Coble throws volunteers under the bus

I’m still in disbelief over last week’s meeting of the Wake County Commissioners in which chair Paul Coble completely dissed a report on sustainability that the Commission itself requested and whose task force Commissioner Joe Bryan chaired.

I have served as an unpaid, volunteer member of various city boards for over three years now. I don’t do it for the money, or to enrich myself, or for the prestige. I do it because I love Raleigh and want to help it grow. The countless hours I’ve devoted to these causes; all the evenings I missed tucking my kids in for bed; all the soccer, baseball and basketball games I’ve missed; those are sacrifices I’ve accepted because I feel its important to serve the greater good. Like everyone else, I have only so many days to live on this planet and I like to know that my time matters.
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Making the “Open Source City” a bit more open

I was away from my home the other day and wanted to tune into the streaming video of the Raleigh City Council meeting using my smartphone. Lo and behold, the proprietary Microsoft Silverlight video format that the Granicus service uses to stream Raleigh’s government channel does not have a player for my Android phone. I’d be surprised if a client exists for iPhone, either, for that matter. It seemed I would need to be glued to my desk if I wanted to keep up with Raleigh politics.
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Three trillion in change

As I was contemplating the $5-per-gallon gasoline price forecast by the end of the year, my mind turned to the three trillion dollars America has squandered over the past decade fighting two Middle Eastern wars.

What if America had invested that $3,000,000,000,000 in making our country more energy-independent rather than in blowing people up? What if this enormous nation of ours had used that money to build a first-class, high-speed passenger rail system that would keep us globally competitive as fuel prices continue to skyrocket?

Instead, we have thousands of dead and wounded American soldiers (kids, really), hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians killed, two battle-scarred countries of questionable stability, and a huge mountain of debt with little to show for it.

It has not been America’s finest moment.

Recycling theft ordinance

While on my morning walk this past Friday I was crossing Glascock at Brookside when I noticed a blue pickup truck pull past me. I’d seen this truck the week before and suspected it was involved in some suspicious activity, so I stopped to watch what it did. From across the street I watched as a man hopped out of the truck, crossed the street, and began rummaging through the neighbor’s recycling bin, fishing out the aluminum cans. It wasn’t the suspicious activity I’d thought it was but noted the license plate anyway and continued walking.

I took the kids to school by car that morning and when I returned to the neighborhood I was amazed to see yet another man in a pickup truck, rummaging through a neighbor’s recycling bin. This wasn’t a case of some homeless guy collecting a few cans to get by, this looked like an entire team was out to steal the cans people had put out for the city.
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Karl Hess backlash

Still reeling from its loss to Duke Thursday, N.C. State came out flat against the Seminoles yesterday and lost 76-62. That wasn’t especially surprising, but what was surprising was referee Karl Hess tossing two fans from the game with 6 minutes left. The fans, former N.C. State basketball legends Chris Corchiani and Tom Gugliotta, admitted to jawing at Hess but never threatened him nor used profanity. Hess tossed them anyway and gave no explanation.

N.C. State Athletic Director Debbie Yow announced today that Corchiani and Gugliotta, along with the rest of the 1989 ACC title team, will be honored at Tuesday’s game against UNC. I think it’s great that the university is sending the message that these two ACC legends are always welcome at the Wolfpack’s home court.

As for Hess, needless to say Hess won’t soon live this down, no matter what arena he next appears in.

End of the week relief

It’s been a challenging week for me, with work issues heating up, two city board retreats I’m having to plan, yesterday evening’s Parks board meeting, early release day from school for the kids, and helping coach the kids’ basketball teams.

When I was feeling down yesterday, I was cheered for a bit by N.C. State’s success against Duke during their visit to Cameron Indoor Stadium but they couldn’t protect their 20 point lead in the second half and wound up losing by 5. I went to bed anxious.

Work went better for me today, the kids kept themselves busy during Early Release, and I got to help coach Hallie’s basketball team tonight. Unfortunately, our team lost by two points in a tough-fought game. Rather than hang our heads, though, we went out for a very fun dinner with our friends Joe and Toddi.

Tomorrow morning I spend four hours facilitating the RCAC retreat. Then less than half an hour later, I’m off to Chavis Park for the carousel building groundbreaking. Then, as soon as that’s done, I’m off to Travis’s basketball game. Once that’s done, I fly solo with the kids again while Kelly goes to a PTA planning meeting.

Good grief, life is busy lately.

Shame on Thom Tillis

NC House Speaker Thom Tillis kicks the people out of the second floor of the North Carolina General Assembly but lets his buddies from the Big Telco Mafia continue to hang out and buy votes. What’s he afraid of? That folks will see how Tillis is selling off our future to whichever corporation is the highest bidder?

Thom Tillis should be ashamed of himself. Is it any wonder the public takes such a dim view of our state legislators as a whole?

The protesters entered the building, forfeiting signs larger than 25 square inches, per the rules, and climbed the stairs to the second floor where they quietly lined the hallway from the speaker’s office to the House chamber. They said they wanted to make their presence known after few people witnessed last month’s impromptu late-night session.

Police greeted them on the second floor and cited the rule adopted Nov. 18, 1987, by the Legislative Services Commission, a now-defunct body. (The rule’s purpose is "to make visitors feel welcome and at the same time make it possible for the General Assembly to function effectively.")

Adam Sotak, the demonstration’s organizer, appeared baffled. "I’ve been coming here since 2000. I have never been told I can’t walk around the second floor," he told the police officer.

A group of suited men with Time Warner Cable badges clustered in front of Tillis’ door moments before the crowd arrived.

via Little-known House rule limits access to chamber – State – NewsObserver.com.