future there can be some add ons to this policy because the Commissioners never had a time where the general public could look at the policy before they voted on it. Correct me if i am wrong but has the City of Greensboro or City of High Point adopted a new Ethics Policy? Would love to know and will try to find out the answer in a update to this post.

Here is What Stack The Deck With TREBIC Developers Looks Like in Greensboro N.C.on CAT TEAM

The City of Greensboro had a public meeting on 2-9-2010 where the citizens of Greensboro could get a overview of the new Land Development Ordinance rewrite and what it will look like with approval from the Greensboro City Council. Let's take a closer look at the video below to see just how the local special interest group known as TREBIC which stands for the triad real estate and building industry coalition stacks the deck in their favor.





If you want to get a history of just how the local developers or you can call them TREBIC stacked the deck as you can see from the above video with a ratio of 8 developers - 3 others Yes Weekly has a article with a title "Developers more assertive on panel to rewrite ordinance", CLICKHERE,

Then over the summer of 2009 Triadwatch went to a community public  meeting at Leonard Rec Center  on the LDO rewrite and also looked at the document in question . One glaring issue that came out of the meeting was a post on July 27, 2009 with a title "Greensboro neighborhoods will NOT get a fair shake in the zoning process , thanks to TREBIC", CLICKHERE

Then a few days ago we see that the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress has some of the same problems where TREBIC members on this LDO would not want to make it a requirement to meet with the neighborhoods here is that post CLICKHERE 

During the meeting we also find out that city staff was the ones who sent out the invites to this citizens advisory team. When will these elected officials or staff quit putting all these TREBIC members on these boards and commissions.

In a future post we will see how the City of Greensboro and the Guilford County Commissioners wanted to form a task force to come up with ways to save money and consolidate departments, High Point doesn't want any part of this consolidating. Wouldn't you know it that the president of TREBIC was the chairman of this committee in Marlene Sanford with plenty of other TREBIC members stacking the deck again in TREBIC's favor.

When will we ever see a time where TREBIC doesn't have it's hands in every board and commission and advisory council . It must be nice to have a luncheon right before this LDO meeting to get unfettered access to our local officials at Grandover, like TREBIC hosted last week.

Start looking out for the citizens not the special interest.

Mayor of Greensboro Bill Knight's Campaign Reports are Here and Needs Help with the UNKNOWN

Knight Bill


The new Mayor of Greensboro Bill Knight has turned in his end of the year 2009 campaign contribution forms to the Guilford County Board of Elections with many discrepencies that are simple to get but way too many local politicians think it is ok to not put these items on their forms.

Let's take a look at what our campaign laws of this state have to say.

163‑278.11. Contents of treasurer's statement of receipts and expenditures.


(a) Statements filed pursuant to provisions of this Article shall set forth the following:


(1) Contributions. – Except as provided in subsection (a1) of this section, a list of all contributions received by or on behalf of a candidate, political committee, or referendum committee. The statement shall list the name and complete mailing address of each contributor, the amount contributed, the principal occupation of the contributor, and the date such contribution was received. The total sum of all contributions to date shall be plainly exhibited. Forms for required reports shall be prescribed by the Board. As used in this section, "principal occupation of the contributor" means the contributor's:


a. Job title or profession; and


b. Employer's name or employer's specific field of business activity.


As you can see from the above North Carolina law your campaign forms need to provide this information of job title and profession. From the above scribd document of the mayor's campaign forms he had a total of 29 different campaign contributors and 21 of them are by their treasurer Beth Hemphill labeled "Unknown" which is around a 72% of the forms are not complete and should be amended.

How hard it is to get in touch with these people to find out this information let's take a closer look at some of the unknowns on this list. Google is a great source along with the white pages online to find this information out.

Here is some phone numbers to guide you to the promised land of providing this information to treasurer Beth Hemphill

Jimmy Shoffner 288-2727
Orton Jones 288-8898
Reginald Sipe 273-9312
Michael Nash 370-4144 and if this is the lawyer here is his web site for occupation CLICKHERE, he is even unknown on his address as well
James McNairy III 378-1564 , here is a link to his profession CLICKHERE
Walter Underwood 292-4685
George Brumback 288-8702, the same one on the local bond commission
Jeff Tillman 851-2194,  with his own blog runsmart2win CLICKHERE
Anne Callicott (self employed/homemaker), (Zip code: 27408) $200 to SHARP PENCIL PAC on 05/24/05, what is Sharp Pencil PAC? That is Howard Coble's affiliated PAC CLICKHERE

It isn't that hard to get this information and this is just the first posting of campaign forms that will get a second look from this blog and hopefully others as well. We can also note from this end of the year returns there was plenty of contributions that went up to the limit on giving before you have to divulge any information to the board of election with on the scribd document you can see that 22 out of 24 gave the maximum of $50 to his campaign without reporting your vital information.

Maybe in the future it will be that any person who even gives a sum of $1 or more will need to show all their information to the campaign reports not just over $50. We also have a new law where the threshold to report has went from $3,000 down to $1,000 on all campaigns in North Carolina . So this means plenty of more candidates  will have to file reports in a timely manner.

Let's see how many other local candidates campaign reports look like and if anyone else like Guilford County Commissioner Kirk Perkins will get a Gold Star for reporting CLICKHERE 
 or will they be like the mayors reports that you see above which wouldn't even get a Star. The mayor is also Howard Coble's treasurer and is a accountant as well. This is the reporting he does on his own campaign, wow.

More at the Greensboro News and Record with a report at inside scoop titled "It Pays To Be Mayor" CLICKHERE

Roch 101 with a post CLICKHERE

Ethics Training for all Elected Officials in N.C. HB#1452 Starts January 1, 2010 , Locally Ethics Training Needs To Happen ASAP

S.L. 2009-403


House Bill #1452 which was signed into law in late summer says the following

AN ACT to require all cities, counties, local boards of education, unified governments, Sanitary districts, and consolidated city‑counties to adopt a code of ethics for the governing board and to require the members of those governing boards to receive education on ethics laws applicable to local government officials.



As we have seen lately where local politicians are texting their "circle of friends" while sitting on the city council, or with the same "circle of friends" wanting to take a local mayor and chairman of county commission on a plane ride to D.C.

Plus, we have the same "circle of friends" illegally giving money to a local political action committee. It is time for all the local Guilford County elected officials to take some basic ethics classes required by the state under this bill.

Here is what is said in the law,

All members of governing boards of cities, counties, local boards of education, unified governments, sanitary districts, and consolidated city‑counties shall receive a minimum of two clock hours of ethics education within 12 months after initial election or appointment to the office and again within 12 months after each subsequent election or appointment to the office.



The ethics education shall cover laws and principles that govern conflicts of interest and ethical standards of conduct at the local government level.



The need to conduct the affairs of the governing board in an open and public manner, including complying with all applicable laws governing open meetings and public records.


This act by the state is a step in the right direction. It comes at a time where there is a lot of corruption on the state level and the local level needs to understand the ins and outs of ethics training. Just because you have been in office for a long time doesn't mean that you understand the process. Can anyone say Jim Black or Mike Easley without talking unethical acts by state politicians.

As stated in this bill,

this act becomes effective January 1, 2010. All members of governing boards covered by this act shall receive their initial training to comply with G.S. 160A‑84 within 12 months after that date.

Let's see how long it takes all the governing boards to comply with this law. Will they wait till December of 2010 to take the class or will they do it ASAP. Who might come out of this class and have a new meaning of ethics on a local level or will it be business as usual with our "PAY TO PLAY" attitude that permeates Guilford County politicians.

ACCESS DENIED to Randleman Lake, Local Politician Speaks Out

ACCESS DENIED

Imagine the frustration to know that you have paid over a $150,000,000.00 for something. It’s ready for you to use and enjoy, but someone tells you, ACCESS DENIED. Welcome to the weird world of Randleman Lake and Piedmont Triad Regional Water Authority CLICKHERE or click on the title above. That’s what they said at their last meeting. All recreational ACCESS DENIED until next March of 2010.

PTRWA board members and its Director John Kime feel that the public has no rights of access to enjoy the fishing, paddling and natural beauty of the lake until they say the time is right. Certainly, the North Carolina Fish and Wildlife agents who tested the water and evaluated the fish feel they are big enough to catch. They shared their results with the PTRWA board at their last meeting, just prior to the board’s ruling, ACCESS DENIED.

The lake is at or near full pool and the water is settling out and clearing up very nicely. I visited with Executive Director John Kime recently and he said that the water quality tests were all exceeding everyone’s expectations. The only reason for delay Mr. Kime could share with me was in getting Duke Power to extend electric service to the recently completed public boat access and restrooms. According to Director Kime, that service should be in place by mid July of this year.

So the question is, ACCESS DENIED? Certainly an electric generator could be provided for electricity until Duke Power can extend the line for a more permanent connection. The weather’s perfect, the waters fine and we have spent more than $150,000,000.00 for a water source and recreational asset. ACCESS DENIED!

Latimer Alexander
High Point City Council Member

The City of High Point has invested $31,409,002.00 to date and has a 19% share in the Lake and water plant. Greensboro, Randolph County, Jamestown, Archdale and Randleman have invested the balance of the $150,000,000.00

________________________________________________________

If you would like to let the PTRWA know how you feel then please contact them here:

PTRWA

2216 W. Meadowview Rd.Wilmington Building, Suite 204

Greensboro, NC 27407

Phone: (336) 547-8437

Fax: (336) 851-0720

Email: ptrwa@ptrwa.org

Watchdog Warns Guilford County Politicians in Short Stack from News & Record

In today's Greensboro News & Record CLICKHERE or click on the title above. The Short Stack has a title called "Watchdog Warns Politicians". Here is what was said in the article ,

Keith Brown started a movement that led to reinstatement of protest-petition rights for Greensboro citizens. Now he’s prompted a finding by the N.C. State Board of Elections that Action Greensboro made an improper donation of $5,000 to the George Simkins Memorial PAC for supporting bond proposals.
Brown, who writes the Triad Watch blog, says his research indicates many Guilford County politicians are lax in following campaign-finance reporting rules. He’s probably right, and those politicians warrant closer scrutiny. If they don’t comply with the law when they’re running for office, they won’t when they’re in office.

With the Greensboro City Council local elections coming up in the fall . This will give the politicians ample time to make sure they play by the rules that govern this state in regards to campaign contribution's . If you would like to get a free screening on your forms before you turn them in to the Guilford County Board of Elections please let me know and I can give you the TRIADWATCH seal of approval. Let's see if anyone wants to take me up on this offer, especially Zack Matheny and all his TREBIC CARTEL contributions.

Senate Bill #415 Will Make Greensboro City Attorney Be Under City Council

State Senator Katie Dorsett on March 5 2009 introduced Senate Bill #415 , to see the bill click on the title above. or see the bill below

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT TO AMEND THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF GREENSBORO REGARDING

APPOINTMENT OF THE CITY ATTORNEY.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1. Section 4.21 of the Charter of the City of Greensboro, being Chapter
1137 of the Session Laws of 1959, reads as rewritten:

"Sec. 4.21. City Attorney; Appointment, Compensation, Powers, and Duties.

(a) The city council shall appoint the city attorney who shall hold office at the pleasure
of the city council and shall receive such compensation as it may fix.
(b) The city attorney shall (1) serve as legal advisor to the city council, the city manager
and all city departments, officers and agencies; (2) represent as counsel the city, its officers,
agents, or employees, in any legal action arising out of or connected with the proper functions
of the city, its officers, agents, or employees, unless disqualified to so act; (3) approve as to
form all ordinances and resolutions, including initiated or referred ordinances, prior to their
introduction."

SECTION 2. This act is effective when it becomes law.

_________________________________________________________


This bill will make the Greensboro City Attorney report to the Greensboro City Council not the Greensboro City Manager as the law stated.

Much debate has been talked from the Greensboro City Council who wanted to add this to the short session back in 2008 with City Council member Mike Barber and Councilwomen Goldie Wells having great debate on the pros and cons.Now it seems like a bill will be passed and the only other city left to change this rule would be the City of High Point.

Heart of The Triad meeting that got no reports from local media

Below the fold is the minutes from the January 2009 meeting of the Heart of the Triad or click on title above then go to January 2009. It is amazing that not many local papers are writing about this group but everyone needs to look at the long term effects of what they want to do with this land between High Point and Kernersville.

One of the most interesting aspects of what happened during the meeting was to hear the question from Latimer Alexander a High Point City Council member who asked the committee this" if the document would override existing land use plans if approved by other elected bodies." Dick Hails explained that if
adopted, the document would be one of many tools used in the land planning process.
Then Robbie " Pave It " Perkins Greensboro City Council member who is ethically challenged even being on this board also piped in with this comment to everyone," we must have regional cooperation between local elected bodies in order to promote a positive image for the area to become economically attractive."

As you can see the High Point City council member wanted to know that their land use rules and regulations would not be superceded by this document from the Heart of The Triad. It is like how the Greensboro City Council has these 2025 plans for land use in Greensboro but never go by them and rezone the property any way .

Here is the rub when it comes to this Heart of the Triad deal does the City of High Point and Kernersville want to give up their rights to land use plans for their cities for some pipe dream of a regional plan brought together with questionable motives because as Triadwatch has stated before on Heart of the Triad who controls the sewer and water in the area that would be High Point and Kernersville. Any talk of how this area should grow needs to be up to those 2 municipalities.

There is also another aspect of this meeting that came out in that the Piedmont Triad Partnership is working on a PTIA/Aerotropolis project, Robbie Perkins let that out of the bag now we will want to have 2 aerotropolis in the same vicinity of each other and Robbie Perkins want regional cooperation and we come to find out that the airport wants it's own aerotropolis. Amazing how that works out for the people who live out near the airport, cardinal area watch out for what is coming your way and all you have to do is look how fleming road is coming along.

HERE IS THE MINUTES BELOW THE FOLD

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Heart of the Triad Strategic Planning Committee

January 21, 2009

Strategic Planning Committee Members Present:
Richard Linville, Forsyth County Commissioner
Robbie Perkins, Greensboro City Council
Ray Combs, Town of Oak Ridge
David Rowe, Town of Oak Ridge (alternate)
Dana Caudill Jones, Town of Kernersville
Evelyn Terry, Winston-Salem City Council (alternate)

Others Present:
Brent McKinney, Executive Director PART; Paul Norby, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Planning Director; Lee Burnette, City of High Point Planning Director; Lisa Chislett,PART; Jeff Hatling, Community Development Director, Town of Kernersville; Paul Johnson, High Point Enterprise; Dick Hails, Planning Director, City of Greensboro; Bill Bruce, Guilford County Planning Dept.; Randy McCaslin, City of High Point; Gayle Anderson, Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce; Latimer Alexander, High Point CityCouncil; Lydia McIntyre, Greensboro MPO; Stuart Parks,Stakeholder Committee member/Forsyth County-Residential Development; Homer Wade, Stakeholder Committee member, Guilford County Commercial Development; Ricky S. Idol, Forsyth and Guilford property owner; Rob Bencini, Guilford County; Bruce Boyer, Kernersville Chamber of Commerce; Jimmy Morgan, Stakeholder Committee member/resident;Joanne Morgan, resident; Doris Chappell, Stakeholder Committee member/resident;
Blake Cox, Stakeholder Committee member/resident; Dr. Pat Schreiber, Stakeholder Committee chairperson/resident; David Ceiner, Stakeholder Committee member/resident; Chris Frantz, Stakeholder Committee member/resident; Rafe &Marianne Royle, residents; Cathy Poole, resident.

Co-Chairman Richard Linville called the meeting to order.
Minutes.

Co-Chairman Linville asked for any comments on the October meeting minutes.

If no corrections were needed, he asked for a motion of approval.
Motion by: Robbie Perkins to approve the October minutes.
Second by: Ray Combs.
Vote: Unanimous.

Paul Norby gave an overview of the agenda and status of the study/planning process to
date.
He also reviewed the Vision Statement and the Draft Assurances.
2Discussion of Goals and Objectives.

Lee Burnette reviewed the draft Goals and Objectives for the plan. The set of
assurances and goals and objectives contained in the document will serve as the
guidelines for the Heart of the Triad project planning process. He stated that the document had been discussed and approved by the Planning Directors and the Stakeholders Committee. The combined efforts of both committees created one document for presentation to the SPC. Mr. Perkins praised the document and expressed appreciation to both committees for working together.
Mr. Combs liked the document but also wanted to include planning for public schools in the area.

Mr. Perkins suggested involving the group working on the PTIA/Aerotropolis project through the Piedmont Triad Partnership office in the planning process. He noted that PART is also continuing work on the Seamless Mobility project for regional public transportation and working on a multi-modal regional transportation facility project.

Audience members asked if the public would have an opportunity for input during the process. Mr. Norby stated that there will be scheduled public input meetings and the planning directors and Stakeholder Committee members will continue to work together on details of the project including a schedule of events.Dr. Schreiber stated that the committees had worked many hours and closely together to present one document.

Ms. Terry asked about the reference to “governance” in the goals and objectives. Mr.Norby explained that it was included to reiterate that there would not be another layer of government in the area.

Latimer Alexander, High Point City Councilman, asked if the document would override existing land use plans if approved by other elected bodies. Dick Hails explained that if adopted, the document would be one of many tools used in the land planning process.Mr. Perkins stated that we must have regional cooperation between local elected bodies in order to promote a positive image for the area to become economically attractive.

Motion by: Ray Combs to adopt the presented Goals and Objectives document
with the inclusion of additional language to include the public schools.

Second by: Robbie Perkins.
Vote: Unanimous.

Audience member, Cathy Poole, asked the SPC to formally adopt the American
Planning Association ethical principals in planning. Co-Chairman Linville stated, as previously discussed at length on June 3, 2008, each member of the SPC is appointed by an elected body and is accountable to that body and to the electorate. In addition,each member as an elected official takes an oath of office and is subject to state laws and jurisdictional ethical policies. If anyone feels a member has violated ethical principals they are subject to, they should discuss information regarding such with the City or County Attorney of that jurisdiction.
3Mr. Combs asked that a letter be written to Forsyth and Guilford County school
superintendents regarding inclusion in this process.Future SPC meeting date will be announced later.

Motion by: Robbie Perkins to adjourn the meeting.
Second by: Ray Combs.
Vote: Unanimous.
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