PGI offers to save historic Cascade Saloon

With a fate that has been hanging in the balance for years, the historic Cascade Saloon on Elm street may be saved through an offer made to the City of Greensboro by Preservation Greensboro Inc.

Cascade Saloon is one of the oldest structures in downtown Greensboro, and in desperate need of stabilization. The building is currently owned by the City of Greensboro, and on July 10 members of City Council reviewed their options on what to do with the structure.

Assistant City Manager David Parrish presented the best bids received by the City to preserve or demolish the structure. The best demolition bid came back with an estimated cost of $600,000. This shocked some members of Council.

“How can the Greensboro Inn be torn down for $35,000 and this one would be so much more expensive?” said councilman Tony Wilkins.

Cascade’s Saloon proximity to the railroad tracks would complicate demolition. Permits would be needed to ensure that crews would not disrupt the railway traffic, which according to Mayor Nancy Vaughan, sees 65 trains pass through downtown every day.

A recent bid from PGI offered to take the property from the City in order to secure and preserve the building. PGI asks that the City pay them $170,000 to help subsidize the cost of stabilizing the structure.

“This is much better than the initial plan,” said councilman Zack Matheny. “The city can save money. Financially for the City this is a lot better deal than we had anticipated.”

Other members of council were skeptical.

“What if people can’t get to the Cantina and other businesses nearby while construction is going on?” said council member Sharon Hightower.

Other council members argued that the risk of disrupting local businesses was a lesser concern compared to the benefit of preserving a historic building for $430,000 less than the cost of demolishing it.

“We have to make the best decision for the city,” said council member Nancy Hoffman. “Not just one person.”

Matheny added that the City of Greensboro was not a good landlord, and that it would be better for the building to be owned by PGI anyway.

Council decided that they needed more information from PGI about the intended future of Cascade Saloon before they could make a decision about the bid.

“Because we don’t know the end use, we can’t make that decision right now,” said Mayor Vaughan.

Greensboro City Council Flustered by Bill from Higher State Powers

Council members were noticeably uncomfortable while expressing their general lack of faith in a resolution to support a student prayer and religious activities bill passed by the NC House on June 4.

The resolution was introduced by Councilman Tony Wilkins, who felt that SB 370 clarified confusion among administrators and students.

The first amendment already protects the religious freedoms of students in schools. The NC ACLU opposes the bill, which it called problematic.

“The right of students to voluntarily express and practice their faith in public schools is already well-established and protected by the First Amendment,” said Sarah Preston, ACLU-NC Policy Director. “Some of this bill’s unnecessary and confusing language could wrongly encourage public school personnel to takes sides in student-led religious activity, making students with different beliefs feel excluded or ostracized not only by their classmates, but also by their teachers and schools.”

Councilwoman Marikay Abuzuaiter was concerned that the bill might encourage faithful students to become more aggressive in proselytizing to their public school peers.

“I believe that moments of silence allow everyone to pray; you’re not co-mingling church and state,” said Abuzuaiter. “This allows students to distribute literature. This part concerns me.”

Mayor Vaughan voiced concern that it was not the place of City Council to take a stance on the issue. Vaughan felt that the bill was under the jurisdiction of the School Board.

“I feel that this is a resolution that should come from the School Board,” Vaughan said. “We’ve had concerns over what the legislature has been doing to us by overstepping into areas of our authority, and I feel that we would be doing the same thing here to the School Board.”

“This isn’t us telling the School Board what to do, it’s the state,” said Wilkins.

Councilman Jamal Fox also agreed that it was a School Board issue, even though he expressed his agreement with the first part of the bill, which explains what students are allowed to do while at school.

Councilman Zack Matheny felt that he had to support the resolution as an advocate for free speech, but made it clear that he was unhappy about having to vote on it at all.

“I don’t like these resolutions,” said Matheny. “We bring them up and I complain about them every time. We’re talking about something where we don’t really have any say-so whatsoever.”

Councilman Mike Barber was also frustrated by presence of the bill on the supplemental agenda, and felt it was an example of the NC General Assembly’s lack of priorities.

“Here in this Council we’re doing things where the rubber meets the road,” said Barber. “I wish our state legislators spent as much time on more pertinent issues. I commend Tony for bringing this to us but this is one that I just can’t support.”

Sharon Hightower voted to support the resolution after expressing her apprehension over the consequences of the grievance process outlined in the bill.

“When I see Raleigh stepping up to something like this I’m a little leery of the reason behind it,” said Hightower. “I’m not against religion at all. I’m just afraid that supporting this with the grievance process will get people going back and forth in court.”

Matheny and Wilkins voted to pass the resolution along with Hightower, but ultimately the bill failed to pass on a vote of three to six.

Greensboro Proposes False Alarm Fee Increase

The Greensboro Fire and Police Departments currently lose about $1 million a year responding to alarms that were set off in error. During a City Council work session on May 27, members expressed concern over this waste of taxpayer dollars and proposed two solutions to help recoup some of the funds. At a work session on June 12, Council agreed on a final proposal for the fee changes.

Currently, the City charges a $50 fee for three of more false alarms at a property within a 12-month period. These charges bring in about $120,000 a year and only cover a fraction the cost required to address all the false alarms in the City.

At the May 27 work session Council members proposed enforcing higher fees. The proposal recommended that the City charge a fee of $50 starting with the second false alarm occurrence. This proposal would bring in an estimated additional $180,000 to help cover the public safety cost of addressing false alarms.

Councilman Jamal Fox proposed an even more aggressive fee system that would charge a $100 penalty beginning with the second false alarm. This proposal would increase revenue by an additional $400,000.

Council members felt that while Fox’s proposal was too severe, the revenue from the first proposed fee increase would not be sufficient.

Councilman Zack Matheny suggested a compromise between the two proposals with a $50 false alarm fee beginning with the second instance, and a $100 fee starting with the third occurrence. Council members quickly decided to adopt this Goldilocks option into the recommended budget, which is scheduled for a final vote on June 17.

The City of Greensboro defines false alarms as:

1. Negligently activated signals that are the result of faulty or malfunctioning equipment.
2. Signals activated to test the alarm systems that have not been approved by the Greensboro Police Department
3. Signals that are purposely activated to summon police personnel in non-emergency
situations

Chief Ken Miller recommended that part of the ordinance should emphasize the importance of having property owners register their alarm information with the Police Department.

Winston-Salem currently fines property owners a $100 penalty for false alarms from unregistered units. Otherwise the City charges a $50 fee for the fourth and fifth false alarm occurrence within 12 months, $100 for the sixth and seventh, $250 for the eighth and ninth, and $500 after ten or more occurrences.

Architectural Salvage to Receive Supplemental Funding for Involuntary Move

Greensboro City Council unanimously passed a resolution on Tuesday night to authorize the City Manager to enter into a supplemental agreement to provide funding for Architectural Salvage’s imminent move.

Architectural Salvage is a program of Preservation Greensboro that collects materials from historic properties that are scheduled to be razed. Since 1993 Architectural Salvage has kept an estimated 20 tons of construction debris from being dumped into landfills. The program also allows the City to receive federal funding by keeping the City in compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.

Architectural Salvage has been located at the 90-year-old, 15,800 square foot building at 300 Bellameade St since 1998.

The property was purchased by the Carroll Fund, an entity of Carroll Companies, owned by Roy Carroll. Carroll is the developer behind major projects in Greensboro that include Centerpointe on Elm St., Hayleigh Village, Innisbrook and the Shops at Brittway.

Carroll plans to demolish the building to make room for a $50 million mixed-use development project. Architectural Salvage must be out of the building by June 15.

On May 19 Preservation Greensboro sent a letter to City Manager, Jim Westmoreland, requesting that the city assist with the financial burden of the organization’s move.

The letter states, “Since ASG provides recycling of old building materials, keeps tons of construction waste from the landfills and provides a conduit for the City to use in obtaining federal grants, we are requesting the City assist ASG with its involuntary move from its current location.” Preservation Greensboro attached an estimate of $18,00 from Delancey Street Moving & Transportation.

Council briefly shared their support for the work done by Architectural Salvage before resolving to fund the organization the full $18,000. Members were impressed by the amount of material Architectural Salvage has been able to keep out of City landfills.

Councilman Zack Matheny said, “I consider this a thank you for saving the taxpayers money.”

Sharon Hightower said that Architectural Salvage had been very helpful during the restoration of Magnolia Manor outside of Greensboro. (see correction.)

Architectural Salvage will be moving away from downtown to a new location on Wendover Avenue.

Correction: This post has been updated to reflect the location of Magnolia Manor just outside of Greensboro in Colfax.

 

Greensboro Looks for Creative Ideas to Improve Budget

Members of Greensboro’s City Council are brainstorming to find any last-minute ways to decrease City expenditures in the budget before presenting a public hearing on the proposal on June 3.

At a work session on Tuesday afternoon Council members looked for creative solutions that wouldn’t force the City to cut services or City employees.

While Councilman Jamal Fox praised the City Manager for increasing the number of vacation days for City employees from 11 to 12, Councilman Zack Matheny thought it was a bad idea.

“I don’t like that. We’ve already got good vacation here,” said Matheny. “The City needs to be open to the people.”

Fox and Matheny did agree on increasing false alarm fees. The Fire Department currently spends $1 million a year responding to alarms that were set off in error. The current fee is $50 for the second false alarm from a location, but increasing that fee to $100 would make up for that sunk cost.

“People are going to be mad at you,” said Mayor Pro Tem Yvonne Johnson to Fox.

Councilman Tony Wilkins offered the suggestion that the City could start charging user fees for leaf collection. Most other members of Council were strongly against the idea and felt the revenue gained from the fees might not even make of for the cost of implementing such a collection program.

“What about selling them oversees then,” said Wilkins, “We have some good nutrient-rich leaves here.”

Wilkins also suggested increasing ticket prices at the Coliseum by $1. Mayor Vaughan was receptive to the idea and agreed with Councilwoman Sharon Hightower that a $1 ticket increase would not deter people from purchasing tickets that are $35 or more to begin with.

The subject of parking at the Coliseum led to Council to another creative solution. Wilkins expressed frustration that you must have cash in the form of singles to pay for parking at the Coliseum and suggested the City create a way for people to pay for parking in advance and with their credit cards when they first buy their ticket online. The City of Raleigh already has a similar system for the Raleigh Amphitheatre.

“This is 2014 and you can’t buy concessions or park with a card,” said Wilkins

Mayor Vaughan liked the idea and even took it a step further by suggesting that Greensboro residents receive preferred parking at Coliseum events.

There will be another work session to review and tweak the recommended budget before its adoption in mid-June.

GTA Costs Spark Heated Debate at City Council Meeting

Things became heated between representatives of Greensboro’s Transit Authority (GTA) and some members of City Council on Tuesday night over the cost of maintaining the service.

The discussion began during the public comment portion of the meeting.  Greensboro resident Lonnie Cunningham urged Council to consider a bond referendum to continue to subsidize the cost of bus fares at the current rate.

Cunningham suggested that one way to pay for the bus system would be to have a youth group collect all the campaign signs left around the City and send a bill to the candidates.

Cunningham also pointed out that buses in Chapel Hill are free.

“Chapel Hill has free buses because UNC subsidizes it,” Mayor Vaughan responded.  Council members chimed in to say that the City does take public transportation seriously and that they already heavily subsidize the cost of bus fares, which are currently $1.50 per trip for riders.

Bruce Adams, the Senior Operations Planner for the GTA, presented the program of projects for the GTA for the upcoming fiscal year. The program includes the addition of hybrid buses, which cost 40 to 50 percent more than regular buses. The recurrent maintenance is less costly with hybrid buses, but GTA representatives did concede that there is a high replacement cost for batteries that only last about five years.

Councilman Zack Matheny jumped on the discussion. Matheny, who has advocated for increasing the price of bus fares by twenty cents, pointed out that the GTA costs the City of Greensboro around $23 million each year, and at a rate of $35 per bus ride.

“If we raise the rates could we not do more to help GTA?” asked Matheny. “The cost of buses is going up.  The cost of fuel is going up. Do you see where I’m going with this?”

Councilwoman Sharon Hightower expressed her strong disagreement with Matheny on the issue, but eventually they decided to table the discussion for now and agree to disagree.

A twenty cent increase would add up for members of the community who rely on public transportation to get around everyday. A person making two or three round trips a day could end up paying an extra dollar a day.

Matheny demonstrated that this issue will most likely be a priority for him in the future. “You’re probably going to hear a lot more about this from me,” said Matheny.

 

 

Matheny continues to play the “reasonable” card

Greensboro City Councilman Zack Matheny continues to position himself as a “reasonable” alternative to the right-wing front-runners in the race for the Republican nomination in the Sixth Congressional district.

While front-runner Phil Berger Jr. continues to lead the pack in the eyes of most observers, Matheny is locked in a three-way battle with viable candidates hoping to get enough votes to force Berger Jr. into a runoff.

Matheny has scheduled a press conference for 3 p.m. today at which he plans to speak out about the mudslinging Berger Jr. and  Bruce VonCannon have stooped to in recent days.

“Phil Berger Jr. is a negative campaigner and the tactics he is employing are exactly the type of tactics current Congressman Howard Coble asked all Republican candidates vying for his seat not to participate in,” Matheny said in a press release today. “Voters want to hear how we intend to create jobs, revitalize the economy, and rebuild North Carolina. They don’t want to hear ugly politics as usual. Negative campaigning will only lower voter turnout and hurt the Party.”

Matheny’s press conference will take place at his campaign headquarters in Greensboro.

A political action committee backing Berger Jr. launched the mud-fest with attack pieces financed by known Berger Jr. donors. The direct mail pieces and television ads targeted Mark Walker, felt to be a solid second place contender, and the upstart VonCannon campaign.

VonCannon punched back with ominous television spots that criticized Berger Jr. for a plea-deal he offered a child molester and for the office-wiring incident Berger Jr. was involved with at the Rockingham County Courthouse.

 

 

Zack strikes back at Berger Jr.

Greensboro City Councilman Zack Matheny hit back at Sixth District GOP front-runner Phil Berger Jr. today by issuing a press release criticizing the “smear campaign” conducted by an out-of-district PAC funded in part by Berger Jr. donors.

In a press release, the Matheny campaign says that Berger Jr. has “failed to gain voter support in North Carolina’s 6th Congressional District.”

“In response, Berger Jr.’s special interest backers are dumping even more money into the race, buying ads attacking fellow Republican candidates,” the release states. “These are exactly the type of tactics that current Congressman Howard Coble asked all Republican candidates vying for his seat not to participate in.”

Keep Conservatives United, a political action committee based in Wake Forest, has spent more than $150,000 on advertisements attacking Berger Jr.’s opponents in the race. The PAC, via its founder Bob Harris, has repeatedly endorsed Berger Jr.

“It is unclear why this group and their contributors are so interested in this race,” the Matheny campaign said. “Whenever special interest groups are involved in campaigns there is always the fear that they are buying a candidate rather than supporting one.”

More here and here.

Movement in the Sixth District race

After months of posturing and grassroots efforts, it looks like the media campaign in the race for the Republican nomination in the Sixth Congressional District is kicking off.

First today in the inbox was an email from Greensboro City Councilman Zack Matheny announcing a rally at the NewBridge Bank Park in downtown Greensboro. The campaign event is set for March 29 and features family friendly kids events and free hotdogs. But the political kicker is the news that incumbent Rep. Howard Coble will be in attendance.

“Congressman Coble and I will share a few words with the crowd …,” the message states in part.

Coble is normally coy with his alliances and especially endorsements.

When reached by phone Saturday, Matheny said he did not expect an endorsement.

“What (Coble) is wanting people to know is that this is an important race and he cares about it and he hopes that others will,” Matheny said. “He is raising awareness for Republican candidates and the race as a whole.”

Coble has stated that he is not endorsing anyone in the race, Matheny said, but the councilman expressed his gratitude for the appearance of the veteran congressman who announced his retirement earlier this year.

“I respect Howard tremendously and he’s been a mentor to me for as long as I’ve been around,” Matheny said. “Howard is a friend and a mentor and somebody that I want and strive to be like as a representative. So it means a lot.”

Phil Berger Jr. highlights his conservative credentials in a glossy direct mail piece.

In the physical mailbox was a glossy mailer from Rockingham County District Attorney Phil Berger Jr. Considered to be a front runner with Matheny and grassroots favorite Mark Walker, Berger touts his Christian faith and values that guide him every day. In addition to his faith, Berger highlights his support for Second Amendment rights and “our right to own and carry firearms”, his lifetime membership of the NRA, his 100-percent pro-life stance and opposition to “all federal funding or support for abortions.”

Berger also highlights his leadership in the passage of North Carolina’s Marriage Amendment.

Also of note is Berger’s mention of being a “lifetime North Carolinian”, perhaps a dig at Walker and others who are not natives to the state, which may be a deciding factor for some grassroots voters in such a crowded Republican field.

Interesting as well is a final dig at the Affordable Care Act, with an offer to ship a free “Stop Obamacare Sign” that is a Berger for Congress sign with a “Stop Obamacare” header.

Race for the Sixth

Moving deeper into primary season we will begin to increase the attention we give the Republican primary race to replace Rep. Howard Coble, who has represented the Sixth District as long as anyone can remember.

Democrats believe the district is competitive, but that remains to be seen. What is most likely is that the winner of the Republican primary in May will have a solid chance of becoming the next congressman from the central Piedmont region.

Zack Matheny launches jobs-oriented campaign website.

Greensboro Councilman Zack Matheny announced his jobs plan this week with a website devoted specifically to the issue. The plan is standard Republican fare, with calls for lower taxes and less regulation. Matheny touts his experience as a business owner and growth-oriented member of the city council.

“After speaking with Howard Coble, I realized that I could be more effective as a member of Congress and that was a large factor in my decision to run for his seat,” Matheny stated. “When elected, I will bring my regional approach to job creation to life for everyone in North Carolina’s 6th Congressional District. I will not rest until everyone who wants a job can find one — so that everyone who still believes in the American Dream can have the opportunity to see that dream fulfilled.”

That seems like a tall order given the region’s struggling labor market and the constant threat that big companies in the area could be bought and moved or otherwise lured away.

Phil Berger Jr. continues to form his campaign team. The Rockingham County District Attorney announced this week that Paul J. Norcross will serve as Chief Political Advisor for the campaign.

Norcross founded Global Supply Solutions Group and co-founded Phoenix Academy, a charter school in High Point. Berger said that Norcross has resigned posts as the Chairman of the High Point Republican Party, the Executive Director of the Guilford County GOP, and the Regional Chairman of the North Carolina Alliance for Public Charter Schools to join the campaign.

“There are serious challenges facing our world, our country, and our state,” Norcross said. “We desperately need a serious person in Washington that we can trust. Phil Berger will keep his promises and protect our interests. He is the only candidate in this race with the qualifications, resources, and background necessary to win in November.”

Campaigns that want our attention here at Yes! Weekly should add editor at yesweekly dot com to their media distribution lists. We will be scheduling one on one candidate interviews soon.