u/tiflis

Legislation just passed by the NC Senate will prohibit local governments from allowing anyone to camp or sleep on public property, including sidewalks, parks, and public buildings.

In an apparent redefinition of public space or who constitutes “the public,” the legislation enumerates heightened restrictions on where people without housing can take shelter. Those who cannot afford private property of their own will now be barred from public land as well. 

The policy changes come as rising housing costs, stagnant wages, and federal funding cuts increase homelessness rates across the state. In its 2025 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress, North Carolina recorded a 33% increase in rates of homelessness—the largest increase of any state in the country.

Bill proponents like Senator Brad Overcash (R–Belmont) say "a proliferation of homeless encampments ... has harmed our economic vitality.” Absent in their rhetoric is any sense of understanding the rise in homelessness as an indicator of economic deterioration.

The bill will return to the House for consideration of Senate changes before it will be sent to the Governor, whose signature is likely moot given Republicans’ three-fifths, veto-proof majority in the legislature. 

Source: Battleground Drafts

Legislation just passed by the NC Senate will prohibit local governments from allowing anyone to camp or sleep on public property, including sidewalks, parks, and public buildings.

In an apparent redefinition of public space or who constitutes “the public,” the legislation enumerates heightened restrictions on where people without housing can take shelter. Those who cannot afford private property of their own will now be barred from public land as well. 

The policy changes come as rising housing costs, stagnant wages, and federal funding cuts increase homelessness rates across the state. In its 2025 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress, North Carolina recorded a 33% increase in rates of homelessness—the largest increase of any state in the country.

Bill proponents like Senator Brad Overcash (R–Belmont) say "a proliferation of homeless encampments ... has harmed our economic vitality.” Absent in their rhetoric is any sense of understanding the rise in homelessness as an indicator of economic deterioration.

The bill will return to the House for consideration of Senate changes before it will be sent to the Governor, whose signature is likely moot given Republicans’ three-fifths, veto-proof majority in the legislature. 

Source: Battleground Drafts

“I’m not selling out.” 

So says Rural Hall Mayor Terry Bennett, as the town’s council voted this week to overturn their previous position opposing a hyperscale AI data center. 

Mayor Bennett and other council members argued the decision was for fiscal reasons. They told residents, without evidence, that money the town may potentially receive from the 130-acre data center will lower taxes. 

Concerns about increased utility rates, environmental pollution, road safety, water demand, and other issues caused by data centers remained unaddressed by the council. 

A group called No Data Center Rural Hall has compiled resources explaining the proposed project at www.ruralhallinfo.com

source: Battleground

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Greensboro Mayor Pro Tem Denise Roth doubled down on her stance supporting artificial intelligence and data centers.

Emphasizing the inevitability of AI’s proliferation, Roth said “My message really is, and continues to be, that AI is here to stay.”

Roth said her op-ed was not meant to be a pro-data center article. She then criticized a speaker at the last council meeting who suggested turning away from artificial intelligence. According to Roth, such resistance to embracing AI “is harmful.” She stated, “I think it’s really important that we ensure that our communities, our young people are … actually encouraged into these industries.”

She contested allegations of conflicts of interest with her positions with three organizations focused on AI and/or data centers: on the Board of Advisors for CEG Solutions LLC, which develops infrastructure strategies for data centers; as a Strategic Advisor for Commonweal Ventures, which boasts the surveillance software corporation Palantir among its clients; and on the Board of Directors of the AI Trust Foundation.

In contrast, City Council members Cecile “CC” Crawford (District 2) and Crystal Black (District 1) called for more regulation, community input, and deliberation on the implementation of additional data centers.

Following the lead of other cities, counties, and many constituents’ demands, Crawford made a specific request for a six-month moratorium on data center construction. Roth shut down this proposal, arguing the city’s current policy—a request for the city manager to provide notification of data center proposals—was sufficient.

Former Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan is once again working to influence city policy. Now a lobbyist with the firm Elevation Strategies, she wants Greensboro to introduce a prepared-food tax.

Writing in the News & Record, Vaughan revives a request she made years ago as mayor, saying it is time for visitors to “pay their share.” The idea seems to be that only tourists eat prepared foods, and that prepared food is the only thing tourists purchase in the city. 

However, according to state law, the tax would apply to any prepared food, including at grocery stores, fast food establishments, gas stations, and food trucks. The broad definition of “prepared food” applies if the food is heated, if it includes two or more foods combined, or if utensils are provided. 

When Vaughan first pushed this tax, many restaurant owners disapproved. The recently announced closures of several downtown eateries such as M’Coul’s, Cille and Scoe, Liberty Oak, Dame’s Chicken and Waffles, and others raises questions about local restaurants’ ability to shoulder another expense on top of the costs of heightened inflation. 

Full story: Battleground

Dozens of local governments across North Carolina have passed data center moratoriums over the last six months. Governor Josh Stein has proposed eliminating tax incentives for data centers. And the State House is advancing legislation to regulate data centers.

But in Greensboro, Mayor Pro Tem Denise Roth thinks data centers are a “unique opportunity.” In a recent editorial, the City Council member chides data center critics: “I worry that some are beginning to frame this conversation as a choice between protecting communities and participating in the future economy.”

Roth has a long record of interest and involvement in artificial intelligence—the primary stated reason for the construction of new data centers.

Since 2024, Roth has held a position on the Board of Directors of the AI Trust Foundation. This organization aims to drive investment in artificial intelligence by “uniting AI innovators across the entire AI ecosystem to speed up the path to real-world AI solutions.”

Roth is also a Strategic Advisor for Commonweal Ventures, which boasts the surveillance software corporation Palantir among its portfolio of clients.

Roth is also on the Board of Advisors for CEG Solutions LLC, which develops infrastructure strategies for data centers.

Positioning herself against the tide of public opinion, Roth echoes commencement speakers recently booed by students when she says, “The question is not whether AI will exist. The question is whether communities like Greensboro will help shape it.”

Roth presents AI and data centers as both inevitable and beneficial to historically marginalized communities, contradicting widespread concerns that data centers pose significant environmental, social, and economic threats.

Source: Battleground

The nationwide trend of elected officials shutting down public comment continued this week in Madison County, North Carolina. 

Over twenty speakers in the rural county attended the June 9 Commissioners meeting to speak against increasing surveillance by private Flock camera devices.

But Board Chair Michael Garrison said he was “taking advantage of our policy.” He refused to let the speakers take the podium, telling residents “You will not speak on Flock tonight.”

As read by Madison County Attorney Donny Laws, the policy provides that “a spokesperson may be requested to be designated” for “a group of persons supporting or opposing the same position.” 

The commission forced the group to convene outside the chamber and designate a single speaker on their collective behalf. As one person who wished to speak noted, “So we need to have a mini democratic process, to then not have a democratic process.”  

Some of the aspirant speakers in attendance at the commissioner meeting were representatives of the community organization Madison For Privacy. Others had never met. They each wished to make their own points on the private surveillance technology, especially as the meeting agenda included the county’s budget, which indirectly funds the cameras. 

Opposition to the use of Flock surveillance cameras, used for automated license plate recognition and other purposes, continues to spread nationally. Growing awareness of the hazards of artificial intelligence and the documented misuses of state-licensed, corporate-owned personal data has fueled distrust in these systems. As the events in Madison County illustrate, the problems impact rural areas as much as urban ones. 

Learn more at madisonforprivacy.org 
Video credit: Sarah Scully
Source: Battleground

One of the scandals new Greensboro Police Chief Kamran Afzal leaves behind in his former role as chief of the Dayton Police Department has fallen under the radar. 

The Ohio city is embroiled in controversy over access to data from its Flock surveillance cameras. 

Dayton police noticed a high level of data-sharing from their Flock systems in October 2025, with more than 7,000 unauthorized searches related to immigration enforcement. City officials called the searches “egregious violations of policy.” Now, Dayton is making national headlines for covering the cameras with trash bags, as the city is unsure whether it can remove the devices under their contract terms.

Asked about the Dayton data breaches and the status of Flock in Greensboro at a June 8 community town hall event at Barber Park, Afzal said “I don’t fully understand what we currently have.” 

See Battleground substack for the full story.

⁨One item neglected in Greensboro City Manager Trey Davis’s recommended budget is the retirement gap for firefighters. At the last City Council meeting, some 150 firefighters filled the chambers to support the extension of retirement benefits.

Under current provisions, firefighters cannot draw on their pensions until age 62, regardless of the age at which they retire or the decades served.

While the police have received what is called a Special Separation Allowance covering this gap since 1987, firefighters are still struggling for the benefit.

Dave Coker, President of the Professional Firefighters of Greensboro, noted that the requested allowance would cost less than 1% of the $913-million proposed budget.

Martin Barrow, a recruitment coordinator for the fire department, highlighted the importance of the allowance for allowing firefighters to retire with dignity.

Mayor Pro Tem Denise Roth and Mayor Marikay Abuzuaiter made vague statements of appreciation for Greensboro firefighters at the conclusion of their comments, but did not explicitly support extending retirement benefits.

Only one member of council, District 4 representative Adam Marshall, offered clear support for the request, stating “I’m going to go a little further. I think this is a benefit we need to provide.”⁩

Source: Battleground

City Councillors were not always so acquiescent to the police department over the people’s demands.

In just over a month, Greensboro has seen:

1. the hiring of an external police chief who leaves behind an investigation into the killing of a homeless resident, Reginald Thomas, by one of his officers
2. the video and exoneration of a Greensboro police officer killing a homeless resident, Said Ezzine
3. the proposed allocation of record funding increases to the police department.

Yet recently elected Progressives such as District 3 City Councillor April Parker remain silent in the face of constituent requests to speak out.

Once elected into office, even the most strident critics of police violence change their priorities. That is the structural nature of electoral politics in a capitalist system.

As Councillor Parker once said: “The whole system is designed to do just what it is doing.”

Source: Battleground

Said Ezzine should still be alive. This was the consensus among speakers at Tuesday’s City Council meeting who addressed the Greensboro Police Department’s recent fatal shooting.

Officer Lewis Jacob Wyatt shot and killed Said Ezzine on August 5, 2025. Nine months later, the public has seen the video of the shooting, and the District Attorney has ruled all four shots justified. Thousands of online commenters have weighed in. And City Council has refused to publicly condemn or condone the killing.

Councillors appear to be under a gag order of some kind, though they have provided no clear explanation for their silence.

At the conclusion of the meeting, two councillors pushed back on the public speakers.

At-large representative Irving Allen said he had called the shooting a “tragedy,” among milder words.

District 2 representative Cecile Crawford said, “There’s so much that we’d like to say that we are unable to say. That’s really frustrating. But what I don’t want to see is this happen again.”

Council did not respond to repeated requests to reduce the slated $10.7 million increase in funding to the police department, outlined in the city budget that will be finalized by the end of the month.

Source: Battleground

*Warning: Graphic Content*

On August 5, 2025, Greensboro police officer Lewis Wyatt responded to a claim of trespassing at 1601 Marion Street. The subject of the call was 48-year-old Said Ezzine, who moved to the US decades ago from Morocco and had lived at the house until the owner evicted him.

Newly released body-worn camera footage shows the final moments of Ezzine’s life. He appears agitated, apparently struggling to accept the eviction and resulting homelessness. Evidently he still viewed the property as his home.

Officer Wyatt attempts to arrest Ezzine, who told the officer not to follow him, and was seemingly preparing to depart on a bicycle.

In their original statement on the killing, GPD stated that Ezzine “retrieved a weapon.” We now know this was a pipe wrench. As soon as Ezzine picked up the wrench, Wyatt pulled his trigger, firing four shots. Ezzine died shortly after.

On May 4, 2026, the office of Guilford County District Attorney Avery Crump notified the Greensboro Police Department of the DA’s determination that Officer Wyatt’s actions were justified.

In the 3 minutes and 19 seconds between the time Wyatt hails Ezzine and the time he opens fire, we can observe the officer’s priorities. As is his job, Wyatt endeavors to protect the property from Ezzine’s alleged trespassing. More important than either of their lives is the sanctity of property rights.

This is the inevitable result of an economic arrangement that gates the necessities of human life as commodities to be bought, sold, and controlled by the profit motive.

Source: Battleground

At a meeting filled with speakers criticizing the Greensboro City Manager’s unexplained choice of an external hire for Police Chief, one speaker pointed out the common interests of City Council.

Even new councillors such as Irving Allen and Cecile “CC” Crawford—who ran on progressive platforms, with backgrounds in community organizing against police brutality—refused to dissent from supporting the City Manager’s unpopular choice. Luis Medina noted they have apparently surmounted their differences to achieve a remarkable level of solidarity.

All nine councillors consolidated to support the new police chief, including Tammi Thurm and Mayor Marikay Abuzuaiter.

A lifetime ago, in 2019, Thurm and Abuzuaiter voted to remove their now-colleague Irving Allen from the Police Community Review Board, “for reasons.” Back then, Allen was willing to criticize government abdication and opacity. (See Ian McDowell, I Ain’t Resisting, p.191.)

Medina claimed the recent activities of city council demonstrate a ruling-class solidarity, and called for a working-class solidarity to combat it.

Though speakers are generally granted a few seconds’ grace on their allotted time, Medina’s microphone was cut exactly at the 3-minute mark. The mayor proceeded to demand that he be escorted out, though he was already walking away. It seems the mayor realized her demand was excessive, as she immediately began justifying it to council members:

“He hit the podium,” Abuzuaiter claimed. “I’m not gonna put up with it.”

Whether “it” referred to threats to the safety of the podium, or something else, remained unspecified.

source: Battleground

Concern over data centers continues to dominate local government forums.

Data centers use increasing amounts of land, electricity, and water. Residents are seeing unprecedented electricity rate hikes and levels of drought in North Carolina, at the same time data centers are proliferating. Governor Josh Stein has said data centers are partially to blame for rising energy prices, stating they account for 80 percent of additional demand Duke Energy expects. Data centers also pollute environments with toxic waste, light, noise, and heat. Research shows data centers raise surrounding temperatures by 4 degrees, and use as much water as entire towns.

In North Carolina, half a dozen towns along with six counties have declared moratoria on data center construction. Greensboro has not, and the position of city councillors on data centers is unclear.

In response to speaker Del Stone at the last city council meeting, five councillors commented on the concerns raised. Read their responses here: https://battlegrounddrafts.substack.com/p/city-councillors-respond-to-request

Speakers packed city hall this Monday to denounce the selection of out-of-town Police Chief Kamran Afzal to head the Greensboro Police Department, just over a week before he is set to start the job.

Speakers were united in their demand that City Council rescind the decision. 

Many expressed feelings of betrayal from city councillors who won last November’s elections on promises of “people-centered action,” “prevention instead of over-policing,” and “people-powered leadership that builds from the ground up.” Though many of the freshly elected city councillors have backgrounds in community organizing and activism against police brutality, the whole of City Council has either tacitly or explicitly approved of City Manager Trey Davis’s choice to hire a four-time police chief from out of town, with a dismal record on public safety. 

For instance: data on Dayton’s traffic stops in 2025 under Chief Afzal shows significant racial disparities. Black drivers—despite making up 40% of the population—were stopped more than twice as often as white drivers, who constitute half the population.

And, just two months ago, Chief Afzal’s police killed a Dayton resident who was homeless, Reginald Thomas, after detaining him during a regulatory stop for not having a bike light. Speakers connected Thomas’s killing to victims of GPD violence including Marcus Deon Smith, Joseph Lopez, and Duke Crenshaw. 

Others mentioned that City Council has authority over the City Manager, making their deference to his selection of Chief Afzal unacceptable in the face of mass public disapproval. 

The meeting concluded with councillors saying they heard the concerns and they appreciated people expressing themselves, while speaking as if the decision for the new chief of police was solidified. As the session adjourned, chants of “rescind the offer now” filled the hall. 

Source: Battleground

⁨⁨Greensboro City Manager Trey Davis has replied to the letter from the Justice Advisory Commission, which requested a pause, if not a full rescission, of the offer to external police chief hire Kamran Afzal.

The decision to hire Afzal—a four-time chief most recently from Ohio—came as a shock to residents and the Commission. Many note that the city has provided no justification for hiring Afzal over an internal candidate—nothing more specific than to say he is “the most qualified.”

Davis’s letter is notable for a few reasons.

1. Davis’s pushback to criticism relies on procedural rather than substantive claims. Rather than explaining why he chose Afzal, the city manager explains repeatedly that the decision is his to make: “The process was followed, the authority was properly exercised, and we are confident in that.”

2. Davis claims the unilateral power to make this decision, but none of the responsibility for the resulting dissatisfaction, instead blaming the public for their refusal to fall in line: “public pressure is not fair to the incoming Chief.”

3. Davis invokes the potential legal problems with rescinding or delaying the decision as more significant than public disapproval: “The legal exposure of reopening it outweighs any benefit.”

4. Yet Davis also says public opinion would not matter regardless of legal exposure: “even if there were no legal consequences, the City stands on this hiring decision.”

5. Nowhere does Davis or any other city official list any of the qualifications they reviewed, nor the details of the process followed to choose this police chief.⁩

Source: Battleground