Greensboro Neighborhood Congress is 100% Behind Restoring Protest Petition's to Greensboro

The Greensboro Neighborhood Congress is a organization comprised of neighborhood organizations representing neighborhoods all over the City of Greensboro. The Greensboro Neighborhood Congress is made up of well over 46 member neighborhood organizations that include well over 16,000 households.These neighborhoods are located throughout Greensboro's five voting districts making the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress one of the most socio-economically and racially diverse organizations in Greensboro.
source(letter to the Department of Justice on March 12, 2008)

What is the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress?

Mission Statment:

The Greensboro Neighborhood Congress, a city-wide alliance of neighborhoods, seeks to improve the quality of life within the City of Greensboro by addressing issues of city-wide importance and by empowering neighborhoods to resolve neighborhood-specific concerns.
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The Coalition of Concerned Citizens of the Triad would like to thank the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress for their support on this issue and below is what Donna Newton from the Neighborhood Congress sent out to all the members.

As most of you know, the Greeensboro Neighborhood Congress voted to support the reinstatement of the right of Protest Petition to the citizens of Greensboro. At this time, Greensboro is the only City in the state that does not have this right.

The League of Women Voters also supports the Protest Petition and is sponsoring a presentation by an expert on the subject as described in the flier below.

Please register and join me on January 13 to hear this presentation.

The City Council will hear comments regarding the petition at their meeting on January 21 and then vote on whether to support the protest petition in their legislative agenda. The Congress will be represented at the January 21 meeting to present in favor of reinstituting the Protest Petition. Please join us then as well. We will need a strong showing at that meeting.

Lunch with the League
League of Women Voters of the Piedmont Triad
Tuesday, January 13, 2009, 12:00 noon
Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Haywood Duke Meeting Room
605 N. Greene St. near downtown Greensboro

“The Protest Petition”

Speaker: Dr. David Owens, Gladys H. Coates Professor,
Public Law and Government
School of Government, UNC-CH

Dr. David Owens, an expert on land use topics, the scope of local government authority, planning legislation and urban growth management, has been a member of the Institute of Government since 1989. Prior to that, he was an attorney and senior planner for the Planning Office. He received a graduate planning degree and law degree from UNC-CH.

About the Protest Petition:
This is a North Carolina general statute (160A-385(a) that gives residents of a neighborhood an opportunity to protest rezoning and land use requests. All major NC cities except Greensboro have the protest petition.

References: Greensboro News & Record editorials, March 2 2008: “The right to protest,” and May 14 1008: “Get on board protest petitions.”
Yes Weekly Jordan Green analysis, February 12 2008: “A rezoning chronicle: “How Greensboro lost the protest petition;” Editorial June 30 2008: “TREBIC vs. Protest Petition.”

The January 13, 2009 program is free. Everyone is invited. Reservations are necessary if you’d like to have lunch at a cost of $8.00 per person. Make reservations by Friday, January 9 and please arrive at noon on the 13th if you plan to have lunch. Reservations: tkwhitacre@triad.rr.com or call Trudy Whitacre at 336-643-2131.

Don’t miss this vital opportunity for greater understanding of the need for transparency and citizen participation in decision-making!