Two weeks ago, one of my neighbors reported on our neighborhood email list that his girlfriend’s car had been broken into and her iPod stolen. While it’s a shame her $100 car window was broken to steal her $50 iPod, what caught my attention was what the responding officer said: that this was the first motor vehicle larceny our neighborhood has suffered in months. I’m flabbergasted we went nearly the whole summer without any car break-ins.
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Politics
Politics
There are 1,050 posts filed in Politics (this is page 65 of 105).
New Raleigh bonds earn Triple A rating
There are some who want to make a big deal about Raleigh’s debt. In reality, Raleigh’s AAA rating has been earned over decades and provide our city with the cheapest financing for making our investments in our city.
It’s smart money.
Fitch Ratings has assigned its highest Triple A rating to two new general obligation bond packages, totalling $34.5 million, being sold by the City of Raleigh.
The agency also reaffirmed the AAA status of the city’s other $219 million in outstanding general obligation, or GO, bonds. The ratings outlook is stable.
via New Raleigh bonds earn Triple A rating from Fitch – Triangle Business Journal.
What to do about Pakistan?
I’ve been meaning to write about the remarkable comments made last week by outgoing Joint Chiefs chairman Admiral Mike Mullen regarding Pakistan. In unusually frank terms, Adm. Mullen pointed the finger at Pakistan’s ISI secret service as being a “veritable arm” of the terrorist group the Haqqani network, which is accused in the bombing the American Embassy in Kabul. Retiring soon or not, Admiral Mullen wouldn’t dare make this accusation if there wasn’t solid intelligence backing it up.
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Redmond still standing by her sweetheart deal
As part of the N&O’s profiles of candidates for Raleigh Mayor, the newspaper ran another story taking another look at Billie Redmond’s dealings on Wake County’s Citizens’ Facilities Advisory Committee, a citizen’s committee tasked with deciding how to spend bond money. As you recall, as co-chairperson of the board Redmond enthusiastically supported a proposal to overspend $4 million of taxpayer money on property for an Apex school, knowing the deal would net her company a cool quarter-million in commissions. Fortunately, the Commissioners torpedoed the deal and put a new policy in place that all property must be appraised first.
In today’s article, Redmond inexplicably still thinks that was a great decision:
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About those solar panels
Raleigh's going solar
I spent some time Friday at a dedication ceremony for the City of Raleigh Parks Department’s new greenhouse. One might think that a greenhouse wouldn’t be exciting but this is no ordinary greenhouse. It’s got energy-efficient features, it’s fully automated, and for the first time it provides the City the ability to grow any type of plant during any season. Raleigh’s parks, streets, and highways look so sharp because of the work of the Parks and Recreation Department’s horticulture and landscaping teams, who keep Raleigh looking beautiful through the careful stewardship of our trees, plants, and flowers.
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Perdue and offshore drilling
Now let me get this straight. Governor Bev Perdue supports offshore drilling even though:
- North Carolina’s coast is almost entirely dependent on tourism.
- Governor Perdue comes from New Bern, a coastal town.
- The Outer Banks make up a sensitive ecosystem which supports a huge variety of wildlife.
St. Aug’s stadium
This afternoon, the Raleigh City Council unanimously approved St. Augustine’s College’s special use permit for a 2,500 seat stadium. While some neighbors continued to oppose the stadium, I had concluded that the conditions the school was applying to the permit mitigated most of the impact the stadium would have on the community. My home is very near the main entrance to the parking area, so I am one of those who would be most affected by traffic and parking.
One thing that bothered me (and still does) is the way school president Dr. Suber played the victim card in her mailing to supporters. There’s no way a 144-year-old college could possibly be bullied by the neighbors, yet she made it sound that way in her appeal for support:
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Retail follows rooftops
Earlier this week I had to make a trip up to the car dealership to pick up a part for my car. This used to be an easier trip for me but the dealer recently moved a few miles further up Capital Boulevard, adding about 10 more minutes to the trip. As I drifted through traffic heading up Capital, I wondered what sense it made for the dealer to move farther away from the city center.
Was it because of the need for more land? Not likely, it seemed. Capital Boulevard is littered with plenty of former dealerships surrounded by plenty of available expansion space.
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Parks Board chair
Tonight my fellow boardmembers elected me chair of Raleigh’s Parks, Recreation, and Greenway Advisory Board. It’s an honor and a privilege to serve in this capacity. I am indebted to outgoing chair Jimmy Thiem for his leadership and mentoring. He’s a hard act to follow but I’m looking forward to the challenge.
What should the White House do? Panic!
Here’s a CNN op-ed by James Carville. I think he’s on to something.
As I watch the Republican debates, I realize that we are on the brink of a crazy person running our nation. I sit in front of the television and shudder at the thought of one of these creationism-loving, global-warming-denying, immigration-bashing, Social-Security-cutting, clean-air-hating, mortality-fascinated, Wall-Street-protecting Republicans running my country.
The course we are on is not working. The hour is late, and the need is great. Fire. Indict. Fight.