A majority of City Council members in Greensboro have approved the controversial sale of a city-owned shopping center to a private developer.
The deteriorating shopping center in the northeastern part of the city has a Family Dollar and a series of boarded up store fronts. The city has owned the property for five years but there has been no development. The city finally decided to sell the site, but many are upset.
“Stores that take advantage of people’s lack of transportation and you know appeal to people’s weaknesses and dependencies: large amounts of alcohol, a tobacco presence,” said community activist Ed Whitfield.
Whitfield is part of a group trying to bring a food co-op to that portion of the city. The area is classified as a food desert. Whitfield says the council’s approval to sell the property leave the co-ops future plans in question.
The City Council rejected a proposal from a different group of developers. Former County Commissioner Melvin “Skip” Alston is associated with the new ownership group that received approval.
