Editor’s Note: Due to the complexity and length of this article, this will be Part 1 of a two-part article- Please excuse any inconvenience.
Folks, I hate writing articles like this. I hate corruption and waste in government in all shapes and forms. I especially hate socialism and the socialists that promote socialism. Socialism, like Communism, is nothing but one great big lie right after another great big lie. Mostly I hate everything about socialism because there are so many people that believe those big lies that the Big-Lie socialists are telling them through all this Fake News stuff coming out from every layer of communication. From Washington, DC, the City of Shelby, NC AND funneled through the Shelby Star. And, now they have voted and appointed socialists into our government at almost every level. And branch-including Judges!!!
Editor’s Note: If you were brought up to believe in the American Way, Working for a living, paying your own way and to be honest and a good citizen; this article will absolutely be hazardous to your mental health. Read on at your own risk!!!
First, I am going to do a comparison that many on social media have already weighed in on. A comparison between two zoning change requests that went before the Shelby City Council for approval. One request, the latest, was approved by the Shelby City Council at its September 20, 2021 meeting, despite being disapproved beforehand by the City Planning and Zoning Board. The other request submitted by black businessman Willie Green, despite being approved unanimously by the City Planning Board was disapproved by the Shelby City Council at its November 18, 2019 Council meeting.
Then, I am going to do some deep diving into the details and inform you of what I find. Folks, be prepared to be pissed off about just how deep into the muck, mire and stinky corruption our governmental agencies, including the Federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) appears to be in cahoots with the local crooks in the City of Shelby City Council, as well as others, are involved in that corruption.
Mr. Wille Green, an African-American former NFL Professional Football Player with two Superbowl Rings, proposed to set up a Career Promise College Scholarship Partnership with the City of Shelby and Cleveland County that would provide full college scholarships to all qualified graduating high school seniors at no cost to the parents. Mr. Green’s proposal was shot down because he wanted the students to be able to attend the college of their choice and the Cleveland County governmental agencies wanted to limit the opportunity to only Cleveland Community College.
Next, Mr. Green, after discovering that the City of Shelby 10-Year Masterplan called for a public-private partnership in a “Sports Complex” that would provide opportunities for youth activities to reduce juvenile crime and provide other recreational opportunities, proposed such a sports complex. Which, despite Mr. Green providing his own private funding, was shut-down by the City of Shelby as well as the County Manager.
Next, Mr. Green, filed an application for a minor Zoning Change to parcels of land he already owned on East Dixon Boulevard at the intersection of Main Street to build eleven “high-end” Townhomes as a private business venture using his own private funding. As Mr. Green’s proposed constructions needed only a few feet in the required setback on one side of his proposed Townhomes, Mr. Green purchased a full acre lot on the Main Street side of the proposed project to provide those few feet, with the surplus property to be used as a very large buffer to an existing single- family dwelling neighborhood. Although the City of Shelby’s Planning Board unanimously voted to recommend approval of Mr. Green’s Zoning Change Application, the Shelby City Council voted to disapprove Mr. Green’s Application for a Zoning Change.
The tort-ious details of both the Sports Complex and the High-End Townhomes have both generated lawsuits by Mr. Green against the City of Shelby and others that are still being investigated and litigated. The legal particulars about those lawsuits have generated interest in surrounding “smelly” issues that are the subject of this article.
Now, in a very recent article in the Shelby Star titled Developer plans 10-unit apartment building for Shelby-obviously a Shelby Star style “Press Release”-put out from information provided by others and published by the Shelby Star without verification of the details caused some questions in my mind as well as in others.
Comments by others about this article first showed up on Facebook posts on the Star’s Facebook Page and on individuals Facebook Pages. A number of the comments questioned the City of Shelby Council members voting to approve the zoning change request after the City Planning Board recommended disapproval of the request. Some comments compared the City Council’s to the controversial Council decision to disapprove Mr. Willie Green’s zoning change request for his property on east Dixon Blvd, after the City Planning Board had unanimously voted to recommend approval of Mr. Green’s application. It appeared obvious to all that something “stinky” was going on. To be more specific, “I smelled a rat!” And, when I smell a rat, I start doing a little research of my own. Something the Shelby Star so very often fails to do.
The Star Article stated the developer of the new 10-Unit Apartment building to be built on less than ½ acre (0.45 acre to be exact) was going to be build by Trade Street Townhomes LLC, a Charlotte Developer. So, I checked out the developer’s incorporation papers with the NC Secretary of State records. This is what I found:
Trade Street Townhomes, LLC
725 E. Trade Street Suite 210
Charlotte, NC 28202
Incorporated September 29, 2020 by Organizer Todd E. Gonyer, Esquire
Todd E Goyner, a lawyer, is the registered Principal Agent.
No other company officials were listed on the company. application to the NC Secretary of State.
This limited liability company has NO principal office.
The address for the Trade Street Townhomes, LLC is for a lawyer’s office in an office building in the near vicinity to the Mecklenburg County Courthouse.
That “Rat” smell was getting more obvious. An out of town developer coming to Shelby to develop a less than ½ acre lot seemed strange. Strange indeed. Then, I remembered the “Shelby Land Partners,” an Eddie Holbrook put together business while Holbrook was a Cleveland County Commissioner, had moved to Charlotte and was operating out of an address in Charlotte that also contained other legal entities from around North Carolina-all at that same address. I always figured that was their way to hide their identity form most people anybody that might be “sniffing around” looking for the more obvious indications of corruption and were trying to identify those that were somehow involved in shady dealings.
Then, I looked up the construction company that was supposedly involved in this 10-Unit Apartment building in Shelby. I found a different (from the developer’s) address in Charlotte. But, when I checked Charlotte records, there was no such address. Hmmmmm!!!
Then, I went back to the Shelby Council’s records and found the Zoning Change request-which showed the dimensions of the apartment building, 63.7 ft by 47 ft. When I fit 10-one-bedroom apartments into those dimensions I came up with 10 apartments 12.62 ft wide by 23.5 long. Or 296.6 Square Feet per apartment. Almost exactly the size of the proposed “Tiny Homes” in a Tiny Home community that have been proposed to house homeless veterans in Shelby. Ironically, at the other end of Main Street in Shelby from Mr. Green’s proposed three-bedroom, two bath,1400 Sq Ft $180,000-$200,000 high end townhomes that the Shelby City Council disapproved because people falsely complained that Mr. Green’s townhomes would be inhabited by “low income” (poor black) people.
Thinking about all of this, I remembered another recent Shelby Star Article about additional homes to be built in the Heritage Oakes section of Shelby. This is just off Holly Oak Park Road heading South. The location is also close along the Rail Trail-Thread Trail that Shelby is spending Million$ on. As I have previously noted in other articles, I believe the emphasis on the Rail Trail and Thread Trail is to establish a “Park-like” zone that developers can back up to so their property will be more valuable. More valuable because there will never be a slum or trailer park neighboring both sides of the Rail and Thread Trails route.