At ages 7 and 9, my kids are growing like weeds. They’re growing almost faster than I can acknowledge.

The same goes for Raleigh. A fact I liked to share when former mayor Charles Meeker was in office was that Raleigh grew so quickly during his tenure as mayor that one out of three Raleigh citizens had never known another mayor. That’s right: in the span of ten years Raleigh population grew by fifty percent.

Fifty percent! It’s hard to wrap one’s mind around that.

Over the holidays my aunt came up to visit from Tallahassee. Knowing my interest in politics, she asked if I was interested in running someday.

“If only it paid the bills,” I sighed, explaining how our mayor and councilors serve as de facto volunteers.

My aunt was surprised that Raleigh, the country’s 43rd largest city, has volunteer leaders. “Even little Tallahassee pays its mayor and city commissioners,” she pointed out.
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