Today's Letter to the Editor; "Hotel decision should wait for new council"

"A Dec. 2 special City Council meeting concerning taxpayer subsidies for a Wyndham luxury hotel in downtown Greensboro should be delayed until after the next day, when three newly elected council members will be sworn in.

Leading the effort to acquire some of everyone else’s money that will likely diminish the profitability of the downtown Marriott — among others who didn’t ask for millions of public largess — is Randall Kaplan, who, along with family members and other interested parties, recently contributed to the council campaigns of Nancy Hoffmann, Zack Matheny and Robbie Perkins.

Hoffmann held a “campaign fundraising event” at Elm Street Center, with a catering contribution from Randall’s wife Kathy Manning, who led the performing arts center marketing effort and actively lobbied the council for the project while Kaplan served on the Feasibility Task Force.

Saddling incoming council members Sharon Hightower, Jamal Fox and Mike Barber with figuring out how to pay for this “incentive grant” by some who helped create a stage for personal profit with more than $50 million in public liabilities for the performing arts center with campaign cash and lobbying is an affront to free-market capitalism and fair play.

Last-minute giveaways are not what soon-to-be former mayors should do."

George Hartzman
Greensboro