The time has come. When you have folks owed money by contractors and contractors owed money and filing lawsuits, it is time for the city of Charlotte to step up and demand answers of its official partner in the EpiCenter project, Afshin Ghazi.
City officials cannot have it both ways — take tax dollars way from small businessmen and women like Rick Treadaway and Karen Codespoti, then not lift a finger when the recipients of those tax dollars fail to pay them. There is a certain plausible deniability to this set-up, but I want to hear Curt Walton, Mac McCarley, and the automatons on city council be that cynical on the record.
One thing is for certain, Ghazi is not talking. He is ducking reporters right and left. He’s got actual lawsuits seeking payment involving Golterman & Sabo Inc., Shiel-Sexton Inc., Cam-Ful Industries Inc., B&B Contracting Inc., and Southern Mechanical.
If I had put some of my money in the kitty to get EpiCenter off the ground and spent untold hours of effort making the project happen, precisely as the city of Charlotte as done, I’d be looking for answers too. But nope, not this bunch. We’ve got a NASCAR Hall of Fame to build.
