Politics

Politics

There are 1,058 posts filed in Politics (this is page 68 of 106).

Robert’s Rules of Order not just for meetings!

I came upon a brilliant idea yesterday to keep the kids from constantly interrupting each other around the house: Robert’s Rules of Order! I’m used to using the Rules of Order to run my East CAC and Parks board meetings, why not apply them to my kids?

As chair of the household, I will formally recognize our kids as speakers and allow them the floor. Should the other wish to interject, I will ask if the current speaker chooses to yield. This will keep the squabbling down to a minimum and ensure the household runs smoothly.

(My tongue is firmly planted in my cheek here. But I can dream, can’t it?)

Chris Tedesco arrested for rape

Chris Tedesco


Chris Tedesco of Garner was arrested Saturday on charges of second-degree rape, among other very serious charges:

  • KIDNAPPING 1ST DEGREE 14-39
  • SEX OFFENSE 2ND DEGREE 14-27.5 A
  • RAPE 2ND DEGREE 14-27.3 A
  • BREAKING AND ENTERING 14-54 (F)
  • ASSAULT W/DEADLY WEAPON 14-33

Chris Tedesco is the younger brother of Wake School Board member John Tedesco.

I don’t know what got into this guy but judging by the charges it looks like he’s got some serious anger-management issues. I hope the victim is okay.

When is a parking violation not a parking violation?

My neighbor Mike Stenke runs a food truck business, Klausie’s Pizza. Recently there’s been a battle between the food truck operators and some downtown restaurants, who want some rules put in place on operating food trucks on public streets.

While I can sympathize with the restaurant owner’s arguments, I find it curious that no one’s raised a stink about the hot dog vendors that operate around town. I figure if a hot dog vendor can operate his food establishment on a public street, why not a food truck? Also, why should a required distance be placed between a food truck and a restaurant when no rule would keep a brick-and-mortar restaurant from opening right next to an existing restaurant? Do the existing restaurant owners want to legislate buffers between all potential competitors? If a restaurant owner is going to have a competitor, one would think he would prefer a competitor that could go away once in a while.

Anyway, the City Council heard the issues in a session last week and Stenke, because his livelihood depends on it, was also present for the discussion. After the meeting, though, someone pulled a dirty trick on Stenke, calling the cops about how his truck was parked.
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Airlines Raise Fares as Federal Taxes Expire

Our dysfunctional Congress blocked the re-funding of the FAA, and as of Sunday now our already rickety, abysmally-underfunded air traffic control system is losing $25 million per day. Meanwhile, greedy airlines (almost all of them) are quietly pocketing the same 7.5% of ticket prices that has been set aside to run the FAA.

Our nation’s air traffic control system is shockingly antiquated as it is. If more people knew just how bad it is, no one would set foot on a plane again. And I’m just talking about the equipment here: there’s a whole other world of problems with the FAA’s staffing.

So, why starve the FAA of even more money? To break the unions, of course.

House Republicans are playing chicken with our nation’s air safety. When do the grown-ups get to drive the country again?

Let’s talk about taxes. Wait a second, come back here! I mean airfare taxes.

The subject comes up because of what Congress just did — or, rather, did not do — and what the airlines did in response.

On Friday, Congress failed to approve the extension of a bill to keep the Federal Aviation Administration running. Among other things, that meant the agency no longer had the authority to impose the various federal taxes that airlines add to the price of each ticket.

So as of 12:01 a.m. Saturday, the federal government began losing an estimated $25 million a day in tax revenue.

via Airlines Raise Fares as Federal Taxes Expire – NYTimes.com.

City wants healthier New Bern Ave.

While I am happy to see that N&O’s Matt Garfield is shining a light on the city and community’s effort to spruce up the New Bern Avenue corridor, I’m disappointed he didn’t talk with one of the main forces behind the push: the East CAC. Nearly all of the proposed improvements are in the East CAC area, with the remaining portion in the Central CAC.

None are in the South Central CAC area.

As the city moves toward a makeover of New Bern Avenue, planners are eyeing possibilities to create a “spectacular and innovative gateway” they describe as a model for urban street design.

There’s talk of a 60-foot “super transit strip” with a sidewalk, bike path and gravel jogging path on the south side of the corridor.

Streams concealed in pipes could be exposed to serve as a natural feature winding through the area.

Neighbors dream of seeing the Longview Shopping Center, once home to a Winn-Dixie, redeveloped as a walkable urban village with a farmers’ market.

via City wants healthier New Bern Ave. – News – MidtownRaleighNews.com.

Taking Raleigh back?

Raleigh mayoral candidate Billie Redmond says “it’s time to take Raleigh back.” The question I have is “back to what?”

It seems to me that Raleigh is doing just fine, thank you very much. Raleigh has topped so many best-of lists in the past few years that I’ve lost count:

  • #1 Among Best Places for Business and Careers – Forbes, 2011
  • #2 Next Big Boom Town – Forbes, 2011
  • #3 America’s Cleanest Cities – Forbes, 2011
  • #1 Best Situated for Economic Recovery – Newsweek, 2011
  • #1 Great Cities for Raising Families – Kiplingers, 2010
  • #3 Best Places for Business and Careers – Forbes, 2010
  • #2 Cheapest Midsized Market to Do Business – KPMG LLC, 2010
  • #1 Top Business Climate in North Carolina – Site Selection, 2010
  • #2 Best City to Live, Work and Play – Kiplinger’s, 2008
  • #1 Best Place to Live in the U.S. – msnbc.com, 2008
  • #1 Best Place for Young Adults – Bizjournals, 2008
  • …and many, many more.

Does this sound like a city in distress to you?

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Gerrymandering

The problem with gerrymandering (no matter who does it) is that it makes it impossible to vote for leaders solely on the basis of who has the best solutions to our common problems. The goal should not be “how can we remain in office?” Instead, the goal should be “how can we find the best solutions to our problems?” If one team has a better idea of how things should be done let’s put that team up for an honest vote, not a vote that’s a foregone conclusion. We voters aren’t stupid – why shouldn’t we be trusted? Why are politicians afraid of giving us a fair choice?

I guess I’m old-fashioned, but the partisanship-at-all-costs stuff got old a long, long time ago.

Mr. Public Service

I helped put together a meeting tonight of neighbors about an issue affecting the neighborhood. I didn’t have to speak, either. I just sat back and watch an engaged citizenry work to make their community better.

It’s stuff like this that gives me such a kick. I love being useful!

Crispy lawns

The Triangle is in another drought, with little substantial rain falling in the last few weeks (ever since I planted the garden, it seems. Hmm). The lawns around the neighborhood are all crispy brown. While I wish we had some rain to refresh those lawns, I’m very happy to see that everyone is resisting the urge to water their wilting grass because it means folks are conserving water.

Because of everyone’s efforts, Raleigh’s main fresh water reservoir, Falls Lake, is at 251.2 feet, just four inches below full. This is in contrast to December 2007, when Falls Lake dropped to a record low of 242.62 feet, or almost nine feet below full.

I know the city’s public utilities department has conflicting goals of conserving water and selling it (as the Raleigh Public Record so eloquently pointed out), but it’s hard to sell something you don’t have. Although the area lawns might taking a beating, at least the city is in good shape to weather this drought.

Update 2:30 PM: Rain! Glorious rain! Bucketsfull! Half an inch so far in the past half-hour! It’s wonderful!

Google hunts government business


There was a full-page ad in today’s newspaper from Google, trumpeting how “the State of Wyoming has gone Google.” Apparently, the state government there has transitioned from hosting their own mail servers and commercial office applications in favor of Google Apps.

I’ve got mixed feelings about this. UNC Chapel-Hill’s Ibiblio transitioned its email accounts from in-house servers to Google’s GMail and has been happy with the results. So has UNC Asheville. I know some local governments in North Carolina which are considering the move, too. But I’m still smarting from Google’s no-show during this year’s losing municipal broadband legislative battle. Google could have become a high-profile proponent of open networks in this state but instead its efforts were limited to lending its name to a form letter. Google’s lobbyists (Capstrat, apparently) have been all but invisible.

I wonder how Google hopes to persuade governments to turn over a major portion of their IT work based on a newspaper ad (and a spectacularly uncreative one at that). We’ll see how effective this approach turns out to be.