City Academy

If you are interested in learning more about how the city operates, you definitely want to participate in the City Academy. Details on how to apply are found in the following city press release:

NATIONALLY ACCLAIMED CITY ACADEMY TO BEGIN THIS FALL
Apply Now to Be Part of Fourth Annual City Academy

GREENSBORO, NC (June 28, 2007) – Applications are now being accepted for Government Works: A City Academy, an educational program that teaches Greensboro residents about their City government organization. Recognized by the U.S. Conference of Mayors as one of the country’s premier government educational programs, Government Works is in its fourth year of operation. The fall session begins on September 6.

City Academy teaches participants about City government through experiential learning and in-depth exercises. The program helps develop future leaders and build a better community through well-informed and civically engaged residents. Classes are held every Thursday from September 6 through November 15 from 6 to 9 pm. New this year is the addition of an extra evening and Saturday elective sessions that allow participants to experience hands-on police programs at the Public Safety Training Facility. A graduation ceremony will take place on Tuesday, November 20 at the City Council meeting. There is no cost to attend the academy.

Class participants will take part in activities such as creating a simulated “balanced budget”, planning a neighborhood, touring the Guilford Metro 911 Center, practicing vehicle extrication exercises, visiting the police firing range, touring a water treatment plant, and more.

To apply for Government Works, visit www.greensboro-nc.gov or call Donna Gray at 373-2723. Deadline to apply is July 31.

Government Works is open to all Greensboro residents. Twenty-five people representing all council districts and various backgrounds will be selected for the academy. Other selection criteria include:

· 18 years of age or older
· Must attend 80% of classes
· Written statement of desire to participate
· Preference given to those wanting to serve on a board or commission

Efforts will be made to select individuals who represent “diverse” groups (race, religion, age, education, sex, sexual orientation, etc.)

Satisfied PART customers

Included below are excerpts from emails that were sent to the PART office recently where the writers expressed their opinions of PART's service:

Dear Ladies & Gentlemen,

Last week I took a business trip from Illinois to Greensboro. I had the luxury of planning this weeks ahead and had called for info. One of your nice people mailed me a PART Express brochure. I am a transit rider here at home, and wherever I go and know to check the apta link-by-state webpage to find transit anywhere (http://www.apta.com/links/state_local/)...

...I did take the PART Airport shuttle to the hub, and from their the express to Greensboro Gaylon Depot and then a GTA bus to my final destination. It was great, and I took your brochure and told all the people I visited how great it works. You have a good service...

...Thanks for the good service
!

JC
Bloomington, IL

Hi,

I just wanted to let you know that as part of my Triad Commute Challenge, I rode the PART bus to work on June 26, 2007. I found everyone to be very helpful and the ride was most enjoyable, as I met some very nice people. I was really impressed with the cleanliness of the bus I rode, and the driver was especially helpful in making sure that I knew where and what time to catch the bus back to the NC 68 hub.

Thanks to everyone who made it an enjoyable ride. I haven’t been on a bus since 1968, but I will definitely give it another try in the future.

(a City of Greensboro employee)

I would like to thank-you and the driver of the 421 express bus to Boone. I rode the bus Friday afternoon, it was the most pleasant experience I have ever had on public transportation. The drive was exceptional.

My only difficulty was finding the bus stop at Forsyth Memorial hospital. The hospital staff was very considerate in helping me find the bus stop.

I will be using your services again and recommend them to anyone.

(a Forsyth Technical Community College employee)

It's good to get feedback like this that confirms our public transportation efforts are worthwhile and appreciated!

HondaJet groundbreaking ceremony

This morning's official groundbreaking ceremony for the new HondaJet world headquarters and production facility was exciting and well-attended. Thankfully planners for the event had erected a large white tent that provided plenty of cool shade on this hot, humid morning. Various Honda and local officials made celebratory remarks against a backdrop of huge earthmovers and dump trucks in the background.

Here are the photos I took from my front row table vantage point (and I wasn't trying to be artistic -- the flowers on the table were just in my line of sight).

Honda Aircraft president and CEO Michimasa Fujino shares his vision and expresses his enthusiasm for being located in Greensboro.

Honda vice president Tony Piazza thanks the many government and economic development officials for their cooperation.

Tony Copeland from the NC Department of Commerce presents Mr. Fujino with a small gift from the State.

Greensboro Mayor Keith Holliday did us proud with his remarks,

as did High Point Mayor Pro Tem John Faircloth who stood in for the ailing Mayor Becky Smothers,

and Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines who drew a big laugh when he thanked Mayor Holliday for acting so quickly on his "visa" to allow him to visit Greensboro.

All three men stressed that this successful business recruitment was a result of good regional cooperation.

Airport Authority Henry Isaacson stressed the importance of HondaJet's presence to the continued growth and success of the airport and the entire region.

My camera batteries died just as the really fun part of the event -- breaking the ground with a Honda tiller --began so I don't have a photo of that momentous occasion. You'll have to rely on local media reports for more details and the visual of that innovative groundbreaking.

It was a great day for Honda, Greensboro, and the entire Piedmont Triad. Congratulations to us all!

Common sense safety advice

My friend John T. sent me the following story and common sense safety tip --

I was at a drive-thru mid-afternoon ordering a drink when a young boy (11 or so) called to me, making me look back over my left shoulder. He had popped up from the bushes at the menu and speaker area, asking if he could use my cell phone. I told him I didn't have one (not true) as I looked quickly to my right (knowing something was up). His partner-in-crime was walking past my front passenger door looking into the front passenger seat. As he saw that I didn't have my purse, wallet, etc. sitting on the seat, he shook his head "no" to the younger boy. The younger boy disappeared, and the older one walked into another business. I always keep my doors locked while I'm in the car so they wouldn't have been able to access inside of the car anyway, but there's no need to tempt anyone by having valuables in plain sight. Also, and more importantly, ALWAYS LOCK YOUR DOORS AS SOON AS YOU GET IN THE CAR!!

-- and video link from the Broward County, Florida sheriff's department. I have to admit there are times I could have been a victim in the past, but no more.

Thanks for the warning, John!

City Connections

There is plenty of good information in this week's edition of City Connections.

New air quality standards?

All of us want good air quality in our region, it's a total no-brainer. But I have to admit I groaned aloud after reading this recent EPA press release. After the years of work with the Triad Early Action Compact trying to meet the current standard for ground-level ozone of .085ppm, I'd sure hate to have to start that process all over again to meet a stricter standard. "Just when you think it's safe to go back in the water..."

Weekly schedule

The first part of my week is busy, but things ease up after Wednesday and remain light for the entire Fourth of July week. Thank heaven, I need a break to do some catching up on my gardening and getting another baby afghan knit before the September arrival of grandchild #9.

I have my monthly one-on-one chat with City Manager Mitchell Johnson on Monday afternoon, June 25.

Hopefully we councilmembers will finally get the 2007-08 city budget passed on Tuesday morning, June 26 at our special called meeting for that purpose. While I am not totally pleased with everything that is included in it, I am happy that we were able to reduce the proposed tax increase down to 2-cents, and thus will be able to vote for it.

Our regular monthly briefing session will follow immediately after this special meeting. Items on that agenda include an update on Economic Development Incentives, an overview of GTA facilities, and a review of Transportation Project Capital Funding and Needs.

My schedule for Wednesday, June 27 includes the 9:30AM official groundbreaking ceremony for the new HondaJet facility and a 2:00PM meeting of the Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC).

The main item of interest on the TAC agenda is a review of our priority projects as we enter into the 2009-2015 TIP (Transportation Improvement Plan) process. I recommend this active projects report for those who have an interest in checking the status of current state road projects in this area.

That's it for the week unless something unexpected pops up. See you at the Fun Fourth Parade next week!

Another "Grandma weekend"

Another weekend spent on "Grandma duty" -- this time with my oldest son's three children. My overnight campers were Erin,

and her brothers Scott and

William Christopher.

Oh, if only I could bottle some of their energy -- I'd have it made!

Blue Ribbon Commission

This is how I spent my morning -- it's going to be a busy six months.

Weekly schedule

This is going to be a fairly busy week with a variety of meetings dealing with a variety of boards and subjects.

The city council will try again to further reduce the proposed property tax increase with another budget work session scheduled for 5PM on Monday, June 18. At least I will get to enjoy the first part of the day with my Monday bridge group lunch and afternoon of games. {smile}

The regular city council meeting will begin at 5:30PM on Tuesday, June 19. Due to continuing work of the proposed 2007-08 budget and public advertising requirements, that item will NOT be considered on this meeting's agenda.

I'll be attending meetings of the Piedmont Triad Rural Planning Organization (RPO) and the Piedmont Triad Council of Governments (PTCOG)on Wednesday, June 20.

On Thursday, June 21 I'll be in Raleigh attending my first meeting of the State Board of Education's Blue Ribbon Charter Schools Commission. My letter from State Board Chair Howard Lee describes the work to be done as "intense and rapid" with our assignment to "complete a comprehensive review of the history of the charter schools and to possibly make recommendations for the future of charter schools to the North Carolina State Board of Education." Sounds like my busy summer just got busier!

The week should end on a fun note with the Fun Fourth kick-off breakfast scheduled for Friday morning, June 22.

The privilege license tax debate

Judging from a couple of emails I received over the weekend from realtors, some incomplete information seems to be making the rounds regarding the city council's (lack of) action on altering its second vote on the privilege license tax. In hopes of providing a clearer picture of the discussion that took place at our June 12 budget work session, I offer the following explanation:

In the June 5 city council discussion and vote to rescind the council's previous adoption of changes to the privilege licenses tax, we councilmembers were under the mistaken impression that we could make changes effective in September, 2007 after further consultation and discussion with the business community. However we learned that if we did not act on the issue in conjunction with our budget vote before July 1, 2007, we would not be able to make any increases to the current privilege license taxes effective before July 1, 2008, a full year's delay.

In an ongoing effort to reduce the property tax increase further, several councilmembers, myself included, did support revisiting the fees and adopting a $2,500 maximum cap instead of the originally proposed $10,000. We also clearly stated that we were specifically dropping the proposed new fees on realtors and owners of rental property as well as leaving the lumber brokers and wholesalers as they currently are -- the only two business groups out of the thousands of privilege license holders in Greensboro that had officially registered dissatisfaction with the proposed additions and increases. I viewed this as a reasonable compromise that honored the statement made to the rental property and the lumber business owners because they would have remained untouched even with the passage of a revised proposal.

For the record, this effort was NOT driven by the city manager as some are alleging -- he had merely suggested this compromise in response to inquiries from some councilmembers on what some reasonable options might be.

Second, nothing that is "decided" by any straw votes taken in council work sessions is binding or official at that time -- those "show of hands" polls only become official after a public vote is taken in a public business meeting. In this case, the earliest that could have happened would have been a full week later at our next regular council meeting on June 19, or as it turns out now, when the final budget vote is taken that now appears will be done at a special called meeting on June 26, giving two full weeks public notice prior to official action. Thus, there would have been ample opportunity for additional public input and reaction to this revised proposal.

I do not consider this SECOND revisiting of the issue a "betrayal of public trust" any more than I consider the first reconsideration of the original vote to be a "betrayal." The city council routinely reconsiders issues when new or changed information or circumstances arise from time to time. One current example is the Horsepen Creek Road rezoning case that we will be hearing again at our June 19 meeting after making what citizens could reasonably have assumed was a "final decision" made more than a month ago; we are rehearing that case again due to new information/conditions -- the same exact scenario as the privilege license tax issue.

There also appears to be a rumor floating around that a $25 per unit RUCO inspection fee will soon be imposed. Unless I have missed something (and I don't think I have), it certainly has NOT been considered or discussed at any of our budget sessions. That one belongs in the "rumor" file.

I remain committed to a full reexamination and discussion of the whole privilege license tax issue -- the pros and cons of levying it at all and what adjustments should be made if it is to remain in place in the future.

Barber Park closing

City Manager has a standing joke that if he phones council members on a Friday afternoon, it's likely bad news about some unexpected crisis. That sure proved to be true today as evidenced by the following press release:

BARBER PARK CLOSED TEMPORARILY

GREENSBORO, NC (June 15, 2007) – During routine construction excavation at Barber Park, workers discovered soils which they suspected might be contaminated. City environmental staff immediately arranged for the taking of samples for testing and notified the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Standard procedure for suspected contaminants is to limit or prevent public access. The initial samples were positive for some contaminants. However, sampling has not been completed, and the extent of contamination, if any, is not yet known. The open design of the park makes preventing access to the disturbed soils virtually impossible. Therefore, in an abundance of caution, City officials have chosen to close the entire park temporarily to ensure that no residents or visitors are exposed to a potential health issue.

Events scheduled for this weekend and next week at Barber Park are being moved, and new locations will be announced through local media. At this time, the date of reopening is not known. Further information will be provided as it becomes available.

Questions may be addressed to Assistant City Managers Bob Morgan or Ben Brown at 373-2002. After business hours, Mr. Morgan may be reached at 358-2399, and Mr. Brown may be reached at 202-8315.

The timing of this discovery could not have occurred at a worse time -- baseball games for the State Games were being held at Barber Park this weekend as well as the Music for a Sunday Evening in the Park concert. OUCH! But better safe than sorry!

Kammie's visiting Grandma for the weekend...

...and I'm not likely to get a darn thing done!

But, with expressions like this one, who cares! Housekeeping and reading reports will just have to wait til later.

All you ever wanted to know about the Heart of the Triad

The final report by HDR on the Heart of the Triad is now available online. It is in three separate PDF files -- the Land Use and Transportation Study, the Existing Conditions Summary, and the Implementation Program -- found under the red banner that reads "New! 2007 HOT Reports."

Hopefully these documents will supply some of the details and address some of the questions that have arisen. Happy reading!

Weekly Schedule

This is going to be a fairly busy week.

I attended the annual City Council Luncheon sponsored by the Greensboro Historical Museum Board of Trustees this morning, Monday, June 11. Board members take this time each year to update us on progress at the Historical Museum. Private fundraising efforts led by Jim and Anita Schenk have netted $1,853,000 of their $2 million goal to upgrade museum offerings and exhibits. Well done!

I'm spending the rest of Monday afternoon going through all the budget information and documents to try to identify cuts I could support. It's certainly not an easy task as every program certainly has its users and proponents -- as was evidenced by all the cute little girls in their tutus at last Tuesday's council meeting. Once we consider the absolute "musts" -- fire, police, water, sewer, garbage, and transportation -- there's not much left except for the "optional" library or parks and recreation programs that generate a firestorm of protest if you even mention them. Oh well, no one ever said this job was easy!

On Tuesday, June 12 we councilmembers will take another crack at reducing the suggested 4-cent property tax increase included in the 2007-08 budget proposal (thus all my "homework" this afternoon). I know there are a number of us that want to take a second look at some of the items upon which we thought we had previously agreed.

The Piedmont Triad Partnership annual community meeting will be held at the Grandover Resort at 4PM. John Kasarda will present the keynote address -- "The Piedmont Triad Aerotoplis" which will explore the huge potential of the Piedmont Triad International Airport as a major "just in time" cargo hub (in addition to FedEx) and business generator. I diligently tried to read the advance copy of the Kasarda report that I received, but it is so full of acronyms and technical references that I had a difficult time following it. I hope the oral presentation will be easier to understand.

Then it's off to the monthly community crime watch meeting of the East Hunter Hills neighborhood (my own neighborhood).

The PART Board of Trustees will meet Wednesday morning, June 13. The main items on the agenda are a public hearing and vote on the imposition of a 5% tax on gross receipts from short-term leases of rental vehicles in Davidson County and a presentation by Scott Saylor, Executive Director of North Carolina Railroad.

The executive committee of the Piedmont Triad Council of Governments meets at 5:30PM that same day with the main item of business being the adoption of our 2007-08 budget.

The only meeting on my schedule for Thursday, June 14 is the community crime watch meeting for the Lamrocton neighborhood.

That's it for the week and that's good because I will need to rest up on Friday -- looks like I'm going to have "Miss Kammie" all weekend so her parents can take a quick trip. I've already been warned she has perfected her crawling technique and can travel quickly to get into mischief. better take my vitamins!

City Connections

The latest edition of City Connections contains a link to the proposed 2007-08 city budget and the potential cuts we are considering.

Coliseum update

Today's meeting of the War Memorial Commission (coliseum) was well-attended, interesting and informative.

The meeting began with special recognition of two long-term employees for their dedicated service to the Coliseum -- Clarence Bryant (security manager) for 10 years and Mary Noah (manager of housekeeping) for 20 years. New employees EJ Harris, (an engineering major from A&T overseeing the Siemens energy contract) and Haley Shaw (a former intern from UNCG, now the marketing assistant with special talents in graphic design and animation) were welcomed.

Jay Kudla, General Manager for Centerplate which operates concessions and catering for the facility, reported that the catering revenues have grown 40% over the past two years. May is generally a quieter, less busy month but gross receipts still topped $117,000 for May 2007 which is higher than the four-year average. This boost placed the Coliseum into the highest step for commissions earnings for the rest of the fiscal year.

Business office manager Jerome Fletcher reported that April 2007 was a very strong month financially, netting a positive bottom line figure of $65,258 versus a projected deficit of $246, 356. This strong showing coupled with efforts to cut expenses should carry us through the relatively slow months of May and June with the final 2006-07 operating figures coming in right on target as projected in the budget. City Manager Mitchell Johnson who attended this meeting noted that the Coliseum was the city department that operates most like a business due to the nature of its activity and has greater flexibility in being able to adjust personnel levels and facility operations according to fluctuating levels of activity and budget pressures.

Scott Johnson noted that all 14 Guilford County High Schools -- including the schools in High Point for the first time -- would be conducting their graduations in the Special Events Center Friday through Monday. The large venue provided by the Coliseum enables graduates to invite all their family and friends to join them for this momentous event, a true community service.

Upcoming events for the summer include SuperJam, the UniverSoul Circus, comedian Ron White, the Broadway production of CATS, Disney Live, the Faith Hill/Tim McGraw concert, the Market America convention, and the Motley Crue -- a wide variety of entertainment options.

The Coliseum has also extended its services (and earnings) by handling the ticketing for the Eastern Music Festival and some of the East-West All-Star athletic events as well as Centerplate operating the beverage stations for the Get DownTown! event (a direct result of the successful handling of the outdoor Chris Daughtry concert back in March).

Scott was commended for his successful recovery of $37,000 in payments for the expenses incurred when preparing the Coliseum to receive and house Katrina survivors for which the Coliseum had not been reimbursed until now.

Matt Brown reported that The Revolution football team will likely make it into the playoffs and host that game on July 7. The team is paying its bills, but the League itself is struggling to survive.

The skilled in-house construction staff has completed a fourth "star" dressing room/suite, a prerequisite for retaining the Market American contract which is up for renewal. Plans are being drawn to increase the amount of permanent concession stand counter space in hopes of eliminating some of the portable pushcarts that currently take up so much space on the concourse.

The Siemens energy performance contract activity is proceeding at a fast pace. Much of the florescent lighting has already been placed -- much brighter but less energy-consuming. Hands-free opening doors will be installed soon to accommodate handicapped patrons better, and the two sets of concrete stairs on the walkway from the back parking lot to the entrance of the Auditorium will be replaced with a wheelchair accessible ramp.

The Carlyle Club sponsors have renewed their sponsorship for another three years. A new agreement has been signed with Ticketmaster who will take over the ticketing function as of July 1.

Coliseum and Commission representatives are actively participating in the West Lee St./High Point Road Corridor Study and it was suggested that we should become involved with the Lee Street Merchants Crime Watch as well. Commission members expressed continued support for the acquisition of the Canada Dry property, noting that it has been on the master plan "wish list" since the '90s and will play a key role in the revitalization of the High Point Road corridor.

A very busy meeting!

The rest of the story..er, I mean email

As everyone knows, the email exchanges between Coliseum Director Matt Brown and various members of the community discussing city councilmembers and their potential votes regarding the proposed purchase of the Canada Dry property have been made public at the request of the media. One that I dashed off to Matt shortly after I received a copy of his formal apology to Mayor Holliday and Councilmember Tom Phillips for his inappropriate comments about them is included among that batch of correspondence.

One of our weeklies chose to print only one sentence of my scolding missive, perhaps conveying the appearance I was siding with Matt. That was NOT the case; please judge for yourself by reading the ENTIRE message as follows:

Subject: Re: FW: Letter of Apology
Date: 5/10/2007 1:21:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: SCarmany
To: Matt.Brown@greensboro-nc.gov

Matt,

I'm relieved that you have offered this apology. While I respect your expertise and constant efforts to improve and advocate for the coliseum, I have to admit I was quite dismayed by your inappropriate choice of words to describe the Mayor's and Tom Phillip's comments. Those word have now become the central focus/issue and have the potential to highjack the discussion and move us off-target of the objective -- acquisition of the Canada Dry property. Tom is absolutely livid and I can only pray that your apology will be acceptable to him. Hopefully we can move past this unfortunate incident and get back on track.

Sandy Carmany

Now you have "the rest of the story" (email)!

Weekly schedule (plus an air quality update)

It's time to get back into a regular routine again after the "no-meetings" fifth week of May last week that allowed me some beach time as well as catching up on neglected household chores such as my once-a-year window-washing spree. Back to work!

I attended the quarterly meeting of the Triad Early Action Compact (EAC) this afternoon, Monday, June 4 at the Kernersville Town Hall. We received WONDERFUL news -- even though there were several Code Orange air quality days predicted for last week, none of them actually materialized and NONE of the Triad's ozone monitors measured any violations for ozone. (Charlotte experienced two and Hickory one during that same time period.) That is certainly encouraging for us. With the hot temperatures predicted for our area at the end of this week, we will certainly face the potential again since hot, dry weather sets the stage for ozone production.

Another interesting note concerned the PM2.5 readings (fine particulate matter) on May 16 when all the smoke from the wildfires in Georgia was transported into our area by the winds. Even with all that smoky haze, all the PM2.5 monitors stayed within acceptable levels as well. That day will be noted as an "exceptional event" with the EPA since the obvious pollution was not locally produced in that instance.

Finally we learned that the CO (carbon monoxide) monitor will be removed from the Latham Park area due to continuous low readings that have always been recorded there, indicating that there is no problem at all and no need to continue to monitor it.

The stakeholders committee created an EAC Energy Efficiency Task Force to be chaired by Greensboro Environmental Services Director Jeryl Covington to explore the options and promote the Energy Star program and its energy-saving (and thus, money-saving) strategies to local governments and other high-energy consumers such as colleges and universities.

Tuesday, June 5 will be one of those busy "days from hell" with a 3-hour budget work session in the morning, a working lunch out at the PART office, and the regular city council meeting that begins at 5:30PM and could very well last past midnight, judging from the very full agenda. The public hearing for the 2007-08 budget will be held as well as hearing several contested rezoning cases.

Thankfully my calendar is clear for Wednesday and I'll have a day to recover from the potential marathon from the previous evening.

The War Memorial Commission (coliseum) meets at noon on Thursday, June 7.

If the weather is not too hot, I'll try to visit the Volunteer Day in the Park on Friday, June 8 in the Center City Park. I'll finish this week with a meeting with a representative from the living wage committee.