🧵 In Today’s Edition

1. Making the Fourth Amendment the New Second Amendment
2. The Agenda: Your Guide to the Week in Local Government.
3. What We’re Reading

Volunteers Dan Bayer and Lynn McCoy canvass businesses in the Brassfield Shopping Center in Greensboro. (Photo: Sayaka Matsuoka for The Assembly)

Making the Fourth Amendment the New Second Amendment

Lyn McCoy and Dan Bayer glanced both ways before crossing a busy New Garden Road in Greensboro on a recent Saturday afternoon. They walked hurriedly, their gait edging into a light jog as they made it to the parking lot of Craft City Sip-In and walked through its doors.

McCoy and Bayer approached the bar and greeted the manager on duty, Ashley Sanchez, with their pitch.

“We’re volunteers with an organization called Siembra NC,” Bayer said. “We’re going around informing businesses of their Fourth Amendment rights. Do you know about those?”

The conversation took just a few minutes. Soon, Sanchez was signing her name on a piece of paper, and the two volunteers were out the door.

The canvassing initiative is the newest effort of Siembra NC, a statewide immigrant rights organization that works predominantly with Hispanic residents. Since Trump’s reelection, the group has been busy operating an emergency hotline where callers give tips on where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may be operating and hosting training sessions on how to respond.

Their latest effort also aims to create a coalition of businesses across the state that will stand in solidarity with immigrant workers.

Read the full story here.

–Sayaka Matsuoka

Thanks for reading The Thread, a 3x week newsletter written by Greensboro editor Joe Killian and reporters Sayaka Matsuoka and Gale Melcher. Reach us with tips or ideas at greensboro@theassemblync.com.

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(Photo: Courtesy of the City of Greensboro)

The Agenda

Good morning! We’re here with this week’s rundown on local government meetings to help you stay in the know. This week, Greensboro and High Point have city council and commission meetings with opportunities for public comment.

City of Greensboro

City leaders will convene for their bimonthly city council meeting on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. This meeting will include a public comment period.

Thirteen items are currently on their consent agenda, which is approved with one vote from council. It includes:

– Creating a budget ordinance in order to accept a $1.93 million community-based violence intervention and prevention grant from the Office of Justice Programs.

-Approving a merger between the city and the town of Pleasant Garden’s ABC systems. The Greensboro ABC board will retain 50 percent of the profits, and the remainder will be distributed to Pleasant Garden.

-Giving notice to voters about the 2025 municipal election and establishing filing fees—$200 for city council and $300 for mayor. Filing fees are generally one percent of the office’s base salary, according to the NC State Board of Elections. Mayor Nancy Vaughan’s annual salary was $33,722, and city councilmembers made between $25,075-$26,805. In Winston-Salem, the filing fee for last year’s city council race was $5.

See more consent agenda items here.

There’s currently one item on the general agenda:

Authorizing funding commitments to several multi-family affordable housing development projects. They’d be authorizing a loan of up to $1.19 million to Affordable Housing Management, Inc, to rehabilitate 60 units for Windhill Development, time limited financing commitments for $850,000 for Overland Place LLC to create 48 units for Overland Place Apartments, and $1.5 million for Beacon Management Corp. to create 72 units for Vandalia Village.

Plus, the city’s Redevelopment Commission is meeting online on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. The commission is made up of five city residents appointed by city council and was created in 1951 to conduct studies and plan and implement redevelopment projects for blighted areas in the city. Follow this link for more information from the city on how to participate in the meeting.

City of High Point

The city council will meet on Monday at 4 p.m. for a manager’s briefing in the third floor conference room of the municipal office building at 211 S. Hamilton St. with presentations on the proposed $537.9 million budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year as well as the city’s water supply and distribution process. 

Their bimonthly city council meeting is at 5:30 p.m. the same day in the same building’s council chambers. This meeting will include a public comment period.

City leaders will vote on:

– Authorizing the issuance and sale of up to $41.2 million combined enterprise system—water and sewer—revenue bonds in 2025 to fund water and sewer projects approved by city council that have recently been completed or are currently under contract. 

-Authorizing the issuance of an installment financing contract to replace public service fleet vehicles. The city would award the financing agreement to Banc of America Public Capital Corp—a subsidiary of Bank of America—paying them back $1.69 million over a five-year period.

-Setting the budget public hearing date for Monday, May 19, at 5:30 p.m. and scheduling city council budget work sessions at 4 p.m. for May 12, 21, and 28.

-Confirming reappointments to the Citizens Advisory Council with terms starting June 1 and expiring May 31, 2027. Mayor Pro Tem Britt Moore recommends the reappointment of Marcus Bingham, Councilmember Amanda Cook recommends the reappointment of Meyakka Sturdivant, and Councilmember Monica Peters recommends the reappointment of Amoy Lindo-Coleman.

Links to local board meetings and agendas:

Guilford County – Board of Commissioners

Guilford County – School Board

Greensboro – City Council

High Point – City Council

–Gale Melcher

Read this newsletter online or contact The Thread team with tips and feedback at greensboro@theassemblync.com.

What We’re Reading

Sheriffs Push Back on Tillis Claims : Senator Thom Tillis has released a map highlighting counties, including Guilford, he considers “sanctuary jurisdictions” for undocumented immigrants. But local sheriffs say Tillis should check his facts. WFDD has the story.

Railbanking: A federal judge has awarded Greensboro’s Kotis Associates $52 million in a rails to trails property dispute involving over three miles of greenway on a former Norfolk Southern route, Triad Business Journal reports.

Other Messages From Our Sponsors

Gale is a Report for America corps member and Greensboro-based reporter for The Assembly. She previously covered local government and community issues for Triad City Beat. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from N.C. State University.

Sayaka Matsuoka is a Greensboro-based reporter for The Assembly. She was formerly the managing editor for Triad City Beat, an alt-weekly based in Greensboro. She has reported for INDY Week, The Bitter Southerner, and Nerdist, and is the editorial/diversity chair for AAN Publishers.