Winston-Salem in 98 page exclusive spread in US Airways Magazine

[RichardC]

Winston-Salem was featured in a 98 page exclusive spread in US Airways Magazine in October 2012.  Unlike the above mentioned article on "Greensboro" in the Delta Magazine, which for some reason includes Salem College & Academy in Winston-Salem, High Point University in High Point, and blurps about HanesBrands, Brenner Children's Hospital, and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, the spread in US Airways Magazine in 2012 was exclusively about  culture, the arts, history, the economy, and all entities within Winston-Salem and the Yadkin Valley.

 

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pace/usairways_october2012/#/58

 

Coverage begins on page 56.

[zalo]

Completely Dumbstruck is my reaction to the "Greensboro" story in Delta Airlines magazine. What kind of pathetic lack of class does a municipality exhibit when they resort to such civic thievery of neighboring cities community assets to grossly insinuate them as part of their own attributes. Talk about subterranean self esteem as a City. Again truly pathetic considering that GSO has more than enough highlights of their own to flesh out such an article. It is really pitiful.

[RALNATIVE]

Completely Dumbstruck is my reaction to the "Greensboro" story in Delta Airlines magazine. What kind of pathetic lack of class does a municipality exhibit when they resort to such civic thievery of neighboring cities community assets to grossly insinuate them as part of their own attributes. Talk about subterranean self esteem as a City. Again truly pathetic considering that GSO has more than enough highlights of their own to flesh out such an article. It is really pitiful.

 

I understand your point and it's a valid one. I've seen many times where the city of Greensboro and its inhabitants have very casually associated themselves with anything successful or prominent in NC, the southeast, and the US, whether it is a part of their environs or not. It's actually quite sad because it reflects a city without a soul that needs to emulate other cities that actually have substance in order to be considered relevant.

 

Be proud of what has been accomplished in W-S apart from Greensboro. Your city is actually headed in a positive direction.

[gsoboi27]

I will never understand why there is so much bickering between Greensboro and Winston-Salem about who has what, and which city is better. Instead of focusing on petty things (this being a prime example), residents of the Triad should come together and focus on why the Triad is lagging behind Charlotte and Raleigh economically. 

[zalo]

Boi,  perhaps you should direct that question to people in your own backyard like Alan Johnson, editorial page editor of the N&R, Councilors Zach Matheny, Mike Barber along with several other present & recent past City Council members along with the current Mayor & the last Mayor who have publicly been attributed to statements saying that GSO needs to take action on various civic issues such as the PAC as one example, otherwise Winston will jump ahead of GSO. These comments over the years have been printed in the N&R articles & broadcasted in Council meetings Johnson in particular has bug up his a** about the BB&T Ballpark and how it was built & financed, most recently taking digs at the Brookstown District project and kissing up to Roy Carroll. Barber in the recent past has stated on the City Council dais that GSO as the largest city in the Triad must "take the lead."  in matters regarding the Triad region. No, the correct answer is to form an effective equal partnership with their neighboring city in dealing with mega deals, and not high-jack another city's physical attributes as their own in an economic development marketing piece.

 

 No such comparable statements  and opinions can be likewise attributed to any editor/columnist at the Winston-Salem Journal or to any sitting or recent departed Council member regarding our eastern neighbor. And absolutely nothing has come from Camel City's mayor of the last 15 years. As a matter of fact, he of anyone has been more receptive to working collaboratively for the Triad's mutual benefit than most any other elected/nonelected civic leader in the region, as witnessed to the monetary check that was delivered by Joines from the W-S Alliance as help to seal the deal with Honda Jet. Active lobbying from Forsyth County's largest city was engaged in the recruitment of that company not to mention the FEDEX hub.  No where can such active participation by Greensboro's civic counterparts to a project for Winston-Salem be documented. How can Winston hope to partner effectively with a city that has such dysfunction in many of its important economic development entities. The Greensboro City Council, Greensboro Partnership and DGI have been hot messes for years. The Piedmont Triad Partnership, whose original mandate from the state was to be the regional economic promoter for ALL of the Triad region, has been primarily GSO focused. After years of many people wondering what's the benefit of this outfit, the State's recent audits of these regional organizations came to the  unavoidable conclusion that nothing of any substance for the region can be attributed to it.  So the PTP, in searching for a reason for being now comes up with a new focus of landing a auto plant for the benefit of all of us Triadians.  And wouldn't you know it, but lo and behold, the only "viable" place in the entire 16 county Piedmont Triad region is in the far southeastern corner of the region, just a few miles south of GSO. Not very convenient to the vast majority of the counties identified as the Piedmont Triad. Now the fact that Jim Melvin, former mayor of GSO, who no one would deny as probably the biggest GSO booster currently living, as the prime driver behind this endeavor is purely coincidental.   Steve Googe, head economic developer for Davidson Co., had earlier identified a large 1,000 plus acre site in southern Davidson County, which would have been better locationally situated for most of the counties in the Triad region.  But that was ignored in favor of the "Greensboro/Randolph" site, which is sited barely 10 miles from another fully certified mega-site in Chatham, (Triangle region) Does anyone think its makes any damn sense to have two megasites situated so close together. They should be spread out more evenly across the state in order to spread the benefits to more of the state taxpayers who are on the hook to cough up the big bucks to get it ready to give away to multi-billion $ companies    

 

Winston-Salem is working its long developed plan as economic times dictates its progress will be with a singular focus. The fact that GSO doesn't seem to have a coherent focus for what it wants to be other than looking incessantly at what other cities are doing & slapping something together in a sometimes haphazard fashion (example: Gateway Research Park  ) to emulate what's being done elsewhere is not a strategy.  Winston has been open for regional collaboration, whereas their so called peer city to the East, can't seem to find its own butt with 2 hands and a roadmap.  The only bickering we're hearing here in Camel City is among the citizens in that burg East of Colfax.

[gsoboi27]

Your post further proves my point that the Triad needs to work together instead of cannibalizing each other when it comes to economic growth. Even on the forums here, I've seen users go back and forth about one city's accomplishments over another's. As long as this mindset continues, it will be a challenge for the two cities to collaborate. 

[zalo]

I stand by my statement and once again will assert that Winston-Salem is open to collaboration with its eastern neighbor. There has been no cannibalization on Winston's part regarding econ. devlpmnt. BTW gsoboi27, I had you confused with another "Boi" who posts on here & frankly is an initiator of a good deal of the bickering you lament.

[gsoboi27]

Ah yes, I think I know who you're referring to. I lived in the Triad area for about 7 years, so the area is near and dear to me. Hopefully city leaders can pull together! 

[zalo]

Thanks, hope does spring eternal. Appreciate your thoughts

[zalo]

I'm posting this, well just because.

http://www.bizjournals.com/triad/news/2015/06/16/high-point-greensboro-doesnt-seem-to-really-want.html

[gsoboi27]

I saw that yesterday and it reminded me of what we talked about. It's unfortunate