Along with nearly 100 other neighbors, I attended last night's Greensboro Neighborhood Congress sponsored community meeting to hear of newly elected Councilwoman Goldie Well's vision for the city in general and District 2 in particular. I am happy to report that Dr. Wells sees things very clearly, indeed.
As one of the few council members to rise from a background of neighborhood activism, she speaks the language of community building from a grassroots point-of-view. For example...
Instead of making a plea for her constituants to lobby for more police officers, she implored those in attendance to "...get out of their comfort zone..." and get to know their neighbors in order to take collective control of where they live. Instead of depending soley on code enforcement to rid neighborhoods of junked cars and the like, she suggests going up and knocking on the offending neighbor's door and saying, in effect, 'what's wrong with you, man... this is your neighborhood'. "Get organized...", she urged, "... one person just can't do it on their own."
Dr. Wells' vision, borne of her staunch leadership in closing a long-time East Greensboro fixture - the White Street Landfill, is to "turn trash into treasure". She reeled off an exhaustive list of "Treasures in District 2". Among them: 2 local historic districts, 7 National Registry sites, 15 public schools, 3 colleges including the new GTCC campus, and a whole host of first class city facilities including 6 recreation centers, 31 city parks, the War Memorial Stadium/Farmer's Curb Market area, and 2 libraries. The list went on and on.
She and other council members in attendance made the obvious point that one of the main reasons District 2 is bereft of the type, quality and scope of business that are concentrated in other districts to our west is because we don't look the part. Our streets are dirtier, many of our houses are unkempt or boarded up for too long, and we have precious few "site ready" locations where businesses can relocate on a few month's notice.
Goldie Wells did a great job of defining a clear vision last night and her message was clear: District 2 has a lot to offer, so let's get off our duffs pull at the grassroots. Get organized, accentuate the many positives, get rid of the negatives, and take pride in where you live.
You go girl. I'm with you.
Update: The Inside Scoop was there also and tells what other members of the city council had to say.
7:39:16 AM 
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