Politics
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Seen Tom Fetzer lately?
If all you’ve seen are the photographs in the News and Observer, you haven’t. The paper has been running the same photo of Fetzer for years.
The photo in question is this one, taken by staff photographer Jim Bounds. It shows Fetzer as he looked perhaps ten years ago:
Tom Fetzer, N&O
Look, it appeared in a story just today.
Compare that to how Fetzer appears today, posted by WRAL:
Continue reading
Sen. David Hoyle (D-Gaston)
I have a correction regarding H1840. Sen. Hoyle did not gut H1840 of it’s extension of the e-NC sunset provision. However, Hoyle did tack on his moratorium language to the existing e-NC language. This is even worse than if Hoyle had gutted H1840, because the bill appears innocuous when it really isn’t.
My confusion resulted from Hoyle’s last-minute addition of the bill to the Senate agenda. It seems there is no such thing as sunshine in the state Senate.
The appearance of Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker at our Monday evening East CAC meeting has generated news, with Meeker calling for the school board’s reassignment policy to be scrutinized by legal experts. I could tell when he took that question that he was fired up about the issue. He should be: over 40% of student families are Raleigh residents.
I dashed off this letter to the editor this morning:
Thank goodness Mayor Meeker is fighting this RECKLESS WASTE of TAXPAYER DOLLARS by our irresponsible school board majority on their pet project social experiment. There are serious and lasting repercussions to the board’s ill-conceived changes, not the least of which is to your wallet and mine!
As mayor of over 40% of the students in the Wake County School System, Meeker is rightfully concerned about the abject destruction taking place at the hands of the current school board.
I applaud Meeker’s efforts!!
Hopefully the board will consider the magnitude of their reckless changes. But I doubt it.
Update 29 June: The N&O ran my letter today.
WakeMed visited Monday’s East CAC meeting and came away impressed. WakeMed is Wake County’s largest private employer and is located in East Raleigh.
Yesterday evening, I had the distinct pleasure of attending the East Community Advisory Council (CAC) meeting at Lions Park Community Center off Dennis Drive in Raleigh. At WakeMed, we are more committed than ever to being involved with the communities we serve and want to understand community issues from citizens’ perspectives so we can be even better neighbors. This commitment led me to the East CAC meeting to represent our WakeMed Raleigh Campus, which is located in the district.
One thing that Ms. Monackey didn’t mention is that Raleigh’s CACs are chaired and organized solely by community volunteers.
Sen. David Hoyle (D-Gaston)
Sen. David Hoyle, frustrated that S1209, his municipal broadband moratorium bill, is going nowhere, has gutted H1840, an e-NC sunset bill championed by Rep. Bill Faison, and inserted Hoyle’s moratorium bill in an effort to spite Rep. Faison.
Stay classy, Hoyle!
Muni broadband moratorium put in another bill
For those watching the municipal broadband moratorium bill you have another bill to keep track of.
The Senate Rules Committee attached the broadband study and moratorium as constructed in S 1209 and dumped it into H 1840, which has to do with extending E-NC authority.
I asked Sen. David Hoyle, chairman of the Rules Committee, why he was sending over a bill that has already passed the Senate.
“I’m sending it over with something the House likes,” Hoyle said. “I can’t get a committee hearing on the broadband.”
Update 25 June: Hoyle didn’t actually gut H1840. What he actually did was much worse.
Lawrence Lessig will be speaking at several events in Raleigh on Tuesday, June 22.
Lessig is a Professor of Law at Harvard and a frequent national commentator on the influence of money in politics. He is currently the Director of Harvard’s Edward J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics where he does work on institutional corruption. Previously, Lessig was a professor of law at Stanford Law School and founder of its Center for Internet and Society, where he helped pioneer the free culture movement. He will be in Raleigh to promote several campaign finance reform initiatives, including the Fair Elections Now Act and an . For a glimpse of Lessig’s current work, read his recent article, “How to Get Our Democracy Back,” published in the Nation, or view one of his rapid-fire power point presentations.
Event Details:
• June 22, 11am, Raleigh: Presentation at Voter-Owned Elections Lobby Day at the NC General Assembly view map).
• June 22, 12pm, Raleigh: Luncheon at Campbell Law School (view map). (Email jglasser at commoncause dot org to register for lunch).
• June 22, 5-6:30pm, Raleigh: Reception to Benefit NC Voters for Clean Elections Busy Bee Cafe (view map)(RSVP to chase at ncvce dot org).
I took a look around Raleigh’s I-440 Beltline yesterday and was happy to see the graffiti I complained about is finally getting cleaned up. There were a few spots that remained, like the overhead sign at the Crabtree exit and the spots on the noise wall near the Six Forks Rd exit, but most of the egregious stuff has been painted over. Also, DOT is painting over it with brick-colored paint, rather than the gray stuff that was used in other cleanups.
Thanks to the N.C. DOT for knocking this out, and thanks to WTVD for help getting the word out. It’s looking better already!
WTVD has now posted video of my interview regarding graffiti on the Beltline. You can watch it here.
Update 21 June: Good news! The graffiti is now being cleaned up.
Lions Park Playground Dedication
Yesterday was the dedication of the new, community-built playground at Lions Park. This is the park that Kelly, the kids, and I helped build, along with dozens of other volunteers.
It was wonderful seeing the park finally finished. It was only seconds after the ribbon was cut that all the kids present went whooping towards the playground equipment. What a delightful sight that was! I bet Mayor Meeker wishes everything he did got that kind of response!
I posted pictures from yesterday’s dedication on Flickr. Check them out!
The news media have begun picking up on the graffiti problem on state-maintained roads around Raleigh. I’m hopeful that these stories will convince our state transportation officials to take the graffiti issue more seriously.
I got interviewed by Anthony Wilson of WTVD at lunch today, during which I offered my story of how I’ve been pleading with N.C. DOT to give this attention but to no avail. I’m not looking for an overnight solution, either. A little progress on the issue would be enough.
I’ll be watching the news tonight to see if the story runs. There’s a chance that the state will agree to deal with the issue and that might fundamentally change the story. I would be thrilled if my story never ran because the state stepped up to the plate and made the story moot. We’ll see what happens.
Graffiti is a problem that affects us all. It takes a coordinated effort to get rid of it. If one party opts not to tackle it there’s little others can do to pick up the slack. That’s what’s happening here. If the N.C. DOT won’t fix it, let Raleigh crews fix it, or hire a contractor. Putting it off only makes the problem worse.
