Hypocrite TREBIC CARTEL Member Lawyer Tom Terrell delays Friendly Hobbs For Other Reason?

Looking at the Triad Business Journal today 1-8-2015, Halpern has asked for a 60 day continuance to a major rezoning case off of Hobbs Road and Friendly Ave. but in reality he is asking for a delay until his Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition "TREBIC CARTEL" cronies on the North Carolina State level will try to get Protest Petition completely off the laws in this state and screw established neighborhoods in Greensboro and other places in this state.

The reason we call Tom Terrell lawyer for the developers a hypocrite is because when it is beneficial to his clients he will use this tool called a protest petition but when he needs the votes on council he wants to completely do away with this N.C. State Law. Here is a blog post on TREBIC TOM's blog talking about his hypocrisy with help from local developer Marty Kotis HERE

TREBIC Tom writes this in Triad Business Journal
"In an email copied to the Triad Business Journal, attorney Tom Terrell — who represents Halpern — said the continuance is being sought "so that it can consider alternative designs that are consistent with the offered conditions."

This is total bull shit because all he is doing is  delaying the votes he does not have to see if the State of North Carolina will do away with Protest Petitions and only needs five votes to pass the Greensboro City Council instead of 7 with Protest Petition. There was a article out today in the Greensboro News and Record that said both Council members Hoffman and Hightower are NO votes on this rezoning and TREBIC CARTEL Tom can count and know he doesn't have the votes to pass but delay this get help from cronies in Raleigh and all I need is 5 instead of 7 like the old days where King Zoning Stud Henry Isaacson had enough councilmembers in his back pocket to get 5 votes each time.

Now with this Friendly and Hobbs rezoning we have seen both TREBIC CARTEL Tom Terrell  try twice and King Zoning Stud Henry Isaacson try once to rezone this to no avail . When will these developers ever quit No means No on this property let it stay residential as it should be . There is plenty of places all over Greensboro for this development to happen and the corner of hobbs and friendly is not it.

This case will be delayed more than just 60 days believe me it will be delayed till they can get the law abolished on state level.We will see a continuance after a continuance from TREBIC CARTEL MEMBER Tom Terrell.

We also have local Village Idiot John Hammer from Rhino Times chiming in on this rezoning case stating this

"Before Trader Joe’s pulled out, the smart money said that the rezoning request would have definitely passed the City Council.  There was some question as to whether it would have passed with the seven votes to overcome the protest petition, but those who count votes said a solid seven were there.
 
There are a couple of considerations for those who oppose the rezoning from Residential Single-family R-3 to Conditional District-Commercial-Medium CD-C-M.  One is that the protest petition is going away.  The state legislature intended to do away with it last year and it will certainly meet its demise in 2015.  So the neighborhood has more clout now than it will if this is defeated and comes back up next year when, without a protest petition, the rezoning request will need only a simple majority to pass.  And it looks like, with a seven-member council also on the horizon, that could be four votes.


Lawyers like Tom Terrell and Henry Isaacson use these delay tactics like a playbook and they will always count votes well before these rezoning cases come before council and if they do not have the votes they will delay or completely take it off the books. We will see where this goes but to me it looks like Tom wants a little help from my CRONY friends at the state level who don't know shit about this law and only are getting spoon fed information from TREBIC CARTEl lobbyist on how bad this law of Protest Petition is but in reality it works just fine.

I know about Protest Petition because our neighborhood used it and it actually worked out for the better for both sides of our rezoning case. Protest Petition is a state law that needs to stay or neighborhoods all over North Carolina will get ramrodded by developers and their TREBIC CARTEL members like we see in the triad area of North Carolina


If you want to read more on protest petitions CLICKHERE

and on this blog under protest petition CLICKHERE

Protest Petition Talk Round Up from Editorials,Letters to Editor, News Report in North Carolina

I wanted to give you a link to plenty of talk about protest petition in North Carolina after a few lawmakers snuck in this bill to appease their crony capitalist to take away the bargaining power of neighborhoods all over this state. Here we go

Petition Retreat from Greensboro News and Record editorial out today

HERE

Killing Protest Petition Not In Our Best Interest by Greensboro Attorney and former State Senator Don Vaughan

HERE

Bill would weaken neighbors’ ability to fight zoning changes, by Charlotte Observer

HERE

Bill could hinder neighbors ability to fight stores, businesses, WSOC tv in Charlotte

HERE

Protest petition quietly put to death amidst sweeping GOP changes, Yes! Weekly Jordan Green

HERE

Bill Would Eliminate A Tool Neighbors Have To Fight Zoning Changes, WFAE radio in Charlotte

HERE

Protest Pinched, Greensboro News and Record Editorial

HERE

We also have our local TREBIC Cartel attorney Tom Terrell NC Legal Landscapes who works for the developers who I just heard is going to have this blog post as a opinion piece in Sunday's Greensboro News and Record with a post titled, Legislative Update – Protest Petitions Killed . . . Finally

HERE

Greensboro Mayor Robbie Perkins Plays Fast And Loose With Protest Petition Facts , Billy Jones Blogger East Greensboro Performing Arts Center

HERE

Protest Petition for North Carolina Repeal is a Huge Mistake for Citizens and Neighborhoods All Over This State

This post below the fold was originally posted a few years ago on my first blog called Protest Petition for Greensboro 

News came out yesterday 7-10-2013  from Doug Clark on his News and Record Blog Off The Record  titled "Protest Petition in Danger"  . It seems like the powers to be at the State level of North Carolina  have slipped in a few words to repeal the Protest  Petition for the whole state. This will be both stupid and ignorant on the part of our state representatives to do this as a slip in bill to curry favor with the TREBIC cartels around the state. TREBIC cartel is our local unofficial now this year official lobbyist for the Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition . Plenty of us in and around Greensboro worked very hard to bring back Protest Petition for Greensboro and as you will read below they have been trying since 2011 to deny citizens this right in a rezoning case. It will be a sad day for any neighborhood or property owner in North Carolina who is involved in a rezoning case to not have the power of the Protest Petition and to see that they slipped this repeal of Protest Petition without any discussion in a local government committee or any discussion at all is ridiculous.

__________________________________________________________________________________
On Monday 3-28-2011 there was a joint session of the Regulatory Reform Committee meeting at the campus of Guilford Tech . Community College. While looking at my twitter account i came across this tweet by Greensboro News and Record state and federal government reporter Mark Binker which he had this to say,

"TREBIC out in force at #ncga Reg Reform committee asking for repeal of protest petition rules. #GSO just got it back a couple years ago."

Here is a link to Mark Binker's twitter account CLICKHERE

The TREBIC in the post belongs to the Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition our local developer lobbyist organization. It is amazing to think that it hasn't even been 2 years and they are already whining and complaining to the state about this law. To also understand that the citizens of Greensboro have been getting screwed for the past 30 years of not having this state law and we are only going on 2 years of finally having it be a part of the zoning laws to see them complain to the regulatory commission is ridiculous.

 We also have a blog post from Jordan Green at Yes Weekly on this meeting here is what Jordan had to say.

" Lolita Malave, president-elect of the Greensboro Regional Realtors Association, asked the General Assembly to repeal the protest petition, which allows neighboring property owners to trigger a requirement of a 75 percent majority vote for approval of a rezoning request if they file a valid protest petition.



“It is easier to change the US Constitution that it is to rezone your property under the protest petition,” Malave said. “The US Constitution can be changed with a simple-majority vote of the people or a two-thirds majority vote of Congress. By contrast, the owner of 5 percent of the land within 100 feet of a proposed land rezoning project can trigger a requirement for more than a super-majority vote. That equates to more than 75 percent of voters. It is absurd and unfair that such a small number of citizens can and do decide the fate of many.”


One speaker echoed Malave’s appeal, while another spoke in defense of the protest petition.

here is a link to the whole article CLICKHERE

 We also have  our local Greensboro City Council Member Zack Matheny talk about Protest Petition in a council meeting last year here is the clip;












Now we have a local city council member talk about how they are frustrated with Protest Petition being a part of the zoning process and this was over a year ago that the councilman talked about this, then we see this year they go in front of a regulatory commission meeting to let them know how they feel and want it repealed. With this being said it shows to all the citizens of Greensboro that this law is working for it's purpose and needs to stay a part of the process. 

It is time to let our local state representatives know how you feel about Protest Petition and to say to them keep this a state law and it should stay that way.


Here is a link to all of our local representatives if you would like to say to them "KEEP PROTEST PETITION AS STATE LAW".

STATE SENATE SIDE

Phil Berger CLICKHERE


STATE HOUSE SIDE

John Blust CLICKHERE

Pricey Harrison CLICKHERE
Marcus Brandon CLICKHERE
John Faircloth CLICKHERE
Alme Adams CLICKHERE

Through The Grapevine TREBIC President Applies for Downtown Greensboro Job

As the saying goes "I heard it through the GRAPEVINE" that unofficial now official lobbyist for the Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition aka "TREBIC CARTEL" Marlene Sanford has applied to become the next president of Downtown Greensboro Inc. (DGI) .

The DGI search committee is in the process of hiring a new president to replace Ed Wolverton who leaves post July 1st.  

It is interesting to note that Marlene Sanford is applying for this job. Does this mean that the TREBIC CARTEL has lost it's luster locally or that she wants a new career path for herself? If the search committee is smart they would not hire from a contingency of the usual suspects but hire a fresh face from outside the area.

The blog dang has a post titled "Action Greensboro's leaders make a run for it"  with a few more usual suspects in Cecelia Thompson and April Harris who are wanting to be president at DGI. One anonymous commentor had this to say,
"April Harris is about to get fired. Susan Schwartz of the Cemala foundation has been lobbying hard against her. Dabney Sanders is also lobbying Jim Melvin for her dismissal."

Looks like the committee will have a tough choice to either hire from within or get a new fresh face to Downtown Greensboro.

Greensboro City Council Saves $25,000 Not Giving TREBIC Lobbyist Contract Has Been Pulled

 

The City of Greensboro did the right thing and pulled this item from the city council meeting on

 3-19-2013

 

32. Resolution authorizing contract between the City of Greensboro and TREBIC (Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition) to assist with the Jordan Lake Rules legislation.

(Council District: all) (roll call vote) (Attachment # 32 to Councilmembers)

This issue was talked about a few weeks ago in this blog post titled

$25,000 Greensboro Contract with Unofficial now Official Lobbyist Marlene Sanford President of the Most Powerful Lobbyist Group in the Triad. What a Waste of Taxpayers Money!

Hopefully we can also work on the stacked decks that TREBIC likes to do on plenty of boards and commissons  for example with a blog post titled "RUCO with Stacked Deck on Board from Lobbyist Group Wants State Law To Help Their Cause " CLICKHERE

I am sorry if you cannot find a link to a Greensboro News and Record article in a blog post on triadwatch from the past because they totally wiped out their links when they updated their web site.

 

$25,000 Greensboro Contract with Unofficial now Official Lobbyist Marlene Sanford President of the Most Powerful Lobbyist Group in the Triad. What a Waste of Taxpayers Money!

 

 

During the City of Greensboro meeting on March  5, 2013 at the complete end of the agenda,Greensboro City Manager Denise Turner Roth wanted the council to sign into a contract with the president of the Triad Real Estate Building Industry Coalition(TREBIC) Marlene Sanford for a total waste of taxpayers money for $25,000 you can see the contract at end of blog post. Here is a link to the video of the back and forth on this wasteful government spending CLICKHERE  and thanks to Council member Tony Wilkins at end of discussion to say "WHOA WHOA WHOA" we need to hold off till next meeting. It was also amazing to see in video that Councilwomen Yvonne Johnson with the help of one of the founders of the TREBIC CARTEL Mayor Perkins bring a motion to pass this without even seeing the contract with Marlene Sanford, unbelievable.

 

There is no reason for the City of Greensboro to hire this unofficial now official lobbyist Marlene Sanford for $25,000 because she has been working for years on this issue of Jordan Lake Rules as a unofficial lobbyist for the TREBIC CARTEL. Why would you waste taxpayers monies when she is getting paid handsomely by the most powerful unofficial lobbyist group in Guilford County . Let's not forget that the TREBIC CARTEL was unofficially lobbying the state to deny the citizens of all of Greensboro the right to Protest Petition .

 

Let's do a little timeline on just how long Marlene Sanford has been a official lobbyist at the State of North Carolina for TREBIC. According to the lobbyist web site CLICKHERE , she just filed on February 26, 2013 one week before the Greensboro City Council meeting on March 5, 2013 which came out of left field from the City Manager who wants to pay a person who has been working on this issue already.Who at Greensboro City staff thought this was a brilliant idea?You can also see from the lobbying web site that it has been a very longtime since she has registered with the State of North Carolina as a lobbyist CLICKHERE  which is a total of 13 year break from finally becoming a lobbyist when we have known for a very longtime what she was but has been doing plenty of politicking under the table. Yes! Weekly did a great front page article titled "The Unofficial Lobbyist TREBIC & The Building Industry from October 17, 2012 CLICKHERE. 

 

You can also see from the picture above that Marlene Sanford was unofficially lobbying the State of North Carolina representatives at the Greensboro delegation forum on Presidents day February 18, 2013 well before she filed as a lobbyist while current session was going on. The picture was on the front page of the Rhino Times that week.

 

Let's not also forget that the Greensboro Partnership has a lobbyist in Jason Cannon who is paid by the chamber but probably with a little digging could find out that the taxpayers of Greensboro with a pass through are footing this bill for a lobbyist at the state level.

 

Doug Clark from the Greensboro News and Record chimed in as well on this issue pointing out two big reasons for not hiring TREBIC as a lobbyist

they are

 

"One is that TREBIC takes positions on city issues, making Sanford an advocate before the council. Her relationship can be adversarial when TREBIC opposes city policies. Adversary sometimes, paid lobbyist sometimes? No, that’s not a good relationship.

 

The second reason is more basic. Greensboro doesn’t need to pay anyone to argue on its behalf regarding the Jordan Lake rules. The legislature is already very friendly toward the city’s position. Phil Berger, the powerful leader of the state Senate, represents Greensboro and has already indicated his support for amending the rules. When you have Phil Berger plus most other Guilford County legislators on your side (Pricey Harrison and Alma Adams excepted), you’re throwing money away to hire a lobbyist."

 

Two very valid points to make and if you see in contract it looks like the they have routine expenses you are going to pay for in transportation, telephone,postage,copies,and meals. It must be nice to have the taxpayers pay for meals to a lobbyist who is probably paid very well by her own non profit in TREBIC CARTEL.

 

If you would like to send a message to the Greensboro City Council to not waste taxpayers money on a lobbyist who is already getting paid to lobby please contact your Greensboro City Council.  CLICKHERE

 

 This message brought to you by the Triad Citizens Against Government Waste.

 

 

$25,000 Trebic Contract With City of Greensboro by

Illegal Lobbyist Marlene Sanford Schmoozing as a Lobbyist on Front Page of Rhino Times

The Unofficial Lobbyist Marlene Sanford or as i would like to call her the illegal lobbyist has a front page picture in Rhino Times haming it up with our State Representatives from this past Monday's Greensboro legislative agenda where the #1 issue for the state representatives is to amend the Jordan Lake Rules.  Who has been lobbying the state illegally but the TREBIC CARTEL ILLEGAL LOBBYIST Marlene Sanford. If you want to know who controls the local Greensboro government or the fox guarding the hen house all you need to do is look at this organization called TREBIC here is a link to their members CLICKHERE

THE UNOFFICIAL LOBBYIST: TREBIC & THE BUILDING INDUSTRY

Eric Ginsburg and Yes Weekly has a front page article titled THE UNOFFICIAL LOBBYIST: TREBIC & THE BUILDING INDUSTRY

Triadwatch and also the sister blog to this one Protest Petition for Greensboro has been battling this illegal organization since 2008 when they wanted to deny the citizens of Greensboro the right to a protest petition in the zoning process that every other municipality in this state had the right to do.

This article above is a must read for all local citizens especially in regards to how elected officials get a free meal and free alcohol at a closed event the month before the election with no reporting whatsoever on anyone's part from the elected officials who should be paying for a ticket but get in for free and the illegal lobbyist organization in TREBIC CARTEL who's power is unmatched in Guilford County to be the most powerful lobbyist group around these parts even though the state lobbyist division will not tag them as a lobbyist organization. More about that in a future post.

In this article all you need to read is this

"Standing in the middle of the dining room floor at TREBIC’s annual event, commercial real estate broker Dwain Skeen of the Skeen Group described TREBIC’s work.

“It’s a lobbyist organization,” Skeen said.

“If we don’t have an advocate, the powers that be… will pass laws that are not necessarily positive to our industry. TREBIC is a watchdog.”

As Skeen spoke, Tom Terrell Jr. of Smith, Moore, Leatherwood LLP took the stage to introduce Sanford, calling her “a great lobbyist” before handing over the mic. On the group’s website page for testimonials from members, Terrell said, “The building industry has no other voice in governmental decisions.”

 

Enough said and more in the future. Billy Jones also posted as well on this subject at East Greensboro Performing Arts Center with a title Yes Weekly TREBIC admits to being a lobbyist group.

 

 

Let's not forget the African American Leadership of Greensboro and Guilford County that may have prevented: Thomasville apartment fire under investigation

"The fire department is investigating an afternoon apartment fire at 300 C James Ave.

Crews were called to the apartments around 2:30 p.m., Sunday, and left by 5:15 p.m.

There were no injuries, according to police and fire reports."

When will the African American political leadership

of Greensboro and Guilford County

acknowledge they betrayed their own people

for letting Robbie and friends at TREBIC kill RUCO?

What will the new City of Greensboro manager suggest?

Will that she was the lobbyist for the Greensboro Parnership,

which also means Downtown Greensboro Inc. do the right thing,

or shall we all wait untill some have the blood of dead renters on thier hands?

Robbie Perkins and Roy Carroll Texting During Council Meeting, Parody

ROBBIE PERKINS AND ROY CARROLL TEXT MESSAGING EACH OTHER

TRIADWATCH PARODY ABOVE

The above parody is fictitious but we all need to remember that we did have sitting council member Robbie Perkins text message to China local developer Roy Carroll during a council meeting  in regards to a issue with property off of horse pen creek road, texts are below . Rumor has it that Roy Carroll is going to bring up the 4 million dollars for water and sewer in January 2012  that has been tabled from the City of Greensboro agenda. Here is a link to that report titled "Pulled Agenda Item #31 Local Developer and Crony Capitalist Roy Carroll Wants $4,176,775 in Ecomonic Incentive Grant and Loan" CLICLHERE

Perkins Texts

 The report below is from December of 2009

Above you will see the text messages from Greensboro City Council member Robbie Perkins to local developer Roy Carroll. During council meeting on December 15, 2009 it was discovered that Robbie Perkins was texting back and forth to Roy Carroll about a situation involving a court case which is totally a separate issue and a condemnation of Kotis properties to put in water and sewer to Roy Carroll's property off of horse pen creek road.

The first issue that needs to be addressed is should council members be text messaging during council meetings? The answer should be NO because the council members need to be concentrating on who is speaking to them and the case in front of them and not text messaging their friends or in Robbie Perkins case your TREBIC which stands for the Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition buddy.

The second issue is to see if Greensboro City Council member Robbie Perkins is also Roy Carroll's leasing agent for this property off of horse pen creek road? If Yes ,then the councilman needs to recuse himself from yet another case that comes in front of the City of Greensboro. Here is a post from the past where both Robbie Perkins and Roy Carroll are tied together CLICKHERE on the center city pointe in downtown Greensboro.

To understand the above text messages in the first text message it talks about a person by the name of winfree, that happens to be Kotis Properties lawyer in Chick Winfree. The third text says that is has been tabled till January 5, 2010.In the fourth text it states that "Al" has been giving me the play by play. Al is probably, Al Leonard who is Vice President Carroll Commercial Construction Company and Carrolland Company.And the last text seems like Robbie Perkins saying to Roy Carroll to go toe to toe with Kotis Properties. The "Terry" in the last text is Greensboro City Attorney Terry Wood.

Mayoral Candidate Robbie Perkins and Local Developer Roy Carroll , What The Future Holds for Greensboro.

TRIADWATCH PARODY Picture.

After seeing that the Triad Business Journal is doing their bidding for Roy Carroll to get his property shovel ready for over $4 million dollars in Greensboro bond money CLICKHERE  . Someone needs to point out the close relationship between local developer Roy Carroll and mayoral candidate Robbie Perkins as we see from this post before on TRIADWATCH titled "Greensboro City Council Member Robbie Perkins and Local Developer Roy Carroll are ethically challenged" CLICKHERE.



 Piedmont Triad International AirportLatest from The Business JournalsCounty will ask for state funding to support Honda expansionFortune names Allegiant 64th fastest growing companyHigh bids to delay GTCC’s Ca  Guilford Technical Community CollegeLatest from The Business JournalsHigh bids to delay GTCC’s Cameron CampusTriad, state community college instructor salaries falling shortGTCC wins
When we see Roy Carroll wanting this $4 million dollars in bond money we also need to be reminded as to who is Roy Carroll's leasing agent for plenty of these endeavors all over Greensboro from properties on elm street near the Super Wal Mart to the Center Pointe building downtown to the property off of Horse Pen Creek Road it is none other than NAI Piedmont Triad Commercial properties president and partner along with being a sitting Greensboro Council member and mayoral candidate Robbie Perkins.

Just this past week Triadwatch had a post where the $4 million in bond money for Roy Carroll was taken off the Greensboro City Council for the second time CLICKHERE but then in the Triad Business Journal article they are saying that it might be brought up next month making this the third time they want to bring this up to the Greensboro City Council. Mark my word that this proposal to give developer Roy Carroll over $4 million dollars in this bond money has been shopped around to all the sitting Greensboro City Council members and knew that Roy Carroll didn't have the votes for this to pass and you see how they have delayed this for the past few Greensboro City Council meetings and if we see this agenda item back up again in front of council it was already approved by a majority of council members before it ever made it to the agenda.

Anytime you see Roy Carroll doing business in front of council remember who his leasing agent is in Robbie Perkins.

It would be interesting to see if any local media outlet will do any investigative reporting to see just how close this relationship is because we already have Robbie Perkins texting him from council chambers all the way to China with this post titled "Greensboro City Council Member Robbie Perkins Text Messages to developer Roy Carroll during council meetings, any Ethical Questions? CLICKHERE

As you see from the parody picture above if Robbie Perkins becomes Mayor of Greensboro watch out the TREBIC CARTEL will be on cloud nine and Roy Carroll will have his own red line phone to the mayors office.

David Hoggard on Robbie Perkins and RUCO: How is Greensboro's press not covering up Robbie Perkins' blatent lies?

David Hoggard,

Did or did Robbie not screw poor renters state wide or not?

George Hartzman

Yes he did.

David Hoggard | September 29, 2011 at 09:15 PM

A Greensboro Election Linkfest
I Emailed to Several Members of North Carolina's Press:
Perkins, Jordan Green, Matheny, Allen Johnson, TREBIC,
Cardes Brown, John Hammer, Amanda Lehmert,
Guarino and Bev Perdue

Did Yes Weekly's Jordan Green
just let Robbie off the hook for RUCO because he appears to be the lesser evil?

Greensboro District #3 Candidate Jay Ovittore Will Not Bow To The TREBIC CARTEL

Ovittore Will Not Bow to Real Estate

Greensboro, NC 8/28/11 – In a move to show his fellow District 3 neighbors and constituents his commitment to a change in how local government works, Jay Ovittore today announced he will not seek the endorsement of TREBIC’s joint election committee or the Greensboro Landlords Association.

Ovittore says, “For far too long, our local real estate developers have had a monetary stranglehold on our City Council giving them an unfair advantage over average citizens. I see serving as a Councilman as a job beholden to serve the citizens of my district. I have no problem sitting and listening to the real estate community, but they will not get any special treatment compared to my next door neighbor or the family that lives down the street. I am fully aware that our developers have a role in how our city grows, but their ability to usurp power via campaign donations has got to stop so we can fix our local problems and serve our citizens, not just a select few. I have heard from the public repeatedly that they want representation that wasn’t purchased by real estate developers. I will be that representation. Being true to myself and those I hope to represent, I will not seek the endorsement of TREBIC’s joint election committee or the Greensboro Landlord’s Association.”

“I do see real problems in our local real estate market. The very people I am not going to be a pawn for, lobbied our state house to repeal our RUCO (Rental Unit Certificate of Occupancy) program and others like it successfully. RUCO eliminated 80% of our sub-standard rental housing in Greensboro in 5 short years, all the while being fought by TREBIC and the Greensboro Landlords Association. RUCO didn’t only force rental property owners to keep their houses up to a minimum standard to live in, but ensured every Greensboro citizen that when they rented in our city they would be in a safe and habitable home. RUCO also kept property values in neighborhoods in a better position, which in turn kept tax revenue in a better position. Run down housing will bring down property values for houses that surround them, the same way foreclosures hurt entire neighborhoods.”

On skipping the questionnaires for TREBIC and GLA, Ovittore says, “There will be plenty of opportunities to answer questions for the public at local forums and in most local media. I look forward to debating my opponent in the coming months, giving the public a better option for Council and holding him accountable on issues I know my fellow constituents are upset about.”


For more information please e-mail Jay Ovittore at voteovittore@gmail.com or contact Jay through his Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/voteovittore

CONTACT: Jay Ovittore
336-790-6411
voteovittore@gmail.com

RUCO with Stacked Deck on Board from Lobbyist Group Wants State Law To Help Their Cause

In the past few days we have one post each from both Yes! Weekly and The Greensboro News and Record in regards to a state law that will probably do away with the Residential Unit Certificate of Occupancy for the City of Greensboro.

Yes! Weekly post titled "Some on Greensboro Council Lukewarm to RUCO" CLICKHERE
Greensboro News and Record Inside Scoop titled "Will City Council Back RUCO" CLICKHERE


 The RUCO board which is  stacked with members of the Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition which is the local non registered lobbyist group headed by Marlene Sanford. In a post from yes weekly in past here is what she had to say about RUCO in Greensboro:

"“It’s no secret that my constituency would like to see this program go away,” said Marlene Sanford, president of the TREBIC, which hosted the meeting."

Then this past week during a work session Jordan Green from Yes! Weekly does a great job of tweeting from the Greensboro City Council chambers and had this as a twitter post:

"Perkins says the RUCO board voted 6 to 5 against sending a letter to the mayor urging the city to oppose the legislation"
Perkins: "The majority said we don’t need RUCO


Now we see that the RUCO board voted against sending a letter to mayor in regards to what is going on in the state house in regards to legislation that will probably do away with RUCO in Greensboro if the state passes a bill.

Who are the members of the RUCO board? and who stacked the deck on the RUCO board with Marlene Sanfords constituencies?

Jordan Green also reported this on 7-21-2010,

"Early in the meeting, Newton caused distress among some of her fellow task force members by expressing the view that the makeup of the RUCO Advisory Board, which hears and determines appeals from decisions of the building inspector, should include more “representation from people who do not profit from rental property.”

Reynolds added that he receives questions about the board makeup “quite often,” and handed out a roster of members to delineate the various members' ties and affiliations. The roster shows that, not counting city council liaison Robbie Perkins and two staff members, six out of 11 members are either agents or owners of rental properties, including Dellinger; Sims; District 3 appointee Peter Placentino, who works for Brown Investment Properties; Bobby Akin of the Greensboro Landlords Association; Bryon Nelson of the Triad Apartment Association; and Todd Rotruck, the representative for the neighborhood congress"

The whole RUCO Board needs a complete overhaul if a majority of the members want to do away with what they are there to do for the citizens of Greensboro. This is a clear indication of what is a real problem with boards and commissions , where a lobbyist group has a stacked deck on a local board and votes the way they did on this issue of RUCO in Greensboro.

Local Real Estate Group Wants To Deny The Citizens of Greensboro The Right To Protest Petition

On Monday 3-28-2011 there was a joint session of the Regulatory Reform Committee meeting at the campus of Guilford Tech . Community College. While looking at my twitter account i came across this tweet by Greensboro News and Record state and federal government reporter Mark Binker which he had this to say,

"TREBIC out in force at #ncga Reg Reform committee asking for repeal of protest petition rules. #GSO just got it back a couple years ago."

Here is a link to Mark Binker's twitter account CLICKHERE

The TREBIC in the post belongs to the Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition our local developer lobbyist organization. It is amazing to think that it hasn't even been 2 years and they are already whining and complaining to the state about this law. To also understand that the citizens of Greensboro have been getting screwed for the past 30 years of not having this state law and we are only going on 2 years of finally having it be a part of the zoning laws to see them complain to the regulatory commission is ridiculous.

 We also have a blog post from Jordan Green at Yes Weekly on this meeting here is what Jordan had to say.

" Lolita Malave, president-elect of the Greensboro Regional Realtors Association, asked the General Assembly to repeal the protest petition, which allows neighboring property owners to trigger a requirement of a 75 percent majority vote for approval of a rezoning request if they file a valid protest petition.



“It is easier to change the US Constitution that it is to rezone your property under the protest petition,” Malave said. “The US Constitution can be changed with a simple-majority vote of the people or a two-thirds majority vote of Congress. By contrast, the owner of 5 percent of the land within 100 feet of a proposed land rezoning project can trigger a requirement for more than a super-majority vote. That equates to more than 75 percent of voters. It is absurd and unfair that such a small number of citizens can and do decide the fate of many.”


One speaker echoed Malave’s appeal, while another spoke in defense of the protest petition.

here is a link to the whole article CLICKHERE

 We also have  our local Greensboro City Council Member Zack Matheny talk about Protest Petition in a council meeting last year here is the clip;







Now we have a local city council member talk about how they are frustrated with Protest Petition being a part of the zoning process and this was over a year ago that the councilman talked about this, then we see this year they go in front of a regulatory commission meeting to let them know how they feel and want it repealed. With this being said it shows to all the citizens of Greensboro that this law is working for it's purpose and needs to stay a part of the process. 

It is time to let our local state representatives know how you feel about Protest Petition and to say to them keep this a state law and it should stay that way.


Here is a link to all of our local representatives if you would like to say to them "KEEP PROTEST PETITION AS STATE LAW".

STATE SENATE SIDE

Don Vaughan CLICKHERE
Gladys Robinson CLICKHERE
Phil Berger CLICKHERE
Stan Bingham CLICKHERE

STATE HOUSE SIDE

John Blust CLICKHERE
Maggie Jeffus CLICKHERE
Pricey Harrison CLICKHERE
Marcus Brandon CLICKHERE
John Faircloth CLICKHERE
Alme Adams CLICKHERE

You can also let the Regulatory Reform Commission know how you feel as well by filling out this form on the state web site  CLICKHERE

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 Taxpayers Could and Probably Will Pay The Bill on Industrial Park Developers Sidewalks if Ordinance is Passed

Ordinance amending Chapter 30, Section 30-9-10 of the Land Development Ordinance (LDO) related to the sidewalk installation regulations for Industrial Parks. (Council District: all) (roll call vote) (Attachment #11 to Councilmembers) THIS ITEM WAS CONTINUED FROM THE NOVEMBER 9TH MEETING OF COUNCIL WITHOUT FURTHER ADVERTISING

This agenda item above was postponed from November 9th Greensboro City Council meeting to come back up in front of council the next week to also be tabled till their briefing session on November 23, 2010 to probably be in front of council next week for their regular meeting.

Let's take a look at what this exemption is all about with a explanation from Greensboro City Manager Rashad Young talking with Greensboro City Council Member Danny Thompson  on this issue. Here is the embedded video below.





As you can see from the above video this ordinance was brought in front of council driven in part by the development community and  developer Richard Beard with him wanting to exempt his new tenant for his property out in Rock Creek Center in American Express. Now, does anyone believe that it is a undo burden for a multi billion dollar company to spend some extra dollars on sidewalks for your employees or tenants in your industrial park who would like to take a safe stroll on a sidewalk instead of a roadway. We also have Rock Creek Center web site with this to say:

Rock Creek Center was originally developed in 1982 by the City Pension Fund for Firefighters and Police Officers of Tampa Florida. In October 2005, Rock Creek was purchased by an investment group located in Greensboro, NC and underwent a revised comprehensive master plan to develop the remaining 680 acres in the park. The development will continue offering residential, retail, office and industrial/ warehouse opportunities as it has over its 20 year existence. Rock Creek Center is a high quality corporate community that has attracted high quality companies while maintaining an environment that compliments its natural surroundings

So they state on their web site that they would like to offer all sorts of opportunities for this land in eastern guilford county from residential to industrial parks but it isn't for them to offer a walkability area for people to live and work near their employer or to take a stroll while on their lunchbreak on a sidewalk in Rock Creek Center because we have RIchard Beard wanting to exempt companies from this.

But wait there is more. This exemption of sidewalks in industrial parks was aided in part from our local non regulated lobbyist group headed by Marlene Sanford in the Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition(TREBIC). This exemption of sidewalks in industrial parks was only going to be a part of  Guilford County that got water and sewer from the City of Greensboro. But here comes  TREBIC who wants to argue that why don't we exempt all industrial parks both outside the city limits and also all over the City of Greensboro as well.As you can see from the above video all of this was brought to you from the development community as the city manager said but why is this a bad idea.

First and foremost is that in another exchange between Adam Fischer and Greensboro City Council Member Trudy Wade was this exchange on who will be responsible to provide sidewalks in future.




As you can see from this video that the local developers which is aided by TREBIC want to put the burden on the local taxpayers to pay for sidewalks in the future. Adam Fischer from Greensboro Department of Transportation was taking a question from Trudy Wade who asked about the responsibility on who in future will pay for sidewalks if they pass the exemption for industrial parks and in certain circumstances it would be the responsibility of the greensboro taxpayers instead of the developers to build sidewalks on their property.

We will see what happens next week in front of the Greensboro City Council but will they say to the development community and the lobbyist group TREBIC to build sidewalks on your property  or will you make the Greensboro taxpayers pay for sidewalks in the future under certain circumstances as Adam Fischer stated.

Stacking The Deck With Developers on Boards and Commissions Greensboro City Council Style, Video Embedded

UPDATE: ROCH101 has a new post titled "Too Cozy: Board Appointee's Company Lobbying City for Trash Business" CLICKHERE  on top of what is written in this post.



During the Greensboro City Council meeting on November 16, 2010 councilman Jim Kee at the end of the meeting when each council person gets to speak on matters important to them decided to reappoint local realtor Paul Gilmer to the zoning commission. Why is this appointment so significant ? Who knows but in the embedded video above we have fellow councilman Zack Matheny really taking to task this appointment from Jim Kee.

There has been a little history with Paul Gilmer on the Greensboro Zoning Commission with this post at TRIADWATCH back on September 20, 2008 with a title "Greensboro Zoning Commission is in a mess and needs fixing, memo from city attorney:, CLICKHERE .

Also we need to remember that Paul Gilmer is a part of the group called CICO where we have Jordan Green from Yes Weekly have this to say in a article on opening up the white street landfill,

"The politically connected enterprise has retained lawyer Cameron Cooke, also a former councilman, and Paul Gilmer, a realtor and area resident who formerly served on the zoning commission. Cico touts its private waste disposal project as a boon to economic development in the area and its plan as “the most important element for the revival of the area.”

 You can see from the embedded video at around the 1 minute and 40 seconds it seems like Zack Matheny said something that really ticked off fellow councilwomen TDB Small who was pointing her finger at Zack Matheny, then we see the mayor bang his gavel and sternly say that Zack Matheny has the floor and enough with the rest. Just another day in the life of a Greensboro City Council meeting.

Something that needs to get explained from the embedded video above and am sure is what is at the heart of this problem comes at the 2 minute mark of this embedded video. Zack Matheny had this to say

" When you tell me your gonna "

Then Zack Matheny catches himself mid sentence after this quote above then he mumbles

 "i just this is a tough one for me out of the blue"

It would be great to know what more Zack Matheny wanted to say about the appointment of Paul Gilmer back on the zoning commission where in the past week he had talked with Zack and was interested in the planning board not the zoning commission. There must have been something worked out between Zack and Jim on something and him appointing Paul Gilmer to the zoning commission was a total blindside to Zack.

There has been a lot of controversy over how the Greensboro City Council appoints it's members to certain boards and commissions. Back in around July of 2009 we had the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress address the Greensboro City Council on the need for a change in how the council appoints people to boards and commissions. Here is what was stated in the scuttlebutt section of the weekly paper called Yes Weekly!

"Call for more diversity on Greensboro boards made The Greensboro Neighborhood Congress presented a proposal to the Greensboro City Council on July 21 to reform the process of appointing citizens to city boards and commissions. The congress’ recommendations include making boards and commissions more representative by gender, district, ethnicity and profession, conducting an annual analysis of the demographic composition of the citizen boards and requiring that applicants provide relevant personal information. One oft-made criticism of city boards and commissions is that they’re stacked with real estate professionals. District 5 Councilwoman Trudy Wade suggested that the city consider moving meeting times later in the day that would accommodate more citizens’ schedules, and speculated that “people in real estate and development may have more flexible schedules that allow them to serve on boards.” — JG "

As we have seen with this appointment of Paul Gilmer a local realtor to return back to the zoning commission, this is just par for the course where we have plenty of instances in the past to show you how the local lobbyist group called TREBIC which stands for the Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition likes to stack the deck on these boards and commissions. Here is a few post on TRIADWATCH from the past on this subject.

Marlene Sanford, Greensboro Partnership, TREBIC = Stacking The Deck on Boards and Commissions


CLICKHERE


Here Is What Stack The Deck with TREBIC Developers Looks Like in Greensboro N.C. on CAT Team
CLICKHERE

TREBIC + RUCO = Fox Guarding The Hen House
CLICKHERE

It is amazing how someone like realtor Paul Gilmer gets to jump all the people who are waiting in the databank line to serve on a board or commission and he has already served his time a few years ago but gets to be reappointed to the zoning commission. This appointment is just one instance of how certain council members want to stack the deck in the favor of TREBIC and we haven't even talked about mary skenes, betty smith, gary wolf, russ parmele, rick pinto, de sean alston, chuck truby might be on 2 boards, and  plenty of commissions who were completely tilted to the real estate lobbyist group called TREBIC. It is time for everyone to be aware of what is going on and there needs to be a complete analysis of just how many people are waiting in the databank to serve Greensboro city council on a board or commission but to see someone like Paul Gilmer jump everyone in line is not fair to the other people and the process. Time for a complete overhaul and a fair process for all the citizens not just the select few with connections.

Marlene Sanford, Greensboro Partnership, TREBIC= Stacking the Deck on Boards and Commissions

From: Jason Cannon [mailto:JCannon@greensboro.org]

Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 12:16 PM
To: msanford@trebic.org
Subject: Greensboro Partnership Governmental Affairs Position Opening
Importance: High

Marlene,

Per our conversation, attached is a job description for the position of Manager of Governmental Affairs for the Greensboro Partnership. Please review and forward to anyone who you feel may be qualified and interested in this opportunity. Posting this description to any appropriate listservs you control or participate in is also appreciated. Deadline for submission is February 5, 2010.

Thank you for your assistance.

Best regards,
Jason

Jason A. Cannon
Vice President, Governmental Affairs
The Greensboro Partnership
jcannon@greensboro.org
(336) 387-8330
(336) 275-9287 (fax)
_________________________________________________________________

As you can see from above, this email from Friday January 8, 2010 will show you the relationship between Marlene Sanford from the Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition (TREBIC) and Jason Cannon from the Greensboro Partnership . Why does this email above even matter well let's take a look at a recent article in the Greensboro News & Record with a title "Commissioners skeptical about merging depts.with Greensboro" CLICKHERE this past week. Here is a little part of the article.

"Marlene Sanford is chairwoman of the Intergovernmental Planning Task Force, which has been studying a merger since April. She’s also president of the Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition. She said her task force’s study found that the county can’t count on a merger saving money or making the departments more efficient, but it would make development easier once the economy turns around.



Sanford’s task force recommended a merger by the end of the year, saying the path for developers is too obstructed now."

Now we have the president of TREBIC who has an agenda and is the chairman of this Intergovernmental Planning Task Force, what a joke. Now we need to take a closer look at who are the members of this Intergovernmental Planning Task Force. Here is a closer look at who is on this committee. Here is what is on the greensboro n.c. web site CLICKHERE


This task force includes people with a variety of interests to provide a well-balanced perspective on issues facing Guilford County and the cities located within the county. The primary charge of the task force is to study the pros and cons of merging the cities' planning and inspection functions with the county's planning and inspection functions. The task force will review key issues and provide recommendations to the County Commissioners and City Councils.



Task Force Appointees
Jeff Deal Guilford Planning Board
Henry Isaacson TREBIC MEMBER, Ex-Mayor Johnson's Steering Committee
Craig Fleming TREBIC MEMBER
Marlene Sanford TREBIC President
Sandy Carmany Pleasant Garden Town Manager
Michael Brandt Summerfield Town Manager
Bruce Oakley Oak Ridge Town Manager
Dan Pritchett Engineering firm
Mike Westcott Engineering firm
Gary Hill TREBIC MEMBER
Keith Price TREBIC MEMBER for Samet
Greg Garrett TREBIC MEMBER for Shugart
Gary Wolf TREBIC MEMBER
Susan Spangler Greensboro Zoning
Ray Trapp Greensboro Zoning
Marsh Prause TREBIC MEMBER for Smith Moore Leatherwood Law Firm Neighborhood Congress
Chuck Truby TREBIC MEMBER CPT engineering
Mary Skenes TREBIC representative for Yost and Little and Greensboro Zoning

Take a look above at all the TREBIC members of this intergovernmental agency 10 out of 18. This is what is wrong with soo many boards and commissions in Greensboro and Guilford County the deck is stacked in their favor. As the saying goes look at the FOX GUARDING THE HEN HOUSE. To hear them say on the web site that this is a well balanced perspective is laughable.

When will see a change in the mind set on who needs to be appointed to these boards and commissions because it has become a broken record. How has it become a broken record because here is what was reported back in 2008 from the protest petition for Greensboro N.C. blog

"In the Triad Business Journal January18-24 2008 in the Triad Talk section this is what was said. " Developers always have the upper hand in Guilford County" says Reid Phillips, an attorney with Brooks Pierce in Greensboro. They have boards packed with their people. They have experience. They are masters of divide and conquer. They can also wear people out with continuances.



It is hard for grass roots efforts to compete with this modus operandi."

Also in the same post let's also take a look at what was reported back in May 22, 2008 and look at some of the members of this land development ordinance committee if you would like to see the whole article on the propoganda TREBIC letter sent to the state legislators to deny the citizens of Greensboro the right to Protest Petition CLICKHERE . Below is another part of this post.

Where can we start with this one 2 points first on how your hear them say "most developers voluntarily meet with neighbors". The key word is "most" it is amazing that there is not a requirement for the developers to meet with neighbors in Greensboro.David Wharton who is a member of the Greensboro Land Development Ordinance Committee had this to say"This might interest you: I and others tried hard to get a "meet and confer" requirement written into the new ordinance, which would require a developer seeking a rezoning to meet with the neighbors beforehand and to report to the zoning commission the outcome of the meeting.



The best we could get was a requirement that developers must report to the zoning commission on their efforts to confer with neighbors, which means that if they didn't try to meet, they have to say that."


As you can see David Wharton says the best we could get, because people like Gary Rogers with Starmount Company,Trip Brown with Brown Investment,Keith Price with Samet Companies,James Cox with Mid-City Urban,Jessica Marlies with Brooks Pierce Law Firm,Mike Fox with Tuggles Duggins Law Firm,Dick Franks with Koury Corp.,Gary Hill with McAlphine Company,Gary Wolf with SparrowWolf Law Firm, and Mary Skenes with Yost and Little. So 10 out of 14 are TREBIC members or close allies with TREBIC for the Land Development Ordinance Citizen Advisory Team. As said before by Lawyer Reid Phillips ,boards get packed with TREBIC all the time especially in Greensboro where as Mike Barber said at a Greensboro City Council meeting on April 1st "TREBIC has been contacted and TREBIC has some interest".


The other point has to do with TREBIC saying that " Protest Petition is antiquated and should be repealed statewide". It should be noted that Protest Petitions are not antiquated but the exemption of Greensboro from this North Carolina General Statute is antiquated. Let's have the State Legislators pass a bill to make Greensboro comply with this statute and then TREBIC can lobby to deny the citizens of the whole state of North Carolina their right to protest unwanted development in their neighborhood.Good luck with that endeavor.


It is also noted that they left out the condescending quote from Gary Rogers TREBIC chairman saying that Greensboro had the foresight to exempt themselves from Protest Petitions.No, Mr. Rogers, it was not foresight. It was an effort to take away a right of the citizens to use the power of petitions against unwanted development in established neighborhoods

Look at some of the same names on the ldo committee and this intergovernmental agency . Gary Wolf, Gary Hill, Mary Skenes , Keith Price and TREBIC in general. QUIT,QUIT, QUIT doing this. We saw the true colors of TREBIC when they tried to deny every citizen of Greensboro the right to Protest Petition in the zoning process. As we have seen lately it has proven to be a major part of the process in cases on elm and cornwallis plus also the spring garden zoning case with the newman buildings which will come up soon in a future case.

We still haven't even talked about the deck stacking of TREBIC on the RUCO commission .

It is time for a complete overhaul of all of these boards and commissions in Guilford County and not let these lobbying groups like TREBIC stack the deck in their favor.