Did sitcom producer try to bamboozle city council with fake magazine cover?

GREENSBORO, NC -- In June of last year, the Greensboro City Council approved a loan to Black Network Television (BNT) to help finance a sitcom titled Whatcha Cookin'. When the borrower could not meet the conditions of the loan, city council took the matter up again a month later to consider modifying the terms. That modification was denied. Now BNT is claiming discrimination and suing the City of Greensboro for $50 million.

At the July meeting, when council considered modifying the terms of the loan, a representative of BNT addressed the council as a speaker from the floor. She included a Power Point presentation and recited all of the good things that were happening for the sitcom, including, she said, an article in Upscale Magazine. That claim was accompanied by a slide that showed what appeared to be a cover of the magazine. On it, was a portion dedicated to Whatcha Cookin'. The presentation zoomed in on it to reveal three pictures supposedly from the article and the headline: "BNT Cooks Up Comedy with Whatcha Cookin'."

Here it is the cover as it appeared in BNT's Power Point presentation to the council (click to enlarge):

Here is the real cover  (click to enlarge):

Here is video of the portion of the BNT presentation to council where the Upscale Magazine cover is shown (twice) and described:

News & Record gets crucial sitcom lawsuit fact wrong

GREENSBORO, NC -- The News & Record is reporting that the City of Greensboro is getting sued for a loan it approved then "pulled." The city council approved loan offer was made to Black Network Television (BNT) to help finance their production of a television sitcom titled Whatcha Cookin'. Reporter Joe Gamm writes:

"BNT owners Michael and Ramona Woods sued the city, seeking more than $50 million in connection with a loan the city had approved for the sitcom but then pulled." [Emphasis added.]

That is contrary to the facts, and the News & Record, with a reputation for repeating the assertions of sources without checking them against the available record, gets another crucial point wrong.

The Greensboro City Council, in June of 2013, approved a $300,000 low interest loan to BNT with the condition that the loan be collaterized by a lien on the BNT's owners' house. That condition stipulated that the city of Greensboro was to be in no worse position than second in the line of creditors for liens on the house. It was subsequently discovered that there were two liens, a mortgage and a home equity line of credit, on the owners' house already. That would have put the city third in line, a condition not in conformity with the agreement passed by council.

In July of 2013, council considered (p. 46) revising the terms of the loan so that the city would accept third position. Council rejected that change, with a majority voting to deny it. That left standing the original agreement. Indeed, in responding to a letter from BNT's attorney claiming the city reneged on its loan offer, the city attorney, on October 31, 2013, reiterated that the loan was still available. He wrote:

"If anything, the City and your clients could proceed under the original terms as was mentioned during the meeting. The original terms are still available."

The News & Record is wrong, the city did not "pull" the loan. It declined to modify the original terms of the loan offer, but left it standing.

UPDATE: Owen Covington at The Triad Business Journal makes the same mistake. These reporters need to review the video record of the July, 2013 Greensboro City Council meeting. The council voted to deny modifications to the original loan agreement, they did not rescind the original loan offer.

Lack of leadership, Mr. Mayor? Anybody seen my hip boots?

GREENSBORO, NC -- Sam Hieb notices that Mayor Robbie Perkins is wagging his finger at his city council colleagues for what he perceives to be "a lack of leadership" on the proposed performing arts center.

Under the current proposal, $20 million of the $60 million projected total cost of the center is supposed to come from private donations, an amount backers say they have already met in pledges, but which they refuse to document in any fashion, such as the obvious — a list of donors.

The only leadership I've seen from city council on this matter has come from council persons Zack Matheny and Nancy Vaughan who refuse to dance the Ol' Greensboro Okee Doke™ and have insisted on some kind of substantiation or guarantee that the $20 million backers say they have really is in place. That's leadership.

If Mayor Perkins wishes to lead on this issue, as Vaughan and Matheny are, he will persuade the project manager for the performing arts center project, his former campaign manager, to provide some verifiable documentation that the project backers do, in fact, have $20 million lined up for the project. Otherwise, he can dance the Ol' Greensboro Okee Doke™ without us, thank you very much.

Mellow Mushroom, Carolina Theater, mixed bag

Dinner and a movie with family in downtown Greensboro last night.

Mellow Mushroom:

Good

• Kosmic Karma is deeeeelicious!
• Server was friendly

Bad

• An 18% gratuity added to the after-tax bill of a party of four adults and two children is just plain rude.
• Our second pizza was not the large we ordered. They tried to compensate by making another small for us, but it was so slow to arrive we had to get it in a box in order to catch the movie.
• Jerk chicken lacked any hint of jerkiness.

Vertigo at the Carolina Theatre:

Good

• Classic movies on a big screen.
• Beer and wine.
• Beautiful venue.

Bad

• Seating is getting worn and broken.
• Sound is unidirectional and tinny. 
• Digital copy of the film (as opposed to projected film) was muddy and washed out.