The Greensboro City Council had a lengthy discussion on the proposed contract to fund Downtown Greensboro Inc. (DGI) at the meeting on Tuesday, June 15.
While the vast majority of the $620 million budget was passed on June 15 without any comment, the three-year, $3 million contract with DGI didn’t fare as well.
Eventually the City Council voted 8-1 to approve contract with DGI to oversee downtown activities for the City of Greensboro for three years, with Councilmember Sharon Hightower voting no.
As one might expect from this City Council, the discussion was not about the work that DGI does or if contracting DGI was the best use of the funds raised by the additional tax on the Downtown Business Improvement District that provides most of the funding for DGI.
The discussion or the accusation was that DGI didn’t use a high enough percentage of Minority and Women’s Business Enterprise (MWBE) subcontractors.
This City Council, after being elected in 2017, has discussed MWBE contract percentages far more than any other topic, so the discussion was in keeping with the actual priorities of the current City Council.
It appeared that DGI President Zack Matheny had a reasonable answer for not using more MWBE subcontractors.
Matheny said, “We don’t subcontract a whole lot. What you’ve got is an organization that is minimally staffed and very high in productivity.”
He added, “We just don’t subcontract. We produce.”
Matheny said that the primary subcontractor that DGI used was Sharpe Pursuits Inc. to produce Fun Fourth and the Festival of Lights and that Sharpe Pursuits was an MWBE company.
Matheny said that the only other contract with DGI was to paint murals downtown and that was with a company owned by a woman.
Matheny said, “All the subcontracting we have done is female or minority owned during the past five years.”
Councilmember Sharon Hightower said, “I’m hung up on this. I’m not sure what that $1 million is going to get us. Some kind of contracting that comes along with that.”
Councilmember Michelle Kennedy said that if the MWBE process was required then DGI should have to go through the MWBE goal setting process.
Assistant City Manager Kim Sowell said, “This does not go through goal setting. This was voluntarily provided.”
Kennedy said, “Honestly, I think this is a problem at the city level.”
Councilmember Marikay Abuzuaiter noted that when this contract went out for bids the only bidder was DGI, which didn’t give the city a lot of options.
Based upon the comments from Council members it’s clear that not many of them understand the goals or actions of DGI.
A sad state of affairs when one member keeps screaming MWBE whenever any funds are discussed.
A beautiful day today. Perfect for working outdoors. So could you send some women minorities over to the intersection of W. Market St. & Guilford College Rd? It’s been years now. Even the rubber and plastic barricade cans are deteriorating.
Anyone in the neighborhood notice any workers there recently? This week? This month?
Patience is a virtue. Incompetence is not.
This intersection will be closed 6/24-7/1. Perhaps all my whining had some effect, hopefully, others complained, too. I am interested to see the result.
Avoid W. Market @ Guilford college rd. till the 2nd.
Reading this-I don’t know whether to laugh or have a good cry.
I don’t understand. It appears DGI already has 100% MWBE contractor participation. What more does the City Council want? Am I missing something here?
Just want to clarify the delay on W. Market and Guilford College Rd. The City has done everything required at this point. We have been waiting on the railroad to finish their part. The stop arms have to be relocated and wired. After the railroad completes their part, the City will add the finishing touches.
Finish the paving and marking W. Market Street doesn’t involve the railroad, only the parts of College Road that intersects with W. Friendly. The railroad has not even started their work, so how do you expect to get them to do something?
Also, why is it a priority to install sidewalks in all parts of Greensboro when there is little to no one using them? Is it to “look pretty”? I use West Friendly Avenue and have yet to see anyone using the sidewalks from College Road to the I-68 bypass. Can’t you people cut back on spending for sidewalks? Do you even conduct studies on the number of walkers on these roads to determine if sidewalks are needed, or is it a “look pretty” type of project?
Excuse not accepted. How about “touching” this thing now?
Do not worry. In March Zack will be back on council so he can fund where he works like the rest of them. Nice golf tan.
The more I read about these council meetings the more they sound like a bunch of disgruntled old biddies fussing and moaning about somebody got what they think should go to their team. Damn get over it already.
You hit the nail on the head.
Here’s some goal setting: Dump all of these idiots and defund the IRC, Greensboro Green, Cure The Violence, and other communist organizations that have been in the limelight. Vote for common sense and morals.
Get the tar, feathers and a rail ready for hightower and mr. kennedy just like the good ole days.
I’m still waiting for mr. kennedy to explain where the gator is that the irc was given. It’s not on Washington st.
Could be she sold it for a profit, like she does with “donated” police cars.
If so who were the buyers close friends or family and where did the money go
The only real way to rid ourselves of these clowns is to stop sending them all that money. Any ideas on that?
No matter how much we send them; the spend it all, plus all they can get away with – creating more dependency.