Raleigh

Community-focused posts

There are 776 posts filed in Raleigh (this is page 64 of 78).

Downtown vistas

I took a lunchtime walk down Fayetteville Street to see how ol’ F-street is shaping up. At the south end (the plaza end), workers have removed the 7-foot fencing that blocked the view of Memorial Hall while work on the Marriott was being completed.

I stood there marveling at the view. For the first time ever, I could stand right in the middle of Fayetteville Street and enjoy views of both Memorial Auditorium and the State Capitol.

What a great idea it was to rip out that dilapidated, view-blocking cement monster of a civic center!

Kelli Woolard found

The human remains found near the car of missing Johnston County woman Kelli Woolard were identified as Woolard, police say. Police say there were “no indications of foul play.”

If you’ll recall, Woolard’s car was in the parking lot of a day care center and her remains were found in the nearby woods. This was four miles away from her job at Duke Raleigh Hospital. I’ve seen nothing in the news to indicate she was a mother and I assume Woolard wasn’t into geocaching and so would not ordinarily be wandering through the woods. How is this not foul play? Or does “no indications” mean the Johnston County Sheriff is still gathering evidence?

I wonder if the autopsy revealed how she died. Heart attack, maybe? As a nurse, wouldn’t she know how to get to the nearest hospital?

Questions, questions.

Update: Apparently Woolard had a drug problem and killed herself. Sorry to hear that.

East CAC

After some discussions with the current chair, I’ve volunteered to take over as the chair of Raleigh’s East CAC. I was nominated for the post at last night’s meeting but will be (hopefully) voted in next month.

The volunteer job consists of running a monthly meeting where things of interest to our neighbors are discussed: such as crime, new developments in the area, etc. I’ve been impressed with the number of regular attendees at the meeting so I’m hopeful there will be plenty of participation, too.

This all builds on my Raleigh Neighborhood College experience so I’m glad to have an opportunity to put it to use. And I get to work with Charlene Willard again. How could I say no?

Anyone want a kitten?

I found a kitten on the way home from work yesterday. It was cowering beneath a planter on Fayetteville Street, trembling in fear. I think it was abandoned. Seems to be in good shape, though, and quite friendly.

If no one claims it I’ll deliver it to the SPCA this afternoon.

Update: Home found for kitten! Thanks for all who responded.

Misleading

Today’s News and Observer headline story about Mary Easley’s so-called pay raise may be the straw that broke the camel’s back as far as my being an N&O subscriber goes. I have no great love for the Easleys but the only way to describe this is overblown if not downright misleading.

Mary Easley is an accomplished lawyer in her own right. She lectures at NCSU and she recently went from part-time to full-time there. Her salary, while quite large from my point of view, is a pittance to what most attorneys earn. The N&O is twisting the facts. I can’t hep but think its punitive after the governor ducked out on an N&O reporter and his email deletion policy came to light.

Trust is critical to any news source; lose it and its gone for good. I have been an avid newspaper reader since I learned to read but that’s about to end. Unless the News and Observer cleans up its act pronto, it will find itself with one fewer subscriber. At least.

Can’t get there from here

While I was waiting for Kelly to pick me up at the airport, I decided to explore the public transit options from Raleigh-Durham International Airport into downtown Raleigh. I’m a bus-and-bike kind of guy now, so I figured someone would’ve made it simple to get from a major transportation point like the airport to another major transportation point, Raleigh’s Moore Square Station.

Conclusion? Not worth the trouble.
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N&O continues slide into irrelevence

Once again, the Raleigh News and Observer has latched on to a story designed simply to whip its readers into a frenzy. Some poor fool in county government took trips on the public’s dime. While I don’t necessarily approve of his actions, is this really something worthy of stopping the presses?

The guy says he had approval for his trips, and he apparently did. He traveled around doing whatever a recycling program manager does. Frankly, I don’t know what a recycling program manager does but the guy claims it was all for business purposes. His boss agreed, and did so for five years. Maybe its just me, but I’m not quite ready to draw and quarter him.
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City colors

Yesterday’s post on the Raleigh Philosophical Society blog promotes the idea of putting City of Raleigh flags everywhere. It says that in a survey of 150 city flags, Raleigh’s ranked 56th. While that may sound good, the NAVA group which conducted the (unscientific) survey pointed out that two-thirds of city flags got 5 points or below on a scale from one to ten. Raleigh earned 4.48: middle of the road.

The post reminded me of my issues with Raleigh’s city flag, namely its ugly as sin. I would have personally ranked it lower than it was. As NAVA points out in Good Flag, Bad Flag, city seals shouldn’t appear on a flag. Nor should writing. Raleigh should rid both from its flag, in my opinion.

I think the city should redesign its flag, taking these issues into consideration. A well-designed, attractive flag would help the city forge a similar identity.

Getting on the bus with Google Maps

Remember when I was wishing Google Maps did more than driving? Through a visit to Milwaukee’s transit page I discovered Google Maps now covers public transit. Now Google Maps can tell you how to get where you’re going – without driving! Pretty cool.

Raleigh’s CAT system (or Triangle Transit, for that matter) isn’t listed on the page. Adding it seems to be a matter of setting up a feed of schedules and routes that Google periodically fetches. I don’t know if anyone at CAT is working on it so I might get started on it myself.