Robbie Perkins Watch: Speaking on Greed

During my break, it was reported that new Greensboro Mayor Robbie Perkins will be speaking on the topic of greed at Triad Stage in a couple of weeks.  Sam Hieb called it a "can't believe my eyes moment". 

Others, I suppose, might call it a pot-and-kettle moment.

I found it interesting that the city's downtown arts establishment is embracing the new mayor, and apparently is welcoming him as one of their own.  Given the nature of his politics, this is perhaps understandable.  Local liberals have essentially relinquished their crusade against development-interests-disproportionately-affecting-local-government because they had other objectives during the last election cycle that they obviously regarded as more important.

It will be interesting to see how Robbie speaks on the topic of greed.  I will not be attending, but have contemplated the manner in which this topic might potentially be approached:

1. A diatribe against unenlightened local forces in opposition to higher taxes

2. A righteous defense of "investing" in the correct municipal priorities, and characterization of those who oppose such "investments" as greedy

3. A case made that the Greensboro residents, individually and collectively, are not greedy because of their enlightened policies and practices compared with other areas-- with a virtuous call for more of the same

 4. An ironic political commentary in stated opposition to private sector greed in general, with everyone laughing under their collective breaths at the unstated history

5. A humorous case made that divorcing spouses fighting for their respective economic interests does not constitute greed

6. A robust defense of the premise that the economic interests of those in the sector of real estate development lifts all boats to combat perceptions of greed

Readers are invited to identify other angles that Robbie might emphasize in his discussion.  I suppose that we will learn how it is played in a couple of weeks.

Comments

[Triadwatch]

should insert crony capitalism as well into the subject line for this one.

[Mick]

I dont get your humor at all but I think you could have done w/o #5. Just me.

So much for how unpleasant you found discussing RP's marital problems, huh? Since no one else would poke fun at the situation you were forced to do so. How ...... convenient.

[Spag]

As Keith points out, declaring his united stance with the Occupy crowd against crony capitalism.

Interestingly, some of Robbies biggest supporters are sympathetic to the Occupy movement. As you allude, other interests clearly take priority over stated principles.

[Triadwatch]

new council is already back to old machine politics

http://triadwatch.blogspot.com/2011/12/small-group-non-transparency-meetings.html

[Billy Jones]

Some of us in Occupy Greensboro actually wanted to attend and mic check Robbie's speech but the overall consensus was he's not a big enough fish to fry-- yet.

But just you wait as we've got something of a nightmare in the works for Robbie. He'll wish we'd only mic checked him.

[Joe Guarino]

Thanks, Keith.

Billy, the Occupy Greensboro website endorsed Perkins right before the election. But I hope the group will hold him accountable, as you suggest. I suspect what we are going to witness over the next two years is going to be... breathtaking.

[Billy Jones]

Joe,
You're referring to this post: http://occupygreensboro.org/2011/11/candidate-information-for-city-of-greensboro/ Yes, it reads exactly as you say.

Read the comments. Myself and a number of others almost quit over those endorsements. Turns out, one member of our media team who wanted to endorse Perkins and the other candidates noted, took it on his own to issue a press release which poor Erin, who was simply caught in the middle, assumed was approved by the General Assembly. So she posted it.

Then, to make matters worse, after I facebooked her to complain, she went back and changed the first paragraph to read as it reads now. Mistake #2.

But wait, the cluster$!@ gets worse. A lot worse.

Jordan Green reads the blog post: http://yesweeklyblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/occupy-greensboro-endorses-perkins.html

Then an anonymous member calls Jordan to complain and he writes: http://yesweeklyblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/who-speaks-for-occupy-greensboro.html

Then about 500... Okay 200 Occupy Members spent a week attacking every single member of the Occupy Greensboro Media Group (myself included) because they had heard nothing about endorsing candidates at any of our GAs.

It was a week from hell.

Now I'm not implying that some in Occupy Greensboro don't support Perkins because some do. Obviously, at least one does or the blog post you referred to would have never happened. But all in all, Perkins and his style of developer driven governance is seen by many on OGSO as crony capitalism and a large part of the problem locally.

Joe wrote: "I suspect what we are going to witness over the next two years is going to be... breathtaking."

Yeah, something like that. ;-)