Follow-Up

There are 521 posts filed in Follow-Up (this is page 46 of 53).

Hoyle’s hijacking H1840 is worse than reported

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.

Hoyle guts H1840, puts his moratorium in

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.

via Muni broadband moratorium put in another bill.

N&O covers broadband fight

The N&O covered the municipal broadband fight today. While it does quote opponents of the moratorium like Rep. Bill Faison, it doesn’t challenge the statements of Sen. “Fiber will be obsolete” Hoyle, who obviously has little or no idea what he’s talking about. Hoyle has been comparing the debt of municipal broadband projects (cost: $28 million) to the debt used to build the Shearon Harris nuclear reactor (cost: $4 billion), a laughable comparison on its face. The numbers simply don’t compare.

The article also failed to mention that the state’s Local Government Commission has vetted all of these projects and declared that them to be on sound financial footing. And that until now Wilson hadn’t raised its pole attachment fee in over 30 years.

In spite of these flaws, the comments to the story’s web edition are running overwhelmingly in favor of municipal broadband projects. Clearly there is reason for caution before blocking them with a moratorium.

Graffiti gets attention

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!

WordPress has Facebook-like link excerpting

Remember when I wished I had Facebook-like link excerpting in WordPress? It turns out I already do: it’s a bookmarklet built into WordPress called Press This.

Here’s how to use it:

In your WordPress Dashboard’s menu, click Tools. Drag the Press This link at the bottom of that page to your browser’s toolbar.

Now, when viewing a webpage that you’d like to add to your blog, simply highlight whatever text you’d like to include in your blog post and click on the Press This bookmarklet you just created. A new window will open up with your selected text already added to the editor and the title of the post set to the title of the webpage you were viewing. You can then adjust the text accordingly (add comments, etc.), and then click Publish. Super easy!

A big hat-tip to Scott Reston for pointing out this nifty feature!

Lions Park playground dedication

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!

Graffiti problem gets attention

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.

Maybe not that adventurous

I realized that when I say I would be behind my kids’ adventures all the way, referencing Abby Sunderland’s circimnavigation attempt, it couldn’t possibly be the same. While I like doing adventurous things I am certainly not doing it full-time, like Abby’s father does. The kids have a few hours of sailing under their belt, they certainly don’t practically live around boats like the Sunderlands.

Now, if my kids want to learn extreme system administration (like, how to upgrade a computer without having a backup – yikes!), then I’m their dad!