View This Email In Your Browser
Morning, gang.
Sad news last week as Greensboro lost Yvonne Johnson, a long-time city council member and the first Black mayor of Greensboro. She died at home on December 4, surrounded by family, at age 82.
A graduate of Dudley High School, Bennett College, and N.C. A&T, Johnson grew up in a deeply segregated Greensboro. She participated in the sit-in protests that helped dismantle those racist policies—first the Woolworth’s lunch counter downtown and then the Carolina Theater. As an elected leader, she helped guide the city she loved for decades.
Last week I talked with many of the people who knew and served with Johnson, gathering their stories of what she meant to them and the city. I want to take a moment to share my own.
I was in my early 20s when I began writing for the city’s daily newspaper, The News & Record. I wasn’t a Greensboro native. Like a lot of people, I came here for college and made the city my home. Before I even met Johnson, she could detect this in my copy. The first time I met her she complimented a piece I’d written and gently let me know there was more to the story. She sat me down next to her and explained some of the history I didn’t have—things that had happened in the city in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s.
“I know you wouldn’t know some of these things yet, baby,” she told me. “But I can tell you want to.”
Plenty of people were all too eager to throw an elbow at a young reporter, intimidate them, let them know who was in charge. Yvonne Johnson didn’t play those games. Instead, she took the time to, in the kindest possible way, impress upon a young man who had more enthusiasm than knowledge the things he ought to know if he was going to write about the life of this city.
As it turns out, people all over Greensboro had that sort of mentor moment with Johnson. We’ll all share our stories of her for years to come—and, hopefully, pass on the things she taught us.
–Joe Killian
If you like what you see, please consider telling a friend to sign up.
A Community Remembers ‘The Conscience of the City’
Days after her friend and longtime colleague Yvonne Johnson died at age 82, Mayor Nancy Vaughan remembered the gentle touch of her hand beneath the dais, where Johnson sat next to her as mayor pro tempore for a decade.
“There were plenty of times where she would reach over and she would just take my hand and say, ‘That’s enough,’ if I was commenting on something,” Vaughan said. “And then later she would tell me why that was enough and how it could be perceived by the person I was speaking to. I appreciated that. I think she kept me out of trouble a lot.”
Friends and colleagues remembered Johnson as a guiding and moderating force and voice of reason, calling her “the conscience of the city.”
Read this newsletter online or contact The Thread team with tips and feedback at greensboro@theassemblync.com.
The Last Mile
In 2001, Action Greensboro sought to reimagine the city’s center. Its proposal: a space that could promote economic development, connect disjointed neighborhoods, and encourage physical activity.
Nearly a quarter century later, the projected 2025 conclusion of the city’s long-running Downtown Greenway project could finally get closer to that goal.
The city is currently working on completing the last mile of the greenway along the trail’s “Western Branch,” stretching from Spring Garden to Smith Streets.
The $54 million project, launched in 2009 as a public-private partnership between the city and Action Greensboro, is a four-mile circle of paved trails for walking and biking, public art installations by a mix of local and national artists, and park and recreation spaces.
Project manager Dabney Sanders has formally worked on the project since 2007. She says the effort really revolves around two things: building economic strength and building local connections.
“If you think about downtown, Elm Street, our main street, is a really strong corridor,” she told The Thread last week. “You’ve got some strength a few blocks east and west of that. But then when you get, you know, out a couple more blocks here, there are lots of opportunities for development on either empty land or surface parking lots or that sort of thing.”
The project has helped secure more than $650 million in private economic investments into the city, Sanders said. The proximity to the greenway played a role in opening restaurants like Joymongers, apartment developments near LoFi Park, and the Deep Roots Market Grocery store downtown, she said. The Union Square Campus, an educational and training facility for healthcare workers located on the city’s south end, is also near the greenway.
Nearly 118,000 people used the trails in 2023, according to a new website for the Downtown Greenway project. That’s an average of 9,829 people every month.
Inspired by public recreation and other projects in New York, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Durham, Greensboro’s greenway is looking to fulfill multiple goals at once.
The walking trails are expected to encourage pedestrian foot traffic through downtown, a move the city hopes will fuel additional business activity and spending. But the project is also intended to tell the story of Greensboro, Sanders said—its past and its future.
Toward that end, public art is a significant part of the greenway. The project includes pieces highlighting the sit-in movement, and the city’s history as a prominent textile manufacturer. A railroad line cuts through the bottom of the greenway, a nod to Greensboro’s legacy as “the gate city” that connected the region to the rest of the county.
The project also seeks to correct historical wrongs, Sanders said, giving different communities access to downtown and reconnecting parts of Greensboro along Murrow Boulevard that were divided by highway construction and urban renewal.
The effort also includes creating new opportunities for the public to engage with community spaces. Action Greensboro is currently commissioning a new piece of public art along the Western Branch on Market Street and has encouraged residents to weigh in on the proposals through community meetings. So far the city has held three artist talks with the final candidates who could be tasked with creating the work. A final decision is expected by the end of the year.
“I really love things where people care about their city and are trying to use art to make the city better, or greenways to make the city better,” said Pete Beeman, an Oregon and New York City-based sculpturist who is one of the candidates.
“So it’s sort of everything meeting up right for me, this is my ideal use of art.”
–P.R. Lockhart
Correction: The original version of this story misstated the entity that proposed the Greenway project and that is commissioning new public art.
Not a subscriber yet? Good journalism is expensive–and we need your support to do more of it. For just $6 a month or $60 a year, you’ll unlock full access to our archives and help us grow in 2024.
Already a subscriber? Consider giving the gift of The Assembly to a friend.
What We’re Reading
Out of Sight: Last week the Greensboro City Council unanimously passed updates to an ordinance making it illegal to sit or lie down on public streets and sidewalks. The move has been criticized by advocates for the unhoused and praised by downtown business owners. Triad City Beat has the story.
Around the State
What We’ve Learned About the Federal Probe in Columbus County
Federal investigators have demanded extensive information about finances and use of force at the sheriff’s office.
The Lonesome Death of Marvin ‘Popcorn’ Sutton
Fifteen years after the death of a tradition-bearer, an unlikely folk hero emerges in the Carolina mountains.
Why This Western N.C. Republican Voted Against the Helene Relief Bill
State Rep. Mark Pless says the legislation, which also strips power from Democrats, doesn’t do much for his area.
The Assembly is a digital magazine covering power and place in North Carolina. Sent this by a friend? Subscribe to The Thread as well as our statewide newsletter.
You must be logged in to post a comment.