South Elm Redevelopment

I had planned to attend an 11:30am meeting at TwoArtChicks on South Elm Street. I didn't make i t, but I will be at later meeting today.

The city is inviting citzen input about the planning process in the brownfield area at S. Elm and Lee steets. There will be 2 meetings today. The second one is this afternoon at 5:30. If you are interested in what is happening in that area of Greensboro or if you want to make suggestions to the city staff and planners, now is the time. I attended a meeting about the area some time ago. This is the second round of citizen information meetings about this area.

I believe that our city government is trying to give us "regular folks" a chance to help decide the future of our city. The staff makes notes on a big easel pad. And the discussion is usually lively after it gets going. I just hope that those pads are really used in the planning process.

I have been to many meetings about the local transit system since its management was assumed by the city. I usually felt that at the meetings suggestions were noted, questions were asked, there was some discussion and then everybody went back to the same old ways. I just quit going to the meetings because the same suggestions were made by ciizens over and over, but bus service didn't seem to improve.

So many government sponsored meetings are simply to put a positive spin on what has already been decided without much input from us "regular folks." Lately, that seems to be changing.

So - if you care what happens in our city - GO TO THESE MEETINGS and LET OUR REPRESENTATIVES and CITY STAFF know how you feel. Let them know where you think city tax money should be spent. If we don't tell them what we want, they will tell us what we get.

I don't think there was much response about what the citizens want in a new city manager. There were more city staff mmbers at the meeting I attended than there were regular folks. I was disappointed. Maybe other meeting were better attended.

See ya tonight at TwoArtChicks, 609 South Elm Street, Downtown Greensboro, NC. Be there with your thinking caps on.