Sunday, September 24, 2017

Greensboro District 2

Seat holder: Goldie Wells
Challengers: C.J. Brinson, Jim Kee
Withdrawn: Felicia Angus, Tim Vincent

Jamal Fox resigned from his seat to move to Portland, OR with his girlfriend. He handpicked Vincent to replace him but the City Council opted to pick Wells (just like how City Council opted to appoint Justin Outling after Zack Matheny wanted former councilman Tom Phillips to replace him two years ago).

Wells is the third person in three election cycles to be appointed to her seat and then run for a full term. She represented District 2 from 2005 to 2009.

Wells's successor, Jim Kee, served two terms of his own before losing to Fox in 2013. The main reason to not support Kee's return other than the fact that he's been in office before is the fact that he's backed by developer interests like ex-mayor Robbie Perkins--hence, Kee's beholden to at least one of the city's political clans.

Both Wells and Kee had their chances and it's clearly time for a new generation to represent East Greensboro--Northeast Greensboro in particular. Fox should have been that person but he eventually got pulled in by the Marty Kotis and Roy Carroll factions.

Brinson is that person to represent East Greensboro because he gets it. He gets who Revolution Mill really caters to. I have seen some of my creative friends hold events there but most of them and the people who attended such events in the past aren't of the same skin color as me. As much as I enjoyed said events, East Greensboro residents are not the ones who are benefiting from the mill, it's the old money Irving Park crowd who once upon a time let Downtown Greensboro rot until the creative class helped revive it.

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