At its July 21 meeting, City Council approved a new lease agreement with Family Dollar that will allow construction to begin on the new facility for the McGirt-Horton Library.
 
The new McGirt-Horton Library will be a 10,000 square foot building featuring a children's area with special interactive features, a teen area with a video lounge and multimedia lab, as well as public art. It will also be a "green" building and one of the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified buildings in the state. Construction is expected to be complete in spring of 2010 by S&S Building and Development at a cost of $2.3 million.
 
Construction of the library, which was to begin last winter, was delayed due a provision Family Dollar had in its lease. Even though the property is City-owned, there was a provision in the lease that gave Family Dollar final approval over what was built in front of its building, located in the Phillips Avenue Shopping Plaza.
 
Under the new lease agreement, Family Dollar will relocate to the space currently occupied by the McGirt-Horton Library at the end of the plaza and the new library will be erected at the corner of Phillips and Woodbriar avenues.
 
Voters approved construction of the new facility in response to the growing needs in that area, as part of the 2006 bond vote.

At the meeting, Council also:

• Noted that a special meeting will be held Tuesday, July 28, at 12:30 pm in the Council Chambers of the Melvin Municipal Office Building, 300 W. Washington St., to discuss the city manager search process.
• Delayed a public hearing to adopt stricter noise barrier standards for developments in the Urban Loop area, so members could discuss the item further. Council asked City staff to develop the standards after receiving numerous complaints from residents who live in the Urban Loop area.

To view the entire meeting or past meetings, visit City Council's video archive page.

The Greensboro Police Department (GPD) recently released crime statistics comparing the first half of 2008 with that of 2009. The statistics show that violent crimes have decreased from 926 in 2008 to 846 in 2009, a drop of 9 percent. Violent crimes include murder, rape, commercial robbery, individual robbery and aggravated assault. During the same time period, the number of property crimes, which include burglary, larceny and auto theft, also decreased from 7,593 in 2008 to 7,363 in 2009, a drop of 3 percent.
 
Double-digit decreases were seen in key areas such as murder, aggravated assault, auto theft and rape─ down 27 percent, 22 percent, 19 percent and 16 percent, respectively─ compared to the first half of 2008. And overall, the total number of all crimes in Greensboro has decreased 3 percent.
 
Note: GPD invites you to take a short survey to share your opinions on the services it provides. The survey is designed to measure GPD's effectiveness and improve its delivery of police services. Take the survey now.

National Night Out (NNO), a crime and drug prevention event sponsored locally by GPD, takes place on August 4. NNO promotes neighborhood spirit and police/community partnerships in the quest for safer communities.

NNO is designed to:

Along with the traditional display of outdoor lights and front porch vigils, neighborhoods in Greensboro celebrate NNO with block parties, cookouts, visits from local police and fire departments, parades, flashlight walks, contests and youth programs.
 
To participate or get more information about NNO, contact GPD's Community Affairs office at 373-2636.

In a new report recently released by the Brookings Institution, a non-profit research and policy institute based in Washington, DC, the unemployment rate in suburban areas of the Greensboro-High Point area is the fifth highest in the nation at 12.8 percent. With some in the community looking for employment, Greensboro's Public Library is offering assistance.
 
The Library offers one-on-one career counseling, basic computer skills classes, weekly job search events and online resources to help you find a job, make a career change or start a business. 
 
Visit its Job and Career Information page for more information, as well as job search tools, interview tips and much more. Also, visit the Library's event calendar for upcoming job-related classes such as "Job Talk & Java: Listening to Perfect Your Job Search," held Wednesday, August 5, from 10-11 am at Central Library, 219 N. Church St.