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The Greensboro City Council will hear the case for and against protest petitions in less than two weeks.

Then it will say no.

I could be wrong. But if I were you, I wouldn't bet against me.

Greensboro is the only major city in the state that does not allow citizens to use protest petitions to oppose new development in their neighborhoods. The provision allows citizens who live near a proposed development to request a special City Council vote. Simply put, it would raise the bar for approving a disputed rezoning.

If opponents of the zoning manage to produce signatures from owners of at least 5 percent of the adjoining land, they would force a super majority (at least a 7-2 vote in favor) of the City Council to approve the rezoning.

The council will decide on Jan. 21 whether to ask Guilford County lawmakers to seek legislation that would revive protest petitions in Greensboro.

Mayor Yvonne Johnson said late last week that she has not made up her mind on the issue. So did council members Trudy Wade and Mary Rakestraw. "I want to hear what everybody has to say," Johnson said.

Yet she added: "I don't want to be detrimental as far bringing in businesses."

Wade said she'll approach the discussion with an open mind but questioned why one of the biggest advocates for protest petitions in Greensboro is a High Pointer, Keith Brown. "I want to know why it originated in High Point," she said. Noting High Point's luring away of the La-Z-Boy headquarters from Greensboro in 2006, Wade said she wanted to make sure Greensboro doesn't lose a competitive edge.

The economic implications will loom large.

Said Marlene Sanford, president of the Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition: "We've got a lot of people in a bad way."

Of course, TREBIC vigorously fought protest petitions even when times were better. "Even if it weren't for the horrible economy, we'd oppose them," Sanford said.

If anything, she said, the General Assembly should rescind protest petition laws in other cities, not add one in Greensboro. "You can change the constitution with a smaller majority than that," Sanford said of the required super-majority vote. She also believes the threshold for petition signatures is too low.

As for the council, it has greeted the notion of protest petitions with tepid interest ever since the idea resurfaced.

In May 2008, the legislation had an eager sponsor in Rep. Pricey Harrison of Greensboro. And the Guilford delegation was poised to add the issue to its legislative agenda. But the council never asked.

This, despite strong support for the legislation from such corners as the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress and the League of Women Voters of the Piedmont Triad. "It's a right of recourse for citizens that was taken away from Greensboro for reasons no one understands," said Donna Newton, adviser to the Neighborhood Congress.

Newton said she once expected the council to support the protest petition. Now she isn't so sure. "It's a justifiable concern that we don't want to impede development," Newton said. But she said the rest of the state's cities aren't rushing to rescind protest petitions simply because the economy soured.

She has a point. A bad development is a bad development, in good times and bad. Citizens' right to be heard shouldn't ebb and flow depending on the economy.

Neither Charlotte nor Raleigh, nor Winston-Salem nor High Point has seen the Apocalypse yet, but all have allowed protest petitions since before the invention of television.

Also, who among us is against businesses and jobs, especially now?

The right to protest a rezoning by petition in North Carolina was first granted in 1923. It was intended to help level the playing field between developers and citizens.

But for some reason, in Greensboro, we're not worthy?

In 1971, the city asked for and received an exemption to that state law that allows protest petitions. Despite the sheer reasonableness of the law, we as a citizenry have been without that right ever since. Why?

If the 5 percent threshold is too low, change it (but not the super-majority vote). The law not only would empower citizens, but would encourage developers and citizens to collaborate.

Meanwhile, expect a big turnout on Jan. 21 in support of protest petitions, said Newton of the Neighborhood Congress. If the council says no on Jan. 21, she said, protest petition supporters then will go straight to the legislative delegation.

"I think people are not happy about this," Newton said. "I don't think they're angry, but they are ticked off."