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GREENSBORO CITY COUNCIL FOLLIES: RE-DO

Score a win for Greensboro blogger George Hartzman, whose Socratic tirades in front of city council can sometimes come across as hyperbolic. Hartzman vocally questioned whether Mayor Robbie Perkins should be voting on an economic incentives payout to a Park View Development, the business entity for Center Point — for which Perkins serves as a listing agent in his role as a commercial real estate broker — at an April 3 council meeting.

Perkins also happens to live in the building. Maybe it’s Hartzman’s history of repeated and numerous allegations that led interim City Attorney Jamiah Waterman to rule during the April 3 city council meeting that Perkins had no con„ ict of interest. Three days later Waterman was eating his opinion: “Upon further re„ ection, it can reasonably be argued that Mayor Perkins was subjected to a potential Š nancial detriment, e.g. the potential loss of his real estate listings with Park View Development LLC. As such, I am revising my prior opinion to re„ ect that Mayor Perkins appears to have an impermissible con„ ict of interest in this matter. While the item passed unanimously, I am recommending that: (1) on April 16th the city council votes to excuse Mayor Perkins from this item; and (2) the remaining disinterested council members vote on the amendment to the general fund budget.”