DGI...one final thought

Well maybe not the " final...final " one , but here it is...

Why would all those self proclaimed downtown advocate of DGI ' s board go along with the farce that their organization has become...nothing in it for Downtown Greensboro but over inflated egos paired with outrageous salaries and operating expenses. The board' s silence is no longer acceptable. I call on most good board members to rebel and demand the resignation of their executive committee...

Why would Lincoln Financial go along with this, why would United Guaranty, Bank of America, Procter and Gamble...? Why are you? Why are we?

We could start here and go from there...

Can somebody please...

please explain to me why DGI is allowed to remain at the helm of our Downtown...why can' t the city cancel the contract WITH CAUSE immediately?

DGI has not fulfilled its contract period...so WTF people?  15 years of abuse is enough!

The N&R agrees, The Rhino Agrees, YES Weekly agrees...

ROTFLMAO...SMH@DGI

This is what DGI presented yesterday...worth noting that DGI had NOTHING to do with any of these initiatives...

Freakin' HYPOCRITES!

There are a few things I despise more than DGI as an organization, and that would be some of DGI's "leaders"...

As Dawn Chaney is going into full damage control mode after yesterday embarrassing budget presentation, i started reviewing a few of DGI's deceptive claims. 

DGI claimed credit for everything they had nothing to do with...one of DGI's claim was the preservation of the Cascade Saloon (we'll see how that one turns out)...

If my memory serves me right, I can remember Gary Brame (DGI Chairman of the board) going to council as a speaker AGAINST the preservation of the Cascade Saloon...There is video evidence out there...

In the interim here is some interesting information from a N&R article..."The South End merchants I talked to think the city should stop putting off a decision and tear down the building. They feel the South End has great vigor and life and the old abandoned building detracts from that vitality.Gary Brame, owner of Jules Antiques & Fine Art, thinks the city should create a minipark or garden on the site..."



I am certain that most council members will be contacted today in hope for an audience. I can only hope that our elected officials love Downtown Greensboro as much as i do because Downtown Greensboro could do so much better!!!

Gary's angels

With friends like that, downtown Greensboro does not needs enemies...

DGI budget presentation!

So I just left the Greensboro city council 's work session during which DGI attempted to present its budget for the upcoming fiscal year...two words, the first one is cluster...

Cyndy Hayworth did her best to present the unpresentable and looked uncomfortable and surprised during most of the meeting... perhaps it was a genuine surprise that council did not appear impressed, or perhaps it was a Botox reaction... either way, all could feel Cyndy's discomfort and DGI 's undeniable lack of relevance. 

Dawn Chaney did her best John Wayne impression when stepping to the podium to save the day, but no saving took place...bless her little heart, she tried!..
She went as far as joking with each and every council member prior to the meeting hoping for an easy A, but council was not amused. 

DGI tried all it could...taking credit for everything... from the Cascade Saloon, to the Union Square campus... even claiming all of the downtown breweries as their own accomplishment. 
Last but not least, DGI decided it was also responsible for 300 additional jobs in our center city.

A trembling Gary Brame thought it was a public hearing and interrupted repeatedly to add nothing of value. The only valuable statement was that "DGI was going to go back to its old ways of doing things".

Gary was visibly upset. I cannot recount all the lies and misinformation DGI attempted to pass by our elected officials, but a brief review of the minutes will address that later.

One notable lie was that all severances take place during the year of termination...not true as Ed Wolverton received additional severance only a few months ago. $12,000 additional to be exact!

Hoffmann seemed to be only one impressed with DGI's performance... nuff said!

Missed me?

Well, I' m back! 

I am a little disappointed in myself as it now  feels like I just picked up a cigarette after years of having been a non smoker.

I must say that I have enjoyed my time away from the massive amount of bullshit plaguing downtown Greensboro, its leadership and our city overall.

One by one influential bloggers have disappeared, and all,  i am certain, are enjoying  the peace that can only be found in blissful oblivion. 

In the wild as it is in our city, there is a natural order of things, a food chain necessary to the balance. This chain was disrupted when bloggers became virtually extinct. 
As the bloggers disappeared, so did the accountability of our elected officials, city staffers, revengeful non-profit executives and maleficent downtown "taste makers".  

Even though we rarely coordinated efforts, we were efficient and had an impact on the current  local landscape.
Robbie Perkins is no longer Mayor and for Zack Matheny is now the head of DGI . I use these two examples because , while pretending to be independent, we relied on politicians to feed us information on whomever was inconvenient at the time. 
Most of what was published about Mr Perkins was true of course, but it all came from sources closest to him. Details about his financial troubles,  indiscretions and divorce, all came from "friends" ...a long time college friend or colleague would feed info to an elected official, who in turn would pass it on to a blogger who would then write about it or better yet show up at city council and  eloquently behead and unhinge  our sitting mayor.

Zack Matheny would never have been the head of DGI if documents were not mysteriously leaked to yours truly proving that his predecessor had lied on his resume about his education.


To theses predators we are now all preys, all 273,000+ of us. 
We represent nothing more than an inconvenience, we are the pubic hair in their soup!

With four year terms and unlimited funds, drunken non profit executives and politicians have strengthened their alliance with assurances of secrets kept in exchange for job security and continuous contracts.

Because sometimes it backfires...

Theresa yon...pubic figure or not ?

Let s see...

Theresa Yon just got selected as the new treasurer of the NC republican party...

Theresa Yon has told more than a few people about her intentions to run for city council potential new District 7...

Theresa Yon miserably failed an NC house run a few years back...

Theresa Yon and her husband Glen Romano call 911 regularly to complain about noise... Noise! Theresa Yon seems to have no problem tying up valuable resources for her comfort while real emergencies go unattended.

Theresa Yon was on the DGI board up until today...

Safe to say that Theresa Yon is very very public!

Hayworth...serial snake?

Alright you all journalists and reporters... It seems that Ms Hayworthless lost her innocence a while back as rumors are now surfacing that she screwed over the previous CEO or Junior Achievements by getting her fired... This happened while Ms Hayworthless was a JA board member.

It has been reported by another JA board member that Hayworthless then got the JA Chair to appoint her as the new CEO.

She seems well versed in creating drama to eliminate the competition...of course we are still awaiting Mr Carroll' s confirmation that Hayworthless met with him in his office to obtain his support for the DGI CEO job.

Hayworthless...even worse than anyone could have imagined...

Cyndy Haywortless of DGI, the interim President and CEO ( even though she does not have the required education or competencies), is an even bigger snake that anyone thought...even her friends!

This political animal wants the DGI job so badly that she will stop at nothing to get it! Ask Roy Carroll or Allen Johnson...

Her manipulative ways are disgusting yet illustrative of the way DGI goes about business.  After ignoring all other local publications, Hayworthless and her equally mediocre boss Gary Brame sat down with the N&R for a " let s get Hayworth the job she wants while we trash the city that funds us"  interview.

Stupid move if you ask me, but not surprising as neither of them is very bright!


TIME FOR A CHANGE!

Theresa Yon...please leave it, because obviously you don't love it!

11:12 PM on  Wednesday  April  8th... 911 received a distress call from Theresa Yon's special husband Glen Romano...  Was her life in danger? Was she choking on a beignet?  Did someone see the "made in China" tag on her "Chanel"?

NOPE... She heard noise emanating from the street 14 floors below...kids on  the sidewalk leaving a music venue.


Theresa Yon... 911 is for emergencies only! There are other hotlines for your condition.

Opportunistic racism - A 501 C3

Bob lamar- the head of the Southside home owners association-  ironically located on MLK boulevard, yesterday grossly  misreported a conversation he had with GPD's Captain Barnes.

Dianne Ziegler- founder of the downtown resident association Greensboro (DRAG)  has repeatedly harrassesd council members about her self imposed  predicament of moving in between two night clubs...

DGI has supported many politically correct initiatives to " lighten things up" without being too obvious.

Ms Ziegler managed to obtain a permanent DGI board position for her organization DRAG...Ms Ziegler  now sits on DGI 's executive committee.

Gary  Brame, the chairman of the DGI board, an organization supposed to,support and promote downtown Greensboro had this to say about Lamar's fear mongering...

"From: Gary Brame <gary@apbdesign.com>
Date: Friday, April 3, 2015
Subject: Saturday Night
To: southside-watch@googlegroups.com

Thanks Bob. Appreciate the heads up."

We already knew that marketing was not one of DGI s core competence but maybe opportunistic racism is!

UPDATED/UPDATED CORRECTED PSA -WARNING! Bob Lamar says THE BLACKS ARE COMING THE BLACKS ARE COMING!

Hide your daughters, hide your wives...the Blacks are coming!!!

The following fear mongering email was sent to the predominantly white Southside homeowners association... Courtesy of your Greensboro Police Dpt and Bob Lamar  NOT ( as previously reported ) from Diane Ziegler of the Downtown Resident Association  and DGI s executive committee.


From: Bob Lamar <b.lamar@whitewood.net>
Date: Thursday, April 2, 2015
Subject: Saturday Night
To: southside-neighborhood@googlegroups.com
Cc: southside-watch@googlegroups.com

"I was asked by Captain Barnes (Central Division Commanding Officer) to warn you about Saturday night.

Lotus has a popular rapper coming (Yo Gotti). So there will be a lot more traffic on South Elm.  

He advises that when this performer performed in Charlotte recently there were fights and a shooting.

He has doubled the Lewis Street police presence to twelve officers, and has required Lotus to hire 6 police officers to handle the interior and immediate surroundings.

ABC officers will be there as well.

He has agreed to send officers routinely down Lewis to Southside Square to keep an eye on those leaving the club. He is also asking officers to monitor behavior in the alley next to Lotus where a lot of beer is drunk at cheap prices, and things get out of hand. This will continue in the coming months.

He asked that all residents who hear a disturbance this weekend, or any time, to call 911, even if you aren’t sure a crime is being committed. But he warns that today’s club-goers are not intimidated by police presence. Fights frequently break out with a policeman standing right next to the fighters!"

 My apologies to Chief Scott as it becomes clear that Bob Lamar and others have had some creative embellishment of the original conversation. Chief Scott decided to add police presence for all of downtown as the weather is warmer and downtown's attendance is increasing. He never targeted Lotus as Lying Lamar reported. 
Obviously we should only believe official Police communiqués not Lamar's intentional racist fear mongering. Also 911 is for life threatening events and emergencies....if you see a black man downtown, DO NOT call 911.. It s ok!

Cyndy Hayworth... Perfect Palliative Perpetuation !

1. Cyndy Hayworth privately advocated with numerous, past and present council members, to defund the International Civil Rights Museum. Important to note that DGI receives more public monies than the ICRM, and more importantly, DGI is a 501c3, and as such, is not supposed to engage in poltics or any political agenda. DGI is also supposed to be promoting Downtown Greensboro...not advocate for the obsolescence of our cultural heritage.

2. Cyndy Hayworth is on the board of adjustments and therefore can use her influence to deny the appeals of the many that DGI does not want downtown...Considering her stance on the ICRM and DGI 's aversion to diversity, i will leave the existing conflicts up to your imagination...

I no longer want my tax dollars to support the bigoted, conflicted and idiotic organization that DGI embodies.

Cyndy Hayworthless ?

A few weeks into her new job, Cyndy Hayworth is already showing signs that she was the right individual for the job...She embodies the deceit and mediocrity we grew accustomed to from DGI, and is, as unimaginative as her predecessors.  

Her inflated sense of self is also in line with most who came before her and currently pretend to "lead" us.
To her credit, the 65 year old Debutante, fits quite well within the current DGI leadership whose average age is close to 70 ( SEVENTY)... not bad for a town with seven colleges  ... Along with a $179,000 useless streetscape plan, DGI can now also buy a groupon for multiple AARP memberships.  Worth noting i am no young'un myself.  Age is ultimately irrelevant up until it becomes relevant contextually!

But Cyndy is not not only out of touch, she is also simply bad for Downtown! ...
I personally heard her tell one of our council member something along the line that if " council gave the civil rights museum one more cent... she would make sure he did not get  re-elected"... Bold, especially considering that tax payers have been funding her lifestyle and her employers for quite some time now!

The problems with Ms Hayworth are many, but the most problematic one may very well be her other position as the vice chair of the board of adjustment "a quasi-judicial body responsible for hearing and deciding appeals, variance requests, special exceptions, and interpretations of the zoning regulations. In doing this, the board is charged with upholding the purpose and intent of the development ordinance when there are practical difficulties or unnecessary hardships that result from carrying out the strict letter of the law. 

Indulge me for a minute...
 if Dianne Ziegler of the Downtown Resident Association ( also on the DGI executive committee)  decides that the clubs next door make too much noise, she could decide to fabricate another mass hysteria and manipulate others  to lobby council to create another selective ordinance destined to keep her neighborhood White and quiet....now, considering DGI ' s ongoing aversion to diversity,  the club could find themselves having to appeal their socially engineered affliction to none other than Ms Hayworth, whose bosses are actually at the root of the bigotry.

In summary, DGI no longer cleans our downtown streets or maintains our private park...yet, DGI posts $549,000 in salary and operating expenses paired with only $372,000 in Bid tax revenue... I simply do not comprehend why our city leaders (especially the conservative ones) insist on pumping this dry well.

Rumors Mash Up... Downtown Edition

Roy Carroll is buying City View Apartments...

Robbie Perkins is trying to build a Nordstrom on Wendover Ave and is asking for some city love...

Cindy Hayworth does not believe the Civil rights museum should receive anymore city funding...I wonder if she feels the same way about DGI's funding?

Nancy Hoffman 's tenant to receive preferential treatment from DGI and the city in establishing Parklet Pilot program...

RLF Communications negotiating to move into Nancy Hoffmann's building at the corner of Lewis and Elm...they may have heard it comes with certain advantages....

From unethical to criminal?... DGI does it better!

So many lies, so little time!

So now what for the notorious chairman of deception himself Mr Gary Brame? Now what for his illustrious executive cohort?

In anticipation of further DGI initiated deception, I have been reading up the topic of "padding one' s resume"


 Here are some excerpts:

"...Even if you get hired based on the false information, your new employer can fire you at any time based solely on your misrepresentation of any fact that relates to your ability to perform your job. For instance, you can be fired for:

• Not reporting a record of prior felony convictions, if asked 
• Claiming fraudulent completion of a college degree or specialized training 
• Not being truthful about being dismissed in a previous job for honesty-related problems, such as stealing or falsifying records"

What Can an Employee Who has been Fired for Lying Do?

As long as the termination was not used as an excuse for firing an employee discriminatorily and didn't breach an employment contract where oral or written assurances of job security were made, employees who misrepresent themselves on applications generally can't retaliate by filing a lawsuit for wrongful termination or discrimination."

Now, should DGI' s executive committee be allowed to spend our tax dollars to pay severance to someone who misrepresented himself. 

Yes weekly reported how concerned DGi s leadership is with "fiduciary duty", and yet the rumors are that Jason Cannon will be receiving a generous, undeserved and sizeable severance package. 

I care bcause it is our hard earned tax dollars they are misusing... I care because this is not proper stewartship...what s next? $180,000 streetscape plan?

Equality, Unity, Humanity

I was fortunate to attend the International Civil Rights Center and Museum Gala last night.

The experience was humbling and the audience beautiful... The speeches were moving, and, at times, upsetting! The stories were brutal but the narrative peaceful.

" Love each other" was a common theme, as was "treat each other with respect and dignity"... words with increased resonnance as they came from individuals that were once brutalized, demonized, segregated and dehumanized.

Recent national events and local divisive rhetoric reinforce the fact, that, while we can now drink from the same water fountains, we have yet to achieve equality and unity...We also have a lot more loving and respect to give.

The individuals accounts and stories of the honorees painted personal moments of our common history not told in textbooks and further demonstrate the need for the Museum and its reason for being.
A witness and a stage for our racial inheritance, the museum preserves legacy, celebrates unity, equality humanity!

WWDGID?

Let's say you are about to extend an employement offer to someone and then comes time for the required and routine background check..

Let's now say that the potential employee refuses to consent to a criminal record background check and objects to the required and routine employement and education  verification...

As a " non profit" employer who's sole source of funds comes from tax payers, do you...

1. Ignore the red flag, put the public at risk and hire the candidate?

2. Follow common sense, fullfill your civic imperative and keep looking?

Now, as an informed elected official ... What will you do?

Dear Councilman Matheny...

Did you ever get an answer from DGI regarding Jason Cannon's resume or is DGI blatantly and defiantly ignoring your request? 

Just curious as I especially liked this two sentences from this TCB article:

" It's something to me that seems could be pretty easily cleared up if it is true or is not true...Matheny added that, since the city funds DGI, he would like an answer..."

Is anyone else on city council curious about this?

Is DGI truly held to a higher standard?

 From TCB's article:

“I sent an email to Jason asking for information and he hasn’t responded,” Matheny said, adding that he has sent the question several times to no avail. “I was not on the hiring committee so the only resume I’ve seen is one that is posted online. It certainly is something that probably needs to be answered and addressed. It’s something to me that seems could be pretty easily cleared up if it is true or is not true.”

Matheny added that, since the city funds DGI, he would like an answer.

I don't think so,  otherwise  Mr. Matheny would have gotten his answer by now... 

Oh Gary!

Gary, Gary, Gary...! What are you saying?

In today's Triad City Beat article, Gary Brame, DGI's new chairman made some comments that are worthy of a little more scrutiny.

1. "The comments about diversity were totally unfounded"

 TCB's earlier article revealed the following:

" Several board members, including ex-officio member Mayor Nancy Vaughan, raised concerns about the lack of racial diversity among those proposed, sending the process back to the drawing board.

“When I looked at the proposed slate, there was very little diversity, and there is very little diversity on the board right now so I felt like we needed to do better outreach,” Vaughan said.

Gary Brame, then acknowledged the lack of diversity as he had to go back to the drawing board.

2. "Two of the six new board members are Black" ... a racist is never a racist because he has a Black friend... 

Worth noting that even with the two additional Black sympathizers, DGI is still 88% white with only 3 Black members. MWBE participation anyone? 

Greensboro 's population is 43% Black, 10 % Latino.

 3. Gary then "offended a friend" after rescinding an offer...really???
Did the board nominate the "friend"or did Gary simply make up his own slate? Is that the same friend he vehemently argued for during the " non confrontational nominating process". 

Did Gary nominate his black friend?

4. "Brame also said that he had been surprised to read about McClinton and Robert's concerns about the board's lack of diversity"

A quick review of a few board meeting minutes will reveal that the issue was mentioned more than a few times times. Of course the minutes are redacted by the very submissive and afraid DGI staff and not recorded as they should be.

5. Now for my dear friend Teresa Yon... Gary Brame says that Sam Simpson should have booted her out, but yet he had no problems reappointing her as her year long vacation must have come to an end...

Lies , lies and more lies... let' face it, no amount of lies, cover up or truth manipulation will help DGI this time around.

Greensboro deserves Better!

Dishonesty over Diversity.

Yesterday, DGI  decided to amend its recent bylaws in order to bypass last year's council imposed term limits of two consecutive 3 year terms for a maximum of 6 years... No vote took place but Dawn Chaney, was the recipient of this extra love (with council approval)  and will remain on the board for a seventh year... Afterall the first six were so memorable. 
Worth noting that there was obsolutely no one else, in the entire city of Greensboro, remotely capable of filling the void that would have been left by her not so sudden departure...not one soul!

But never mind all that...Based upon our Mayor's suggestion,  DGI 's executive committee delayed last month meeting and tried hard  to summon additional, desirable black folks to join and go along... the appearance of diversity had to be maintained at all cost.

With a new board make up of 80% White members, (and with a 100% White nominating committee) you would think it was almost an impossible task as DGI's elite could only come up with 2 new Black directors for a grand total of three. 
In a city with 43% Black constituents, the results leave me a little perplex but not surprised... Frankie Jones must not have been available as he is already serving on every other board and commission throughout the city. 

So while the nominating committee was devouring the "Who's Who" directory looking for trained, acceptable Black members, it unanimously reappointed my favorite Bourgeoise wannabe, Teresa Yon. Teresa remained on the board even though she only attended two meetings all years... her contribution must have been very valuable outside of the board room as it certainly was non existent inside. 
According to the DGI bylaws Ms Yon should have been removed from the board a while back due to her deplorable attendance, but, as noted in the first paragraph, bylaws seem to be flexible when convenient.

With the city now assuming the cleaning of our streets and the maintenance of Roy's park, DGI has very little to accomplish or aspire to, except maybe, for the allocation of $180,000 streetscape plan that has NO CHANCE of ever being implemented, but don't take my word for it...ask any council member !

With now a staff of 6, and salaries approaching $400,000+ (not counting benefits), it is legitimately impossible to justify DGI's existence or reason for being as it is obvious that the leadership does not possess the integrity or economic development expertise needed to move us forward. 

THINK ABOUT IT... how does anyone honestly justify the salaries? 

Dishonest - Greedy - Incurable! What s my name?

I have been in the belly of the beast as a DGI board member, and i can now affirm that the cancer is terminal! ... What I thought was bad, was actually worst than anyone could ever imagine.

The old guard or legacy made all decisions and hid numerous things from the greater board and therefore from the tax payers and constituents it was supposed to represent...only yesterday did I find out about a potential $20,000 additional payout to Ed Wolverton... Who? What? Ed Wolverton...really?

Incompetent and socially awkward, Ed  Wolverton will soon be $20,000 richer thanks to the world champions who negotiated his departure...$20,000 is a large expenditure and should be put to the board...even our own city manager has to ask for permission to spent more than $10,000.

But forget Ed Wolverton for now,  i certainly had up until yesterday... I still resent the fact that my money is going towards his further enrichment, but i despise the fact that our tax dollars are now going to pay the salary of his deceitful and similarly incompetent successor.

That's right...it is rumored that DGI's hand picked golden boy, President and CEO, Jason Cannon had been a little less than honest and forthcoming during his interview process... It has been uncovered and confirmed that he modified the truth about his education on his resume... (hat tip Billy Jones). One would think that as board members we would have been informed of the deception before Billy Jones made us aware of it.

We later found out that not only did he ambiguously represent his education, he also managed to seal only part of his academic records to prevent anyone from finding out about the potential misrepresentation.
His original resume stated :
 2001  NC State University  Master of Public Administration Program
 1999  UNCG Bachelor of Arts- Political science and sociology programs

Worth noting that Mr Cannon completed the Master's program in late 2014.

One would think that his refusal to authorize a background check during the interview process would have alarmed Mark Prince, the person in charge of the search committee. Not sure why Mr Prince of the Guilford Merchant Association did not let anyone know about such obvious red flag...or did he???

"Time to pull back the kimono"

Adieu DGI !

Today was my last  meeting as a member of the DGI board of directors... I must say that I harbor mixed feelings... I am a little sad that Sam Simpson had to resign as he was determined to better the organization but finally realized that "a better downtown " was an impossible dream considering the upcoming DGI chair and current President...

I am disappointed that I did not get the chance to finish the implementation of the Marketing plan that I created, and I fear what DGI's  incapable hands will do with it going forward...and , finally,
I am very much pissed off that my friend Simone McClinton got caught in the mix and was also removed from the board even though she had 4 years left to go... Mark Gibbs of Gibbs Brewery was selected and a little too eager to replace her as the restaurant representative. Gibbs does not own a restaurant but he is a partisan and seems stuck onto Gary's power moob.

Simone's only faults were that she questioned the questionable, sat next to me during every meeting and was of the same mindset that Downtown Greensboro deserved better.

While most people know my feelings for Downtown Greensboro Inc, most people do not know that i went in as a determined  board member who was going to walk the walk and contribute all that I could in an attempt to better the organization I spent so much time criticizing...

As Sam Simpson and Nancy Vaughan had to fight to get me on, I was not going to let them down and wanted to demonstrate that we are simply better together!
I went in wanting to be part of the solution and contributed my time, my resources, my talent and available favors to assist in creating a better Downtown, a Downtown that I am all invested in!

By July, I found myself in the bizarro world of having to defend DGI in the press against comments made by former board members. By September, I had created a sustainable and credible branding platform, a marketing strategy , and, today, was credited for having been the instigator of moving the ice skating rink down to Lewis St...BUT,  I voted against Gary's idiotic idea of spending $180,000 on a street scape plan... a plan that many council members have already agreed could not be funded. I opted  to create something cool, memorable and tangible for our center city instead.

As my last board meeting came to a close,  I accepted that the organization waited me out determined to vote me off regardless of my contributions as they were determined to reject me almost from the beginning.