NYT reviews Greensboro’s International Civil Rights Museum, complete with slideshow. It looks impressive, although the review states toward the end that the museum’s focus is a bit too broad, which has the unintended effect of minimizing the sit-in movement.
I also read Joe Killian’s N&R front-pager on how the dispute over the proposed downtown hotel hangs over museum’s grand opening and founder Skip Alston like a late January snowstorm.
A couple of things jumped out at me. First, there was the quote from Guilford County school board member Deena Hayes asking why hotel skeptics are “asking these questions of this particular project, and why are they doing it now when it’s nearly cleared all of its political hurdles?”
What political hurdles? Guilford County commissioners? Give me a break. The Greensboro City Council? Please. How I wish there had been political hurdles to this project.
Then there’s Sharon Hightower’s comment that the black community is “not happy” with Mayor Bill Knight. I’ve seen Hightower speak at several City Council meetings, and she honestly seems like a straight-up lady —she also criticizes Alston for having “a hard time separating (his) agenda from what he’s supposed to do as a community leader and representative.”
But why would the black community be upset with Bill Knight? For discovering that city staff gave him and the council bad information on the hotel project? For refusing to back down from Alston’s threats if he makes a motion to rescind the bonds?
Sometimes I seriously wonder about our fair city.
