As required by a General Assembly law passed last year, the Greensboro City Council put out to bid management of the city’s downtown Business Improvement District and the tax money that goes with it. Two of the bids were from Downtown Greensboro Inc.—now headed by a former City Council member— while another was from a downtown property owner who sued the city last year. So you knew this going to be interesting.
Indeed it was. During the public hearing on the bid, Eric Robert—the property owner who sued the city—made the allegation that DGI—whose president is former council member Zack Matheny—made the allegation that DGI was allowed to amend its bid after the deadline because the bid—which came in at $900,000—was higher than the estimated $600,000 revenue from the BID tax.
After Robert made his allegation, council member Tony Wilkins—the lone conservative—started asking questions, after which fellow council member Mike Barber called for a recess. When the council reconvened, Mayor Vaughan made a motion to postpone the issue until the June 7 meeting.
Yet another mess created because the council is apparently on the outside looking in— which these days is a common problem. But—as I’ve said before—when you have a City Council election and you have 5 percent turnout for the primary and 12 percent turnout during the general election, you get what you get.
