East Coast Greenway planning meetings

Planning is being done on a mega-greenway spanning the east coast. Called the East Coast Greenway, it aims to provide a bike and walker-friendly path from Maine to Florida. Part of this trail will be going through Raleigh by way of Falls Lake and alongside the Neuse River. It will enter town at the north by way of the CSX railroad tracks, which is also the proposed Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor.

NCDOT is holding a series of meetings to gather input on the part of the proposed trail that will run alongside the track. Most of these meetings are in towns north of Wake County but one is being held in Wake Forest. The meetings are to gather input as to which side of the rail corridor would be best for the trail, among other things.
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Cussin’ In Tongues

Cussin’ In Tongues (YouTube) (band MP3)
Th’Legendary Shack Shakers

Way back yonder where the gravel road ends
Fourth holler over, plum up to the head
On an AC tractor reapin’ reefer on a hill
Got an inverted cross of lights on his grill
Shape-note singin’ ’bout whiskey and sin
With an amplified bible cranked up to ten
He’s a preacher,
He’s a teacher,
He’s a demon in disguise,
Red checkerboard pattern in the whites of his eyes.

And you can tell by the sound of his cussin’ in tongues
It’s best you boys just a-run along.
Best you boys just run on along,
Before the cock crows three times tonight.
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H&R Block keep spamming me

A few years ago when I got sick of Intuit’s disregard for its TurboTax customers, we opted to file our taxes using H&R Block’s TaxCut software. Ever since I’ve been on an H&R Block email list that I can’t seem to get off of. I’ve followed H&R’s unsubscribe procedures multiple times and even wrote the company a direct email saying ‘knock it off.’ There was no response and still the emails keep coming.

I’ve just called their support number to see if they could help me but so far no go.

Leadership Institute

I was asked to speak yesterday to the city of Raleigh’s Citizen’s Participation Leadership Institute class. Never one to turn down a chance to speak to an audience, I joined two city staffmembers and a fellow volunteer boardmember to describe my role as CAC chair and a member of the Parks board.

Though I arrived a bit late, spoke for too long, and had to leave early, I greatly enjoyed the chance to talk with some of Raleigh’s finest citizens.

Hurricane Hunter at RDU

I left work a bit early yesterday to check out NOAA’s Hurricane Hunter WP-3D Orion that was visiting RDU Airport. This is the aircraft that NOAA uses to fly right into the heart of hurricanes, measuring the storm and conducting experiments.

When I arrived at the general aviation terminal around 3:45 PM, the line to see the plane was stretched out to the sidewalk. A staff member explained that due to the approaching thunderstorm, tours of the plane had been halted. I waited for a bit on the sidewalk as lightning from the storm zapped ever closer to the airport and buildings. Eventually the staff ushered everyone inside, though the tours were still on hold.
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S.1004 study bill text

Here’s [PDF] the text from the today’s committee substitute for S.1004 (the “Level Playing Field Act.”). Note the commercial incumbent-friendly language.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2009
S D
SENATE BILL 1004*
PROPOSED COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE S1004-PCS55370-RL-33
Short Title: Level Playing Field/Cities/Service Providers. (Public)
Sponsors:
Referred to:
March 26, 2009
1 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
2 AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE REVENUE LAWS STUDY COMMITTEE TO STUDY
3 LOCAL GOVERNMENT OWNED AND OPERATED COMMUNICATION SERVICES.
4 The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
5 SECTION 1. The Revenue Laws Study Committee shall study local government
6 owned and operated communication services. The Committee may propose legislation, if
7 appropriate, to regulate the operation of local government owned and operated communication
8 services. In making this study, the Committee shall consider:
9 (1) The private and public costs and the benefits of providing communication
services through a private communication services provider compared to a
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Online stories of the broadband backwater fight

Fast Company: Time Warner’s Antics in Wilson, N.C. Give Another Reason to Snip the Cable
Alternet: Suck It, Telecoms! Public Broadband Gets Reprieve in North Carolina
Zeropaid: Major Opposition Mounts By Eve of Municiple Broadband Vote
Independent Weekly: Anti-muni broadband bill will go to study committee
Loobin the Tubes: The Playing Field (excellent analysis of the issues and the bill)
Metafilter: The Playing Field
Best Broadband: North Carolina Broadband Bill Shelved – For now — State will study bill’s impact in more detail…
Salisbury Post: Bill to restrict cities’ broadband services sent to study committee
Greensboro News and Record: Municipal wireless bill and studies
Mobilejones: Time Warner Targets North Carolina in War on Consumer Broadband

Broadband safe in NC? For now, maybe.

At this morning’s three-hours-earlier-than-usual Senate Commerce Committee meeting, S.1004, the so-called Level Playing Field Act (companion to House bill H.1252), was sent to the Revenue Laws Study Committee. While it appears this particular bill has been defanged, I don’t for a minute expect Time Warner Cable to roll over and play dead – in spite of Time Warner Cable allegedly now claiming it wanted a study bill all along.
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Senate Commerce Committee member contact info

Here [PDF] are the contact numbers for the Senate Commerce Committee members. They will hear the Senate version of the “Level Playing Field Act” bright and early at 8 AM tomorrow in room 1027 of the Legislative Building.

Chairman
Sen. R. C. Soles, Jr. 733-5963

Vice Chairman
Sen. Floyd B. McKissick, Jr. 733-4599

Vice Chairman
Sen. David W. Hoyle (sponsor) 733-5734

Vice Chairman
Sen. Tony Rand 733-9892

Members
Sen. Tom Apodaca 733-5745
Sen. Tony Foriest 301-1446
Sen. Larry Shaw 733-9349
Sen. Philip E. Berger 733-5708
Sen. Doug Berger 715-8363
Sen. Harris Blake 733-4809
Sen. Julia Boseman 715-2525
Sen. Peter S. Brunstetter 733-7850
Sen. Debbie A. Clary (sponsor) 715-3038
Sen. Katie G. Dorsett 715-3042
Sen. James Forrester 715-3050
Sen. Linda Garrou 733-5620
Sen. W. Edward (Eddie) Goodall 733-7659
Sen. Steve Goss 733-5742
Sen. Malcolm Graham 733-5650
Sen. Neal Hunt 733-5850
Sen. Jim Jacumin 715-7823
Sen. Clark Jenkins 715-3040
Sen. Martin L. Nesbitt, Jr. 715-3001
Sen. William R. Purcell 733-5953
Sen. Bob Rucho 733-5655
Sen. Josh Stein 715-6400
Sen. Richard Stevens 733-5653
Sen. Don Vaughan 733-5856

Time Warner Cable Protection Act not dead yet

I spent my lunch hour at today’s House Public Utilities Committee listening to debate about H.1252, the “Time Warner Cable Protection Act.” The meeting was full of spectators, including a group that proponent Americans For Prosperity apparently borrowed from a nearby protest. In spite of the crowd, this meeting had more civility than the previous meetings.

The chair said right from the start that there had been many citizens weighing in on this bill, so clearly they knew it was controversial. Immediately the bill’s sponsor, Ty Harrell, submitted a PCS (a potential committee substitute) directing this bill be sent to the Revenue Laws Study Committee. This would seem to defang it, and a lot of talk ensued about how everyone just wanted to make broadband available to anyone who wants it.
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