4/5/12

GN&R "Editorial: Too noisy to hear": Now that Robbie and Roy didn't get away with screwing downtown business owners, all concerned should now be civil?

"...a meeting last week to discuss a possible new downtown noise ordinance
was in itself a loud and unproductive affair.

...Many ...Center-city business and property owners...
are pioneers who took big chances on investments downtown
when few others were interested.

Except a little less chancy for those who received tax subsidies
like Robbie did for Granite Street and Roy did for Center Pointe?

Except for a few who pushed for an 11pm curfew for teen age residents
and now a prohibitive noise ordinance
who inherited pretty big chunks of their money and/or property?

They’re also a fiercely independent bunch
that doesn’t cotton to new rules imposed on them by the government.

Who are "they"?

Does "they" include Robbie and Roy?

Isn't this really about old Greensboro money
against new Greensboro entrepreneurs trying to eke out a living
under what was hoped to be a level playing field?

Isn't this about some who want to sell condos
to upper class clients but can't,
because there are too many black people
hanging around the park and the clubs?

Did Roy try to buy Center City Park
to get the indiginous population out of there?

Isn't this about apartment dwellers who want the clubs
against new curmudgeon "home owners" who want their perfect place
regardless of who showed up first
and why most moved to downtown?

...Clearly, an 11 p.m. cutoff for amplified outdoor music
makes no sense on weekends.

If it makes no sense,
why did the mayor put exactly that on the City Council Agenda?

Why isn't the mayor being taken to account
for some pretty devious moves?

Why isn't the mayor being called out
for his obvious conflicts of interest?

Also, the suggested allowable noise level of 45 decibels
versus the current 65 decibels may be too low.

"Suggested" by whom?

Is Allen Johnson covering for Robbie and Roy
so the News & Record can get a PAC in their back yard?

...Some people question why anything has to change,
but the center city has changed.

After some real entrepranuers took chances,
leading to big money to move in to take advantage of other business owners' good fortune,
by trying to nudge them out of business and selling concepts that are antithetical
to what was earned by hard work and time?

Remember, there was a time when crowd control
wasn’t an issue downtown because there were no crowds.

Who brought the crowds in,
and who now wants to crush thier efforts?

Now more people play and live there.

The center city has added 800 housing units since 2004.

How many are home owners
compared to renters?

...Simply leaving things as they are is not acceptable.

Agreed.

...a tougher ordinance will squeeze the juice
out of an increasingly vibrant center city.

Agreed.

They grouse that newcomers
should learn to love downtown as it is or leave it.

But clubs aren’t the only ingredient to a lively downtown.

Residents matter as well.

Meaning new home owners
as opposed to renters?

...“Trains, sirens, traffic, people, park events, games,
even background music are all an acceptable part of downtown living.

Sustained, high-frequency, high-decibel-level music
which penetrates through more than one building
at 1 a.m. on a Sunday is not.

Then why did you move there?

Isn't "1 a.m. on a Sunday"
Saturday night?

... A good noise ordinance shuts down no one
— it allows for many groups to work from a defined playing field
and respect one another.”

If "A good noise ordinance... allows many groups
...work from a defined playing field" is true, why wasn't the playing field defined
before Robbie started with the tents and went to the noise ordinance by fiat?

How can the mayor say he's operating in an environment
with "respect [for] one another"
if he tried to shove the ordinance down everyone's throghts
with out meeting with club owners first?

There’s enough middle ground here
for all parties to reach an adult solution.

Now that Robbie and Roy didn't get away with no middle ground?

Robin, Allen and Doug

"Middle ground" as long as Robbie, Roy and the News & Record
get their taxpayer subsidized PAC, fewer black people "loitering" about,
and more condos sold?

How is this not Greensboro's oligharchy
looking out for thier own?

What happened to Allen Johnson calling for Robbie to recuse himself?

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