The Rhino’s John Hammer says Guilford County Commissioners’ $250,000 grant for the veterans’ memorial at Triad Park is a sad day for conservatives, especially when it’s —guess who —former Greensboro Mayor Bill Knight doing the asking:
What would have happened if the Guilford County Board of Commissioners had turned down Knight’s request for a quarter of a million dollars? The Field of Honor would still be built. The big drawback is that when the grand opening is held this spring, the project might not have been as completed as Knight and other supporters had hoped it would be. But then again, a donor or several donors might have stepped forward to make sure it was substantially complete.
All nine Guilford County commissioners thought it was a good use of taxpayer dollars, and evidently it didn’t bother Knight, who asked for the money, or the commissioners, who awarded it, that a promise was made when the project was started that the memorial would be built at “no cost” to Guilford or Forsyth Counties. It’s worth noting that the group now has the money it needs and Forsyth County has not been asked for or given a dime.
Maybe conservatism isn’t dead; it just doesn’t live in Guilford County.
Every politician knows veterans are a group to which you never say ‘no.’ And $250k next to who knows how much for Project Haystack seems like chump change.
In his Rhino sitdown Greensboro interim City Manager Jim Westmoreland says “it’s probably going to take development commitments to advance the infrastructure developments and maybe even some land acquisition” to make Project Haystack work.
Should the City Council name Westmoreland city manager, it would certainly solve the problem of the revolving door since Mitchell Johnson was fired in 2009.
Westmoreland is a Pfafftown native who worked for GDOT for many years, who jumped at the chance to return to Gboro after a stint in the private sector. Looks like Westmoreland’s dug in here and wouldn’t be looking to go elsewhere.