N&R reporter Matt Williams checked out a possible fifth City Council vote to kill the $300,000 WalMart incentive...
"...As for the mayor, when I ran into him this morning, he would not put himself down either way and said there are 'ongoing negotiations' about it."
As long as those negotiations involve a proper use of our tax money, I hope our Mayor can pull it off.
Wharton takes issue with my idea that Starmount's Reedy Fork Ranch development will eventually provide the critical mass that WalMart and other big-box mass merchandisers drool over and can't ignore...
"...I understand that developers plan a somewhat more upscale commercial development near Reedy Fork, which will suck business away from the old Carolina Circle."
Upscale, scmuckscale... near, schmear... everyone drives some distance to shop at WalMart and Home Depot. On this count, Old Navy and Cold Stone Creamery just can't compete as a people and money magnet.
Lewis Byers over at The Barbershop is organizing the Annual Community Cookout for Northeast Greensboro. He is seeking community-wide help with putting it on. I'll bring my big-ol' pig cooker if its needed. Here's the reason for effort...
"...This cookout serves as a way to build community relations, and a platform to assist in the re-development of N.E. Greensboro."
Slated for Thursday, July 16th (time and location TBA) Lewis & Co. are in need of stuff... stuff like this...
"Ice cream, Drinks (sodas and juices), ice, bread, hotdogs, hamburgers, cheese, coleslaw, condiments, sound wagon and stage, DJs, sound equipment, sound technician, hay ride, horse/pony ride, balloon bounce, horse shoe game, and back-to school supplies such as book bags, writing paper, pencils & ink pens, erasers, crayons & markers, binders, folders, rulers scissors, tape and glue"
Sounds like a party for a great cause to me. For more information call 336.230.0603, or email Lowana at this address Lowana.currington@gmail.com. Might think about a wiki, Lewis... it sure helped with HoggFest planning.
Cone rips Charles Davenport Jr. a new one. And rightfully so.
Cone did a little research and lets Davenport and the rest of us know that when the N&R's local conservative columnist cut and pasted quotations from Orestes Bronson in support of the idea that there should not be a separation of church and state, he shot himself in the foot... and the arm... and the head.
The 19th century writings of Bronson weren't advocating for such a separation as Davenport contends, Bronson was actually lamenting the fact that such separation was indeed the Founding Fathers' intent. Bronson had other ideas that would make your hair curl.
Without Bronson's out-of-context-cited authority on the subject, Davenport's entire column crumbles like so much old mortar holding up a foundation he was trying to form.
With all of the fine writers and thinkers we have herabouts, surely the N&R could find someone much more credible than Charles Davenport Jr. to forward conservative viewpoints. He's an embarassment.
City Councilman Don Vaughan on Dr. Don Linder's request for the taxpayers to be charitable to the tune of $300,000. This being the amount he says is needed to help him build a WalMart and other stores on the old Carolina Circle Mall property...
"...I hope that Wal-Mart will recognize the great opportunity that they have in northeast Greensboro. I just don't think that a corporation as large, and as profitable, as Wal-Mart needs a "helping hand" from the taxpayers of Greensboro."
From my count, that'sthreeagainst and the N&R hints at number four. Councilman Perkins is standing firm on his advocacy for the incentive. So to get five votes for or against the measure, it will be up to Mayor Holliday and Couuncilwomen Burrough-White, Johnson and Bellamy-Small.
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Note to my Councilwoman Burroughs-White: We both agree that our district is in dire need of a development like the one Dr, Linder is proposing, but this isn't the way to get it done. We shouldn't have to bribe WalMart or other retailers to locate here.
When the re-development of the ghost town on Swing Road (make that "Ring" Road) is deemed profitable by those who stand to make money off of such things, it will happen. My guess is it will be sooner rather than later, largely because of the huge residential development just up the road at Reedy Fork Ranch.
Let's just hang tough on this one and have faith in the market forces coming to bear in our woefully underserved district.
