news-record.com

GREENSBORO — The benches of Warnersville, originally meant as usable artwork that makes a statement, will instead be removed from their anchored spot today.

Residents near the benches behind Bilbro Street have been complaining that the seats, intended to represent the neighborhood’s heritage, have become an easy perch for drug dealers, prostitutes and loiterers.

A crew from the city’s Parks and Recreation Department is expected to remove the benches, a nearby trash can, the surrounding rocks and mulch, and maybe the tension in the neighborhood.

Assistant City Manager Andy Scott said a majority of City Council members Thursday recommended removing the benches, at least temporarily. There was no official vote, Scott said, so he did not give a tally.

“The people who live in front of the benches are anxious, so we felt like it would be good to kind of have a cooling-off period,” Scott said.

The city’s Human Relations Commission will work with the neighborhood to find a new spot along the Downtown Greenway within Warnersville — “a location where it is visible to the public and where the neighborhood was comfortable with it,” Scott said.

Last month, the city installed a motion-activated camera to deter illegal activity.

Chris Wilson, the division manager for gardens and program support, said the camera has captured little more than someone using a cell phone and two police cars cruising by.

Otis Hairston Jr., president of the Warnersville Community Coalition, said crime wasn’t the only issue; a resident on Bilbro Street told him that the benches invaded her privacy.

“If you’ve got a bench directly behind your home, where someone can watch you as you come and go ... I would have an issue with that, too,” he said.

He suggested placing the benches farther away from homes, midway down the greenway to Freeman Mill Road, and rearranging them so people cannot sleep there.

The nonprofit Action Greensboro paid $5,000 for North Carolina artist Gary Gresko to create the benches, which were the first public art erected along the 4.8-mile Greenway loop around the center city.

Warnersville was the first home in Greensboro for freed slaves after the Civil War.

To honor that history, Gresko burned into the backrests five words that he thought embodied the spirit of the neighborhood: endurance, triumph, faith, strength and hope.

He opposed the decision to relocate his art, designed specifically for its original spot.

“Instead of taking care of the problem which has been there for however long …”

Gresko said, “you’re going to remove the bench, which was the beginning of doing something nice for the neighborhood?”

April Harris, executive director of Action Greensboro, said the trail and all of its furnishings belong to the city of Greensboro.

“We support any decision that the city makes, and we support what the community’s desires are,” Harris said. “That’s what’s most important for us.”

Scott said there will be a meeting with residents on Oct. 12 at Shiloh Baptist Church, 1210 S. Eugene St.

The benches could be in a new location by December.

Contact Dioni L. Wise at 373-7090 or dioni.wise@news-record.com