The Parking Deck Scam; How Greensboro's Insiders Turned Public Debt into Private Profit
A small group of connected insiders used The Tanger Center for Performing Arts, parking decks and a purchased City Council to enrich themselves at taxpayer expense, and are getting away with it.
If you’ve heard about downtown Greensboro lately, you’ve been made aware parking now requires an app and costs more. The surface lots that were free for decades now cost $2 an hour and parking violation enforcement has increased substantially.
What you probably haven’t noticed is what Greensboro’s taxpayers are funding with higher parking prices, property taxes and water bills.
Over the past several years, Greensboro borrowed $64.8 million plus interest constructing two new parking decks; the Eugene Street and the February One Decks. The debt will be repaid with taxpayer money, borrowed through municipal bonds our children and grandchildren will still be paying off twenty years from now.
These decks weren’t built because downtown Greensboro needed more parking. A small group of connected insiders needed parking for their private developments, and they convinced Greensboro’s City Council to make everyone else subsidize their future profits at the expense of other local property and business owners along with their customers.
The two new parking decks;
Eugene Street; $27.7 million, 948 spaces
February One; $37.1 million, 720 spaces; Total Construction Cost: ~$42.8 million
Total cost; $64.8 million
Meanwhile, the city closed two decks;
Davie Street Deck; 415 spaces lost
Bellemeade Street Deck; 1,276 spaces lost (closed February 2025)
The Paradox; there are plenty of new spaces, they’re just not where many who go downtown want them to be.
The February One Deck was explicitly designed to support the future home of Kathy Manning and Randall Kaplan’s Westin Hotel. Finished in 2024, it sits at 110 S. Davie Street, adjacent to their planned hotel site and about a six minute walk to the Tanger Center.
The February One Deck also sits across from the recently purchased former News and Record site by the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro (CFGG), among other investors.
Parking in the deck is fine if you’re going to the not built hotel, the International Civil Rights Museum or the Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts, unless you want to grab dinner on South Elm Street, which would be a five-to-ten-minute walk though blocks of empty storefronts and panhandlers asking for money. Not terrible on a nice day, but not exactly convenient when you’re carrying shopping bags or dodging rain.
Randall Kaplan is a Greensboro businessman. Kathy Manning is his wife, a former congressperson and a prominent political and Tanger Center fundraiser. Together, they stand to profit from a currently non-existent hotel served by a parking deck built for them with our money.
Tammi Thurm
Before joining the Council, Thurm worked as;
Chief Financial Officer and Human Resources Manager, Listingbook, LLC (2006–2013)
Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Operations, Capsule Group, LLC (2002–2013)
Both companies are owned by Randall Kaplan.
Kathy Manning regularly used a Capsule Group email address at the time.
Thurm, the CFO of Randall Kaplan’s companies, someone who worked directly for and with the couple, served on City Council while her former boss and his wife pushed for public funding directly benefiting their investments.
Tammi voted on their projects without recusal.
Greensboro taxpayer funded Sports Foundation President Richard Beard recently told the War Memorial Commission “No progress on the Weston Hotel downtown.”
The February One deck will likely cost Greensboro taxpayers between $46 million and $52 million when fully paid off in 2045; approximately $11 million to $16 million more than the construction cost alone.
The Tanger Center Debt will cost Greensboro taxpayers $68,990,210 including principle and interest;
Roy Carroll and Tuggle Duggins
The Eugene Street Deck at 215 North Eugene Street sits near Roy Carroll’s attorney’s office overlooking the baseball stadium. It’s a solid 10 minute walk to the Tanger Center, and about a half mile, or 15 minutes to Natty Greens. The parking deck was built for Tuggle Duggins parking and Roy Carroll’s existing and planned new hotel.
Greensboro’s Parking Math
Per the City of Greensboro’s latest Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, Parking Facilities came up $3,701,401 short;
$6,570,157 Expenses - $2,868,756 Service Charges = -$3,701,401 for 2025
The City budgeted $300,000 in Parking Violations and brought in $330,040.
Monthly Parking Fees were budgeted at $888,000 and came in at $679,032, or $208,968 less.
Greensboro borrowed $2,550,000 to take down the Bellemeade deck and lost the parking revenue to give to Roy Carroll;
Greensboro lost 415 parking spaces at the Davie Street Deck and 1,276 at the Bellemeade Deck.
As of January 2026, the city implemented new paid parking in previously free surface lots to help fund the maintenance and construction debt of the new decks. The borrowing and losses explains the parking rate spikes;
Payment in all surface lots are required Monday through Friday, 8 am to 6 pm, and must be made through the ParkMobile app or by phone as the City begins to transition away from coin-operated meters. Parking in these lots will continue to be free after 6 pm and on weekends.
The parking fund is effectively subsidizing or enabling downtown economic development.
In FY 25, the City transferred $2,163,273 from the General Fund to the Parking Facilities Fund to cover expenses.
Parking Facilities Expenses Per Year;
2016; $3,409,082
2017; $2,951,230
2018; $2,599,692
2019; $2,801,565
2020; $2,532,664
2021; $4,997,347
2022; $5,375,870
2023; $5,521,336
2024; $8,180,046
2025; $6,570,157
The Greensboro Performing Arts Center Task Force Economic Impact/Feasibility Committee included Roy Carroll and Randall Kaplan. Kathy Manning, Randall Kaplan’s wife, lobbied for and raised private money for the Tanger Center via the CFGG among other investors, which now stands to profit from the February One Deck with their newly acquired News & Record Property across the street.
Kathy Manning served as Fundraising Chair for the Tanger Center and Chair of its Donor Design Committee. Their plan assumed that every performance would sell out all premium parking spaces at every event, generating enough revenue to pay the debt service. Even sold-out shows don’t fill every premium parking space, because people carpool, take rideshares or park in cheaper lots further away. The projections involved flat out bogus math.
Private businesses intensely lobbied City Council with words and money to build a performing arts center Roy, Randall and Kathy can profit from, and now they want everyone else to cough up more money to subsidize the public debt they enabled for personal profit.
The parking fund is bleeding money. The city has responded with aggressive enforcement (ticket revenue is up) and rate hikes on surface lots that were once free. You’re paying for parking even if you never park downtown. You’re paying for a performing arts center even if you never attend a show. You’re paying for a hotel developer’s infrastructure even if you never stay in his hotel.
Greensboro’s City Council built parking decks that benefit private developers and we’re paying for it. Every time you feed a meter, every time you get a parking ticket, every time you wonder why your property taxes keep going up, remember the February One and Eugene Street Decks. Remember the Tanger Center. Remember the developers who got public infrastructure for free. And remember the Council members who made it possible.
What Should Happen Next
A full forensic audit of the parking fund, tracing every dollar of debt, every revenue projection and every expenditure back to the original authorizing votes.
An independent investigation into conflicts of interest involving Council members and the developers who benefited from parking deck construction and performing arts center financing.
Related;
STPAC fraud; “Matthew Brown is the author of the attached document in the email”, which didn’t include the interest on the debt
https://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2018/06/stpac-fraud-matthew-brown-is-author-of.html
Matt Brown, Kathy Manning and Walker Sanders betrayed our community
https://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2018/07/matt-brown-kathy-manning-and-walker.html
Some of who enabled and/or committed fraud against Greensboro taxpayers and the investors who purchased STPAC bonds
https://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2018/06/some-of-who-enabled-andor-committed.html
“Matt Brown’s 10/24/2017 email to Kathy Manning and Walker Sanders”
https://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2018/06/city-of-greensboro-public-records.html
Disclaimer
This article presents allegations and analysis regarding public financing decisions made by the City of Greensboro. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent verified facts or legal conclusions. The individuals and organizations mentioned in this article have not been afforded an opportunity to respond to these allegations within this publication. The characterizations of their actions, motivations, and financial interests represent the author’s interpretation of public records and may not reflect the full context of their involvement or intentions. The article alleges potential conflicts of interest involving public officials and private parties. No formal investigation has been conducted by independent authorities, and no legal determination has been made regarding whether any ethics violations or laws were broken. Service on public boards and committees alongside business relationships does not automatically constitute a legal conflict of interest. Financial figures cited are based on publicly available budget documents and reports. Debt projections include estimates of future interest payments that may vary based on actual bond terms and payment schedules. Revenue and expense figures are subject to accounting interpretations and may not represent the complete financial picture. Readers are encouraged to review primary source documents including City Council meeting minutes, financial reports, and public records to form their own conclusions about these matters. Nothing in this article constitutes legal advice or a legal opinion regarding the propriety of any actions described.