Greensboro City Council approves sculpture to honor Justice Henry E. Frye and Shirley T. Frye

Greensboro City Council has approved the installation of a sculpture at Center City Park to honor Justice Henry Frye and his wife Shirley Frye.

City council voted unanimously Tuesday in favor of memorializing the longtime community advocates. Henry served as the first Black chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court.

Shirley's years of community work were honored in 2016 when the YWCA was named the Shirley T. Frye YWCA Greensboro. She led the integration of the city's two YWCAs in the 1970s.

Mayor Nancy Vaughan says it is a well-deserved statue.

"They are a dynamic couple and have really changed the face of Greensboro," she says. "I think they are so well beloved by everybody that it is truly our honor."

According to the city council's agenda, the funding to create and install the sculpture is provided by the Joseph M. Bryan Foundation.

The Justice Henry E. and Shirley T. Frye Sculpture is expected to be unveiled in September.

In other business, the city council denied a proposal to bring a used car dealership to the Benbow Park community.

City council unanimously voted against rezoning on Tuesday that would pave the way for the business at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and South Benbow Road.

Councilwoman Sharon Hightower, who represents the area, says it's not the business the neighborhood needs. She says the community recently lost a health clinic and is in a food desert.

"The only thing up and down MLK Corridor is fast food," Hightower says. "It's one of our major entrances into the city of Greensboro and it ought to aesthetically look inviting and nice."

Several neighbors also spoke out against the application.

Resident Sharon Graeber says the community has been trying to clean up the neighborhood. She says residents want to see the area prosper, but this was not the proper business.