Tagged: Greensboro

The task force charged with studying the feasibility of a performing arts center in Greensboro says the city needs, wants and can support one.

Four civil rights pioneers will be honored Friday in Greensboro on the 53rd anniversary of their famous sit-in. North Carolina State University A&T Freshman Joe McNeil, Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin McCain and David Richmond sat down at an all-white Woolworth’s lunch sparking a significant movement in the Jim Crow South. The four men asked to be served and were denied, but sat peacefully until Woolworth’s decided to close.  Within a week hundreds of people were taking part in sit-ins in Greensboro. The movements spread to nearby North Carolina cities and then other states.

Workers across the state will try to get an accurate count this week of the homeless population. Each year the federal Housing and Urban Development agency, HUD, requires states to calculate the number of people who are homeless. This count takes place at shelters, as well as tallying the people at tent camps, under bridges and even those staying with relatives.  Darryl Kosciak is Executive Director of Partners Ending Homelessness, in Greensboro.

There are marginal signs of economic improvement in Greensboro in an annual State of the City Report. A UNC-Greensboro professor did the study and looked at median income, teen pregnancy rates, and the kinds of jobs the city is adding, among other topics. Keith Debbage told the Triad Business Journal the city is showing signs of a fledgling recovery. The poverty rate actually dropped, but is still high compared to other peer cities, at 19.6 percent.

Duke Energy angered residents after cutting down trees in Greensboro, and Winston Salem is causing an uproar over its ban on concealed guns in certain parks. Frank Stasio discusses the triad updates with WUNC's Greensboro Bureau Chief Jeff Tiberii.

On Tuesday night in Greensboro the temperature is expected to drop into the teens and shelters are expecting to be at or near capacity. Four years ago there was a significant rise in the number of people seeking shelter during the winter months. Greensboro didn’t have enough beds and on many cold nights dozens of people had to sleep on floors. The city responded by opening a half dozen winter emergency shelters for frigid nights like tonight. Reverend Mike Aiken says those facilities opened December 1st and will be packed this week.

Many residents in Greensboro are upset with Duke Energy over the company's practice of pruning, and in some cases cutting, neighborhood trees. Frustrated citizens started two Facebook groups, collected 15-hundred signatures for a petition and demanded that local leaders step in and help.

Ten Years ago sub contractors for Duke Energy made the rounds in several Greensboro neighborhoods, trimming and cutting trees that were too close to power lines. It sent residents who felt the pruning was too aggressive into an uproar. They complained to elected officials and Duke eventually heard about it, but nothing really changed. In fact nothing really happened at all. Last month crews returned to some neighborhoods for the first time in a decade.