By Maggie Young, Staff Writer

Published in print Mar. 17, 2015

Residents from across Greensboro came out to the city council meeting on March 3 to voice their opinions on a myriad of topics.

There were two public comment periods during the meeting.

During the first public comment period, residents who had signed up to speak were given a three-minute duration to discuss their concerns and praises regarding the city of Greensboro and its Council.

The main focus of the second public comment period was Senator Trudy Wade’s bill, which has gained increased public attention.

There was widespread support for a referendum regarding the bill’s change to length of terms for City Council members.

Due to the legal procedures, however, the Council could not vote during the meeting on whether or not a referendum will take place.

Councilman Jamal Fox of District 2 moved to place the vote for referendum at the upcoming council meeting on March 17—the movement passed unanimously.

Beginning the first comment period was Darrel Baskerville from District one; he spoke about Senate Bill 36 and the avoidance of the people’s voice throughout the bill-passing process.

“Government is nothing more than what the people call for it to be,” stated Baskerville. He called for the inclusion of the residents’ voices during the development of Senate Bill 36.

Unrelated to the Senate bill, former Downtown Greensboro Inc. board member, Eric Robert, spoke about his disappointment in the way the company is handling downtown Greensboro.

Speaking in the manner that resulted in his removal from the Downtown Greensboro Inc., Robert stated, “I’m tired of the mediocrity…I’m tired of the absurdity that now embodies DGI.”

He complained that Downtown Greensboro Inc. imposes high taxes on downtown businesses, but that there has been little improvement to the downtown area over the years. 

“Like you,” Robert stated, “I want to have a say-so in how I am governed.” Similar to the assumptions and changes made by the NC Legislature in Greensboro, Robert feels that Downtown Greensboro Inc. “is incapable of representing [him].” 

On a different note, subsequent speaker, Luther Falls Jr. used his comment period as an opportunity to make the city aware of his new male mentoring program that opened this past Saturday.

He will be mentoring “African-American males between the ages of eight and 14” with the help of several colleagues in the area. The program will take place every second Saturday of the month.

A topic addressed by several speakers was the newly proposed NC historical marker.

The proposed marker briefly describes the Ku Klux Klan and American Nazi Party shooting that took place in Greensboro in 1979.

The event has been referred to as “the Greensboro massacre,” as five members of the Communist Worker Party were killed during a communist rally that protested the Klan.

Historical markers in North Carolina can be up to 140 characters in length; the marker noting the Nazi-Klan shooting is currently 25 words.

Bishop Marble spoke of the massacre by informing the council that “we all [have] a historic opportunity before us…to state the truth about what occurred on Nov. 3, 1979.”

He remarked that the only way for Greensboro to bring this historical and sensitive occurrence to a close is by “owning what is the truth about what happened and what did not happen.”

Reverend Randall Keeney commented that the way the Council has approached a formal apology for the massacre has been less than inspiring. 

When the idea for an official apology was proposed the Council first rejected it, then accepted it but refused to endorse it.

Ultimately, the council issued a statement of regret for the events that took place in 1979.

Keeney remarked that the statement of regret “was like saying ‘I regret that your nose is bleeding, but I don’t…admit that I punched you in the nose.’”

Several other speakers voiced their disappointment in the way the Council has handled the acknowledgement of the event.

Councilwoman Sharon Hightower assured Keeney and the audience that the Council along with the community will engage in a discussion regarding the Greensboro Massacre in the future.

When it came time for the Council to move into the second public discussion segment, the majority of the residential speakers used their time to voice their disagreement with Senate Bill 36.

Resident Anna Thiesmeyer came to speak on behalf of the League of Women Voters of the Piedmont/Triad.

She began by stating that the League “opposes Senate Bill 36 on the grounds that it is inconsistent with our principles.”

She continued, saying, the bill “does not promote a…representative, accountable [or] responsive” government.

Marshall Bennett, member of UNCG’s College Democrats, shared similar beliefs concerning the bill. 

Bennett stated, “There is no accountability of government officials when they make decisions that have no effect on their own constituents.”

Other personal complaints regarding the bill included the ambiguous way the bill was proposed and promoted and the fact that there are concerns far more pressing for the city to be addressing.

Several speakers summed up the majority consensus on the issue by stating, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Councilwoman Marikay Abuzuaiter assured the audience that she, along with others, will fight the bill to its end.