Dumb, dumb, dumb. Greensboro is going to screw up the Google RFI

As expected, there is interest in trying to get Google to choose Greensboro for its next-generation ultra-high speed broadband internet access. And apparently efforts are underway that are blind to Greensboro's history of making these kinds of initiatives tumultuous and divisive.

Instead of a wide-open first step of figuring out who the stakeholders are, what areas of expertise the application demands, who is best qualified to provide them and fostering broad community support from the get go, we have people operating in secret and closed groups. This is a prescription for unnecessary complications and mediocrity. This approach not only fails, by definition, to draw from the broadest talent pool possible, but it assures consensus only as an afterthought.

One secret group is described as "a privately-led group, involving key personnel from the city, econ dev groups, a/w/a people who are downtown supporters." Who, specifically, is not clear.

I am also told, whether a part of the same group or not, I do not know, that the City's "IT staff started pursuing this Wednesday" and that I'll be informed of "more as we get closer to applying."

This is old Greensboro. Broken Greensboro. The worst of Greensboro unheeded and repeated. Nobody has a right to hijack control of this initiative. This is too important to screw up. There needs to be community consensus FIRST for how to proceed, not another muckup vomited up from behind the same old closed doors.

Utlra-high speed broadband for Greensboro?

I sent the following email to Mayor Bill Knight and Assistant City Manager Denise Turner today:
==============

Dear Honorable Mayor Knight and Ms. Turner,

As Ed Cone notes on his blog today(1), Google has announced an initiative to "test ultra-high speed broadband networks in one or more trial locations across the country." Google is soliciting Requests for Information from communities interested in being considered.

This is the kind of innovative new-industry initiative Greensboro should pursue with gusto. The deadline for applications is March 26, 2010. I respectfully request that the City of Greensboro assemble a team of qualified individuals from City staff and the community who can write and submit a Request for Information for Google. Obviously, time is of the essence. Anything I can do to assist in bringing this to speedy and efficient fruition would be my pleasure. You may contact me by email reply or at the phone number below.

(1) http://edcone.typepad.com/wordup/2010/02/goog-4-gso.html

Cordially,
Roch Smith, Jr.

Ben Holder asks City to address propaganda

Ben Holder sent the following to Greensboro Assistant City Manager Denise Turner and Public Affairs Director Pat Bosewell today regarding information found on the City's web site.

"There is a link on the city's website located on the media/press release section called "police investigation."  It has most of the propaganda that was produced by the former city manager and former city council.  The page is packed with audio clips, news articles, time lines etc.  However, NEVER does it include the result of the Scott Sanders trial nor does it include the charges against Tom Fox being dropped.  I find this to be horrible and you should too.  There has been enough confusion and lying to the public about the Wray Fray and to have this city made web page up telling half of the story is ridiculous.  Why not include everything?  Why not show the video of Mitch being fired?  The paper work showing Sanders being found not guilty?  The city has Yes Weekly articles but not one Rhino Times.  I think if you asked the Mayor he would tell you that he thinks the Rhino Times did an excellent job in reporting about the police investigation.  I think it is time for the city to update the page filled with half stories and inaccuracies and fill in the blanks.  The police investigation portion of the city's web site does not match the city's core values.  Please fix this immediately. "

Bad Form

I do not know what arrangement the (Greensboro, NC) News & Record has with the (Raleigh, NC) News & Observer regarding the N&R's practice of pasting N&O articles in their entirety on the N&R web site. One assumes the N&O has given their blessings, but doing so without a link to the original source is bad form.

"Robert L. Simpson is chairman of the Alamance County Republican Party."

"Robert L. Simpson is chairman of the Alamance County Republican Party."

As the Burlington Time News identifies him on his letter to their editor -- as the (Greensboro, NC) News & Record does not.

Good stuff from Green

"This happened, then this happened; and here is some important context. Now you are more knowledgeable."

Some reporters, when they are on, are just great at making you smarter. Yes!Weekly's Jordan Green covers the public hearing on the proposed land development ordinance.

Are their votes in Greensboro's municipal election annulled too?

A judge has annulled Greensboro's annexation of some McLeansville neighborhoods. What about the votes cast from those neighborhoods in last year's municipal elections? Are those annulled too?

Judge orders state to allow complaint against "RMA Report" authors?

Ben Holder, busy this morning investigating another matter of local interest, tells me that former Greensboro Police Department Deputy Chief Randall Brady has won a ruling by a judge ordering a state licensing board to accept a complaint against Risk Management Associates.

You will recall that Risk Management Associates of Raleigh was the agency that produced the infamous "RMA Report," the report that hoodwinked a lot of as-yet unapologetic elected officials into thinking that the GPD command staff was discriminating against black cops. The once-"secret" report was discredited in large portions by subsequent facts, many documented by Jerry Bledsoe in the Rhino Times.

Brady had tried to file a complaint against RMA regarding their report with the North Carolina Private Protection Services Board, the licensing board for private investigators in the state. The board declined to act on Brady's complaint, saying he did not have standing because he was not a client of RMA's. The judge's ruling apparently reverses that decision.

Good question.

Two people arrested yesterday for robbery in Greensboro were also arrested for robbery in Greensboro six months ago. Joe Guarino asks:

"Who is at fault for this situation?  It seems the public would be well served if the press were to investigate how their initial case failed to result in long-term imprisonment."

Good question. Good suggestion.

Colts 19, Saints 17

For what it's worth.

Still not smarter than a fifth grader. More misunderstanding of percentages at the News & Record

A News & Record reporter makes another mistake regarding the basic understanding of percentages (previously by editor John Negay). This time it is reporter Donald Patterson, in a convoluted explanation of local poverty statistics, reporting that the increase in the number of people living in poverty here since 2000 represents "a jump of 3.5 percent."

It struck me as odd that such a small increase would be described as a "jump." So I went looking for a lucid explanation. I found it in an article from more than two weeks ago in the Triad Business Journal. What the Biz Journal explains, and that illuminates the News & Record error, is that the poverty rate "was 16.2 percent in 2008, up from 12.6 percent in 2000."

Ah. That is an increase of 28.6 percent, not 3.5 percent as Patterson reports--but, indeed, worthy of calling a jump when properly described. Petterson gets wrong the meaning of percent. The poverty rate increased by 28.6 PERCENT or 3.6 POINTS. If your cholesterol goes from 200 to to 220, that is a 20 POINT increase but a 10 PERCENT increase. Professionals who venture to explain statistics to their readers should understand the difference.

Bug me not. Readers object to N&R reporting

On February 1, the (Greensboro, NC) News & Record's Inside Scoop reported this regarding the arrest of James O’Keefe:

"O’Keefe was busted last week and charged with attempting to bug U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu’s phone in the Hale Boggs Federal Building in downtown New Orleans."

and further described:

"O’Keefe’s attempted phone tapping."

Reader Fred Gregory shared with me some emails he exchanged with the article's author, Mark Binker, about the accuracy of those statements and, according to Binker, several people had complained that O'Keefe was not charged with "bugging." But Binker is standing by what he described as his "shorthand" reporting.

O'Keefe is the guy who recently gained notoriety when he dressed as a pimp and entered an ACORN office (video) to solicit advice for avoiding taxes for his fantasy criminal enterprise--advice he received. Reader complaints that O'Keefe was not charged with bugging seem, to me, to be an effort to get the media to make room for O'Keefe's explanation that he and his entourage only used phone employee disguises and a phony telephone repair excuse as a means to gain access to Landrau's office for observation and that they intended to maybe go as far as disabling the phone equipment for the purpose of surreptitiously recording Landrau's office staff's reaction on video, but that they did not intend to wiretap or bug the phones.

I cannot find a copy of the formal charges against O'Keefe. There is the original criminal complaint from the FBI in which the agent attests there is probable cause to believe that O'Keefe coordinated the scheme "for the purpose of willfully and maliciously interfering with a telephone system operated and controlled by the United States of America." This closely reflects what other news outlets reported: that O'Keefe and his posse were charged with entering the senator's office "under false pretenses for the purposes of committing a felony."

While I cannot determine what legal distinction may exist between attempting to "interfere" with a telephone system and attempting to wiretap, other media outlets who originally also used "bugging" and "wiretapping," including the Washington Post find the difference significant enough to have issued clarifications to their original stories, correcting their original misreporting of O'Keefe having been charged with "bugging" and "wiretapping."

Binker's shorthand use of "attempting to bug," is inaccurate. His "attempted phone tapping," is unfounded. The mistake was common and not partisan. While I do not think the distinctions between bugging and tampering are going to lessen the effects on O'Keefe's credibility, that is really not a reporter's concern. Accuracy is, and this is no Watergate; so, for the sake of accuracy, if nothing else, the News & Record should follow the lead of other media and correct their reporting on this one.

Panoramic February One Photographic Awesomeness

The amazing Tom Lassiter does it again with an amazing all-direction view of the opening of the International Civil Rights Museum. Click the photo for the awesomeness.

"Stupid museum"

I don't know who this joker is, but if he wants to make public his complaints about snow getting cleared for the opening of the "stupid museum," as he calls it, and not his suburban street, then I think we should all take a good look.

[Update: Thecrashguy, the original publisher of this video, subsequently made it "private." I have replaced it with an archived copy, unedited from the original.]

Mayor's campaign finance reports incomplete

Keith Brown of Triad Watch is an expert at finding important nuggets of information in public documents, then burying them deep in a blog post. The meat is that Mayor Bill Knight's end-of-year campaign finance report fails to report the professions of twenty-one donors as required by state law.

Keith has found this kind of deficiency before among the reports of local elected officials and each time it has been revealed, it has been met with an amended filing to rectify the shortcomings. Hopefully our esteemed mayor will do the same.

Yep

"But matters of race and justice can still be complicated and old wounds still tender, as we have seen in Greensboro as recently as last week. What just happened here — and what didn’t end up happening — suggests that we continue to make progress in the post-civil rights era, and that we still have a ways to go."

 -- Ed Cone

I propose a statue of Jerry Bledsoe

Congratulations Jerry Bledsoe on concluding your ninety-two part series "Cops in Black and White." Greensboro owes you one. A big one. Without you, Greensboro would have irrevocably become the "city of the lie," as you called us. You rescued us from a fate of ignorance, however, and we are truly thankful.

Four years ago, Greensboro was on a trajectory towards enshrining a huge deception in our public consciousness and history-- a deep and pervasive meme that would have had us for years filter people, events and motives through a delusion as though it were real. We came perilously close to becoming victims of the disinformation of people who sought to confound public understanding for their own personal ends. We surely would have been the walking dead -- idiots who would have had no idea that what we thought we knew was just an illusion; no idea that what we had come to think of as reality was just a phantom molded from shit. It would have been the biggest fake out--the biggest con job--in Greensboro's history.

Whether or not you are convinced of every detail in the narrative Bledsoe tells in his series, it is inescapable that Jerry, with a tenacity and diligence unmatched by any other person or organization, probed the facts and rescued the important truths from their liars' tomb. Considering the powerful forces that were aligned in support of the lies--the institutions and the people--it is ultimately amazing that the truth came to light. That such power lost the battle is a testament to Bledsoe's achievement. Others contributed to the fight and deserve credit, including series publisher The Rhino Times, but Bledsoe was the steady motor that kept moving the train down the facttrack, pulling all other passengers, willing and reluctant, to the truth station.

It is very satisfying that Bledsoe concludes his series, in part, by reminding us of who is to blame. In a city where it is considered impolite to question authority and rude to question motives, it is precisely that reluctance for scorn that evildoers rely upon in order to perpetrate their bad deeds. Lying, cheating, obfuscating and misleading are not always criminal; sometimes the only defense against them is the consequence of embarrassment and humiliation.

Greensboro is too genteel to apply the treatment of shame. As a result, even when incompetents and rascals come up against an unshakable repudiation of their actions, they are free to ignore it. Do you doubt it? Ask yourself this: Who in this whole sad tale has stepped forward and said they made a mistake? There has not been one person. What does that tell you? That no mistakes were made? No. To me it says that the malefactors are either too dumb to know they been exposed, too small to admit error or they are certain people will not be so rude as to call them out, so they think themselves perfectly safe in avoiding contrition. Bledsoe has sealed off that escape hatch.

I watched, we all did, as people in positions of power suspended reason, made untenable excuses, gave false explanations and otherwise frustrated the public's desire for honesty. Now, thanks to Bledsoe, blame has been rightly affixed. Bledsoe pins the misdeeds and missteps on the elected representatives, city staff, police officers and culpable members of the media who, quite frankly, deserve it. They probably didn't think this day would come. It may sound callous, but I find this to be a very satisfying form of social justice.

These people had obligations, sworn by oath, in many cases, and demanded by their positions in institutions and society in other cases, that they failed to meet. These people will have to live with their sullied legacies, whether they acknowledge them as sullied or not. There is a temptation to feel sorry, but no. These people had opportunity after opportunity to garner some goodwill along the way, instead they bred contempt with their obstinate disdain for accuracy or transparency and ultimate refusal to admit any error or responsibility. They were (still are) supremely arrogant in their intransigence--which we could ignore if it were not at our expense. Thanks to Bledsoe, their actions now stand exposed. It is all plainly, and literally, in black and white.

There should be a statute of Jerry Bledsoe erected in Greensboro. Since he is a former employee and, as a final repudiation* of their astounding malpractice, I suggest that the (Greensboro, NC) News & Record erect this statue at their front door.


[* Technically, this would not be their final repudiation, but the first.]

Got headphones?

My brain, my brain. It kicks into a different mode where scripting and programming abilities rise when stuff like this flows into it. Weird.  Headphones highly recommended.

TKY -- Heke

Alston apologizes

It's really up to the offended parties to decide if it is sufficient or not, but Skip Alston's public apology to city councilors Danny Thompson, Nancy Vaughan and Mayor Bill Knight comes across as sincere. Big of him to apologize; will we big enough to get past it?

Deena Hayes should get her facts straight

In her talking points on the proposed downtown hotel project, in which her cohabiting boyfriend has a financial interest, Guilford County School Board member Deena Hayes asks:

"Where were Weaver and Quaintance in asking for public release of documents for the other two projects in line for access to recovery bonds?"

What does it benefit Ms. Hayes to operate on her suspicions rather than the facts? It certainly doesn't enhance her credibility. The facts are that the records request made by Mike Weaver and Dennis Quaintance asks for records pertaining to "any project or proposal to be financed" with recovery bonds and, specifically:

"[I]ncluding, but not limited to, Deep Roots Market; North Eugene Partner, LLC; Miller Lofts; Bridgett Chisolm; Urban Hotel Group; Randal Kaplan; George House; Brad Semon and/or Elm Street Center." [Emphasis added for emphasis]

Sheesh.

I love me some Dell (I hate me some virus)

Did anybody pick up a computer virus surfing local blogs in the past day or two? I'd like to hear if you did.

After a day of trying to repair my computer myself, I had to turn to Dell support. While my computer is still under hardware warranty, I had to pay $130 for Dell "Pay as you need" support for the software problem. Sounded steep, but the tech promised it covered a complete repair, no matter how long it took.

Boy, did I get my money's worth. It turns out my hard drive had to be reformatted and Windows reinstalled. Sounds horrific and could well have been were it not for the unquestionably best tech support person I have ever worked with -- Jason in the Philippines. Through remote control and telephone he applied his high level of tenacious expertise to methodically get me firmly back on my feet. He had a long day, but it was a job very well done and I am one happy, happy customer.

(Oh, and thanks to Ben Hwang for telling me once that it is wise to save all of one's downloaded program installation files in a single directory.)

More hometown love

My hometown (as see on Greensboro101.com)

• Riding the Atlantic & Yadkin Greenway
  
• Some old-timers "flat foot" dancing on a makeshift dance floor
  
• Skateboarder clearing nine steps at UNCG
• "Slash Bashing(?)" at Country Park (Remote controlled car off-roading) 
• Los Chuper Amigozzz
• Cheer Extreme Junior Coed Elite Sweetheart Classic 2010
  

Killian follows through, adds understanding to bond issue

[Although he's Joe to me, "Killian" just has a great reporter ring to it, like McAffrey or Woodward]

Is there any way, even if the project fails and the bank goes under that Greensboro would be responsible for the financial obligations of the Recovery Bonds it authorizes? As promised, Killian gets an authoritative answer. It is "no."

Murder blamed on death, robbery blamed on stolen items

Ripped from the headlines:

WFMY hotel reporting suckage

After its revelation and substantiation yesterday, how can WFMY report on Deena Hayes' threat to mar the opening of the International Civil Rights Center with a protest objecting to a public records request for information relating to governments' role in the proposed downtown hotel project and not report that Hayes' cohabitating boyfriend has a direct financial interest in the hotel project?

Ignorance?
Laziness?
Suckiness?

Too good not to share

A commenter at Ed Cone's blog noticed this in the announcements from the City Manager [emphasis added]:

"Guilford County will host an Ethics Training Class for Elected Officials in the COG region on February 16, 2010 from 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. at the Guilford County Agricultural Center, 3309 Burlington Road, Greensboro. The cost is $10.00 per attendee and includes a continental breakfast, materials and a certificate of completion. Resignation is attached for your convenience."

An apology

I shouldn't have said that Greensboro will change when "some people die off." It was a clumsy way of saying what I was trying to say, but more importantly, it could rightfully be hurtful to loving sons. I apologize.

Shame

I saw The Rhino Times publisher Willy Hammer in the parking lot of the Harris Teeter yesterday. As we nodded in agreement with each others' complaints about this City's shortcomings, I said, "You know Willy, I think sometimes that things are not going to really finally change until some people die off."

Harsh? Probably. But let's face it, for all the goodwill and progress made in Greensboro in my thirty years here, some people are stuck on fighting battles they have already won and they, unfortunately, still hold great influence over public discourse and policy.

I'll be the first to admit that vestiges of racism remain in Greensboro. There is still work to do, no doubt. That some people think it's funny to joke about cross burnings, for example, is a repugnant reminder that bigotry remains with us, bigotry that legions of enlightened people stand ready to repudiate.

But when those same enlightened people, compatriots in the defense of equality, are not buying your cries of racism, then maybe it's not racism. And when it is revealed that what you argue is racism is really just a threat to your financial interests, well, shame on you. Shame on you for defiling the serious struggles of those who fought real racism; shame on you for squandering the goodwill accrued over decades for your personal benefit; shame on you for depreciating the abomination of real racism for the sake you your twisted folly.

Deena Hayes: It's racist to scrutinize a project my boyfriend stands to financially benefit from

Yes! Weekly's Jordan Green digs up a little information that suggests Guilford County School Board member Deena Hayes' proposed march in protest of the public information request for records surrounding the proposed downtown hotel my not be selfless alturism. In fact, it looks more like her interest is in protecting her boyfriend's prospects for financial gain:

"Henry Isaacson introduced JCG & Associates as one of the principals in the Urban Hotel Group, the development group led by Bridget Chisholm that is a partner in the hotel project. JCG & Associates is a Greensboro construction and general contracting company owned by John C. Greene. Hayes and Greene both reside at 454 Gorrell St. in Greensboro, according to voter registration records."

Ed Cone substantiates.

Frank Deal

There comes a time in every young boy's life when he comes to appreciate and sets about to master the comedic beauty of the pun. In our house, the worse the better. A groan of pain was a better reaction than a chuckle. About the time I was getting it, there was a master of bad punnery delivering the local weather on WGHP -- boy, how I admired Frank Deal.

Our man at Fox 8, Lenslinger, says it well:

"A card-carrying member of local television's golden age, Deal did it all: emceeing shows, interviewing notables, hosting puppet shows, helming the felt board that for many years was all the 'Weather Center' a medium market TV station like El Ocho needed. It was there, amid the stick-on clouds and paper mache snowflakes that Frank Deal truly distinguished himself. "

 

Pissing in his own soup

So County Commissioner Chair Skip "I don't have to tell you" Alston, who stands to possibly earn three quarters of a million dollars from his involvement in a project for which the body he chairs is allocating funds, thinks it would be a good idea for the opening of the International Civil Rights Museum to be marred with a march in support of government secrecy, an effort that would serve to conceal the extent and nature of his self-enriching involvement in the publicly assisted hotel project.

That's intelligent.*

As David Hoggard writes:

"Quaintance and Weaver’s inquiry, as with all of the other inquiring that has been going on for weeks, has nothing to do with race, but everything to do with governmental accountability, project viability and fairness to the privately owned entrepreneurial  entities that could very well lose a lot of business if this thing goes off as planned."

[* Not]

Punking grade schoolers: Bottle caps for chemotherapy treatments

It has come to my attention that at least one Guilford County elementary school is collecting bottle caps to raise funds to help pay for cancer treatments at Brenner Children's Hospital.

It's a hoax. Previously perpetrated on rubes elsewhere. So says Snopes. So says The American Cancer Society.

The adults who got this started should bite the bullet and admit they've been had rather than trying to save face by pretending that it is legitimate and allowing it to continue, as they are.

WTF? "local taxpayers would not be on the hook if the project failed, at least not directly."

Can the (Greensboro, NC) News & Record please get a friggn' straight answer to the question of Greensboro's liability for the hotel bonds?

Amanda Lehmert and Joe Killian reported, without attribution, that "local taxpayers are not liable."

Today, Taft Wireback and J. Brian  Ewing report, also without attribution, "local taxpayers would not be on the hook if the project failed" but add the curious and unexplained "at least not directly." [Emphasis added.]

Still, Killian promises there are absolutely no circumstances under which the City would have any liability for the bonds.

Hello?

Killian promises more bond clarity

As I wondered here previously, amid all the confusion over the bonds that may finance the downtown hotel, do we have any certainty that the City of Greensboro would not have any liability for the bonds should the project fail and the financial guarantors not be able to backstop them? Are there any circumstances under which the City might find itself obligated to the bondholders?

After a little back and forth discussion in the comments of that post, the (Greensboro, NC) News & Record's Joe Killian said he'd try to find out. Lickity split, Joe now says that he has two on-the-record authoritative sources who are certain Greensboro will assume no liability for the bonds. Joe says to look for details in a story to run early next week.

Other questions remain, but if Joe's experts are right, that is one big potential obstacle to the project we can mark off the list.

Greensboro Daily Photo

One of my favorite local blogs is Greensboro Daily Photo, published by an unnamed "husband and wife team." They have an eye for capturing Greensboro in interesting photographs, like this one from today (below). Speaking of photographs, does anybody know who shot the framed photos of Greensboro that adorn the interior of the Golden Corral at the Target Shopping Center? They are stunning but unsigned.

"I don’t think we did our due diligence, and I don’t want that to ever happen again."

Thus says Greensboro City Council representative Trudy Wade regarding the confusion of the bonds for a proposed downtown hotel and other projects.

Good.

Now, about avoiding something like that happening again. Who says and on what authority that the City is not financially responsible for the bonds? I've been paying pretty close attention and, while I may have missed something, all I hear are "answers" that seem to skirt the issue:

• "Private investors will take the risk."
• "The project owners will be responsible for the financial obligations of the bonds"
• "A bank will underwrite the bonds with a letter of credit"

Fine.

What I have not yet heard anybody say is:

"Even if the project completely fails, the owners go bankrupt and the the bank that issues the letter of credit folds, there is absolutely no way, under any circumstances, ever, that the City of Greensboro will have any financial obligations because of these bonds. Never, ever, no way. Period."

If Wade or other council members are truly interested in avoiding another fumble, they should see if they can find someone who will say that, otherwise, there is another hoodwink in the making.

The Greensboro Four: If Not Us, Who?

"50 years after launching the historic lunch counter sitins in Greensboro, NC, the remaining Greensboro Four speak at the AFL-CIO MLK Observance weekend in Greensboro, January 14-18, 2010."

Around Downtown in 80 Minutes: Broken rules

This sounds like fun. Somebody didn't think through the rules though.

Promotions for the contest say the winners of this scavenger hunt-like race will be "The first 3 teams back to Triad Stage with the most points." Consider the following in order of their finish and points earned:

• 1st back: 1 point, 2 minutes
  
• 2nd back: 4 points, 5 minutes
  
• 3rd back: 2 points, 10 minutes
  
• 4th back: 190 points, 20 minutes
  
• 5th back: 2,000 points, 40 minutes
  
• 6th back: 480,000,000 points, 80 minutes
  

Who are the three winners? Well, the first 3 teams back with the most points are the teams with 1, 4 and 2 points respectively. The other teams, even though they have more points cannot win because they are not, per the rules, among the first three teams back.

So any team that goes out and gets at least one point and manages to be among the first 3 teams to returns wins! I'm doubt that was the organizers' intentions. Like I said, not well thought out.

Even more confusing is the fine print in the detailed "rules and regulations." It says, "The team to return to the Triad Stage lobby before 8:20 pm with the best time and most points will be named the winner." Good luck determining that in a fair way without further clarification. To see what I mean, look at the top six finishers above again. Which one has the "best time and most points?" Like I said, not well thought out.

Greensboro. What's there to love?

I whine and complain and criticize and worry myself that I'm on my way to becoming a master curmudgeon. But then my heart wells up with love for this place and I'm alright. What inspired today's moment of pride? The wonderful diversity of Greensboro, starkly illustrated by the videos seen on Greensboro101.

• Union workers volunteering in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
• Hootin' and hollerin' at the Monster Truck Jam (including a really impressive lady getting shot out of a cannon)
• Green Queen Bingo
• A band performing Christian metal hardcore music 
• Greensboro Opera Company in public schools 

Not seen in "the news"

I did not see this in (or on) "the news."

"TWU joins unions from around the country for a community service project in Greensboro, NC at the AFL CIO MLK Holiday Observance."

 

You will respect mah authoriteh

The News & Record's John Robinson on from what authority City Council gets advice:

"I wish our elected officials would use the School of Government rather than the League of Municipalities, which seems more interested in protecting officials than the public."

News & Record editor on blogs: "There’s some amount of reporting that they do but not a whole lot on the things we care about."

UNC Journalism masters candidate Michelle Cerulli sent me her case study on media in Greensboro today. She had interviewed me for it last December. She also talked to Ed Cone, Lex Alexander, local media "consumers" and the (Greensboro, NC) News & Record's editor John Robinson.

Without delving into much statistical or empirical data, Cerulli still puts together a well-rounded picture of the local media scene by letting the people involved speak for themselves. It is not going to be eye-opening to people who are already engaged with local media, professionally or as bloggers, but it is an interesting look at the forest that we don't always see for our focus on the trees.

As part of her study, Cerulli takes a look at the roles various local media fill. She quotes Robinson as saying this about blogs:

“There’s some amount of reporting that they do but not a whole lot on the things we care about..."

"Some" and "a whole lot" are open to interpretation, so is "care about" too, I suppose, but I found it rather ironic that I was reading that on the same day that Ed Cone was  writing this on his blog:

"I understand that it's Monday of a long weekend, and that the N&R's Sunday staffing makes a skeleton crew look bloated, but even so I was surprised to find not a single word in the paper or online about the confusion within the Melvin building over what exactly the City Council has or has not approved in terms of a bond issue for a new downtown hotel."

In the News & Record's absence, Ed provides his original blog-only reporting on the issue.

N&R letter writer not up to speed

The (Greensboro, NC) News & Record has a letter today from Larry Morse of Greensboro in which the writer expresses his dislike for Mayor Bill Knight's decision to move the period for speakers from the floor from near the beginning of City Council meetings to near the end. Morse laments:

"What sense can it possibly make for council members to hear constituents’ concerns on a matter that they have already voted on?[sic]"

Indeed. Were More's premise correct, that would be nonsensical. He is not up to speed on the facts, however. The speakers from the floor period is for commentary from citizens on matters NOT on the council agenda. For any matter on which the council will take a vote there will still be a period of public comment before each agenda item. Morse's worries are unfounded.

The matter of convenience still remains. Accommodating speakers from the floor later in the evening is more convenient for some. It was more convenient for others at the beginning of the meeting.  Some Solomonic wisdom might have council return to a previous practice of short periods of speakers at the beginning and at the end of meetings.

Elaine Marshall, step off!

I do not know how you acquired my email address, but I did not ask to receive your campaign spam. Step off!

Water authority all wet

It's good that we have an abundance of water secured for the future. It's bad that the Piedmont Triad Regional Water Authority is making claims on its web site that it does not have the documentation to substantiate.

Great Expectorations

"Perhaps it is the consumption that has disquieted my spirit. My lungs crackle like the fire at Mr. Hirum’s store, and my nose runs like Reddies Creek after a strong spring storm. It has left me quite without strength, dearest diary, notwithstanding the large amounts of morsels I have consumed, particularly of the frozen, sweetened cream extracted from a cow."

Margaret's running diary takes a Nyquil-induced Dickensian turn.

Just like real life

Last night at Ham's Lakeside*.



[*Although they have a domain name, hamsrestaurants.com, it is hard to understand why Ham's does not have a working web site. Click on "call me" to the right if you need a professionally designed site, Mr. Ham.]

City priorities

There are a few things pertaining to public health and safety that we generally agree are paramount responsibilities of municipal government. One of these, certainly, is keeping roads in decent condition. Ryan Shell finds Greensboro coming up short at one intersection and demonstrates with compelling video. His written update on the status of repairs is informative too.

No blogging for Mayor Knight

After his election, I sent the following to Greensboro Mayor Bill Knight:

"You were a great blogger before you entered politics -- interesting, poignant, dignified and informative. Why not start again?"

A few days ago, Mayor Knight sent this reply:

"After discussion with the League, city attorney, and others I've decided not to blog as the potential for problems is magnified."

Can they do that? Probably not.

The new Greensboro Coliseum blog requires an email address in order to comment. They promise, "The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly."

It may not be shown publicly, but I doubt if they can promise that it will be kept private. I am pretty sure that state public records law does not extend any confidentiality protections to this kind of information and that it would have to be made public on request.

Peeving Las Vegas

Former Guilford County resident and blogger Eric Huey, previous author of Guilford School Watch, has landed on his feet in Las Vegas where he is now writing the Clark County School Watch.

Is News & Record opinion author just a guy who lives in Greensboro?

The (Greensboro, NC) News & Record publishes an anti-health care reform opinion piece today by one Russ Cummings. Is Russ Cummings just a guy who "lives in Greensboro," as the opinion page editor simply identifies him, or is he the Sales and Special Projects Manager of a company that serves the health care industry?

Situational Ethics

If you are going to delete comments from your blog because a commenter whines that he does not want people to know the real identity behind his obnoxious online persona, you might want to make sure that you, yourself, have not previously identified him -- with his picture!

UPDATE: Subsequent to this post, Guarino has removed, without comment, Bob Grenier's name from the post pictured below.
================

What the hell? Does the News & Record believe in faeries too?

The (Greensboro, NC) News & Record's Amanda Lehmert has an article today in which she identifies an interview subject as "a psychic." Not a "so called psychic," a "self-proclaimed psychic" or a "psychic performer," but "a psychic" -- an identifier as definitive as "professor" describes other subjects in the article.

What the hell?

Although critics bemoan the News & Record's propensity to include fiction in its reporting, this accommodation takes it to new heights. I am looking forward to the following headlines:

• "Wizard says swim center to bring economic magic"
• "Faeries support proposed tree ordinance"
• "Time traveler says Greensboro destined for greatness"
• "Reincarnated Joe Bryan wants his money back"

Sheesh!

Papa's got a brand new blog

Ben Holder:

"Here is what the "catalyst for Glenwood's emergence as a vibrant neighborhood" looks like today.

"... Notice the dead puppy with the beer can on its head."

And with that, Ben transitions from The Troublemaker to Action Glenwood. I expect big things.

Calling it "logic" is generous

"Yow conveniently ignores the fact that Greensboro residents pay city AND county taxes. They are as much residents of Guilford County as someone who lives in an unincorporated area."

Allen Johnson on Guilford County Commissioner Billy Yow's "logic" in explaining his understanding of city library usage.

TV Sucks. A worse viewing experience couldn't be conceived if annoyance was the goal.

"No Country for Old Men" was on USA Network last night. Its showing may have been the final straw in getting me to dump cable and completely revamp the way I watch TV.

I had seen the movie in the theater. It is fantastic and I was looking forward to seeing it again. USA made it unwatchable. I'm not kidding or exaggerating, they showed ten minutes of movie interrupted by five full minutes of commercials throughout. Really. I timed it.

Is this how we are expected to watch TV?

I pay Time Warner Cable $45 a month for "TV" -- and for what, really? Someone else's programing selections and the "privilege" of watching too many annoying commercials. Networks now even seem to think they can subject us to a multitude of infuriating animated promotions running while the programs are on screen. A worse viewing experience couldn't be conceived if annoyance was the goal. And I am to pay for this crap? No, dammit! Such disregard for the viewer will have consequences.

My brother just signed up for Clear's unlimited 4G wireless internet access and he anticipates that, with a combination of web video, Roku and Netflix, he will have a superior customized TV experience. I may give it a try too; after all, it couldn't be any worse.

What do I know?

I am not an expert and they say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but doesn't it look like the US stock markets are set for a plunge in January? Doesn't the historical price to earning ratio alone suggest a correction?

What was Mayor Knight's campaign slogan?

I remember seeing Bill Knight campaign signs with the slogan "Go Forward Greensboro."

The (Greensboro, NC) News & Record, Yes! Weekly and blog commenters reported Knight's slogan as "Go Forward Greensboro."

So why does News & Record columnist Jeri Rowe report Knight's "slogan proclaimed: Enough Is Enough?" Did I miss something?

Food court find: M & M's Soul Food

Against my better judgment, I went to Four Seasons Mall yesterday. I don't know why I dread it so. I find it enjoyable once I get there despite my preconceived expectations. Yeah, noisy and crowded, but so what? That's part of the experience.

Anyway, hunger hit and I made my way to the food court. I perused the chains but settled on what stood out as an apparently independently owned shop, M & M's Soul Food -- back in the corner, near the game room.

From among the various baked chicken entrees, fried fish and other meats and vegetables, I chose meatloaf, yams and cabbage. They were really good. The meatloaf was covered with a layer of sweet congealed ketchup, just the way I like it, and the yams, just firm enough, were bursting with nutmeg flavor. The cabbage was the least flavorful, but added vinegar perked them up. Lemonade to drink.

Bonus: Served with a sincere "Thank you, enjoy" by a multi-tattooed linebacker in a muscle shirt.

People wanted a white mayor? Rumors of rumors of whispers overheard.

Once again, The (Greensboro, NC) News & Record's Jeri Rowe comes through as a stand up guy, taking his time to answer my question of how he can substantiate, in writing about why voters elected Bill Knight over incumbent Mayor Johnson, that "they wanted someone white, not black ." A stand up guy; a reporter with room for improvement.

I'll let you read Jeri's response yourself, in its entirety below, but I wish Jeri would think a little about what he did here. He justifies what he wrote by saying that people he talked to off the record said they heard that voters wanted a white mayor. Leaving aside the fact that asking someone to go on record makes them accountable--assures that they give some thought to whether or not what they are saying is really accurate and whether or not they want to be accountable for it--in this case, as you'll see when you read Jeri's explanation, people are not even relaying their own opinions anonymously. They are, as unnamed sources, saying that they heard something from other unnamed sources. Third-hand information: A reporter reporting what other people said they heard. Impossible to independently verify. That is a really low standard, in my opinion.

In fact, Jeri's use of anonymous sources in this manner is contrary to his editor's views on anonymous sources. His web site does not even allow them. Editor John Robinson having written:

"I don't like anonymous comments, as I've said many times before. I think people should be accountable for what they say, especially when what they say attacks someone else."

And now, Jeri's explanation:
====================
After the election, I knew I wanted to do two Sunday columns looking at the new mayor and old mayor. Basically, I wanted to find out what Yvonne Johnson was going to do next because we hadn't reported that, and I wanted to find out where Bill Knight wanted to take the city because now he’s become the symbolic face of Greensboro. 

That was the basic premise.

Now, you question my sentence "And according to some, they wanted someone white, not black.'' Let me break down why I wrote that.

What piqued my curiosity was something Gerald Witt, one of our staff writers, wrote for our Nov. 5 issue, two days after the election. He crunched numbers and looked at how Knight won. His story was under the headline, "Western, northwest turnout pushed Knight's mayoral win.''

Near the end of Gerald's piece was a quote from Sharon Hightower, who leads Guilford Unity Effort, that caught my attention. Here's what it said.

Sharon Hightower, who leads the Guilford Unity Effort, sees the election result as a local backlash against local leadership.

The mayor, schools superintendent, commissioners chairman and city manager are black.

"Too much African American leadership in this town prompted people to go out and remove and eradicate what they may have viewed as too much liberalism," said Hightower, who did not work on Johnson's campaign but backed her candidacy.

"I can't blame it on anything other than we didn't get out to vote," Hightower said.

I had heard that, too, around town while I was on assignment, at church, at school and in my neighborhood. Still, I wanted to check it out for myself to see if that sentiment was indeed true.

With this piece on Yvonne Johnson, I had a list of people I called for background. These were community leaders who I asked the question, “How did Yvonne do?’’ Now, when I ask people to talk for background, I tell them I won’t quote them and I won’t use their names. I just need them to give me guidance, some insight of what they see and believe.

Why? I want them to speak freely, without any worry of feeling the need to be politically correct. So, in thoseround of interviews last week, I asked them about that statement from Sharon Hightower. And yes, they said, they had heard that, too. Then, I asked them to expound on it.

That’s where that sentence came from “And according to some, they wanted someone white, not black.’’

I talked to four people, all of whom are community leaders. I can’t give you their names because, in discussions for background, I promised them I won’t give it out because I want them to speak freely. I know that frustrates you, Roch. But I won’t. I’ve done these kind of background discussions for two decades as a journalist, and I have to stand by my promise to them.

Here’s what I will say. Some of the folks I had talked to for the Sunday piece on Yvonne Johnson were some of the same I talked to two years ago when I did what I call the trust-funk series.

Some quick background. It was the idea of my boss, John Robinson. He wanted me to do a piece that looked at “How can GSO heal?”’ I admit. I thought it was a crock, and I told him so.

Then, two days after talking to few folks face to face about what John thought. I came back and told John that he was onto something. I spent six weeks on that, talking to 44 people – 43 of them face to face in an hour to two-hour interviews in places where they felt comfortable – to get a handle on this healing thing.

None of them were politicians, except one, the new mayor, Yvonne Johnson. They all were ministers, neighborhood activists, business owners, non-profit leaders, longtime residents, etc. Black, white. Young, old. Conservative. Liberal. I also pored through all those surveys about how we don’t have trust, yada, yada – and used those figures to help anchor a Sunday piece that started a four-part series that ran in December 2007.

I mention this because that’s why Sharon’s quote caught my attention.

After 20 years as a journalist in central North Carolina, I’ve come to believe we as a city obsess on race too much at times. But Greensboro’s civil rights history – from the Levi Coffin to the founding of N.C. A&T and Bennett College to the Greensboro Four to the Magnolia House – helps shape the city we live in, and it’s part of who we are.

Also, as we all know, the discussion of race in Greensboro is always thorny, and I believe when we raise the issue of race it can divide us as a city. And I wanted to make sure it fit because I’ve heard it, too – “There they go again at the N&R. Playing the race card.’’

I say all this because I didn’t come to that sentence lightly. And I wanted to make sure I had fully vetted it and asked the main question to myself – “Is it relevant?’’ before I wrote anything.

But in this case, I believe it was relevant. Not to stir things up. Just to state what I had found out after talking to folks after reading the statement in Gerald’s piece. Because I believe we as journalists have a responsibility to report what we find out – no matter how disturbing – with the idea of how it can help generate discussion, provoke thought, even stir debate into how to make the city we live a better place to live.

I truly believe that.

For what it’s worth.

Roch, hope this helps.

Jeri 

Video: Neighbors' luminaries raise money for American Cancer Society

As seen on Greensboro 101: Greensboro residents Parker Deaton and Tyler Deaton narrate a very nicely put together video by Storytellernc about how a Greensboro neighborhood, Boy Scout troop 104, the Westminster Presbyterian Youth Group and the Greensboro Day Girl Scouts all came together this year to make luminaries to raise over $2,500 for the American Cancer Society in memory of Parker and Tyler's grandmother.

Council member Perkins texting developer during council meetings

Keith Brown of Triad Watch posts a series of text messages from City Council representative Robbie Perkins to developer Roy Carrol, apparently sent during a city council meeting. Keith asks if this is proper. It is not. Not this way.

The purpose of public meetings is to have a transparent view of the workings of our government. Debate and discussion are to happen in the open so that we can evaluate the judgment of our elected officials. Text messages amount to secret whispers -- ideas and information shared away from public view. That is antithetical to democracy.

On the other hand, a council person might find it beneficial to use text or email to quickly reach out to an expert or authoritative source for some quick information that can inform the discussion underway. There would certainly be nothing wrong with checking Orbitz to see if someone's claim about hotel rates in Greensboro was accurate or not; similarly, it might make sense for a representative to seek some information from an informed individual in real time.

Not withstanding the possible distraction from the discussion in the room, if council people find it beneficial to have electronic communications during meetings, those communications should conform to the spirit of an open meeting, i.e. they should be public and the parties involved should be readily identifiable.

There are certainly ways to do that. A Twitter page or blog can accommodate the public access. It should happen that way or not at all.

On the proposed hotel: Let the spinning begin

Sigh.

Here we go again. People in positions of power and influence should be beacons of truth shepharding us to good thinking as we consider the proposal for a hotel at Elm and Lee Streets downtown. Instead we have the tiresome usual hyperbole and misinformation:

• The (Greensboro, NC) News & Record's Doug Clark insisting that their are "established hotels not far away already catering to well-heeled clientele." He offers as examples, O'Henry Hotel, 3.5 miles away, Proximity Hotel, 4 miles away, and Grandover, a mere 19 miles away. Not far away, indeed.
  
  
• Then we have John Shoffner, the city’s economic development program manager, disputing the hotel proponents' expected room rates, saying, "it appears that the average daily rate at which a prudent hotel operator could successfully market upscale hotel rooms ranges between $116 and $152 a night."
  
  Orbitz says otherwise. Rates at Greensboro's upscale hotels are consistently well above $200 per night, just as the proponents said and contrary to the City official.
  

There are plenty of serious questions in need of complete and accurate information in considering the costs and benefits of this project. It would be a nice change if Greensboro's decision-makers and opinion-shapers could approach this with honesty and a desire to discern the objective realities. I'm not hopeful.

Congratulations Don Vaughan

[Disclaimer: Don Vaughan is a web site design client of this blog's author.]

Congratulations to North Carolina state Senator Don Vaughan of Greensboro. According to Doug Clark, Don received a Sunshine Award from Democracy North Carolina for "exceptional compliance with campaign finance reporting requirements."

"That we still wallow in the same, lame, mundane stories year in and year out is an industry-wide shame."

Leave it to a TV news videographer to summarize local holiday TV news stories with "ten pieces of holiday flotsam."

For web designers and their customers: Cross browser/cross platform web page previewer

Whether you are a fellow web site designer or someone getting a web site designed and you want to make sure that your site will look good on any computer platform (Mac, PC) in any web browser (various versions of Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer), here is a fabulous tool from Adobe Labs that gives you a preview of a web page in various user configurations.

Question for Jeri Rowe

I emailed the following to Jeri Rowe this morning.
-----------------

Dear Jeri,

In your recent column in the (Greensboro, NC) News & Record, you wrote this about the recent city council elections:

"So, voters wanted change. They wanted new leadership. And according to some, they wanted someone white, not black ."

Who are the "some" who said that voters wanted "someone white, not black?"

You have previously told me you prefer phone converstations to email, but please reply by email if you can so that I may post your reply word-for-word on my blog.

Cordially,
Roch

Yule Log (with director's commentary)

Hmmm.

American Hebrew Academy Toy Drive - Over 1000 Gifts Collected!

As seen on Greensboro101.

"The mission is simple, we seek to provide hope in times of uncertainty, joy in times of struggle, and holiday spirit in times when the spirits of many are down and out. Were making a difference together"

 

The Coalition to Unchain Dogs

As seen on Greensboro101.

"The Coalition to Unchain Dogs is a non-profit founded by Amanda Arrington in Durham, North Carolina in 2007. The Coalition has expanded into Raleigh, Charlotte, Greensboro, NC and Richmond, VA. In less than three years, volunteers of this organization have freed over 400 dogs from their chains by building free fences."

Plagiarism at WFMY?

There is an article on WFMY's Digtriad today about an accident involving Cincinnati Bengal's football player Chris Henry (who has now died). The author of the WFMY piece* is identified as Matt McKinney (his name hyperlinks to an email address at wfmy.gannet.com), but his story is identical to a story by AP sports writer Mike Cranston.

* UPDATE: The story on WFMY's site has changed. The original, as it appeared at the time of this post, is here.

Kilmer updated: 'I think that I shall never see, a tree in Reedy Fork."

With interest rates low and the market good for buyers, we have been causally looking at what the real estate market may offer. The web keeps turning up homes in our price range and size range in Reedy Fork. I would never buy a house there. Why? The development is in the middle of a beautifully forested part of the county but the developers scalped their neighborhood to the ground -- not a tree left standing. It is unbearably ugly.

Ugh

Digby via Lex:

"What this huge electoral mandate and congressional majority have gotten us, then, is basically a deal with the insurance industry to accept 30 million coerced customers in exchange for ending their practice of failing to cover their customers when they get sick — unless they go beyond a “reasonable cap,” of course. (And profits go up!)"

Health care reform is making me sick (NC Senator Kay Hagan doing her part)

I had high hopes for health care reform. It was a major consideration in my voting decisions last year. I've followed the discussions and expressed my opinions to my elected representatives. Despite the explanation that what we are likely now to get is better than nothing, I think not. A cost/benefit evaluation leads me to think it's better that nothing get passed rather than this crippled-by-compromise junk accurately described by Lex Alexander as reform that:

• Mandates that every American buy expensive insurance from private companies without the choice of a public option and lets the IRS fine you if you don’t
• Severely taxes middle-class health care plans, rather than wealthy individuals
• Increases insurance premiums about $1,000 a year
• Increases health care costs
• Continues to exempt health-insurance companies from antitrust laws, inhibiting competition
• Provides a sweet deal for pharmaceutical manufacturers while denying the government the ability to negotiate for lower drug prices for Medicare, something Democrats actually promised three years ago.
• Apparently won’t let the government import drugs from cheaper foreign sources. I’m told my own junior senator, Kay Hagan, was arguing tonight that this was a “safety” issue, which must come as a surprise to the dozens of other countries that do this every day.
• Grants monopolies on new biologic drugs so they will never become generics
• Offers NO public option
• Offers NO Medicare expansion, even in return for payment, for 55- to 64-year-olds.
• Limits insurance-company payouts, contrary to President Obama’s promise in September
• Raises taxes in January while not beginning benefits until 2014.

Carmany criticized for blogging?

From a Joe Killian article:

"Former council member Sandy Carmany was the only one who blogged regularly and was heavily criticized for it before losing an election, [Sue] Polinsky said."

She was? I followed Sandy Carmany's blogging very closely. I do not remember her being criticized, much less "heavily," for blogging. I question whether that is true

"Made in Triad" -- The erasure of Greensboro

One of the consequences of our blind acquiescence to the myopic view of professional business recruiters that we are better off as some larger homogeneous ill-defined region is that we no longer acknowledge and promote the identities of the real places in which we live -- we have no sense of place. We have no community in which to take pride anymore.

This (Greensboro, NC) News & Record headline is a good example:

"Holiday stamps made in Triad go world over."

Made in Triad? The stamps were manufactured in Guilford County and designed by a resident of Greensboro Greensboro businessman*. Regionalism doesn't belong in everything, especially at the expense of the hometown newspaper acknowledging its hometown.

With this kind of erasure of place, local media obscure why interesting things happen where they happen, stealing recognition and pride from the places where innovation, education and energy drive progress. Greensboro and Guilford County pay the highest price as acknowledgment of our achievements gets diluted by shared attribution with the hinterlands as supposedly accomplished in the no-place "Triad." And we get it from both ends. When neighboring communities fail to invest in their schools, or to exercise, or to brush their teeth, Greensboro get lumped into headlines about "Dumb kids/Fat people/Lots of cavities... in Triad."

Pick a successful major metropolitan area in the US. Pick any one. Its name will be anchored by a real place. Even if it has some nifty additional descriptor, all grown-up places elevate and acknowledge the lead city or cities. Things that happen in Chicago happen in Chicago--not Ilinwi; Atlanta, in Atlanta--not The Quintcounty Region; Orlando, in Orlando--not TangerineLand.

Let the business recruiters and the government statisticians continue to identify a region called the Triad. It suits their purposes. Local media would do better, both for promoting us to the world and fostering pride at home by referring to the real named places where we live. Congratulations to the Guilford County factory that made the stamps designed by the man from Greensboro. It's a great story for them and for Greater Greensboro.

* A commenter notes that the designer operates a business in Greensboro, but lives in King.

Stoopid youts

"Some students believe that World War II was fought after the civil war."

In a rant about how dumb today's youth are, you might want to leave that one off your list.

Greensboro Sports: Aquatics center deficient

"If we are going to build an Aquatics Center, let’s get it right. You can’t cut corners and expect to be the best on the East Coast."

Don of GreensboroSports.com takes a close look at the proposed aquatics center and finds it lacking.

Snow in Greensboro

As seen on Greensboro101.

I don't know who did this or where exactly, other than it's in Greensboro. But someone made snow yesterday.

A Christmas memory

"My daddy was always a big kid when it comes to Christmas. He couldn’t wait for Christmas Day to arrive. I’ve long suspected that if Christmas Day was on December 26th, instead of the 25th, he might just keel over from the pain of waiting just one more day. I just don’t think his heart could of handled it."

 Bill the Blogging Poet remembers his dad.

Shout out to the leaf crew!

Methodical. Physical. Meticulous. A big thanks for the job you do to the city crews who vacuum up the leaves from our curbs.

Related: An interactive map of where the leaf crews are and where they are headed.

Greensboro: Journalism case study

I had a nice interview with UNC Journalism masters candidate Michelle Cerulli this morning. She is working on a project of Greensboro as a study of the influence of alternative media on local journalism.

We talked for over an hour about everything from the interplay of local corporate media and blogs, to the roles of traditional and alternative media in the Wray saga, to the question I found most interesting, "Why this proliferation in Greensboro?"

Michelle says her report will be published on the web and I'll link to it when it is.

105.7's Bob and the Showgram: Failure right around the corner

This video of some local DJ rednecks being obnoxious, in a Christmas parade, of all places, caught my eye on Greensboro101 this morning. So, as I ran some errands, I thought I'd tune in and check out 105.7's morning show Bob and the Showgram.

What a boring and embarrassingly unfunny crock-o-crap this thing is. Just what is the size of the eating-boogers-is-funny moron market in Greensboro? However minuscule it is, Bob and the Showgram will have it cornered -- until their imminent and prompt failure.

Coliseum Director issues correction: There was no unanimous War Memorial Commission vote in support of the swim center.

Tony Wilkins reported that the War Memorial Commission took a vote on December 3rd on supporting the proposed financing scheme for the proposed swim center. It passed 8 to 1.

But Keith of Triadwatch notes in the comments that Coliseum Director Matt Brown, two days prior, told City Councilor Trudy Wade at a public meeting that the War Memorial Commission had voted unanimously in support of the swim center.

Here is a transcript (On video here, starting at the 01:05:00 mark):

==========
Brown: "I can only speak to you of what... my presentation to both the Parks and Recreation Commission and War Memorial Commission were nothing but enthusiastic support, I can say unanimous support because I didn't hear anyone oppose the idea and object it once we described and were clear in the details of what the end product was."

Wade: "So you never took a vote on any of it, you just discussed it. Is that correct?"

B: "On Which group, Trudy?

W: "Either group. Did you ever vote on whether we...?"

B: "The War Memorial Commission voted, I'm not sure we had an actual vote on the Parks and Recreation Commission, I'm not sure there's a member here who could attest that for me, but..."

W: "Well, what was the vote? It was unanimous...

B: "Yes."

W: "...on the War Memorial?

B: "Yes, ma'am."
========

This exchange led me to submit a records request of the City for "all minutes of the War Memorial Commission at which any votes were taken regarding the proposed swim center."

In response to my request, I did not receive any minutes. I did receive a letter, dated today, from Coliseum Director Matt Brown to the City Manager and City Council that reads, in part:

"I incorrectly stated that the War Memorial Commission had held a formal vote in support of the Aquatic Center. I then compounded my error by later stating that I recalled the WMC vote as unanimous."

As much as I despise the hyperbolic BS that too often accompanies the cheerleading for these kinds of public projects, Brown deserves credit for correcting his mistake, publicly, directly and unambiguously.

Punished for offending?

Greensboro blogger Jeff Martin (AKA Fecund Stench) has been charged with annoying someone with email. Why? It is not because he annoyed someone with email. It is because he confronted someone by email, said some things to which she took offense and, in my opinion, probably hit too close to home; she didn't like what was said and found a way to hit back through what I hope will be decided was a misapplication of the law.

Those who are saying that they think Jeff has exhibited objectionable behavior by writing derogatory things are correct. They are wrong, I believe, to leap from that observation to cheering for a successful prosecution of him. Remember, the charge was not for libel, not for defamation, not for threats -- it was for annoying. The "victim" wasn't libeled, wasn't defamed, wasn't threatened and, judging by her replies to the emails in question, she did not seem to even be annoyed, never asking Fec to stop emailing her.

What she was was offended.

We should all think long and hard about whether or not we want offending someone to become criminal in North Carolina.

"Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know"

I was in Sisters on Tate Street last night when I heard this Brett Dennen song over the speakers.

"We have nothing to fear from love and committment."

Greensboro blogger Gedeon Maheux posts this video of New York State Senator Diane Savino speaking on the subject of gay marriage. As Ged accurately describes it, "this speech is a testament to how common sense, humor and the moral high ground are powerful weapons in the battle against bigotry."

Erecting Friendly's Santa

Found on Greensboro101.

Rumors and whispers substitute for reason and facts among the feeble-minded

Did you know there are a couple of cops in Greensboro who have conducted scores of illegal warrantless searches? Neither did I. A supposed leader in our community allegedly whispered that to "substantiate" a point of view.

This kind of whisper with a wink and a nudge is, unfortunately, not uncommon. There is a frothy subcurrent of "discourse" in Greensboro that I find sickening. It involves people wedded to an untenable opinion, unable to convince others with reason and facts of their point of view and yet unwilling to adjust to reality. Instead, they resort to explaining their opinions with rumors of secret evidence -- stuff they earnestly ask us to believe exists but cannot produce for inspection and often have no first-hand knowledge of themselves. "Wait until the tapes come out." "You know it's because she was sleeping with him." "We have information." "If you only knew what I know."

It would be one thing if this crap came from little old ladies around a knitting circle, that it comes from elected officials, newspaper editors, reporters, police officers, preachers and otherwise seemingly intelligent and upstanding people is mind boggling. Please, put up or shut up. I'm willing to follow the facts, but the rumor mongering is despicable.