Hogg’s Blog

Nothing like starting the New Year off with a public call for your resignation.

A woefully misinformed Mr. Steve Parker writes in today’s N&R: “I find it sad indeed that the people of Greensboro are not asking for the resignations of those members of the Parks and Recreation Commission who scammed residents out of $12 million…”

Nobody “scammed” anyone out of anything, Mr. Parker.

If what you are talking about is the fact that the $12M swim center was nested within the larger P&R bond in November, then you need to get your facts straight. (Didn’t that used to be the job of an editor?)

It was your City Council who did the deed to which you are referring.  And by placing it on the ballot, they went AGAINST the recommendations of the Commission.

It was only after the bond’s contents where set by the Council that this Commissioner - and this Commissioner only - recommended that the swim center folks lay low lest the issue, which had failed twice before, torpedo the funding for some very real needs that the balance of the bond was to provide.

As a Parks & Rec Commissioner, I was cc’d with this letter (Troublemaker) to Mayor Johnson and the City Council a couple of weeks ago.  Submitted by several obviously disgruntled P&R Department employees, the letter is aimed directly at P&R Director Bonnie Kuester’s back.

The letter is chock full of hyperbole (e.g.”…this case could further divide the citizens of Greensboro and solidify our City’s reputation where civil rights are frowned upon.”) and as bitter and mean spirited (e.g. “..the City of Greensboro must atone for its actions.“) as any I’ve ever read.

Let me be clear that I have no knowledge of any “personnel matters” that may or may not involve the authors except for this, involving signatory Delores Scott, which is a matter of public record.  But what I do know is that an anonymous commenter over at The Troublemaker, who sounds like he/she could be a signatory to the letter, has been in an ivory tower for too long as he/she obviously revels in Director Kuester’s recently announced retirement after 42 years of service…

“… She should have never gotten the Job. …she did not have the educational background for the job..now the Parks & Rec Department has the opportunity to hire someone with the proper degree.”

Give me a friggin’ break.

The letter’s authors make great efforts to point out the virtues of equal opportunity in matters of employment.  What could be more ‘equal’ than promoting people on the weight of their natural abilities to lead rather than their levels of education attained?  I know plenty of highly sheep-skinned folks who wouldn’t have a clue as to which end of a horse to lead to water, much less the interpersonal skills to convince the animal to partake after arriving at the stream.

They, and the commenter, seem to say that high education, resulting in the right to follow one’s name with several capitalized letters as several of the letter’s signers exhibit, somehow guarantees advancement in the workplace.  It does not.

Education certainly helps one gain knowledge, but there are no classes offered in wisdom or common sense, which are requirements for real leadership.  I know first hand that Bonnie Kuester is brimming with both and she will be missed at the helm of Greensboro’s finest department.

Over at Cone’s, an obvious insider provides a plausible back story to the all-head-chopping-all-the-time stories coming daily from Guilford County  government.  The lead chopper is my district Commish, Skip Alston.

I asked a knowledgeable local reporter (not the N&R’s G. Witt) about what was up with Skip and his “new direction” mantra.

This journo has it on good authority that Skip is a different man since Obama was elected and has developed a bad case of ‘Obama-envy’. Seems that he FINALLY has figured out that there is a way to govern by playing all the cards he’s been dealt… butleaving his old standby race card in the hole.

Because of Obama’s election, the scuttle is that Skip now understands and believes that a black man can hold any elected office in the land, that is if the public doesn’t perceive the candidate as just another “angry black man”. (Which has been my Commissioner’s shtick for decades.) He has his sights set high, but knows he must prove his newly-discovered populist mettle during this term a Chairman.

The question of how easy it is for a tiger’s stripes to change so quickly hangs heavy on my mind, however.

If Obama-envy is at the root of this, then Skip would do well to lay out the details of his “new direction” (read, CHANGE) before Guilford County develops the audacity to hope that he will cease and desist with the head chopping sooner rather than later.

The Inside Scoop wants Mr. Alston to know that he is, quite possibly, breaking a law or two.  Not very Obama-like, I’d say.

Neighbor David Wharton saw fit to re-stoke his blog and gives a good overview of what is occurring out at Revolution Mill Studios on behalf of the Aycock Neighborhood.

I attended last night’s “pin-up” session for the Dunleith Charrette and came away with a great deal of pride in the vision my neighborhood has for itself.

The design challenges for downtown Greensboro’s largest tract of fallow land is being met head on by a host of neighbors, builders, planners and architects.  The scenarios everyone is coming up with are forward thinking and, if implemented, will re-connect Aycock directly with downtown and Fisher Park… the latter through a re-think of the northeast section of the proposed Center City Greenway.

The real challenge to make it all happen, of course, will be how to match the lofty visions for the area with the millions of dollars it will take for implementation.

6:20a: Received a robo call from Guilford County Schools advising me that all after school activities have been canceled… except for ACES (after school childcare).  The call advised me to check GCS’s website for further advisories.  I did this and saw that school was delayed for two hours.

6:45a: Received a robo call from Guilford County Schools advising me that the school day has been delayed for two hours.

7:20a: Received a robo call from Grimsley High School advising me that the school day has been delayed for two hours.

Communication between school and the home is a good thing.  Too much of it, however, is quite annoying and gives the impression that GCS’s left hand is not communicating with its right.

After they left Fisher Park yesterday, a large contingent of Greensboro Police crossed the tracks and set up shop across the street from my house in the Aycock Neighborhood.

I walked over to talk with them as a couple of neighbors were driving by on their way home.  The common resolute question from both after seeing so many police cars and personnel on their street was, “what has happened now…?”.  I assured them that the police were just here to hand out fliers door-to-door and let the public know they were as concerned as anyone that the perps who killed Mike Ali were still at large.

I had a short conversation with Lt. Brian James and told him of the neighborhood’s ongoing concern that we had not received any information about the status of the “Castle” murder back in September.  James assured me that investigators had some solid leads but building such a case takes time.

His response was good enough to assuage my concerns, but it might have been a good idea for the police to have included just that tidbit of information in the “Stop the Violence” flyer they were handing out in surrounding neigborhoods, which included descriptions of the Red Mike suspects.

Yes! Weekly’s editor Brian Clarey focuses an editorial this week on the successful passage of the $20M Parks & Recreation bond.

Sporting the breathless headline, “Greensboro gets fooled“,  the text of the editorial shows that the title is indeed true; but not in the way intended. Greensboro is actually getting fooled into thinking that Clarey might have a clue on this subject.  In the process, the editorial does a disservice to the reputation of Greensboro’s  Parks & Recreation Commission, of which I am past-chair and still serve.

Clarey states: “…the P&R Commission saw fit to earmark $12 million of the $20 million for a natatorium.”

No we didn’t.  The bond had nothing to do with us.

Truth is, the City Council pretty much told us to “shove it” and decided all by themselves to put a P&R bond up for voters this year instead of 2010 as we had planned.  In addition, once we were apprised and surprised that the bond would be forthcoming, we wanted our carefully planned list of priorities to populate the  bond.  None of it included anything about a “natatorium”.

It was Councilman Mike Barber, not the P&R Commission (or Department), who championed the idea of including the, and this might be important, $10.2M, (not $12M) swim center as a part of the ballot.  A majority of Council agreed… and here we are.

Wake the hell up here, Brian.  All I was trying to do was make sure that the few priorities the P&R Commission had left on the bond’s wish list had a fighting chance of getting passed when I suggested that the swim community might want to consider a quiet campaign.

Editing note:  It’s 6:45p right now and I’ve got to go somewhere.  Check back later… I have much more to say about Brian’s B.S. charge of “trickery”.

I’m getting credible reports that the Sunday morning tragedy at Red Mike Grocery in Fisher Park did not include robbery of the business.  No one has mentioned that Mike’s death was the result of anything other than murder, however.

Another source, namely the police-connected Troublemaker, says the police have suspect(s) in their sights and that an arrest is imminent.  Many people are hoping that Ben is right about that.

Being in the old window restoration business, I have received several calls lately from Fisher Parker’s wanting to add security devices to their windows in the form of better locks and substantial storm windows.

I’m glad for the business but pissed about the reason.

Our little girl had an extraordinary showing during halftime at Friday night’s homecoming game at Grimsley High School.

She was up against 12 of her school’s most beautiful and popular girls for the title of Homecoming Queen.  We were delighted when it was announced that the student body voted her first runner-up.  Josie was quite the item as she circled Grimsley’s running track in a to-die-for 1966 Mustang.

Josie has adopted for herself the title of “Homecoming Princess”.  I like that and love her.  Photos are upcoming.

Over at Triad Watch, Keith has been looking over the 3rd quarter campaign report for the Geo. C. Simpkins PAC and found a curious donation: Page 3 of the report shows that Action Greensboro gave the PAC $5,000.

Keith posits that such a donation by a non-profit is possibly illegal due to their 501c(3) status.  Over at Guarino’s blog, long-time PAC detractor, Dr. Joe asks several questions, “…Does not this give the appearance of a quid pro quo?  Fourth, this contribution reinforces the Melderec con Simkins machine aspect of our local government.  In fact, it animates it.”

Seeing large donations on the report from NC Senator-elect Don Vaughan and newly-re-elected County Commish Paul Gibson is no shock.  Such donations are common practice among Simkins-endorsed candidates and are used to pay for mailers and other activities to help get the word out regarding endorsements.  So, yes, “quid pro quo” has long been the status quo for the PAC and its endorsees and they make no secret of it.

But why such a large donation from Action Greensboro?  They weren’t running for anything.  Was it to help get the referenda passed?

I’d like to hear an explanation.