8/26/07

Taking It To The Streets !!!






























I activated the mobile Voter Motivation platform today. Absolutely amazing how many people took the time to read what I wrote on my car, and heart-warming to hear so many car horns. Honk for Harold !!

8/22/07

Prison-Chic comes to Cary


Click Here to see what Martha's up to now !!!!



Just a reminder that Cary doesn't allow just any developer to join in the strip-mining of our town, we have do have standards.

The KB Homes Martha Stewart project is well underway. Prices were originally set at $150-400K. I wonder if you got a discount for good behavior.

Apparently our standards allow convicted felons to add their personal touch to Cary development projects.

This convicted felon in particular received kind words of support from Ernie McAlister, read here for details. Cary proudly welcomed the Martha Stewart brand to our community. Do you ever wonder about the development projects that Ernie does not endorse publicly?

Newsflash: Cary Government Upgrades to New Automated Ignoring System !!

I wish I had paid closer attention to local elections in the past, I never realized how much fun I was missing.

The latest last-ditch campaign stunt by the Ernie-bots was to announce a new web-based public forum for Cary residents to voice their opinions about upcoming development proposals. Read about it in the N&O.

For the last four years, Cary citizens have shown up in person at town council meetings to voice their opinions, and have been summarily ignored. Now we get to pay $25,000 so that we can be ignored online. Only in America, or rather, only in Cary.

Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

With the Cary mayoral and town council election six weeks away, Nels Roseland and Ernie McBulldozer are proudly announcing a new 'Land Banking' initiative to provide land for the schools we need and keep feeding the development monster. Ernie's going to raise $2.5M by levying school-impact fees on developers. Funny, we had those in place before and Ernie eliminated them right after the election. The story is on the WRAL website.

A great quote in the article:
"To approve thousands of new houses and developments in Cary without taking responsibility, or some responsibility, to provide school resources would be irresponsible on our part," Roseland said.

That is exactly what Nels and Ernie have done for the past four years. They have fueled record-high growth rates and done zip for schools. I appreciate the fact that Mr. Roseland is finally admitting that he has been 'irresponsible,' and that same label applies to mayor McBulldozer.

Personally, I am thrilled at this announcement. Like everyone else I know in Cary, I believe another four years of Ernie will allow him to finish what he started and leave no tree behind. We have to have a change in leadership. The fact that these two 'leaders' are announcing this six weeks before the election tells me they are finally beginning to understand that there is a price to pay for ignoring Cary citizens' needs and pimping our town to developers. Go vote on October 9th, and show these two politicians what you think of their representation over the last four years.

Finally, another gem of a quote from Nels Roseland:
"We have to think outside of the box to address the school crisis"
Joe's translation: "We have to think outside the ballot box and cover our behinds before Oct 9"

8/8/07

Update - Cary State of the Town Address


Here's a nice picture of the USS Cary, and it is not difficult to imagine that Ernie McAlister is at the helm. He's telling the crew not to worry about a little extra water in the hold, he has grand plans for a new bilge plant which will right the ship -- All is Well !!!

These days Ernie's time is probably consumed with tallying the contributions to his campaign fund from developers ($80K and counting), so I don't think he'll have the spare time to update us on the State of Cary.

I'll do it instead.

It is important to focus on recent history, so I'll use the 2007 Cary Town Council retreat as a starting point. In April, Ernie hosted the council and some of the Wake County BoE folks down at the beach. There, our leaders applied all their brilliance to solving the problems facing Cary, and returned with new ideas, full stomachs and a tan.

What's happened since then?

Ernie showed true leadership by inviting the BoE to participate in the retreat, and he has stood by the board even when a judge ruled that they acted illegally. Immediately after the retreat, Ernie reinforced the need to work 'more closely' with the BoE. A couple of months ago, The Cary News was kind enough to print my open letter to Ernie McAlister in which I asked a number of valid questions concerning how he was representing Cary citizens' interests to the BoE. Let me take a minute to describe all the meetings the CTC has had with the BoE... wait a minute, there weren't any. The simple fact is that while Cary parents were being tortured over their children's education, Ernie ran for cover and has stayed there since. I wish I could point to any substantive actions on Ernie's part which supported his campaign promise of 'choice in schools for Cary students,' but that promise turned out to be worth less than the glossy paper it was printed on.

Fiscal responsibility is something Ernie has beat his chest about as long as he's been in office -- In fact, it was an integral part of his campaign platform. Today, Cary's debt load is at record levels, and the operating fund margin is at its lowest in 20 years. Ernie & Gang just approved a $385M budget for 2008, $220M of which goes toward building new roads and yet another water/sewer expansion project. We need these things because Ernie's developer-funded agenda is to leave no tree behind and build out Cary as fast as possible. In a recent TV interview, Ernie talked about growth paying for itself. Call me stupid (you wouldn't be the first), but when I see 2/3 of my taxes being used to pay for new capital improvement projects, it feels more like I'm helping to pay for the growth.

On the subject of growth, Ernie & gang recently gave a whole lot of Cary citizens a crystal clear reminder that developers are running Cary. Approval of the Davis & High House demonstrated Cary political machinations at their best. Last-minute project plan changes to manipulate protest validations, a huge group of concerned citizens being utterly ignored (when not being chastised) at the Town Council meeting, and at the end Ernie banging the gavel of approval with a resounding 'Aye.'

So this is how far we have come since the Cary retreat, and this is the state of Cary.

My apologies to Ernie for not addressing him as 'Mayor.' In my mind, that title needs to be earned -- by fulfilling the promises that got you elected, by listening to and representing the people who elected you, and by being accountable for your actions. Ernie still carries the lowly title of politician, nothing more.