Pubdate: Mon, 07 Nov 2005
Source: Greensboro News & Record (NC)
Copyright: 2005 Greensboro News & Record, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.news-record.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/173
Author: Eric J.S. Townsend, Staff WRiter

LOCAL ACTIVIST USES INTERNET TO DEMAND RESULTS

GREENSBORO -- His name is linked to high-profile efforts over the 
past five years to rid Greensboro of blight.

Consider the list:

The South Gate Motor Inn? Check.

Massage parlors? Check.

Crack stem pipes? Check.

Critics say he craves undeserved recognition for plans already under 
way by city employees. His supporters counter that without his 
presence, it is possible nothing would have been accomplished.

Yet everyone agrees that Ben Holder, a Gate City native who runs a 
Web log dubbed "The Greensboro Troublemaker," uses the Internet to 
feed a passion for challenging the local status quo.

And it's almost impossible to stem his antagonism if he feels ignored.

"(City leaders) want to tell me how they're fixing everything," said 
Holder, a former Greensboro code enforcement officer and former 
freelance reporter now living in Winston-Salem. "I want to tell them 
how they're not."

Holder started the Troublemaker blog in June to publicize issues he 
feels are important to the community's welfare. His latest target of 
guerrilla journalism is Guilford County commissioner Melvin "Skip" Alston.

Alston, who manages St. James Homes near downtown Greensboro, accused 
city building officials last month of overreacting to Holder's blog 
rants when they sent inspectors to visit the apartment complex.

By doing so at an Oct. 19 press conference to deflect criticism, the 
former head of the state NAACP legitimized Holder as a rabble-rouser, 
the mosquito that won't go away.

Nevermind that a stairwell had collapsed in September, injuring four 
residents, or that city firefighters had contacted the building 
office within days of discovering the problem.

The reason for the all-out inspections?

"(It was) to appease this guy called the Greensboro Troublemaker," 
Alston said at the press conference. He has since declined to comment further.

To understand Alston's frustration is to understand how 34-year-old 
Holder works. The outspoken activist wields the state Public 
Information Act like a baseball bat to the kneecaps of city workers.

In some of Holder's recent e-mails to city employees, he belittles 
workers and, in one instance, accuses the city attorney of "hiding 
public info for political reasons." Another e-mail to an assistant 
police chief reads "when the city does my stuff without consulting me 
it always ends up a fiasco."

Confrontations and antagonism describe his modus operandi. Critics 
say his need for recognition can send him into a rage when denied.

Holder has been making his way toward downtown from Randleman Road 
after delving into largely successful "Project 2400" cleanup efforts 
two years ago. The project targeted drugs and prostitution along the highway.

Holder has also been a vocal advocate of addressing a gas station and 
convenience mart along South Eugene Street that had been the site of 
several drug busts -- and even a fatal shooting -- over the summer.

When Holder read about the stair collapse in the News & Record, he 
demanded copies of city inspection records for St. James to hold them 
accountable.

St. James, he says, was the next stop on his way north. The complex, 
which is owned by St. James Baptist Church, is on South Eugene Street 
near Greensboro Urban Ministry.

Holder submitted a petition in early October to have the city inspect 
every unit in the complex. The city's top building official says his 
office was already on the case as Holder collected the five 
signatures needed for it to be considered.

"If Ben wants credit, give him credit, I don't care," said Walter 
"Butch" Simmons, the man who heads the building office. "My job is to 
keep people safe."

Credit is something Holder appears to feel he deserves. His profile 
on the Troublemaker lists all the projects for which he claims a 
significant role:

"The Notches on my Belt include the following.... 12 Asian Massage 
Parlors (remember them?). Randleman Road improvements (I am the 
reason you cannot buy a crack pipe on Randleman Road.)

"South Gate Motor Inn is being demolished as well. Spring Valley 
Shopping Center face lift... well... it would not have happened if 
Project 2400 did not happen. ..."

It's an understatement to say Holder hasn't always endeared himself 
to city leaders. But he does have one key ally.

"Ben makes a lot of people uncomfortable, but you've got to look at 
what he is trying to do," said Councilman Tom Phillips. "He's looking 
out for people who otherwise might not get the attention they 
deserve. I'd say he deserves a lot of credit. And he doesn't get that credit."

Holder, the youngest of four children, grew up off West Market Street 
near Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church. He graduated from Grimsley 
High School, took courses at GTCC and UNCG, then coached football for 
several years at area schools. He moved for a period to Louisiana, 
where he worked with the homeless.

Upon his return, he managed local restaurants and met his wife, 
Donna. They moved to Winston-Salem, where she worked at Salem College.

Holder then started writing for the Carolina Peacemaker, a weekly 
Greensboro newspaper marketed largely to the black community.

His articles tackled subjects like squelching Asian massage parlors, 
crack cocaine and the sale of stem pipes.

"Sometimes you need trouble-making in a community like Greensboro, 
which is marked by its civility," said Joya Wesley, a spokeswoman for 
the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the former editor of the 
Peacemaker. "You can't always be worried about whether someone's 
sensitivities are offended. We have a tendency in this community to 
err on the side of silence and politeness."

Holder was soon offered a job with the city, which he claims was a 
way for his targets in city government to keep a lid on his 
criticisms. He stayed with the code enforcement office for a year and 
left after his wife died of cancer in September 2004.

Holder still lives in Winston-Salem with his 5-year-old son and 
2-year-old daughter because it is the city where his wife wanted to 
raise the kids.

Holder also has sources in the Greensboro Police Department that feed 
him information not typically released to the public. He posts it on 
his blog, much to the displeasure of some police officials.

And his activism includes testimony to the Greensboro Truth and 
Reconciliation Commission, a panel investigating the 1979 Klan-Nazi shootings.

The reporter-turned-activist chided City Council for its refusal to 
support the commission's work.

"To ignore it is foolish," he said, firing out his words in staccato. 
"To be a leader and ignore it is irresponsible."

One of his self-proclaimed successes -- cleaning up the now 
half-demolished South Gate Motor Inn along Interstate 40 -- 
demonstrates how his actions can needle even those who might benefit 
from more low-key contributions.

The South Gate was one of the police department's most notorious 
spots for crime until an all-out effort was launched in the spring of 
2003. Project 2400 combined efforts of the city fire, police and code 
enforcement offices to clean up that block of Randleman Road 
generating the most police visits.

Wayne Willard and Ronn Wilson, who both helped lead the Randleman 
Road Area Business Association, bristle at Holder's notion that he 
was responsible for Project 2400.

They assert that efforts were under way to clean up Randleman Road 
before he came to the council and argued for such an effort. They 
said he never contacted them for information on the problem and 
offered no hint that he was about to lobby on behalf of an initiative 
they were drafting.

Within months, the effort was in full swing.

"Give the devil his due. He probably helped expedite the project," 
Willard said. "But we were already working on it before he went to 
City Council."

Holder held the property owner and the city to the letter of the law 
even as work crews started demolishing the motel. When he found no 
one had applied for an asbestos permit, he contacted the state -- and 
the cleanup was stalled for some time.

In March, Holder told the News & Record that more than a year after 
Project 2400's active enforcement campaign ended, the area had 
reverted back to crime. Willard and Wilson strongly disagree, arguing 
"80 to 90" percent of the drugs and prostitution once affiliated with 
the area have vanished.

"We've got problems, we admit it, and we try to do something about 
it," Willard said. "But don't come up with things that aren't true 
about the problems we do have."

Randleman Road is in Holder's rear-view mirror nowadays.

The activist and blogger says he will soon turn his attention to 
problems plaguing South Eugene Street in Greensboro and to problems 
in Winston-Salem he's had some experience combating: crack stem pipes.

"The leadership in Greensboro is nuts. And that certainly isn't a 
news flash," Holder said. "I'm not done with what happened at St. James."

Staff writer Margaret Moffett Banks contributed to this report.
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