suburban george3

I read that the Grilled Asparagus fell thru for the old Mary's of Course location.

Manpower released employment outlook results today and things are looking better in the Triad. Winston-Salem should lead the area metros in job creation with 18% of employers planning to hire while Greensboro/High Point will be in the positive as well with 14%. Burlington is also adding jobs, but many are temporary positions. Manpower believes Winston-Salem to be the 'hot spot' for awhile in job creation in the Triad due to growth in Finance as well as a resurgent mortgage industy. Read the WFMY article here.

The Winston-Salem Transit Authority (WSTA) has just acquired 10 new hybrid diesel/electric buses. 10 more are on order, and the plans are to convert the entire fleet of 52 buses. They have the potential to get twice the fuel economy or better of the 14yr old buses they replace. Plus, I like the light green paint job! quality's not great, cell phone pics and late in the day...

I would like to see this happen, but on the heels of the baseball stadium debacle and the current state of the economy I just can't see this passing.

For those of you who have lived in the Triad for awhile, you should remember Frank Deal from WGHP news. He was the weather forecaster for the station and was immensely liked by the viewing public. He passed away today at the age of 84. FOX8 Story on Frank Deal's Passing

And while Fantasia is quite talented, she certainly carries very little love for High Point or the Triad... IMO

The USPS has removed the downtown Winston-Salem post office from the list of locations under consideration for closing. Locations in Greensboro and High Point still remain on the list. FOX8 article about downtown W-S PO

The Atlanta Eagle is more of a levi/leather kinda place. Have been there several times and will say the raid was probably warranted, the treatment of the customers by the APD not. There are Eagles all over the country... Dallas, Washington, Los Angeles, New York, etc. They all have individual ownership, to my knowledge. I'm not sure if there is any governance over the 'Eagle' name.

I talked some more with my friend last night, they were trying to negotiate the lease down (around $5K a month) with no success. Also, business had been off quite a bit over the last year. The combination of the two killed the bar. I liked the Eagle, and tried to get there about once a month or so, but I think they would have done better not to have charged the high cover charges for non-members. It's a shame, they just had their 8th anniversary party Sunday night.

I have been told, by an employee, that the Charlotte Eagle is closed effective immediately. Don't know any other details....

More uncertain business news from Winston-Salem yesterday, GMAC Insurance has been sold to AmTrust; an investment group. Supposedly they are going to keep operations here and a 'majority' of the jobs (51%-99%, that's a broad term.) Read about it here.

Moody's and MSNBC.com reports that the Winston-Salem metro has moved from being 'In Recession' to 'In Recovery' along with 78 other metros in the U.S. Data does lag about 6 weeks, so any impact from Dell's closure hasn't been counted yet. The only other NC metros listed as 'In Recovery' were Goldsboro, Greenville, and Va. Beach-Norfolk-Newport News (part of this metro is in NE NC), all others are still listed as 'In Recession.'

I know many Charlotte Queens who would be offended that their title would be used on a piddly baseball team...

That's great to hear about Bib's! I hope downtown keeps progressing, I drove thru late on a Thurs evening and while not the crowds of the weekend there was still a decent amount of pedestrian activity. When I was growing up it would have been a ghost town except for the Convention Center area.

3 months later and the prospective job outlook is much more pessimistic for Winston-Salem from the same survery. The number of employers saying they will be hiring in the next quarter dropped from a 3rd best in the US 22% to 11%. Winston-Salem also has the highest response in the 'don't know' category in the state at 9%. However, the two leading NC metros, Charlotte and Raleigh had lower job hiring outlooks, 9% and 6%; and worse job reduction outlooks as compared to the triad, 15% and 12%. Personally, IMO, this survey may work well for Manpower's needs, but I don't think it's an completely accurate picture. Read the WSJ article here.

I don't think it's vacant... but I'm not 100% sure of it's status... it's close to Ollie's Bakery, Mary's of Course, and the Brookstown Inn. It's got potential....

Listening to Pandora... Bananarama - 'Cruel Summer'

It's the same for the Winston-Salem Journal... there seem to be a plethora of morons who post and hardly anyone of intelligence. If anyone of intelligence makes a post they are summarily attacked.

A few shots from the Botanical Gardens Sunday afternoon... you didn't think I'd let a pic series of the gardens go without a flower pic did ya?

Brookstown Mill Neighborhood, Winston-Salem:

Taken in the Brookstown Mill area of Winston-Salem;

Visiting Atlanta this weekend, this pic was taken overlooking the lawn at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.

Looks like BB&T is buying the 'almost failed' Colonial Bancgroup from Montgomery, AL. This puts BB&T in a new market (AL) and strengthens it's position in others, propelling it higher (I've read #4) in FL. The deal is an uncharacteristic risk, but if they played their cards right and didn't assume much of Colonial's toxic debt, it could be a huge boost to BB&T. Read the CNN article here.

Momma bear must have wanted a salad and was going to buy her cub a happy meal!!! Better than porridge!!!

Just curious what everyone's opinion is on all the bear sightings we've had recently in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and Yadkin County. I know it's caused a lot of conversation. Of course, tragically, a bear was shot by the Winston-Salem Police Dept. I know Chief Cunnigham is defending his officers' actions, but I am concerned it wasn't handled appropriately. This past Dec., a couple had hit a deer in front of my neighborhood and were waiting in a disabled vehicle for a policeman to file a report. No less than 4 Forsyth Co. Sheriff deputies and Winston-Salem Police officers came by, not to file the report but to see if they could 'discharge their firearm (exact quote)' into the animal. It's my concern that this 'desire' to shoot off their guns outweighed common sense on how to deal with this unfortunate wild animal.