President Elect for Local Realtors Group Wants To Deny Greensboro Citizens The Right To Protest Petition

On Monday 3-28-2011 there was a joint session of the Regulatory Reform Committee meeting at the campus of Guilford Tech . Community College. While looking at my twitter account i came across this tweet by Greensboro News and Record state and federal government reporter Mark Binker which he had this to say,

"TREBIC out in force at #ncga Reg Reform committee asking for repeal of protest petition rules. #GSO just got it back a couple years ago."

Here is a link to Mark Binker's twitter account CLICKHERE

The TREBIC in the post belongs to the Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition our local developer lobbyist organization. It is amazing to think that it hasn't even been 2 years and they are already whining and complaining to the state about this law. To also understand that the citizens of Greensboro have been getting screwed for the past 30 years of not having this state law and we are only going on 2 years of finally having it be a part of the zoning laws to see them complain to the regulatory commission is ridiculous.

 We also have a blog post from Jordan Green at Yes Weekly on this meeting here is what Jordan had to say.

" Lolita Malave, president-elect of the Greensboro Regional Realtors Association, asked the General Assembly to repeal the protest petition, which allows neighboring property owners to trigger a requirement of a 75 percent majority vote for approval of a rezoning request if they file a valid protest petition.



“It is easier to change the US Constitution that it is to rezone your property under the protest petition,” Malave said. “The US Constitution can be changed with a simple-majority vote of the people or a two-thirds majority vote of Congress. By contrast, the owner of 5 percent of the land within 100 feet of a proposed land rezoning project can trigger a requirement for more than a super-majority vote. That equates to more than 75 percent of voters. It is absurd and unfair that such a small number of citizens can and do decide the fate of many.”


One speaker echoed Malave’s appeal, while another spoke in defense of the protest petition.

here is a link to the whole article CLICKHERE

 We also have  our local Greensboro City Council Member Zack Matheny talk about Protest Petition in a council meeting last year here is the clip;












Now we have a local city council member talk about how they are frustrated with Protest Petition being a part of the zoning process and this was over a year ago that the councilman talked about this, then we see this year they go in front of a regulatory commission meeting to let them know how they feel and want it repealed. With this being said it shows to all the citizens of Greensboro that this law is working for it's purpose and needs to stay a part of the process. 

It is time to let our local state representatives know how you feel about Protest Petition and to say to them keep this a state law and it should stay that way.


Here is a link to all of our local representatives if you would like to say to them "KEEP PROTEST PETITION AS STATE LAW".

STATE SENATE SIDE

Don Vaughan CLICKHERE
Gladys Robinson CLICKHERE
Phil Berger CLICKHERE
Stan Bingham CLICKHERE

STATE HOUSE SIDE

John Blust CLICKHERE
Maggie Jeffus CLICKHERE
Pricey Harrison CLICKHERE
Marcus Brandon CLICKHERE
John Faircloth CLICKHERE
Alme Adams CLICKHERE

You can also let the Regulatory Reform Commission know how you feel as well by filling out this form on the state web site  CLICKHERE

N.C. House Rep.Pricey Harrison Should Be Very Proud of Her Role in Restoring Protest Petition to Greensboro

Yes Weekly! with a blog post from Jordan Green talks with  N.C. House Rep. Pricey Harrison . In this candidate profile here is what she had to say about Protest Petition for Greensboro.CLICKHERE for the blog post.

"  She’s particularly proud of her role in restoring the protest petition, a mechanism by which a certain threshold of neighbors to property proposed for rezoning can force the city council to muster a supermajority for approval, to Greensboro.



“I strived hard to get our [Guilford County] delegation's support,” Harrison said. “I spoke out pretty often about it. Not everybody was on board. There was also significant resistance from the developer community.”

Rep. Pricey Harrison worked very hard to return this state law back to the citizens of Greensboro, she should be very proud of this accomplishment . It was a long hard fight to bring this back to the citizens of Greensboro and Pricey Harrison was the first state representative who wanted to learn about this travesty and do something about it and she did with this House Bill #64 CLICKHERE

Protest Petition Bill Passes 116-0 in N.C. House , March on to Senate Side

Mark Binker from the Greensboro News and Record and Capital Beat CLICKHERE or click on the title above reports today that House Bill #64 has passed the House side with a vote of 116-0 . The bill will now move on to the Senate side of the North Carolina General Assembly.

If you would like to hear State Representative Pricey Harrison introduce the bill CLICKHERE .

UPDATE ON HOW THE BILL IS PROGRESSING

The weekly e-mail newsletter from State Representative Pricey Harrison had this to say about the progress of restoring Protest Petitions to Greensboro.

Protest Petition
Our bill, House Bill 64*, to restore the right of protest petition is moving swiftly, after gaining the unanimous approval of the House Local Government II Committee on Tuesday. It has been re-referred to Judiciary I, on which I sit, where it should be heard on Thursday, February 26. It will then go to the full House floor before heading to the Senate. Thanks to all of you citizen activists in Greensboro who have worked so hard to make this possible.

Great news for the citizens of Greensboro.

Bill Travels and Greensboro City Council Again Approves Protest Petition

There was plenty of action today and plenty of post on Protest Petition for Greensboro. Here are a few links to what has happened today. First of all the House Bill #64 has been brought out of local committee and now is on it's way to Judiciary 1 committee, that is great news and you can see the progress by clicking on the top left corner of blog.

Also last night the Greensboro City Council approved again the legislative agenda and 9-0 for Protest Petitions for Greensboro. Here is what happened last night courtesy of Amanda Lehmert at Greensboro News and Record CLICKHERE

Then Allen Johnson from the Greensboro News and Record had this to say CLICKHERE with a title "Protest Petition Polka".

Then Ed Cone also has a post CLICKHERE with a title "Late To The Party".

Then late in day Mark Binker has this post CLICKHERE with a title "Committee Passes Protest Petition Bill".

That is great news to hear that this bill is on the fast track to becoming law for the citizens of Greensboro.We will keep you posted on when it goes to the senate side as well. It is now headed to the Judiciary 1 committee where the sponsor of the bill is on this committee in State Representative Pricey Harrison, who has been a real champion on bringing this right back to the citizens of Greensboro.If you want to send her a e-mail and thank her for sponsoring this bill please let her know . She can be reached by clicking on her name on the left hand side of blog.