Busy ,Busy Week leads to Buzy Flappin' Weekend
Posted in Greensboro City Council
Feb. 11, 2008 at 09:41
by BrendaBee
The nation saw a week of tornadoes that killed 54 people in the Southern states, elsewhere there were floods and blizzards and a lot of houses burning down. Greensboro had it's own brand of avalanche when the walls began crumbling at City Hall. This topic has been blogged to death so everyone knows about the farce that was "Oh, THAT memo". City Manager Mitchell Johnson ran a point by rambling point rebuttal of an N&R story and his past grief on the city's site that was so full of holes It looked like someone had taken tried to level it with a load of buck shot. Sam Spagnola does an excellent job of refuting it and pointing out the blatant errors.So seeing this wasn't going to wash Mitch Johnson made a bad tactical error in meeting with David Hoggard. From my interpretation of David's words he will write his last article for the N&R this next Wednesday and Mitch wanted him to use that space to pitch for Mitch so to speak. Mitch's handlers have thrown him to the dogs at long last. Stupidity is necessary in a person in order for them to be bought and therefore handled in the first place. It is this same lack of intelligence that causes them to panic and at that point the powers behind them loses control of their puppet and are forced to make other arrangements. Mitch made a bad mistake because he still believes David to have some influence and he is wrong about that. Then again smarts was never something we could credit Johnson with. I only hope David is wise enough to understand Mitch is trying to use him. It will only be to David's detriment to continue supporting Johnson against all odds. Somehow I think David is more of a survivor than to allow this. Although letting the story out that he met with Mitch in the first place and asking advise on his blog was not the best course for him to have followed either. Seemed to me his only motive there was to say, "Hey look at me. I'm a big man around town because even the City Manager comes to me when he nneds help,"
Oh well, we shall all see. This is just a very small side drama at any rate. I do tho wonder if the "handlers" have a replacement ready for Mitch. I would advise them to choose someone who is not yet on the scenes when choosing a replacement because all of the current players are suspect.
Update: I was wrong about David's instinct for survival. He actually bought into Mitch Johnson's bumbling explanation and was so...well, whatever...as to come back to his site and reverse his opinion from just a couple days before. Now he is in Johnson's camp just as strongly as he was previously out of it. Waffling, or Kerryesque Behaviour, is David's downfall. Has been as long as I have read his blog. The man just can not decide what he believes from moment to moment, and changes his mind with every new breeze. It is amazing to watch him in action. It reminds me of those wooden clown figures where if you pull down on a string hanging from their bottom their arms and legs jump up. Let go of the string and the arms and legs hand go down again.
Oh well, as I said above it is a minor drama in the scheme of things and what David does with the last of his articles for the N&R is certainly his business and not my concern. Mitch made a mistake calling on David and David made a mistake in believing Mitch. After all this finally comes down I can envision the two of them going out and tying a big one on, then stumbling with arms wrapped over each others shoulders down Main Street singing at the top of their voices "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen". (That should please the Pulpit Forum who were without a doubt one of Mitch's handlers.)
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A Town Hall Meeting is to be held by the Mayor Yvonne Johnson today. In reality Mayor Yvonne is running for her next term in office rather than keeping a campaign promise to restore transparency to the City Council dealings. She is more concerned after making it as the first woman and the first black to serve as Greensboro's mayor. She certainly doesn't wish to suffer the ignominy of being voted out after only one term. However, no questions or give and take from the floor will be permitted at this so-called Town Hall meeting. Instead a moderator in a friendly attorney will ask question submitted by the audience in advance of the meeting, A moderator for a town meeting is quite a departure for that format I would say. It will be interesting to see just what the moderator thinks are "hard questions" since we all know what the real "hard questions" would be if they were allowed to come from the floor.
The next big problem for the City Council will be in helping a new City Manager choose a replacement Police Chief since it is obvious that Bellamy is not up to the job. The way I see it bringing in an outsider who is not familiar with the various factions operating in Greensboro will just be a band aid and do nothing to stem the tide of crime. Only someone local who is in the "know" can do what needs done. IMO And the only QUALIFIED local people who are in the "know" are the very people Mitch Johnson forced to resign or retire which is David Wray and his command staff (Tim Bellamy was the last man standing of this group after the dust settled), And neither do I trust the City Council to make good choices as to replacements for Mitch who will in turn have to make the changes necessary to clean up the GPD.
I guess I keep coming back to making the Police Chief an elective office. That way the voters can toss an incompetent out every 4 years. As for the City Manager's total and complete controller of the city's business, well some things have got to change.
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Finally the weekend ended and we were given a beautiful and profound summation of just where exactly we as human beings should put the problems of city government. Not that we should forget them or put them aside, but simply where they should lie in the scheme of things.
This is a comment made by Ben Holder to David Hoggard on David's site. I am copying the entire comment rather than providing a link because I want you all to read it and because I need to remember it and make it a part of my life and learning.
Ben Holder said,
"Hogg,
Who said anything about your conversation w Goldie? Post your conversation w Mitch big boy. I was being reasonable and nice in my comments and I get snide passive aggressive statements from you? What am I worried about? Right now, my biggest concern is I am steadily approaching the part of your comment section that disappears. Your comment section color/disappear thing sucks. Let’s see, I am worried about my kids, their future, not too worried about Cameron but always worried about Graham. Graham is so smart and in touch with his feelings and he knew his mother well. He misses his mother more than I miss my wife. That my is a hard thing to haul around. Especially for a 7 year old. Graham is an amazing kid. Not because of me. But because of Donna. I worry that the pain of missing Donna never going away. Never ever going away.
I worry about Cameron. She already has a a free ride to Salem Academy and Salem College. However, I still worry about her. I worry about someone hurting my kids. It happens, people are crazy.
I am worried about cancer, heart attacks, dying at home alone w my kids and them not knowing what to do. Graham can dial 911. We practice at my house cuz death comes quick. You wouldn’t know about that though.
I am worried about our country’s future. I bet we are at war w Iran by June. I am worried now cuz what I am writing cannot be seen because your blog comment section sucks. I am worried about death mostly. I mean, if I were to die, Cameron and Graham would be without me and that my friend would suck. I know your readers may hate me. But, my kids love me. I give Cameron five hugs everyday before she goes to school. Who could possibly take my place? I am all they have.I am worried about socks, shoes, shirts and pants for my kids. I worry about the clothes in the dryer right now and if they are gonna have lint all over them. We can’t have that. School starts again on Monday and church is tomorrow. I worry about all of my family. I got a cousin in the war and think of him getting killed.
I am worried about my future. Will I ever find love again? I doubt it. You seen pictures of my wife? I hate you didn’t get to meet her. I worry about the woman at Fox 8 that I just met and wonder if she is gonna call me back. I worry about the lack of communication between me and Donna’s family. It is hard! I worry about the Redskins some. They should have hired Russ Grimm. He woulda been my choice. I also worry about the Knicks. I worry about the burning desire that is still in me to coach football again. I worry about Bailey, Donna’s dog. She has a skin condition.
Sometimes I worry about Piedmont Natural Gas, my mortgage, Bell South, Direct TV and so on. I worry about my father and how much longer I have him. He is one cool dude. I worry about Grahams odd bumps on his leg. I took him to the Doctor and was told not to worry. However, I still do. I worry about my neighborhood. We got gang issues around me. I worry about my neighborhood in general. I worry about the Kilimanjaro's and wonder if their efforts will ever be recognized.
I am worried about my car some, I hope it lasts and everything goes well. I worry about my heart too. Sometimes, I lay in bed, well the couch actually, I don’t sleep in me and Donna’s bed, and count my heart beats and wonder how many I have left.
You seem to think I am worried about you and Mitch? That is silly. You and Mitch whispering secrets is comical. Maybe you should have asked Mitch what he was worried about."
Thank you Ben for bringing a little reality to the situation,
Sincerely, BB
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Feb. 11, 2008 - Ben's worries
As I sit here with tears in my eyes, I want to thank you for reprinting Ben's reply to David. I think we all need a dose of reality and this certainly did it for me. Don't worry about all the unimportant things in your life, just try and take care of the really important ones. I had read it last night, along with all the other emails but it did not impact me then as it did this morning.Thanks again and thanks for all your writings.
Betty Almond
Posted by Anonymous
Feb. 11, 2008 - Thanks
thanks for reading ladies.Posted by Ben
Feb. 11, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Dr. Mary JohnsonAbsolutely masterful response to Hoggard on Ben's part. Thanks for re-printing it Brenda.
Posted by Dr. Mary Johnson
