Local Political Forum Scheduled

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Political Forum
Wednesday, October 25, at 6:30
Congregational United Church of Christ,
400 W. Radiance Drive in Greensboro.

The forum is co-sponsored by the Congregational United Church of Christ and the League of Women Voters. It will focus on local and state legislature candidates.

The public is welcome.

Me too, Ed

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From Ed Cone, N&R today: "News that a group of civic leaders is considering a new branding campaign for Greensboro did not cause my heart to race in anticipation of a resulting boom in our economic prospects of self-esteem. In fact, it made me cringe."

Me too, Ed.

Some of the thoughts of Ed Cone in his column today should be refined and posted on billboards and featured on the pages of every news and media source available.

Ed states that, "This place is clean and green, in terms of landscape, if not development policy."

Some of his thoughts that should be translated into ads for Greensboro are:

• Promote the Virtues of Greensboro and build on what we've got.
• Talk about what's great about Greensboro. What makes us a good place to live, work, start a business or relocate a large corporate headquarters?
• Greensboro missed out on the explosive growth that has transformed Raleigh and Charlote into traffic-chocked icons of suburban blandness.
• Emphasize our livability and take affirmative steps to preserve and enhance it.
• Our geography makes us a natural transportation hub.

And from me:
Emphasize our unique blend of small town charm with big city amenities in promoting our city. Talk about what we have and what potential we have, rather than focusing on more silly slogans.
Greensboro is a great place for children to grow up and a place they will want their own children to enjoy. Some of our promotions should include our public parks and recreation facilities and should feature families enjoying them.

Ed mentioned that our public school system could use improvements. This is one of the areas that really needs to be improved in order to restore Greensboro back to being a better place for families.

http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/Section?Category=NEWSREC02020404

Area Bloggers Should Know

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To those of you in Guilford County, NC who are interested in the issue of internet neutrality.

US House Representative, Howard Coble from the 6th District, is a member of the House Judicial Committee's Sub Committee on the Internet and Intellectual Property.

Another member from our area who is on the US House Judiciary Committee is Representative Melvin Watt from the 12th District.

Hon. Melvin L. Watt
2236 Rayburn House Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-1510

local address
301 S. Greene Street
Suite 210
Greensboro, NC 27401-2615

Hon. Howard Coble
2468 Rayburn House Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515-3306

local address
2102 North Elm Street
Suite B
Greensboro, NC 27408-5100

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And a reminder that there is information on the web about this issue at several sites.

Letter to the Editor of N&R

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This afternoon I tried to respond to a comment to my letter to the editor which appeared in the N&R Sunday.

I got this message:
"You are not signed onto the Typekey service. You must register and/or sign onto TypeKey to comment on this site."

I closed the window and opened it again, thinking that maybe my computer was tired or something and the keypad thing would work if I closed everything and tried again. I went back to the letters site and again got the same message.

So, like a good girl, I went to the typekey site. I entered all the required information. I got another message telling me that the name and e-mail address that I had entered was already taken. I returned to letters site later and tried again. This time I went to the help site. I entered my e-mail and password. I got a message that I had entered the wrong password. So, I clicked on the help button. I was told to enter my e-mail address and my password would be sent to that address. I did that and got a message that the e-mail address was not registered. I put in my other e-mail address and got the same response.

I gave up. I can comment somewhere else. Here on my own blog for instance. So here goes.

Here is the letter as it appeared in Sunday's N&R - http://blog.news-record.com/staff/letters/

September 10, 2006

Solar power promises better energy source

Now is the time for a real change in the way we pay for maintenance of city-owned property in Greensboro. The city can produce energy by using the roofs of publicly owned facilities. This energy can be sold or used within the building. The money saved can be used to help defray maintenance costs of those very buildings.

As roofs are replaced or repaired on existing city-owned buildings or installed on new facilities, they can be fitted with energy-producing solar units. The project would cost less if done as roof repair or as replacement is done. Solar power helps reduce pollution by reducing the need for more coal-burning or nuclear-powered energy plants. Clean solar power pays for itself.

City Manager Mitchell Johnson told me that solar power is not economical and not a good option for city buildings in Greensboro. He did say that the Melvin Building has passive solar because there is a skylight into the plaza area.

Still, I urge citizens of Greensboro and Guilford County to write, call, e-mail or speak to elected officials at meetings. Suggest that solar energy be explored. It is being used in other cities in the United States and around the world. It just makes sense.

Diane Davis
Greensboro


The comment to which I would like to respond is:

"Clean solar power pays for itself.

City Manager Mitchell Johnson told me that solar power is not economical."

Which? If it pays for itself, it's economical. If it's not economical, it doesn't pay for itself.

Posted by: brian444 at September 11, 2006 12:17 AM



My response to brian444 is:
Brian,
There is much information available that solar power is a clean source of energy. When generated by municipal governments in conjunction with a local conventional source of energy it is a good investment for the city (that's we taxpayers) and the utility company (probably Duke Power in this area).

My reference to Mr. Johnson was to emphasize that I don't think the City of Greensboro has seriously investigated the use of solar power. His answer seemed a bit facetious to me.

Solar could help pay maintenance in greensboro

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Now might be the time for a REAL CHANGE in the way city-owned property is maintained in Greensboro and Guilford County.
If the city produces some of the energy used by publicly-owned buildings, the money saved could be used to maintain those very buildings.

Diane G. Davis
905 Fairmont Street
Greensboro, NC 27401
(336) 378-4457


September 4, 2006


Letters to the Editor
The News & Record

edpage@news-record.com

Please consider this letter for publication. Thank you.


Now is the time for a REAL CHANGE in the way we pay for maintenance of city-owned property in Greensboro.
.
The city can produce energy by using the roofs of publicly-owned facilities. This energy can be sold or used within the building. The money saved can be used to help defray maintenance costs of those very buildings.

As roofs are replaced or repaired on existing city-owned buildings or installed on new facilities, they can be fitted with energy producing solar units. The project would cost less if done as roof repair or replacement is done. Solar Power helps reduce pollution by reducing the need for more coal-burning or nuclear-powered energy plants. Clean solar power pays for itself.

City Manager Mitch Johnson told me that Solar Power is not economical and not a good option for city buildings in Greensboro. He did say that the Melvin Building has passive solar because there is a sky light into the plaza area.

I urge citizens of Greensboro and Guilford County to write, call, e-mail or speak to elected officials at meetings. Suggest that Solar Energy be explored. It is being used in other cities in the US and around the world. It just makes sense.

Thank you,
Diane Davis

Who Remembers ? ? ?

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Does anyone remember the transportation bonds that were approved in 2000?

Was some of that money used to purchase the Ice House?

I know that some money from that bond issue was to be used to provide parking and office space for the transportation department. Some of it was also supposed to be used for street scape work on Church Street. I believe some of the money (for church st.) is being spent for the mess out on Friendly Ave. which is costing more than estimated.

Were fire station bonds passed in 2000? I know they were on the ballot. If so, has all of that money been spent? I think I heard something about it at a City Council briefing last year.

Another thought about the fire stations. Where will the money come from to train and equip additional people to man these new stations. And the maintenance costs - Will this be from another bond referendum in another non-city-council-election year or from the general fund?

Police and fire protection are essential services that should be provided with tax money. Our police and fire departments and our emergency medical response people are doing a wonderful job and should not be slighted in city budget decisions. The City of Greensboro should not have to borrow money (issue bonds) for essential services.