While Mike Barber, bless his heart, is trying to save Greensboro taxpayers some money, the City of Winston-Salem is contemplating taking a back seat on loans to Goler Comunity Development Corp. for its $35 million project off Patterson Avenue.
This deal’s a mess with no end in sight, and the city’s chances of ever seeing its money again will grow slimmer with every concession it makes. Seems as though Goler had a $700,000 loan come due from Local Initiatives Support Corporation. You guessed it —- Goler wants to replace those funds with a loan from SunTrust Bank, but SunTrust won’t make the loan unless without a guarantee that they’ll be the first lender repaid, meaning — you guessed it again —- the city have to drop a notch. It gets better — Goler plans to ask the city for another loan to close a $3.2 million gap in funding for the project.
Seems like Goler doesn’t see it as any big deal:
“We’re asking them to reach a little further, dig a little deeper and take a little more risks,” Lafayette Jones, a member of Goler’s board of directors, said yesterday.”
City staff is recommending not changing the terms of the loan. It will be interesting to see what the City Council does.
