Greensboro may soon have an option for adults with special needs to live more independently, said Toni Love on Tuesday night, Aug. 9.
Love was speaking to Greensboro’s City Council about her plans to establish a nonprofit home for senior women with special needs in the city.
“People with special needs are dear to my heart,” said Love, noting that her sister is one of those people. Love, the daughter of Safe House Black History Museum founder Theresa Burroughs, said she has established a nonprofit foundation named after her mother. She hopes to develop the home on family property in the area of Martin Luther King Drive and Davis Street.
The area, Love said, is zoned residential, which would allow for the home to be established there without a zoning variance. The facility, however, will require a separate building form the residences at which to house records, hold board meetings, and the like.
“Greensboro is an underserved area,” Love said. She said some people with special needs have had to leave the town to live with family or in residences in other cities due to a lack of facilities here.
Councilmember Scott Naylor asked how many residents she expected to residence to house. Love said four to five.
Councilmember Mary Bragg asked Love what kind of timeline she expected for the facility to be open.
“We’re a nonprofit, so we will have to raise the money first,” said Love. She said there would be two residence employees on site to assist residents day and night.
Love said the project, for her, was personal—if anyting ever happened to her, she said, her sister would have a place to live. She thanked the council for their attention and input.
In other news, councilmembers heard reports from the city’s department heads.
“Most of our equipment has been broken down,” said Streets and Sanitation Superintendent Aaron Evans. “But we’re maintaining. People have been cutting grass…throwing it out in the street. But it is what it is. We’re doing the best we can with what we’ve got.”
Later in the meeting Evans explained that the city’s backhoe had been broken down for “about three weeks now.” Shipping and supply chain delays meant the part needed to get it back into service still wasn’t here. “The part we need has to come from Canada,” Evans said.
Police Chief Mike Hamilton said his department had been stepping up its security plan with the beginning of the new school year
