The Four " The Public Doesn't Have a Right to Know" Group tries to circumvent Sunhine Laws.
Posted in Greensboro City Council
Feb. 20, 2008 at 01:22
by BrendaBee
As is my habit I watched the City Council meeting Tuesday night. I manage to get thru it because I use that time to quilt and since I very much enjoy quilting it makes the medicine of the meeting go down a little easier. Last night however I saw red; stark raving flaming red!The usual suspects Diane Bellamy-Small, Goldie Wells, Yvonne Johnson and Robbie Perkins tried to talk the rest of the group into making the small group gatherings of council members legal. They made a motion to permit the small group meetings with department heads and then pressed hard for it's passage. It failed on a 5 to 4 vote. Voting against it were the Gang of Four+ who are trying to make changes to the way things have been done in the past: Trudy Wade, Mary Rakestraw, Sandra Anderson-Groat and Mike Barber. Zack Matheny (the wild card, or in my tag the +) hung with this group last night.
These small group gatherings because they are not a quorum do not constitute an official meeting and therefore the public does not have to be notified. It is just another way to conduct city business behind closed doors. The last council had a nasty habit of doing this and have been called on it. The last council also had a nastier habit of taking things into 'closed session”. This council has not been meeting in small groups yet, but certainly make heavy use of the closed sessions.
Bellamy-Small is being relatively civil this year so I suppose the special recall election had it's desired effect even if she did win. She was required to do some heavy campaigning to bring in the voters to her side for both the special recall election and the regular election. It seems rather apparent she doesn't want to have to expend that much energy again and has determined that behaving like an adult is easier.
Goldie Wells however is alienating all the other council members with her overbearing 'lectures” on how they should vote and how they should act. The woman did not impress me last year and really showed her intelligence during the budget process when she stated that most of her constituents were renters and therefore did not pay property taxes. I am a renter and I assure 'Doctor” Wells that my landlord does not suck up the increases in his property taxes. He passes them on to me!
Mayor Yvonne (double talking) Johnson stuck with her side of the aisle on this one. I never cared for Yvonne Johnson's voting record but now that she is Mayor of Greensboro I am actually appalled at her many misstatements. The Mayor can't seem to make a straight out statement about anything. She hedges and dodges and implies. And the other night she told a group that she hopes the new superintendent has classes in sensitivity training and racism. Racism has nothing at all to do with the problems the schools are having. The out of control Black students are having a problem it is true but not due to racism. The problems stem from homes and communities where gangs and guns and drugs and illegitimacy are tolerated and even accepted. No amount of sensitivity training for White students will help with these problems. But the old bugaboo racism has played so long in Greensboro that the Mayor just can't seem to understand that you can cry wolf only so many times and people stop listening and then after awhile actually begin the resent the accusation.
Now we come to Mr. Sleaze Bag himself, Robbie Perkins. What can one say? If it is illegal, wrong, nasty and monetarily benefits Robbie himself and his 'handlers” then he does it regardless of it's legality or decency. I truly hope those who voted for him see what he really is during the next two years.
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Feb. 20, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Bubba"Now we come to Mr. Sleaze Bag himself, Robbie Perkins. What can one say? If it is illegal, wrong, nasty and monetarily benefits Robbie himself and his “handlers” then he does it regardless of it’s legality or decency. I truly hope those who voted for him see what he really is during the next two years."
We need to stay on Perkin's and Matheny's case on every issue. Those two are the main reasons that the wagons remain circled around Mitch Johnson.
Matheny is still naive, but more time with Perkins (and more direction by Melvin) will turn him into a Perkins Lite.
Posted by Bubba
