Tacky Tax

The NC Home Builders Association spent over half a million dollars lobbying the state legislature, arguing not to allow counties and municipalities should not have a choice in whether to levy a real estate transfer-tax. The builders lost that argument, and several counties have referendums on transfer-taxes included in their upcoming elections.

Transfer taxes are applied against every home sale, whether it is new or pre-existing. These taxes would develop millions of dollars in funding for much-needed schools and other infrastructure.

I'm glad the builders lobby lost their argument, and were not able to protect us from ourselves. The voters must choose whether transfer-taxes are the right vehicle for shoring up infrastructure funding.

I hope they make the right choice. I, for one, think transfer-taxes are a crappy idea. Local officials don't have the cojones to increase the property tax rate, so they'll support this instead. The fact is that if impact fees were where they should be, we wouldn't need transfer-taxes. If the purpose of these taxes is to build schools and roads caused by growth, then why not get it paid up front? Already, the lion's share of growth's cost is spread among taxpayers -- just look to Cary where the majority of development cost goes to debt which requires even more development to pay off. Think Amway.

I'm on my second house in Cary, and I know people who are on their third. When you move here, you pay your impact fee. Why should you pay it again when you move up to a nicer home (or are forced to move because of crummy schools in my case)? What about Grandma and Grandpa who contributed to the Cary tax base for 30 years and finally sell their home to move closer to the kids in Paducah, Kentucky? If you move here and pick up the lease on a rental property, you get off scot free.

Wake County just approved a $1B bond to pay for schools, and that is just enough money to keep our heads above water -- new schools are still designated as MYR.

A $1B bond is not enough. Our current property taxes are not enough, and a transfer-tax is still not enough to fund the kind of schools which the most affluent county in the state should have. Figure out what the real cost of growth is, adjust impact fees to require developers to pay their fair share, and shove the rest into the property tax rate. We don't need a new tax.

Cary Going to the Dogs

Next fall, Cary will break ground on what will be our second dog park. Cost for the first phase is $3M. I haven't done research on where the land and funding came from for this project, probably some if it was concessed by a developer to get a project done.

I love dogs. Always had one growing up, and I can't resist the opportunity to pet a dog walking by or offering them a free sniff of the place of their choosing. My wife has a cat (appropriately named 'The Fink') which is no match for man's best friend. Cats are cats' best friend, every other human is secondary to them.

As a dog lover (in the platonic sense) I am qualified to offer an unbiased opinion regarding this investment. A sound opinion may be based on less-than-sound math, so here goes...

• Cary currently has 123,000 residents
• Assume an average family of 4, = 30,750 households
• Assume 15% of households have a dog, = 4,612 dogs

For the sake of argument, let's double the number and say there are 10,000 dogs in Cary. $3M for phase one equates to $300 per pup. My first question was why we would need a dog park at all. After much thought, I can only conclude that Cary's white-hot growth rate has resulted in a dire shortage of trees which dogs can use to pee against. Still, $3M seems like a lot of money to replace trees. Perhaps the park will feature a spa and fitness center? A small canine performing arts and aquatics center? A state of the art automated pooper scooper machine [kind of like the golf car that cruises the driving range picking up golf balls].


Alright, I'm going to have a Roger Hill moment here -- I call bullsh&t, er... dogsh&t. Cary has NEEDS and Cary has WANTS. This falls into the latter category. Some better uses of $3M...

• $3M buys a lot of asphalt to fill potholes.
• $25K of it would give Cary EMS what they need to continue their level of ambulance service. Dog parks are more important than ambulances???
• $3M would fund more police officers. We could add K-9 forces too.
• $3M would buy a lot of fire hydrants which are needed in all the new developments that have been built. The dogs could use them too.

I apologize to any dog owners I have offended, but I believe those same people would agree that there are more pressing needs in Cary.

If I Were King of Cary

I'm no different from most people who work for someone else, sometimes I like to think about what I'd do if I were in charge. Along those same lines, it is kind of fun to imagine oneself as King of Cary for a day, at least for me.

Cary already had a great day on October 9th when we voted for sweeping change on our Town Council. These new optimistic leaders have tough work ahead of them to clean up the mess left by their predecessors (with the exception of Marla Dorrel, who was a true leader). I'd love to be King for a day before they take office, and take drastic steps to make their job easier.

As King/Dictator/Despot for one day, I'd do the following:

1. Review all development approved by the previous Town Council in the past year, and require re-approval for any cases in which government and developers collaborated to screw the citizens. Davis & High House would be a great start. They already have a lawsuit filed, and if I were King I'd eagerly admit guilt and restart the approval process. Is this fair to all of the applicants who followed due process? I don't care. I am the King, and I make the rules. If the royal lawyers don't let me pull the plug on DHH, then I'm sponsoring a peasant boycott of all retail establishments built there. As King, I declare this parcel tainted and decadent!

2. The 'Beer Garden' which was added to this year's Lazy Daze festival caused much consternation among the loyal subjects, and I would eliminate it from next year's festival. Drinking beer has no place in a festival dedicated to Cary living and arts and crafts. In fact, beer drinking deserves a festival of its own! I would launch an annual beer festival, if Durham can have one then we can too. As King, I would be granted free admission and consumption. Its good to be King.

3. Bye bye, aquatics palace. One stroke of the quill and we leave a $30M boondoggle behind. If the chamber of commerce and hotel owners want an aquatics palace, then they can pay for it. If the citizens who signed the Hawes Tract petition want it, they can pay for it. This is the nice part about being King, you can do the right thing for all citizens without worrying about pissing off a few.

4. Royal amnesty is granted to all town employees who have supported the previous mayor and his policies. Anyone who has offered false public support of previous Town Council members, or been intimidated and influenced by them in any way, here is your chance for absolution. Throw open your windows and denounce them! I'm only King for a day, so act now before this offer expires. This offer does not include tax, tags or dealer preparation

5. After my 24-hour reign, Cary will return to its regularly-scheduled democratic government. Before that happens, I'm edicting that anyone who wants to run for public office in Cary be limited to $50,000 in campaign funding, all of it from Cary. $50K should let them get their message out, and if they have a 'good story' to tell, voters will buy it. Allowing special-interest groups to pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into candidate campaigns does not promote true democracy. It promotes a government where money talks, and where corruption flourishes.

6. As King, I'd direct the royal legal staff to craft an APF ordinance which was bullet-proof, and approve it personally. At a minimum, it would require conveyance of land to the school system.

7. The approved budget for 2008 is an engine built for the rapid strip-mining of Cary. I would like the Royal Clerk, Bob Cratchitt, to submit this budget for re-review. If the budget can't be changed, then it should be memorialized as one of the last acts of a dysfunctional council. My Royal Jester, Neire McStealir, will be directed to make good comedy of the budget document.

With only a day to work with, I don't think I'd have time to also tackle problems like schools and water, but Cary has qualified leadership coming who will help solve these problems. When my work is done, I'd hope to be exiled to the island of Elba, or if that's not available then Sunset Beach would do just fine.

Water Conservation

There's not much left of Falls Lake, so I have submitted my DefCon 5 Water Management plan to Governor Easley's office for immediate consideration. In difficult times such as these, sacrifices must be made.

Here's my eight-point plan:

1. Stop building new homes. Pouring one new concrete foundation consumes enough water to flush 841 toilets. Do you really want another new house, or do you want to make sure 'old reliable' is ready when the time comes?
2. Restaurants should bring beer to the table instead of ice water. Coors is not a personal favorite, but it is made from melted glaciers and we have lots of glaciers in this country, just not in the right places. This would be like bringing a much-needed glacier to North Carolina, one 12-ounce can at a time.
3. Implement casual-hygiene Fridays (shaving not required). Saves thousands of gallons of water, all for the price of a few extra whiskers.
4. More restaurants should follow the Hooters model... smaller uniforms require less water to wash. Paper towels are fine instead of cloth napkins when the food is delectable and no one is paying attention to it.
5. Wake County men will be encouraged to discontinue vigorous exercise of any kind, thus eliminating the need for additional showers and water consumption. I will personally lead this initiative, from my recliner. We will start slowly with 'Slovenly Sunday' and work up from there. Governor Easley has said that a dirty car should now be considered a sign of civic responsibility. In that same spirit, a little extra weight around the mid-section should convey a sense of self-sacrifice and community pride.
6. All public sporting and entertainment events will now designate an outdoor 'waterless urinal' area [chain-kink fence with a privacy curtain] for men. Needless to say, men will not feel compelled to wash their hands afterwards. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Consumption of asparagus during this time will be considered illegal.
7. Real men never ate watercress to begin with, but from here forward veggies are optional at any meals. Broccoli, lettuce, peas and other vegetables consume tremendous amounts of water in their production. Chicken wings and burritos, on the other hand, have little to no impact on local water supplies. And remember, beer comes from glaciers.
8. All outdoor chores including car washing, re-seeding lawns and planting shrubs are immediately suspended.

Together, we can make a difference!

In last week's N&O, Rob Christensen has a column about growth in Cary. His thoughts were the same as Ernie McAlisters; Since we were allowed to move to Cary, we have no right to call for control of growth. Here's an email I sent to Mr. Christensen regarding his column:

Mr. Christensen,
Thank you for taking time to write about our
"little old town" of Cary.  As you state, proper
control of growth in Cary is a complex  matter,
with no 'right' answer.

I do believe the notion endorsed by Ernie
McAlister that any and  > all newcomers should
be welcomed is fundamentally flawed.  I came
here in 1992, you arrived a year later.  Back then,
our roads were unclogged and we did not have 20%
of our students in trailers.  Continuing to allow
anyone wanting to move to the Cary just because  
we were allowed to move here ourselves puts us
on the same path as an ill-fated Indonesian
passenger ferry.  Every new passenger must be
welcomed aboard, even if the boat is already
over capacity.  With every new passenger, the
boat is further at risk of swamping. In our case
the risk is running out of water, open space and  
passable roads.

Cary has two traffic problems, commuting and local.
Every business day we face worsening commute
times for people commuting to RTP.  We are in
a way fortunate that our commuter routes will in
fact face increasing pressure as quality employment
continues to grow.  But, Cary also faces worsening
local traffic problems.  Today, a drive across
town means running a gauntlet of endless stop-lights  
(with multiple-cycle queues), dodging traffic cones
and following dumptrucks at hopefully enough distance
to keep a rock from going through our windshields.

We can focus on fixing commute traffic by investing
more money in the arterials used by commuters --
highway 55, Holly Springs Rd, the Western Wake
Freeway and lower- Davis Drive.  This allows
redirection of growth to neighboring towns without
impacting Cary citizens' ability to drive within the
town on errands.

I believe your viewpoint on development impact fees
may also be based on transfer-taxes.  Impact fees
are only paid at time of construction, and I think
they are an equitable way for a developer to pay
their fair share of infrastructure costs.  Transfer-
taxes are imposed every time someone buys or sells
a home, and I don't believe in them.  If proper
impact fees are in place at time of contruction,
then there should be no need to pay for infrastructure  
a second time when you sell your home.

Cary is now annexing land in Chatham county, and
the growth continues.  When do we say enough is enough?

 Thanks,
Joe Ciulla

Here's his response:

Joe,
Thanks for your note. I respectfully disagree. When I moved
to  Raleigh in 1973, Cary had 7,000 people. I would bet that
a lot of Caryites liked that just fine. But you and I would
have been unable  to move to Cary if they had pulled up the
ladder in 1973. I think it's a little hard to compare a
ferry with a town. Who's to say that we have reached the
maximum population? In fact, urban experts would argue that
increased urban density in towns around RTP would reduce  
traffic congestion on I-40 and other routes.  Even if Cary
capped growth, it would only mean that surrounding towns
such as Apex and Holly Spring would absorb the additional  
growth, and those residents would use Cary's streets for
our shopping.  I've recently been in places in Ohio, Iowa
and Michigan and elsewhere that are losing population. They
would love to have our problem.

We will always have people who think this way, and they are
all entitled to express their opinions.
Today, the following LTE appeared in the N&O:

Regarding Rob Christensen's Oct. 14 column "Taming growth is

ticklish":

The answer to the question that Christensen was too well-mannered

to ask when my son and I went to his door before the Cary election --

when had we moved to Cary? -- is six years before he did, in 1987.

We knew the original owners of his house; my sons went to school

with their children.

We were not random campaign volunteers for Mayor-elect Harold

Weinbrecht. We were Christensen's neighbors participating in a

grassroots effort, handing out literature for all three of our newly

elected candidates in our area. We were personally spreading the

word that some of the candidates were actually willing to listen to

citizens rather than special interests and the truth about growth

trends because Mayor Ernie McAlister had far greater financial

ability to broadcast his versions of messages.

The graph Christensen was shown was accurately plotted Cary new

housing-permit data. It was my independently created graphic that

accompanied my opinion piece "Numbers tell the story" published in

The N&O's own Cary News, which chose to provide this powerful

illustration only in the online version. It appears from Christensen's

recent column that he might find enlightenment in my

multidimensional Cary growth analysis.

John Yoakum

Cary

The punch line of Mr. Christensen's column was that he had been 'too polite' to ask
the person at his door when they moved to Cary. Based on Mr. Yoakum's letter, I can
only conclude that Mr. Christensen was far more concerned about having a good one-
liner to close his column than he was about politeness.

We'll be adding thousands more passengers to the good ship Cary this year. Fortunately if the ferry does go down the passengers will all be able to walk to shore across what used to be the bed of Jordan Lake.

Morrisville Gets In On the Act ....

It appears Cary does not have a monopoly on strip-mining undeveloped land. Morrisville is evaluating a gargantuan development plan for the intersection of Cary Parkway and 54. Nice. Looks like it will have a super-sized Wal-Mart or Target, a hotel, a Best Buy, banks, a fitness center, a movie theater and a variety of retailers and restaurants. Over 1 million square feet in all. There's enough paved parking for this place to be used as 'Lot M' by RDU airport. This thing appears to be even bigger than Davis & High House.

When this proposal goes before the Morrisville Town Council, I can only hope that they were paying attention to what happened in Cary and Raleigh on Oct 9th.

Cary Annexation - Resistance is Futile !!!

In 2007, Cary has been busily assimilating (annexing) hundreds of acres.

Here are a few of the approved annexations:

- 125 Acres along the recently-improved highway 55, for mixed-use development.
- 85 Acres added to Highcroft, for residential development
- 18 Acres, bordering on Chatham County, for residential development
- 7 Acres behind PCH, more apartments coming
- 84 Acres behind PCH, residential

Cary already has plans in place to annex properties in Chatham County. We have now pissed off enough people that our Town Council has met with officials from Chatham County and other nearby towns and agreed upon an annexation moratorium until some rules of engagement can be established.

I don't get it, what's in it for the citizens of Cary. Our 'tax base' may increase, but it must cost a small fortune to run water & sewer out to these properties, who will then proceed to further stress our water resources instead of using the wells they have. Fire stations will have to be built to provide services. What's in it for us?

Way to Go Cary

Yesterday Cary elected a new Mayor, Harold Weinbrecht. I worked hard to help get it done, along with over a hundred fellow Cary citizens. I met and worked with some amazing people. These people all believed Cary can do better, and they all put it on the line to give us that chance. Ernie McAlister reported $150K in campaign funding in his most recent report, versus $32K for Harold Weinbrecht. It didn't matter.

Already, some are worried that Harold Weinbrecht is the second coming of Clubber Lang. Some say Harold will kill growth, while others say he cannot control it. Until Harold takes office in December, speculation will fuel much debate over the future of his administration.

Cary had two choices in this election, and made the right one. Here's why: Instead of electing a Mayor whose compaign was paid for by development special interests, we chose the candidate who is only beholden to the citizens of Cary. Harold has a platform of balanced growth and environmental conservation. More importantly, Harold is committed to listening to the citizens of Cary and letting us help shape our town's future. We help decide how much growth makes sense. We help decide what kind of growth we want. We help decide how to pay for growth. We help decide issues like performing arts centers, transfer taxes and water management. We get to help decide because Harold is beholden only to the citizens of Cary. That is where his campaign money came from and, more importantly, the support of Cary citizens is what propelled him into office. He won't forget.

Tickle Me Ernie

Alright, so its 'tickle me elmo,' but I couldn't resist. The onslaught of negative commercials from ernie and his ernie-bots (aka Tom Joyner) tickle me. Ernie has raised another $40K in the past weeks, his campaign fund now totals almost $150K. What tickles me is the fact that the only use he can find for all this money is negative ads which are half-truths at best. These ads reflect that exact same fear that Marla Dorrel addressed in her OpEd column. Ernie and his ernie-bots are scared to death that they are going to lose this election.

What happened to telling the 'positive story' of his administration with his campaign war chest? That's what he told the Cary News he was going to use the money for. Seems citizens are not buying his fabricated story of 'moving Cary forward' and he has nothing left to campaign on.

Once again, ernie has underestimated the citizens of Cary. These ads are meant to win votes through establishing fear and uncertainty. If the citizens of Cary were stupid, the ads would be effective. People in Cary are not stupid. I have talked to a lot of people, and generally get a couple of reactions....

1. Gee, Ernie is showing his true colors now.
2. Ernie must really be behind in this election if he has to resort to mud-slinging.

I drive around town and I see a number of different signs which have been created and placed by people who are not affiliated with any of the campaigns. Their consistent message: Ernie's got to go. One brilliant citizen had a huge sign (at least 6 feet x 8 feet) made up, strapped it to the side of a truck, and is driving around town.

I have lived here 15 years, and have never been more proud to be a citizen of Cary.