Council candidate's 'Troubling association with organized crime?' More yellow journalism from Yes! Weekly

Going downhill fast. That's my perception of the deteriorating "journalistic" standards at Yes! Weekly that have them willing to smear people for sensationalism's sake.

Recently, Yes! decided the best way to promote a story of prosecutorial incompetence was to plaster the mug shots of innocent people on its cover and web site (no pictures of the prosecutors who actually fumbled the cases though).

This time around, reporter Jordan Green asks Greensboro city council candidate Max Benbassat "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?" Okay, not really, but he might as well have. In a profile of Benbassat, Green writes:

"Benbassat’s purist attitude towards politics contrasts with what some may see as a troubling association with organized crime."

What!?!? Are your friggin' kidding me? "Some may see?" Some who? "You the reader after I insinuate it right here?" And what association with organized crime? An association as asserted by whom and where? I asked Green to clarify. His response speaks for itself (or, in case it does not, the allegation is anonymous, uncoroborated and unreported):

"Roch, I received an anonymous tip from someone raising the possibility that Benbassat had been involved in organized crime in New York. I am duty-bound to maintain confidentiality, so I don't have a lot more to say about it.

There is an old saying in the newspaper business: "If your mother says she loves you, check it out." If some anonymous person insinuates something derogatory about a political candidate, you might want to check that out too... unless you are striving to be the local version of The National Enquirer.

Postscript: What is sadly ironic is that, of Jorge Cornell, the one candidate in the council race who actually has acknowledged ties to organized crime, Green inserts editorial praise into in the same article, writing that Cornell has "Upstaged the rest of the slate with an uncanny ability to connect to the man and woman on the street..." Anonymous, unsubstantiated rumors of gang associations? Troubling. Actual gang leader? Man of the people.

Forget the unprincipled construction industry patronage, the fair and smart way for Guilford County to spend $1.3 million

Thinking more about the Arnold/Austin proposed economic development incentives construction industry patronage, would not the proposed first year $1.3 million cost of the plan be better used if it provided a $1,000 grant for every new job created paying above $11.00/hour?

Would not that truly be an incentive for all businesses? Would not that be far fairer and more equitable than the current proposal? Would not that be the more direct, purposeful and justifiable reason for incentives, the creation of jobs?

Which is the better incentive?

- Giving a business a $1,000 grant each year for three years for adding $130,000* in value to a property through construction of or renovation to a building.

- Giving a business a $1,000 grant each year for three years for creating a new good paying job.

* Correction, 8/21/09: At Guilford County's current tax rate, $1,000 of property taxes would be on a property value of $130,000, not $13,000 as originally stated. That has been corrected.

Alston's and Arnold's notion of economic development unimaginative

Construction is not economic development. Making construction the centerpiece of an economic development plan is an upside down approach to economic development. It is the kind of "build it and they will come" thinking that is delightful for real estate and construction businesses, but which will fail Guilford county in two ways: One, by lessening the risk of building useless crap more prone to vacancy than productive use it will encourage it; and, two, in opportunity costs, directing our economic development energies away from the true economic engines of the future which, trust me, are not more strip malls and burger joints.

The proposal by Guilford County Commissioners Steve Arnold and Skip Alston to provide monetary "grants" equal to three years of property taxes to property owners who build, renovate or remodel property is a nice little gift to a narrow group of industries, but it is laughable to call it an economic incentive. It is a development incentive.

Arnold and Austin are relics who have turned to the only thing they know -- an antiquated notion of economic development. A real plan would have as its measure the creation of good paying jobs. This plan isn't it. It will pass because it will line the pockets of enough people to make it popular. It will also mark the continuation of Guilford County leadership as unimaginative.

[added] If you are opposed to incentives in general, this plan is a bad idea because its largess could otherwise be spread to all businesses in the form of an across the board tax reduction. If you find incentives acceptable, the plan is unimaginative because it encourages only construction. It does not extend grants for the purchase of a new x-ray machine, computer or other business expanding equipment or even for what should be the real bottom line, the addition of a new employee.

Higher ethical standards for local elected officials?

Keith Brown at Triadwatch has a post (scroll down past irrelevant video) about a new law in Greensburgh, New York that would "make it illegal for public officials to accept campaign contributions from developers, contractors or their lawyers or agents for a year before and a year after an application is reviewed by a town board."

When asked about contributions from developers and attorneys who bring matters before city council, often to win a rezoning or multi-million dollar tax abatement, council people will often say, "My vote cannot be bought." Fine. If that's the way it is, then they should have no problem with an ordinance similar to Greenburgh's. I wonder if any council candidates will propose this.

"Greensboro Savings & Specials" email? Proceed with caution

You probably already have your email program configured not to load images by default and up-to-date anti-virus software that scans your email messages... right?

Even so, I got an email today that looks like trouble. I haven't tried to confirm my suspicions, but if you get an email with the subject "Greensboro Savings & Specials," be advised that it attempts to load an application octet stream from a domain name registered just nine days ago. Seriously suspicious. You probably should delete this email without opening it if you are the least bit uncertain of the strength of your anti-virus protection.

Greensboro Rooms to Go tried to rip us off, made us JC Penny customers

Unbelievable. We tried to buy a sofa at Rooms to Go on Friday. They were willing to sell it to us at the prior week's sale price under one condition, that we buy it that day. We agreed. At checkout, we declined the $100 additional fabric protection. Mike, the salesperson, told us he did not think we could buy the sofa at the sale price if we did not also buy the fabric protection, a condition not mentioned to us verbally or represented in any of the written displays.

We told him we would leave if he insisted. He did. We did.

We ended up back at JC Penny, where an honest salesman told us the sofa we were looking at (our first choice, but just a little too expensive originally) would be 10% cheaper the next day as part of Penny's Friends and Family sale. The next day, we purchased the better (made in America, not China) sofa from JC Penny, in our price range and thanks to Rooms to Go's shortsighted stupidity.

I recommend John at the Four Seasons Town Center JC Penny's furniture department if you are in the market for some furniture.

News & Record scrubs another article. Who misrepresented 'neighborhood's wishes' on night out cancellation? Reports contradict city officials' claims.

The (Greensboro, NC) News & Record's new practice of updating articles on its website by scrubbing information from previous versions is really discouraging. It makes it difficult to pin down the facts and it diminishes the value of the N&R for one of a newspaper's primary missions: as an official record for the purpose of holding those in power accountable.

Who said that residents of Hickory Trails did not want a "national night out" at their apartments?

Various un-archived versions of the News & Record report attributed that secondhand account of residents' sentiment to Interim City Manager Bob Morgan, Mayor Yvonne Johnson, Police Chief Tim Bellamy, unnamed Housing Authority officials or unnamed city officials. Who was it?

Who can we hold accountable for attributing that unverified sentiment to unnamed residents when the documented actual sentiment expressed by actual residents contradicts that account both in the most recent version of the N&R article and in this interview by council candidate Ryan Shell with the mother of Tuesday's shooting victim? City Council district one candidate, Ben Holder, who had the idea for the event, also reports a series of events that contradict city officials and points the finger at Interim City Manager Bob Morgan.

Strange bedfellows

Jeff, on the "compromise" watershed protection rules:

"The developers ran around the rest of us and made a deal with the tree huggers, all the while waving eco banners as they take our money. The stormwater didn’t get cleaned, the fish still died, but the do-gooders got paid."

Thank you City Council

This evening, I went before the Greensboro City Council to ask that they postpone consideration of a new records retention and disposition policy. Records may have been improperly deleted under the old policy and passing a new policy before the extent of the improper deletions is known would obscure the issue.

Most importantly however, Assistant City Manager Denise Turner, who is currently on maternity leave (congratulations Denise and Mr. Turner), has been working on an update to the city's public records policy and procedures. Her initial efforts, as I've seen them so far, are encouraging and her intention to solicit public comment will be far more productive than tonight's hasty attempt to slide something through on a consent agenda without any public announcement until the quiet inclusion on the agenda four days ago; with no public input; with no copy of the policy made publicly available.

Thank you Mayor Johnson and City Council people for getting this one right. It will pay off in the long run.

Recalling email?

I am on the City of Greensboro media email list. Occasionally they send out something with some wrong information and that is followed by another email "recalling" the first email. I only ever get email recalls from the City of Greensboro and I am never sure how to respond. Should I send the original back to the sender, as I would return a recalled can of tuna? Isn't attempting to recall an email like trying to recall a fart?

City council candidate arrested

Last night, gang leader and Greensboro city council candidate Jorge Cornell was arrested in what Cornell describes as "a clear case of racial profiling and dehumanization." At the beginning of the video, one can see Cornell step in front of a police officer and the officer can be heard telling Cornell to "Get out of my face" and "Get away from me" or be arrested.

Accommodating racists

Sue has a post about newspapers, including the (Greensboro, NC) News & Record, deleting racists comments (in the case of the N&R, deleting entire comment threads in which objectionable comments appear.)

Here is what I said at Sue's, an opinion I would extent to also include sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and other ignorance-inspired hatreds:
--------

I fully understand a private enterprise not wanting its resources being used in a manner it finds objectionable. Fundamental property rights, the way I see it. However, whether a newspaper wants to assume this role or not (and I think there is a good argument that it should), there should indeed be some facility for racists to make their views publicly known. And not just in a limited, hush hush, out of the way manner either, but in a full blown, all out, unlimited way that gives their views full voice. Why? Because the alternative is worse.

I would rather know the extent, breadth and depth of racism in my community than to make myself (and the community) intentionally ignorant by turning a blind eye. People who find racism objectionable should want this too. If we successfully keep racism in the shadows, it is a lot harder to convince people that it is significant enough to warrant fighting it. Nobody gets motivated to fight something they perceive to have been already vanquished.

Getting past dumb

An offline commenter was chastising me for focusing on Yes!Weekly's bonehead sensationalism wrapped around Jordan Green's article, "Poor documentation and fraud found in dwi dismissals," instead of the significance of what was revealed by the reporting.

He has a point. So let me take one last swipe and say this is another reason why posting online and printing on the cover of the print edition the mug shots of people who are only tangentially related to the subject of the article was so incredibly lame. It shortchanged Jordan, failing to promote the substance of his article and taking attention away from it; It insulted readers, assuming we would not get to the meat without some cheese as bait; and it embarrassed people unnecessarily, making them look like culprits while the real culprits are nowhere to be seen.

As I told the commenter, Yes! cannot expect us to read it like the Times when it packages its reporting like the Enquirer. (Yes! is often schitzophrenic that way, but that is another topic.)

So, with that out of the way, go read Jordan's article. It is important. It is about a broken court system, the kind of thing we should all care about seeing fixed.

Greensboro policy: All candidates are equal, except when they are not

Ben Holder, candidate for Greensboro City Council district 1, notes that the city's policy of providing information requested by any council candidate to all candidates is not applied equally. To make his case, he offers evidence that he did not get information provided to his incumbent opponent.

Yes! Weekly yellow journalism

What gives at Yes!Weekly? Their investigative reporting ranges from Woodward and Bernstein-like to being led around by the nose by defense attorneys. Their editorial decisions from impressive to sub-National Enquirer. I wish they'd find their footing and stand tall instead of bending to the crazy and going off the rails from time to time.

This week they have an interesting article about DWI cases getting dismissed for reportedly unacceptable reasons ranging from incompetence in the DA's office to apparent fraud.

Unable to confidently let the article stand on its merits, however, Yes! found it necessary to publish the mug shots of the innocent people whose cases were dismissed. It is shameful sensationalism. It is yellow journalism.

I asked Yes! editor Brian Clarey to explain why he published the mug shots of people whose cases were dismissed. His explanation was that these people's cases were "dismissed under suspicious circumstances, including procedural errors, poor/incomplete documentation and one case of documented fraud." That may be true (although "documented fraud" is a reach), but there is zero indication that the people whose cases were dismissed were in any way responsible for the procedural errors or incomplete documentation. They are, in fact, innocents who Yes! justifies subjecting to public humiliation because of the bad acts of others.

Clarey said that his paper did not decide to publish these photos "lightly" or "without serious discussion." So what? No matter how seriously considered, the decision reached was wrong and the explanation offered deficient. The people whose pictures belong attached to the article are those Yes! implicates as responsible for the errors and misdeeds, not the innocent bystanders.

Reporting the "blood alcohol concentration" of those whose cases were dismissed is also malpractice. Since these people never had their cases go to trial, the claims against them remain simply allegations, allegations that were never adjudicated and, therefore, not entitled to be reported as facts. The alcohol levels, reported as fact by Yes!, are just readings from a machine. Importer calibration, operator error, subsequent and more accurate blood tests with different results are possible refutations of this number. For a news organization to report a law enforcement accusation as a fact, when it is merely an allegation, is astoundingly objectionable.

Come on Yes! You might think crap like this spices up your reporting. It doesn't. It colors it yellow.

Kee kicks off

I went to Jim Kee's Greensboro city council (district 2) campaign kick off this afternoon. Hopefully his deficient web site will soon get updated so you can learn more about him. I think the rest of Greensboro will be as enthused as I am by his candidacy.

This afternoon, before a crowd of about fifty, Kee laid out warmly and confidently his reasons for running. He spoke of supporting businesses large and small, of specific ideas he'd like to implement to improve public safety, of working for a clean environment and of seeing one Greensboro, not a divided Greensboro.

I don't know much about Kee's two other opponents, but he's off to a great start and, if he can stay true to himself, he will make a great council person.

Shell changes his mind on district 2 scholarships

Having previously promised to create five $1,000 annual scholarships for district 2 students should he be elected, council candidate Ryan Shell, upon deciding to change from running in district 2 to running at-large, now says he will only give one scholarship to a district 2 student.

News & Record scrubs comments on gangster candidate story

The (Greensboro, NC) News & Record, once again (previously), scrubs online content without note or comment.

Alert reader N says that there were about twenty comments on this story about a gangster filing to run for city council this morning, then they were gone. I contacted Amanda Lehmert, the author of the story, and this is her reply:

"The comments, which are monitored by our online folks, got inappropriate. So they used their discretion and turned them off."

Here is a cached version of the story, with comments through 1:39 this morning. Here are the deleted comments:
----------
ncb
July 16, 2009 - 7:43 pm EDT

Sad thing is, he'll probably win. Impoverished blacks and Latinos will vote for him because its a sign of sticking it to the Man. Good thing I'll be leaving this mudhole in a couple of months

rmacz
July 16, 2009 - 7:57 pm EDT

Earl Jones will probably endorse him.

notoriousBLOG
July 16, 2009 - 8:06 pm EDT

Earl will endorse anybody who will write a check.

jsipe29
July 16, 2009 - 9:11 pm EDT

You have room for three more and two dogs? I want to leave with you!

holland4
July 16, 2009 - 8:02 pm EDT

Señor Cornell should fit right in with his bling-bling, tats, and gang signs. Would make for some interesting Tuesday evenings. The Council should go ahead and budget for the MMOB metal detectors now.

But seriously, he has a snowball's chance in hades. Greensboro isn't that stupid, right? Right?

Panacea
July 16, 2009 - 8:07 pm EDT

If he wins, someone ought to pitch Greensboro City Council meetings to Hollywood as the next hit reality show.

speakup2
July 16, 2009 - 8:27 pm EDT

Can you be a member of the city counsel if you have a Police Record? And can you vote if you have a record?

Lakeshia
July 16, 2009 - 9:02 pm EDT

Can this possibly be any worse this Diane BS or Goldie ???

jsipe29
July 16, 2009 - 9:12 pm EDT

I really doubt it!

honestcitizen
July 16, 2009 - 10:00 pm EDT

I thank GOD everyday that I don't live in Greensboro. But he should fit right in with the other
clowns on the city council, including that wonderful mayor. You people go ahead and vote him in
and see what kind of mess you have then. You already have a messed up police department.

DaveW
July 16, 2009 - 10:55 pm EDT

I do not live in Greensboro so I cannot vote but I will watch this one closely. If he wins I may have to spend as much time as possible outside of Greensboro. Unfortunately my wife works in downtown Greensboro. I will probably worry about her every working day.

holland4
July 16, 2009 - 10:52 pm EDT

Maybe if Jorge gets elected to Council, we can rival Detroit in the amount of drama and meltdowns. We almost have a quorum now for moonbats on the Council. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiogXT9xZBQ

pigsfly
July 16, 2009 - 11:04 pm EDT

No need for the fence along our border now huh? Welcome to the new reinvented MEXICO.
Greensboro deserves better than all those serving on their City Counsel now. Racism? I believe the gangs are causing their own problems! Wow, I believe the gangs should be cleared from all cities and towns in the USA, I'm sure not going to support them.

theroadrunner
July 16, 2009 - 11:23 pm EDT

I guess he figures if Mike Easley could do it why not him? I'm moving.........

crosstrojan
July 16, 2009 - 11:37 pm EDT

Why not,the kkk has Billy Yow

camelcityman27105
July 17, 2009 - 1:39 am EDT

Jorge Cornell may be exactly what the city needs to help reach out to gang members, disillusioned teens who rob stores, hijack cars, and terrorize the public, and angry black and Latino residents, who are not satisfied with local government. Just because he's a felon does not have anything to do with his effectiveness as a leader and government representative of the people. He is already the leader of his group, so he has leadership experience. Sometimes we need unusual people in office to help us get the ball rolling and open the doors of dialogue. May he succeed and win.

Greensboro and Carroll company co-defendants in lawsuit

Keith Brown of Triadwatch learns that The City of Greensboro and one of developer Roy Carroll's companies are co-defendants in a lawsuit. More reason, as if it is needed, why the scrubbed plan to fly Greensboro mayor Yvonne Johnson and city staff to Washington, D.C. on Carroll's plane for free was inappropriate.

The suit, filed by Kotis Properties, alleges that Carroll plans to deny Kotis access to a public street by building a "reserve strip" that the city approved and defended.

The suit also alleges that the approval for this plan was "the result of Carroll's exertion of political influence over the planning staff, board members, and members of the Greensboro City Council."

Here is the complaint:

Kotis v. Greensboro & Horse Pen Creek Village

Disrtrtict 2 candidate Kee, serves or served?

As Keith notes in the comments at this post, Greensboro city council district 2 candidate Jim Kee now has a rudimentary web site online. It claims Jim Kee:

"Serves Board of Adjustments."

I don't know if Kee actually serves the board of adjustments in some way (I don't think he is a waiter) but, while he has served on the board of adjustments in the past, he does not currently. (His opponent, Ryan Shell, does serve on the board.)

Keith also would like to know what the "Mayor's steering committee" is (I suspect it is her campaign committee) and more details about the 100 jobs Kee says he has created.

Explain please.

I am confused. Am I supposed to fear a government health insurance option because it will be really bad at providing health care or because it will be so good it will drive private insurers out of business?

More on "reportedly"

The (Greensboro, NC) News & Record editor John Robinson commented on this post, in which I expressed dislike for his use of the word "reportedly." Here is what he wrote, followed by my reply:

Oh, please.

It's reported because a couple of my reporters told me about it. Does it have to be "published?" I say no. I guess you say yes. OK. We disagree.

But given the sorts of things the blogosphere talks about, particularly as it pertains to candidates and the newspaper, I was surprised that this wasn't commented on.

One of the "reports" is that you discussed the issue of talking with the newspaper with Ben, Roch. Did you?

My reply:

Which explains and informs? Naming your sources or saying "reportedly?" Which works to add confusion, mystery and to obfuscate the facts? Naming your sources or saying "reportedly?" Whether information has been published or not is not the question, the use of the word "reportedly" to hide where the information is coming from is what is troubling.

It seemed as if you were going out of your way to create mystery and confusion and avoid cutting to the chase:

1. You avoided naming the candidate in question in both of your posts on this matter.

2. You avoided simply stating the source for your information, substituting "reportedly" for "Reporter X says...".

3. You exaggerated what was going on, saying that a candidate had decided to "not talk" to the N&R. That is, reportedly, not true at all. Ben has talked to and continues to talk to elections reporter Amanda Lehmert and even, reportedly, had her in his home the day before your post.

On the other hand, I do appreciate you taking the time to comment here. You are always welcome. I would have commented on your blog, but I find the inability to do so without registering inconvenient. Reportedly, I am not the only one.

Before you brought this up on your blog, I was going to write a post about it. My focus was going to be on the N&R's online candidate profile for Ben reporting, in the place of any information, that the candidate declined to answer questions and that it even left out information election reporter Amanda Lehmert knows independent of answers from the candidate.

But I called Amanda to discuss and found my interest changing: From critic to facilitator--thinking that I might be able to help bring about an outcome better for both Amanda and Ben (and therefore, the public).

In a nutshell, those conversations consisted of a lot of listening, then some "translating." My comments to Amanda, as I remember them, were essentially that Ben's alarm bells went off, that he has a history of tussling with the N&R and that he perceived this to be another round in that match.

My advice to Ben, as I remember it, was to stay on his game; to be the man he will be if he gets elected, to imagine himself responding not as the old Ben working out lingering beefs with the N&R, but to respond as he would were he the district 1 council representative; and to give Amanda a chance.

Like crooners?

Silky. Smooth. Michael Buble. (Scroll down a bit to sample music tracks.)

"Reportedly"

"Reportedly." That lazy "journalists'" way to avoid being a journalist. It is a substitute for conveying the facts. It is a deception and should be stricken from the vocabulary of journalists everywhere. It is a favorite crutch of the Rhinoceros Times and now the News & Record's editor John Robinson uses it to hilarious (unintended) effect.

"Can one of the bloggers who reportedly advised the candidate or the candidate himself tell us about it?"

Where was it reported that bloggers advised the candidate and if such a thing has been reported, why is Robinson so in the dark? Funny.

[11:12 A.M. edited for spelling]

This is watershed. Political types, ignore at your peril

I have had and still have reasons for being critical of district 2 City Council Candidate Ryan Shell, but damn if he isn't the one who is finally showing sleepy ol' Greensboro how representation, advocacy and internet communications can work in the hands of an unafraid and committed candidate.

I am not saying that future candidates and elected officials should be media mavens, although writing a blog and posting video to YouTube are no more complicated than dialing the phone; and I'm not saying that internet communications should replace on-the-ground interactions (which Shell does as well). What I am saying is that modern communications tools put great power into the hands of an individual--power that, for a while now, some of us have been saying could be used to great benefit of local governance. Shell is showing the way.

[Note: To those candidates whose "advisers," in their infinite backwards wisdom, have told you not to blog or, worse, to stop blogging, they are tethering you to the past. That has had appeal in Greensboro, it won't continue much longer. The future is here.]

[Update: The above is not to diminish the use of the web for advocacy as now-district 1 candidate Ben Holder has before becoming a candidate nor to dismiss the (locally) ground-breaking blogging of former councilor Sandy Carmany, but Ryan is bringing it together in way that no candidate has yet.]

Shell crushing Kee

I sure would like to see district 2 Greensboro City Council candidate Jim Kee get his act together online. Opponent Ryan Shell is crushing him. Kee has a perfunctory and uninteresting presence on Twitter. Shell, meanwhile, is communicating real thoughts, enthusiastically, in depth and in multimedia. May not matter, who knows? But Greensboro could really use some elected officials who understand and are not afraid of modern communication tools.

Are you sure?

Does anybody want to raise their hand to inform us of an ongoing matter in which developer Roy Carroll and the City of Greensboro share a financial interest before the story breaks and has people back on their heels again?

"The Proposal." Don't accept.

Went to see "The Proposal" yesterday. Two lead actors I like and a premise for some hilarity. It was the worst movie I've seen in a decade. I could explain why, but I've already typed more words than it deserves.

(And the Grande at Friendly Center: $17 for a two large drinks and a large popcorn? Ruthless! And your new signage that displays your snack offerings in vivid video but displays no prices? Stoopid. I continue to like the Carousel better.)

Has the (Greensboro) News & Record scrubbed another online article?

Keith of Triadwatch says the (Greensboro, NC) News & Record's online article about lawyers telling elected officials not to accept a free trip on a developer's plane was scrubbed of a quote from the mayor without comment or note. The quote, says Keith*, was there, then it wasn't. A commenter in the comments to the story says the same thing.

Amanda Lehmert, the article's author, did not respond to a request for comment prior to me clicking the "publish" button.

[* On a phone call with me.]

Kudos to WFMY's Justin Quesinberry

Keith at Triadwatch calls WFMY's Justin Quesinberry piece on the scrapped plans to fly elected officials to Washington on a developer's plane a "puff piece." I disagree.

Prior to Quesinberry's story, we had no indication that city and county legal officials had issued opinions that the trip would be inappropriate. Prior to Quesinberry's story, the (Greensboro) News & Record had only reported Walker Sanders of the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro as saying there were "concerns raised by city staff." It was WFMY's Quesinberry who ferreted out the important facts that those staff were lawyers and those concerns were over legal propriety. Good job, Justin.

Baby teeth

Shortly after writing about my support for a state bill proposed by John Blust that would put some teeth into state public records law, I emailed my state representative Maggie Jeffus to ask her to support Blust's bill. She wrote me back less than ninety minutes later to say that she was in session where debate was underway on an alternate public records law bill.

HB 1134 would also make changes to North Carolina's public records law, appears to be supported primarily by Democrats and is further along than Blust's bill.

It is good that the legislature has recognized the need to encourage greater compliance with public records law and is taking action. I would like to hear some legal opinions, but, on first read, I think Blust's bill may be more effective.

As I replied to Representative Jeffus, it appears to my layman's understanding that HB 1134 might actually chill the pursuit of public records by making those who sue for records responsible for the attorney's fees for the public body, even if the public body is ordered to release some records but it "substantially prevails" overall.

HB 1134, like Blust's bill, also would have public employees personally financially responsible for obstructing records requests but, the way I read it, it exempts government attorneys. Anybody familiar with requesting records from the City of Greensboro knows that the legal department is almost always were the denials for access to records comes from. A law that proposes financial consequences to obstruction but exempts attorneys is insufficient to fix Greensboro's problems.

Blust proposes teeth for public records laws

This is why I am an unaffiliated voter; why I find it impossible though word or action to give my permanent allegiance to one political party or another. Because, while I may find myself agreeing with Democrats more often than with Republicans, good ideas can and do come from any direction. Such is the case with a bill introduced in the North Carolina General Assembly by Guilford County Representative John Blust (R).

HB 734 came to my attention today in a post from Pierce Egerton's new blog. The bill would change state law to greatly improve access to public records by making those who stand in the way of access personally financially liable.

One of my greatest frustrations with records requests in Greensboro has been that there are no consequences to those who obstruct access. Bureaucrats can drag their feet, undertake a request with little or no diligence or even lie. I've experienced them all. What happens? Nothing.

Blust's bill would change that. The people who obstruct records requests would be personally responsible with a fine of up to $50 per day for each day that an official fails to produce a record without good cause. Good. Necessary.

Should this bill become law, I do not think I will any longer have the City of Greensboro legal staff tell me that a record holder says he doesn't have records when the record custodian has said no such thing; nor will a city employee tell me that there are no records responsive to my request when he has not even looked.

Blust's bill would also create the Open Government Unit that would disseminate information about public records law, issue opinions and mediate disputes. (more from the AP here.)

If you live in Guilford County, you can find your state representatives on this web page. None of Guilford's other representatives are currently sponsors or co-sponsores of this bill. Let them hear from you.

Letter to a friend: Greensboro's greatest need

I wrote this to a friend today.
----------------------------------

I really think there is a tendency in Greensboro that keeps us distracted, small and suspicious. It is the inability to man up with candor and admit the simplest of errors or even, short of that, to even acknowledge the most obvious of inconvenient facts. The N&R on the black book, Johnson in his handling of Wray, Wray in his handling of the police, Bellamy-Small on the RMA leak, Carmany with her unquestioning acceptance of the RMA report, the players of 11/09/79, the destruction of police records that turned out not to be that at all, the secret recordings of black leader that turned out to have a (as yet not publicly acknowledged) innocent explanation; the CFGG's press release, however minor it might be in comparison, is just the latest example of a similar reticence to deal with things accurately and honestly.

Can you imagine (not rhetorical, try to really imagine) how different your lifetime thus far in Greensboro would be if it were a place where we didn't go flying off the rails because people were too small to admit a mistake or be candid? Each of the examples above, and a dozen others I can think of, were exacerbated to the unnecessary point of dramatic crisis because people would not address them with candor. Each could have been remedied if they had been addressed with honesty.

I know we are disagreeing about some specifics at the moment, but think about the value to Greensboro of getting us to think, collectively, more about candor, sincerity and genuine goodwill. Maybe my tactics need honing but, as a strategic goal, I think this is the most compelling single thing to propel us to a better future; more than aerotropolis jobs, more than attracting the creative class, more than any initiative proposed or pursued, correcting our aversion to candor would send us soaring.

About those "misperceptions" of "some"

You will recall that an unsigned press release from the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro offered this reason for postponing the plan to have developer Roy Carroll fly local elected official to Washington to lobby for stimulus money:

"Questions have been raised as the result of the misperceptions of some regarding the use of this donated plane. While we are disappointed by the misperceptions this travel plan has caused, more importantly we value the public’s trust and do not want to do anything to damage that trust. Therefore, we are postponing the trip."

It turns out those "misperceptions" were of City and County legal staff. So, in reality, it was those who originally thought this trip would be okay who held the misperceptions. Despite the Community Foundation's attempt to turn the facts on their head, the "some" who saw it as inappropriate were correct. The lesson? Supercilious explanations do not engender respect, especially as a substitute for contrite candor.

The Good Earth Company, beautiful nature photography

Local photographer Jon Johnson knocked on our door this evening, doing a little door-to-door in the neighborhood offering note cards of his photographs for sale and inviting people to check out his web site. Some really beautiful North Carolina naturescapes, available for sale in a variety of medium.

Anthony Triplin not running for Greensboro city council -- this year

Yes! Weekly reported that Anthony Triplin has formed a campaign committee for an at-large city council race. According to Triplin, a self-reported Grimsley High School graduate,, he actually formed the committee in 2006, but never filed to run. He says he does not intend to file to run this year either as he is running for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates.

Triplin would also like us to know that the web site address offered for his campaign in the comments at the Yes! post has been hijacked by Russians (it's true). His real web site is at www.vote4trip.com.

Best of luck to this Greensboro son who says he's leaving open the possibility of running for city council in the future.

Cyndy Hayworth, get your facts straight

Cyndy Hayworth wrote a letter to the editor of the (Greensboro) News & Record today. I've copied it here and tethered it to reality with notes in bold:
-------------

I agree with the July 5 letter concerning the apology the City Council recently made to the Truth and Reconciliation committee. [The City Council did not apologize to the Truth and Reconciliation committee.]

First of all, I do not need any group, council or person to apologize on my behalf! [The City Council did not apologize.] I am an adult and I take responsibility for my actions. If I do something harmful or hurtful, I will be the first to apologize. The City Council certainly does not have to do it for me. [They did not.]

I am really not sure why this “committee” still exists [It does not], except to continue to live in the past and negatively influence the future.

Come on, Greensboro citizens, let’s not live under this cloud of ugliness that the majority of us had absolutely no part of and are tired of having regurgitated back in our faces.

Come on, Truth and Reconciliation committee, go find the “truth” in some other issues that truly impact all of the citizens of Greensboro. [The Truth and Reconciliation Commission closed its offices and disbanded after releasing its final report in 2006.]

Cyndy Hayworth
Greensboro

"To be rather than seem"

Speaking of, among other things, Greensboro's inability to operate with genuine sincerity, from Ed Cone:

What's odd is that we're talking about it happening with a well-publicized effort by a well-funded, well-intentioned group to promote GSO's creative culture -- a group that ignores significant creative aspects already underway in the city.

I'm not even sure there's a mechanism for dealing with creative endeavors that arise organically from the local scene. Sean got a meeting, but it sounds like that was all on his own initiative.

People are going to do their thing. That's part of being creative. But there is sometimes a role for a group like AG, and -- the reason we're having this conversation in the first place -- they proclaimed their interest in this topic.

I've given the example of the ConvergeSouth conference. Instigated and run by volunteers, it brought people from DC and Atlanta and across the Carolinas to A&T each year to talk about (as the founding motto had it) creativity on the web for all people.

We ran it successfully until it felt played out and we were burnt out on it, and then we shut it down. We were happy with what we'd done.

But -- what if institutional support had been there at some point, not just for funding but for planning, marketing, etc?

What if the ideas and energy of the grassroots creative folks had been combined with the muscle of AG?

Then GSO today might have an ongoing creative arts/new media festival, something like a regional version of SXSW -- an actual creative effort that drives economic development, just as the creative culture rap has it.

But we don't. Rather than having the downtown leadership adding to the mix, we had a mayor who laughed that he couldn't use a computer and declined all invitations to attend the event.

So we did our thing, and it worked, and after a while it was done.

Learning the lessons of Ed Cone and Jim Rosenberg or why a lack of candor is killing Greensboro

A few years ago, somebody posted a copy of the "RMA Report" to the website Greensboro 101. I owned and operated the site, but I had set it up from the start to be guided by the advice of a seven person advisory board (myself included).

Several of the board members expressed immediate concern about the already twice-leaked "secret" report being on a web site with which they were involved. Their reasons ranged from having to maintain respect among the business community to not wanting scandal to interfere with their political ambitions. Frankly, I didn't think much of their reasons or their panicked response. So I ignored their calls to take the RMA report offline until we could meet to discuss it.

The board quickly did meet though and four of the seven board members resigned in protest. Joe Guarino and Patrick Eakes stayed on board, earning my eternal gratitude and respect, but I digress.

I was not sure how to respond to the embarrassing resignations. I used my lifelines and called Ed Cone and Jim Rosenberg. They both gave me some really good advice, some life-changing advice that I know has made me a better, more confident, more responsible person: Understand your mistakes, admit them and apologize to those you've offended.

That's what I did in response to the board member resignations. I came to understand, not just to be able to mouth the words, but to really understand, that I could not ask people to volunteer on an advisory board then poke them in the eye when they saw problems. No matter what I thought of the reasons for their concerns, it was just plain disrespectful to ignore them.

So I admitted why my actions were wrong and I apologized.

I am now able to have honest and spirited conversations with the board members who resigned. They entrust secrets to me in confidence and I to them. Respect has been restored. What happened has not been forgotten, but it is integrated into our histories as an innocuous, well-healed, unnoticeable scar instead of festering as an open sore oozing bloody puss all over the living room Berber. In short, we've moved forward--productively, respectfully, confidently forward. We are sources of motive power in each others' lives, when we choose, instead of closed doors.

Admitting mistakes and apologizing are not only cathartic, they are the only way to avoid getting bogged down in the mire. Candor and contrition get one out of the ditch and back on the freeway.

That is a lesson I wish Greensboro, in its collective consciousness--among its leaders and organizations, could come to understand: Candor is empowering.

It has become Greensboro's bane that we expend our energies on days, months, years and even decades avoiding admissions of even the smallest missteps rather than simply admitting them and moving on. We thus create a swamp of mistrust fed by a steady seepage of unresolved grievances.

Cries rise up for us to please move on, but absent the proper acknowledgment of our errors, those cries are no more appropriate than were I to have said to the board members that they should just get over it and move on. How could they? How can we? How can we continue to put faith and trust in our institutions and our leaders when we have no confidence that they can even recognize right from wrong?

I had started to offer a list of examples of local people and institutions who have failed to acknowledge missteps or betrayals of the truth, but I realized that a list off the top of my head would be at least a dozen and would overwhelm this post. Suffice it to say that our local media, city council members, civic leaders, city staff and the police chief have all made significant errors in judgment or representation of the facts that remain unacknowledged, much less corrected. The offenders already know. The public does too.

The cost of this tolerance of mendacity to Greensboro is great. We have lost time, time we spent pressing for even the most basic acknowledgment of the most evident of facts. We have lost the inspiration of potential heroes, people with great minds and abilities who, had they not lost credibility, might have gone on to show us the way to great things. We have lost the untold achievements that can only be reached by communities confident that they stand together on a basic foundation of candid sincerity.

That sincerity, that fidelity to our ideals is the most important thing we've lost--the thing that, once its absence is noticed, will soon have only the most jaded or hopeless wanting to live here. It would be different if we fashioned ourselves a Las Vegas, where bluffing is part of the game and deception in the service of a win is expected and admired. It would be different if we put ourselves forth as some cut-throat place where people are expected to always and only act in their self interest. But we are not that place; or we say we are not.

It is time for Greensboro to consider the North Carolina state motto as its own: "Esse Quam Videri:" "To be rather than to seem." If we are going to say we are a decent place, if we are going to ask people to believe that Greensboro is a place where we engage each other with genuine goodwill, we have to stop the practice of running away from our digressions, stop the increasingly common practice of obscuring the truth and obfuscating our mistakes. It makes us hypocrites in the face of what we say are our ideals.

If we cannot do that, if Greensboro cannot undergo the change that I personally did at the tutelage of Ed Cone and Jim Rosenberg, if we cannot come to understand that it is not a mark of weakness but actually a sign of confident capability to admit an error, if we cannot recognize that candor is a virtue, then let's drop the pretense. That would be better than to continue, over and over again, to cast ourselves as a nice place but prove ourselves the city of the lie.

We can call it growing up, coming to our senses, admitting our weaknesses -- whatever makes us feel better. But for God's sake let us, one way or another, stop spinning our wheels in a ditch of hypocrisy, it is going to make this an unbearable place to live.

On behalf of myself and the other misguided morons in Greensboro, I apologize to the Community Foundation of Greensboro

It has got to be a real drag when the ignorance of us regular folks gets in the way of others' ambitions. Remember how our lack of "education" got in the way of poor Time Warner Cable's perfectly reasonable plan to make Greensboro one of only four places on earth where its internet access customers would pay by the amount of data consumed? As TWC explained, the problem wasn't that it was a bad idea, it just seemed like a bad idea to its customers because of our lack of understanding.

Now our misunderstanding has gotten in the way of another perfectly legitimate plan, this one of the Community Foundation of Greensboro and apologies are in order.

The plan was for local developer Roy Carroll to fly some elected officials and city staff to Washington so they could make the rounds of legislators' offices to lobby for some money for some nebulous ideas for developing the South Elm/Lee streets area.

According to a statement issued by "the foundation" (no name was reported attached to the statement):

"Questions have been raised as the result of the misperceptions of some regarding the use of this donated plane. While we are disappointed by the misperceptions this travel plan has caused, more importantly we value the public’s trust and do not want to do anything to damage that trust. Therefore, we are postponing the trip."

You see? We ignorant morons and our misconceptions. How thoughtless can we be? Silly, stupid us. I thought, on its face, it might be inappropriate for elected officials to fly gratis on a plane owned by a real estate developer; flown for free by a man with interests in issues coming before city council; flown by a man who has a political action committee that attempts to influence local elections; by a man who has made substantial financial campaign contributions to local candidates, including to at least one of those he proposed to fly (Here, scroll down past the annoying, irrelevant video).

Boy was I wrong. I do not know how I was wrong, the statement from the foundation doesn't tell me; but I am confident I would not have disappointed an entire foundation with my notions if my notions were not misperceptions and if my misperceptions were not so disappointing. So with all the sincerity this situation allows me to muster, on behalf of myself and the other misguided morons in Greensboro, I apologize to the Community Foundation of Greensboro for causing it disappointment.

(Greensboro) News & Record scrubs Ahearn's Greensboro College Story

(hat tip: Ed Cone)

On Sunday, June 28, the (Greensboro, NC) News & Record published an article by Lorraine Ahearn titled, "Greensboro College fending off creditors." If you read the story online, you will see that it is prefaced with this:

"Editor's Note: Because of incorrect information provided to the News & Record, this article misreported who pays the bill for a personal trainer for the wife of Greensboro College President Craven Williams. Williams personally reimburses Greensboro College for that expense."

If you read through the story looking for the "misreporting," you won't find it. Without explaining that they've done so, with no notation of an edit or change in the pub date, the N&R quietly removed the "mistake," leaving one unable to read just what Ahearn had originally and erroneously reported -- unless you read this blog.

Here is how the story now appears:

Here is how it originally appeared (highlight added):

Gone is:

"With charges ranging from $1,258 to $1,386 monthly, the club bill is for membership along with extra charges including twice-a-week personal trainer sessions for Williams’ wife."

You can still find the original here.

[Postscript: I my opinion, I don't know that this even qualifies as an error to be corrected. The problem arose when people wrote letters to the N&R and commented at the original article stating that Williams reimbursed the college or directly paid for (depending) for his wife's trainer. That doesn't change the facts as originally reported, although, if the letter-writers are right, the original reporting does create a false impression. What would be more appropriate than deleting from the record would be a followup confirming, presumably from examining the records, that Williams has reimbursed the school for those expenses.]

Review: Pisgah Inn

Kathy and I spent the first night of our mountain trip at the Pisgah Inn, one of the few lodging facilities directly on the Blue Ridge Parkway, about 3 1/2 hours from Greensboro, NC; 50 minutes south of Asheville.

The room ($120/night) was comfortably appointed, clean and tidy with a refrigerator, TV, and coffee maker, but the greatest attribute was the view.
Each room has a balcony opening onto the southeast side of Mount Pisgah, overlooking the Pisgah National Forest with Hendersonville far in the distance -- too far to even notice during the day, but a twinkle in the valley at night. There is very little ambient light when the moon is new, making the night sky sparkle with stars from horizon to horizon.

There are three buildings, each two stories. We had an upstairs room, but the downstairs rooms are elevated enough on the balcony side that I would imagine the view to be just as nice. Apparently, only Tree Tops has been renovated, and I read some less than flattering comments from people who stayed in the other building, so ask for Tree Tops, seen here:
Although the guy behind the counter in the little store on the property told us that the closest place to get wine was Asheville or Brevard (we chose Brevard), we discovered that the gift shop actually sells a small selection of Biltmore wines and the restaurant serves beer and a larger selection of wine.

The restaurant is nice. I had a perfectly suitable pork chop with apple kraut and Kathy had Salmon that she said was tasty, but not as good as mine. I enjoyed a very delicious, Asheville-brewed Black Mocha Stout. Service was pleasant and efficient. The complimentary breakfast (I had French Toast, Kathy had eggs and bacon) was tasty, but the floor-to-vaulted ceiling windows are really the best thing going for the place.

Check the Pisgah Inn web site for more information, including area activities and online reservations. Book as far in advance as you can if you want one of the few rooms with a queen bed, or you'll end up with two doubles.




View Larger Map

Gooberlina

Goobers infest our state legislature and Sue is calling them out, here and here.

"I have my own way of dealing with it, which is I just won’t deal with Amazon." -- North Carolina House Speaker Joe Hackney

I'm proud of you Joe for your firm understanding of the issue -- not.

Peaceful Danger

This is Bust Your Butt falls as it looked this past Thursday, our first day camping on the Cullasaja River. (See the people in the lower left for a sense of scale. Look very carefully to the immediate right of the falls and you can see a person standing on the rocks).


As we were loading up the car on Sunday, we heard sirens. As we drove back by these falls on the way home, we saw a rescue underway.

A Florida man had waded into the upper portion of the falls to rescue his son whose foot had become stuck under a boulder. The father became trapped too. He managed to hold his son out of the water for thirty minutes. The son was rescued and survived. His father drowned.

Mold "expert" Linda May fails to respond to requests to substantiate her credentials

Mold "expert" Linda May who said a Greensboro school should be shut down because of mold failed to substantiate her claimed credentials to the Rhinoceros Times, "despite being asked repeatedly."

That sparked a thread at Ed Cone's blog about which I emailed Ms. May, suggesting she may want to visit and participate in the discussion. She has not. I have not received a reply to my email either.

Buffalo's Bar & Grill: Doomed

Kathy and I went to the new Buffalo's Bar & Grill last night. We did not like it. We had been to the old location many times over the past several years. Their signature wings were really good, and when we wanted something a little different, the quality and variety of other menu selections were good. The old place was often crowded, a combination of limited seating and popularity. We didn't mind.

With the move to their new location, Buffalo's has procured much more space, but at the expense of everything else that was worthy. Gone is the warm pub-like feel of wooden booths and tables. The new place feels like an institutional cafeteria or factory break room. [Cheripicker puts it best in the comments below: "Laundromat."] The lighting was a bright but cold operating room blue, which made the red ink on green paper menus vibrate like some kind of trippy optical illusion.

The furnishings were utilitarian, as if no consideration was given to the patrons' comfort or to creating some atmosphere; as if the primary design consideration was simply to keep one in an upright position and provide a flat surface from which food can be consumed. If you can call it food.

My chicken tenders, although a generous portion, were slathered in honey bar-b-que sauce that was far inferior to my previously favorite honey bar-b-que I used to get on wings at the old place. Too much sweetness (that tasted like white sugar) and not much else. And the texture was very weird: Mushy--more like damp paper than meat.

The only positive? Our server made quick work of adjusting our check for getting an order wrong.

Making it in the restaurant biz it tough. I'm sympathetic to "bad nights" or "getting up to speed," but the new Buffalo's is such a drastic decline from the old, I don't think it is temporary. If, in the future, I hear that things have changed, including an interior remodeling, I'll try again. Otherwise, I won't be back.

Ben Holder launches district 1 city council campaign

Ben Holder informally launched his campaign with a fish fry last night (I understand that the "official" kickoff is next weekend).

Nice folks. Tommy, the former manager of Southern Lights, and I had a talk about the state of restaurateuring in Greensboro and the seemingly unjustifiable rent squeeze being put upon retailers by commercial property owners.

Frank Rakestraw and I had a nice long talk about the shortcomings of local media. He is finding the ability of new media to provide an unfiltered and immediate counterpoint an important benefit.

Lots of other interesting conversation with the nice variety of people that are district 1.

Me, Kathy and Ben:


[Correction: The original title of this post said Ben was running in district 2, that is incorrect. He is running in district 1.]

Courage

I think my bona fides as a skeptic are well established, so I don't mind the temporary flack I'm getting for being suddenly sentimental. To hell with it, I'll find reason soon enough to criticize again, but today, this man is my hero:

If you are white, take twenty-five steps forward and get your prize

Really?

I think this falls into the category of "If I have to explain it, you'll never get it."

.

More ignorance as justification for broken opinions

An anonymous commenter on my post about the Greensboro city council's statement of regret over the violent events of November 3, 1979 wrote this:

The only action due here is for the people who are still here that on that day 30 years ago that participated and represented the CWP and the KLAN to apologize to the people of Guilford Co. The CWP planned the "Death to mthe Klan" march/rally knowing quite well the Klan would most probably respond, and apparently the Klan was game to do just that. Also, who fired the first shot, certainly not Mr Johnson as it's documented that he was hidding under his car, all of the stories I heard was the CWP people fired the first shot. So why should we apologize to them when it should be the other way around. What a joke..........

Pseudonymous commenter Cheripicker, applauds this comment as "common sense and independent thought..."

Except it's not. It is another unfortunate and increasingly common example of local people using their ignorance as justification for untenable opinions: "I'm right because I am ignorant of the things that make me wrong."

The FACT is that, as part of the derided Truth and Reconciliation process, Nelson Johnson did the very thing the uninformed anonymous commenter says has not happened. Included in Johnson's 35-page written statement is a section called "Regrets, Self-Criticisms and Apologies" in which he expresses his regrets and self-criticisms and apologizes.

.

Zack Matheny: A broken recollection of history to justify rejecting history

Zack Matheny is my Greensboro city council district (3) representative. He's a good guy. He makes some good decisions and he's pretty good about responding to constituent concerns.

I was disappointed in his rationale for voting against accepting a report from the Human Relations Commission on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the subsequent statement of regret for the events of November 3, 1979.

His remarks were small-minded and lacking in empathy (at the 02:59:40 mark). What I found particularly strange though was his turning to former Mayor Keith Holliday as a touchstone for Matheny's objection to accepting the report of the Human Relations Commissions. Leaving aside the question of whether Holliday was ever an inspiring leader on anything, Matheny's selective use of Holliday quotations ignored the reality that Holliday's views towards the Truth and Reconciliation process moderated away from his initial repudiation to an eventual participation and recognition of its possible benefits. It was bizarre, watching Matheny use a broken recollection of history to argue against acknowledging history.

Dissent criminalized in Greensboro?

Tony Wilkins is reporting that Greensboro political consultant Bill Burckley was arrested at last night's city council meeting. According to Wilkins, Burckley "laughed out loud during the meeting and was asked to leave." Burckley was apparently reacting to a vote by council expressing regret for the violent events of November 3, 1979.

Presumably, an arrest would arise from one's refusal to leave if instructed to do so by an officer of the law. We'll have to wait for details before making an informed evaluation, but we know this: There are often audible laughter, commentary and cat-calls from the meeting audience. It may be impolite but it is not uncommon and I doubt if it is illegal. I will be waiting to see if this can be explained as something other than unequal treatment for someone because of who he is or the views he holds.

UPDATE: Ben Holder, aka The Troublemaker, whose broken computer currently keeps him from posting to his own blog, was an eye witness. According to Ben, Burckley initially left of his own volition, but attempted to reenter the building. Security guards stopped him and asked him to leave because he had been disruptive. Ben says Burckley then said he was not leaving and demanded to be arrested, saying he was going to "have a lot of fun" subpoenaing the mayor and council. Ben said he tried to get Burckley to leave with him, offering to buy him a drink, but Burckley refused and continued to insist on being arrested, a demand he made seven times, according to Ben, before it was granted.

[Note: Burckley was incorrectly referred to as Wilkins in places in the above account of Ben Holder's recollections. The post has been corrected and I apologize for the error.]

A man grows. City Council's finest moment of leadership

Three years or so ago a group of citizens came before Greensboro city council asking the council to endorse the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation process. Council did not simply decline to do so but, in what I thought to be one of the most spiteful and cruel official actions I had ever seen the council take, council voted to oppose the Truth and Reconciliation process. They did not just decline to support it, they affirmatively expressed their official opposition. The motion to oppose the process was made by councilor Robbie Perkins.

Tonight city council was asked to accept a report from the Human Relations Commission on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and to adopt a resolution expressing regret for the events of November 3, 1979. Each council member was given a chance to express his or her opinions. When it was Perkins' turn to express his opinion of the course the council should take on this matter, he began by acknowledging his leading role in opposing the Truth and Reconciliation process three years ago. Then, in the most honest and heroic thing I've ever seen a local elected official do, Perkins articulated why he was in favor of accepting the report of the Human Relations Commission and why reluctant fellow councilors should join him. After the council agreed, 5 to 4, to accept the report, Perkins then shepherded a subsequent resolution of regret for the events of November 3, 1979 through a cautious council. It passed 5 to 4.

I'm proud of you, Robbie.

.

Greensboro stonewalls records request

I made the following records request of the City of Greensboro on June 4, 2009:
--------
Please provide me with all email correspondence (sent and received) for
the following individuals for the period of April 10, 2006 through April 30, 2006 (inclusive):

John Shaw
Tim Bellamy
Mitch Johnson
City council members
---------

Today, I received this reply: "No pertinent documents were found pertaining to your request."

This is the most contemptuous bullshit and it has to stop.

Let me get this straight, FedEx

Let me get this straight: FedEx, a company that is reaping the benefits locally of hundreds of millions of public dollars spent to construct a runway and cargo sorting building and to restructure property tax laws to its financial benefit, is attempting to demean rival UPS by insinuating (wrongly and unethically) that UPS is the recipient of a government bailout?

Give me a break.

.

Failure to push back

Pushback. It is so contrary to our Southern sensibilities. So rude. And so necessary.

Lex has a post about the after-the-fact legal justifications for US torture. What caught my eye was this from the New York Times Public Editor (Ombudsman), Clark Hoyt, commenting on the pitfalls of reporters getting all warm and fuzzy with (read "manipulated by") inside sources:

"It demonstrated again the dangers when editors run with exclusive leaked material in politically charged circumstances and fail to push back skeptically."(emphasis added)

Locally? True dat.

.

Chad VanGaalen

Some other songs by Chad VanGaalen:

• City of Electric Light
• Willow Tree

.

Myrtle Beach will be our destination of choice, though we will be no strangers to Orlando

A case for new downtown design standards

"Many of the anti-pedestrian features of these buildings would have been prohibited or modified by the proposed downtown design manual."

David Wharton of A Little Urbanity takes a thorough and thoughtful look at the pedestrian unfriendly building practices that inspire his support of new downtown design standards.

What's next? From mail to fax to email to Wave

This is going to change the way we communicate and collaborate. It's called Google Wave.



Thanks to Fec at Vie de Malchance for bringing it to our attention. If you cannot sit through the whole 80 minutes or if you find it just too hilarious to hear engineers applauding and cheering a software demonstration, there is a good overview here.

Kudos Fox8

I find it greatly annoying when prime time TV programming gets interrupted for extended periods of time so that weather people can track wicked weather moving through some berg populated with more cows than people at the farthest reaches of a station's broadcast signal ("Huh? Where's that?" "Kentucky, I think.")

When a massive storm pounds the largest city in your market however, that might be the time to get it in gear. Which is just what MyFox8 WGHP did live during last evening's severe weather. Sure, there were a few inanities (like the moron "eyewitness" to a fallen tree whose failure to understand "turn down your TV" lead to repeated Hendrix-worthy audio feedback loops) but, for the most part, the crew at Fox8 impressed, springing into action like a well oiled machine -- like a robot octopus, with tentacles grabbing video, graphics and audio and daring the audience to keep up on TV and the web. Awesome!

Meanwhile, the Wheel of Fortune kept on rolling over at WFMY. No worries though, I'm sure they'll be all over the next storm that rolls through Peach Bottom, Virginia.

What I want in a city manager

This evening, I availed myself of the city's online form where one can offer suggestions for what to look for in the next city manager. Here are mine:

What do you like about living in Greensboro?
Easy to get around. Easy to make good friends. A presumption of goodwill. Not highly competitive.

What are the issues facing Greensboro?
Greensboro's reluctance to confront mendacity and incompetence. Allegiances to our groups instead of the truth.

What characteristics do you want the new City Manager to have?
A default presumption that all effort should be made to release public records instead of a desire to find any way possible to obstruct records requests. A core, unshakable commitment to transparency and the public's right to know. Willing to put all city emails and voice mails online.

An outsider who has never lived here with no connections to the area. Preferably from a larger and more successful city. Definitely NOT someone from a smaller city.

A no-nonsense critical thinker able to communicate articulately and directly; able to adjust to new information. NOT an ideologue or back-slapper, but someone guided by the facts, willing to share the facts with the citizens and open to information from outside "official" channels. Someone with confidence and integrity who will recognize that "stakeholders" include those beyond the organized power centers.

Additional comments?
Greensboro needs to raise the bar. Get us the best. Get us an innovator. Get us someone who, once he/she moves here, people will be tempted to say, "The city manager is the smartest person in Greensboro."

Crying wolf

There are plenty of open-minded forward-thinking people who will rise in a heartbeat to stand with those standing up to racism. Crying wolf encourages us to take a seat.

Make your Greensboro city manager search recommendations online

The city of Greensboro is soliciting advice in its search for a new city manager, you can offer your recommendations online at www.greensboro-nc.gov/SearchSurvey.

Politicizing justice

Justice department political employees overrule career lawyers in voter intimidation case.

I agree with Lex:

"One of the many objectionable hallmarks of the Bush administration was the insistence by political appointees of overturning decisions made by career staff, particularly in Justice. I’d say Attorney General Eric Holder has some explaining to do."

News & Record's business editor: Not smarter than a fifth grader

From the (Greensboro, NC) News & Record:

April’s 0.3 percent rate drop from 10.8 percent to 10.5 percent kept pace with other major counties, the region and state overall. -- John Nagy*

A decline from 10.8 to 10.5 is not a 0.3 percent drop, it is a 3 percent drop:

[ 0.3/10.8 = 0.028 ]

* Referred to in the article's online byline as a "staff writer" but on his biography page at the N&R web site as "business editor."

Challenger to T. Dianne Bellamy-Small in District One

I have it on good authority that a candidate will announce a run for the Greensboro City Council district one seat within a few weeks.

It is someone who I think will be a formidable candidate who would add a dimension of energy and transparency to council that is currently lacking should re get elected. I wish I could say more, but I think you'll be excited when you hear.

It's alllliiiiive -- Davenport comments

A commentator identifying himself as Charles Davenport, Jr. replies to this blog post. Here is his comment followed by my reply:

------------
11:17 PM, May 26, 2009
Anonymous

I don’t recall ever receiving an e-mail fom Roch, but I will take his word for it. Although I receive a significant volume of mail, I make an effort to respond to every correspondent, especially those with whom I disagree. I do not, however, waste time answering sophomoric, juvenile, ad hominem attacks, which is Roch’s field of expertise. He does not counter my arguments; he prefers tossing around the usual debate-ending terms--“racist,” “homophobe,” “bigot,” etc. But I am honored by his spastic name-calling, which I consider a concession of intellectual defeat. When Roch disagrees with a column, he throws a temper tantrum, like a petulant 2-year-old. I do not expend ammunition responding to every schoolyard taunt from pompous, venom-spewing bloggers.

Roch, you have called me a “cowardly bigot,” but I welcome the opportunity to go head-to-head, on any topic, in writing, with anyone worthy of my time. If you are so eager to engage, I propose that we write a pro-con, on the subject of your choosing--gay marriage and diversity hiring really seem to get under your skin--for a neutral publication. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

Charles Davenport Jr.

-------
8:55 AM May 27, 2009
Roch101 said...

Hi Charles,

Welcome to the party. I am not sure what you have in mind for a neutral publication. Perhaps something freely accessible to the public at large to which you and I can publish without editorial interference, maybe with some facility for us and readers to engage in an on-going back and forth discussion of the subject at hand.

Hey! How about this Internet thingy?

You are welcome to comment at your pleasure on anything I've written here. (To avoid spam, after 60 days, comments are disabled so let me know if you find an older post on which you'd like to comment and I'll start a new thread. You can email me at sysop@wirecom.com -- I read and reply.)

For example, I observed that, despite your protestations that we should confine our discussions to the facts, you have a habit of making assertions unsupported by facts. You can refute or comment on that right now.

You might also start responding to comments on your N&R columns (where of the last ten, you have joined in the comment threads a total of zero times). Maybe you might even start a blog of your own. One of your first posts might be to answer the simple question I have yet to see you answer: Why do you oppose gay marriage?

I remain open to other venues for conducting a discussion, but this and other local blogs, the comment threads on your articles and the possibility of starting your own blog offer convenient and immediate opportunities that need no further delay, negotiation or complication.

What does a Montgomery Alabama mayoral candidate have to do with video gambling in North Carolina?

This is odd. The (Greensboro, NC) News & Record's Doug Clark points us to the web site for the NC Entertainment Group, a group lobbying to get video gambling legalized in North Carolina. The "Contact us" link on the NC Entertainment Group web site is to info@briddell4mayor.com. Briddell4mayor.com is the web site of Michael Briddell who is running for mayor of Montgomery, Alabama. I don't get the connection.

.

Earl Jones' flawed bill to legalize video gambling

North Carolina state legislator Earl Jones of Greensboro is sponsoring a bill that would legalize video gambling.

Representative Earl Jones did not reply to a request to discuss this bill nor did he respond to questions submitted by email. Here are the questions Jones' failed to answer:
----------

1. The bill allocates a total of 100% of the gross revenue to machine owners, licensees and the state. Doesn't this assume 0% paid out as winnings?

2. The bill contains no consumer protections. What are your thoughts about adding the following to the bill?

a. Requirements that machines display the odds of winning; that if the odds change as the machine is played, the odds be updated and displayed in real time.
b. Requiring games that use representations of real-world gaming implements, such as cards or dice, give players the same odds as one would have playing with a physical deck of cards or dice.

3. Why was the Department of Revenue chosen to enforce the licensing provisions of this bill instead of ALE?
-----

A law that would allocate one hundred percent of revenue to operators and taxes and zero percent to players should not pass. A bill that does not require any kind of transparency on odds should not pass. As it stands, Jones bill is an attempt to legalize a ripoff.

I might just have to buy a newspaper

I saw a Rooms to Go TV commercial last night that invited me to get store coupons in the newspaper or online. The Rooms to Go web site offers no clue as to where to find these online coupons the Rooms to Go TV commercial told me I could find there and the site's search feature yields zero results in a search for "coupon."

Lame.


UPDATE: A Rooms to Go representative told me through online chat that the coupons will be "online tomorrow." What a major screw up, one that could at least be minimized by putting a note on the web site saying that the coupons will be online tomorrow. I expect our economic recovery to be long and painful because of the moron factor.

.