The state of Raleigh's leadership

[JeffC]

When did the News and Observer turn into the defender of "the Man" and guardian of the status quo?

Boy has their editorial department gone in the crapper...I glanced at their school board "endorsements" (loosely applying the term) in today's issue...what a muddled, incoherent mess...

[RaleighRob]

Yet today, on that same editorial page, they have that special section "The Numbers" or whatever it's called...where they blatantly admit that Craven & Taliaferro are heavily funded by real estate & developers. Funny...they didn't mention that fact in their glowing endorsements.

But they did have a whole quarter-page article on Taliaferro's flier blabbing that Koopman missed voting in a primary or some silly crap.

[ChiefJoJo]

FYI: Public Policy Polling Oct 4 (margin error +/- 7%):

At-Large

Anderson............... 18%

Baldwin ................. 24%

Best....................... 1%

Stephenson........... 33%

Tart........................ 2%

Williams................. 8%

Undecided............. 15%

A

Craven .................. 46%

McFarlane ............. 48%

Undecided............. 6%

B

Koopman............... 40%

Menendez ............. 8%

Taliaferro............... 40%

Undecided............. 12%

[Jones_]

^^ Those numbers are the best news I have heard in a while. A letter to the editor in Sunday's paper also railed on how the N&O picked all the incumbents regardless of their political views. I am still pretty steamed at the N&O over those picks.....does the N&O actually represent some internally voted on result among N&O employees or does one person (the editor) get to represent the N&O, or even some mystery hand ala Karl Rove actually make these picks based on the N&O's "interests", i.e. advertising dollars or investors....

[Gard]

Those numbers are certainly encouraging! If those numbers actually reflect how people will end up voting, Kane can kiss TIF goodbye for NH East.

[plus2]

^^ Those numbers are the best news I have heard in a while. A letter to the editor in Sunday's paper also railed on how the N&O picked all the incumbents regardless of their political views. I am still pretty steamed at the N&O over those picks.....does the N&O actually represent some internally voted on result among N&O employees or does one person (the editor) get to represent the N&O, or even some mystery hand ala Karl Rove actually make these picks based on the N&O's "interests", i.e. advertising dollars or investors....

[sax184]

There is an editorial board comprised of the editor, publisher and some editorial writers/columnists. They write the editorials and pick the endorsements.

[JeffC]

The N&O is more likely to get up in arms about not being able to get documents, which is an interest of reporters as well as citizens, than it is to explore in further detail Taliaferro's attempts to disempower the CACs, which I think is a fascinating story.

Oh well, that's why we have the Indy!

[ncwebguy]

The N&O had two stories on the CAC issue -- one on the council's committee meeting to discuss hiring a consultant and a follow up article about a CAC study conducted in 2004.

Currently, the CACs present their citizens' opinion of proposed developments when city council moves to vote on approval. But developers don't like the idea of presenting and listening to the CACs about proposed projects. Their girl Jesse has been quietly working to "streamline" the process by reducing or removing CAC input.

In the last paragraph of an Independent arcticle, the Council will meet, without CAC leaders, on Oct. 16th.

[tjoad]

Just a reminder, GET OUT AND VOTE!!

[RaleighRob]

Early results coming in.....

Looks like in Dist A, MacFarlane has kicked Craven's tail. (Don't let the door hit ya on the way out buddy!)

In Dist B, Koopman has a nice lead over Taliaferro. But...and correct me if I'm wrong...he'd need a 50% majority to avoid a run-off with her. And that looks doubtful. But it's good news nonetheless.

For at-large, Stephenson is the top vote-getter. Looks like he'll avoid run-off. Baldwin is second with Anderson at third. Early returns show Baldwin too may just barely avoid run-off. (Too bad.)

Meanwhile, over in Cary smart-growth candidate Harold Weinbrecht has kicked McAllister's sorry butt to the curb. Glad to see they're learning their lesson over there.

And over in Durham, a whack-job fundie candidate for council, Victoria Peterson, has failed to make it out of the primary.

Overall, it's looking to be a good night!

[plus2]

Yes good night! All the right smart-growth people won in Cary and Raleigh. We'll have to wait for November to see if Koopman wins in a runoff. If he does we will have a governing majority of the right people.

[Gard]

An excellent night indeed! On a side note, looks like the city has the parks and recreation bonds in the bag by a long shot.

[RaleighRob]

Update on Dist B: N&O says Jessie's gonna request that run-off. (Apparently it's not automatic.) I suppose she's hoping she could get Menendez's supporters to give her a boost. But I doubt they would be as fired-up to show up again in November to vote for her to counter-balance Koopman's lead. As we've seen, Koopman's supporters have more "drive", even though hers have more money. We'll see.

[RALBOI]

I would like to hear opinions on how these leadership changes will effect Raleigh's growth will it slow us down similar to when Mayor Lang was in Cary,or will we finally see a push for real Rail transit so many things for me to ask. I really would love to hear some serious opinions on how it will impact all the different area's of Raleigh.

[RaleighRob]

^ Good question. Since Dist B seat hasn't been finalized yet, it may be too early to tell....since you need a 5-seat majority on council to get anything done. But briefly, the first three things that quickly come to mind are:

1- Another impact fee increase will be pursued,

2- The Planning Commission will (hopefully) no longer be filled with pro-developer types who basically rubber-stamp everything that they review, and

3- Smart-growth & dense urban development will be given a higher priority over suburban sprawl. (Or at least that's what one would hope given the outcomes last night.)

[ChiefJoJo]

^ Good question. Since Dist B seat hasn't been finalized yet, it may be too early to tell....since you need a 5-seat majority on council to get anything done. But briefly, the first three things that quickly come to mind are:

1- Another impact fee increase will be pursued,

2- The Planning Commission will (hopefully) no longer be filled with pro-developer types who basically rubber-stamp everything that they review, and

3- Smart-growth & dense urban development will be given a higher priority over suburban sprawl. (Or at least that's what one would hope given the outcomes last night.)

[RALNATIVE]

I would like to hear opinions on how these leadership changes will effect Raleigh's growth will it slow us down similar to when Mayor Lang was in Cary,or will we finally see a push for real Rail transit so many things for me to ask. I really would love to hear some serious opinions on how it will impact all the different area's of Raleigh.

[JeffC]

I'll go along with those, Rob.

I would imagine we might see: affordale housing, strengthening of the CACs, planning commission reform, revising our policies on water usage (conservation), city staff shake up (?), more accountable govt, and of course there's the Comp Plan.

[RaleighRob]

Another thing I hope they pursue is that tiered water pricing that we've heard about. Heavy users really ought to pay more per gallon, IMHO.

[ChiefJoJo]

Some interesting quotes here:

Q: How do you feel about the elections?

ISLEY: "Oh, mercy. I'm very depressed. It was a bad day. I felt like somebody died."

Q: What do the results mean for your town?

McFARLANE: "Raleigh citizens are very concerned with the way the city is growing. I think this will make ordinary citizens feel that they have more of a say."

ISLEY: "I believe we have the potential to be more liberal than San Francisco or Chapel Hill. Extremism on either end is not healthy."

Q: What effect is likely on growth policies?

MCFARLANE: "As Raleigh grows, we're going to put more emphasis on making sure we have the infrastructure in place first -- our limited natural resources like water, and also roads and schools and parks."

ISLEY: "[Raleigh is] going to double or triple impact fees -- that's a given. I think you'll see a growth-moratorium proposal. We're a popular place to live; people want to move here. I'm afraid we're going to kill the goose that lays the golden egg."

Q: Do the winners risk overreaching?

McFARLANE: "I don't think we're going to have a moratorium on growth. We want to look at a sound economic future for Raleigh. With growth come good things -- there's more jobs and opportunities. But poorly managed growth causes water shortages, traffic congestion, and other problems."

ISLEY: "Somebody's going to overreach. It always happens. It might happen here, too. I hope people will think independently. I certainly have."

It's informative just how far out of touch I think Isley is from what this is really about. Ironic that Isley, a supposed "conservative," wanted to give away $75M to Kane, but doesn't want to help keep property taxes low by raising impact fees on developers. Who's the real fiscal conservative here? This is alot more about special interests, and the voting public is tired of business as usual developer-controlled growth politicies, and it's not an liberal/conservative issue. Implementing more even-handed fiscal policies is a far cry from stopping growth and becoming "San Francisco." Meeker is a pro-business mayor, and will not let growth stop. I think, like many here on this board, we just want the growth to be sensible and well-planned, and I think we'll see that.

[DanRNC]

Looks like the reamining Joysey gal is now gone as Jessie has decided to bow out of the run-off. Maybe Raleigh can now get on with the process of promoting mass transit and cultural opportunities which didn't seem to be much of a priority for the last council. Isley is now pretty much a lame duck.

[ChiefJoJo]

Looks like the reamining Joysey gal is now gone as Jessie has decided to bow out of the run-off. Maybe Raleigh can now get on with the process of promoting mass transit and cultural opportunities which didn't seem to be much of a priority for the last council. Isley is now pretty much a lame duck.

[JeffC]

YEP!

[DanRNC]

Meeker also pointed out that he expects an easier time promoting the arts now with a new council.

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