On the anti-government crowd

You’ve had your tax breaks for 10 years, where are the jobs?

I shared this provocative photo on my Facebook page on Tuesday and it sparked a spirited discussion drawing over 25 comments between my friends who see the value in government and those who don’t. I woke up with this on my mind and the whole debate drives me nuts.

I used to buy into the whole libertarian outlook over a decade ago and admit on paper it makes a lot of sense. One of the problems is that it assumes that everyone starts on a level playing field when they most assuredly do not. The other problem is that it’s predicated on some Pollyanna world where everyone can be taken at his word and as we’ve seen time and time again that does not match reality. Let’s take a look at the lying scumbags problem first.

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Wade CAC heats up again

Things heated up again in the Wade CAC last night. Accusations are flying and fingers pointing. It’s crazy and hard to figure out. I’m not choosing sides, I’m not going to sort out the he-said-she-said, but I’m simply trying to carry out a fair election. While some have asked me to put things off, I will make no decision on my own but will submit to the direction of the CAC. It’s really all about the citizens.

The whole event is stressing the hell out of me, truth be told. I wish there was more harmony but wishing alone ain’t gonna make it happen. Whomever does win the election will have to contend with the big job of patching up the community. I wish them well!

Church, neighbors meet to seek fixes on noise

I was mentioned in today’s Midtown Raleigh News regarding the Glorious Church.

Another neighbor of the church, Mark Turner, said he also has heard noise – while in his house with the windows closed.

Turner, chair of the Raleigh Citizens Advisory Council, offered to act as a mediator to help the two parties find common ground.

As I mentioned before, I didn’t offer to mediate so much as I was recruited to mediate! It’s all good, though, if we get this worked out.

I was asked to set up a meeting with all parties within the next two weeks. Right now I’m looking at Monday, July 9th but it all depends on what works for the parties involved. I was first looking at Wednesday, July 11th but most churches have services on Wednesday nights so that’s not convenient.

Incidentally, I cringed each time the church’s services were called “noise” at last week’s Law and Public Safety meeting. Even Bishop Spain did it. Whatever it’s called, though, I think it’s only fair that if one goes inside one’s home, one no longer hears it.

The ideal solution would be for a Raleigh window company to read this article and offer a deal to the church on new windows. It would be a great way for that window company to do a good deed as well as get some free publicity. I wonder who will step up?

via Church, neighbors meet to seek fixes on noise – Raleigh – MidtownRaleighNews.com.

Democrats protest Republican grilling of DOT employees

I hope this photo runs on the front page of tomorrow’s News and Observer. Nothing better captures the bullying nature of the North Carolina GOP and its war on women than this excellent shot by Shawn Rocco.

RALEIGH — After Republican senators grilled two Department of Transportation employees and a member of Gov. Bev Perdue’s staff at a committee hearing this morning, Democrats protested that the DOT workers were being hounded unfairly for their involvement in a mistake.

Vicki Stanley, a DOT office manager, and Susan Coward, a DOT deputy secretary, were questioned for a combined 40 minutes about their actions on June 14, when they agreed to issue letters to two legislators over the signature of their boss, Jim Trogdon, DOT’s chief operating officer.

“We have a one-sided cross examination of civil servants, these two ladies who showed up here this morning, … who were just doing their job in this entire process,” Sen. Dan Blue, a Wake County Democrat, said after the hearing.

via Democrats protest Republican grilling of DOT employees over false letters – State – NewsObserver.com.

Wade CAC nominations

It was a busy day! Not only did I attend the Glorious Church meeting but this evening I presided over the second special meeting of the Wade CAC. This meeting was the one where the candidate nominations were taken and nominations closed. It was the first meeting of the Wade CAC in its new meeting room, the aptly-titled “Meeting Room” in the newly renovated Jaycees Community Center on Wade Avenue.

The meeting began with city reports from the police and parks department. Following that, the list of existing candidates was presented and nominations taken from the floor. One new candidate was nominated and things went very, very smoothly.

For new business, two upcoming rezoning cases were mentioned but I didn’t have many details to share as I’d just been told about them at noon today. Also, one member expressed concern about the daytime closing of Dan Allen Drive and wanted some CAC members to study that.

It looks like the difficult stuff is behind us now and I expect next month’s meeting to be a smooth transition to the new officers. I will then happily step back and return to my other endeavors. While I think I’ve served an important purpose for the CAC, I’ve enjoyed getting to know the personalities of the Wade CAC. Perhaps I’ll be back as a visitor someday.

Glorious Church noise issue in committee

Raleigh’s Law and Public Safety committee met at 3 PM today with the Glorious Church noise complaints on its agenda. I attended the meeting, not as a community leader but more as an interested party as the church is in my neighborhood. Before I could declare my neutral position, chairperson Mary Ann Baldwin was meeting with me and fellow neighbor John Seitz to “hash out the ground rules.”

Both John and Bishop Spain are neighbors of mine, so I sympathize with both sides. John has a right to enjoy his home in peace and Bishop Spain and his churchgoers have a right to worship any way they’d like. The only way I can see both of these rights being fulfilled is for the church to accept the neighborhood’s offer to raise money to upgrade the church’s windows. With some soundproofing in place everyone can be happy. If the soundproofing includes new windows the church will undoubtedly save money on its heating and cooling bills, too.

The upshot of today’s meeting is that the community and church agree to meet again within two weeks to plot next steps. Though I just expected to sit quietly on the sidelines today I wound up being asked by Councilor Baldwin to help set this up, so now its time for me to pull the resources together. It’s not the role I expected to be playing in this situation but I’m honored that Councilor Baldwin and the various parties involved think enough of me to ask for my help in brokering a solution.

Parking Permit Process for Pullen Aquatic Center and Pullen Community Center

In my guise as Raleigh parks board chair, I had a concerned citizen call me two weeks ago asking if there was anything that I could do about the lack of parking around Pullen Aquatic Center. She had witnessed handicapped pool patrons turning away when all the pool’s handicapped spaces were full.

I told her that I would bring it up at this month’s Parks board meeting and that’s what I did. Fortunately, the Parks staff has already been working on a solution: a parking pass system will be give pool users exclusive access to the Pullen Aquatic Center parking lot.

This isn’t the only remedy being considered but it’s one that might offer immediate relief to the pool parking issues brought on by the wildly-popular Pullen Park.

Pullen Aquatic Center and Pullen Community Center will now be using a parking permit process to ensure patron access to the facilities. Parking permits will be issued to Community Center and Aquatics participants for the duration of their class, program, pass or rental.

Permits will be required during normal operating hours and for all after hour events at each facility. Signs will be placed at the entrance of each parking lot indicating that a permit is required. You may obtain your permit from Pullen Aquatics front desk for aquatic participation and from Pullen Community Center for community center participation.

via Parking Permit Process for Pullen Aquatic Center and Pullen Community Center – The Official City of Raleigh Portal.

Tough RCAC meeting

When I woke up this morning, I could feel a disturbance in the Force. My chi was simply all wrong. I felt unease most of the day and wondered what big challenge would present itself today. I knew one would, though.

That challenge came in the form of tonight’s RCAC meeting, where I expected the board to read and accept updated bylaws that have been worked on for weeks by the board’s bylaws committee. Instead there was instant suspicion on the part of some members, and I and the other bylaws committee members were put in the defensive early on. When the committee finally was able to explain the proposed changes and pointed out that these were minor edits of the same documents we’ve been staring at for the better part of a year, resistance softened quite a bit. We had a good conversation about it and lots of feedback was collected but ultimately no vote was taken.
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The need for probation reform

After digging up some info on the two suspects in my neighbor’s burglary, I found out even more distressing information. Edwards had been arrested March 30th for the very same charge, Breaking and Entering, skipped bail and missed court date, which apparently resulted in his Failure To Appear charge. This is of course all after he was convicted in December of multiple property crimes. I haven’t found out yet what Enyinnaya’s story is but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a similar one.

Where was his probation officer? Who knows? Edwards got a suspended sentence and probation for his December thefts but felt confident enough that he wouldn’t get caught to bust into more homes three months later.
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Perdue “false letters” controversy

Today’s News and Observer brought word in big type that Governor Perdue’s staff drafted two “false letters” that misrepresented the views of the NCDOT’s chief operating officer Jim Trogdon regarding two road projects. I read and reread the article, confused about where the controversy was that prompted the bombastic headline, “Perdue Staff Altered Letters.”

From what I can gather, Trogdon was out of town, the governor’s office asked Trogdon’s office for help in responding to concerns of two legislators, Trogdon’s staff worked with Perdue’s staff to craft the letters, and the letters were sent to the legislators in time for the budget meeting.

Trogden’s assistant takes full responsibility for the changes, since she approved them. To me, this is simply a breakdown in communication, not the conspiracy the N&O makes it out to be.

Betsy Muse has a bigger breakdown on the issue here.