Raleigh

Community-focused posts

There are 776 posts filed in Raleigh (this is page 43 of 78).

Chipping away at the speeding

Raleigh Police are making progress with the speeding motorcycles. Last night officers cited two motorcyclists for careless and reckless driving. The officers caught them as they were lining up, apparently to race each other. Six other motorcyclists fled the scene.

Police have learned that motorcyclists come here from all over specifically to race. The word on the street is that they meet at a gathering place and then go to the racing area (which is, unfortunately, my neighborhood apparently). Printed fliers are apparently used to organize these events. If officers find evidence that motorcyclists have been deliberately racing each other they can not only arrest the perpetrators but they can also seize the motorcycles involved.

I know many officers are motorcyclists themselves and I understand the appeal. I just don’t want anyone racing at 120 MPH down a street near my neighborhood.

Amber Alert

It’s not every day that I awake to find police cars and news media in the neighborhood, fortunately. It was because there was an amber alert in our neighborhood, with a 15-year-old girl reported missing early this morning. While the news was at first certainly distressing (especially since I’m acquainted with the family), when I realized who was missing I was almost certain there was no abduction.

It started just after midnight this morning. According to the 911 tape which was released later today, the girl’s mother got texts that indicated her daughter was in mortal danger. The search by police began soon after (followed by the media stake-out). Police put up crime-scene tape around the home and blocked off the road in front of the house, steering the media away from the home.
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International intrigue in Raleigh

A story ran in March that caught my eye but didn’t seem to catch the full attention of the press. Federal officers from the U.S. Department of Commerce raided the offices of Law Enforcement Associates in Raleigh, charging the company with unlawfully exporting a sophisticated surveillance vehicle to Morocco.

The company, on whose board the former House majority leader Tony Rand once served as chairman, has been in trouble before. In 2005, founder John Carrington was charged with illegally exporting police equipment to China. He paid an $850,000 fine and agreed not to export anything for five years. Except Carrington couldn’t resist and got in trouble two years later for violating the ban again.

What’s up with this company? Is this another Blackwater in our own backyard? Are these sophisticated, Big Brother-ish tools being used against Middle Eastern democracy protesters? Was China using its “police equipment” to crush dissent? What’s the story here?

Emergency Management’s pCom unit


At tonight’s Rise Up Raleigh benefit concert there was a number of emergency vehicles parked out for the public to see. I spent some time talking with Raleigh Fire Department Battalion Chief Frank McLaurin about the state’s new mobile command post for disaster communications. The unit consists of a truck with desks, video, computers, and phone, towing a pCom satellite communications trailer.

Frank told me the pCom can provide 16 VoIP channels off of its self-aiming satellite dish. The trailer also provides 10kw of generator power, air-conditioned racks for networking gear and radio repeaters, and a 41 foot pneumatic tower for radio antennas, lights, or cameras. Oh, and an air compressor is included to raise the tower and also to provide compressed air for tools. It’s a pretty sweet setup!

Frank told me the state has owned it since August and has been building out the truck since then. He says the truck worked its first disaster during the April tornado, where it provided electricity and communications at the city’s Keeter fire training center in south Raleigh: one of the areas hit hard by the tornado.
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Raleigh CityCamp

This weekend brings Raleigh’s first CityCamp. Raleigh CityCamp is an “unconference” where the agenda is decided on the participants: and everyone is a participant. It’s a giant brainstorming session about how government can be made more efficient using technology.

In an unconference, everyone is expected to contribute ideas and perspectives. There is no “audience” per se. What you as a participant get out of it is exactly what you put into it. It’s one of the few events where you never go home disappointed: because you help set the agenda.

I was involved in some of the initial planning for Raleigh CityCamp but soon had to dial back my time. Many of the planning meetings took place when I was away at other meetings. Also, my daughter’s birthday is Saturday, taking me out of the running for most of that day’s discussions.

I did volunteer to sit on a panel regarding the “government” view, joining Raleigh’s CIO, North Carolina’s CIO, and other experts. I’ll be bringing the layman’s point of view, obviously!

Watch Lent Carr tell whoppers

I’ve been watching the raw video of Carr’s interview and my bullshit detectors have flat out exploded. Watch about 8:38 into the interview when he discusses his current job as a “Business Development Specialist” at Allstate Insurance and spends the next few seconds mumbling phrases about policies. Carr tap-danced around that question like Miss Teen South Carolina Caitlin Upton did. Nowhere on his LinkedIn profile (which is mostly fiction, granted) does he mention working for Allstate. Nor do any Google searches turn up any hits linking him with Allstate.

The guy isn’t simply a liar, he’s a pathological liar. It makes me feel sorry for him.

Lent Carr and District C

Lundsford Lane’s once-in-a-blue-moon blogging at Below the Beltline has apparently attracted the press’s attention to Lent Carr, the District C candidate for Raleigh City Council. About the same time Lane got wise to Carr I had done the same, though I chose not to post about Carr because frankly I was embarrassed by the guy.

Carr seems to me to be a con man. A harmless one, perhaps, but a con man all the same. His so-called credentials are completely bogus. Anyone can find that out with a few targeted Google searches. Like Lane, I’ve done my homework and can back Lane up on what he says.

Lane also reports that Carr no longer lives in District C, which is going to make it tough for folks who do live in District C to support him. If he has any supporters, that is: the folks I know around here know better than to fall for this guy’s tricks.

On the other hand, I am happy to see that Eugene Weeks is running to keep his District C seat. Eugene is a hard worker and a dedicated public servant. He doesn’t play the games that some folks in Southeast Raleigh play. He is his own man and has served District C very well in the time since he was appointed to replace James West. Things are looking up for my side of town.

Now if only Lane could find the time to post something more than once a quarter. Come on, Lane! Surely there is more dirt out there to be had!

Update 9:20 PM: WRAL ran their story on Carr on this evening’s newscast. The web version has more details.

Speeding motorcycles continue

My exasperation with speeding motorcycles near my home caught the attention of N&O reporter Chelsea Kellner, who wrote a story on the problem and quoted me.

And just in case you thought these morons would stop once word got out, you’d be wrong. They were speeding again as early as Sunday afternoon, the day of the article. Seems the motorcyclists don’t read the paper.

They were also going at it again this evening, so I called the po-po. It’s quiet for now, but I don’t expect it to last. I will continue to call 911 for the next several weeks if that’s what it takes to reign in these reckless idiots.

Speeding motorcyclist killed

Many nights I’ve heard motorcycles racing down nearby State Street at insane speeds. Calls to 911 have produced mixed results, so much so that I stopped bothering to call when the motorcycles start up.

Previously, the racing had been confined to an area a mile away from my home but this week I’d been hearing the cycles racing down Glascock and turning south on to N. State Street. When more than one passed by Tuesday evening, I made two 911 calls to complain about them (the dispatcher on the second call actually asked me “what the crime was”).

Looks like Darwin claimed one of these idiots last night, when
Richard Jerrod McNeil was thrown from his bike after speeding over 100 MPH in a 35 MPH zone on S. State Street. I feel for his family but I have a hard time feeling sympathetic to McNeil. He knew what he was doing was dangerous, not only to himself but to the many neighbors who live along State Street. He was very lucky his recklessness didn’t kill someone else.

I’ve asked police to step up traffic enforcement along State Street because McNeil wasn’t the only one who loves to race in the area. It’s only a matter of time before another poor idiot on a crotch rocket meets his maker (or flattens an innocent kid).