I was highly offended by Councilmember Florence Gatten's comment at this morning's special city council budget meeting when she stated that we do not have a police chief in charge of the department at this time. I totally disagree!
The word "Interim" may appear in his official title, but there is no doubt in my mind that Chief Tim Bellamy has a firm grip on the duties and responsibilities of that position and is performing admirably despite the unfortunate volatile situation into which he stepped. Calls are being answered, citizens are receiving service, and police morale is up.
Thank you, Interim Police Chief Bellamy, for accepting the challenge and for continuing to get the job done!
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
We have a budget...finally!
It was messy and took a lot of hard work, but in the end, the city council (or at least a majority of us) came together as a team to get the job done. Mayor Pro Tem Sandra Anderson Groat deserves a lot of credit for "taking the ball and running with it" after I forced the "game" into "overtime" with last week's budget vote. Many thanks also go to our hardworking staff who operated those computers overtime to crunch the numbers and show us how we could get it down. Mission accomplished!
The city's official press release supplies the final details:
CITY COUNCIL APPROVES 2006-07 BUDGET
Citizens Will See A Property Tax Increase of 4.75 Cents
GREENSBORO, NC (June 27, 2006) – The City Council adopted the FY 2006-07 budget by a 6-3 vote this morning at a special meeting. The approved budget includes the addition of 32 new police officers and a tax increase of 4.75 cents. Last week Council voted 5-4 in favor of a budget that contained an increase of 5.5 cents. A second vote was needed today since that budget passed by only one vote. That budget failed by a 6 to 3 vote.
Today’s adopted budget, proposed by Mayor Pro Tem Sandra Anderson Groat, reduces the tax rate increase from 5.5 cents to 4.75 cents by :
• delaying the start of the Fire Department Recruit School by three months
• reducing funds to the parking decks by $245,000 and
• decreasing the Council reserve fund by $227,000
Mayor Keith Holliday, Mayor Pro Tem Sandra Anderson Groat, and Council members Dianne Bellamy-Small, Sandy Carmany, Yvonne Johnson, and Goldie Wells voted in favor of today’s proposed budget. Council members Mike Barber, Florence Gatten, and Tom Phillips voted against it.
The budget document is available online at www.greensboro-nc.gov.
The city's official press release supplies the final details:
CITY COUNCIL APPROVES 2006-07 BUDGET
Citizens Will See A Property Tax Increase of 4.75 Cents
GREENSBORO, NC (June 27, 2006) – The City Council adopted the FY 2006-07 budget by a 6-3 vote this morning at a special meeting. The approved budget includes the addition of 32 new police officers and a tax increase of 4.75 cents. Last week Council voted 5-4 in favor of a budget that contained an increase of 5.5 cents. A second vote was needed today since that budget passed by only one vote. That budget failed by a 6 to 3 vote.
Today’s adopted budget, proposed by Mayor Pro Tem Sandra Anderson Groat, reduces the tax rate increase from 5.5 cents to 4.75 cents by :
• delaying the start of the Fire Department Recruit School by three months
• reducing funds to the parking decks by $245,000 and
• decreasing the Council reserve fund by $227,000
Mayor Keith Holliday, Mayor Pro Tem Sandra Anderson Groat, and Council members Dianne Bellamy-Small, Sandy Carmany, Yvonne Johnson, and Goldie Wells voted in favor of today’s proposed budget. Council members Mike Barber, Florence Gatten, and Tom Phillips voted against it.
The budget document is available online at www.greensboro-nc.gov.
Monday, June 26, 2006
New water meters
Here's a press release that went out today explaining the city's move to automated water meter reading.
CITY USING NEW TECHNOLOGY TO CONVERT WATER METERS
RadioRead Technology to Reduce Meter Reading Errors and Improve Billing Procedures
GREENSBORO, NC (June 26, 2006) – The City’s Water Resources Department will begin converting water meters this summer to an automated meter reading technology called RadioRead. The new system allows City staff to obtain multiple meter readings electronicallyvinstead of manually and will benefit citizens through greater speed, accuracy and reliability. RadioRead will also allow the City to switch to monthly billing cycles to help customers budget and more accurately track their water usage. RadioRead’s computer technology will also generate more informative reports enabling the City to identify water leaks, thus reducing water loss. Conversion for the entire City will take place in phases over three years at a cost of $13 million. The cost for RadioRead is built into the water and sewer budget, which is funded from existing water and sewer rates. This new technology was widely deployed by electric utilities such as Duke Energy and many other water utilities such as Charlotte, Fayetteville, and the Town of Wake Forest.
“By using the RadioRead system, the residents of Greensboro will benefit through future savings in the form of more efficient use of labor and fuel consumption in the meter reading process,” says Water Resources Director Allan Williams. “This technology is designed to automatically verify the meter reading data and is considered more accurate than visually reading the meter,” he adds.
Installation of the new meter will take about 30 minutes and in most cases residents do not need to be at home. During installation trapped air may enter the water line, but residents can run their water for a short period to clear the line of any air. For more information, call 373-CITY (2489) or visit www.greensboro-nc.gov/water.
CITY USING NEW TECHNOLOGY TO CONVERT WATER METERS
RadioRead Technology to Reduce Meter Reading Errors and Improve Billing Procedures
GREENSBORO, NC (June 26, 2006) – The City’s Water Resources Department will begin converting water meters this summer to an automated meter reading technology called RadioRead. The new system allows City staff to obtain multiple meter readings electronicallyvinstead of manually and will benefit citizens through greater speed, accuracy and reliability. RadioRead will also allow the City to switch to monthly billing cycles to help customers budget and more accurately track their water usage. RadioRead’s computer technology will also generate more informative reports enabling the City to identify water leaks, thus reducing water loss. Conversion for the entire City will take place in phases over three years at a cost of $13 million. The cost for RadioRead is built into the water and sewer budget, which is funded from existing water and sewer rates. This new technology was widely deployed by electric utilities such as Duke Energy and many other water utilities such as Charlotte, Fayetteville, and the Town of Wake Forest.
“By using the RadioRead system, the residents of Greensboro will benefit through future savings in the form of more efficient use of labor and fuel consumption in the meter reading process,” says Water Resources Director Allan Williams. “This technology is designed to automatically verify the meter reading data and is considered more accurate than visually reading the meter,” he adds.
Installation of the new meter will take about 30 minutes and in most cases residents do not need to be at home. During installation trapped air may enter the water line, but residents can run their water for a short period to clear the line of any air. For more information, call 373-CITY (2489) or visit www.greensboro-nc.gov/water.
An easier week (hopefully)
This week is shaping up as a fairly easy one for me, mainly dependent on tomorrow's budget vote.
I spent most of Monday babysitting two of my grandsons while my police officer son underwent knee surgery to repair damage he sustained in a fall a couple of weeks ago during a foot pursuit of suspected drug dealers. Then it was off to my regular monthly meeting with the city manager to discuss a wide variety of topics one-on-one followed by a conference with three other councilmembers seeking a workable compromise on the budget.
The special meeting to vote on the budget begins at 8:30AM on Tuesday, June 27. After we complete that action, we will continue with our regular monthly briefing session with a discussion of the pending bonds and and update on the GDOT parking study.
That's it for the week unless we have to hold yet another budget vote on Thursday. I certainly hope not -- I could really use the break to catch up on neglected household chores and reading the TRC report.
I spent most of Monday babysitting two of my grandsons while my police officer son underwent knee surgery to repair damage he sustained in a fall a couple of weeks ago during a foot pursuit of suspected drug dealers. Then it was off to my regular monthly meeting with the city manager to discuss a wide variety of topics one-on-one followed by a conference with three other councilmembers seeking a workable compromise on the budget.
The special meeting to vote on the budget begins at 8:30AM on Tuesday, June 27. After we complete that action, we will continue with our regular monthly briefing session with a discussion of the pending bonds and and update on the GDOT parking study.
That's it for the week unless we have to hold yet another budget vote on Thursday. I certainly hope not -- I could really use the break to catch up on neglected household chores and reading the TRC report.
The light at the end of the tunnel?
Depending on the second-reading action on the city budget Tuesday morning, the city council could finally be finished with budget meetings for this year! If the currently-approved version of the budget passes again with five votes OR if another version with additional amendments receives six or more votes, the council will have officially adopted the 2006-07 budget, and we can move on to other issues (thank heaven!).
However, if the current version fails and an amended version gathers only five votes, we will have to meet and try again, with Thursday afternoon, June 29, being the earliest we can do so because of Open Meetings Law notification requirements. That would put us uncomfortably close to the June 30 deadline for adoption set by state law, and I don't think any of us want to push it down to the wire like that.
Due to some dogged behind-the-scenes work and negotiations over the past week spearheaded by Councilmember Sandra Anderson Groat, I am cautiously optimistic that we will successfully approve a budget that includes the 32 extra police officers and the GTA service upgrades with a 4.75-cents tax increase instead of the looming 5.5 cents that was approved on a 5-4 vote last week. After four of us met this afternoon (Sandra, Yvonne Johnson, Goldie Wells and me), there seems to be a solid commitment of five votes to approve the budget passed last week with additional reductions of approximately $1.5 million dollars to keep the tax increase down to 4.75 cents. One more "yes" vote and we're "home free!"
This is to be achieved by delaying the one-time purchase of vehicles and equipment for the additional 32 police officers who would begin training in March 2007 until the next budget year (they would not need that equipment until August or September 2008 at the earliest anyway) for a savings of $760,000. Another $318,000 would be saved by delaying the next Fire Department Recruit School for three months, slightly delaying the opening of the Willow Road temporary station by the same amount of time (an area already covered by an existing station so no harm is done). Improvements to the Bellemeade and Davie Street parking decks (mainly lighting) would be delayed for one year for a savings of $245,000, and an additional $227,000 would be transferred in from Fund Balance (not something we would want to do on a routine basis.)
Approving these cuts will obligate the city council to include funding for the ongoing costs for those 32 new officers in next year's budget (.5-cents on the tax rate) and $1 million of the delayed equipment and parking deck needs. But at least our budget staff will have a full year to work on that, and who knows,with a decent upswing in our economy, the growth in revenues could cover those pending costs.
This year's budget process has been a stressful and messy exercise, but well worth the effort, in my opinion. Yes, there is a tax increase coming, but look what we are getting for it -- opening a new garbage transfer station, adding 32 badly-needed police officers, and addressing serious over-crowding issues on our GTA routes in addition to covering routine items such as ever-increasing costs for health insurance coverage for employees and skyrocketing fuel costs for the city's extensive fleet of police cars, fire engines, garbage trucks, etc. It has been time-consuming, and no councilmember is going to be 100% pleased with the overall package. I personally was willing to "bite the bullet" and deal with all the costs this year and avoid any tax increase at all next year, but in the spirit of cooperation, I've agreed to the compromise.
We continued to work together and develop something that a majority of us can support without too many qualms that addresses Greensboro's needs and moves us forward. We can be proud of that.
I'm just happy at the prospect of being done with it and moving on to other pressing issues. WHEW!!!
However, if the current version fails and an amended version gathers only five votes, we will have to meet and try again, with Thursday afternoon, June 29, being the earliest we can do so because of Open Meetings Law notification requirements. That would put us uncomfortably close to the June 30 deadline for adoption set by state law, and I don't think any of us want to push it down to the wire like that.
Due to some dogged behind-the-scenes work and negotiations over the past week spearheaded by Councilmember Sandra Anderson Groat, I am cautiously optimistic that we will successfully approve a budget that includes the 32 extra police officers and the GTA service upgrades with a 4.75-cents tax increase instead of the looming 5.5 cents that was approved on a 5-4 vote last week. After four of us met this afternoon (Sandra, Yvonne Johnson, Goldie Wells and me), there seems to be a solid commitment of five votes to approve the budget passed last week with additional reductions of approximately $1.5 million dollars to keep the tax increase down to 4.75 cents. One more "yes" vote and we're "home free!"
This is to be achieved by delaying the one-time purchase of vehicles and equipment for the additional 32 police officers who would begin training in March 2007 until the next budget year (they would not need that equipment until August or September 2008 at the earliest anyway) for a savings of $760,000. Another $318,000 would be saved by delaying the next Fire Department Recruit School for three months, slightly delaying the opening of the Willow Road temporary station by the same amount of time (an area already covered by an existing station so no harm is done). Improvements to the Bellemeade and Davie Street parking decks (mainly lighting) would be delayed for one year for a savings of $245,000, and an additional $227,000 would be transferred in from Fund Balance (not something we would want to do on a routine basis.)
Approving these cuts will obligate the city council to include funding for the ongoing costs for those 32 new officers in next year's budget (.5-cents on the tax rate) and $1 million of the delayed equipment and parking deck needs. But at least our budget staff will have a full year to work on that, and who knows,with a decent upswing in our economy, the growth in revenues could cover those pending costs.
This year's budget process has been a stressful and messy exercise, but well worth the effort, in my opinion. Yes, there is a tax increase coming, but look what we are getting for it -- opening a new garbage transfer station, adding 32 badly-needed police officers, and addressing serious over-crowding issues on our GTA routes in addition to covering routine items such as ever-increasing costs for health insurance coverage for employees and skyrocketing fuel costs for the city's extensive fleet of police cars, fire engines, garbage trucks, etc. It has been time-consuming, and no councilmember is going to be 100% pleased with the overall package. I personally was willing to "bite the bullet" and deal with all the costs this year and avoid any tax increase at all next year, but in the spirit of cooperation, I've agreed to the compromise.
We continued to work together and develop something that a majority of us can support without too many qualms that addresses Greensboro's needs and moves us forward. We can be proud of that.
I'm just happy at the prospect of being done with it and moving on to other pressing issues. WHEW!!!
City Connections
The latest edition of City Connections contains a summary of the tentative 2006-07 budget as it stands today. Heaven only knows if additional changes will be approved tomorrow! (My husband is ribbing me mightily for the basketball analogy in today's editorial.)
Finally finished!
One of our family traditions begun by my husband's mother and continued by me is to knit or crochet an afghan as a special gift for each new Carmany baby. We will be welcoming the 8th Carmany grandchild -- a little girl -- into the family in late July or early August. Therefore, I have been devoting all my free time over the last six weeks or so to fulfilling that expectation. I finally finished it up late last night, and here is the final result.
Okay, the afghan is complete. The stork is now cleared for landing!
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Joey's coming back!
At last, I'm free to "let the cat out of the bag" -- Joey Cheek will be returning to Greensboro and serving as the Grand Marshal for our Fun Fourth parade! Some of us members of the planning committee have known about this for a while, but had to keep it quiet until everything was approved and confirmed. Here's the press release.
( photo credit www.viewcalgary.com)
Joey Cheek to be Grand Marshal on July 4th
Greensboro, NC – Greensboro’s hometown Olympic star, Joey Cheek, will be the Grand Marshal of the Fun Fourth Festival Parade on Tuesday, July 4.
Festival organizers are excited.
“Working with key officials, the Festival Advisory Board submitted a proposal inviting him to be our Grand Marshal when he was here in March,” said Betty Cone, event chairperson. “We’ve kept our fingers crossed that he would agree.”
Festival officials have been busy making plans to accommodate him. “We’ve never had such an international star be part of our event and we want to make sure everything’s in place to make his participation extra special,” said Cone. “We’re ecstatic that he’s going to be in various locations throughout the festival to meet and greet the public. He’ll be with us until early afternoon.”
The Fun Fourth Festival Parade will begin earlier than in years past, at 9:30 a.m. instead of 10 a.m., on Independence Day on North Greene Street near the Greensboro Marriott Downtown. The parade sponsor is the Greater Greensboro Merchants Association; the media sponsor is WFMY News 2.
Cheek won more medals in 2006 in speed skating than any other contestant. He won the gold medal in the 500-meter race and the silver in the 1,000-meter in Torino, Italy. In 2002, the Greensboro native won the bronze medal in the 1,000-meter race in Salt Lake City.
After winning the 2006 contests, he donated his $40,000 prize money from the gold and silver medals to the Right to Play (www.righttoplay.com) organization and has formed a non-profit foundation to help refugee efforts in the Darfur region of the country of Sudan in Africa.
Right to Play is an international non-profit organization that helps children in disadvantaged countries grown and develop through sports.
In March, when he returned from the Olympics, the City of Greensboro celebrated Joey Cheek Day. The daylong series of events focused on honoring Cheek’s accomplishment and raising funds for the Right to Play initiative. By day’s end, the Greensboro community had raised almost $300,000 in support of Cheek’s charity and local youth charities, including the establishment of the Joey Cheek International Scholarship Fund.
For more information about the festival, log onto www.aroundthepiedmonttriad.com. To learn more about Joey Cheek and his charities, visit www.joeycheek.com or www.qsports.net.
( photo credit www.viewcalgary.com)Joey Cheek to be Grand Marshal on July 4th
Greensboro, NC – Greensboro’s hometown Olympic star, Joey Cheek, will be the Grand Marshal of the Fun Fourth Festival Parade on Tuesday, July 4.
Festival organizers are excited.
“Working with key officials, the Festival Advisory Board submitted a proposal inviting him to be our Grand Marshal when he was here in March,” said Betty Cone, event chairperson. “We’ve kept our fingers crossed that he would agree.”
Festival officials have been busy making plans to accommodate him. “We’ve never had such an international star be part of our event and we want to make sure everything’s in place to make his participation extra special,” said Cone. “We’re ecstatic that he’s going to be in various locations throughout the festival to meet and greet the public. He’ll be with us until early afternoon.”
The Fun Fourth Festival Parade will begin earlier than in years past, at 9:30 a.m. instead of 10 a.m., on Independence Day on North Greene Street near the Greensboro Marriott Downtown. The parade sponsor is the Greater Greensboro Merchants Association; the media sponsor is WFMY News 2.
Cheek won more medals in 2006 in speed skating than any other contestant. He won the gold medal in the 500-meter race and the silver in the 1,000-meter in Torino, Italy. In 2002, the Greensboro native won the bronze medal in the 1,000-meter race in Salt Lake City.
After winning the 2006 contests, he donated his $40,000 prize money from the gold and silver medals to the Right to Play (www.righttoplay.com) organization and has formed a non-profit foundation to help refugee efforts in the Darfur region of the country of Sudan in Africa.
Right to Play is an international non-profit organization that helps children in disadvantaged countries grown and develop through sports.
In March, when he returned from the Olympics, the City of Greensboro celebrated Joey Cheek Day. The daylong series of events focused on honoring Cheek’s accomplishment and raising funds for the Right to Play initiative. By day’s end, the Greensboro community had raised almost $300,000 in support of Cheek’s charity and local youth charities, including the establishment of the Joey Cheek International Scholarship Fund.
For more information about the festival, log onto www.aroundthepiedmonttriad.com. To learn more about Joey Cheek and his charities, visit www.joeycheek.com or www.qsports.net.
It ain't over 'til...
...the final vote is taken!
You could have knocked me over with a feather when the vote count showed up on our council monitors this evening and my substitute motion on the budget to add another 3/4-cent to the tax rate to hire 32 additional police officers had passed by 5-4. Based on conversations and feedback from other councilmembers, I had already resigned myself to losing on that issue by the same margin. I was momentarily stunned when I looked at the screen and saw that fifth vote in the "yes" column.
All I can say is "Thank you, Sandra Anderson Groat, for making a gutsy decision that I believe is a positive step to improve public safety for our citizens." Dianne Bellamy Small, Yvonne Johnson, and Goldie Wells have promoted this proposal for a long time and deserve a lot of credit as well.
In addition to authorizing the bulk of the city's operating expenses for 2006-07, that same vote also approved an increase in GTA fixed-route and SCAT service fares and authorized 30-minute service on all GTA routes beginning January 1 as well as beginning the South Town Connecter route. Despite this being an extremely difficult financial year, I applaud the long-overdue progress in public safety and transportation services offered by the city.
The city council will have to take another vote on this part of the budget on next Tuesday, June 27, immediately before our regular monthly briefing session since this item did not receive the six votes necessary to pass it with one reading. Another 5-4 vote in favor will seal its final approval.
Hang in there, Sandra -- you made the right choice for Greensboro!
You could have knocked me over with a feather when the vote count showed up on our council monitors this evening and my substitute motion on the budget to add another 3/4-cent to the tax rate to hire 32 additional police officers had passed by 5-4. Based on conversations and feedback from other councilmembers, I had already resigned myself to losing on that issue by the same margin. I was momentarily stunned when I looked at the screen and saw that fifth vote in the "yes" column.
All I can say is "Thank you, Sandra Anderson Groat, for making a gutsy decision that I believe is a positive step to improve public safety for our citizens." Dianne Bellamy Small, Yvonne Johnson, and Goldie Wells have promoted this proposal for a long time and deserve a lot of credit as well.
In addition to authorizing the bulk of the city's operating expenses for 2006-07, that same vote also approved an increase in GTA fixed-route and SCAT service fares and authorized 30-minute service on all GTA routes beginning January 1 as well as beginning the South Town Connecter route. Despite this being an extremely difficult financial year, I applaud the long-overdue progress in public safety and transportation services offered by the city.
The city council will have to take another vote on this part of the budget on next Tuesday, June 27, immediately before our regular monthly briefing session since this item did not receive the six votes necessary to pass it with one reading. Another 5-4 vote in favor will seal its final approval.
Hang in there, Sandra -- you made the right choice for Greensboro!
Another side of Connie Chung
This video of Connie Chung was one of the offerings that showed up on my AOL opening screen. Ouch! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but I found it absolutely excrutiating.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Weekly schedule
This week has its busy moments but doesn't look too bad overall.
I attended a Fun Fourth Advisory meeting this afternoon address some last-minute details, but had the rest of the day clear. Most of the day was spent taking care of neglected yard work, and I obviously did not put on enough sunscreen. My shoulders and upper arms are quite red but not too painful thanks to some soothing aloe lotion.
Tuesday, June 20 brings the regular city council meeting where we are scheduled to adopt the 2006-07 city budget. There is still a lot of behind-the-scenes negotiating over the issue of adding 3/4 cents more to the property tax rate to pay for 32 additional police officers. The outcome of that debate still is not clear and may hinge on one vote falling one way or the other. For some reason, several councilmembers have staked out 4.75 cents increase as their "line in the sand" and are refusing to cross it. Whatever the outcome, it will be good to get some version of the budget adopted and move on to other issues.
Otherwise, there should be no other surprises on the agenda. Most of the rezoning cases have been withdrawn or a delay has been requested. There will be a vote on the individual items to be placed on the fall bond referendum, but I am not aware of any changes from the straw vote and am not expecting any changes.
On Wednesday, June 21 I will be attending both the Piedmont Triad Regional Planning Organization (RPO) meeting and the delegates meeting/luncheon of the Piedmont Triad Council of Governments. This day is going to be my "regional" day.
The Fun Fourth kick-off breakfast for sponsors is on Thursday morning, June 22. I have a meeting at Imani Institute immediately after that in my role as the chair of the state Charter School Advisory Committee.
I'm keeping Friday clear to visit with my sister and her husband who are driving in from Tennessee to visit for the weekend. They want to go to a Grasshoppers game and see First Horizon Stadium for the first time.
That's it for this week!
I attended a Fun Fourth Advisory meeting this afternoon address some last-minute details, but had the rest of the day clear. Most of the day was spent taking care of neglected yard work, and I obviously did not put on enough sunscreen. My shoulders and upper arms are quite red but not too painful thanks to some soothing aloe lotion.
Tuesday, June 20 brings the regular city council meeting where we are scheduled to adopt the 2006-07 city budget. There is still a lot of behind-the-scenes negotiating over the issue of adding 3/4 cents more to the property tax rate to pay for 32 additional police officers. The outcome of that debate still is not clear and may hinge on one vote falling one way or the other. For some reason, several councilmembers have staked out 4.75 cents increase as their "line in the sand" and are refusing to cross it. Whatever the outcome, it will be good to get some version of the budget adopted and move on to other issues.
Otherwise, there should be no other surprises on the agenda. Most of the rezoning cases have been withdrawn or a delay has been requested. There will be a vote on the individual items to be placed on the fall bond referendum, but I am not aware of any changes from the straw vote and am not expecting any changes.
On Wednesday, June 21 I will be attending both the Piedmont Triad Regional Planning Organization (RPO) meeting and the delegates meeting/luncheon of the Piedmont Triad Council of Governments. This day is going to be my "regional" day.
The Fun Fourth kick-off breakfast for sponsors is on Thursday morning, June 22. I have a meeting at Imani Institute immediately after that in my role as the chair of the state Charter School Advisory Committee.
I'm keeping Friday clear to visit with my sister and her husband who are driving in from Tennessee to visit for the weekend. They want to go to a Grasshoppers game and see First Horizon Stadium for the first time.
That's it for this week!
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Controversial zoning request withdrawn
With the calls and emails I continue to receive, it is apparent that the news has not gotten out to everyone so I will post a public service announcement here. {smile}
City council members received a letter dated June 14 from the attorney representing the applicants for the rezoning requests at 1501 & 1503 New Garden Road and 5400 & 5402 Garden Lake Drive (the Walgreens and bank projects) officially WITHDRAWING those rezoning applications. Therefore, the "case is closed" on these proposals, and the items will be deleted from Tuesday night's agenda.
The letter further states,
City council members received a letter dated June 14 from the attorney representing the applicants for the rezoning requests at 1501 & 1503 New Garden Road and 5400 & 5402 Garden Lake Drive (the Walgreens and bank projects) officially WITHDRAWING those rezoning applications. Therefore, the "case is closed" on these proposals, and the items will be deleted from Tuesday night's agenda.
The letter further states,
"We believe that, with additional time and input from others involved, we can revisit these properties and present a plan that will meet the objectives of the Comprehensive Plan for this area."Translated, that means that opponents of the proposals have successfully defeated the rezonings for now. However, they are going to be coming back at you in some other form, hopefully with your input being considered and incorporated into any future proposals.
Friday, June 16, 2006
State video franchising problems
While all of us welcome competition in the provision of video services in hopes of driving down the cost to consumers, the current bills under consideration in both the House and Senate of the NC General Assembly harbor some serious financial and service consequences for Greensboro. So far, attempts to minimize those harmful impacts through amendments to the bills have failed.
Here are a few of the concerns voiced in recent letters from Mayor Holliday and City Manager Mitchell Johnson to legislators:
X Service to New and Annexed Areas -- There are no provisions to require ANY provider (not even existing franchises such as Time Warner) to provide new service to new areas that are built or annexed. Under the city's current agreement, providers are required to eventually serve the entire city, not just the more affluent, profitable-to-the-provider areas.
X Stronger Provision for PEG and INET needs -- Time Warner currently provides grant money for PEG channels (Public Access Channel 8, Education Channel 2,and Government Channel 13) that is not related to the franchise fee or any subscriber charges. For example, this money helped pay for the cameras and video-display capabilities in the city council chambers. There is also an internal closed-circuit channel that connects all our fire stations that is used for training and accreditation purposes (INET). Time Warner presently provides the city with an institutional network linking public facilities and with emergency alert capabilities using cable facilities. The proposed bills are not clear about the continued provision of these services and the proposed revenue distribution formula does not make the city "whole" -- Greensboro would lose more than $1 million annually and negatively impact our ability to serve and protect citizens.
X Fair distribution of local revenue -- Return of revenue to cities and counties should be based on the revenue generated from the respective cities and counties, NOT based on population. Revenue generated in Greensboro should be returned to Greensboro, not distributed elsewhere. There is also no provision for future growth in revenue we would receive if the franchises remain local.
X Equitable Broadband Availability -- Most economic development efforts to bring new business and jobs will be fruitless unless broadband infrastructure is available to serve specific sites. If franchises are able to pick and choose where they will provide service, some areas of Greensboro would be left out of consideration for economic development opportunities if service was not available there.
X Control over Local Rights-of-Way -- Right now, Greensboro has the authority to control what is placed in our publicly-owned land, our rights-of-way. That provision must be protected lest anyone/everyone just show up and start installing lines/equipment, potentially disrupting existing city services and utilities.
X Complaints -- While it might be nice for the city not to have to deal with complaints about cable service any longer, it's likely to be much more cumbersome for the consumer to have to call the State Attorney General's office.
X Creditworthiness -- The current bills prohibit the Secretary of State (the proposed new franchising authority) from checking the creditworthiness of applicants for franchises. Existing franchise agreements usually require providers to maintain a performance bond.
X Benefits of competition -- Market forces can only check price abuse when there is significant competition already in place. The video services competition bill does not require any level of competition before total deregulation. Since there is currently little competition in Greensboro, deregulation could occur immediately with no benefits to consumers.
A personal observation -- despite all the deregulation of the telephone industry and all the competition that currently exists, my phone bills have risen steadily over the years. I haven't found any real bargains out there, have you? I'm paying more than ever for telephone service.
Will I/consumers truly benefit from the proposals currently under consideration? I, as a consumer, am very skeptical. As a councilmember, I'm downright frightened of the financial implications for the city.
Here are a few of the concerns voiced in recent letters from Mayor Holliday and City Manager Mitchell Johnson to legislators:
X Service to New and Annexed Areas -- There are no provisions to require ANY provider (not even existing franchises such as Time Warner) to provide new service to new areas that are built or annexed. Under the city's current agreement, providers are required to eventually serve the entire city, not just the more affluent, profitable-to-the-provider areas.
X Stronger Provision for PEG and INET needs -- Time Warner currently provides grant money for PEG channels (Public Access Channel 8, Education Channel 2,and Government Channel 13) that is not related to the franchise fee or any subscriber charges. For example, this money helped pay for the cameras and video-display capabilities in the city council chambers. There is also an internal closed-circuit channel that connects all our fire stations that is used for training and accreditation purposes (INET). Time Warner presently provides the city with an institutional network linking public facilities and with emergency alert capabilities using cable facilities. The proposed bills are not clear about the continued provision of these services and the proposed revenue distribution formula does not make the city "whole" -- Greensboro would lose more than $1 million annually and negatively impact our ability to serve and protect citizens.
X Fair distribution of local revenue -- Return of revenue to cities and counties should be based on the revenue generated from the respective cities and counties, NOT based on population. Revenue generated in Greensboro should be returned to Greensboro, not distributed elsewhere. There is also no provision for future growth in revenue we would receive if the franchises remain local.
X Equitable Broadband Availability -- Most economic development efforts to bring new business and jobs will be fruitless unless broadband infrastructure is available to serve specific sites. If franchises are able to pick and choose where they will provide service, some areas of Greensboro would be left out of consideration for economic development opportunities if service was not available there.
X Control over Local Rights-of-Way -- Right now, Greensboro has the authority to control what is placed in our publicly-owned land, our rights-of-way. That provision must be protected lest anyone/everyone just show up and start installing lines/equipment, potentially disrupting existing city services and utilities.
X Complaints -- While it might be nice for the city not to have to deal with complaints about cable service any longer, it's likely to be much more cumbersome for the consumer to have to call the State Attorney General's office.
X Creditworthiness -- The current bills prohibit the Secretary of State (the proposed new franchising authority) from checking the creditworthiness of applicants for franchises. Existing franchise agreements usually require providers to maintain a performance bond.
X Benefits of competition -- Market forces can only check price abuse when there is significant competition already in place. The video services competition bill does not require any level of competition before total deregulation. Since there is currently little competition in Greensboro, deregulation could occur immediately with no benefits to consumers.
A personal observation -- despite all the deregulation of the telephone industry and all the competition that currently exists, my phone bills have risen steadily over the years. I haven't found any real bargains out there, have you? I'm paying more than ever for telephone service.
Will I/consumers truly benefit from the proposals currently under consideration? I, as a consumer, am very skeptical. As a councilmember, I'm downright frightened of the financial implications for the city.
PART progress
PART's board meeting got off to a late start Wednesday morning -- we had to wait for a quorum to arrive with some members being delayed by the heavy rains or other commitments (such as Mayor Holliday greeting Secretary of State Rice at the airport). Once sufficient numbers arrived, we whipped through a short but significant agenda.
The first action was to approve an employee benefit plan and transition several persons into official PART employees. We've had several persons who worked fulltime on PART duties but were on the payrolls of Winston-Salem or ATC/Vancom. Now everyone is under the same PART "umbrella" -- another step forward in our continued growth.
Next we approved a three-year contract with American Charters to provide the drivers, maintenance, and insurance for the PART Express and PART Connections services. PART will be providing our own buses purchased with a federal grant (and to be licensed in North Carolina, not in Florida as with American Charters' current buses) and our own fuel. The fuel provision is a proactive effort to address our air quality problems; we will be using low-sulfur diesel fuel a year earlier than new federal regulations go into effect and placing our own refueling tank on American Charter's site in Winston-Salem.
Lastly, we approved an agreement with the City of King in Stokes County to establish a park-and-ride lot that will accommodate approximately 25 parking spaces there. Negotiations are underway to establish similar facilities in Archdale, Trinity, Randleman, High Point, two sites in Alamance County, and southeastern Guilford County. Not only do these facilities help improve air quality by assisting people to carpool and/or vanpool (removing some vehicles and their emissions from our roads), but they also reduce the demand for parking spaces in the urban areas that cities and/or employers must provide for these commuters. The construction of these additional lots will likely deplete the federal grant we received for this purpose.
Executive Director Brent McKinney reported that ridership in May 2006 was 38% higher than May 2005. Ridership jumped dramatically when gasoline prices approached $3/gallon, but once people became accustomed to the "culture" of riding public transportation, ridership has held steady even when gasoline prices inched downward.
There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new park-and-ride lot in Pilot Mountain on Thursday, July 13 at 11:00AM. I will be participating in that ceremony. That event is a precursor to the July 31 beginning of PART Express service from Mount Airy to Winston-Salem with a stop in Pilot Mountain.
PART is in discussions with the state to provide twice-a-day, seven-days-a-week bus service to Boone with state funding to replace the discontinued Greyhound/Trailways service from the Triad to that area.
The Heart of the Triad steering committee and PART board members are invited to participate in a July 28 field trip to Charlotte to see the construction of their light rail line and and the tremendous economic growth in the South Boulevard corridor as well as transit-oriented development in Cornelius and Huntersville.
NCDOT has offered to participate in discussions examining the feasibility of merging or coordinating public transit and human services transportation in Guilford County with GTA and/or PART. This has the potential of addressing our continuing funding concerns with SCAT and the county's transportation services for the ill and elderly.
State Board of Transportation chairman Doug Galyon informed us that a portion of Raleigh's outer loop -- I-540 in southern Wake County -- is likely to become the state's first toll road with completion possible as early as 2011.
It was a fairly short, but highly productive meeting.
The first action was to approve an employee benefit plan and transition several persons into official PART employees. We've had several persons who worked fulltime on PART duties but were on the payrolls of Winston-Salem or ATC/Vancom. Now everyone is under the same PART "umbrella" -- another step forward in our continued growth.
Next we approved a three-year contract with American Charters to provide the drivers, maintenance, and insurance for the PART Express and PART Connections services. PART will be providing our own buses purchased with a federal grant (and to be licensed in North Carolina, not in Florida as with American Charters' current buses) and our own fuel. The fuel provision is a proactive effort to address our air quality problems; we will be using low-sulfur diesel fuel a year earlier than new federal regulations go into effect and placing our own refueling tank on American Charter's site in Winston-Salem.
Lastly, we approved an agreement with the City of King in Stokes County to establish a park-and-ride lot that will accommodate approximately 25 parking spaces there. Negotiations are underway to establish similar facilities in Archdale, Trinity, Randleman, High Point, two sites in Alamance County, and southeastern Guilford County. Not only do these facilities help improve air quality by assisting people to carpool and/or vanpool (removing some vehicles and their emissions from our roads), but they also reduce the demand for parking spaces in the urban areas that cities and/or employers must provide for these commuters. The construction of these additional lots will likely deplete the federal grant we received for this purpose.
Executive Director Brent McKinney reported that ridership in May 2006 was 38% higher than May 2005. Ridership jumped dramatically when gasoline prices approached $3/gallon, but once people became accustomed to the "culture" of riding public transportation, ridership has held steady even when gasoline prices inched downward.
There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new park-and-ride lot in Pilot Mountain on Thursday, July 13 at 11:00AM. I will be participating in that ceremony. That event is a precursor to the July 31 beginning of PART Express service from Mount Airy to Winston-Salem with a stop in Pilot Mountain.
PART is in discussions with the state to provide twice-a-day, seven-days-a-week bus service to Boone with state funding to replace the discontinued Greyhound/Trailways service from the Triad to that area.
The Heart of the Triad steering committee and PART board members are invited to participate in a July 28 field trip to Charlotte to see the construction of their light rail line and and the tremendous economic growth in the South Boulevard corridor as well as transit-oriented development in Cornelius and Huntersville.
NCDOT has offered to participate in discussions examining the feasibility of merging or coordinating public transit and human services transportation in Guilford County with GTA and/or PART. This has the potential of addressing our continuing funding concerns with SCAT and the county's transportation services for the ill and elderly.
State Board of Transportation chairman Doug Galyon informed us that a portion of Raleigh's outer loop -- I-540 in southern Wake County -- is likely to become the state's first toll road with completion possible as early as 2011.
It was a fairly short, but highly productive meeting.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
More police officers needed THIS year
The editorial in today's News & Record (not posted on the website) accurately quoted me as saying major changes are unlikely as the city council moves toward adopting the 2006-07 budget on June 20. Having acknowledged that fact, I am still advocating the addition of another 32 police officers and the needed 3/4-cent additional tax rate increase to hire, train, equip and pay those officers.
* Timing is critical. Even if the new positions were to be authorized in this year's budget, it would be at least March 2007 before new recruits could begin their training. They would not be ready to "hit the streets" until the 2007-08 budget year. How much longer can we wait to fulfill one of the city's basic responsibilities?
I could always be wrong, but I do not believe citizens are going to be any more upset with a 5.5-cents tax increase as opposed to a 4.75-cents increase. Most would prefer no increase at all and see ANY increase as bad. However, as evidenced by the strong support citizens are expressing for various programs and positions facing cuts, few are willing to sacrifice service to achieve that goal.
Knowing that, I am willing to vote for the additional 3/4-cent tax increase in order to fund an additional 32 police officers in THIS year's budget. Three other councilmembers voted for it in our work session last week -- Dianne Bellamy-Small, Yvonne Johnson, and Goldie Wells. We're hoping at least one more councilmember will join us in funding and addressing this legitimate need facing our city.
Early in the budget deliberations, we were facing a 5.25-cent increase in the proposed budget submitted by the city manager plus an additional penny to implement the badly needed 30-minute service on all existing GTA bus routes. I reluctantly agreed at that time with the majority of other councilmembers that we simply could not afford to add still another penny to increase the number of sworn positions in the Greensboro Police Department. However, in preparing for our last budget work session, I took a hard look at reality, commitments and priorities and realized we needed to find a way to fund those new officers if at all possible. When we were successful in lowering the tax increase to 4.75 cents (which included the money to expand GTA service) and I learned we could include the additional officers for less than a penny, I decided that more officers were more important to me than avoiding that additional 3/4-cent increase.
How did I reach that conclusion?
* The need has been verified by staff and acknowledged by the city council. The updated 2006 Patrol Staffing Study prepared by the Greensboro Police Department confirmed the need for additional officers originally identified in the 2003 staffing level study.
The average response time for Priority 1 calls is 8:42 minutes, significantly higher than the 6-minute goal. Response time is highest of the comparison cities of Durham and Raleigh( page 21). Priority 2 responses are averaging 11 minutes versus the goal of 10 minutes.
The typical patrol officer spends 71.83% of his/her time answering Calls for Service and 20.5% on administrative duties (line-ups, vehicle service, writing reports, etc.) This leaves less than 10% of his/her time for patrol and conducting proactive services, the opportunity to prevent crimes from occurring in the first place.
On page 7 of this study, staff responded to my question of "How many times are you 10-100 (the code for "no officers available)?" The answer - quoted directly from page 7 of the report - shocked me.
"In FY2004-05, there were 29,104 high priority instances (Priority 1) when a call was held due to having no officers available. The average time held for 29,104 calls was 1.39 minutes. There are occurrences when officers will cancel back-up for a call that should have two officers in an effort to decrease the time a call would have to hold before dispatch. This can create a dangerous situation for the officers involved."
By my calculations, this averages 79.74 held calls per day. This is unacceptable to me and cannot be ignored any longer!
Greensboro's Part 1 Crimes per 1,000 residents (60.3) in 2004-05 was higher than the state average of 56.48. (page 14) We lag behind Raleigh and Durham in the number of officers per square mile and the lowest of all comparison cities regarding the number of sworn officers per road mile (pages 17-18).
We councilmembers are receiving more and more complaints from citizens who are upset about not seeing officers on patrol in their neighborhoods, perceived lack of traffic enforcement, and the long response times for non-emergency calls. The Greensboro Police Officers Association and individual officers have been expressing their concerns for several years about the heavy workload they are carrying and for their own safety.
* The city council deferred adding officers last year during 2005 budget deliberations in order to avoid any tax increase and committed to add officers THIS year, 2006.
* Timing is critical. Even if the new positions were to be authorized in this year's budget, it would be at least March 2007 before new recruits could begin their training. They would not be ready to "hit the streets" until the 2007-08 budget year. How much longer can we wait to fulfill one of the city's basic responsibilities?
I could always be wrong, but I do not believe citizens are going to be any more upset with a 5.5-cents tax increase as opposed to a 4.75-cents increase. Most would prefer no increase at all and see ANY increase as bad. However, as evidenced by the strong support citizens are expressing for various programs and positions facing cuts, few are willing to sacrifice service to achieve that goal.
Knowing that, I am willing to vote for the additional 3/4-cent tax increase in order to fund an additional 32 police officers in THIS year's budget. Three other councilmembers voted for it in our work session last week -- Dianne Bellamy-Small, Yvonne Johnson, and Goldie Wells. We're hoping at least one more councilmember will join us in funding and addressing this legitimate need facing our city.
Monday, June 12, 2006
City Connections
Learn about how to apply for the Greensboro's next citizen's academy and about RadioRead for your water meter in the latest edition of City Connections.
Weekly schedule
This week's schedule is considerably lighter than last week's, thank heaven! I don't have any official functions on Monday and am substituting in a daytime bridge club for a bit of fun and relaxation.
I have an early morning legislative breakfast sponsored by the the Greensboro Regional Realtors Association on Tuesday, June 13. Then I am clear again until that evening when the East Hunter Hills Crime Watch meets at 7:00pm.
The PART board meets at 8:30am on Wednesday, June 14. The main items on the agenda include consideration of an employee benefit package (several of the PART employees are on the payroll of the City of Winston-Salem or other entities; they will become PART employees with this action), consideration of a contract for regional express and shuttle bus services (American Charters has been recommended by the selection panel), and consideration of an agreement to lease park-and-ride spaces from the City of King.
I'm meeting with members of the Lindley Park Neighborhood Association at lunchtime to hear some of their concerns about the neighborhood. This day will end with a meeting of the executive board of the Piedmont Triad Council of Governments in the evening.
The only meeting I have on Thursday, June 15 is a regional meeting sponsored by the NC Department of Transportation at GTCC at 4:00pm to discuss the regionalization of public transportation in North Carolina. According to the information I received, "This initiative will examine opportunities to coordinate the work of existing single-county and urban transportation systems to form more comprehensive operations serving larger geographic areas." That sure sounds like PART to me!
This day should end on a pleasant note when I attend the opening night performance of The Matchmaker at Triad Stage with my husband.
I don't have any meetings on Friday, June 16 but plan to attend the thank-you reception for the Tournament Town volunteers and attend the Pat Benetar concert as part of that function. It should be an interesting evening!
Thunderstorms are rolling in again -- time to sign off!
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Successful rabbit remedies
Many thanks to everyone who responded with advice on how to deal with the pesky rabbits that were ruining my ornamental plants and vegetable garden. Those who suggest "hair for the hare" seemed to have saved the day for me. After placing human hair around the ornamentals and dog hair among the bean plants in the garden (thanks to the donation from Tom Phillip's golden retriever), I haven't found any more nibbled leaves. My daughter-in-law is going to provide additional ammunition from her long-haired cats when she grooms them this week.
Hopefully the rabbit problem has been solved without any bloodshed.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Budget decisions
In a 5-hour marathon budget work session this afternoon and evening, we councilmembers made some TENTATIVE decisions on the 2006-07 budget . We took straw votes on each individual item on the proposed "cut list" as well as reaching agreement on the SCAT and GTA task force proposals. These decisions helped form the budget that the city manager will present for final adoption at our June 20 regular meeting. The actions cut $1,364,865 from the manager's original proposal, added $1,004,961 in building inspection fees revenue, shifted $479,423 in transportation expenses to the Powell Bill funding (money from the state generated by the gasoline tax), and approved 30-minute service for our GTA buses. This creates a proposed tax increase of 4.75 cents, down from the potential 6.25 cents that would have resulted without the cuts.
The cuts that were approved by the city council include the following:
X Eliminate the Human Relations Coordinator position that manages the Greensboro Community Forum, Annual Multicultural Unity Festival, and the Mosaic Program.
X Reduce the staff position for the Commission on the Status of Women to half-time.
X Make program reductions in the Organizational Development and Communications Department that would eliminate the Channel 13 broadcasts of Parks & Recreation Commission and Human Relations Commission meetings; cut one Communication Specialist position that may reduce the amount of printed materials produced by the city, including the calendar and/or city map.
X An Associate General Counsel and paralegal position were cut in the Legal Department, enabled by the elimination of the Homeownership program from the Nussbaum Fund.
X The Planning Department lost a Mapping Technician position that works with GIS.
X One Program Specialist who oversees the hockey program at the Sportsplex was eliminated.
X The Assistant Park Supervisor was cut from Tannenbaum Park.
X The Office Assistant at the Maintenance Shop was cut.
X A part-time maintenance worker was cut from the Bryan Park Soccer Complex.
X The opening of the Barber Park Sprayground is delayed until July 2008 due to design and construction delays.
X Two of the Waste Reduction Inspectors (persons who examine residential recyling cans to limit contamination) in Solid Waste will be cut.
X Funding for a Roadway Maintenance Crew (9 positions) will be shifted to the Powell Bill money that is used to fund street resurfacing, resulting in a slowdown in repaving neighborhood streets.
X The Homeownership program under the Nussbaum Fund was eliminated with all the other programs (Homelessness, Affordable Housing, etc.) left untouched.
The manager noted that many of these cuts would not necessarily eliminate a particular program or service, but it might take longer to perform the service or fulfill a request. Any personnel whose job is eliminated will be given first preference for other vacancies in other city positions for which they are qualified.
All the other proposed cuts on the list were NOT approved. We councilmembers received numerous emails, calls, and letters begging us not to close the marinas at Lakes Higgins and Brandt, or eliminate the information reference service at the library, or cut the Children's Theater, among others. Every program obviously has its own loyal constituency.
On an 8-1 vote, the council approved the changes to the GTA fares (raise them by 10-cents/year for the next three years) and SCAT fares and policies with one adjustment (the cost for the 40-ride ticket will remain at the current level of $56 as a compromise with riders instead of raising it to $70 as originally proposed). The unlimited ride pass will be eliminated and all trips charged on a per-trip basis. There were six votes to approve and fund 30-minute service on all GTA routes and to begin the South Town Connector serving the Hemphill Branch Library and the WalMart shopping area on South Elm-Eugene.
One item that is NOT funded in this budget proposal are the additional 32-police officers we should have added this year according to the police staffing report. If they are not added this year, the city manager has made it clear that it MUST be done next year. The cost to hire, train, and outfit those additional officers would have resulted in an additional .75 cent increase in the tax rate, bringing the grand total to 5.5 cents. Councilmembers Dianne Bellamy-Small, Yvonne Johnson, Goldie Wells and myself supported this idea, but unfortunately, we were one vote short of being successful. I think this is an important need to be addressed in our city and I'm not quite ready to give up on it yet.
As I noted earlier, nothing is official until the June 20th vote, but at this point, it is unlikely there will be any major changes. But who knows, that fifth vote for the additional police officers could materialize (or not) by then -- one can always hope.
Nussbaum Fund clarifications
I feel badly that I have not had time to blog lately and provide details of the city council's budget and bond debates. There is certainly a wealth of topics I should be addressing, but I still have not been able to devote much (any) time to report on them. That need became very apparent at last night's public hearing on the proposed budget where numerous people spoke from the heart about the possible elimination of the Nussbaum Fund -- the portion of the city property tax designated for housing and homeless programs -- based on incomplete and/or misleading information provided in various media reports about council's deliberations. Since the charter schools meeting in Raleigh that was on my schedule for tomorrow has been postponed, I can afford to stay up a bit later tonight and try to better explain the situation.
Councilmember Mike Barber requested the city manager to provide a list of potential cuts in order to avoid any tax increase whatsoever this year (cut $10+ million in projected expenses). In response, City Manager Mitchell Johnson instructed department heads to submit cuts to General Fund programs and services that the city currently provides that are not mandated by law or essential to public safety. The resulting document included budget reductions of $8.7 million, revenue enhancements of $700,000 (increased building inspection fees), and shifting of some costs to other funding sources. The cuts targeted several departments and included a loss of personnel in Human Relations, Library (information services staff), Finance, Budget & Evaluation, Parks and Recreation (groundskeepers, program specialists and coordinators), and Field Operations (roadway maintenance crew), among many others. Elimination of the Nussbaum Fund was a specific item Mr. Barber requested to be considered. Although city staff provided information as instructed, the city manager made it quite clear that he was NOT RECOMMENDING these cuts.
Director of Housing and Community Development Andy Scott provided detailed information about the $1,768,000 generated by the Nussbaum Fund and how it is spent: $626,613 for Homelessness Prevention, $183,399 for Homeownership, $240,261 for Affordable Housing Development, $577,122 for Neighborhood Planning & Development, $82,086 for Administrative Support and Maintenance & Operations, and $58,629 for Internal Audit. He explained what services each program provides and that part of this money is used to provide the required local matching funds for several federal- and state-funded programs.
The ONLY Nussbaum Fund program that appeared to be a serious target for cutting was the Homeownership program that provides 2nd mortgages to approximately 20 families (down from 100+ in previous years) and counseling and homeownership classes (several other organizations provide similar services). Mr. Scott explained that he foresaw this program disappearing within a year of two anyway because private lenders have started servicing this type of loan and actually provide more attractive, less cumbersome terms than the city's program offers. $35,000 would have to remain to cover contracted counseling services for 75-100 clients, resulting in an actual reduction of $148,399. Most councilmembers appeared to feel that our housing program would not be significantly harmed if this one program was eliminated since the private sector has indeed "stepped up to the plate" in this particular area. THIS IS THE ONLY PROGRAM THAT RECEIVED ANY SERIOUS CONSIDERATION.
Councilmember Tom Phillips also proposed eliminating the Targeted Loan Pool (currently funded with federal CDBG funds) and shifting that $200,000 into the Homelessness Prevention program and simultaneously subtracting $200,000 in Nussbaum funding from that account, resulting in no change to the budgeted amount. The Targeted Loan Pool was designed to assist small businesses get started, but for the most part, the loans have been granted to new businesses that could have made it without these loans but chose to apply for them just because the money was available.
The combined savings --$148,399 from Homeownership and $200,000 shifted from the Targeted Loan Pool -- would result in a savings of $348,399 and enable us to reduce the tax rate slightly in this area. Debate will likely continue at Thursday's work session, focused on the elimination of one program, NOT the entire Nussbaum Fund.
Monday, June 05, 2006
Back to work
This weeks' schedule comes crashing down on me after two relatively light weeks where I managed to rest up and catch my breath. No 'off days" for me this week!
The Triad Early Action Compact meeting was held today, Monday, June 5 at 2:oopm in Kernersville where we received updates on our progress on air quality issues. Then I rushed back to Greensboro for a 4:00pm budget work session that finally broke up around 8:00pm with no real decisions made at this point.
Tuesday, June 6 will begin bright and early with a Committee C examination of the Environmental Services Department. I've been asked to come in a few minutes early before our 5:30pm city council meeting to brief a Boy Scout troop on the city's budget process. The council meeting itself could get long since we will be holding a public hearing on the budget as well as hearing a number of rezoning case appeals on our agenda.
On Wednesday, June 7 I'm off to Raleigh to participate in the NC League of Municipalities Town Hall Day to lobby our members of the General Assembly on issues that directly affect our city and its operations. Then it's back to Greensboro to speak briefly to the eighth grade graduating class from Greensboro Academy Charter School.
It's back to Raleigh on Thursday, June 9 for the Charter Schools Advisory Committee to lead an interview with one of our charter schools that is experiencing some difficulties that must be addressed. Then it's back to Greensboro for another budget work session beginning at 4:00pm.
The Triad Apartment Association has requested to meet with me on Friday, June 9 to discuss some issues they have, including the RUCO ordinance.
On Saturday morning, June 10 I will sit in on another meeting between the Southwest Neighborhood Association and D.H. Griffin as they continue discussions on how to lessen the impacts of the demolition operations on the adjacent neighborhood. I think we are making good progress.
Finally, I plan to attend the Concert for the Beltsy Moldova Women's Hospital at Temple Emanuel on Sunday evening, June 11. Anya Romanet, a young woman from Moldova who has been studying at the American Hebrew Academy, is trying to raise $165,000 to provide heating and hot water to a women's hospital that lacks these basic amenities. Maestro Dmitry Sitkovetsky (Violinist) will be performing along with Zvi Plesser (Cellist) and Inara Zandmane (Pianist). You can learn more about Anya's project at www.amothers-smile.com.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Coliseum update
The War Memorial Commission (coliseum) met today and welcomed the newest member, MacArthur Davis. Everyone was congratulating Matt Brown and the group that worked to successfully secure the ACC tournament dates for 2011-15 in Greensboro. It was a real team effort, including Greensboro hotel owners and operators who made concessions about room rental rates to help seal the deal.
Scott Johnson reported on upcoming events:
* American Idols Tour on July 30 with 13,000+ tickets already sold. The coliseum was approached to be the site of the upcoming Chris Daughtry event, but there was no space available on the preferred date due to other shows and events already booked into every part of the facility that day.
* Dixie Chicks are coming on October 22 with over 1,000 tickets already sold.
* Barney is returning in August after a 3-year absence. Another children's show, Mickey's Magic Show, has also been scheduled.
* The Southern Baptist Convention will be here June 11-14 with the equivalent economic impact of the ACC tournament. Every part of the coliseum will be used, and there will be as many as 34 buses shuttling attendees back and forth from area hotels. There will be 80 Internet connections and 50 phone lines supplied, more than used at the ACC tournament.
* Super Jam returns on June 23; the police department is working on plans to handle the traffic, crowds, and after-parties.
* There will be over 600 motorcoaches parked in the coliseum parking lot for an expo, and it will be a challenge to supply all the electrical connections needed for the event.
* The Universoul Circus returns in July.
* Other upcoming events include high school graduations, Buckmasters, T.D. Jakes Ministries, the Market America convention, and the NC high school coaches meetings.
Matt Brown reported that the energy audit being performed by Siemens should be complete by the end of the month. Once findings are verified, no less than $2 million in energy-efficient improvements can be made to the facility at no cost to taxpayers, guaranteed by Siemens.
Work continues on bid packages to host the NCAA men's first round regional games in 2009 and/or 1010 as well as the women's Final Four in 2012 or 2013 or 2014 (or however long it takes, according to Matt).
The Revolution (arena football team) has won its last two games and has the potential to end up with a winning season, possibly even making it into the playoffs.
Negotiations continue to place an ECHL hockey team into the coliseum. More than likely, the 2007-08 is the earliest likelihood for that to occur. The league meeting will be held on June 16, and a decision should be made at that time.
The July commission meeting has been cancelled due to the Fourth of July holiday.
Yum!
I took an early morning trip out to Bernie's Berries on Groometown Road this morning and picked 19+ pounds of strawberries. There's a large bowl of lucious berries in my refrigerator now, and I froze the rest of them for later use. My back is aching from bending over to pick the berries, but it was well worth the effort. (Workers will pick them for you at extra cost if you want to skip the labor part of the venture.)
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