The People’s Business: June 17, 2019

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It’s time to pass a budget. The nearly $500 million, 2019-2020 City of Winston-Salem budget dominates today’s City Council agenda. Higher taxes to pay for bond obligations and stagnant pay for city workers, while councilmembers received a huge raise-these are some of the topics that will be discussed at today’s City Council meeting. The City Council will also debate purchasing land on Burke Mill Road for a new fire station. As usual, some topics that need to be discussed … Read the rest

A Slice Of Incompetence From The City And Atkins CDC

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This week’s Winston-Salem City Council meeting doesn’t have much on the agenda. It’s the calm zoning meeting before the City’s new budget is debated and adopted over the next two weeks. So here’s a rewind of what transpired at the May 28th meeting of the W-S City Council, specifically Elizabeth’s Pizza pulling out of its Union Station lease with the City and Atkins CDC.

The purpose of winstonwatchman.com is not to critique local Black businesses or community development organizations. … Read the rest

Being Brown, Black And Or Working Class In Downtown Winston Isn’t A Crime

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Last Friday the Winston-Salem Journal published an article that was somewhat of a hit-piece aimed squarely at patrons of the downtown bus station. To be fair, Wesley Young’s piece wasn’t nearly as bad as its print title, “Artist’s vision turns ugly: Decorated downtown wall is scene of problem behaviors; city looks for solutions.”

It’s not often that the business class lets the rest of the city know what they really think. Last Friday’s front page article on undesirable behavior supposedly … Read the rest

Responding To The Chronicle’s East End Commentary

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“The most important thing about the East End is the people.”

-Ayers Saint Gross, 8/21/2018

Earlier this week The Chronicle wrote an editorial that was aimed at this website without mentioning it by name. The Chronicle’s, Commentary: Our View: East End redevelopment was an attempt to convince The Chronicle’s readers that there is nothing to see, nothing going on in the “East End” that’s worthy of sharing on social media. But the photos I posted on Facebook (and the article … Read the rest

The “East End” Is Beginning To Empty

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It’s important that the COMMUNITY in East Winston is not pushed out of the “East End.” Despite a lot of talk about shared prosperity and avoiding gentrification, we now have evidence that existing residents of the “East End” have been displaced without any public accountability.

The Garden Court Apartments located between Third and Fourth Street and Woodland and Metropolitan have been completely emptied of their previous tenants. Other apartment buildings nearby have been almost completely emptied as well.

Where is … Read the rest

The Donny Classic Fair?

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Earlier this week, a group of ministers asked the City Council to consider changing the name of the Dixie Classic Fair. I support what Rev. Bishop Sir Walter Mack Jr. and Love Out Loud proposed. But it wasn’t what Mack and other ministers said at last week’s General Government Committee meeting that drew my attention; it was how they said it.

Local ministers in Winston work within the system and seldom speak a discourteous word to the Mayor and … Read the rest

City Hall Versus 515 North Cherry Street

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After a shooting early Sunday morning outside of the current club operating at 515 North Cherry left several wounded, it appears that the City will renew its efforts to declare that property a nuisance.  This time City Hall probably won’t stop until they get 515 North Cherry’s owner (Keith Neely) to relinquish the property.

Unlike the Winston-Salem Journal, I don’t wholly agree with the City of Winston-Salem’s efforts to close Downtown Winston’s last strip club. Anytime City Hall … Read the rest

Progressive Activists Fill First Baptist On Highland To Organize Against Lambeth’s Segregationist Shenanigans

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A crowd of over 300 packed First Baptist on Highland Monday night. The Winston-Salem Urban League, the W-S NAACP, Action4Equity, the Minister’s Conference and other local organization’s called the meeting to educate, organize, and mobilize against a trifecta of audacious, right-wing bills crafted by Rep. Donny Lambeth meant to preserve white privilege in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County.

The Color of Crisis Forum was moderated by Rev. Ford. The panel consisted of Mayor Allen Joines, members of the City Council, Rep. Derwin … Read the rest

Goler Hits The Market

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Friday, the Winston-Salem Journal reported that Goler Memorial AME Zion’s property adjacent to the Innovation Quarter was for sale. Goler listed their property at Patterson and Seventh for $3.5 million with Linville Team Partners, the commercial real estate firm that has the Downtown Winston market cornered.

$3.5 million is a steep price. Who in Winston besides Wake Forest University could come up with that type of money?

Goler Memorial plans to relocate. I suggest they reunite. Goler Memorial could sell … Read the rest

From Free Dan Besse! To Free Winston-Salem!

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When I read last Friday’s paper, I was hoping that April Fool’s Day came a few days early this year. But that wasn’t the case. State lawmakers Donny Lambeth and Debra Conrad have arrogantly introduced a bill to reconfigure Winston’s wards, without any input from the residents of Winston. They plan to reduce the City’s eight wards to six, with two councilmembers elected at large. This is another legislative power grab by North Carolina Republicans who resent cities like … Read the rest

The Highway That Divides Winston

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Updated 3/6/2019

A couple of days ago I stumbled upon a 2011 master’s thesis online that is must reading for anyone in Winston that cares about fighting racism. Reynoldstown: Race, Blight, Disease, Highway Construction and the Transformation of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, by Shane Cruise is a revelation.

Through exhaustive research into the city council’s records, the Winston-Salem Journal’s pages, as well as mining Robert Korstad’s work on Local 22, and conducting interviews, Shane Cruise has done a service to … Read the rest

$30.5 Million Kaleideum Funding Approved By Forsyth County, Another Giveaway To DTWS

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Kaleideum: say hello to higher taxes in Forsyth County. Say goodbye to any county-wide education or anti-poverty initiatives that could have been funded with $30.5 million.

The Forsyth County Commissioners just approved an extremely generous subsidy to Kaleideum, by a 5-2 vote. This outcome was not surprising. But it was disappointing, and it will limit Forsyth County’s budgetary options for years to come.

I blame the Confederate statue that for the moment, still resides at Liberty and Fourth. The County … Read the rest

Giving $30 Million To Kaleideum Would Be A Catastrophe For Children In Forsyth County

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The word Kaleideum is a combination of kaleidoscope and museum. The name is still growing on me. The Children’s Museum of Winston-Salem and SciWorks, merged in 2016 to form Kaleideum. Since that time they have been working with Forsyth County to build a new, combined facility in Downtown Winston. The public-private partnership is getting more public and less private with each passing month. A $30.5 million Kaleideum bond is on this Thursday’s Forsyth County Commissioners’ agenda.

I don’t mind saying … Read the rest

Chronicle Is Publishing Forsyth County Press Releases Without Revealing That They’re Written By Forsyth County

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Todd Luck worked as a journalist for The Chronicle for several years. I crossed paths with Luck on a couple of occasions at community events and local government meetings. According to his public LinkedIn page, Luck began working for The Chronicle in 2005.

Search for Todd Luck on The Chronicle’s website, and you will find 88 pages of content going back to August 2012. The last article credited to Todd Luck was published in November of last year.… Read the rest

Winston-Salem City Council Merry-Go-Round: February 18, 2019, Robert Clark Is Right!

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Monday night’s meeting of the Winston-Salem City Council started out as expected. A moment of silence was observed, then the pledge of allegiance was recited, members of the community were honored before the council addressed the business of the city.

A recently announced, city wide hiring freeze due to a projected budget shortfall was not mentioned, neither was the loss of another corporate headquarters, as BB&T’s bigwigs make their way to Charlotte.

But City Hall certainly heated up 11 … Read the rest