News & Record questionnaire

I had originally planned to post my responses to the News & Record's candidate questionnaire after they published it on their planned candidate website. However, after seeing that Don Vaughan had already posted his today, I checked with Allen Johnson to see if he had a problem with me doing this also. Allen gave me the "all clear" so here are my responses to the questionnaire.

1. Candidate name --Sandy Carmany

2. Office you seek - Greensboro City Council, District 5

3. Occupation - Community volunteer and activist, former media assistant in Greensboro Public Schools

4. Age - 56

5. Education - Graduated as valedictorian from Southeast Guilford High School in 1967; attended NC State – chemistry major

6. Address - 1504 Larson Street, Greensboro, NC 27407-3545

7. Web site/blog/email address - http://sandycarmany.blogspot.com/,
scarmany@aol.com

8. Previous elective experience - Greensboro City Council, 1991- present

9. Other relevant experience (boards and commissions)
Current
City Council liaison to the War Memorial Commission (coliseum)
Greensboro Transportation Advisory Committee (chairman); member since 1995
Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation (chairman); member since 1998
Triad Early Action Compact (vice-chairman); 2003 - present
Piedmont Triad Council of Governments (Executive Committee); 2004 - present
Piedmont Triad Regional Planning Organization; 2003 - present
North Carolina League of Municipalities – member of the Transportation, Communication, and Police Services policy committee; 1999-2003, 2005 -present
Piedmont Triad Partnership Foundation board; 2003 - present
Greensboro Partnership Strategic Planning Committee, Infrastructure and Growth Management Task Force
NC Women in Municipal Government
Charter Schools Advisory Committee for the State Board of Education; 1996 - present
North Carolina-Moldova Bilateral Committee; 2000 - present

Past
Enrichment Fund for Guilford County Schools
Citizens for Public Schools
Public School Forum
All America City Committee
Leadership Greensboro
Triad Leadership Network
League of Women Voters
NC School Improvement Panel
Citizens for Responsible Government
Grimsley High School Student Health Center advisory board

PTA Involvement
National PTA -- Board of Directors, 1994-1999; chair of State Presidents’ Conference, 1997-98
North Carolina PTA -- President, 1994-1999; Board of Managers – 1982- 2000
Greensboro Council of PTAs -- President – 1987-88, other board positions prior to that
Local PTAs -- President for two terms at both Hunter Elementary and Allen Junior High plus other office and committee positions at those schools, Smith High and Jones Elementary

Awards
2005 Local Leader Award, given by the NC Public Transportation Association
2003 Champion of Transportation, awarded by NC Go!
2002 Woman of Achievement – Government, given by the Greensboro Commission on the Status of Women
North Carolina PTA Life Member – given by David Jones School PTA
National PTA Life Member – awarded by North Carolina PTA
Volunteer of the Month – awarded by Greensboro Public Schools

10. Family - Married to Robert M. Carmany for 37 years; 3 sons, 7 grandchildren

11. Why have you chosen to run for this office?

I have the knowledge, leadership ability, communication skills, dedication, and common sense to be an effective representative for District 5 as well as to make good decisions for the city as a whole. I am an independent person who represents the average citizen and taxpayer. Over the past 14 years, I have participated in key decisions for Greensboro that have secured a safe and adequate water supply, provided for important transportation improvements locally and regionally, and put a plan in place to direct the city’s growth – all while maintaining a stable tax rate. I want to continue that community service and complete work on other important issues such as solving our air quality problems, attracting quality economic development and jobs, and completing several major transportation initiatives such as the eastern portion of the urban loop, the University Connector bus service, and PART’s regional mass transit system.

12. Key qualifications you would bring to the job

Experience in community service in a wide variety of areas, especially in transportation-related issues; proven leadership ability; high energy level; good communication skills; dedication to do whatever it takes to get the job done right; excellent working relationships with other elected officials throughout the Triad region

13. What distinguishes you most from your opponent(s)?

Extensive elected and community experience

(Since I know nothing about my opponents except for the small amount of identifying information published in newspaper articles so far, I don’t have accurate information on which to base my response.)

14. Key campaign issues and your stances on those issues (briefly, please).

Providing efficient city services at the least cost to taxpayers – ready to do an in-depth review of each city department and their programs to check for relevancy, redundancy, and cost-effectiveness

Building and maintaining an efficient transportation network including pedestrian, bicycle, and mass transit options in addition to safe, uncongested streets – secure the funding to complete key projects such as the eastern urban loop, expanded city bus service, and regional mass transit (either expanded bus service or light rail, depending on study results)

Planning for desirable growth with appropriate infrastructure and services to support it – complete and adopt the new Land Development Ordinance to further define and implement the policies identified in the Comprehensive Plan

Building strong neighborhoods through support of affordable housing initiatives, increased communication with citizens, and community watches

Protecting our environment through recycling, watershed and stormwater management, and increased conservation – also need to implement ozone reduction strategies to improve air quality and avoid designation as nonattainment

Insuring adequate water and sewer capacity with continued conservation, sensible use policies, and additional sources – get the pumping station and water lines from Randleman Lake constructed, continue sewer line rehabilitation to remedy spills and overflows during rainy periods, adopt new water-sewer policy as proposed by retired city manager Ed Kitchen in order to leverage this precious resource in a sensible way

Continuing efforts to enhance public safety and traffic enforcement and reduce crime – I support the neighborhood policing concept and the SCORE program to focus city resources on problems in specific areas.

15. Where do you stand on economic incentives? Should the city’s policy include incentives for retail development?

Economic incentives are a “necessary evil” that should be awarded sparingly to companies bringing quality investment and jobs to Greensboro. These incentives should not be viewed as “entitlements” that are automatically available for the asking. Incentives should only be offered only when the city is in genuine competition for a particular project where the incentive may truly positively influence the final location decision.

I do NOT support awarding incentives for retail development at all. Except for upper management positions, those salaries are minimum wage or slightly higher and do not necessarily indicate quality jobs. In addition, these new retail establishments do not generate that many dollars in NEW consumer spending,but merely redistribute sales from existing retail businesses already in the area.

16. What lessons do you think should be drawn from the collapse of Project Homestead?

Any and all programs receiving public funding from the city MUST comply with strict accounting and auditing procedures – PERIOD!!! – to ensure organizations are financially sound and are spending the money appropriately. Rules and procedures are usually established for good reason, and no one should be allowed to circumvent them, regardless of whom they are.

17. Do you support the raises the City Council voted for on Aug. 16? Why or why not?

Yes. The City Council salary has remained the same for the past 17 years, and even with the raise, is still a relatively small sum when considering the amount of time councilmembers must devote to the job. Service on the city council should not be limited to people who are independently wealthy, and a higher salary makes it possible for a wider range of people to be able to afford to devote the time to serve.

I think the city council handled the process appropriately by publicly discussing the proposal, by keeping the increase reasonable, and by applying it to the NEXT city council in the NEXT budget cycle.

18. Have the mayor and City Council done an effective job in addressing Greensboro’s economic needs? What more should they do?

Yes, look at our recent successes in attracting FedEx and the CitiCard call center and expansions at RF Microdevices, Volvo Trucks, and Market America.

One of our assistant city manager’s main responsibilities is to help recruit new businesses and work with existing ones to find workable solutions for any problems they may be experiencing with city codes and requirements. We have a strong incentive policy that is used to attract good-paying jobs to our city. We have developed a dependable and efficient infrastructure system – good transportation options, water availability, sewer capacity, and solid waste disposal – necessary to support business development and have provided excellent recreation facilities and libraries to enhance a desirable quality of life. Lastly, we have kept the tax rate at an affordable, competitive level to keep the cost of doing business at a reasonable level.

One of the obstacles we identified during the competition for the Dell facility is the lack of large “ready-to-go” sites on which to construct new businesses. We need to explore ways to partner with the development community to acquire workable sites and make sure they are accessible and equipped with the appropriate infrastructure in order to respond quickly to the next opportunity.

19. There has been discord in the police department. Are the concerns expressed by some officers being adequately addressed?

Personnel issues in any city department (except for the hiring/firing and evaluation of the city manager) are outside of the realm of the City Council’s legal powers and responsibilities. The council sets policy direction, making the staff aware of particular needs we would like to see targeted, and approves funding for those departments to carry out those programs. It is up to the professionals -- in this case the Police Department -- to determine the most effective ways to achieve those goals.

Of course, I am very interested in the concerns that have been raised by some of the officers, particularly since one of my sons is a police officer. However, I have great confidence that our city manager (who is ultimately responsible for all personnel matters) will work with the police chief and the concerned personnel to thoroughly investigate the complaints and take appropriate action if and when it is needed.

20. Where do you stand on the concept of regional cooperation? What role, if any, should the City Council play? What types of issues, if any, call for regional solutions?

Regional cooperation is an essential ingredient to the continued viability of Greensboro and the entire Piedmont Triad region. While each individual city and town must retain its own unique identity, we can strengthen our economy and improve services at less cost by cooperating with each other, lessening competition among us, and pooling resources.

The City Council will have to formally agree to participate in any potential projects, including identifying possible funding or revenue-sharing options.

Transportation projects (both highways and transit) that cross jurisdictional lines, economic development opportunities, water and sewer capacity, solid waste disposal, coordinated land use policies, and development projects such as the Heart of the Triad are among potential areas of cooperation.

21. What living Triad resident you respect/admire most? Why?

I admire recently retired city manager Ed Kitchen for his dedication to the City of Greensboro and for the high standards of integrity and productivity he set for himself and for those who worked for him.

22. What should be the city’s role in endorsing or participating in the investigation and hearings into the Nov. 3, 1979, Morningside Homes shootout?

The city should not have any official role in this process beyond providing pertinent public information and documents. Past and present city employees may choose to participate -- or not -- on a personal basis without fear of retribution. While I have serious concerns about the accuracy of any findings 25+ years after the tragic event due to fading memories and unavailability of key witnesses, I will reserve final judgment until I have read the completed document.

23. If you are an incumbent, what vote or decision as a council member would you change in retrospect? What led you to change your mind?

While I frequently voted against Project Homestead’s proposals that were submitted outside the normal application process, there were a couple of projects I did vote for because they appeared to address a real need in the community. Now knowing about the organization’s ongoing financial irregularities and problems, I wish I had been more forceful in voicing my concerns at the time and withheld support for ANY of their projects until the city’s audit requirements and concerns were satisfactorily resolved.

24. If you are not an incumbent, what vote or decision of the council would you overturn? Why do you disagree with the decision?

NOT APPLICABLE

25. Is there a service that the City of Greensboro should provide that it does not do now, OR, is there a service that the City of Greensboro now provides that it should no longer provide?

Experience has taught me that services viewed by one citizen as totally unnecessary are considered absolutely essential by another. As a general rule, we should offer the basic services cities normally provide and not stray into service areas traditionally funded by county, state and federal governments. I do not have specific program cuts or additions in mind at this time, but I am looking forward to a department-by-department review and evaluation of city services to determine if there are obsolete or ineffective programs that could be eliminated.

Campaign sign information

Here's part of a press release that went out today - full information on what is allowed and not allowed in the posting of political campaign signs. Candidates, please pay attention!

RESIDENTS URGED TO POST POLITICAL SIGNS PROPERLY

GREENSBORO, NC (August 31, 2005) – Political candidates, campaign workers and residents are reminded of the City regulations on political signs during this year’s election. Signage that meets City requirements will remain posted throughout the entire campaign. Political signs may be placed on any private property if authorized by the legal property owner provided that:

• There are no more than six signs per zone lot.
• A sign must not be larger than six square feet in area or six feet in height.
• Signs cannot be illuminated.
• No commercial message may appear on the sign.
• Signs must be removed within seven days after the election.
• Signs may not be placed within a street-right-of-way, median or divided streets, power or utility poles, government sign poles/signs, trees or other natural features, underpass columns or support and traffic control boxes and vacant lots.

Signs exceeding six square feet in size may not be placed on private property without securing a sign permit from the Zoning Enforcement Office at the Melvin Municipal Office Building, 300 West Washington Street. Political signs improperly placed are subject to removal and disposal. Anyone found posting a sign illegally may be charged with a criminal or civil offense under the City code. Residents who believe a sign is placed improperly can call the Zoning Enforcement Office at 373-2630.

Campaign activity begins

As noted in the previous post containing my weekly schedule, my city council campaign activity seems to be picking up with two candidate interview sessions this week, one with TREBIC (Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition) and the editorial staff at the News & Record. Both these sessions have taken considerable preparation with a 6-page checklist survey from TREBIC and an 8-page response to the News & Record's questionnaire. (The News & Record will be posting that information on a candidates' page on their website - I'll provide the link once they publish it.) And you thought campaigning was all about shaking hands and kissing babies! [SMILE]

Here is my campaign sign that you will find in LEGAL locations in compliance with the city's sign ordinance as the campaign progresses. I place my signs in the yards of my supporters with their permission. It is extremely ironic that so many candidates blatantly violate the legal regulations enacted by the very governmental body they are seeking to join by sticking signs anywhere and everywhere. Due to citizen and council complaints about illegal business signs being placed in city right-of-way and tacked on telephone poles, city staff has been making a concentrated effort to remove those nuisances as quickly as possible. So all candidates should be forewarned that our VERY EXPENSIVE signs are likely to disappear if we make the mistake of planting them in the wrong places.

The power of women

The Women's Equality Day celebration last Saturday morning sponsored by the Commission on the Status of Women marked the 85th anniversary of women winning the right to vote. The program consisted of a panel discussion among current and former female elected officials highlighting the skills and talents women bring to an elected body.

All five of the women members of the Greensboro City Council participated on this panel (Diane Bellamy-Small, Claudette Burroughs-White, Florence Gatten, Yvonne Johnson, and me). During my remarks, I noted that a majority of the city council was seated right there at the table and that if we banded together on a particular issue, we had the power to take action and get something passed to take care of it.

The next panelist was former commissioner Phyllis Gibbs (who referred to herself as a "once was, not a has-been") who noted that she did not live in Greensboro proper but out in the county in Forest Oaks. One of my fellow councilwomen quickly quipped "We can take care of that right now - all in favor of annexing Forest Oaks, please say 'aye'".

As our five hands shot up in the air to great peals of laughter from the audience, we jokingly demonstrated what we five councilwomen could accomplish if we chose to. Watch out, fellows!

And for the record, that vote was NOT valid or official.

Weekly schedule

It's another busy week with a wide variety of activities.

The city council starts off with another closed session meeting at noon on Monday, August 29 to discuss a personnel matter. Hopefully this will bring us a step closer to choosing the new city manager.

I get a reprieve on Tuesday and will probably use the day to deal with the ton of apples produced by the two trees in my backyard. Applesauce, anyone?

Wednesday, August 31 will begin with an 8:30AM meeting of the Development Committee of the Piedmont Triad Partnership Foundation on which I serve. That will be followed by the noon "State of the Community" luncheon sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce at the Koury Convention Center. Mayor Holliday, County Commission Chairman Bruce Davis, School Board Chairman Alan Duncan, and Greensboro Partnership chairman Dennis Barry will provide their perspectives on issues facing Greensboro. (Hmmm, no female speakers - not good, guys!)

Thursday, September 1 is the "killer day" on my calendar this week with a 9:30AM candidate interview with TREBIC, a noon meeting of the War Memorial Commission (coliseum), a 2:00PM candidate interview with the News & Record's editorial staff, and a 4:00PM meeting of the Greensboro Partnership Strategic Planning Committee (thankfully followed by a cocktail reception - will definitely need that by then - smile).

Friday looks clear at this point, but with my son's out-of-town wedding coming up on September 10, you can be sure I'll be swamped with last-minute preparations. (Please, Mother Nature, no hurricanes on the NC coast that weekend!)

The noise ordinance

Terry Wood of the city's legal staff briefed the city council on the new noise ordinance produced by a stakeholders group composed of representatives of the Neighborhood Congress, downtown representatives, and other interested citizens. He noted that it is a consensus document that contains compromises from each of the groups. It is proposed that the current noise ordinance remain in place and the recommended enhancements be added to it as well as consolidating pertinent references scattered throughout the city code into this one section.

The city receives between 4,800-4,900 noise complaints each year, averaging about 90 per week. However, very few convictions or fines are ever levied in the court system. The main change in the proposed ordinance is the addition of specific decibel limits for various zoning districts for different times of day. Police officers would be issued decibel meters (only five citywide in the beginning since they cost $2,800-3,000 each) that would actually print out the decibel reading. Citations would be issued when the decibel readings on nearby residential property (NOT at the source of the noise) exceed the adopted limit. Charlotte has found that judges are willing to use these printouts as evidence in court, simplifying the court cases and resulting in more convictions.

Emphasis would be placed on compliance in order to eliminate problems before they begin. Sponsors would have the ability to request a "pre-test" to measure the sound levels and adjust them accordingly. If the decibel limits are then exceeded during the actual event, they would receive a warning instead of a citation for having made the effort to comply.

There are a number of exceptions for emergency work, highway construction, and state and federal property. One potentially unfair situation is that A&T University and UNCG would be exempt from the ordinance since they are state institutions but private colleges such as Bennett, Greensboro, and Guilford Colleges would have to comply.

The council has already received a resolution from the War Memorial Commission which advises the Coliseum requesting that the Coliseum and its events be exempted from the ordinance. Terry noted that it is not exempt under the current ordinance. He then gave several examples of how other NC cities deal with this performance venue issue.

No decisions were reached, mainly because we were down to five council members in attendance by the time this presentation was concluded. Those of us who were still present agreed that we need to work on this and have further discussion on some of the issues such as applying the ordinance equally to ALL the colleges and universities and whether there should be exemptions granted for the Coliseum or other venues/events.

Citizens' expectations may be more than what is actually achievable. All of us agreed that the key to the success of the ordinance will be ENFORCEMENT - the best ordinance in the world is no good at all if it is not regularly enforced. Limited manpower and higher police priorities such as murders, rapes, robberies, accident investigations and traffic enforcement are likely to severly limit the amount of time that can be devoted to this annoying, but not usually life-threatening, problem.

Stay tuned for further discussions on this topic.

More good news about air quality

Ginger Booker who staffs the Triad Early Action Compact shared great news with us today - EPA has accepted (and praised) our efforts in cleaning up our air and reducing ozone pollution. Here are excerpts straight from the Federal Register:

[Federal Register: August 22, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 161)] ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY - 40 CFR Part 52

Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; North Carolina; Attainment Demonstration of the Mountain, Unifour, Triad and Fayetteville Early Action Compact Areas

ACTION: Final rule.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The EPA is approving revisions to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the State of North Carolina, through the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on December 21, 2004, for the four Early Action Compact (EAC) areas in North Carolina: the Mountain, Unifour, Triad and Fayetteville areas (the North Carolina EAC Areas).

DATES: This rule will be effective September 21, 2005.

“To date, the North Carolina EAC Areas have met all EAC milestones. In April, 2008, it is anticipated that EAC areas with air quality monitoring data showing attainment for the years 2005-2007, that have also met all the compact milestones, will be designated attainment for the 8-hour ozone standard.. All of the measures being adopted today as part of the SIP revisions will be mandatory and federally enforceable."

Brief Summary of Control Measures and Modeling

“North Carolina's SIP revisions include Federal, State, and local control measures. The Federal control measures include, among others, Tier 2 vehicle standards and low sulfur fuel. The State of North Carolina's Clean Smokestack's Act (a recently enacted state law) is an example of a statewide control measure being approved as part of the SIP revisions. Other state control measures, such as expansion of the statewide vehicle inspection and maintenance program, and the NOX SIP Call Rule, are already part of the SIP. The local control measures include, among others, eliminating the use of coal-fired boilers during the ozone season at an RJ Reynolds facility in the Triad EAC area, truck stop electrification, and local ordinances regarding landscaping. (The only local/regional examples cited by EPA in the Federal Register are from the Triad!) All of these measures, including the local measures, will be enforceable once they are incorporated into the SIP... In summary, the North Carolina plan demonstrates attainment until 2017, commits to a mid-point evaluation in 2012, and commits to develop a second 10-year maintenance plan from 2017-2027, among other elements.

In plain English, this means we've done well and we going to get off "the bad list" for ozone pollution!

Medians at intersections

The city council received a thorough explanation of GDOT's policy of installing medians at some of the city's busy intersections from Adam Fischer at our briefing session this morning. GDOT staff uses federal highway standards criteria when making these decisions in efforts to increase safety, keep traffic flowing, and mitigate the impacts of new development (improvements often identified in the city-required "Traffic Impact Study" when rezonings are requested for certain types of projects). Installation of these medians can reduce the usual 32 potential "points of impact" at any normal 4-way intersection down to eight. The city attorney cautioned that acting contrary to the prescribed standards could increase the city's liability in some circumstances.

Unfortunately, these safety improvements often negatively impact businesses in the immediate vicinity by eliminating left turns into and out of their property. This is the situation for the McDonalds restaurant on Pisgah Church Road near its intersection at North Elm Street. Traffic volumes there have tripled since 1992, and staff recommended installation of a median as the best way to lessen the number of accidents that have occurred at this location over the years.

Mayor Holliday and Councilmember Tom Phillips were advocating for a "left over" that would allow cars to turn left into the McDonalds' driveway but prohibit left turns for cars exiting it. Using constuction diagrams and a scary set of photos that showed an idiot driver barreling across five lanes of oncoming traffic (please pardon me, I don't usually call names, but there's no other accurate description for this one), Adam showed us how this "left over" would significantly shorten the left turn lane at the intersection and actually create worse problems. So it appears the only viable choice is to install that median. Additional discussion took place about the Battleground Avenue-Cone Boulevard intersection.

Tom accurately noted that installation of these medians often create other unsafe traffic conditions further down the street from the median and that little or nothing is done to correct those new problems. He stated that the city should make those additional corrections and any other improvements in public right-of-way that might alleviate the business access problem AT CITY EXPENSE. It appeared that everyone agreed with him on that point.

We also instructed staff to add requirements for "cross access" (connections between parking lots of two or more adjacent businesses) during the writing of the new Land Development Ordinance that would allow for fewer driveway cuts when businesses share the same entrances/exits. Right now those interconnections are strongly encouraged, but are not mandatory.

As traffic volumes continue to multiply, the conflict between access management and keeping traffic flowing at a decent pace is only going to get worse. Oh boy!

Center City Park maintenance

We tentatively reached agreement this morning on a five-year plan that defines how much the city will contribute yearly to the maintenance of the new Center City Park - $200,000 of the projected $400,000 with Downtown Greensboro Inc. and an endowment fund established by Action Greensboro to cover the other $200,000. This amount is very much in keeping with our costs to maintain the city's Arboretum ($300,000/year) and the Bicentennial Park and Bog Garden ($400,000/year). The operating costs were projected in an Action Greensboro-funded study on the operation and maintenance of the Center City Park that detailed every possible operations and maintenance need for the park. The city's contribution will be used to cover general maintenance, some utility costs, contingencies and a capital reserve fund.

THE CITY WILL HAVE ABSOLUTLEY NO REPSONSIBILITY FOR THE FOUNTAIN OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE OR FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF EVENTS.

The park will remain in private ownership, and Downtown Greensboro Inc. will take responsibility for its management. Ray Gibbs pointed out that DGI is well-equipped to do this with its current operation of the downtown clean program and its equipment. DGI will also add a Park Manager position to its staff to manage and oversee park operations. Ray noted that we want this park to be "a showplace for the community in which people will be comfortable any time of day or night."

DGI is able to contribute $140,000/year to this effort due to an unanticipated windfall. When the county commissioners changed the sales tax distribution formula, any entity that imposes a property tax became eligible to receive a portion of the sales tax. Since DGI admininsters the 9-cent downtown BID tax (Business Improvement District), it will receive unexpected sales tax revenues each year. This is the money they are now dedicating for use in operating and maintaining the Center City Park.

I am totally comfortable with this proposed agreement. For $200,000 a year in routine maintenance costs, the city's citizens receive a $12 million privately-funded gift of this park. Sounds like a winning proposition to me!

Boards and Commissions alternates

We made good progress this morning on the topic of city boards and commissions membership. At this point, we have agreed to appoint two alternates to the Board of Adjustments since it is critical that this board have full attendance at its meetings to offer the best service to citizens. It takes a positive vote of four of the seven members to approve a variance. If only four are present (a quorum), then the applicant must get a unanimous vote to win the case. Any appeals of these decisions must go to Superior Court instead of the City Council. We will ask that these alternates attend all the board's meetings so they will be informed and familiar with the process. One suggestion is to use former members of the board. We will also seek legislation in the General Assembly to allow us to increase the size of the board to nine members which will also likely result in having to raise the number of positive votes to grant these variances.

We decided NOT to consider alternates to any other boards or commissions such as Zoning or Planning at this time because those cases can come to the City Council for final resolution if a decision is not reached at those board meetings.

Councilmember Robbie Perkins suggested that we do a study of all the city's boards and commissions to see if all are still relevant and needed and if it makes sense to combine any of them. He thought attendance would improve if board members were engaged in truly meaningful tasks. He also noted the need for a yearly report from each of those bodies. That is already a requirement, but some do not follow through with it.

Flood mapping

If you are one of those residents who lives in a flood prone area of Guilford County, you might want to check out the results of a recent study conducted by the state and FEMA to identify and map flood hazards. These flood elevation designations can have significant impacts on the placement of buildings/development as well as the need for flood insurance. According to the letter the mayor received, a public meeting will be scheduled soon to review these findings and hear appeals.

[I had problems pulling up the maps I wanted to see, but perhaps someone with more patience and/or expertise can find what you are seeking.]

City Connections

The latest issue of City Connections is available.

City manager search

There's a good story about the search for a new city manager in The Business Journal this week.

Busier week

This week is going to be a busy one with official activities of one kind or another just about every day.

I have a conference with the interim city manager on Monday morning, August 22 (then get to spend some time in the dentist's chair in the afternoon).

The City Council Briefing Session will take most of the morning on Tuesday, August 23.

Wednesday, August 24 brings the monthly TAC (Transportation Advisory Committee) meeting. The main items on this agenda include consideration of an amendment to the Thoroughfare Plan concerning US 158 Bypass in Stokesdale (action likely to be delayed), adoption of the conformity report (deals with air quality issues), discussion of priority projects to be included in the 2007-2013 TIP (Transportation Improvement Plan), and updates on NCDOT's Strategic Corridors Initiative, the signal system replacement project, and the Airport Area Plan (roadways in the airport area, including Heart of the Triad). This could become a lengthy meeting, considering all these items, some of which are likely to spark considerable discussion.

On Thursday, August 25 I have a 3-hour meeting of the Infrastructure and Growth Management Task Force of the Greensboro Partnership's Strategic Planning Committee beginning at 8AM followed immediately by a meeting with a local attorney on a zoning matter. I will finish up with a reception at the new offices of the Piedmont Land Conservancy in the evening. (Better remember to eat my Wheaties for this long day!)

I get a break on Friday, but will participate in a panel discussion on Saturday, August 27 at Women's Equality Day sponsored by the Commission on the Status of Women.

It looks like the summer break is coming to an end!

Political satire

If you want some good laughs based on political observations of the national and world scene, I highly recommend the Capitol Steps. This group of former Washington staffers have found an entertaining way to poke fun at actions made by various people on all parts of the political spectrum - no one is immune from their hilarious interpretations.

"God Bless my SUV" from the week of August 1 takes some good jabs at our love of these gas guzzlers.

Enjoy!

A meaty briefing agenda

The Tuesday, August 23 City Council Briefing Session has a number of interesting items on the agenda sure to stimulate some discussion among council members as well as in the public. Our briefing sessions begin at 9AM in the Plaza Level Conference Room. Citizens are welcome to attend, but comments from the public are not normally allowed.

The first item is a discussion regarding use of alternate members for some of the city's boards and commissions. I thought we had settled this issue back in March, but implementation has not yet begun. We need to move on with this so that meetings of key boards and commissions won't continue to face "lack-of-a-quorum" problems.

Next is the Presentation of Development of Plan for Public/Private Partnership for Center City Park. I am hoping we will hear the results of the study to determine maintenance and operating costs of this new facility. The council needs the information so that we can make a decision on how much support the city will supply for the new park.

Following that item is a discussion on GDOT's median installation policy and practices. Councilmember Tom Phillips has expressed deep concerns about the placement of medians at several busy intersections around the city. The medians are installed to address significant safety issues, but their placement is drastically restricting access to some adjacent businesses.

The last item is the report and review of the long overdue proposed noise ordinance. This will be the city council's first official look at the proposal although I have been keeping track of its progress on Hogg's Blog. (Sorry, I wasn't able to figure out David's archive system to provide a link to his posts about it.) The War Memorial Commission (Coliseum) has already adopted a resolution requesting an exemption for the Coliseum and key outdoor events such as the Agricultural Fair and the Universoul Circus. I'm sure there's going to be plenty of debate on this one, just as there was on the citizens' committee that formulated it.

It could be a lively morning!

University Connector news

Today's meeting of the University and College Service steering committee was an informative session with updates on the progress of Greensboro's newest proposed bus service geared towards our college and university students. This committee is co-chaired by Councilmember Florence Gatten and GTA board chair Jane Walker-Payne. Kevin "Dump the Pump" Elmore unveiled the proposed name for this new service: HEAT - Higher Education Access Transit.

GDOT Director Jim Westmoreland shared the good news/bad news funding situation. The good news is that the $8+ million federal CMAQ grant is still on "go." This funding plus a 20% match from NCDOT will cover ALL the capital costs of purchasing additional buses. The grant also pays 80% of the operating costs for three years, with the participating colleges and universities picking up the rest of those costs. Elon Law School has officially joined Bennett College, Greensboro College, GTCC, Guilford College, and UNCG in this new program. Students from those schools will be able to swipe their college ID cards and use this service (as well as any regular GTA bus) free of charge. (A&T students will have to pay $1 to use this new service or any existing GTA bus because the chancellor has declined for A&T to participate at this time.) Any other citizen will be able to ride the new routes by paying the regular $1 fare.

The bad news is that the program start-up is being pushed back to the fall of 2006 (instead of January 2006) due to the delay in passage of the federal transportation reauthorization bill and cash flow management issues at NCDOT. That's really not all that bad, though, as it will allow for more detailed planning and marketing efforts.

Consultant Dan Boyle shared details of the various services, routes, and photos of the bus stops. The University Connector routes will be express routes running once an hour. The west route will travel from the Depot to Greensboro College to UNCG, stop at Friendly Shopping Center, and on to Guilford College; then the route will be run in reverse to return downtown. The east route will leave the Depot and travel to Bennett College, stop on Market Street near the A&T campus, and on to the GTCC campus on East Wendover before reversing and returning downtown. This service will be offered seven days a week and will run longer hours on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights to get students to and from downtown entertainment opportunities.

The Inner Circulator will offer weekday shuttle bus service on a half-hour schedule between Greensboro College, UNCG and downtown.

Another shuttle bus will operate on a half-hour schedule on weekdays from UNCG west on Walker Avenue to Holden Road and east on Spring Garden Street back to UNCG to pick up students residing in off-campus housing in this area.

As our college students become acquainted with and take advantage of this new transportation choice, we are hoping that vehicle congestion in and around our campuses will be greatly reduced. Perhaps the need for the construction of additional parking spaces on these campuses will be reduced or eliminated as well - that is what is happening at UNC-Chapel Hill with their free bus service.

Another side benefit was noted by a committee member - once Amtrak service returns to the Depot (scheduled for October 1, 2005), an out-of-town student would have the option of riding the train to Greensboro and catching a bus to campus, totally eliminating the need for a car at all. Moms and Dads would love that, I bet!

Many people - GDOT and GTA staff, representatives from each of the colleges and universities, PART staff, our consultants and others- have worked to design and implement this new service. Special thanks go to Representative Howard Coble and NC Board of Transportation chair Doug Galyon for making sure the funding was available.

We are looking forward to seeing those buses full of students traveling on Greensboro's streets!

Campaign ad

Here's the link to my campaign ad using the free web opportunity offered to candidates by NC-Politics.com. It looks like I'm the only Greensboro candidate who has discovered or taken advantage of this service so far.

Super Jam quandary

The debate about Super Jam (click on the video) and its impact on communities in the Coliseum/High Point Road area continues. While some object to the content of the concert itself (and I'm not about to pass judgment on that lest someone criticize MY musical tastes and preferences), the concert itself is not really the problem - it is the activity that follows it. As usual, there are two legitimate sides to the story.

Representatives of the Ardmore Park community watch spoke to the City Council last night about the negative impacts the AFTER EFFECTS this concert have on the area - loud music from boom boxes all night long disturbing residents' sleep, impassable traffic conditions leading to worry about emergency vehicle access, public urination in residents' yards, some fights and violent incidents in area establishments, and large quantities of trash in the street and business parking lots. These problems are generated by people cruising High Point Road and attending private "after parties" in nearby clubs and restaurants long after the concert has ended. Many of these young party-goers never attend the concert itself but come to enjoy the "scene" Super Jam has become. (These complaints invoke memories of previous Grateful Dead concerts that had tremendous overflow impacts on the community in the past.)

On the plus side, this event is a top earner for the Coliseum, with a total event income this year of $86,226 after expenses were deducted. It is one of the premier hip-hop concerts in the country and receives national attention, having become a cultural happening. The event has been well-managed, and there has NEVER been a violent incident during the event at the Coliseum. While some area businesses closed early or had lots of trash to deal with, others have reported that this night produced great financial results for them.

So where do we go from here? City Council instructed interim manager Mitchell Johnson to investigate the cost to the city for police to staff this event (for both past costs and projected costs to better manage future events) and other financial impacts. Councilmember Diane Bellamy-Small made an excellent suggestion that sponsor 102JAMZ be asked to stress the importance of attendees RESPECTING the surrounding community and lessening the impacts on residents there. War Memorial Commission members also discussed ways to deal with these problems at their meeting earlier this month. Some citizens are asking that the Coliseum be prohibited from booking the event again, citing not only the impacts on the community, but their objections to the messages in the music as well.

I find myself caught squarely in the middle of this one. Ardmore Park is in my city council district, and I have worked with the neighborhood association over the years to address persistent nuisance and noise issues. On the other hand, as liaison to the Coliseum from the City Council, I do not want to banish a significant source of revenue for the facility and drive up the operating deficit. OUCH!

I hope we can find ways to eliminate or greatly reduce the negative aspects of this event through better traffic control and litter pick-up and with more considerate behavior from the patrons themselves. It will take a joint effort to find a win-win solution for everyone. If we are not successful, the consequences could be not to have Super Jam at all, and I believe that would upset a lot of people as well.

Incentives request postponed

The City Council received a last minute request on behalf of Epes Logistics Services to postpone last night's incentives request public hearing. The letter stated, "The company is exploring some important new developments, including acquisition opportunities and site options... Epes felt it would be better to explore these additional opportunities before going forward..."

I wish them success in that exploration and hope it will eliminate their need for city tax incentive support!

Council pay raise approved

Taking a risky political step - but making a solid public policy move- we councilmembers approved a pay raise tonight for the NEXT Greensboro City Council on a 7-1 vote (Tom Phillips absent, Don Vaughan dissenting). This action was long overdue since the last council pay raise was way back in 1989. Hopefully the step will lessen the financial sacrifice one makes when serving on the city council (due to lost time/earning ability at one's "real job") and make the job more affordable to a larger number of people.

Retiring councilmember Robbie Perkins led the effort to bring Greensboro's compensation into line with other North Carolina cities and towns (with the exception of Charlotte where the pay is significantly higher than any of the others). The following changes are proposed to take effect on July 1, 2006 with the next budget cycle and fiscal year:

* The mayor's yearly salary will increase from $13, 460/year to $15,764; the mayor pro-tem's from $11,460 to $13,395; and councilmembers' from $10,460 to $12,210. (An average of 1% per year since 1989)

* The monthly car allowance will increase from $40 per month to $150 per month to more adequately cover the high mileage we councilmembers drive traveling around the city for council-related duties.

* In the future, the council's pay will automatically be raised one-half the percentage of pay increases budgeted for city employees with a maximum cap of 1.5% per year.

This vote felt politically awkward for me due to the perception of "feathering my own nest." However, knowing that the pay increase will take place AFTER the city council election and apply only to members of the "new" city council (and no guarantee that I will be among those folks), I voted in favor of it. I know how much time and commitment it takes to do this job right, and even with the increases, the financial reality is that the salary is still at or below minimum wage.

Your reactions???

"Dump the Pump"

The Greensboro Transit Authority's latest strategy is "Dump the Pump." Visit the website and calculate how much you could save monthly by using a GTA bus instead of driving your own vehicle. Plus, you can even get some free passes for a "test drive!" Citizens can save some money plus help improve our air quality.

This week's schedule

Things are starting to pick up a bit as the summer starts to wind down.

Monday, August 15 will be a day of celebrations. Graduation exercises for the Greensboro Police Department's 84th Academy Class will be held at the Coliseum's War Memorial Auditorium at 1:ooPM. Then there is a cocktail reception from 5-7:30PM at The Village, Greensboro's first mixed-use vertically integrated center at North Elm Street and Pisgah Church Road. (I'll have to rush home and babysit some of my grandkids for the rest of the evening.)

Tuesday, August 16 brings another City Council meeting. The agenda is fairly light and contains mostly routine items, one highlight being the approval of the new e-waste collection program.

The hot topic of the evening will be the consideration of $100,000 in tax incentives for Epes Logistics Services which found its way onto our agenda in an out-of-the-ordinary way. Since this company has already purchased land in Greensboro for this expansion, I do not feel the enticement of incentives is necessary to keep them here.

Wednesday, August 17 begins with an 8:00AM breakfast for a preview of 2005 Get Down! Town, the "welcome back" event for area college students in downtown Greensboro this weekend. That will be followed later in the morning with a meeting of the University Connector (the proposed new GTA bus service) steering committee for an update on those plans.

Thursday, August 18 will start off with a 7:30AM meeting of the Greensboro Partnership's Strategic Planning Committee. Then it's off to Raleigh for another meeting of the Charter School Advisory Committee.

That's all I have on my calendar at this point, but if it's like usual, plenty of other things will pop up. Any extra time will be spent on making plans for my reelection campaign. Things will really get busy once the candidate forums begin.

Great E-waste news!

Item #22 on the City Council's August 16 agenda is an ordinance establishing the city's E-waste recycling program at the current household hazardous waste collection site on Patterson Avenue. Participation will be countywide. This new program is being made possible from a $45,000 grant ($15,000 a year for three years) from the Hayden-Harmen Foundation in Burlington.

The April 23, 2005 one-day collection event was a huge success, according to the supporting information we received:

a 923 cars waited in line to drop off electronic waste

a 97,544 pounds of e-waste was collected

a Surveys indicated citizens wanted the service to be provided

a Over 95,000 pounds of e-waste was collected from local business

a Total amount of e-waste collected was 193,000 pounds (96.5 tons)

This program is definitely needed and I am excited that we are going to be able to provide this service.

Government joke

Sharing jokes publicly can sometimes be costly to political careers, but I just can't pass up on this one shared by a friend. It definitely pokes fun at government and excessive regulations. Enjoy!

In the year 2005, the Lord came unto Noah, who was now living in the United States, and said, "Once again, the earth has become wicked and over-populated and I see the end of all flesh before me. Build another Ark and save two of every living thing along with a few good humans."

Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah weeping in his yard ....but no ark.

"Noah", He roared, "I'm about to start the rain! Where is the Ark?"

"Forgive me, Lord," begged Noah. "But things have changed. I needed a building permit. I've been arguing with the inspector about the need for a sprinkler system. My neighbors claim that I've violated the neighborhood zoning laws by building the Ark in my yard and exceeding the height limitations. We had to go to the Development Appeal Board for a decision.

"Then the Department of Transportation demanded a bond be posted for the future costs of moving power lines and other overhead obstructions, to clear the passage for the Ark's move to the sea. I argued that the sea would be coming to us, but they would hear nothing of it.

"Getting the wood was another problem. There's a ban on cutting local trees in order to save the spotted owl. I tried to convince the environmentalists that I needed the wood to save the owls. But no go!

"When I started gathering the animals, I got sued by an animal rights group. They insisted that I was confining wild animals against their will. As well, they argued the accommodation was too restrictive and it was cruel and inhumane to put so many animals in a confined space.

"Then the EPA ruled that I couldn't build the Ark until they'd conducted an environmental impact study on your proposed flood.

"I'm still trying to resolve a complaint with the Human Rights Commission on how many minorities I'm supposed to hire for my building crew. Also, the trades unions say I can't use my sons. They insist I have to hire only Union workers with Ark building experience.

"To make matters worse, the IRS seized all my assets, claiming I'm trying to leave the country illegally with endangered species.

"So, forgive me, Lord, but it would take at least ten years for me to finish this Ark."

Suddenly the skies cleared, the sun began to shine, and a rainbow stretched across the sky.

Noah looked up in wonder and asked, "You mean, You're not going to destroy the world?"

"No," said the Lord. "The government beat me to it."

New stormwater education website

The Piedmont Triad Council of Governments is managing a stormwater education program for our region known as Be Stormwater S.M.A.R.T. (Simple Measures to Address Runoff pollution in the Triad). Local students designed some of the posters for this campaign.

Federal transportation reauthorization

Attendees at both the Piedmont Triad RPO and COG meetings today heard an analysis of the bill Congress recently passed (finally, after 12 short-term extensions) reauthorizing the federal transportation program. The new law is fondly known as "SAFETEA-LU" - Safe, Affordable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users. [Who on earth comes up with these labels?] President Bush is supposed to sign the bill into law today.

Listed below are some of the main points and particular impacts on our region, plagerized directly from RPO Senior Planner Hanna Cockburn's presentation, "700 Days to Reauthorization."

* The total amount of national transportation spending authorized over the next five years is $286.4 billion; $189+ billion is for highways and $45+ billion for transit. There is an estimated $375 billion in identified needs during that same time period. The allocation is 38% higher than the previous allocations, but due to inflation and tremendous increases in construction costs, there is very little actual gain.

* Currently North Carolina receives a return of 90.5 cents of every dollar in gasoline taxes sent to Washington. That amount will rise to 92 cents per dollar by the end of 2009 through the payment of an "equity bonus" at the end of each funding year. Our share is still not what it should be, but we are making progress.

* North Carolina will receive $5.5 billion over the next five years. The long delay in gettting the reauthorization passed means that all NC projects are likely to be delayed at least four months.

* There was $140 Million in regional earmarks (called "pork barrel projects" by some). Items of particular interest include $38 million for I-73/74, $8.1 million for our airport area road network, $800,000 for Greensboro's Battleground Rail Trail, $10.4 million for PART's Multimodal Center (regional light rail and/or bus station), and an allocation to continue PART's alternative analysis study (light rail, bus, monorail or "do-nothing" options) and implementation of the east-west corridor (Burlington to Clemmons). Hannah did not include it in her list, but Greensboro received $10 million to upgrade our aged traffic signal system as well.

* The new law includes some innovative financing options available to state and local governments, preserves the toll authority, and steamlines environmental and air quality provisions.

While this transportation reauthorization law will not solve all our transportation needs by any means, it will be nice not to have everything "on hold" waiting for Congress to act. We are now able to move forward with SOME of our long-awaited transportation projects.

Beautiful visitor

My husband shouted for me to bring the camera outside this afternoon in time to catch this shot of a Monarch butterfly visiting my sunflowers. Beautiful!

Code Orange corrections

During our recent bout of HOT days, our area has had numerous forecasts for Code Orange days warning of bad air quality and listing the precautions we should take. In addition to concerns about the health affects of the smog, I was also worried about what actions from EPA these potential violations might have on the Triad Early Action Compact's efforts to avoid designation as nonattainment for ozone. Those worries have been greatly reduced with this GREAT NEWS from the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources emailed to me by Ginger Booker of the Piedmont Triad Council of Governments. Our air quality is by no means perfect, but we are certainly making good progress.

"Laura Boothe, Division of Air Quality, called this morning pleased to say that the Triad has had no code orange days in July through the first week in August. A distinction that had not sunk in on me is that the code orange alerts we’ve been receiving are just forecasts. In reviewing data from the Triad ozone monitors, she says there have been no “hits” at Triad monitors in July or the first week in August, and only one “hit” at a monitor in June.

She says Forsyth County Environmental Affairs is frustrated that their forecasts aren’t turning out to be more accurate but their methodology is good. The difference is that in every case where a Code Orange day has been predicted, the wind shifted to a northerly direction, rather than the prevailing southwest. A northerly wind is better than it used to be because the Bellews Creek plant is putting out about 30 tons of NOx instead of 300 tons. We’ve lucked out. The trick will be when a code orange day is predicted and we have a prevailing southwesterly wind."

City Connections

The latest edition of City Connections is available. The listing of the participants in the next session of the City Academy is included in it.

Light schedule

The "summer break" continues this week with a relatively light official schedule again. I'll take advantage of the free time to catch up on paperwork as well as begin work on my reelection campaign since I have an October primary coming up.

Wednesday, August 10 will find me working on regional issues with a 10AM meeting of the Piedmont Triad RPO (Rural Planning Organization) which does tranportation planning for Caswell, Davidson, Montgomery, Randolph and Rockingham counties. I serve as a non-voting ex-officio member, representing the PART Board of Trustees. The main items on that agenda are approval of the public involvment process and transportation project priorities of the five counties in preparation for the 2007-2013 TIP (Transportation Improvement Program).

Then it's off to the coliseum's Special Events Center for a meeting of the Piedmont Triad Council of Governments, on which I represent Greensboro. After routine awarding of contracts for services for older adults in the 7-county region (Alamance, Caswell, Davidson, Guilford, Montgomery, Randolph, and Rockingham), we will hear presentations on "Wetlands as a means of protecting water quality" and results for our region from the reauthorization of the federal transportation bill.

I have an 8AM meeting of the Infrastructure and Growth Management Taskforce, a subcommittee of the Partnership's Strategic Planning Committee on Thursday, August 11. Our assignment is to identify infrastructure needs in Guilford County as they relate to economic development and make appropriate recommendations on how to assure they are in place when needed.

The City Council will hold a closed session at 3PM that same afternoon to take the next steps in the search for a new city manager . Hopefully we will emerge from that meeting with a "short list" of candidates we want to interview.

That's it for the week. Hmmm, I wonder if my brother's beach house is available...

Summer greenery

Summer is my favorite time of year. In addition to my vegetable garden (which is keeping me very busy), I love to grow flowers and ornamentals as well. Here are a couple of beauties growing in my yard/garden this year.

Looking for some good District 5 folks

I need to find some good District 5 volunteers to fill vacancies coming up on several city boards and commissions as of August 15. Although I've made my usual contacts through neighborhood associations and people I know, I have not found anyone who is interested. The appointments are for 3-year terms.

Following is a listing of those boards/commissions and links to information about them:

* Planning Board

* Greenboro Transit Authority - I specifically want someone who uses the regular GTA buses OR has a good background in business and/or financial management.

* Commission on the Status of Women

Contact me at scarmany@aol.com if you are a District 5 resident interested in serving in one of these positions (or it you know someone who would be good).

Great Coliseum news

The War Memorial Commission, advisory board to the Coliseum, met today. The best news of the day came from Coliseum Director Matt Brown. He announced that it APPEARS that the 2004-05 deficit will be less than what was projected in the budget, despite an unanticipated $150,000 expenditure to repair the failing air handlers in the auditorium. We won't know for sure until final figures become available in October or November when the city's audit is complete, but this is definitely encouraging news. Of course, everyone would prefer an operating PROFIT instead of any deficit, but the business reality is that 10% or fewer of arenas/coliseums worldwide make a profit.

Other reports and items of interest include the following:

* The Coliseum and the area around it was busy today and will be through the weekend while the Market America convention is underway. Attendance will peak around at 14,000 on the weekend.

* Officials with the Buckmasters exhibition were very pleased with their recent event in Greensboro, saying the Coliseum and attendance met their expectations. It was the second-largest consumer show to be held here. The Convention and Visitors Bureau is evaluating whether it makes sense to try to lure them back with financial incentives support from the CVB.

* Preparations are already underway to prepare the complex for the two ACC tournaments and NCAA regionals in March 2006. Some in-house upgrades are being made in the auditorium lobby and other venues to accomodate the additional attendees from the new ACC schools. Work is proceeding to purchase and install the new Jumbotron scoreboard, basketball floor, and replacement carpet in the Special Events Center lobby.

* Two of the Broadway series shows - The Producers and Tap Dogs have been rescheduled to spring 2006 from fall 2005 by their producers. Concert business nationwide is still slow.

* A "smoking patio" has been constructed by coliseum crews outside the auditorium to accommodate smokers in that facility. Options to move the smoking area out of the coliseum itself are being explored now that Governor Easley has signed the law allowing the City Council to determine if and where smoking will be allowed there. While we want to "clear the air" inside the arena, we also realize that a significant number of smokers do attend events and we don't want to lose their business. Hopefully an affordable, workable solution can be found to satisfy everyone's needs.

* Due to recent upgrades at no cost to the city, tickets will now be barcode-scanned as patrons enter the facilities instead of the tickets having to be torn. Online ticket purchasers will be able to print their own tickets from their own computers as well.

* The coliseum has obtained a federal energy grant to hire a contractor to study energy use in the facility and to make upgrades to reduce energy consumption. The upgrades will be funded through the projected savings of using less energy; if the savings are not realized, the contractor will have to pay the difference.

* Preliminary drawings for the potential auditorium upgrades are proceeding and will be shared with the city council during deliberations about including this project in the 2006 bond referendum package.

* We discussed problems with trash in parking lots experienced by businesses along High Point Road during Superjam. Matt noted there has never been a bad incident on coliseum property during this annual concert, but cruisers and "after-partys" - often people who did not even attend the concert itself - do create traffic and trash concerns along High Point Road.

* After discussing the negative implications of a new, more restrictive city noise ordinance under consideration might have on events held in the coliseum parking lot such as the Universoul Circus and the September agricultural fair, the Commission unanimously adopted a motion asking the City Council to "grandfather" the coliseum and its properties from the stricter requirements. Interim City Manager Mitchell Johnson said the revised ordinance will be unveiled to the city council at our August briefing session for our consideration and future action.

As you can see, this was a BUSY meeting with lots of good information.

PART kudos

PART received the following email this week from a very satisfied customer:

Hello;

My name is [John Doe] and I live in High Point. I have recently started riding PART. I park at Oak Hollow Mall and then my final destination is the Depot in Greensboro.

I then return via PART in the afternoon. I wanted to let you know how appreciative I am of PART. Besides saving lots of money by not having to drive myself, I have noticed that my stress level has gone way down in such a short time.

The PART buses are very comfortable. The lady drivers I have met so far are very friendly and knowledgeable. I feel very safe with them driving me to work. I know they have a tough, stressful job and they are to be commended for the work they do.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that you have one very satisfied customer! Thank you.

PART continues to progress with steadily increasing ridership and construction of park-and-ride lots around the region. With the dramatic increase in gasoline prices these days, we have another marketing strategy - "a trip from Greensboro to Winston-Salem or High Point on the PART bus costs less than a gallon of gasoline." Additional funding for PART was included in the federal transportation reauthorization bill finally approved by the Senate and House of Representatives last week.

August 1 City Council meeting

Last night's city council meeting turned out to be much shorter than originally anticipated due to the withdrawal by the developer of a hotly contested (and time-consuming) rezoning request on the agenda. That made things more bearable for us council members, considering we had begun our "council day" at 3PM with the closed session to review city manager applications.

In addition to the approval of some routine zoning cases, street closings on the A&T campus, and various board and commission appointments, other items of interest which we did hear include the following:

a Several teen members of Youth First expressed concern about the sale of "Pot Suckers" marijuana-flavored candy being sold in some area stores and how this could lure younger children into the drug scene. City Attorney Linda Miles advised that we could not ban the sale of the candy since it does not contain any prohibited substances. We do plan, however, to adopt a resolution against it and officially contact businesses selling this product and express our displeasure. It was great to see members of the younger generation identifying a problem and taking action on it.

a City staff is working to tighten up ordinance requirements for obtaining building demolition permits in order to make sure that asbestos removal is being performed correctly. Ben Holder brought this issue to our attention during the demolition of the South Gate Inn.

a Action to reduce the amount of new fee being charged for placement of grave monuments and markers in city-operated cemeteries from $150 to $75 was delayed until the next council meeting until some final details are defined.

a As reported in today's News & Record, we approved an agreement with the Guilford County Schools for how the proceeds of the Red Light Camera Program would be paid to the school system if and when the appeals courts rule in their favor. This arrangement will allow the city to pay owed amounts over a 5-year time period, possibly using "in kind" services instead of direct cash payments. This is a sensible agreement which allows the disputed money to be used for provision of services by either the city or the school system, depending on who is the ultimate winner in the appeals process, instead of wasting huge sums on attorneys' fees.

a Councilmember Don Vaughan complained that his direct phone calls to a city department head were being rerouted through the city's Call Center, the function of which is to assist citizens reach the correct person/department when they do not know whom they should be contacting to solve a particular problem. Interim Manager Mitch Johnson acknowledged that some departments are inappropriately using the Call Center for administrative support and that appropriate protocols are being developed to deal with that issue.

a We learned that two members of city staff are now spending 30-60 minutes each work day removing illegally-placed signs around the city. Additional city workers will be trained to do this properly. Candidates beware - your campaign signs illegally placed in city right-of-ways are likely to disappear quickly this election season! [smile]

a Lastly, Councilmember Robbie Perkins proposed increasing the city council salary (currently less than $10,000 per year) and asked staff to research salaries in other jurisdictions for comparison. Robbie is proposing a modest increase, perhaps tied to the annual percentage increase for regular city employees (3.5% this year), and make it effective on July 1, 2006 with the next budget cycle.

While this is a sensitive political issue, I agree that it's time to hold a public debate on a reasonable increase since the council salary has been the same since 1987. Yes, one does know upfront when one runs for office how much the job pays. But to be fair, so does ANY jobseeker upon acceptance of ANY employment. How many of YOU have declined pay increases or cost-of-living adjustments for the past 18 years? [smile] Please share your opinion on this topic and let me know how you feel about it.

Political maneuver revives dead incentive request

Viewers of last night's city council meeting may have been puzzled by Councilmember Yvonne Johnson's unusual motion to add an incentive request hearing to the August 16 meeting agenda. The proposal is to grant city tax incentive money to Epe's to expand operations at their Greensboro facility.

This proposal was presented to the city council in a closed session at the end of our July 19 meeting. The motion to give preliminary approval and schedule a public hearing on the request failed on a 4-4 tie vote with Yvonne not in attendance. [Update - "Yes" votes: Bellamy-Small, Burroughs-White, Holliday and Perkins; "No" votes: Carmany, Gatten, Phillips, and Vaughan] Council members favoring the request were unhappy with the outcome and inquired about parliamentary procedure and other ways to be able to reconsider this request. It looks like they found that way with the passage of last night's motion on a 7-2 vote that signals ultimate approval at the next council meeting. [Update - "Yes" votes: Bellamy-Small, Burroughs-White, Gatten, Holliday, Johnson, Perkins and Vaughan; "No" votes: Carmany and Phillips]

Such is life in the political arena!

Groundbreaking canceled?

After informal talk among various council members during our quick supper break between the 3PM closed session and 5:30PM regular city council meeting, we decided to skip a formal groundbreaking ceremony for the Solid Waste Transfer Station and "just get on with business." Interim City Manager Mitch Johnson was asked to tell construction crews to go ahead and start working on the facility so that no more time would be wasted waiting for a rescheduled ceremony. We can celebrate when the building is completed and operational.

[Unfortunately, not everyone got the word in time about this morning's postponement. News & Record reporter Matt Williams went out to Burnt Poplar Road early today after reading about the groundbreaking ceremony on this blog. Sorry about that, Matt!]

City manager selection progress

Today's closed session where we city council members got our first look at the applications for the position of city manager was a "good news/bad news" situation. The good news is that we have lots of qualified applicants with outstanding credentials, giving city council a wide selection of experienced professionals from which to choose. The bad news is that we have lots of qualified applicants with outstanding credentials, and it's going to be difficult and time-consuming to narrow it down to the one person a majority of us want to fill Ed Kitchen's shoes. Due to the need for total confidentiality, I cannot reveal much of what happened today, but it was a great start to the search process.

The city attorney reviewed with us which factors we council members are legally allowed to consider when evaluating applicants (such as types and length of experience, education level, work ethic, personality, etc.) and those we cannot consider (such as race, gender, and age). Bob Slavin, our consultant, used city council's criteria and presented the applications that most closely matched the characteristics we had identified, approximately half of those originally submitted. He reviewed each one and shared his insights and observations about these individuals.

Council members left the closed session with a homework assignment - to read every application carefully and select our PERSONAL favorite 6-10 candidates. We will meet again in closed session on August 11 after Mr. Slavin tallies each council member's choices to determine the GROUP'S top 6-10 candidates. Once agreement is reached on this "short list," more detailed background checks will be performed, and applicants will be personally interviewed by all city council members. Then it will be decision time.

Hopefully we will have this process completed in early September, but we will take however long is necessary to identify the best person for the job. Wish us luck!

Groundbreaking postponed

A phone call from the city clerk five minutes before I stepped out my door saved me from attending a groundbreaking ceremony for the Solid Waste Transfer Station that wasn't happening today after all. An internal miscommunication gave us council members the wrong date. The new date will be determined later and publicized.