Greensboro Council To Discuss Plans To Oppose New Law

Greensboro City Council members are looking at ways to fight a new law that drastically changes the local government.

The council is holding a special meeting Wednesday night to get public feedback on House Bill 263, which passed last week.

Under the new law, the number of districts is trimmed. With that change, several incumbents could be forced to run against each other in the fall election - a process known as "double-bunking."

Marikay Abuzuaiter, a current at-large council member, says she's hearing from residents that the council should fight the new law in court.

“To me, the bill that has been passed is a slap in the vote of democracy because Greensboro does not want this,” says Abuzuaiter. 

Abuzuaiter  says although she's heard mostly from people opposed to the law, the event welcomes input from all citizens, including supporters.

Council Member Jamal Fox says the legislature should have focused on other things like education and job creation instead of redistricting local governments. He says he's at a loss to explain the motivation behind the law.

“I don't live my life on speculation. All I know is reality, and I just know it doesn't move our city forward, it doesn't move North Carolina forward, and it doesn't help all the people of Greensboro,” he says.

Fox represents District 2, the same district that at-large member Yvonne Johnson, a former mayor, would fall in under the new maps. Johnson declined an interview request with WFDD. She told the News & Record last week that she would not run against Fox.

Mayor Nancy Vaughan told WFDD last week that the city is considering legal action to stop the new law.