Cary Mayor and Town Council Culpability

The Wake County Commissioners and School Board are (rightfully) under fire right now over MYR. Credit the commissioners for trying to do something, and shame on Patti Head's team for turning the MYR discussion into an ego-based tug-of-war.
While both offices can be blamed for the current shortage of school seats, let's not forget our own town (Cary) government's failure to manage growth has been a major contributer to this problem and others affecting our quality of life.
I have spoken twice at Cary Town Council meetings expressing my concern that the rate of growth over the past several years has put unneeded stress on our schools, roads and infrastructure. Several letters to the N&O and Cary News have made the same argument. Cary town leaders go out of their way to point out that by law they cannot use impact fees to fund schools, or deny building permits based on insufficient school capacity. What they don't point out is that they have the ability to deny building permits, period. Permits were managed under the Lang administration, and have tripled since he left office.
Cary government's response: We don't control the schools, so talk to Wake County officials.
Our town government's side-stepping of culpability is not something I accept, nor should any citizen of Cary.
The opportunity for rapid growth has existed in Cary for 20 years, and is no secret. When our town officials decided to increase the rate of building permits being granted, they could have taken two different paths regarding school capacity:
1. They could have taken the high road, and taken responsibility for ensuring the children of Cary had adequate school seats. This would have meant their engagement with the Wake County government, doing the hard work, and putting the needs of our children ahead of the desire to grow Cary.
2. They took the easy way instead. Huge subdivisions are built, the school seats are not there, and the Mayor and Town Council have forced Cary parents into the breech instead of themselves.
By following this path, our town government has not represented us well, and in fact has not executed the goals and initiatives which they committed to. Check the Cary government website at www.townofcary.org and see for yourself.
Here's the Cary 2006 Budget document: http://www.townofcary.org/depts/budget/currentyearadopted/aob/006-townofcarygoalsandinitiatives.pdf

Failures to execute initiatives:
1. Schools. We don't have enough.
2. Transportation. Earlier versions of this document specified that roads would be built ahead of growth, what happened to that?
3. Infrastructure. Rates for water have tripled, and we are on mandatory rationing.

I can live with failure against initiatives 2 and 3, but cannot accept failure regarding schools. For now, let's focus our energies on the Wake County government, where the only short-term fix resides. Next election, let's remember what our town council has done.