WakeWatch

The Caryhara Desert

2007-12-06T21:01:00.000-05:00

The drought continues. Durham down to 50 days water supply, Raleigh down to 100. Cary drying up too, and it will happen faster once Durham starts pumping from Jordan Lake.

A while back, I posted a sensible set of water-saving recommendations. Evidently, more stringent measures are required.

I was hoping we would not have to go to Defcon 6 (on a 5-point scale), but here goes:

Henceforth, flushing the toilet will be performed on a discretionary basis. Use the old axiom: If its yellow let it mellow, if its brown flush it down. We have those waterless urinals at work and they're not that bad unless somebody had asparagus. This week they put blue stuff in them, so when in action they look like a lava lamp. Way cool and no water!
Transportation of glaciers to NC via 12-ounce cans should be increased immediately.
Even at fine restaurants, men will no longer be expected to pour their bottle or can of beer into a glass as an expression of good manners. Eliminates the need to wash glasses and instills that 'at home' feeling.
To eliminate washing of sweaty clothes, men will again be restricted from exercise of any kind. This does not include activites like golf or fishing, which do not cause one to break a sweat. This sacrifice will mean more time in front of the TV, so caring wives may want to consider an upgrade during the Holiday season. 50" plasma is fine.
I saved the best for last. My plan will not only resolve Wake County's water supply crisis, but also address concerns regarding illegal immigration. Let us welcome those crossing the Rio Grande, and have them form a bucket brigade which begins at that river and stretches all the way to Wake County. I know its Texas water, but beggars...

Messing With Mother Nature Again

2007-11-15T21:43:00.000-05:00

I hope that most of the rain we got today made its way to our reservoirs, we need it. Jordan Lake is still down six feet, and Raleigh's water supply is measured in months.

So, what do you do when you hit the wall on water supply in Wake County? The county's answer is to build more reservoirs. Click here to view Wake County's proposal to build a new reservoir on the Little River. The new lake will provide 17 million gallons of water a day to northeastern Wake County.

The lake will flood 1,100 acres of what today is open green space. In addition, a critical watershed about twice that size must be established.

Are we doing the right thing for Wake County? On one hand, people like me whine about having infrastructure in place before development, and this represents a clear attempt to do that. That said, I struggle to believe we are doing right. Who is going to pay to build the lake and water treatment plant? Developers? Not! This is a trade-off decision... Does it make sense to give up 1,100 acres of undeveloped land so that growth can continue? If yes, do we flood another 1,100 acres when that water supply runs out? Where does it end?

Ernie McAlister always liked to talk about "Moving Cary forward." At a county-level, if we keep moving forward like this the final product will be a county in which almost every square inch of land has been made 'more productive.' Take a trip to North Jersey and you can see what 'productive' counties look like. No thanks.

We have two huge man-made reservoirs already, how about letting nature determine when enough is enough.

The Feeding Frenzy Continues

2007-11-13T09:34:00.000-05:00

At the end of the third quarter, the Cary Town Manager issued a report stating 707 residential building permits had been issued during the period.

In October, 209 more permits were issued. In a four month period, 916 permits. Annualized, the rate is 3,664.

Does Ernie still blame Harold for 78% of this?

This will be Ernie's legacy. When you drive around town and see a large parcel leveled, think of Ernie. When you see an orange traffic cone, think of Ernie. When you see a trailer added to your child's school, think of Ernie.

Cary's new town hall was never dedicated with a plaque (probably because Ernie's name would not have appeared on it since it was completed before his tenure). I believe a man who has made such a substantial mark on a town's history should be appropriately memorialized. Here are a few suggestions:

The Ernie McAlister Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility. Ernie was a driving force behind this initiative which paved the way for our growth to 250,000 and allowed the citizens of New Hill the opportunity to process our sludge.

Rename Lake Johnson to Lake Ernie. That Johnson guy is probably dead anyway and won't care, and Cary's most recent contribution of 7,000 gallons of raw sewage to the lake deserves to be recognized.

Apply a misuse overlay to all of the downtown Cary properties which have become boarding houses and slums over the past few years. Name it Ernieville (think of Pottersville here).

Let your imagination go, post any ideas you have!

Realtors

2007-11-10T09:15:00.000-05:00

During Harold Weinbrecht's campaign, I met some realtors who were just great people. These people were part of a grass-roots effort to restore sanity to growth management in Cary. Their motives varied. Some said they were putting the interests of their home town ahead of their personal gain. Others realized that runaway growth may increase short-term transactions, but does not make for a long-term healthy market.

These wonderful people were in the microscopic minority of realtors having a social conscience. My following comments do not apply to them.

When Glen Lang referred to realtors as 'pond scum' he was being kind. I liken their business model to that of a pimp. They make money off every transaction, whether the buyer/seller benefits or not.

Consider today's front-page N&O story regarding home inspections. Eight members comprise the NC Home Inspection Licensure Board, the lone realtor being John Hamrick. Mr. Hamrick introduced a proposal which would prohibit home inspectors from making repair recommendations, even for safety issues. The NC Realtors Lobby has gotten behind the proposal and again poured some of their unlimited PAC money into making it a reality. Opponents of this rules change have pointed out the motivation to reduce home inspectors' potential to delay or derail home-sale closings amid a nation-wide housing slump. Mr. Hamrick says the measure would actually benefit consumers by 'standardizing' the home inspection reports. NC Senator Marc Basnight oversees the Home Inspection Committee, has appointment power for two of the eight positions, and the NC Realtors Lobby gave $16,000 to his last campaign.

Me, I'd kind of like to know if a house I'm buying sits on top of a bikini atoll's worth of radon. It would also be handy to receive recommendations regarding upgrades of amenities like electrical wiring, heating or matters regarding structural integrity. I'll take my chances with a non- 'standardized' report to hopefully learn of these things before buying.

Realtors still have a stranglehold on the market. I'm not calling out collusion here, but I find it incredibly coincidental that every major real estate agency has established 6% commission rate. Try listing your home with Concept 2000 or one of the other discount brokers who charge 3-4%. Realtors with clients will drive by your property and avoid showing it at all costs.

I have had the pleasure of meeting some great people who were realtors. Unfortunately, most realtors I've met have been a disappointment. Stories like today's only serve to make life more difficult for the ones who conduct themselves ethically.

New Blog Feature Added: Video of the Day!!

2007-11-05T17:23:00.000-05:00

Why waste your valuable time surfing YouTube for today's gem, when I've already wasted mine?

2009 Campaign Begins !!

2007-11-03T14:04:00.000-04:00

As Mrs. Gump said, politics is like a box of chocolates... Some of 'em might look pretty on the outside but when you open 'em up you find stuff you don't like. Kind of like Jennifer Robinson.

The first council meeting after the elections she started re-inventing herself as a balanced-growth advocate. At the last council meeting she actually voted against a rezoning request for higher density. Over the next two years J.Low will continue her miraculous transformation from Ernie-bot to selfless community advocate.

No matter. Whoever runs against her, I like their chances. She sold out her neighbors on DHH and built herself a reputation as a champion for special insterests. People don't forget, and I'm sure her opponent(s) will help them to remember.

Back to Reality

2007-11-02T10:46:00.000-04:00

OK, so my last post and picture were looking ahead to better times when we get a new Town Council, now it's back to reality.

The Cary Town Manager just released our 3rd quarter report. During the quarter, Cary issued 707 building permits -- an all-time record high for any quarter. Local TV station WBST ran a story, here are some excerpts with Bernie McSmales:

Reporter: So, Mr. McSmales, you have had a busy third quarter!

McSmales: Yes Jane, we have continued to move the town forward at a fiscally responsible pace.

Reporter: I read somewhere that Governer Easley has asked municipalities to reduce water consumption by 50%, do you think setting records for building is a good idea?

McSmales: Absolutely, Jane. Yes, these new projects will require water for pouring concrete, but since Cary just gave back 7,000 gallons to NC's water supply, this represents a fair balance.

Reporter: You mean the 7,000 gallons of raw sewage that was spilled into a Lake Johnson tributary last week?

McSmales: Eventually that will become water, stop with the details. Besides, all those building permits were approved by Harold Winebreck four years ago.

Reporter: I thought you took credit for restoring a healthy growth rate in the town?

McSmales: Yeah, but I figured out real quick that that wouldn't get me votes. You need to keep up with the commercials, Jane.

Reporter: So, is this how you want to be remembered by citizens, for presiding over the all-time record quarter for building permits?

McSmales: Nope. I still have all of November left in office and I'm going for the monthly record there too!

Reporter: Well, Bernie, you've killed a lot of trees in your time.

McSmales: I didn't want to do it, but felt I owed it do them.

New Cary Town Council

2007-11-01T18:57:00.000-04:00

It seems like forever since our new Town Council was elected. Here's my best cut at what they'll look like, although I'll bet in the next picture some of these people will be moved toward the end of the line. Back of da bus, babe!

Tacky Tax

2007-10-30T21:49:00.001-04:00

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

2007-10-29T12:18:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-26T15:19:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-22T19:01:00.000-04:00

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!

2007-10-21T20:21:00.000-04:00

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 ....

2007-10-15T13:55:00.001-04:00

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 !!!

2007-10-14T21:41:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-10T17:42:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-05T14:15:00.000-04:00

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.

Lord of the Flyers

2007-09-29T19:58:00.000-04:00

Thankfully, Ernie's flyers are again making their way to my mailbox. Since Ernie has over $100K to spend, I expect nothing but the best BS in his flyers, and he has not disappointed me.

Today's flyer was very comforting to me. In it, mayor McSellout is attacking Harold Weinbrecht on a number of fronts. The best accusation Ernie can come up with is that Harold actually approved most of the development which has occurred under this administration. This begs a few questions:

Throughout this campaign, Ernie has accused Harold of bringing growth to a standstill, and Ernie has proudly taken credit for bringing Cary out of those 'Dark days' and restoring healthy growth. Now he's blaming that same growth on Harold. Whose growth is it anyway?
If the previous administration is in fact to 'blame' for all this growth, then why did mayor McSellout spend all that money on an economic consultant?
If Harold is the one who approved all this growth, then why aren't the developers giving all their money to him instead of Ernie? This includes the out-of-town developers who gave Ernie almost $50K. Show me the money!

Like I said, nothing but the best BS from Ernie. The fact is, Ernie's administration approved all the building permits, not Harold's. Harold's approved the zoning for the developments Ernie points out, but as usual, Ernie only gives half the story. Harold's administration also had budget and ordinances in place to balance growth, both of which were doomed as of Ernie's first day in office.

So why am I encouraged? Ernie has sent out at least six different flyers and has his face all over TV. Cary people may be many things, but stupid is not one of them. Every time they see a flyer or commercial, they are reminded of who truly owns the mayor -- the developers who fill his campaign coffers. Cary people know that if Ernie really had a great story to tell, he wouldn't need $100,000 to tell it.

Ernie's biggest (and only?) political asset is his country-bumpkin charm and ever-present tan. Every time he sends out a nasty-gram, a little of that folksy image that he tries so hard to create gets chipped away, and Cary citizens learn a bit more about how ruthless mayor McSellout really is.

Ernie's best one-liner of the week comes from his News14 forum with Harold Weinbrecht. When asked a direct question about all the money pouring into his campaign from developers all over the country, Ernie said he "Makes no apologies" for all that money. This came across as arrogant, and again helped people see through the country-bumpkin image he works so hard to create.

16 Days

2007-09-23T17:56:00.000-04:00

Hard to believe it is 16 days until the Cary election. I have enjoyed receiving all the campaign flyers and seeing just how creative people can be. A bit disappointing, I didn't receive Ernie's third and fourth flyers.

A shining example of creativity is Tommy Byrd. Mr. Byrd is a real estate agent/developer of the same ilk as Ernie. He has two websites up -- byrdforcary.com and byrd4cary.org. Interestingly, the .com website is for his campaign, while the .org is used for his business. I quote the following from his business home page:

Whether you need access to the latest national leasing and sales data, or information on the current politics of growth in our area, we have it. Our market is rated as one of the hottest in the country. It pays to know who is active, who isn't - and why. Let us be your eyes and ears. Making smart decisions is all about having the most current and accurate information available.

Seems like this guy built his business selling an insider's view of Town Hall, now he is running for Town Council -- scary.

Other 'Old Guard' candidates running for Town Council:

Nels Roseland: Almost $30,000 in campaign contributions from developers, voted for DHH
John Rigsbeee: Treasurer of Ernie's 2003 campaign.

'New Guard' candidates who are not beholden to developers:

Harold Weinbrecht, Mayor
Don Frantz, Town Council
Erv Portman, Town Council (incumbent, voted against DHH)
Gale Adcock, Town Council

Ernie-Gram Number 2

2007-09-12T16:43:00.000-04:00

I enjoyed reading Ernie's second flyer which arrived in the mail today. Again, like the Easter Bunny leaving another nice, shiny turd.

Update: Something I missed on this flyer which was pointed out to me by one of the many people who know more about Cary politics than I do: The Mayor broke Cary's own law with this flyer. The flyer featured an image and watermark of the official Town of Cary Seal. This seal is copyrighted and can only be used for official town business -- reelection campaigns are not town business. Arrogant to the last, apparently Ernie believes the seal belongs to him and not the Town of Cary.

If Ernie wants his own seal, he should go with this:

There are 120,000 people in Cary and every household is probably receiving these mailers. Ernie's killing a lot of trees here, but that's what he is good at. Perhaps part of Ernie's clear-cutting of Cary was always intended to generate paper pulp for future use in his campaign?

Based on Ernie's flyer, it is clear that he is more than happy to sacrifice his loyal attendant (Nels Roseland) for the greater good of getting himself reelected. His only attack against Harold Weinbrecht is to criticize the 'previous administration' of fiscal irresponsibility. Nels was part of that administration.

Personally, I'm glad to see Nels get skewered, he deserves it. He's as bad as Ernie. He voted against pole signs, but that was actually after he voted for them. Cost: $500K. Ka-ching! He was largely responsible for wasting over $200K of our money on consulting fees for the doomed aquatics palace. Finally, he bought in completely to this insulting last-minute campaign sham regarding land-banking, and in doing so used our kids as political capital.

Nels bought into Ernie-nomics hook, line and sinker, and now Ernie is tossing him off his political Titanic.... A very good example to the people of Cary of just how ruthless Ernie can be when he's not on camera.

Goodbye Nels, you've lost the only guy who maybe could have helped you retain your council seat, and you are no longer a contender. Don Frantz is a great guy and I hope he wins. If not, I am sure Vickie Maxwell will still be a big improvement.

And Ernie, if fabricated 'fiscal responsibility' is the best you can come up with, you're in trouble. The only 'fiscally responsible' facet of your administration is your reelection fund, which is loaded with over $100,000.

We all know a rotten fish stinks from the head-down!

Water, Water Everywhere --- NOT !!

2007-09-11T09:06:00.000-04:00

Just a friendly reminder... As Cary's water supply continues to approach the danger zone, remember that in 2000 we had a population of 98,000 people, today we have over 120,000 -- Mostly courtesy of Ernie McAlister. Over the same period of time we could have held growth flat and annexed the ENTIRE TOWN of Apex and reached the same result.

An Odd Campaign Story

2007-09-10T18:12:00.000-04:00

Here's an interesting story from Plattsburgh, NY that my parents sent my way. Good for a chuckle, probably won't see any campaign signs like that in Cary, especially from Ernie.

2007-09-09T20:04:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I finally received my long-awaited first campaign flyer from Ernie McAlister. My exxpections were met, and his flyer proves that you can indeed put enough polish on a turd to make it shine. I'd scan a copy and post it here, but I'm sure all living or dead citizens of Cary have already received their copy. This Lie-O-Gram is well-produced, but I guess when you have $100,000 of developer money to spend you can afford the best. On the other hand, when you have spent four years selling out Cary, you probably are forced to spend a lot of money on campaign collateral to make people think you were actually serving their needs.

By the way, I call Ernie's flyer a Lie-O-Gram because failure to tell the whole truth constitutes a lie as far as I'm concerned.

A few observations in the form of "Ernie said, Joe Said" ......

On "Making a difference" over the last four years ...

Ernie said "Successfully passed a $120M clean water bond to fund a regional wastewater treatment facility"
Joe said "I spent $120M of your tax money to keep my developer friends happy and let them continue to build.

Ernie said "Assumed ownership of SAS Soccer Park"
Joe said "Which loses money every year, but we're fiscally responsible!!"

Ernie said "Provided land to the Wake County Public School System"
Joe said "Gave them land which the previous mayor secured from developers"

Ernie said "Restored Cary's long term fiscal health"
Joe said "Increased Cary's debt to the largest amount in the history of the town"

On Ernie's "Vision for our future" ...

Ernie said "Invest $100M to build and expand Cary's roads"
Joe said "Again, your tax dollars at work to support developers' business interests"

Ernie said "Keep Cary's tax rate low"
Joe said "By continuing to go into debt and leaving it for the next mayor to clean up"

Ernie said "Initiate a land banking program [for schools]"
Joe said "Ernie, that one is just plain over the line. You have done zip for our students during your administration and made the BoE's even worse by driving over 6% residential growth. Now you come up with this six weeks before the election? [see previous post on this subject]. Cary students, two of whom are my kids, are not your political collateral to be exploited for the purpose of your reelection. To come up with a stunt like this dishonors all Cary students."

We got fooled by Ernie's pretty flyers and worthless promises four years ago, we won't get fooled again!

Mayor McAlister's Aug28th State of Cary Update

2007-09-04T15:07:00.000-04:00

As usual, Ernie McAlister has only addressed a small part of what's going on in Cary -- and there made a weak attempt at imparting positive spin. As a citizen of Cary, I expect such addresses to be based on facts, and to focus on the things that matter to me, not what matters to the Mayor. As such, I took the liberty of including the mayor's update here, and added Joe's running commentary in blue to provide what I consider a good update would have addressed...

On June 28 the Cary Council unanimously adopted our annual town budget. Once again, Cary is proud to spend over $200M of taxpayer money to pay for new development. As we head into the new fiscal year (maybe he meant 'election' year), I am pleased to report we have an expanding local economy that allows us to continue to improve our services, address (think he meant to say 'create') critical needs like roads and public safety, increase our reserves, and still hold the line on our property tax rate. Fiscal discipline and a sound economy are the budgetary pillars that allow our town to expand services and improve our community’s quality of life. Our town's debt may be at a record-high, but as long as we can keep paying the bills we must be ok.

Over the past four fiscal years Cary has been able to reestablish a sustainable pattern of revenue growth larger than the growth in the town’s operational expenses. This may be a bit difficult for most people to understand given the mayor has shrank the operating fund margin every year. This allows us to maintain a six-month operational surplus of $52 million (again, lowest in 20 years), keeps our balance sheet strong, allows Cary to enjoy a AAA bond rating, and most importantly provides the resources to continue to improve and expand our roads, parks and utilities so that we can continue to add people and need more roads, parks and utilities. Highlights of the budget include six new police officers to help keep Cary safe and 11 new or extended staff positions to better serve parks, recreation and cultural needs. Maybe Ernie's in such a good mood he might even reinstate safety officers at schools! In the area of general capital spending, $28.2 million has been committed to improving roads, and $7 million-plus to parks, including the construction of the new Bartley Community Park. This should help relieve some of the traffic problems created by residential growth during the mayor's administration.

On the cautionary side, we still have a large share of capital debt inherited from commitments made by the previous administration between 1999 and 2003, and Ernie has done his level best to increase it every year. It will take time and a disciplined fiscal policy to pay down those long-term obligations, but don't expect Ernie to do it, he has to keep his campaign-contributing developers happy. Nevertheless, we have made a strong financial recovery from the depths of 2003, raising the bar for debt every year! This recovery was recognized by an upgrade in our bond rating by Standard and Poor’s earlier this year and underscores the positive trends we have established with our town's financial affairs. To put this in the perspective of the average consumer: You don't get a good credit rating if you never borrow money, you get a good rating by borrowing large amounts of money and somehow paying it off on time.

As with any enterprise, you are only as good as the people working for you. I wish to take this opportunity to thank our wonderfully talented town staff for their dedication, professionalism and creativity.

Here in Cary, we are blessed with an award-winning team of workers who provide our citizens with the best array of services available anywhere in the country. I ask you to join me in thanking our town staff as you see them around town or at one of our many venues. They’ll appreciate the pat on the back as much as we appreciate them. Some good people working there, I thank them too.

Cary continues to attract a talented and diverse group of newcomers who enrich our community and neighborhoods, and help to keep our economy strong. Most came to Cary from other parts of the country and sometimes from other parts of the world. This is how the mayor measures quality of life in Cary? As long as someone is willing to move here from somewhere else, then we must have a great quality of life? Together we have a very vibrant and livable community in which we are building on traditions like our nationally recognized Lazy Daze Festival, our summer music series with the North Carolina Symphony, Cary Band Day and many other cultural events, festivals and happenings throughout the year. One word of warning, don't have a heart attack at any of these events --Ernie's not giving Cary EMS any money this year, so you're on your own for ambulance service. On behalf of the town and the Council, I wish to extend our thanks to the many volunteers in Cary that make these events a great success and enjoyment to all year after year. As always, I appreciate the rich and valuable feedback you provide to me and our council as we serve on your behalf. Please continue to engage us as we work to keep our town's devel0pers prosperous.

Schools are a top concern for thousands of Cary families, and were a key element of the mayor's campaign platform. Pity they were not important enough to the mayor to include in his address.

Ernie McAlister is Cary’s mayor.

Taking It To The Streets !!!

2007-08-26T17:20:00.000-04:00

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 !!

Prison-Chic comes to Cary

2007-08-22T22:49:00.000-04:00

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 !!

2007-08-22T15:31:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-22T12:32:00.000-04:00

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"

Update - Cary State of the Town Address

2007-08-08T20:05:00.000-04:00

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.

Where's a Friend When You Need One

2007-07-31T23:06:00.000-04:00

After leaving their website dormant for at least six months, our Friends of Wake County (Fowc'ers) finally deactivated it. Prior to last September's school bond referrendum, this group of 'concerned' civic leaders were outspoken regarding the need for investment in education, and in their commitment to sponsor joint public/private partnerships with the BoE to ensure a healthy Wake County school system.

The day after the referrendum passed, these friends went back into hiding (in most cases, they went back into building new homes). I find it ironic that this same developer-driven consortium could raise a small fortune to promote the school bond, but are spending even more on lobbying efforts to deny counties the choice of levying transfer taxes to support the same school system.

These folks must be making a ton of money strip-mining Cary, Ernie already has an $80K campaign war-chest which has been built from their contributions. Seems they always show up with money to keep the development gravy-train rolling, but in truth they don't give a damn about the quality or capacity of our schools and fade into the shadows until they feel threatened.

2007 Campaign

2007-07-13T13:24:00.000-04:00

As the 2007 campaign season begins, I thought I'd pitch in a few thoughts on slogans and sound bites that Mayor McAlister can use in his bid for reelection. Some of these (as noted) came from other sources who are smarter than me....

"I just love the sound of bulldozers in the morning" Captures that Apocolypose Now feeling, as Agent Ernie is used to defoliate Cary.

"No tree left behind" -- Source Anonymous

"You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" 'Nuf said

"Greed is good" Wall Street comes to Cary

"Paving the way to success" With concrete, one acre at a time, until we're done

"There's no such thing as a bridge too far" Just ask the handful of people that use the one over US 1/64

A successful campaign needs a theme song to rally the voters, here are a few potentials...

"This Land Was Your Land" Need Al Yankovich for this one....
This land was your land,
This land is their land,
And when we're done here,
It's built by Crosland.....

"School's Out For Summer" by Alice Cooper. Oh, never mind, can't use that one anymore

"I Can't Drive 55" by Van Halen. Holds true in Cary except between midnight and 6am.

"My Humps" by Black-Eyed Peas. More traffic-control humps going up every day.

"Love Train" ... ie. "People all over the world, join me... In Cary, Cary

"Lying Eyes" by The Eagles.... 'nuf said

"Our Future's so Bright We Have to Wear Sunglasses" Unfortunately it is mortgaged to the hilt.
(Bonus points here for anyone who can name the band)

Let The Strip-Mining of Cary Continue !!!!

2007-06-28T20:52:00.000-04:00

Well, its official -- The CTC voted unanimously at tonight's town council meeting to approve the proposed 2008 budget. We are going to spend $220M on roads, water and sewer infrastructure to either catch up with growth which has already occurred or, more likely, to fund the cost of future development.

This same budget includes a generous apportionment of a whopping $1M for preservation of open space.

A good point brought up by Brent Miller regarding Cary EMS. This is the organization we count on for ambulance service and EMT's. They are volunteers, and these people save lives. In the past, Cary has provided them with around $10K a year in funding. For '08, they asked for $25K in funding. Cary's fiscally-responsible response was to give them nothing. That's right, but budget they approved tonight subsidizes developers to the tune of $220M, but nothing for EMS. The message they are sending: Please come and buy one of the many new houses being built in Cary, but if you have a heart attack and need ambulance service you're sh*t out of luck.
In fact, even if you already live here you may be sh*t out of luck.

Thankfully, the budget still supports the Cary ballet. I'm thinking if our EMS staff wears tutu's, they may get more attention at town hall and stand a better chance of being funded.

As the town's own budget report shows, Cary debt is at an all-time high (as is our debt service), and our general fund operating margin is as low as it has been in twenty years, and is probably the lowest in history on a percent-of-expenditure basis. The rate of residential building permit approvals has increased four-fold in the past three years.

Earlier in tonight's meeting, a majority of residents from the Quail Ridge subdivision petitioned to increase the zoning density for their property. Their once pastoral neighborhood of 5-10 acre propertys has been enveloped by Cary mega-development on all sides. These people are looking to bail out and want the denser zoning to increase the sale value of their lots. Erv Portman raised a very good point... These people are long term (in some cases 30+ years) residents of Cary, and are suffering with increased traffic and noise because of all of the surrounding growth. He supported the rezoning, and I can't argue with the justification. He went on to point out that Cary should see a lot more similar requests in the future -- no doubt. When developers buy up large parcels of land and receive their rubber stamps of approval to increase density, our planning staff and CTC never account for the domino effect it will cause.

I wish I were smart enough to compute how much residential development is supported by a $220M in infrastructure, then calculate how many students that will add to our already over-crowded school system. The subject of schools was brought up by one CTC member (J-Low of all people) and summarily dismissed by the rest.

BTW, the $220M represents two-thirds of our budget. In other words, if development truly paid for itself, then our taxes would be one-third of what they are now (alright, maybe getting a little carried away here).

Watching the CTC smile and unanimously approve this budget made me sick. I'm sure the developers who are sucking this area dry are having a big party right now, probably at the Umstead Hotel. Wouldn't be surprised if some of our CTC members show up there. I just hope noone there needs an ambulance.

Cary Beer Garden

2007-05-23T14:19:00.000-04:00

For the past month, a public debate has raged over the decision by the folks running Lazy Daze to add a beer garden to this year's event.

For the record, I am no stranger to beer gardens, Especially when they serve big ones like this picture. Sometimes a tall frosty one just hits the spot.

What dumbfounds me (among many other things) is the amount of media attention and citizen activism this issue has spawned. Hundreds of citizens are voicing strong opinions, mostly against having a beer garden at the festival. A few courageous beer lovers are fighting the good fight, despite being outnumbered at least 10-1. Read the last three editions of The Cary News to fully appreciate the public rancor over the infamous beer garden.

Read those same editions and you'll find a few pieces from citizens regarding Cary's exponential growth and the problems it has created with schools, roads and overall quality of life.

I have to wonder why people get so worked up over a few innocent beers served on one day in Cary, when EVERY day in Cary our roads and schools are jammed, and every month we hear about a new high-rise commercial complex being built amidst what was once a beautiful small town. By next year the beer garden will be a non-issue because there will be a 10-story mega-commercial complex occupying the space instead.

From Joe's warped perspective.... Imagine heavyweights like Anheuser-Busch and Miller came to town with lots of money to back their candidates for office. They build a beer garden on every corner in Cary, enticing beer-lovers from across the country to drive here for a cold one. The beer is cheap compared to where they come from, so they decide to stay. Martha Stewart decides to open up a Southern Drinking beer cafe, and the mayor shows up at the ribbon-cutting ceremony (then, back to Buschwood Country Club for the next fund-raiser). Now is when you scream "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore." Substitute Highwoods and Wakefield for the beer companies -- why can't we scream the same thing ?????

BTW, I think the beer garden is a bad idea.

The Truth Comes Out... Well, A Little Bit

2007-05-22T11:03:00.000-04:00

Finally some Wake County politicians are admitting that our taxes will increase, directly attributed to our rapid growth rate (See N&O Article). County taxes will increase 5.7%, and could go higher. Meanwhile in Cary, our growth continues unabated and we are approaching the point where tax collections no longer keep up with the growth rate -- see previous post regarding $185M of our money that Agent Ernie & the Orange Team are spending to build infrastructure, just next year. I can see the Friends of Wake County jumping back into the fray on this one, defending the politicians they helped put into office. They have spin doctors that are a lot smarter than me, I can't wait to hear their dribble.

New Cary Flag Unfurled !!!

2007-05-17T15:33:00.000-04:00

The United States flag bears a stripe for each of the original 13 colonies, and a star to represent each state.

I believe the Cary flag hasn't been updated in the past 20 years, and things have changed quite a bit over that time. Much as our national flag is a representation of those entities which comprise our collective government, I'd like to apply that same spirit to Cary's flag and do justice to those who are the true 'movers and shakers' at town hall:

This flag is a tribute to all those who are helping make Cary a better place to live for another 120,000 people (provided they are coming from Atlanta or Southern California).

Strip-Mining Wake County

2007-05-11T22:30:00.000-04:00

Must admit I'm behind the times on this one... Read about the Wake County Blue Ribbon Committee earlier this week and found a link to their report which was published in July 2006. Not light reading, and will take some time to really digest this.

The committee was organized to evaluate projected growth's impacts on our tax structure, infrastructure and quality of life. The planning horizon is the next 25 years.

On first scan through, here are some interesting factoids:

Wake County's population is expected to double over the next 30 years, to 1.4 million.
Today the county has 1,320 jail beds. We will need between 3,200 and 3,800 by year 2030, as evidenty as convicts will comprise a portion of our population growth. In fact, we will need to spend $800M on additional criminal justice facilities.
We will have to invest $11.7 billion on our school system as our student population grows from 120,000 to 280,000 over this period of time. To raise this capital, the committee recommends increasing sales tax by 1%, adding the 1% real estate transfer tax, and reassessing properties every four years instead of every eight.
Going to need another $6B for road construction, plus another $6B from the fed. Committee recommendation is that we add toll roads and use part of the sales tax increase to fund this.
Traffic: Daily vehicle traffic miles have gone from 9.5 million in 1986 to 25 million in 2003 (now I know why there seem to be more cars on the road)

I could go on, but I won't. The committee included a fair number of real estate developers. If our taxes are going to fund these kinds of growth costs, I can't begin to imagine how many billions of dollars the developers stand to make. Once the locusts (as another poster appropriately described them) are done in Wake County, they will move on to the next hot spot and start all over. We will be left living in another Atlanta.

Choice

2007-05-09T13:35:00.000-04:00

Since I've written so many posts and letters supporting the BoE and applauding the great job they do, they were kind enough to share with me a copy of the ballot they will be distributing to allow parents to volunteer for YR formats. Here's a copy for your convenience

Cary Town Budget

2007-05-08T21:50:00.000-04:00

Here's the email sent out by Town of Cary announcing next year's budget. We have $185M in the capital improvement budget for water & sewer projects. This money is being spent to keep up with Cary's rapid growth rate. The developers aren't paying it (other than trivial impact fees), WE ARE. $185M is a lot of money, here are some other ideas for how to spend it:

Give it to me.
Buy up lots of land and give it to WCPSS dirt cheap, they need it. Have the strip-miners (aka Developers) pay for the infrastructure.
Begin more road improvement projects... This includes widening of route 55 to six lanes, same for High-House Rd. and Davis Drive. I know we just widened them to four lanes, but that just got us back to where we were ten years ago. With all the new Martha Stewart developments going in, let's get a head start! Don't forget the on/off ramps at the major intersections.
My older son goes into high school this fall. He and his buddies are going to want to hang out at the Starbucks, which is on the other side of 55 from my house. Since route 55 is going to be six lanes, I'd like a pedestrian bridge built across it.
Give it to me.
Put up more traffic-management pole signs. The signs we have today provide such great information regarding traffic patterns and other news, I don't know how I ever got around without them.
Give it to me.
The kids play dodgeball in school and really enjoy it. Can't we use some of this money to build a regional dodgeball center? Dodgeballers from around the world would flock to Cary to use our facility. Our motto: "We're better than you,... and we know it!"
Build an airport. We're out-growing Raleigh, and I think it is high time we had our own airport. If we can't rename the current facility to Cary/Raleigh/Durham Airport, then let's build. I like the jets in my backyard, just wish they were closer.
Stop building all the houses, stop screwing up the school system, stop clogging the roads and save us $185M.

PROPOSED BUDGET HOLDS LINE ON CARY TAXES & SOLID WASTE FEES, CONTINUES INVESTMENT IN PARKS AND STREETS
Public hearings to be held May 24 and June 14

CARY, NC – Citizens will once again have two opportunities this year to comment on the Town of Cary’s total proposed $387 million budget to support $153,263,306 million in operations and $233,940,367 in capital projects for Fiscal Year 2008, which runs from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008. The Town Manager’s recommended plan includes no property tax or solid waste fee increase, while continuing to invest in utility, street, and park capital improvements including $1 million for the Town’s open space acquisition program. Citizens are invited to share their views at either of two budget public hearings to be held as part of the regular Town Council meetings on May 24 and June 14, which begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Town Council Chambers, 316 N. Academy St., in downtown Cary.

“The Council’s direction over the last several years to delay new debt and further tighten spending while taking steps to facilitate tax base expansion have all combined to strengthen the financial outlook for FY2008. Major choices in the near future include the pace at which we proceed with additional capital improvements including major projects in the downtown area,” said Town Manager Bill Coleman, who reviewed his recommended budget with the Cary Council during a work session today.

Highlights of Coleman’s proposed capital plan include $37.2 million for street improvements and other transportation initiatives, $29.8 million for water projects, $155.4 million for sewer projects, $2.7 million for general government needs, $1.6 million for fire, and nearly $7.3 million for parks including $1 million for open space.

Highlights of Coleman’s proposed operating plan include maintaining the current property tax rate of 42 cents per $100 of valuation and keeping the solid waste collection fee at $11.75 per month as further efficiencies associated with the Town’s automated curbside collection and dual stream recycling programs are expected in FY 2008. Town staff has also been able to hold the expected rise in Cary utility rates to 4.3 percent—$2.73 more a month for a Cary customer using 7,000 gallons of water.

The proposed operating budget includes 41.25 additional staff to maintain existing service levels throughout Cary’s 53.35 square miles, particularly in the areas of inspections, engineering, technology services, public works and utilities, and parks. This increase in Town staff would bring the total to 1,122.375 full time equivalents (FTEs), or about 9.1 staff members for each 1,000 Cary residents – one of the lowest staff-to-citizen ratios in the state for a large municipality.

“Because we continue to operate under the philosophy that adding personnel is the most expensive, long-term solution to any situation, we work hard to find alternative ways to achieve our goals, only adding staff when it’s absolutely necessary,” said Coleman.

The Town of Cary’s annual budget is a work and financial plan designed to implement the Town Council’s vision for the community as articulated in the organization’s mission statement and goals and initiatives:

Mission Statement:
At the Town of Cary we focus every day on enriching the lives of our citizens by creating an exceptional environment and providing exemplary services that enable our community to thrive and prosper.

Goals and Initiatives:
• Achieve a well-planned community using innovative and proactive planning approaches and techniques
• Ensure that roads, water and waste water facilities, parks, and other infrastructure exists for the existing citizens and for the future needs identified in the comprehensive plan
• Achieve a stable and strong financial position by accurately estimating, prudently allocating and managing financial resources
• Achieve a high level of service to the citizens in a prompt, reliable, responsive, and cost effective manner

In addition to today’s work session and the budget public hearings on May 24 and June 14, the Town Council will hold at least one additional work session to discuss aspects of the proposed budget in greater detail. Any changes or additions to the Manager’s recommended budget that the Council would like included will be listed separately and voted on in conjunction with approval of the entire budget at the regular Council meeting on June 28. North Carolina law requires local governments to adopt a balanced budget by June 30 since the new fiscal year starts July 1.

Beginning May 11, printed copies of the budget will be available for review at Town Hall and at the Cary public library in downtown Cary and at the West Regional Library, 4000 Louis Stephens Drive. Information from the proposed budget will also be available at www.townofcary.org.

WakeCARES

2007-05-08T12:15:00.000-04:00

This post is addressed to the thousands of people who are venting their anger regarding Judge Manning's decision at WakeCARES.

Dear WakeCARES critics,

First, I'd like to let you know that you make me want to puke.

Second, I'd like to correct you on a few of the accusations you make:

You characterize people in WakeCARES and a pampered and affluent bunch of spoiled parents who just want things their way and don't care about other people.
Fact: I know people in WakeCARES. They do not live in hoity-toity Preston mansions, they live in basic Apex homes. If you want to vent your anger at rich people, then start tracking down the FOWC'ers (Friends of Wake County) and yell at them. These are the developer-funded people who cajoled us into spending $1M on schools so that they could keep increasing their wealth through land development. Unless you know the WakeCARES people, your assertions about their affluence and intent have no basis in fact, and I suspect you don't have many facts at all regarding what has led us to the current schools debacle.
I know at least one WakeCARES member whose children have not even reached elementary school yet. These people are fighting for what's right, not for their self-serving need. The fact that they have persevered despite the onslaught of ill-informed rhetoric from people like you tells me on which side the true character lies.
You are being manipulated and you don't even know it. By taking an arrogant stance of 'No Plan B' the BoE cemented our fate. In fact, the BoE has a longstanding and documented record of pro-MYR policy-making, so the genesis of this problem goes back years [read: before WakeCARES was formed]. By venting focusing your anger on WakeCARES, you are absolving the BoE of any responsibility.
Use your brain before you speak. The judge has ruled that MYR is ILLEGAL. WakeCARES didn't make it illegal, the BoE did. Your WakeCARES attacks are the equivalent of stating that you want the BoE to break the law, making you a co-conspirator.

Stop acting like sheep who are just glad they weren't the ones who go sheared or slaughtered this time around -- your time could come next. The BoE has already demonstrated that they are incapable of responsibly using the power they have... Don't act like you support giving them the additional power of amnesty above the law.

Cary -- Best Places to Live ??

2007-05-08T12:08:00.000-04:00

Interesting... Last night I hit the Money Magazine 'Best Places to Live' blog to see what recent comments had been posted regarding the upheaval in our school system after JACASS (Judgement Against County Arrogant School Supervisors). Seems that the Cary blog has been shut down recently, preventing residents from advising others on considerations they should take into account regarding schools.

I'm done sending them letters, and will personally laugh my behind off if Cary is still ranked in the top ten this year.

Howdy

2007-05-07T11:50:00.000-04:00

I have found that doing a full-time job, coaching two baseball teams and trying to maintain a quality family life leaves little room for much else. Given events of the past couple of weeks, I could not resist sending the following letter to the Cary News. Not sure whether it will get printed, so posting it here.

An open letter to Mayor Ernie McAllister

Mr. Mayor,

As a citizen of Cary and a parent of two children enrolled in the Wake County Public Schools system, I am asking that you publicly disclose what actions the Cary Town Council will take to represent your constituents in bringing order to the chaos following Judge Manning’s decision to block MYR conversions.

Your campaign flyer from the 2003 election listed “Assignment by choice for Cary students” as a priority for your current administration. Given thousands of Cary parents can no longer be certain which schools their children will go to or whether their calendar will be YR or split-shift, I am assuming that “Assignment by choice” will again be a key element of your platform in this year’s elections.

The Cary Town Council has consistently endorsed the actions of the Wake County Board of Education, including a public statement of support for the 2006 school bond. Earlier this year, you stated in a televised program that you were not in favor of splitting up WCPSS into smaller, more manageable districts. Further, you stated that the CTC’s approach to addressing problems with school capacity would be to continue to work with the BoE, and subsequently they were invited to participate in the CTC retreat.

Our schools are now in utter chaos. The BoE chose not to pursue a ‘Plan B’ because they were overly confident that Judge Manning would rule in their favor. Judge Manning instead ruled that the BoE’s actions were illegal. In hindsight, the decision not to develop a ‘Plan B’ was at best, arrogant, and Wake County families are now paying the price.

Parents at schools which planned as MYR will now be given the opportunity to ‘volunteer’ to have their schools converted. If enough parents do not ‘volunteer’ then the BoE has made it clear that they may move students to any school in the county, and potentially on a split-shift schedule. I expect this threat will force a lot of parents to vote for something they really don’t want.

Here are the questions I think you should answer, publicly:

Do you and the CTC still support the BoE and it’s actions?
Do you and the CTC still believe that the citizens of Cary are best-served by remaining part of WCPSS which has over 120,000 students and is growing rapidly?
What actions has the CTC taken in the past 60 days to work with the BoE towards better solutions for school capacity issues?
What actions will the CTC take in the next 60 days to represent the citizens of Cary in matters related to our children’s education?
Given WCPSS has stated that there are not enough seats for students, what are your administration’s plans to manage residential growth and avoid adding to the problem?

I have seen no public statements in the past few weeks from our Cary government which address any of these questions. In fact, I have seen no public statements on this subject at all.

Now is not the time to watch from the sidelines, we need to know what we can expect from our Cary Town leaders.

Joe Ciulla

A glimpse of the Future

2007-03-27T10:56:00.000-04:00

A well-informed person was kind enough to spend some time with me to discuss Cary's growth issues. A few (of the many) things I did not know.... Cary is down to about 8,000 buildable acres left, that is, unless we continue to annex our way to the Atlantic ocean. Look for more developers' proposals to build up with high-density projects as the land gets scarce. I used to live in Manassas, VA, which went through the same unchecked growth experience as Cary. I just perused the local Manassas paper, here are a few bits from today's edition:

Budget calls for higher utility rates
Police blotter for March 27
M. Park balances its budget
Local officials: Veto road plan
Potomac Parkway is now regrettably needed

Take a few minutes and read these articles and letters... The stories will sound all too familiar, and give an all too scary picture of what uncontrolled development can do to ruin a nice town.

Paying the Piper

2007-03-27T10:09:00.000-04:00

Impact fees and property transfer taxes are being considered to increase funding for schools. I'm all for impact fees, although I'd bet whatever taxes are collected will be used by our county officials to pour the same amount into other pet projects. Transfer taxes are a bit more troublesome.

The N&O ran a story today describing the ad campaign which is being launched by local reators to fight this tax. I got the easy answer... implement the 1% tax and have the realtors lower their commissions from 6% to 5%.

Real estate sales is one of the last market sectors in which a true monopoly exists. Simply, if you are not listing your house in the network of realtors, you have a slim chance of selling. There are a few discount brokers out there, I tried one once. I watched realtors drive their clients right by my house to show them other similar homes on the same street.

Don't get me wrong, real estate agents do work hard. But, when they sell a house for $400K, the seller pays $24,000 in commissions. Those are split between buying and listing agencies, but 3 or 4 transactions and you've made what a Wake County teacher does.

Here's a chance to give a little back, show us the money.

Money Magazine

2007-03-20T14:54:00.000-04:00

Here's an interesting entry from the Money Magazine Best Places to Live blog:

We moved here in 2005, in part due to Money magazines favorable reviews. We have found the people to be fantastic, the jobs to be plentiful, and the safety to be top-notch. However, the current city council is letting growth get out of control. If you have school-aged children I would steer clear of Wake County schools for at least a few years while they convert many Cary schools to Mandatory Year Round schedules - a proven failure in many other parts of the country. Wait to see if a new school board gets elected that will actually listen to their constituents and not tear families apart. Wait to see if we elect a Cary Mayor who will get involved in this major problem with our schools and not just say 'not my jurisdiction, nothing I can do.' Cary can be great - but it is currently spiraling out of control.

Posted By Betsy, Cary, NC : 9:31 AM

I pissed off a few people on this subject a while back, but every once in a while I go back to the blog to see what people are saying. Encouraging to see other people who share the same dissatisfaction with our mayor's leadership in resolving the schools crisis.

Off the Beaten Path

2007-03-17T08:57:00.000-04:00

Today's N&O featured a story about a troubled young man who hanged himself in a youth detention facility. This yout had a police record of breaking and entering, and theft of a handgun. While in the detention center, he used a bedsheet to hang himself from one of the bars in the cell window.

The facility superintendent admitted that this might have been prevented if his personnel had performed their bedchecks, and since the incident they have had plexiglass installed over all the windows to prevent another incident.

According to the young man's mother, "There's nothing in the world that can replace him. No amount of money." So, she sued the state and obtained a $500,000 settlement.

The death of this young man is sad, despite his apparently predestined path to self-destruction. I doubt anyone will write a letter to the N&O questioning why any financial settlement was granted when 'no amount of money' could replace him.

Yet many parents have taken time to write the N&O criticizing WakeCARES for their lawsuit representing the INNOCENT children of wake county. The kids they are defending are on the right track and have no criminal records. None of them will die because of MYR, but how do you put a price on the stress inflicted on their families, on the additional costs of after-school care, or on the loss of equal access to extra-curricular activities?

The BoE/WCC/CTC are no less culpable than this facility superintendent, but the damage they are causing is much more widespread. If you want to criticize someone for suing the government, start in the right place.

WakeCARES (They Really Do)

2007-03-16T08:29:00.000-04:00

Now that their lawsuit has been filed, Wake County residents have run to their computers to send letters condemning this group's actions and mischaractarizing them generally along the following lines:

The are a bunch of soccer moms with too much time on their hands that should just run to Starbuck's for another Latte instead.
They are selfish people who are upset that they won't be able to spend 2 months at the beach in the summer.
They can't think beyond their own self-serving needs, and are exposing the rest of Wake County's children to further educational turmoil.
This lawsuit will only consume taxpayer dollars which could be used for education.
They should just shut up and get along.

I'm not on the WakeCARES membership rolls, but do support them any way I can including financially. I know some of the people who run the group, so I'll comment here on how wrong the above arguments are...

[Soccer moms with too much time]. Wrong! These people put in 50-60 hours a week working on this cause, and have spent thousands of dollars of their own money. They probably wish they had too much time on their hands and could run up to Starbucks for a latte.
[Shortened beach week]. Wrong! The people who believe this is the basis of the lawsuit are just plain stupid, and have not thought out how deeply MYR can affect a family. It takes ten minutes to write a critical letter to the N&O. It takes a lot longer to fully understand the subject. Children and families suffer under MYR. Students in extra-curricular activities like band, sports and science club are either left out of key events, or must attend them while they are on break (Instead of going to all those great enrichment programs which are going to be available in January?). Special needs children who suffer with transition will have their problems multiplied by four. Families who cherish together time will find half as much to enjoy. One blogger on the N&O went as far as saying her kids were happier to be on different schedules so that her kids did not have to spend as much time together. That person should know that family counseling services are only a phone call away.
[These people are selfish]. Wrong. A number of WakeCARES members do not even have children who have been sentenced to MYR. They are not fighting against the rest of Wake County parents, they are fighting FOR them. We live in the most affluent county in the state. If our town/city/council government did their jobs, there is no reason we cannot afford a traditional school solution for all students. Instead, our government's collective inattention and ineptitude has led us to MYR. Do you really think that MYR is done after this year. Until the system is fixed, look for more MYR redistricting every year. Not all, but a lot of the WakeCARES critics are in the camp of lucky ones not affected by MYR, and just want this to go away. To those people, I'd suggest they not delude themselves -- MYR will find you. Other critics are people who are voluntarily in YR schools because it works well for them, or people who have learned to live on a MYR schedule. We can do better than 'learning to live' with MYR.
[Legal costs]. Wrong. If a judge finds no basis in the lawsuit, then it will quickly be dismissed at little legal expense. When the BoE submits a budget with $11M worth of overstated project management cost and rounding errors, I'm less worried about their legal fees than their fiscal competence.
[Shut up and row]. Wrong. Taking no action would condone the BoE's actions. Aside from the fact that the BoE has been in love with YR calendars for 15 years, they now are caught up in the Wake County Money Grinder. We all (I hope) understand how this works...

Developers buy large tracts of land.
Developers contribute to grow-friendly candidates' campaigns.
Thousands of homes get built, without enough schools to go with them.
Towns issue the building permits, and the mayors say schools are a county problem.
County commisioners don't want to raise tax rates.
BoE's need for money is not taken seriously, their credibility is low given the amount of waste and fraud.
Developers pump money into funds to promote issue of $1B bond for schools.
Tax rates go up anyway and we still don't have enough schools
Repeat as necessary.

By attacking WakeCARES you are giving your approval of the way our county's development chain is run. Think about it.

Where's Ernie ????????

2007-03-14T12:51:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, WakeCARES filed their lawsuit against WCPSS's unequal provision of educational opportunities for our children. At their press conference, the towns of Apex, Garner and Holly Springs were in attendance to offer support and represent their constituents. I'm sure Ernie had all the best intentions of being there to represent us, but was unavoidably detained by another pressing engagement. I'm wondering what our Mayor could have felt was more important than advocating for Cary citizens, here are a few thoughts on where he might have spent his time:

Having brunch with some developers.
Getting a pedicure (A mayor needs good feet to stand on the soap-box and tell us how wonderful everything is).
Golfing with some developers.
At the bank, depositing developers' contributions to his '07 campaign.
Having his picture taken again with Martha Stewart as she breaks ground on the next phase of her development .... Priced from the low $400's with good behavior.
Packing sunblock and glasses for his beach trip.
Working on his '07 acceptance speech.
Working on his '07 concession speech (OK, I'm dreaming here).
Shopping for obscure public art in Ulaan Bator.
[And most likely] Hiding in City Hall and hoping the WakeCARES lawsuit bails him out of the MYR fiasco and redirects all the blame to the BoE instead of his own administration who handed out the building permits and overloaded the schools.

Let the Fur Fly

2007-03-13T15:29:00.000-04:00

Don't know what Harold Weinbrecht did to piss off Tom Joyner (I'm sure there's some history there), but he took a beauty of a missile in this week's Cary News. Never met Mr. Weinbrecht, but I happen to think he's right in just about everything he said, so I felt compelled to fire back with a letter of my own. Don't know whether it will show up in print, but here it is:

One of the letters in your March 7 issue accused Harold Weinbrecht of trying to create a 'poisonous atmosphere' in Cary with his negative comments concerning our City's leadership. I have never met Mr. Weinbrecht, but would agree with the majority of what he stated in his City of Cary Address rebuttal. It is a bit curious why Mr. Weinbrecht's column drew venom when so many preceding reader comments of a similar nature did not.

A 'poisonous atmosphere' is one which encourages citizen outrcy when their best interests are not well represented, where leaders openly challenge eachother, and where public scrutiny prevails. Kind of reminiscent of the way government was run when our great country was born.

Instead, the 'Good ole boy network' is alive and well in Cary. Developers finance our City council and mayors' campaigns (fact, not opinion), our leaders stand with the developers to support $1B bonds, and we as citizens ultimately pay the price in taxes, traffic and in our education system. This week a number of Cary families received letters assigning their mandatory year-round track assignment -- a bitter pill to swallow for the sake of increasing the tax base.

The Mayor's address painted a rosy picture of how wonderful everything is in Cary and how responsive the City Council has been to the needs of the citizens. I think a little bit of poison might go a long way toward opening people's eyes to how decisions that affect us are being made and who the real beneficiaries are.

CTC Retreat

2007-03-05T09:05:00.000-05:00

Since WRAL has picked up on the story regarding Cary Town Council's retreat to Wilmington, a number of people have expressed their dissatisfaction over how the town's tax money is being spent, and how inaccessible these sessions are to the general public. Fortunately, Cary real estate developers should have no problem getting there and mingling with our representatives, so at least they won't be alone.

Still, I think with a little planning, this session could prove quite productive in generating the kind of thoughtfulness we need from our town council. The key is to strucuture this retreat in a way which lets them experience the same kinds of issues Cary citizens face, and for the council to use the benefits of this newfound experience to provide citizen-focused leadership when they return. Here are my suggestions on getting the most out of this retreat:

To heck with meeting downstairs from the hotel rooms. Have the CTC stay in a hotel well-outside of Wilmington and schedule their meetings downtown beginning 8:30am. CTC members generally don't get to experience rush hour traffic, so give them a chance to spend 30 or 40 minutes enjoying the company of courteous fellow commuters.
After the first session, redistrict the meetings to a different downtown building, which is even further away from their hotel. This would better balance Wilmington's economic benefits and political / apolitical demographics. Explain to them that this is for the betterment of all.
As the CTC prepares to break for the day, inform them that based on budgetary restrictions, they are going to have to work Mandatory Day Round schedules, and that they will have to work through the night in yet a different building. This is an excellent cost-saving measure, and studies have shown that their efficiency will actually increase. Other CTC's have tried MDR at their retreats and found it didn't work, but I'm sure ours will be different. They can enjoy having breaks at 2am, 6am, noon and 7pm. I'm sure there are all kinds of enrichment activities available at those times.
When dinner is served, reduce the culinary offerings to chips & dip and maybe a few pork rinds -- but place a beautiful ice sculpture in the middle of the table. Artwork is important, and should precede the basic necessities.
When CTC members check out of their hotel, include a hefty 'water/sewer usage' fee on their bills, since somebody's got to pay for all the infrastructure to support hosting retreats like this.

Upon their return to Cary, let the CTC members come back to neighborhoods they no longer recognize. Put up some quick modular 'high-density' condominums or office buildings next to their houses, add a drug store on the corner, and leave them wondering what happened to the charming place they were used to.

Jaws

2007-02-22T21:30:00.000-05:00

For some reason, tonight I felt compelled to leave the comforts of my command center (Recliner) behind, drive across Cary, and attend the Cary Town Council meeting. Maybe it was because the ’08 budget was on the consent agenda. Maybe it was just that I had a tough day at work and needed the reassurance that our town leaders were still hard at work representing folks like me.

Most people in Cary don’t go to these meetings, neither did I until MYR threw my family life into turmoil. Most people in Cary shouldn’t have to go to these meetings, and we couldn’t all fit in the auditorium anyway. So….. Let my sacrifice be to your benefit. Rather than hiking across Cary to be ignored, you can be ignored right at home, read this posting, and feel like you were there in person. I’ll give you a stream-of-consciousness accounting of the evening’s events….

Got here late, in the middle of yet another rezoning discussion. First thoughts; Right about now the puck’s dropping at the Hurricanes. I probably have a better chance of seeing a fight here than if I’d stayed home to watch the game. Other thought: This is a long meeting, the black bean soup was not a good idea.

OK, now they are discussing closing a railroad crossing. Installing a stoplight timer nearby to ease residents egress will take a while because the light going in a custom-made of cast iron and we won’t get it for a year. Interesting factoid, DOT regulations require 3 existing crossings to be closed in order to open one new one. The debate is over whether to close a RR crossing down town to make it easier to open one in West Cary where all the development is. The conclusion they’re headed toward is to proceed because DOT has the crossing in the cross-hairs anyway. Council could fight a protracted battle to keep this open, but deciding this one’s out of their control. A familiar refrain, but this time probably right. Done, I’m glad I’m not one of the people who have lived in that neighborhood for 50 years and now are stuck.

Jennifer Robinson calls it an early night. I wonder if she’s going home to watch the hockey game.

Now for public hearings on the subject of the upcoming ’08 budget. If you can’t be here to speak, you can send an email to budgetinput@townofcary.org.

First speaker asking that they reconsider funding the aquatics boondoggle. Quick speech, and the council was clearly riveted.
Done.

Next topic: Citizen-initiated Annexation. The property is south of West Lake Elementary. These people asked to be annexed. We can keep growing in a southerly direction, the only thing stopping us is the South Carolina border (unless we annex South Carolina). Done.

Next topic: Another citizen-initiated annexation. Same area of town. Nice plot map provided by the developer. Nice way to make money. Start your development in Wake County with lower impact fees than even Cary has, get yourself annexed, and you can sell houses for more money. Done.

Next: Rezoning again, making property near Cary Park higher density. Approved to be sent for P&Z review.

Next: Another rezoning. 150 acres which today are undeveloped. Nice aerial photos, it has lots of trees. Borders on where the outer loop is planned. This is all zoned for residential, high-density residential and commercial. Protest petition was filed, but not enough people signed. Staff recommends forwarding to P&Z. Representative of the developer here to make sure this doesn’t affect their ability to develop surrounding properties. Approooooooooooooooooooved !!

Wonder how the ‘Canes are doing.

And now, back to annexation. 8.7 acre property, citizen-initiated request. This site houses the Hospice of Wake County. For a change, adding something to Cary we can be proud of. Approved.

Got bored and scanned the room. They have two security guards here. Think tonight I’ll keep my mouth shut.

And now, Public Speaks out. 5 guys lined up and they look ready to rumble. Group of people who live adjacent to Cary. They cut a deal years ago with M/I homes to allow them to rezone the property next to them, increasing density by six times. They say M/I has not honored their promises regarding buffers and berms. M/I has a consulting company running the project, it is run by the former Cary planning director. These guys are pissed and I don’t blame them. Developer actually had the cojones to tell one of them that he had to give up 10 feet of his property to get the berms built. Stormwater from this development is a problem for their septic systems. Great quote regarding the Cary town staff… “When we speak to them, we feel like we speak to the developer.” I’m just thinking out loud here… well not out loud, but maybe if folks from M/I had spent money on building berms instead of funding campaigns, these citizens would be a little better off. I’m not sure what the Cary government can do here, but based on what these citizens had to say I hope that our planners think a little harder about the next project that this company proposes.

Alright, Brent Miller is up. Great reminder to the council of what their responsibilities are.

Don Hyatt brings up good points regarding CTC appointments to different boards.

OK meetings done, maybe I can catch part of the third period.

Quote of the Day

2007-02-22T09:57:00.000-05:00

"If our interest was purchasing influence we would just focus on [campaign] contributions" -- KB Home spokesman Tim Pittman discussing KB Homes' announcement to donate $100 for every home it sells in Cary this year to the Cary Community Foundation. I give KB credit for two things: 1. Telling it like it is regarding purchase of influence through campaign contributions (See previous post on this topic), and 2. KB was not among the list of mega-contributors I found for the 2003 CTC campaign, other than maybe indirectly through the HBA.

The $100 is a self-imposed impact fee, at least a start...

2007 Cary Campaigns Begin !!

2007-02-20T11:49:00.000-05:00

Here's an early look at Mayor McAlister's flyer for the '07 elections, and you can see the Mayor has finally heard us and made "Assignment by Choice for Cary Students" a priority....

Just Kidding. This is a flyer from the LAST ELECTION in 2003. Despite a 'schools by choice' platform, the Mayor and Cary Town Council have done next to nothing to help Cary students or their families with the MYR nightmare (the 'M' stands for 'Mandatory,' not Choice). The CTC's consistent message has been that schools are the purview of WCPSS, and parents should go talk to them about their problems. The CTC has invited BoE members to participate in their beach blanket boondoggle next month, don't be surprised if this one meeting is portrayed as a "Task Force," "Fact-Finding Team," or "Town/County Government Alliance" this Fall. Maybe education of our children will move up to number two on the list!

And Now We Return to My Regularly Scheduled Ranting...

2007-02-17T09:22:00.000-05:00

Today's N&O featured a story about Turner Creek Elementary's need for canopies to shield kids from ultraviolet rays during outdoor playtime. Pulte Homes has graciously agreed to pay for them, provided their name is on the canopies. Three weeks ago, the BoE talked about asking Pulte for $500K to expand this school so that it could accomodate the additional students coming out of Pulte's building an adjacent development. Now this. I'm all for public/private partnerships, but do we want our schools to become advertising mediums? Next time I'm enjoying some tasty wings at Hooters, maybe I'll ask about them sponsoring addition of a school trailer (They'll want a 'Hooterville' banner on it I'm sure).

Pulte has made millions on the strip-mining of Cary. They should just give the shelters to Turner Creek as a small payback. If they are entitled to naming rights, then their local corporate office should carry a banner reading "Paid for by the Pain and Anguish of Apex/Cary Citizens."

Mission Impossible ???

2007-02-16T21:08:00.000-05:00

Took a field trip today to the Wake County Board of Elections to do a little research on Cary Town Council campaign funding. Word is that the current CTC regime's close relationship with developers started before they even took office. I looked through Ernie McAlister's campaign contribution reports for 2003 to see for myself. The reports are a bit sketchy, and not all of the contributors' records included their employer or company affiliation. Did some more digging (I know this is old hat for people here who have been at this a while) and tied a few more large contributors to their companies/interests.

As best I can tell, the Mayor had around $150K funds to pave the way into office. Here are some of the contributors I was able to identify, and they represent a who's who list of companies who benefit directly or indirectly from the development of Cary.

Person 1^st American Land $500
Person Akela Capital, LLC $2,000
Person Barton Development Group $500
Person Basnight & Associates $100
Person Bobbit & Associates $500
Person Boylan Companies $1,000
Person Byrd Commercial Property $1,200
Person Byrd Commercial Property $500
Person Carolantic Realty $500
Person CC Mangum Contractors $300
Person Developer $1,000
Person Developer $500
Person Developer $500
Person Ferrell Grading Co. $1,100
Person Fonville Morisey $500
Person Fonville Morisey $100
Person Future Homes $300
Person Hare Pipeline Construction $1,500
Person Higgins & Morris $250
Person Highland Construction $200
Person Highwood Properties $500
Person Highwood Properties $500
Person Highwood Properties $350
Person Highwood Properties $100
Person Highwood Properties $100
Person J.Sugg Property Management $1,000
Person Kamm Consulting $1,000
Person Kelly Cobb Realtors $150
Person Landco Realty $200
Person Lawrence Realty $350
Person M/I Homes $600
Person Mayor McAlister $10,000
Person Midland Atlantic Properties $500

Peeps NC HomeBuilders Assoc. $4,000
Person Perimeter Realty $2,000
Person Perimeter Realty $500
Person Preston Development $2,000
Person ReMax Realty $100
Person Robuck Homes $100
Person Royal Oaks Building Group, LLC $550
Person Ruffty Homes $250
Person SAS $1,000
Person Triangle Commercial Real Estate $125
Person Triangle Commercial Real Estate $100
Person Tri-Properties $1,000
Person Wardson Construction $2,500
Person Wardson Construction $2,500
Person Wardson Construction $2,000
Person Westbrook & Associates $200

I did not list individuals' names out of respect for their privacy, but did note that contributions from several developers were spread among various employees and family relations.

Joe Citizen cannot fight this amount of money. Simply replacing the Mayor will not fix our problems. I skimmed the campaign contributions reports for Jennifer Robinson, and while her total campaign fund was much smaller than Ernie's, there likewise was a strong bias toward developers.

The only way to fix Cary's problems is with a "Clean sweep" in the Fall elections. We need candidates who are not subserviant to developers, yet have enough money and grass-roots support to get elected. We need a slate of candidates who will run for the open mayoral and town council positions on a common platform:

Hold the reigning CTC members accountable for all of Cary's problems, including the schools issue which they have continued to sidestep.
Grow Cary, but at a sensible rate which allows our kids to go more than one year to the same school, and not MYR.
Stop putting money into boutique projects, and start putting it into projects we really care about like roads, traffic management, water/sewage treatment and preservation of open space/greenways.
Lay their bodies in front of the first bulldozer used to try and build a high-rise condominium here.

The town council members seem to spend a lot of time bickering, and at times embarrassing eachother. Perhaps a unified platform with fresh candidates is the answer to turning things around.

Help Needed

2007-02-14T07:32:00.000-05:00

The WakeCARES group is comprised of parents with children who face much suffering as a result of MYR. This group has no corporate sponsorship, and is fighting for thousands of Cary/Apex families. Someone on Cary Politics described them as "Hobbits challenging Darth Vader," a fair and witty analogy given the BoE's overly abundant powers, and their support from FOWC'ers who have deep pockets.
The lawsuit they are filing against WCPSS can only bring about good things. First and foremost, a direct legal challenge will force WCPSS to release and explain all their data, and to do it without all their self-serving spin.
WakeCARES needs our financial support to move this forward. Even cheapskates like me have donated, so please consider doing so. To learn more more about this group, their actions, and how to donate, please visit the WakeCARES website.

Cary Metropolis

2007-02-12T09:00:00.000-05:00

Quite the article in Sunday's N&O regarding urbanization of Cary. Most of the conjecture on growth was based on what developers plan on doing in Cary. One mealy-mouth comment from CTC on making sure building projects are 'good' for Cary. Our Mayor proudly beat his chest in his State of Cary address, taking credit for the long-overdue road widening projects which are finally coming to completion. Now we're going to build high-rise condominiums and large-scale commercial/residential complexes so that we can fill up these new roads with more traffic.

One read of this article is enough to show who is really running Cary -- the developers. They fund the campaigns for our elected officials (of their choice). They fund bond issues so that we may build more schools (which means they can build more houses), and so that those very same tax dollars are used by WCPSS to buy their property at more than 50% profit in less than a one-year period -- See R.Beckwith's blog on that one.

Erv Portman is the newest addition to CTC. Hopefully his wealth keeps him above the influence of the development community.

The CTC has 4 positions including Mayor up for reelection this Fall. The only hope I see for preserving the Cary we know is for a slate of candidates to run under a "Take Cary back from the developers" theme.

The big question is where these candidates would come from, and how to give them a fighting chance against the developer/CTC allies.

Great News !!!

2007-02-08T08:41:00.002-05:00

What a great way to start the day, turns out I won the lottery. Here's a copy of the official email notification I received:

UNITED KINGDOM LOTTERY
The Lottery Company
P O BOX 1010
LIVERPOOL, L70 1NL UNITED KINGDOM
Ref Number: UKNL/05/8256/53219/QE327
Batch Number: UKNL5/A115-07
YOU HAVE WON £1,500,000 POUNDS STERLING
Our Dear Winner,
You have won the sum of £1,500,000 (One Million Five Hundred Thousand Great British Pounds Sterling) from BRITISH LOTTERY on our 2007 New Year Charity Bonanza.
The winning ticket was selected from a Data Base of Internet Email Users,from which your Address came out as the winning coupon.We hereby urge you to claim the winning amount quickly as this is a monthly lottery. Failure to claim your win will result into the reversion of the fund to our following month.
You are therefore requested to contact immediately out Claims Department below quoting winning number: WINNING NUMBER:05-08-10-18-20-46-{43}.TICKET NUMBER: 56475600545 188
For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claims is processed and your money remitted to you .This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program. Please be warned.

I want to share this new-found wealth with my community, so I'm announcing a couple of projects which will immediately help our Town Council achieve their goals for 2007.

Much has been made of the new aquatics center being built, and people have asserted that this is a redundant investment. I now see it differently. Cary is a large and growing town, and I'm just not sure whether a single aquatics center will provide fair and equal access to all citizens. Building centers across Cary is something I cannot afford to fund (even with my newfound wealth), so instead I will be funding the new Cary Roving Aquatics Palace (CRAP) which will be a state-of-the-art mobile aquatics center. Here's a sneak peak:

Since I don't have drive to work anymore and can now afford to send my kids to the very best private schools like Bushwood Academy, I can just relax at home while the boys hang out with Biff and Tad. I'm going to invest some of my new money on real estate and embrace the rapid growth rate sponsored by our Town Council. As such, my second initiative will be to give something back to the town government who has served me so faithfully. I will fund construction of new drive-thru building permit centers.

With these centers, applicants won't even have to get out of their car to get their building permits approved. Anticipate a new 'speedpass' improvement in the future.
Look for one of these new drive-through building permit centers near you...

I just knew this was going to be a great day when I woke up !!

Cary Town Council Leadership in This Crisis

2007-02-06T23:02:00.000-05:00

A concerned parent sent a letter to the CTC asking for their support in driving legislation which would redefine all the BoE positions as at large. Cary's representation on the BoE is limited, and Cary has been hammered with MYR conversions. Here's the response from Jennifer Robinson:

I am really sorry that you are dealing with the frustrations of MYR and the school assignments. The decisions made by the school board have a serious impact on our quality of life that we experience in Cary. I know that
conveying these frustrations and concerns has been particularly challenging for those living in western Cary because our representatives live outside of Cary.

The Cary Town Councilmembers are aware that the school board districts are drawn in such a way as to have the western Cary area with weak representation. But, I sincerely do not believe that at-large elections will solve that problem. I believe that we will end up with less accountability than more accountability. The
WCPSS should consider moving to a more defined district level management rather than continuing to build
the monstrosity of a system that they currently operate.

It is disappointing to me that a few politicians can stand up in front of naively believe that they are being effective. These people are being politicians, not leaders and certainly not public servants. Their behavior has
degraded the process of finding a solution by further alienating the school board and causing an intense amount of friction among governing boards. I know this because I have spoken with Patti Head three times, with each conversation lasting in excess of 1.5 hours. Her disgust with their behavior has been a roadblock
to working with them to find a solution.

Re-assignment and MYR are symptoms of deeper problems in our school system. To fix these symptoms, we need to identify the root causes which include taxing authority, state funding, authorization for municipalities to tie growth to school capacity, policies promoting social engineering, to name a few. As a municipal leader, my job is todetermine how Cary's policies and ordinances enhance or degrade our school system.

My job is to work towards solving the problems that are under my purview as determined by the State.
While I have no granted authority over school board decisions, I convey to the school board members the concerns that Cary citizens and I have. I have
discussed with them:

* MYR
* reassignments
* the need to promote a sense of community among our children
* the burden on our roads of having long school commutes for children
* the need to bank land for schools
* the agreement to give land to WCPSS for an elementary school, and
* the agreement to sell land to WCPSS for a middle school

The most important thing that we have discussed is the need to actually address the root problems that our County has in providing adequate school capacity. For years, County and municipal representatives have tried to address the symptoms of our broken system and have pointed their fingers at the other governing boards for being responsible for the problem. Enough is enough. The time has come for all municipal leaders
to meet collectively with our State and County reps to discuss the causesfor our problems. I am happy to say that Patti and Mayor McAlister agree with me and have agreed to work on hosting such a forum. In advance of this forum, the Town Council is hosting our school board reps and our County Commissioners at our March
retreat, at which time we plan on going over our concerns for our citizens' quality of life as impacted by school board decisions.

I hope that you will recognize that the Cary Town Councilmembers have been working on school board matters in a way that we deem appropriate, sincere and most likely to have impact.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Robinson

District A

Cary Town Council

Here's the net: Our representatives are doing everything they can to insulate themselves from the MYR issues. We may have moved thousands of people here, but that is totally WPCSS's problem. They will not even support the BoE at large movement which would give us better representation (in the absence of any from our own town government). The comments referring to the CC's as grandstanding are beautiful. I'd like to be a fly on the wall when they sit down together at the retreat with the CC's and this letter comes up (A copy was forwarded to them). Thankfully, this retreat base been scheduled for March -- the fate of our schoolchildren will be decided by then so they came move on to more important topics like decorating bridges. This is one retreat which no one should come back from.

BoE Smoke and Mirrors

2007-02-06T22:58:00.000-05:00

Here's today's press release from SMYR. These people are intelligent, well-informed, and are not looking to build political careers...

MEDIA ALERT:

WCPSS Has More Than Enough Seats to Cover 2007-2008 Expected Growth WITHOUT
Mandatory Year-Round Conversions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Feb. 6, 2007

An independent audit indicates manageable growth and mandatory year-round conversions are not the answer. This audit was conducted using staff-generated, historical data to benchmark available seats throughout the WCPSS elementary school system. Conservative methodology was applied and only data generated by WCPSS staff was incorporated.

The WCPSS has a projected need for 4,240 to 5,439 elementary seats for the 2007-2008 school year. Based on Stop Mandatory Year-Round’s (SMYR) independent audit, WCPSS has a minimum of 6,113 verifiable seats and potentially close to 7,000 seats available for 2007-2008 without the mandatory year-round (MYR) conversions. Therefore, there is no reason to implement MYR for the upcoming school year.

WCPSS is currently projecting unprecedented elementary student growth at 5,439 students or 68 percent of total growth of 8,000 students for 2007-2008. However, WCPSS data indicates that average growth for the last 3 years is 4,240 students or 53 percent of total growth per year.

“We at SMYR have heard the concerns from parents, teachers and citizens regarding the uncertainty surrounding the implementation of MYR for the 2007-2008 school year,” said Dave Duncan of SMYR. “We are facing manageable growth and MYR is not the answer. Parents, teachers and even the Chair of the Board of Education have stated that they do not want MYR.”

SMYR recognizes that only incremental and unsubstantial gains are proposed through MYR conversions. In light of MYR fiscal and student assignment shortfalls, SMYR is calling for Wake County to suspend mass conversion to MYR and to utilize demonstrated capacity and voluntary year-round schools for 2007-2008.

For more information, please log on to www.stopmandatoryyearround.com. Please direct additional media inquiries to daveduncan@nc.rr.com or tji93@aol.com.

Judas Strikes Again

2007-02-05T15:45:00.000-05:00

Today the County Commissioners voted 4-3 to deny funding to WCPSS for conversion of existing traditional schools to MYR. The 4 Commissioners who carried the vote were Coble,Bryan,Gardner and Gurley. The vote should have been 5-2 against MYR funding if Lindy Brown was honoring her campaign promise. She showed up at anti-MYR rallies, sat in the front row, and made public statements against enforcement of MYR. This is the second critical vote in which she has caved to the BoE and failed to validate the votes that got her into office. Here's where I'll admit again that I screwed up -- I actually believed her promises and voted for her!

I have seen the enemy, and it is us

2007-02-02T12:11:00.000-05:00

At a September CTC meeting, our council members talked solemnly about the need to work with the school board. Last Sunday, the mayor was on NBC17 touting the same message. Mention was made of the tract of land being provided to WCPSS. Cary has owned that land a long time, wish we could have cut the deal sooner so we'd have schools on the site right now instead of trees.
Since the CTC gave their September sermon on working with the school administration, 661 new residential building permits have been issued in Cary. Talk is great, but all I see is us making the 07/08 problem bigger. The strip-mining of Cary continues....

Incoming !!

2007-01-31T10:28:00.000-05:00

Great letter in the Cary News Opinion section today from one of the P&Z board members. The last vote I cast in Cary was for Glen Lang, coincidentally the last worthy candidate that ran for office. If I have Cary administrators researching my voting record, then I guess the Money Magazine letter campaign has even more impact than I first thought. My credibility was attacked, but the credible impact of being de-listed from Money Magazine's Top Ten was endorsed. Keep the letters coming. They also have a blog for people to share thoughts on Cary. People looking to move here do check the blog, and it is a good place to tell them what to expect. Some positive comments there, some negative. Here's an excellent comment posted by someone from Cary which summarizes the school system's issues quite nicely:

Please do your research on the Wake County Public school system before you decide to move to Cary. There are huge problems with the system. You don't know from year to year what school your children will be going to. Some children are moved every year. They bus your children anywhere they see fit to make sure that every school is "balanced" economically. They do not guarantee that your child will attend the nearest school to your home. As a matter of fact they have reassigned my middle schooler to a school 9 miles away when we have one that is less than a mile from our home. They are also forcing 19 elementary schools onto a multi-track mandatory year round calendar. For those of you unfamiliar with this concept, it means that the school is split up into 4 tracks, 3 of which are in school at a time. The kids go to school for 9 weeks and are off for 3 weeks. 3 of the tracks start school in early July. 1 starts in late July. If you have more than one child this system is very family un-friendly as your younger children will not be on the same school calendar as your older children. If your child is in a YR middle school and they play sports or are in the band, they will have to go to practice when they are out of school, so there is no time to fit in a family vacation. They are also mandating that YR schools attend on Memorial Day. This is a system run amuck. Please do your homework before you move here. We are moving out of Cary as soon as we can (if we can sell our house--mandatory year round has lowered our property values.)

Update: While I still believe it is wrong to publicize an individual's voting record, I couldn't resist hitting the same website used to lampoon me and see what other prominent citizens are up to. I won't use names, but it is nice to know I'm not the only one fighting for a cause despite a poor voting record. Some of our Friends of Wake County have opted not to vote on school bond issues (except the last time when we all got a rude awakening).

The more honest postings like this the better !

The Teflon Mayor

2007-01-28T16:29:00.000-05:00

NBC17 ran a short piece this morning in which Mayors McAlister and Weatherly fielded questions about their towns. This short interview did a wonderful job demonstrating the differences between the two mayors. Mayor Weatherly came across as sincere, and provided direct answers to questions. Mayor McAlister came across as the consummate polished politician, evasive at best. Frankly, I think he embarrassed the town of Cary.
In the first exchange, each mayor was given 45 seconds to talk about the state of their town. Mr. McAlister stated that economic growth, roads and fiscal responsibility were the 2006 priorities for Cary, and went on to pat himself on the back for great progress in those areas. Mayor Weatherly talked about economic growth, but also about Apex's objective of managing residential growth which was under 3% in 2006.
In the next exchange, the mayors were asked if the school board was adequately representing their constituents. Mayor Weatherly went first, and gave a very direct answer: "No, they are not doing a good job." He had the facts to back this up. When Ernie got his turn, he started singing the 'we need to work with the school board' song again, and talked about the complexity of their task. No direct answer.
In the last exchange, the mayors were asked a simple question: Do you think your town would be better off with their own school system? Again, Mayor Weatherly gave a direct answer: "yes." Mayor McAlister gave a drawn out answer about MYR taking a back seat to the "long term" view of schools, and as evasive as he was I believe his answer was no. He did explain that the Town of Cary was giving 55 acres to WCPSS to site schools in our area, left out the fact that the Cary Park deeded this land to us for exactly this purpose.
Again, I think our mayor embarrased us today. I'd like him to explain the "long term" view to my kids who will be on different tracks this fall. For months, he's been talking about 'working with the school board' yet I have seen zero evidence that the Cary Town Council has had a single conversation with the school board or administration. If NBC17 has a transcript of the program I'll post it here.
As an aside, it seems the town council will be continuing to fly the "missing man formation." Here's a subject I have got to understand better

BoE

2007-01-26T16:07:00.000-05:00

Was able to spend a little time today watching the BoE work session, we should all be very afraid. The process of redistricting nodes and sub-nodes prioritizes achievement of economic mix over all other considerations. In fairness, when that was not in question, the BoE did make some attempts to consider proximity to schools in their assignments. But most of the discussion was about data: what percent F&R students, what percent of capacity, etc. I never dreamed my kids would end up as decimal points in somebody's chart, but that is today's reality in WCPS.
On the upside, for a change one of the BoE members said something I can fully agree with. In a sidebar, a comment was made about our towns' governments being unwilling to control growth, then stabbing the BoE in the [back]. Right on!
WakeCARES was faithfully represented again, keep up the good work.

We're Just Getting Warmed Up

2007-01-25T21:35:00.000-05:00

Every day I gain more respect for Patti Head's political savvy. The "Divide and conquer" strategy is winning the day. Traffic on the N&O WakeEd and WakePol blogs is high, and the acrimony between the participants is just depressing. The BoE platform is simple: Create fear and uncertainty, deliver veiled threats of increased MYR, and eventually convince everyone that theirs is the only possible solution.
Stay tuned for 2008. The board has already stated that another bond will be required. The $1B we just approved does nothing to increase high school capacity, and unless we're expecting a bunch of kids to drop out after middle school, we will not have enough seats. Get ready for split-scheduling or MYR to be introduced as Plan A (with no Plan B) to solve the high school capacity crisis.
We need our commissioners to remain steadfast in keeping a leash on the BoE, to help us through this MYR debacle, and to start asking questions now about 2008. Failure to do so will play right into Patti's hands.

Top Ten Money Magazine

2007-01-24T21:52:00.000-05:00

A rebuttal letter in the Cary News today, I feel compelled to respond (even if it is to myself). Text of the letter is below.
The writer's kids are both in high school, so I assume MYR is not a problem for them. I have lived in 6 states and 10 cities before settling in Cary 15 years ago. All the cities had 100K+ population, so I think I'm emminently qualified to compare. In all those states and all those cities, I never saw local governments who were so unresponsive to the citizens, and none of these areas turned to MYR to solve their problems. Prince William County in northern VA (one of the spots along the trail) has and continues to experience explosive growth. They do it without fracturing families with MYR, and the county government (at least when I lived there) was, by comparison, devoid of the political maneuvering we see here.
As far as leaving Cary, I'd love to, but with my older son entering high school in the fall I think dealing with the prospect of MYR is better than dealing with the prospect of him starting as a freshman in a new town. The greenways are great, but they don't help with my kids education, and I can't drive on them to avoid traffic. To those of you who have sent letters, my thanks.

For anyone who want to give Money Magazine their opinion either for or against our ranking, you can log directly onto their Top Ten blog here. I already sent in my posting, and you'll see others share my opinions:

I have lived in Cary 15 years. In 1992 we probably deserved the #1 Ranking, now I don't think we deserve a ranking in the top ten. The number one issue with Cary that people must consider is schools. The schools are managed by Wake County, and Town of Cary officials do not work with them to balance growth and school capacity. Next year, 18,000 Wake County students are being forced to Mandatory Year Round calendars. In many families' cases, this means having children on multiple schedules, with as little as 4 weeks break in common across the whole year. Log into the Raleigh News & Observer WakeEd or WakePol blogs and see for yourself the mess we're in.

Cary deserves Top 10 honor
I am shocked that there are Cary residents who think our beautiful town is not worthy of Money Magazine’s ranking as one of the top five small cities to live in in the United States! Obviously those people have never lived in another city with a population over 100,000. Cary deserves every bit of the honor, as I’ve lived in many cities around the United States and Cary by far has the lowest crime rate and the most beautiful and accessible parks and greenways, with some of the best schools in the United States, and I have first-hand experience with the schools with two teenagers. Sure there are politics and some weak decisions that have been made, but you will find that in any city with a large population. Cary is an exceptional city and well deserving of Money Magazine’s recognition.

I hope the people who are so unhappy with our town who have gone as far as pleading to Money Magazine to remove us from the Top 10 list will move to another city and experience the growth problems, politics, crime, school policies and traffic there instead. Maybe if they took advantage of some of Cary’s beautiful greenways, parks, people and culture they would see what a great and beautiful city we live in. Becky Finley

State of Cary Address

2007-01-23T15:24:00.000-05:00

Our mayor has released his State of Cary address. To view the document, click here. Here's the document, with my commentary in red:

In the Town of Cary we enter 2007 with great optimism. Our sense of community is strong, just read the N&O blogs and you can see how united our parents are over MYR; our quality of life is vibrant; our economy is growing; and together we can celebrate the success of the town we call home.

What makes Cary a great community in which to live, work, and raise a family?

For our children, it's the opportunity to play in acres of parks and participate in a variety of recreational opportunities, and to attend schools in one of the nation's top-rated educational systems. If your children are here long enough, our county's regular redistricting will allow them to attend many such schools. They will also benefit from the opportunity to become more independent as our new MYR format will reduce the time they have to spend with their own families.

For singles and parents alike, it's the opportunity to build rewarding careers, enjoy safe neighborhoods, indulge in great shopping and restaurants, and live in a community with expanding cultural and entertainment options. Of course, actually driving to any of these options may take some time with our traffic being what it is.

For our seniors, it's the opportunity to choose from a variety of residential settings and a senior center and programs that engage seniors as active and valued members of our community.

For existing businesses and prospective companies, Cary offers an unbeatable combination of highly-educated and talented workers and professionals; stable and predictable long-range planning; reasonable costs; low taxes and strong leadership in the private and public sectors alike. Just ask the developers, they love it here. In Cary we have the resources and a quality of life that makes us competitive nationally and in the world economy.

Cary is truly an award-winning community, with top ten ratings from Money Magazine, Frommer's, Consumer Reports, the USTA, and the Morgan-Quitno annual survey of the safest towns in America, just to name a few.

All of these attributes have been earned over decades of hard work. Our continuing challenge is to be good stewards of what we have inherited and do our best to make it even better for future generations. Accordingly, in this year’s State of the Town address I will focus on several areas that you have told me are critically important for our future.

Transportation
As many of you know, the Town of Cary has been aggressively working to address our road and transportation needs. We are benefiting from the recent completion of several major projects including the widening of Highway 55, Davis Drive and significant improvements to US 1/64. We are continuing to move forward with a number of major projects including the widening of Chapel Hill Road, Kildaire Farm Road, High House Road, Southwest Maynard Road and the final Cary section of Tryon Road, as well as completing our traffic synchronization project. At some point hopefully we'll get caught up with the growth we have had over the past three years. We will sustain this commitment as evidenced by the current 2006-2007 budget, which doubled our capital spending on both road and park projects.

Facilities and Infrastructure
Cary's over-crowded roads lead to some of the Triangle's most outstanding facilities for recreation, competition and entertainment. As I mentioned earlier, the United States Tennis Association rated us as one of the top five municipal facilities in the nation. SAS Soccer Park has hosted both the men's and women's NCAA College Cup tournaments and will this year see the inaugural season of men's professional soccer in the Triangle as the Carolina Railhawks begin play. USA Baseball also makes its home in Cary and will be up and running during 2007. The Koka Booth Amphitheater just completed another stellar season and continues to attract world-class entertainers to Cary in addition to hosting cultural festivals and an array of other community events. Our outstanding facilities also include a new regional library, and as a member of the Western Wake Regional Partnership, we are building a state of the art wastewater treatment plant to meet the needs of Cary and our region for years to come, as well as years that have passed. Each of these facilities contributes in its own way to the success of our town.

Economic Development
A strong economy is the engine that keeps our community healthy and vibrant. After a great deal of work and careful consideration, we have developed a comprehensive economic development plan and strategy for Cary. We have hired our first Economic Development Director to implement our plan and coordinate our strategy with the business community with state and county initiatives and resources. This will assure the continued economic prosperity of our town, which is critical for our long-term success.

Fiscal Responsibility
As I said back in 2003, fiscal responsibility is the key to putting our local financial house on a solid and sustainable footing while ensuring we have the resources to maintain and enhance our community's quality of life. Our reduction of impact fees was a great first step. We have restored Cary's long-term fiscal health, maintained our AAA bond rating, and kept our property tax rate low, all while refocusing our resources on our highest priorities.

What are the challenges we must address to keep us successful in the future?

The most important is to maintain our commitment to long-term fiscal discipline. In 2009, we will have to address debt issues incurred earlier in this decade. We can meet this financial challenge by setting priorities, keeping current spending under control, and continuing to build our local economy and tax base. Our first step will be to build a new aquatics center costing $30M.

We also have exciting new opportunities to partner with the private sector. We anticipate strong participation from private resources as we plan for the cultural and performing arts centers downtown and the new regional aquatics facility. In particular, I am excited about our plans to enhance downtown Cary as a destination for community and cultural activities, entertainment, shopping and dining. The financial model we have put in place for these projects is based on our commitment to having significant participation from the private sector in projects that serve our citizens and make our community more attractive. Oops, left out the part where we partner with Wake County to advocate for the children of Cary, so that they may receive a quality education without having their families fractured by MYR.

Economic Development and high quality jobs will continue to be a major focus as we implement our plan and see the fruits of returning to a model of close cooperation and collaboration between your Council and the business community.

In the area of transportation, we are committed to doing all in our power to move forward with the 1-540 Western Wake Expressway and Southern Loop. This major regional project is crucial to addressing our long-term transit needs in Cary and in the Triangle. We can build houses even faster once this is open.

All growing communities have to keep a vigilant focus on public safety. This past year we were again honored as one of the safest places to live in America; nevertheless, we know the daily challenges facing our law enforcement officers and first responders require a sustained commitment. We have added officers and operational capability in recent years, and I am committed to ensuring our police force has the resources it needs to keep our streets and neighborhoods safe. I have nothing but respect for the Cary Police, they do a great job.

The state of our town is strong, vibrant, growing and successful. In 2007 our commitment is to stay focused on the fundamentals that will ensure our success is sustained for the long-term.

As I enter my fourth (and last?) year as Mayor of Cary, I can reflect on the progress we have made over the last three years, and, more importantly, look forward to the expanding opportunities we have in the future. Time and again, you, the citizens of Cary, have provided the leadership, the volunteers, the vision, resources, and commitment to improving our town. We are successful because we have great partnerships, a strong sense of community, and a spirit of cooperation and shared responsibilities. It continues to be my honor to serve as your mayor and to lead a town with the citizen participation and commitment we have in Cary.

T.Vaden Editorial

2007-01-21T10:37:00.000-05:00

Ann and I were expecting Ted Vaden's editorial today. Regarding MYR, a significant subject which the N&O has failed to report on is the pain inflicted by MYR on families with kids in different tracks -- how does a married household manage daycare, activities and together time, how does a divorced family begin to deal with this. The only "in-depth" coverage was Lize Weidle's column which speaks for itself. Bottom line, the more people that move here, the more subscriptions the N&O sells. The glossing over of inbound student numbers was particularly disappointing. Mr. Hui from the N&O has done some good work covering education, so when consulted about the "right Number" of new fall students, I would have like to see a more specific answer. Here's a posting I just left on Mr. Hui's blog:

Mr. Vaden's editorial in today's paper was disappointing. WCPSS has insisted that there are 8,000 new students coming in the Fall. WakeCARES, StopMYR and other groups have performed independent analysis which supports a much lower number (Thus less need for conversions). The editorial asserts that numbers are irrelevant to the policy debate, yet the BoE uses these numbers as the sole means of support for their MYR agenda. The piece goes on to say that the right number "probably is somewhere between the estimates of the school system and the opponents."

Mr. Hui, you are in a unique position to bring clarity to the numbers question. You have direct access to the BoE and the anti-MYR groups. I implore you to investigate this further and come up with the right number. Any inflation of this 'right number' by the BoE translates to unnecessary MYR conversions for Wake County children, the price for ambiguity just much too high to leave this open to interpretation.

The Path to Self-Destruction

2007-01-21T09:01:00.000-05:00

Ironic that today's N&O article about the mass migration to Wake County points to Money Magazine's ranking of Cary in the top ten places to live as part of the cause.
Thankfully, I have never spent much time in Cooke County. I have, however, spent a great deal of time in Suffolk county (where my anscestors are from), and in and around Farifax county. I lived in Manassas, VA [right on the Fairfax county line] for 8 years prior to being transferred here in 1992. On one hand, that makes me part of the growth problem. On the other hand, I think I can accurately describe the environments which drove these people here -- a living hell. The N&O accurately describes Suffolk/Fairfax counties; Horriffic traffic and real estate prices which make it very hard for a young family to 'get ahead.'
I do note that both counties found ways to deal with their growth rates without MYR. Perhaps the BoE should spend some time with their counterparts in these counties to learn from them. If a quick to NY will help Patti Head get religion, I'll buy her a plane ticket.
Long-term, imagine picking up Suffolk or Fairfax county and plopping it in the middle of the triangle -- that's what we're creating. Our town and governments can slow down the growth rate, but cannot stop it. The question is, how will they manage it.
We should all be very afraid of of ending up as Suffolk County South. As parents, we'll reap the benefits of huge increases in our property values. As families, we'll pay the price of forcing our children to go somewhere else where they can 'get ahead.' Is this the circle of life? Hakuna Matata!

Money Magazine

2007-01-20T22:39:00.000-05:00

The nice thing about having a fringe blog is that I don't get a lot of hate mail when I post something controversial, or when the N&O prints one of my letters. Here's what the N&O said today about the Money Magazine writing campaign:

OVERRATED: Cary resident Joe Ciulla has a gripe with Money Magazine's calling his town one of the best places to live.

So he's trying to spark a letter writing campaign to try to get the magazine to "take another look" at his hometown.

His gripe: A school system that shuffles kids around and will force some to attend year-round schools.

"I believe my letter to Money Magazine was one of the first," he wrote in recent e-mail. "I have spoken with several others who thought this initiative was gaining momentum, but can't tell you who started it or how many people have participated."

Cary is a bedroom community to Research Triangle Park, and that's ok. We do not need to become a 'player' in international commerce. Under the former administration, Cary showed that impact fees can slow growth, that's ok too. All growth is not good growth. When our families suffer because of school turmoil, when our utility bills triple because infrastructure is not there, and when we spend our mornings snarled in traffic, how can we think the runaway growth rate is good for citizens? Apart from the sense of pride we as Cary residents have had in our Money Magazine ranking, the major beneficiaries of reduced impact fees are builders and developers (Who have been making a nice living these days). The fees need to go up. A scaled approach is best, minimizing the impact to first-time home buyers. Every year the gap between Cary general budget revenues and expenses is shrinking, raising fees may help stem the tide. Please consider writing a letter to Money Magazine, contact information is in my earlier post on this subject.

Where's a Friend When You Need One

2007-01-19T22:44:00.000-05:00

After the bond passed, I have periodically gone back and checked the Friends of Wake County website. This group, funded primarily by developers and other special interests who had a financial interest in us paying for more schools, made the same promises the BoE did; To work with citizens and come up with the right solutions for Wake County education. As far as I can tell, their website went dormant two days after the elections. With all the recent press coverage regarding MYR controversy and clashes between the commissioners and the BoE, I have not read a single word about "Friends" of Wake County being involved. I think a lot of voters got hoodwinked by "Friends" rhetoric, they now can feel comfortable that funding is in place so that more schools can be built (and more real estate developed).
If I'm wrong and the FOWKers are still involved, go ahead and tell me so in the comments section [I do not moderate comments].

How Low Can We Go ???

2007-01-19T14:33:00.000-05:00

Last night the Wake County School Board conducted a meeting at Leesville Road High school to discuss schools with parents. The WakeEd blog covers what happened at the meeting, but the school board has sunk to a new low: Kicking parents out of the meeting. Please read it for yourself if you haven't already. It appears Patti Head and the board already know they have lost the battle for public support, and will now resort to whatever heavy-handed tactics they need to push forth their agenda. At least in Cary they just turn off the microphone after 3 minutes.

Pressure is building

2007-01-19T07:23:00.000-05:00

A nice editorial by Francis DeLuca in today's N&O, and for a change the N&O did not counter with its own contradictory piece. While I was not able to post here the school board's CIP budget spreadsheets which were questioned by Commissioner Gardner, my wife and I did take some time to go through them last night. A first set of spreadsheets were in Mr. Gardner's meeting materials packet which he received prior to sitting down with the school board. The board handed out a second set of spreadsheets at the meeting, which did not match the first. Some budget line-items increased, others decreased. Closer to home, one anomoly we noticed was that both budget documents featured a line-item for MYR conversion of elementary schools ($12M), as well as a line-item for conversion Wendell and East Cary middle schools. Neither document called out Salem Middle for conversion, but that's what the board announced. We are trusting the 9 people on the school board to responsibly manage over $1 billion of our money. In the corporate sector, shareholders of a $1B company would be appalled by mis-matched budget documents, petty territorialism by management and discovery of hidden 'contingency' funds. As shareholders of Wake County we should be equally appalled.

Chink in the School Board's Armor

2007-01-18T07:27:00.000-05:00

An interesting letter from Kenn Gardner in today's N&O opinion section. As someone pointed out to me yesterday, if you state something publicly you'd better be right -- I'm sure Mr. Gardner had confidence in his remarks. Wake County citizens deserve an answer to Mr. Gardner's questions. The first approved installment payment on this bond is over $300M, so a 5 percent variance here and there add up to millions of dollars. The WCPSS's own figures project a 6.8% increase in students next year, not much greater than the 'contingency' they put into project plans. Stop MYR and WakeCARES have both raised valid questions over the validity of the school board's population projections, and neither organization has been given a lucid answer.
The current redistricting plan moves 11,000 students to different schools, affecting just under 10% of the school population. That number does not account for the additional students who are not being redistricted, but are having their school converted to MYR (hint: my kid is one of them).
Our county is in a sad state when the debate between the commissioners and school board must be conducted in the Opinion section of the N&O. In yesterday's WakePol section, Tony Gurley was quoted as saying he will no longer engage in private conversations with school board members, and will only speak with them with others present so that he is not misquoted or misunderstood.
The time has come for an independent audit. If the battle continues to be waged in the press, the real facts may never come out, and our children's needs will take a back seat. I'm not sure right now what government protocols are in place concerning internal audit, but researching that will be this evening's project.
As to the letter regarding Paul Coble, some good questions about county tax rates. My opinion is slightly different regarding Mr. Coble himself. The Wake County School Board has operated on its own agenda for years, and I think his actions are helping to shake up the 'good old boy/girl' network.
Update: I emailed Mr. Gardner this morning and he already responded with a copy of his letter to the WCPSS. I posted it here, back-dated to 1/10/07 -- Scroll down the right hand side under 'Postings' it is the last one listed. His email to me included the referenced spreadsheets, I'm not a webmaster and could not figure out how to post them (they are in .pdf).

The Conversation That Never Was...

2007-01-17T12:04:00.000-05:00

When I have spoken at past Cary Town Council meetings, it has always been a one-way 3 minute conversation. The CTC and mayor don't have to answer any questions because they may not be 'prepared to respond' to issues. I guess I'll never get the chance to have a chat with the mayor, so I'm left to only imagine how a phone conversation with Mr. McAlister might go:

Joe: Mr. Mayor, is the education of our children in a family-friendly structure a priority for the Cary Town Council?

Ernie: Absolutely, Education is a priority.

Joe: Great, can you tell me about all the meetings the CTC has had with Wake County officials to jointly address growth and school capacity?

Ernie: ummmm, Education is a priority.

Joe: Alrighty then. Let’s talk about how MYR has impacted the families of Town Council members....

Ernie: uhhh, None of our kids are in public school, but education is a priority!

Joe: OK, Can you tell me what the Town of Cary is doing to accomodate the difficult track-out periods created by MYR?

Ernie: Absolutely, we’re building a $30M aquatics center, they can go swimming whenever they are not in school.

Joe: Wow, where’d we get the money for that?

Ernie: How ‘bout those Panthers, eh?

Joe: One final question... Have you thought about raising impact fees to help pay for amenities like the aquatics center AND perhaps slow down the growth rate (thus allowing schools to catch up)?

Ernie: click

Money Magazine Letters

2007-01-17T08:32:00.001-05:00

Please keep the letters coming, here's what I sent them today:

I'm not sure how many Cary Parents have written you regarding a reassessment of Cary's ranking in 2007, but again ask your consideration given the current school redistricting and Manadatory Year Round scheduling debacle.
Here's another story from today's local paper:
http://www.newsobserver.com/1056/story/533245.html

The Blame Game

2007-01-17T07:53:00.000-05:00

Great Coverage on the MYR story in today's N&O, and in the Cary News. Much thanks to Ryan Teague Beckwith for the link to my blog. The Cary News Opinion section is exclusively comprised of letters from citizens who are disappointed with the hell-bent approach toward MYR, and who are disappointed with the performance of our Cary Town government. Ann and I both have letters printed there. I'm tired of the blame game regarding MYR, and it is time to put it behind us and start focusing on the real reason we have a school system in place: children. This is not about re-election, who's right/wrong, or reneging on promises. To that end, here's the text of an email I sent Patti Head today:

Ms. Head,
There has been enough finger-pointing on this issue. The school board blames the county commissioners for reneging, the County commissioners blame the school board for proceeding against their wishes, and the parents blame both for failure to provide the leadership in the past which would and could have avoided this crisis.
The N&O's coverage of anit-MYR parents who have become passionate over this issue should demonstrate that this is a non-trivial matter, one which affects a very large number of families in Wake County. Every one of the parents believe there are alternatives, or they would 'shut up and row' like some of our elected officials would prefer.
Dawn Graff's letter in the N&O yesterday makes a pretty clear case that alternatives exist, and she's using WCPSS statistics to do so.
It seems like everyone is more worried about playing the 'blame game' than they are about our children.
If it would help, you are all welcome to placing the blame on me instead. Maybe I wasn't watching close enough to see the school crisis developing, and I probably should have been more focused on my Cary Town government's refusal to manage growth, thus fueling the problem. I won't make the same mistake again, but at least I admit to the mistakes I have made.
I believe Dave Duncan and Dawn Graff have done a fair job of evaluating the growth statistics and the true costs/benefits of MYR. If you can convince the two of them that MYR is truly the only alternative that we have, then I'll 'Shut up and Row.'

Best Regards,
Joe Ciulla

A Voice of Reason

2007-01-16T07:41:00.000-05:00

Great Letter in Today's N&O opinion section from Dawn Graff, from the WakeCARES advocacy group. The County's own figures do not support the need for their MYR plan which will wreak havoc on Wake County families. Let's also not forget that the one School Board member (Ron Margiotta) who has vigorously voted against MYR was penalized by having a disproportionate majority of MYR's forced into his district. Again, Patti Head has been in love with year-round schooling for as long as I can remember... Her failure to lead the board in examining any reasonable alternatives speaks volumes.

Cary Bid to Host Olympics

2007-01-14T16:15:00.000-05:00

When my kids received Target gift cards for Christmas, they could not wait to spend them. It was as if they believed the cards would vaporize if not used quickly. Such is the attitude of our Cary Town Council who, with their first budget surplus ($14M I understand) in a long time, could not wait to spend it. Here's a list of things they could have spent the money on:

Put it in the bank for the next time we have to pay for expanded water/sewage treatment facilities to support runaway growth......... Nope
Use the money to support existing cost structure, and further reduce impact fees to builders. Surprised this did not occur to them....... Nope
Use this toward a 'pay-it-forward' deal with the state to fund the western loop of the outer beltline....... Nope
Lower the property tax rate, in hopes of increasing runaway growth..... Nope
Buy trailers and give them to the school system, in the hopes of avoiding MYR. $14M buys a lot of trailers.......Nope

Instead, they decided to build a $30M redundant aquatics center.

The best explanation I can come up with is that the Town of Cary is secretly planning a bid to host the 2024 summer Olympic games, and this is the first of many required capital investments. Next up, the Cary Velodrome !!

By the way, anyone who missed the Cary News Opinion piece by Terry Thorne should give it a read, an excellent synopsis of our Cary Government's failures.

Thank You, Patti Head

2007-01-13T16:01:00.000-05:00

Patti,
Thank you for your letter published today in the N&O. You raise some very good points:

Wake County should have made better funding decisions over a year ago to help avoid this crisis. As the great philosopher Alfred E. Neumann once said, "When it comes to hindsight, everybody's got 20-20 vision." -- Perhaps if you had spent as much energy then on securing funding as you are now at diverting blame, we wouldn't have this problem.
Good call on the "unchecked growth." When you're right, you're right.

Did the commissioners 'Renege' as you assert? Maybe. Did the school board renege on their promise to voters to put an earnest effort toward evaluating ALL non-MYR options if we voted for the bond? YES YES YES. At least the commissioners reneged on a promise to you. The school board board has reneged on a promise to our children -- a quality education without disruption of family life. If that was never a promise of the board, it should have been.

Money Magazine Letters

2007-01-12T22:23:00.000-05:00

Folks, Please keep the letters to Money Magazine coming. If you send your email to bestplaces@cnnmoney.com you'll reach the department in charge of this annual survey.

Here's a copy of the letter I sent:

When you perform your 2007 survey, I believe you should take another look at Cary, NC before assigning such a high rating. The Wake County School system (which Cary is part of) is not functioning well, and a growing number of Cary families have been negatively impacted. The growth of Cary and surrounding areas, combined with the lack of funding and action on the part of our government officials, has led to our current predicament of insufficient traditional school seating capacity to support the student base. The impacts to quality of life are significant: Constant redistricting of students (my kids have been redistricted five times since moving here), enforcement of Mandatory Year-Round schools which fractures families by placing siblings on different school schedules, and a slow but growing exodus of students from the public school system in general.

Here is a link to an article in this week's Cary News which clearly defines the school crisis and it's impact on Cary families:

http://www.carynews.com/113/story/5158.html

I'm sure Ernie McAlister (Mayor of Cary) is as concerned about the school crisis as Cary parents are, I am copying him here so that he may comment on actions the Cary Town Council is taking to keep education from becoming an issue which costs Cary our rankiing among your Best Places to Live.

Best Regards,
Joe Ciulla

Keep the Letters Coming

2007-01-12T14:13:00.000-05:00

My understanding is that the county commisioners are receiving a fair amount of email regarding their attempt to block MYR, and that it is overwhelmingly positive. We all need to do more. Today's editorial in the N&O portrays anti-MYR parents as a small minority -- wrong.

The Wake CARES group feels like our governer may be able to exert some influence over the BOE. In any case, take the time to let the governer how you feel about the representation you have.

Contact the Governor's Office
> You may contact the Governor's Office by
> sending a letter to
> Governor Easley,
> by e-mailing the Governor's Office or by
> calling the Governor's Office
> at: http://www.governor.state.nc.us/email.asp?to=1
> 1-800-662-7952 valid in North Carolina
> only
> (919)733-4240, or (919)733-5811.
>
> The address for all correspondence is:
>
> Governor Michael F. Easley
> Office of the Governor
> 20301 Mail Service Center
> Raleigh, NC 27699-0301
>
> Fax: (919)715-3175 or (919)733-2120

Cary Mayor and Town Council Culpability

2007-01-12T12:35:00.000-05:00

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.

It's My Way or the Highway !!!

2007-01-12T08:32:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I sent an email to Patti Head, begging her and the board to set ego aside, act in the best interests of our children, and work with the county commissioners to find a non-MYR solution to school over-crowding. The commissioners admitted they made a mistake in deferring funds to rennovate schools, and fixed it -- knowing they would endure comments from the school board about "back-tracking" and that they would use this as 'proof' that they have been right all along. Translation: "I want my MYR and I'm going to scream until I get it!" Here's Ms. Head's non-response to my email:

Joe, over a period of 18 months we met with, discussed with, shared with, compromised with the County Commissioners on the CIP that was the basis of the Bond that was brought to the public for their vote ...and approved in Nov....the reordering of the request by the BofE at their Monday meeting and the subsequent reversal was, according to Mr Gurley, based not on listening to the public, but on "doing the math" ...they found that their rash decision would cost the county and the taxpayers more money and would not be a wise financial step for our bankers to take....I do appreciate their change of mind and financing the renovations as requested in our first quarterly request following the bond.

The "cross-over" to engaging in educational policy-making by withholding our request for the year round conversion dollars and for the modular units we need for 2007-08 (and which was included in months of documents shared by both boards and included in the Bond which most of the CC endorsed) is not legal and is disingenuous with their support of the CIP and bond....I do fully realize that Mr. Coble was not a part of our meetings or the final approval, but the others were.

I would be happy to discuss this further with you if you'd care to call me at my office

518-0171...I continue to be very committed to working with our CC and all the citizens of Wake County to come up with solutions to address the consequences of the tremendous growth in WC and the direct impact that growth has on our public schools.....as you are aware, we had 7500+ new students this year and are expecting another 8,000 next...Sincerely, Patti Head

Patti Head
Wake County Board of Education

Patti Head has been in love with Year-Round schooling for years -- long before growth became an issue. In a way, the shortage of classrooms is a convenient way for her to do what she has wanted to all along.

Welcome to My World

2007-01-11T16:59:00.000-05:00

I am not an activist. Until 3 months ago, I had never written a letter to the editor, never attended a town or county government meeting, and generally skipped over the politics and opinion sections of the newspaper in favor of the sports page.

I lived a happy existance with my family, the kids went to school, we vacationed in the summer, all was good in the world.

Based on the ineptitude of our Cary town and Wake county governments, all that has changed. My family has now been forced to face the next two years having both our children attend school on two different schedules. As I watch our elected representatives bicker over this issue (or in the case of Town of Cary, run away from it), I am more truly amazed every day how our government can be concurrently ignorant and arrogant.

This blog will be updated regularly with views on government management of schools, growth, spending and administration. All are welcome to participate

Kenn Gardner Leter to WCPSS

2007-01-01T12:40:00.000-05:00

January 12, 2007

Mr. Del Burns

Superintendent

Wake County Public Schools

3600 Wake Forest Road

Raleigh, NC 27609

RE: Bond CIP Questions

Dear Mr. Burns:

It was noted by Don Hayden after the Jan 8^th Commission meeting, that he had not seen a spreadsheet document I was referencing during the school issues discussion. I had assumed that the document came from WCPSS and so I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to you, Don Hayden and Mike Buriss for using the document. It was in my packet and was stapled together with the WCPSS answers to the questions the Commission had asked. After the meeting I spoke to Don and realizing his frustration, I did apologize to him. I have followed up with the County Manager and I have been assured that even if that particular spreadsheet was not familiar to WCPSS, the numbers used were from the school system.

My intent is to try and understand the material before each meeting and I did not receive any information from the school system regarding answers to the questions raised in the December 4^th and December 20^th meetings until last Friday, Jan 5^th. As I reviewed the material over the weekend, I became concerned by what I perceived to be a shifting of money between line items by the school system without a clear explanation. I am uninterested in the rhetoric that has occurred since the Commission meeting and I would like to focus on the issues that I think need to be clarified.

I am attaching the spreadsheet that was in my Agenda Packet (Page 4) and the Spreadsheet that was on the WCPSS website (Page 5) as the foundation documents. I have attached a combined spreadsheet (Page 6) to more easily highlight the differences between the two documents.

I still have concerns and would like to have them addressed for clarity and to establish one document that we can all refer to as “THE 2006 Bond CIP Spreadsheet”. Currently we do not have that document.

My questions are as follows:

1. PROJECT MANAGEMENT:

I understand that WCPSS takes a portion of the Bond for project management services, which is an operational expense. A 3.5% multiplier was used in the assumptions although I did not realize it was the WCPSS intent to apply it across the entire $1 billion bond.

Former Superintendent Bill McNeil stated to the Blue Ribbon Committee that the cost of construction has doubled in the past several years, yet the cost of employee salaries and benefits has risen modestly over the same period of time. I question the use of a project management multiplier based on fast rising construction costs and see this as a significant issue that, if revisited, could free up additional bond funds immediately for seats or land.

Action Request:

a. New Column:

I would like to see a new column which states what that amount is for each line item. (Much like what has been done for Building Permits).

b. Historical Validation:

I would like some historical validation of what your actual project management expenses are. After review of last year’s Superintendent’s Budget I was unable to see where previous bond funds used for Project Management were identified. Please clarify.

c. Outsourcing:

I would like to know if the WCPSS has thought about outsourcing the Bond Program Project Management. I believe this could be substantially less expensive and free up more money for land or additional schools. I would ask the CFAC Committee to investigate the industry standards to validate the assumption.

2. CONTINGENCY FUNDS:

I understand that a 2% contingency is built into every project. The Agenda spreadsheet shifted this amount from every line item and consolidated it into a new category. I

have concerns that non-building related categories could be harmed by diverting their funding into a single contingency fund.

Action Request:

New Column:

I would like to request a new column indicating what each project contingency is.

Land Purchase:

It appears that $2,777,109 is being diverted for PM and Contingency fees out of the purchase of land. Taking contingency money away from the purchase of land does not appear to make sense, and the PM multiplier would appear to be excessive. Please clarify.

Technology, Life-Cycle Replacement, and Assessments:

These appear to be service contracts that would not require intense PM supervision. Please clarify why $2,309,628 in contingency and PM services are being taken from these contract service items

3. PM / CONTINGENCY COMBINED PERCENTAGE:

When comparing the two documents, there is a difference in the line item project budgets. The Web document has included PM and Contingencies in a total project budget. The Agenda Packet spreadsheet has taken these items out of the project budget, yet there is no consistency or explanation.

I thought I understood that 3.5% was for Project Management and 2% was for Contingency, so each line item should have a 5.5% difference, but they do not.

Action Request:

Why is it not 5.5%? Please clarify.

Renovations:

Vary from 1.37% (Smith E.) to 7.29% (Cary H.) and 6.73% (Lacy E). I believe that by adding the new columns for PM and Contingency this will help explain the differences, but I would like a simple clarification.

Enloe:

Why did Enloe’s budget increase by $490,250. Please clarify.

New:

Varies from 2.15% (E31) to 6.11% (E17). Please clarify assumptions.

Mobile Classrooms:

Increased by $3,689,666 (+27.86%)

9^th Grade Centers:

Decreased by $4,562,691 (-26.71%)

These are fair questions that need to be addressed. Let’s put aside the rhetoric, clarify the assumptions, establish the correct figures, and build some schools.

Thank you for you consideration and I look forward to your clarifications.

Sincerely,

Kenn Gardner

Wake County Commissioner

5417 Hunter Hollow Drive

Raleigh, NC 27606

CC: Ms. Billy Redmond Mr. John Mabe Mr. David Cooke

Board of Commissioners Board of Education