[piano intro] - Hello, I'm Nido Cobain.

Welcome to "Side By Side."

My guest today is a great example of stepping up and stepping out when you see a need.

She got involved in North Carolina politics in 1996 because of her rezoning sign she saw near her home.

She's now the mayor of North Carolina's third, largest city and the past chair of the North Carolina Metro Mayor's Coalition.

Today, we'll talk about the lessons of leadership with Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughn.

- [Narrator 1] Funding for "Side By Side," with Nido Qubein is made possible by.

- [Narrator 2] Heres to those that rise and shine to friendly faces, doing more than their part, and to those who still enjoy the little things.

You make it feel like home.

[baby giggling] Ashley HomeStore.

This is home.

- [Narrator 3] For over 60 years the everday leaders at the Budd Group have been committed to providing smart, customized facility solutions to our clients, and caring for the communities we serve - [Narrator 4] Coca-Cola Consolidated is honored to make and serve 300 brands and flavors, locally.

[upbeat music] Thanks to our teammates.

We are Coca-Cola Consolidated, your local bottler.

[upbeat music] ♪ - Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughn, welcome to "Side By Side."

- Thank you very much.

- It's my pleasure to be here.

- You went to Fairfield College in Connecticut.

- I did.

- And you came to Greensboro because your dad who's well known, highly respected.

Fred Barakat was with the ACC and you came here.

What was your first job when you came to Greensboro?

- Oh, it was interesting.

I worked for a company called Tally Machinery.

I had a hard time getting a job when I moved here.

I finally got an interview.

I interviewed on my birthday and it was snowing.

And I showed up for the interview and the only guy in the building left was the president and he said, "You're here for an interview in the snow?

And I said, "Yeah."

He said, "I know you're gonna show up.

"You're hired."

[chuckling] - Wow.

- And so it was a job that I, I didn't think I would really be interested in long term.

And I thought, well, I'll keep this till I find something better.

And I was there for 18 years and I learned so much and worked with great people.

So I was very lucky that it snowed on my birthday and I showed up.

- And you learned a lot about business, which you were able to transfer to being a top leader, political leader, and community leader in the city of Greensboro.

So I'm gonna ask you a question.

What is the biggest challenge that you face?

I mean, you chaired the Metro Mayor's Association, North Carolina.

You are currently serving on the board of visitors at North Carolina, A and T University, you are learned and informed, you're active and engaged.

What is your biggest challenge as mayor of the third largest city in the state of North Carolina?

- It's great that I have the opportunities to speak with my other mayors through the Metro Mayor's Coalition.

And I think all cities across the country are facing the same big challenges, and it's how to deal with our health crisis, how to deal with COVID and it's how to deal with rising crime rates.

Those seem to be the two biggest issues that we all share and safe, affordable housing.

Housing has always been an issue, but in the last two years, you know, policing and COVID have really taken over.

It's just about two years when COVID came to the United States and the way that it impacted the state of North Carolina and cities across the country, we're still feeling that today.

- Yes, so let's talk about housing a little bit.

There was a time when people wanna live in, in an urban, I mean a non-urban environment, all around the city and in suburbs, and now we see this, this movement back into urban living.

We see it in Charlotte.

We see it in Greensboro and my friend, Roy Carroll and others in your city have built a lot of facilities.

Is this a cyclical thing in your view?

- I think COVID has made mid-size cities extremely attractive because we have large city amenities, but we still have that small town feel.

Housing has been a real challenge to make sure that we have a diversity of housing for the different wages that people make and where they wanna live.

Is it a single family?

Do they wanna live in multifamily?

We've realized that we have to extend our transportation system.

So while COVID has been a challenge for us, we also see a silver lining because more people are coming to Greensboro because they like our quality of life.

They like this Carolina core.

- And we see it every day, companies coming and there's growth.

And we are providing workforce with universities, community colleges, and so on.

Let's talk about crime.

I mean, crime is a big deal.

- [Mayor] It is.

- You don't wanna walk down the street in a community, and be afraid somebody's gonna attack you.

How are you dealing with crime?

And are you succeeding?

- Well, last year we had a 14% decrease in homicides, which it was a significant decrease.

This year, January is trending up a little bit, but you know, it goes up and down throughout the year.

We have a great police chief and he has instituted a number of changes, which I really think benefit the police department.

We're also working with numerous community organizations because we're not gonna police our way out of this.

We are going to have to work with the neighborhoods and church groups and nonprofits to really help people.

Sometimes I think people have given up on hope and that is a real deadly thing.

So it is working with children, and young families to let them see what their future is.

We also have the Cure Violence Program, which is a violence interrupting program.

And some of our other big cities in North Carolina have it as well.

We were one of the first cities to deploy mental health workers with police.

A lot of our nine one... - That's expensive, is it not?

- It is expensive.

And we recently hired, I believe it was six clinicians, but the majority of our phone calls, well 25% of our phone calls that come through 911 are people who just have nowhere else to call.

- Really?

- Yes and it's not an emergency issue, but they need to talk to somebody about what's going on with them.

And that is not what the police do.

But police have to answer the call.

So they're answering the call with clinicians.

So, you know, once they feel that the place is secure, that you know, the person who called wouldn't do anything to the clinician, they leave.

And then there's an awful lot of aftercare follow up.

We also have done something called, Take Me Home.

It allows families, I hate to use the word register, but it allows families to register their address, and if they have a family member who has cognitive disability or mental disabilities, it allows them to write down what they are, send in a picture.

It also asks them to say like what triggers a person?

So if somebody is triggered by lights and sirens, police would come up without sirens.

They may wanna say that, you know, their, their loved one is deaf, which means that they could not respond to commands.

So we are looking at fighting crime and working with the community in a number of different ways.

- So many pieces to this puzzle.

- [Mayor] Yes.

- In Greensboro, you have done a terrific job as have some other cities in North Carolina to create a downtown with activities, and with new initiatives, infrastructure, arts, education, et cetera, that have brought more people to downtown.

And that tends to create more crime, does it not?

Or does it?

Not just homicides, but petty stuff, misdemeanors, you know, people aggravating other people and so on.

- I would say that our downtown is safe and that people shouldn't be concerned about going downtown.

We are fortunate our downtown is booming.

You know, we have our Tanger Center for Performing Arts.

Sadly, that was due to open on March 20th, 2020.

And so it closed before it opened.

But 351 days later, it has been a resounding success.

And, you know, we have, there are lots of performing art centers throughout cities, around the United States.

We see that they really bring a supply chain such as restaurants and boutiques and things that keep people further occupied while they're in town, because a lot of people are flying in or getting hotel rooms and they wanna do more than just visit the performing arts center?

- Yes, and it supports the small business person.

It provides further entrepreneurial innovation.

- Absolutely.

- To supply those services and so on.

Is it the Tanger Center for Performing Arts reports to Matt Brown?

- Yes, it is part of the Coliseum complex.

- He's a genius guy.

- He is genius.

- Nobody can match what Matt Brown does in terms of attracting these phenomenal shows, and keeping the place full and make it, make it alive and well.

So you went to school in Connecticut, you came to Greensboro because your dad, Fred Barakat worked the ACC and got to ask you a question that's probably somewhat troubling to you.

ACC, there was a little talk about ACC moving from Greensboro.

When I asked the question of the new commissioner in a public forum on an interview, he was both polite and vague.

It's gotta worry you.

- Well, we have had a really good relationship with the ACC.

I think commissioner Phillips has been very open on the process.

We are, we are going through the process.

We have got a great RFP.

We have been shortlisted.

The ACC will be coming back to town in the next couple of weeks.

We know that we have got a great product for them and I feel very strongly that we have given them a good, a good reason on why they should stay.

And if they do stay, I would like a richer relationship with the ACC.

They're not very high profile within our communities.

I would love it if the different commissioners would come and speak before our groups if they could bring some coaches in.

So I think we're looking at improving our relationships from a whole bunch of different angles.

- Um huh, and you came to Greensboro to do some good work.

You're a political science major.

- Yes.

- So you knew a little something about government and how it works.

And in Guilford County, you have Guilford County Board of Commissioners.

You have the Greensboro City Council.

It seems to me sometimes, you know, when I read in the media, sometimes it is cooperative spirits.

Sometimes there is some, some differences of opinion.

How do you as mayor manage all of that and maneuver the process in a healthy way?

- When I was first elected mayor, we didn't know our counterparts in High Point.

And we knew the county commissioners there across the Plaza, but we found ourselves often bidding against each other when a new employer would come into town.

So there were, there was a group of us that sat down and said, "We need to fix this."

And so we started the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance, which has been an absolutely resounding success.

It is run by the Chamber in High Point, Chamber in Greensboro.

- It's the Guilford County or Greensboro Alliance?

- So it's the Guilford County.

- [Nido] Guilford County.

- Yes.

Economic development Alliance.

- [Nido] Yes.

Yes.

- And since we've created this Alliance, we've really gotten to know each other better.

And I think the relationships between Greensboro and High Point have never been better and Greensboro and the county.

And it's wonderful that their staffs all sit down and look at projects so now when a company comes in, a company like Toyota, they come in, they know what they're looking for, we all work together on that proposal.

It really becomes a regional proposal.

If a smaller employer comes in, what we do is a group.

Our chambers, they go out jointly and show that prospect, all the sites, whether it's in High Point or Greensboro or unincorporated Guilford County.

We just want them to pick the best site because we know that we're all going to benefit no matter where they locate, if it's within our region.

- You know, they say that a community thrives when it has a higher education institution in it, and I think you can look around the country and see that that's true.

Universities bring brain trust.

They bring people from across the state and across the country.

They bring researchers.

They create new modalities for thought and for technology and healthcare and other, other sectors and other disciplines.

Greensboro's blessed.

- Oh, we are very blessed with all the colleges and universities that we have within our city limits.

And then going beyond our city limits, we have great options for people to choose if they wanna go to college four year, do the traditional rate work, that works.

We've got our technical colleges for people who need a certificate.

And, you know, we have workforce training that teaches people the importance of upskilling.

So I think that is one reason why we've had these major worldwide announcements is because of our higher education and what it offers to our residents.

And from our perspective, it's really important that as these companies come here, that they hire our residents first.

We want to be first in line.

We wanna make sure that they have the skills to fill those jobs.

The idea isn't for them to bring jobs with them.

So I think that in a few years, as these jobs start to get filled, people are really going to make better wages and have better skills.

- So Mayor, you know, I know you can take it, so ask some tough questions.

Greensboro's also lost one or two major, well, the triad has, not just Greensboro, one or two major corporate headquarters.

That's gotta be troubling to you when that happens.

Of course, you're bringing in new business and new corporations.

It's a sad day for you when they, when you find out that, you know, the top management of a corporation, that's been philanthropic, engaged in the community, providing resources of all kinds, decides to go somewhere else, where they have a large population of, of young college graduates.

They sort of follow where the workforce is, right?

So the technology company, they go to, you know, to Austin or to Silicon Valley, or even to Raleigh/Durham, although you are getting some of those in this area as well.

Talk to me how a mayor feels when you work so hard and then you get a sort of a disappointing piece of news.

- It is very disappointing, especially if we were never in on the discussion from the beginning, you know, just to hear it a few days before the announcement, it's troubling.

As we know, one of our employers moved to Denver, we were fortunate because they left a big portion of the business, Lee and Wrangler.

And, you know, for the people where Lee was, I think it was in Kansas City, those people were disappointed too when Lee came to Greensboro.

We now probably have more employees between the Contour campus than when VF moved with those 85 jobs.

You know, people look for different things.

I think it's, I think it's interesting that VF chose to move their headquarters to Denver.

But meanwhile, we have this startup, supersonic jet company, based out of Denver who has chosen to come to Greensboro.

- Oh really?

I didn't know that.

Yeah.

- Yeah, so Boom was a startup in Denver.

And, you know, we will be their first, supersonic jet manufacturer, and they're bringing in over 1700 well paying jobs.

So you just don't know what people are looking for.

I think that's a good example, how Denver was seen in two different ways.

- Is there ever a, a stress resistance from current companies in the area, as you bring in more people who are gonna be competing for those same jobs, same workforce in that area?

- So, you know, speaking to people out at the airport where you've got HondaJet, which is amazing and HaCo and all of the other and an interesting note is we have more non-airline related jobs out at PTI than all of the other airports combined.

- PTI being the Piedmont Triad International Airport.

- You know, aside from the flights, but all the jobs that it has created in the... - And it's the mega site.

- [Mayor] It is.

- Of its own.

- It is.

I call it back of the house.

You know, those jobs.

We talk to them about, you know, were they concerned?

Would a HondaJet be concerned?

And they're really not because they know that we can upskill people.

And that they will then get a deeper talent pool.

As people are coming to look at a supersonic or whatever that they might also look at at HondaJet.

So I think they see it as a plus.

And I've heard other companies say, say the same thing that as these wonderful announcements come, people look at Greensboro for the first time and they like our amenities.

They like our cost of living.

So we are starting to attract more employees here.

- And they like the region.

- Yes.

- They can live in Greensboro or Winston or High Point or Burlington or Chapel Hill - Absolutely.

or wherever, I mean, they're like the richness of the whole region.

Carolina Corp and beyond.

Nancy, look, anybody who's in a leadership position and the public eye, especially in the world of politics, cannot please all the people all the time.

And we're living in a day when people can go on social media and say whatever they want to say in a moment's notice.

And sometimes is dumb, is almost libelous.

Tell me how you personally, an accomplished person, deals with that.

- It is difficult.

I do have a high social media presence because I want people to reach out to me.

Sometimes, you know, the comments aren't pretty, or they're misdirected, but.

- [Nido] Or personal.

- Or personal, yes.

- They take attacks at a person, you know, individually and personally.

- So I have grown very thick skin and I take it for, for why it was written.

It's harder on my children and my loved ones, and my mom when she reads something, especially when she knows that it's not true.

And my children who are also social media savvy, sometimes I have to ask them to back off a little bit.

- How old are they?

- 40, 38 and 21.

- I shouldn't have asked you that question.

[Mayor laughing] I apologize.

- Now people are gonna do math.

- Yes.

- So, but they, you know, they have, they have come to my rescue on a number of occasions and I've had to say, "Please, back off.

"This isn't the way we need to do this."

- Yes, yes.

Do you ever sit around, a cup of coffee, cup of tea, and say to yourself, oh my, how the world would be so much better if I could have this in my city?

What is this?

- So I don't know that this is a one thing.

I don't think that it is a building.

Better jobs.

That is what we are focused on, because people who earn a paycheck are able to find better housing.

They're able to feed themselves, buy a car, follow the American dream.

So it is something that we have been working on.

All cities have been working on, especially as you mentioned earlier, companies are trading places, but it's the ability to make sure that our workers are skilled and that we have got enough jobs to offer them, to help people move out of poverty.

- Yes, and to bring families up and to bring joy and good healthcare and good education to people everywhere.

I recall Nancy, a few years ago, when High Point wanted to build a baseball stadium to revive its downtown, I recall one of your outstanding leaders in the city of Greensboro, Jim Melvin, who loves the city, but also loves the state as a whole.

- [Mayor] Yes, he does.

- And a guy called Billy Prem in Winston-Salem, who was the force along with Don Flow and others, and the mayor there, to bring baseball to Winston-Salem.

And I watched with great admiration, these two leaders, not say, "Well, we don't need another baseball stadium," but rather that they reach beyond themselves, and they came to the city of High Point in a public forum, 700 people and they said, "This is good for everybody.

"This is gonna make the region even a better place."

I think that's the spirit of operation and collaboration of which you spoke.

- I would agree.

Yes.

- I mean, that's what it's all about.

Right?

So one more difficult question, Mayor.

We all read across America, especially the last couple of years, that when we talk about crime, we don't always just talk about homicides.

We talk about also the small merchant, the small, the solo practitioner, the entrepreneurial family that put their money on the line, took a risk, hope to build a better future for themselves and their children.

And then somebody comes in their store, it's happening in, in some cities in America now, and, you know, robs the store under whatever, for whatever reason.

Some need help and some do it just cause it's an opportunity.

Some come from out of town to do those kinds of things.

We haven't seen much of that in North Carolina, but this is happening.

What is the solution?

- You know, that is a real tough one.

When we see the acts of violence, people coming in and smashing up cases, and we're fortunate that it hasn't come to the city of Greensboro or to the state of North Carolina.

We are working very hard with community groups to build that relationship so that in some ways they protect the small businesses.

And I think it's important, after the George Floyd murder, you know, all throughout the country, there were various protests and we, you know, we had two very bad nights where windows were broken and some of the businesses were ransacked.

But what we found by and large, looking at the videos were, were that they were not Greensboro Guilford County or Elemance people.

And that is, you know, sometimes you do have people who come in from other areas just to make trouble.

But we, you know, I believe our, our police are very vigilant and hopefully we won't see something like that.

After our two days of social unrest, we did call for a one week curfew.

And that seemed to be an opportunity for things to settle out.

- Calm things down.

Cause you want social justice on the one hand, you gotta have law and order on the other hand.

Listen, I'm glad I'm not the mayor of any city.

It's a tough job.

In many ways, it's a thankless job.

- I think it is the best job.

- [Nido] Is it really?

- It is the best job I've ever had and I love it.

I love that every day is different.

I love when I walk down the street, people stop and ask me questions or tell me a problem, and then I have the ability, - That's awesome.

to change it.

- Nancy, that's awesome.

And that speaks of your character and your personhood.

Thank you for being with me on "Side by Side."

- Thank you.

My pleasure.

- [Narrator 1] Funding for "Side By Side" with Nido Qubein is made possible by.

- [Narrator 2] Here's to those that rise and shine to friendly faces, doing more than their part.

And to those who still enjoy the little things, you make it feel like home.

Ashley HomeStore.

This is home.

- [Narrator 3] For over 60 years the everyday leaders at the Budd Group have been committed to providing smart, customized facility solutions to our clients, and caring for the communities we serve.

- [Narrator 4] Coca-Cola Consolidated is honored to make and serve 300 brands and flavors locally.

[upbeat music] Thanks to our teams.

[upbeat music] We are Coca-Cola Consolidating, your local bottler.