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."

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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.

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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.

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Greensboro stonewalls records request

I made the following records request of the City of Greensboro on June 4, 2009:
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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
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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.

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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.

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Chad VanGaalen

Some other songs by Chad VanGaalen:

• City of Electric Light
• Willow Tree

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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."