Sample Ballot for District 1My platform is serious, but simple:
1. Support diverse economic development to keep and bring jobs with livable wages
2. Provide leadership for economic and resource parity in
3. Create program structures for youth, seniors
and the disadvantage
4. Provide fair and balanced leadership to
the City of
Early voting for the Municipal Primaries started September 17 through October 3
at the Board of elections office at 301 W. Market St.
For more information call 336/641-3836
The Primary is Tuesday, October 6
Voter Guides are available from the Unity Forum call 336/508-5346
to get a guide or distribute the guides
Early voting for the General Election will start October 15 through October 31
and there will be multiple sites. For a Sample ballot or poll locations go to http://www.co.guilford.nc.us/elections_cms/.
The General Election is Tuesday, November 3.
Polls are open from 6:30 am to 7:30 pm.
Register, Vote and be Informed !
NEWS & RECORD
Background and qualifications
1. Candidate name: T. Dianne Bellamy Small
2. How would you define your leadership style? Please give an example of a time you led a group that describes this style.
My leadership style is inclusive/empowering others. Example: Bringing together the
6. How do you plan on reaching constituents if elected? Please be specific.
8. What is your vision for the city of
2. Getting the council to move back towards a more constructive manager-council form of government by encouraging training for the new council, using my experience to support the mayor and focusing on supporting the
3. Supporting programs for the youth, seniors and the disadvantage by working with jobs programs, supporting funding with partnerships, encouraging social capital development at all levels.
I have encouraged staff to use all communications tools available to the city to communicate with citizens on any matter. The LDO, if passed, will address some of the concerns with developers needing to communicate with citizens on such issues. As a member of the MPO, I have supported the city and the state in taking a more proactive role in providing information. There is now a new tool on the city’s website to help the public see a map of the proposed Urban Loop and where they are by address.
11. Where do you stand on merging some city and county? Which services should be considered and how would you help make that happen?
12. What should be
13. What is one city expense that you question?
15. What, if anything, needs to happen next to bring closure to the lingering wounds created after the resignation of former Police Chief David Wray? What role should City Council play?
16. Should the council also be graded against a set of objective goals and measures? Would you pledge to set up such a system? If you failed to deliver on a majority of those goals, would you agree not to seek re-election?
The citizens already “grade” each member of council. They communicate their concerns and pleasure with the job of council in many ways. We had 12 objectives for this current council and I have addressed each of them. I think the voters will decide how well we do our jobs by their vote in October and November. I did ask my constituents if they wanted me to run again.
17. What question would you ask your opponent(s)?
I think it is important to me for the comments of the editor of News and Record be acknowledged. The only thing I ever asked the newspaper to do, was to say I was not their source. If this is as close as they will come, so be it. FINALLY ! TDBS
Now let's move on with the 2009 campaign and the needs of Greensboro for the future . www.bellamysmallforcouncil.com
Posted by John Robinson of the Greensboro News and Record on Saturday, August 29, 2009 at 8:17 am
As you'll recall, a previous version of this council -- one in which most of the members remain -- agreed to take lie detector tests to find out which among them leaked the RMA report. Bellamy-Small declined -- all the others did and "passed" -- and, consequently, she was widely presumed to be the leaker, a charge she denied.
It was, in my opinion, one of the more embarrassing episodes of
It's only fair. And consistent.
lexalexanderAugust 29, 2009 - 4:46 pm EDT
Forensic analysis found that it definitely was Bellamy-Small's copy of the RMA report that was leaked --
http://www.news-record.com/content/2006/11/08/article/analyst_leaked_rep...
-- but I don't recall whether there was any conclusive evidence that she did or didn't do the leaking. Just out of curiosity, was there?
Reply To This Comment
John RobinsonAugust 29, 2009 - 5:24 pm EDT
Not that we ever reported, Lex, and not to my knowledge.
gsostudentAugust 30, 2009 - 12:04 pm EDT
Are you kidding me?? First of all, you're wrong- he was terminated prior to his courtdate, then he was found NOT GUILTY on both charges, and THEN he held the press conference. So you've got your order wrong which is essential in presenting the news.
Second of all, I'm NOT asking you to print that Mike Barber bribed him. I am saying it's your JOB to print that he has been accused of bribery. And not by an anonymous commenter on your site, but by a police officer who is very much in the public eye. How can you not report the allegations? If someone well known alleged that, for example, Bellamy-Small made a mis-step, you'd report it (as shown above). Why is it that allegations of bribery (as you stated, a serious charge) go completely unmentioned by the N&R? Don't you have a responsibility to report that, especially since the press conference was newsworthy enough to get coverage? Why were key elements of his statement (the police tape and Barber allegedly trying to bribe him) not printed?
What you are doing is taking sides and protecting his image based on your discretion that this is somehow not worth reporting. That's why I made the comment that your organization is in bed with him. It means that you are taking sides and are not nearly as unbiased as you'd like to pretend.
Reply To This Comment
Spag August 30, 2009 - 2:08 pm EDT
The N&R knows who the leaker was. I understand they have to protect their sources. That said, if Bellamy-Small was the leaker and the N&R knows she was the leaker, then they should have reported that as soon as she started denying it. In my book, that is an elected official deliberately lying to the public and that alone is newsworthy.
Reply To This Comment
John Robinson August 30, 2009 - 2:55 pm EDT
I agree, Spag. And we didn't report that Bellamy-Small was lying to the public. You can draw the conclusion from that, I think.
The dishonorable, unprofessional, immature behaviors of the current city council have to be addressed. This council has shown reckless disregard for any rules or roles a city council should follow. Even after it was voted on, not once but twice, to keep the process of selecting a
Three years ago, I endured the most insidious ordeal from that city council on an accusation of leaking. Never mind leaking was going on before and during my time on council. Both staff and council members sought to prove that I had not gone along with the rules and was a disgrace to the council. There were obviously double standards on who made the rules, played by them and how. I maintained by innocence but my reputation and spirit were harmed greatly by the mean spirited efforts to get rid of me. And though the attack was very personal, the council still functioned and respected its role as a policy board carrying out the business of the city of
This council has not honored the manager-mayor form of government that has been the way we’ve done business in
There are council members who say they have respect for others and yet they cuss, say inappropriate things, show inappropriate behavior, rant and rave, throw things and yell either at the group or at individuals when they can not have their way. Their mantra has been if I pitch a loud enough fit or cry, I will get my way. And when other members of council have tried to be a voice of reason, they were accused of not wanting to do things for the good of the council or the city. And staff has been left with no clear understanding of who is in charge or in what direction they should do their jobs. Staff has been directed to spend exhausting hours at taxpayers’ expense on reports or findings that either never has gotten looked at by the council, were not the wish of the majority of council or have ever been acted on. Thousands of dollars have been spent on reports with recommendations that have either been ignored or not acted on. And there has been no mention about the waste of these resources yet it was said it was being done for the good of our citizens.
The concerns of this the current council’s failure to perform its functions properly has been largely ignored by the mainstream media and twisted by other outlets. And though the media has been present at many of the going ons of this council, they have chosen to not raise concerns or have distorted it. Yet, the business community has come to this council to ask for a proper decorum to be adhered to even with a workshop with governmental professionals to give some advice on how elected officials should conduct themselves. These efforts have been dismissed or ignored by some. And yet, the public has been watching.
This council has not acted in the true best interest of the city. There have been many delays of projects and decisions that the council should have made but because this council would not meet or wanted meetings schedule around their golf or work needs at the exclusion of others, has not worked well together and used tactics to cause disruptions rather than working on solutions, staff has struggled to meet our obligations in running the city properly. City staff has been frustrated, confused and reluctant to carry on their assigned tasks because of a lack of clear direction from the council. Council members who have had not expertise in an area have refused to accept the advice or recommendations of the seasoned professionals in that area. City staff displayed their unhappiness with this council with a 26% approval rating in the "not so free" employee survey, that was laughed at and a party was suggested as a way to get them over it. Members of this council has been publicly abusive to staff and each other. And this behavior has been pointedly directed several times at one race and sex. Trying to reason or disagree with some members of this council has caused another level of dysfunction such as the selection of the search firm for the
The city of
stop sowing seeds of distrust,
stop disrespecting set rules of conduct,
work respectfully with all staff and each other,
take individuality and political grandstanding out of the mix for a true greater good,
work with true honor and integrity with other council members,
learn not to take disagreements to a disagreeable level;
and respect the leadership of the council.
There is one final truth. If the city council does not clean up its act, the citizens will. My reason for voicing my concern is because I care about the city of

This current council has been extremely difficult to work with. There were new people who came on council with their own agendas and did not care what it would take to accomplish their goals. They immediately joined forces with older council members and set this council on nearly 2 years of lack of focus. There have been so many seed of discourse and distrust that have been sown when it was totally uncalled for. There have been many successful attempts at causing confusion to keep the business of this policy setting board off balance. There has been total unreasonableness in hearing the facts on very critical issues that this board should have been handled that were either dealt with unreasonably, have been tabled not to come back up or just left hanging in the air. The city employees' approval rating for this council was a sad 26%. The media has even labeled this council as “dysfunctional.” We have a good mayor, but she needs a board that has respect for the board members and her leadership. I have tried to be a voice of common sense leadership during the past two years.
(1) Business Friendly – Supported reasonable incentive request, advocating for more business-friendly practices, supporting MWBE as an important program to assist small business development.
(2) Communication –Attended functions all over
(3) Employee Morale – Requested a cultural audit for the City to deal with the “isms”. Supported Police; intervened in attacks on the City Manager and advocating for employee right to be respected, visited various work sites to understand what the city employees need and feel.
(4) Equity - Attended Civil Rights Conference – questioning resources and pushing for parity in
(5) Gangs – Attended Gang Forums; supported funding Police Gang Unit; provided parent information with Gang 101 material; attended seven Back-to-School functions; advocated for Youth Programs like summer jobs, youth leadership programs, GYC, NCLM Youth Summit and Parks and Recreation Youth Summit;
(6) Homelessness – Taken the leadership role for the
(7) Public Trust – Continued to be available; developing communication tools such as this annual report, distribution of City materials and information.
(8) Jobs – Taking lead in “Growth for
(9) Police – Advocated for computer equipment for the department, a new position for a fingerprint specialist; advocated for fairness in treatment of Black Police Officers involved in the Police scandal, sharing law enforcement experience with council to help explain some concerns about law enforcement.
(10) Social Capital – Appointed young professionals to Boards, encouraging more citizens to involve themselves in their community; participated in Bicentennial activities and distributed Bicentennial activity books for kids as well as other materials relative to the Bicentennial and other City functions;
(11) Transparency – Attended twenty NNO programs and distributed City information; appeared on radio and television shows to try and explain the going ons with the council, attended neighborhood meetings and held town meetings
(12) Transportation – Led the effort to get funding for new route to Brightwood Community; advocated for summer bus service for GTCC; served as liaison for GTA, TAC, PART; advocating for transit for non-traditional riders, requested half price fares for summer school students using GTA, supported new GTA transportation hub in District 1, advocated for the Nealtown connector
Intervened in
Supported the Glenwood Neighborhood Plan
Development of the Southeast Neighborhood Coalition
Convening the organizational planning group for the
Collected food and personal items for persons in need
Advocated for jobs, training and entrepreneurship opportunities for ex-offenders
Downtown Greenway project beginning Phase 1 in Warnersville
WiFi in all the public libraries
Provided leadership training at GTCC and support water/sewer resource for GTCC’s Northwest Campus
Sidewalk projects on
Supported bringing NFBPA Conference to
More support and enhancement to NC A&T Homecoming Pavilion
Requested the Completion of the report by Human Relations Commission on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Opposed re-opening of the White Street Landfill
Supported youth programs such as Midnight Basketball, Youth Leadership program, Catholic Summer work program, SMART, SAVE, Hayes Taylor YMCA, LYFE and HOPE Project
State President of NCBEMO and participant in the Black Summit, an alliance of Black Elected Officials
My platform is serious, but simple:
1. Support diverse economic development to keep and bring jobs with livable wages
2. Provide leadership for economic and resource parity in
3. Create program structures for youth, seniors and the disadvantage
4. Provide fair and balanced leadership to the City of
It is my desire that everyone in District 1 feels empowered to lead and make
The

http://my.barackobama.com/hisownwords

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