I read with interest Jordan Green’s Yes! Weekly article on the political influence of developers and their high-powered attorneys on the Greensboro City Council. Green indeed connects the dots in a way no other publication has, but he’s still telling us something we already know: Developers rule Greensboro.

The game’s principal players, such as Mayor Keith Holliday, come right out and admit it:

“I’ve never thought of this as any big secret,” Holliday said. “The people who are looking for good government because it affects their industries, that is the group that is somewhat more in tune with actions of local government than the general citizen that doesn’t connect unless they have an issue that comes up that directly affects them…….”

“You’re going to naturally see campaign contributions coming from people who are most affected by whatever level of government it is,” said Marlene Sanford, president of the Triad Real Estate & Building Industry Coalition. “The vast majority of what local government does is regulate real estate. That’s just natural. I’m proud of our people for participating in local government, whether it be making campaign contributions or serving on boards and commissions. More people ought to do it. Anybody can write a check. I do not apologize for an instant for people in the real estate business being involved in local government.”

As crazy as this sounds, Green might be placing too influence in the hands of the City Council, considering the fact that some, most notably the Rhino’s John Hammer, believe the council simply rubber stamps recommendations from city staff. That’s the next question: Among the favorable council votes on projects submitted by large developers and their attorneys, how many were recommended for approval by city staff?

Green would have done well to simply end the article with Sanford’s quote. That’s the way the game is played, the reader would conclude, and if he doesn’t like it, he can try to do something about it this election season. But Green wanders off into the world of urban sprawl, “gray-field neighborhoods” and poor people “trapped within the market forces of real estate.” His conclusion, the way I read it, is the City Council needs to grow some stones, quit taking money from evil developers and their attorneys and get to work rehabbing every rundown neighborhood in Greensboro.

It’s not as if the city’s not working on it, with the money coming from more than a handful of contributors. About 224,000 of them.