The September 7, 2021, meeting of the Winston-Salem City Council was a relatively brief and bland affair. It lasted just over 53 minutes. Several items on the Council’s monthly zoning agenda were unceremoniously pulled from the agenda and continued to a later date without explanation. The Housing Authority’s redeve… More
I found this article in the Central Library’s North Carolina Room some time ago. It’s eye-opening. In the article below (that I am sharing for educational purposes) we learn that some prime real estate near Buena Vista has a hidden history. It was once used by Francis Fries to house enslaved Africans who were too old to be e… More
“This is the very first major part of bringing that East End Master Plan vision to life. It’s just a phenomenal project.” -Annette Scippio, April 5, 2021, WSNC City Council meeting.
The Garden Court Apartments are going to be redeveloped. The modestly built apartment units that have been vacant during the pandem… More
Today, I’m posting the first of what I hope to be many Throwback Thursday posts. Every Thursday, for the foreseeable future, I am planning on examining, at length, a video from the City of Winston-Salem’s YouTube channel and other sources. The City of Winston-Salem has a number of excellent documentaries that deserve m… More
The amount of money that is going to be invested in and around Cleveland Avenue is astounding. In a sense, it’s like Cleveland Avenue, and adjacent neighborhoods won the lottery. On the other hand, the infusion of tens of millions of public and private dollars will lead to the displacement of longtime residents if the community … More
At the November 16 meeting of the Winston-Salem City Council, our centrist-Democrat-dominated governing body voted 7-1 to use $1 million from the City’s scarce housing assistance funds to subsidize development at Whitaker Park. Councilmember Dan Besse was the only member of the council who objected.
In today’s blo… More
Last week the Forsyth County Library’s panel discussion on affordable housing got me thinking about all the publicly available resources that document housing disparities in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County. Often new reports attract a great deal of attention when they are released, but get forgotten as time goes by. So, for … More
Crystal Towers is conveniently located in the heart of Downtown Winston-Salem, at 625 W Sixth St. The Housing Authority of Winston-Salem had a buyer lined up to redevelop Crystal Towers, but HUD wouldn’t let them sell Crystal during a pandemic.
Crystal Towers’ residents are just a short walk from the Central Library (w… More
Affordable housing is hard to find even during normal times. It’s even harder to find during a pandemic. It’s a scandal that so many hotel rooms and apartment units are empty when they are sorely needed. It’s estimated that Winston-Salem/Forsyth County has a deficit of 16,000 affordable housing units. We need ma… More
Our local paper has been pretty thin recently. When the COVID-19 crisis first began the Journal admirably stepped up and churned out some excellent content. Since then, they’ve been publishing mostly banal human interest stories. Rumor is, Lee Enterprises has been furloughing employees at the Journal.
Searching the Journ… More
