Morning, gang.
What, you may wonder, are we doing in your inbox on a Monday?
As you’ve likely noticed, our weekly Greensboro newsletter—which you’re used to getting every Tuesday—has been a lot more robust the last few weeks. Since taking on reporters Sayaka Matsuoka and Gale Melcher, formerly of Triad City Beat, we’ve expanded our coverage and the types of stories we’re tackling. Now we’re ready to take it a step further, bringing you three newsletters a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Next month, we’re going daily.
You can expect everything you’ve been getting from The Thread—news you won’t read anywhere else, features on things and people you need to know, enterprise, and investigative stories that go far deeper than the surface level. You’ll be getting more of all of it and more often.
This week, the team from our higher education newsletter, The Quad, will be in town for coffee. They’ll be available to chat about what they’re covering and listen to what you’d like to see in The Assembly. We’ll be there too and hope to see you. Stop by between 12-2 p.m. on Wednesday, April 16, at Chandler’s in downtown Greensboro.
Now, let’s get into it.
— Joe Killian
🧵 In Today’s Edition
1. The Agenda—Your weekly look at what’s ahead in local government.
2. “There Is No Place for Us”—Journalist Brian Goldstone’s book on the working homeless in his home city of Atlanta resonates in Greensboro.
3. This Greensboro City Council Member is not running for mayor—no matter what you’ve heard.
4. What We’re Reading
The Agenda:
This Week in Local Government
Local government is where the rubber meets the road—and government meetings are your chance to see it in action, make your voice heard, and help set the agenda. We’re here to keep you informed and let you know what’s happening in the coming week.
In Greensboro
Greensboro’s city council will meet at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday in the Katie Dorsett Council Chamber of Melvin Municipal Office Building at 300 W. Washington St. Step on up to the plaza level for a seat in-person, or view the meeting online on the city’s YouTube channel and their website.
Here’s a peek at Tuesday’s agenda:
- A lot of zoning requests, including Duke Energy’s public hearing for 12.5 acres to be rezoned from county to city, Love and Faith Christian Fellowship with an 11-acre request, and Praylor Construction Company with 0.9 acres.
- More funding for the Lake Daniel and Latham Park Greenways—$382,737 for surface repair and a $882,737 contract with Sam W. Smith, Inc.
- The city’s street resurfacing project is about to get a whole lot more cash, $4.8 million worth, since 59 streets were added to the current resurfacing contract.
- A $500,000 transfer for initial design costs to improve the First Horizon Coliseum. The city plans to spend $20 million on coliseum improvements later down the road.
- In January, the White Street Landfill’s leachate containment system had a “critical, weather-related failure” and breaks in the piping. As an emergency solution, the city currently has a company using vacuum trucks to suck up the leachate every day. On Tuesday, city leaders are set to approve the use of the design build construction delivery method so that city staff can begin the process of repairing the containment system.
Guilford County
The Guilford County Board of Commissioners will meet at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday on the second floor of the Old County Courthouse at 301 W. Market St. The meeting can also be viewed online at the county’s Facebook page.
Here’s a peek at Thursday’s agenda:
- A $170,000 contract for fencing for the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office shooting range.
- A public hearing on allocating $71,127 in Economic Development Incentive Grant funding to Project Insulation, a company considering an expansion in High Point.
- A budget performance report for the fiscal year through February 2025.
- Multiple budget amendments regarding contracts with the Cone Health Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and more.
View full meeting schedules for local boards:
- Guilford County – Board of Commissioners
- Guilford County – School Board
- Greensboro – City Council
- High Point – City Council
– Gale Melcher
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Photo: Courtesy of the City of Greensboro.
Hugh Holston isn’t Running for Mayor. No, Really.
You may have heard At-Large City Council Member Hugh Holston is throwing his hat in the ring for mayor. We certainly did. Which surprised us, as he told us months ago he’d be running for his at-large seat again. Apparently, the rumor surprised Holston too.
“I have been hearing that and seeing it online myself,” Holston told The Thread this week. “But no, I’m still planning on running at-large again. I haven’t changed my mind. I’m good.”
So far, former mayor Robbie Perkins and current Mayor Pro Tem Marikay Abuzuaiter are the only candidates who have declared for mayor. Filing doesn’t begin until this summer and with an election that will dramatically change the face of the city council, anything can happen. But this year, Holston is staying the course.
— Joe Killian
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