when people ask me what I do I say that
I have the best job in the city of
Greensboro
I love being Greensboro’s mayor it is my
honor to serve the city of Greensboro
you know most people think that we are
called Greensboro
because we’re so green that we have
beautiful tree canopies that we have
wonderful parks and gardens but actually
we are called Greensboro because of
Nathanael Greene Nathanael Greene was
General George Washington’s Major
General in the Revolutionary War if he
served at the battle of guilford gortat
courthouse which was a pivotal battle in
the Revolutionary War which really
changed the direction of that war you
know if he had lost that war there’s a
good chance we might be driving on the
left-hand side of the road right now so
that is why we are called Greensboro
because of Nathanael Greene but you know
we have a nickname and it is called the
Gate City and I want to talk about how
we got that nickname we got that
nickname because of former governor John
motley Morehead when John motley Moore
had finished his governorship in Raleigh
he moved here to Greensboro and he built
the beautiful bland wood mansion which
is right around the corner from us and
you know legend has it that his daughter
is still in residence that every now and
then you can go by late at night and you
see her in one of the windows waiting
for her husband to return from the Civil
War he came to Greensboro to start the
North Carolina Railroad that was in the
1850s and he raised about two million
dollars that’s a lot of money in today’s
dollars but imagine how much money it
was in 1858 he started the railroad in
about that time there were 60 trains
that went in and out of the city of
Greensboro you really couldn’t get
anywhere without coming through the city
of Greensboro
the Civil War was on the horizon and he
did not want to succeed he wanted he did
not want to secede he wanted to stay
neutral you know the city of Greensboro
was founded on quaker beliefs and we
have a deep Quaker history here and
Guilford College was founded on quaker
beliefs deep spirituality that we should
give back to society and he really
advocated for us to stay neutral I want
to fast forward a little bit to current
day Tara said I moved here in 1989 right
about the time I got here the city of
Greensboro in the state of North
Carolina was talking about where they
were going to put the urban loop and one
of the paths they were thinking about
was going to come through the woods of
Guilford College so I jumped into that
discussion like I jump into a lot of
discussions and I learned about – the
Underground Railroad how it came through
Guilford College and I was talking to a
neighbor of mine and learning about the
Underground Railroad of course I heard
about it as a child I learned about
Harriet Tubman I learned about the
wagons that the slaves went in that they
they packed themselves in with hay all
around them and that they would come
through the woods in complete quietness
as they escaped to the north I didn’t
realize that I could literally walk out
my back steps and into those sacred
woods so my neighbor mentioned the name
Levi coffin and I thought he was
historian so I should talk to this
gentleman and I went home and I pulled
out my phonebook because we had phone
books then and I went through the white
pages to try to find Levi coffin and
most of you will know he was not in the
phonebook and so I went back to my
neighbor and I said how can I find this
Levi coffin coffin and he said well you
know he was the president of the
Underground Railroad and I remembered
that’s the marker over unfriendly of
knew he was the president of the
Underground Railroad
luckily the state and the city of
Greensboro had more sense than going
through that sacred ground and they took
another route so back to back to
Governor Morehead he ran for the House
Inn in 1858 in 1861 and he lost he lost
the battle not to secede but he did
serve in the Confederate Congress and
Greensboro for a brief time was the
capital of the Confederacy in the
capital of North Carolina for eleven
days and it was at Blanton mansion right
around the corner and we we signed the
Declaration of where we we turned over
to the Union at at plan wood mansion but
you know Greensboro was in a unique
position after the Civil War we were
relatively unscathed the railroad
because it was such an important supply
line was basically left ok and at that
point the mill industry was beginning to
come the Coen brothers came down and
they started the mill villages they
created huge mills hospitals schools
entire communities other companies came
down like Vicks US Steel Terra Cotta
Pomona and we started humming right
along we became really the wonder of the
Jefferson’s standard brought their
company here to the city of Greensboro
and in 1923 Julian price who didn’t
believe in carrying debt paid nine point
nine million dollars in cash for the
Jefferson standard building it is still
one of the most iconic buildings in the
city of Greensboro it’s changed a bit
it’s a beautiful building
still dots our skyline even during the
Depression the city of Greensboro
prospered real estate was booming we
invested in our education we were the
city that could we have five colleges
and universities we are home to two
HBCUs Bennett College for Women North
Carolina A&T State University we have
UNCG which was originally founded for
college for women we have Guilford
College which I talked about Greensboro
College and we also have Guilford
Technical University in February 1964
brave young men from North Carolina A&T
went to the Woolworths counter after
shopping they sat down and they ordered
a cup of coffee and asked to be served
and they weren’t and they sat there very
patiently they came back to the next day
and they came back the next day and they
were joined by many others from a and T
the Bennett Belles others from UNCG and
that movement took fire across the
landscape of the south and by and large
that movement is credited for passing
the 1964 Civil Rights Act that was one
of the most important movements in our
civil rights history however in 1979 the
city of Greensboro was embroiled in
another issue and it is called the
Greensboro massacre it is an issue that
still divides our city today it was a
death to the play in March five people
were killed 11 people were injured and
it is still an issue that divides us
you know in the 2000s our fortunes began
to change in the 2000s the Triad our
community lost more jobs than any other
area in the entire state
we lost 90,000 jobs that was more net
jobs than the entire state I mean let
that sink in for a minute
our Mills began to close like many
communities throughout our country many
of the jobs began to move offshore
they went to Mexico they want other
places many of our people who were
employed long term lost employment and
we were really faced with what can we do
how can we reinvent ourselves we have
great bones we are a great city and
luckily we had great leaders who didn’t
give up on the city of Greensboro we
talked about the colleges that are here
one nice thing about our colleges and
universities is that they work together
they don’t work against each other and
right down the street on Gate City
Boulevard it goes back to the gate city
we’ve reimbursed our name we have North
Carolina A&T and UNCG working together
on the joint school of nanotechnology
and nano engineering I didn’t know what
a nano was so I looked it up in the
dictionary again one of those quick
education things do you know that there
are a hundred thousand nanometers in the
side of a piece of paper so that’s all I
know about nanos luckily the people who
work there know a whole lot more than I
do
and they are doing great things this is
the future they are setting a course for
the future of Greensboro with
high-tech engineering on that same
campus a second building is being built
for a former student at A&T with the
help of the city of Greensboro and UNCG
for high injection molding technology
for the automobile industry further down
Gate City Boulevard UNCG A&T GTCC Moses
Cone they built Union Square campus for
medical technology it’s a fascinating
building we know that medical technology
pays living wages it puts people to work
we’ve got 10,000 people in our community
who make high paying wages in the
medical industry we have a simulation
lab which is fascinating this is one of
my favorite buildings in the city I used
to call them test dummies I’ve corrected
their mannequins they blink they breathe
they bleed but if you touch them they
flinch these are really high tech they
have pregnant mannequins that give babe
birth to baby mannequins you know it is
so great that doctors and nurses get to
practice on mannequins as opposed to you
know like real people in case they make
mistakes and not only that there is a
virtual cadaver we are one of only 200
in the entire world how fascinating is
that how wonderful is that
you know HondaJet out at the airport the
first jet to have the engine above the
wings you know if you buy a Honda jet
you have to come to Greensboro anywhere
in the country if you want to learn
about a honda jet you’ve got a dial 336
on your phone you know it is amazing the
school system is working with hako out
at the airport to train students how to
work in aviation the airport employees
5300 employees that make on an average
of $65,000
a year this is a new industry that we
have to focus on just last month a
company in Europe said that they were
buying Honda jets for a taxi service now
it’s not a taxi that I can afford but
there are people in Europe who can
afford little jet services and they are
buying from the city well not from the
city of Greensboro but they are buying
Honda Jets made in the city of
Greensboro the airport is a new hub of
activity mills that were once blighted
in our community are now a destination
they are home of high-end housing and
affordable housing you know home to
craft breweries artisans there is
manufacturing going on in those mills
again great pizzerias places to eat you
know not only that they become a
destination where you can go outside and
watch movies during the during the week
one of the mills that just shuttered is
being redesigned again things that once
went out of business we are now
repurposing it is just wonderful to see
these buildings now being put to reuse
it is a great way to recycle in downtown
you know it has become a real hub of
activity when I first moved here there
could have been tumbleweeds coming down
the street
it is now home to 23,000 employees
we’ve got great anchor tenants like the
Lincoln Financial Business who first
bought that building for nine point now
nine and now they’re putting thirty
three million dollars in it to upgrade
home to many employees it is a host
cultural hub of cultural arts great
museums we’ve been able to preserve that
Woolworths museum for generations to
come
it is for small business for large
business for medium-sized business we
have invested in IT we’ve got colab
working space
you know one thing that we’ve learned if
I can give you a take away is that we
learned that we can’t put all our eggs
in one basket anymore yes we still want
that automobile manufacturer we still
want that warehouse distribution center
but we know that we have to go after the
small business the medium-sized business
as well as the big business we have to
go after those quality of life things
like the Performing Arts Center like
great parks and recreations so all those
college kids they’re going to take that
great knowledge that they learn in our
universities and they keep it right here
in this city and they help us grow so
that’s our takeaway that we continue to
reinvest in ourselves because the city
of Greensboro we are a great place and
we got hit hard but nobody is keeping us
down thank you [Applause]
I have the best job in the city of
Greensboro
I love being Greensboro’s mayor it is my
honor to serve the city of Greensboro
you know most people think that we are
called Greensboro
because we’re so green that we have
beautiful tree canopies that we have
wonderful parks and gardens but actually
we are called Greensboro because of
Nathanael Greene Nathanael Greene was
General George Washington’s Major
General in the Revolutionary War if he
served at the battle of guilford gortat
courthouse which was a pivotal battle in
the Revolutionary War which really
changed the direction of that war you
know if he had lost that war there’s a
good chance we might be driving on the
left-hand side of the road right now so
that is why we are called Greensboro
because of Nathanael Greene but you know
we have a nickname and it is called the
Gate City and I want to talk about how
we got that nickname we got that
nickname because of former governor John
motley Morehead when John motley Moore
had finished his governorship in Raleigh
he moved here to Greensboro and he built
the beautiful bland wood mansion which
is right around the corner from us and
you know legend has it that his daughter
is still in residence that every now and
then you can go by late at night and you
see her in one of the windows waiting
for her husband to return from the Civil
War he came to Greensboro to start the
North Carolina Railroad that was in the
1850s and he raised about two million
dollars that’s a lot of money in today’s
dollars but imagine how much money it
was in 1858 he started the railroad in
about that time there were 60 trains
that went in and out of the city of
Greensboro you really couldn’t get
anywhere without coming through the city
of Greensboro
the Civil War was on the horizon and he
did not want to succeed he wanted he did
not want to secede he wanted to stay
neutral you know the city of Greensboro
was founded on quaker beliefs and we
have a deep Quaker history here and
Guilford College was founded on quaker
beliefs deep spirituality that we should
give back to society and he really
advocated for us to stay neutral I want
to fast forward a little bit to current
day Tara said I moved here in 1989 right
about the time I got here the city of
Greensboro in the state of North
Carolina was talking about where they
were going to put the urban loop and one
of the paths they were thinking about
was going to come through the woods of
Guilford College so I jumped into that
discussion like I jump into a lot of
discussions and I learned about – the
Underground Railroad how it came through
Guilford College and I was talking to a
neighbor of mine and learning about the
Underground Railroad of course I heard
about it as a child I learned about
Harriet Tubman I learned about the
wagons that the slaves went in that they
they packed themselves in with hay all
around them and that they would come
through the woods in complete quietness
as they escaped to the north I didn’t
realize that I could literally walk out
my back steps and into those sacred
woods so my neighbor mentioned the name
Levi coffin and I thought he was
historian so I should talk to this
gentleman and I went home and I pulled
out my phonebook because we had phone
books then and I went through the white
pages to try to find Levi coffin and
most of you will know he was not in the
phonebook and so I went back to my
neighbor and I said how can I find this
Levi coffin coffin and he said well you
know he was the president of the
Underground Railroad and I remembered
that’s the marker over unfriendly of
knew he was the president of the
Underground Railroad
luckily the state and the city of
Greensboro had more sense than going
through that sacred ground and they took
another route so back to back to
Governor Morehead he ran for the House
Inn in 1858 in 1861 and he lost he lost
the battle not to secede but he did
serve in the Confederate Congress and
Greensboro for a brief time was the
capital of the Confederacy in the
capital of North Carolina for eleven
days and it was at Blanton mansion right
around the corner and we we signed the
Declaration of where we we turned over
to the Union at at plan wood mansion but
you know Greensboro was in a unique
position after the Civil War we were
relatively unscathed the railroad
because it was such an important supply
line was basically left ok and at that
point the mill industry was beginning to
come the Coen brothers came down and
they started the mill villages they
created huge mills hospitals schools
entire communities other companies came
down like Vicks US Steel Terra Cotta
Pomona and we started humming right
along we became really the wonder of the
Jefferson’s standard brought their
company here to the city of Greensboro
and in 1923 Julian price who didn’t
believe in carrying debt paid nine point
nine million dollars in cash for the
Jefferson standard building it is still
one of the most iconic buildings in the
city of Greensboro it’s changed a bit
it’s a beautiful building
still dots our skyline even during the
Depression the city of Greensboro
prospered real estate was booming we
invested in our education we were the
city that could we have five colleges
and universities we are home to two
HBCUs Bennett College for Women North
Carolina A&T State University we have
UNCG which was originally founded for
college for women we have Guilford
College which I talked about Greensboro
College and we also have Guilford
Technical University in February 1964
brave young men from North Carolina A&T
went to the Woolworths counter after
shopping they sat down and they ordered
a cup of coffee and asked to be served
and they weren’t and they sat there very
patiently they came back to the next day
and they came back the next day and they
were joined by many others from a and T
the Bennett Belles others from UNCG and
that movement took fire across the
landscape of the south and by and large
that movement is credited for passing
the 1964 Civil Rights Act that was one
of the most important movements in our
civil rights history however in 1979 the
city of Greensboro was embroiled in
another issue and it is called the
Greensboro massacre it is an issue that
still divides our city today it was a
death to the play in March five people
were killed 11 people were injured and
it is still an issue that divides us
you know in the 2000s our fortunes began
to change in the 2000s the Triad our
community lost more jobs than any other
area in the entire state
we lost 90,000 jobs that was more net
jobs than the entire state I mean let
that sink in for a minute
our Mills began to close like many
communities throughout our country many
of the jobs began to move offshore
they went to Mexico they want other
places many of our people who were
employed long term lost employment and
we were really faced with what can we do
how can we reinvent ourselves we have
great bones we are a great city and
luckily we had great leaders who didn’t
give up on the city of Greensboro we
talked about the colleges that are here
one nice thing about our colleges and
universities is that they work together
they don’t work against each other and
right down the street on Gate City
Boulevard it goes back to the gate city
we’ve reimbursed our name we have North
Carolina A&T and UNCG working together
on the joint school of nanotechnology
and nano engineering I didn’t know what
a nano was so I looked it up in the
dictionary again one of those quick
education things do you know that there
are a hundred thousand nanometers in the
side of a piece of paper so that’s all I
know about nanos luckily the people who
work there know a whole lot more than I
do
and they are doing great things this is
the future they are setting a course for
the future of Greensboro with
high-tech engineering on that same
campus a second building is being built
for a former student at A&T with the
help of the city of Greensboro and UNCG
for high injection molding technology
for the automobile industry further down
Gate City Boulevard UNCG A&T GTCC Moses
Cone they built Union Square campus for
medical technology it’s a fascinating
building we know that medical technology
pays living wages it puts people to work
we’ve got 10,000 people in our community
who make high paying wages in the
medical industry we have a simulation
lab which is fascinating this is one of
my favorite buildings in the city I used
to call them test dummies I’ve corrected
their mannequins they blink they breathe
they bleed but if you touch them they
flinch these are really high tech they
have pregnant mannequins that give babe
birth to baby mannequins you know it is
so great that doctors and nurses get to
practice on mannequins as opposed to you
know like real people in case they make
mistakes and not only that there is a
virtual cadaver we are one of only 200
in the entire world how fascinating is
that how wonderful is that
you know HondaJet out at the airport the
first jet to have the engine above the
wings you know if you buy a Honda jet
you have to come to Greensboro anywhere
in the country if you want to learn
about a honda jet you’ve got a dial 336
on your phone you know it is amazing the
school system is working with hako out
at the airport to train students how to
work in aviation the airport employees
5300 employees that make on an average
of $65,000
a year this is a new industry that we
have to focus on just last month a
company in Europe said that they were
buying Honda jets for a taxi service now
it’s not a taxi that I can afford but
there are people in Europe who can
afford little jet services and they are
buying from the city well not from the
city of Greensboro but they are buying
Honda Jets made in the city of
Greensboro the airport is a new hub of
activity mills that were once blighted
in our community are now a destination
they are home of high-end housing and
affordable housing you know home to
craft breweries artisans there is
manufacturing going on in those mills
again great pizzerias places to eat you
know not only that they become a
destination where you can go outside and
watch movies during the during the week
one of the mills that just shuttered is
being redesigned again things that once
went out of business we are now
repurposing it is just wonderful to see
these buildings now being put to reuse
it is a great way to recycle in downtown
you know it has become a real hub of
activity when I first moved here there
could have been tumbleweeds coming down
the street
it is now home to 23,000 employees
we’ve got great anchor tenants like the
Lincoln Financial Business who first
bought that building for nine point now
nine and now they’re putting thirty
three million dollars in it to upgrade
home to many employees it is a host
cultural hub of cultural arts great
museums we’ve been able to preserve that
Woolworths museum for generations to
come
it is for small business for large
business for medium-sized business we
have invested in IT we’ve got colab
working space
you know one thing that we’ve learned if
I can give you a take away is that we
learned that we can’t put all our eggs
in one basket anymore yes we still want
that automobile manufacturer we still
want that warehouse distribution center
but we know that we have to go after the
small business the medium-sized business
as well as the big business we have to
go after those quality of life things
like the Performing Arts Center like
great parks and recreations so all those
college kids they’re going to take that
great knowledge that they learn in our
universities and they keep it right here
in this city and they help us grow so
that’s our takeaway that we continue to
reinvest in ourselves because the city
of Greensboro we are a great place and
we got hit hard but nobody is keeping us
down thank you [Applause]
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