I just tuned into last night’s Greensboro City Council meeting to see if any council members would speak out against the city’s proposed contribution to the Wyndham Championship, formally known as the Greater Greensboro Open.
There was one speaker from the floor —-George Hartzman from Triad Watch, who basically made the point that a public expenditure for the Wyndham (in the form of advertising banners around the ) was a perfect setup for conflicts of interest given all the “freebies” that flow from the tournament.
Nothing surprises me anymore, given the many entangling alliances in this small town of 250,000 people. Most interesting, however, was council member Robbie Perkins’ statement that $5,000 for advertising banners was nothing compared to the $3 million letter of credit the city put up “on behalf of the citizens of Greensboro” in order to keep the tournament here when it ran into hard times.
Hey, Hartzman said he loved the tournament. In the 25-plus years I’ve lived here in G’boro, I’ve been once. It was still in the spring — and still at Forest Oaks, and I had a blast. But —possible conflicts of interests aside—- the tournament’s one of those things that everybody assumes should always be there and that everybody should help finance.
On that note, the council unanimously approved the expenditure.
