Raleigh

Community-focused posts

There are 773 posts filed in Raleigh (this is page 34 of 78).

Copper thieves targeting Raleigh utility poles

This pole on Edmund Street is not protected against shorts and lightning due to a clipped grounding wire (lower left).


I happened to take a glance at the utility poles my dog was peeing on this morning and was aghast to see that many of them were missing their copper grounding wires! I’ve blogged about lightning protection before, and during last summer’s thunderstorm season I had read about how important these grounding wires are to the safety of our homes and the safety of the linemen who work on the electrical gear. Here were a half-dozen poles on this short street that were missing the first six feet of their grounds.

I sent out an email to the neighborhood, urging folks to call in any other broken poles they saw. While I didn’t hear back from my neighbors, I did check the poles on Glascock as I drove to the grocery store this afternoon and saw many poles in the same sad condition.

I don’t know when these thefts took place but it makes me angry that some metal-thieving asshat is jeopardizing the safety of my family just to make a few measly bucks. If lightning hits a utility pole within a few blocks, my home could burn down because of these missing grounding wires.

This is a serious safety issue and there’s no telling how hard Raleigh has been hit. I’m hoping these get discovered before people find out the hard way that their homes are sitting ducks for lightning.

(As pure coincidence, WRAL ran a story today about these utility pole copper thefts occurring in Wayne county.)

The tornadoes, one year after

Raleigh Tornado, 16 April 2011

It was a year ago this past Saturday, 16 April 2011, when the deadly EF3 tornadoes roared through Raleigh, damaging over a thousand homes and killing three people. While the lives lost can never be replaced, the homes are returning to normal. The East Raleigh neighborhood of Lockwood held a celebration of the anniversary on North King Charles St this past weekend.

I never posted all of my photos from that devastating day last year, so here’s a link to my Picasa album documenting the damage only minutes after it occurred.

Also, check out the Google Maps satellite imagery of the neighborhood, showing before and after photos. It will be a long while until these neighborhoods regain their leafy shelter.

CharO unfairly slams Craigslist

The Charlotte Observer reported this week how a man was robbed of money after he posted an ad seeking a car on Craigslist:

Similar “robbery-by-appointments” have become a growing problem since classified ad websites like Craigslist have become popular online sources to buy or sell anything from pets to electronics and cars.

Of course, nowhere does the Observer mention that this is not a problem inherent to Craigslist. The same crime could’ve been set up from a flyer stapled to a neighborhood bulletin board, a notice posted in a library, or even (gasp) a classified ad placed in the Charlotte Observer! A commenter on the story also calls the paper out:

Did this type of activity just never occur with newspaper classified ads?

Sure it did, but you don’t think the paper would bash itself, do you?

Look, I get that the newspaper industry has an axe to grind against Craigslist, blaming it for the massive loss of classified advertising. The truth, though, is that the rise of the Internet killed classified advertising. If Craigslist hadn’t done it, some other company would have.

Ads are ads, no matter what the medium. They connect strangers seeking a transaction. Just because someone using Craigslist experienced a crime doesn’t imply that newspaper advertising (or any other kind of advertising) is any safer. Spinning this as a Craigslist-only problem is disingenuous.

Police in the neighborhood

Hallie and Travis pose with Officer J.A. Kryskowiak, July 2010

Police are in my neighborhood and I couldn’t be happier about it. You see, they’re not leaving to go on another call, they live in my neighborhood. I know of at least two officers who’ve chosen to call my neighborhood home.

Why is this so great? Because as I learned on my ridealong a few years ago, no one knows neighborhoods like cops do. Cops like to live in places that have don’t have crime. Like everyone else, cops like to “leave it at the office” when they’re off duty. They want time when they can relax and just be themselves. And, any criminals thinking of committing a crime are going to think twice when they see a police car ont he street.

When an officer I know asked if there were any available homes in my neighborhood, I knew my neighborhood was in good shape.

Land once home to Raleigh baseball field now eyed for urban park

News and Observer reporter Matt Garfield wrote a captivating article about the Devereux Meadows site one day being a park again after 30 years as a trash truck parking lot.

It reminded me of Leo Suarez’s look back at the old ball park from two years ago.

RALEIGH — An expanse of land just north of downtown moved closer to a greener future this month when the city began relocating a sanitation and fleet yard to a new home outside the Beltline.

The land, which has spent the past 30 years as a parking lot for garbage trucks, is envisioned as a park and greenway that supporters hope will enliven an aging gateway into downtown.

Called Devereux Meadows, the planned 15-acre park takes its name from the minor league ballpark that once anchored the site along the west side of Capital Boulevard between Peace Street and Wade Avenue.

via Land once home to Raleigh baseball field now eyed for urban park – Wake County – NewsObserver.com.

On being a Gladys Kravitz

Mrs. Kravitz


I’ve heard that some neighbors are calling me a “Gladys Kravitz.” For you youngsters not familiar with the TV show Bewitched, Mrs. Kravitz was the nosy neighbor of Samantha and Darren Stephens who was always alerting her disinterested husband, Abner, to the strange goings-on in the Stephens household. Gladys is always right, of course, but that does not make the comparison … um, flattering.

I love my neighbors and would do anything for them. It doesn’t matter who they are, what they look like, how much money they make, or anything. It doesn’t even matter if they don’t see eye-to-eye with me. If you’re my neighbor, you’re my people. It’s as simple as that.
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Rebuilding Together

Evelyn Contre (boardmember) and Dan Sargent (Director) of Rebuilding Together of the Triangle


At lunch today, I stopped by the home of Mr. John Snipes in Southeast Raleigh. Rebuilding Together of the Triangle’s executive director, Dan Sargent, invited me to see the renovation work being done on Snipes home.

Mr. Snipes, a Navy veteran of the Vietnam era, had a tree fall on his home by last year’s tornado and his insurance didn’t cover all the costs of fixing it. For 11 months his home has been covered by a tarp. Mr. Snipes’s roof and air conditioning needed replacing, too. His home had no insulation and for the past two years he heated his home with electric space heaters.
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Can we revisit our can policy?

Recycling bin


I made an unexpected trip home from my office Wednesday to fetch something I had left behind. On this brief trip I saw two different homeless men walking with bags of cans. No, I didn’t call the cops, but I did realize that more homeless people seem to depend on these cans than I had first thought. No one wants to jail homeless people for trying to get by and I know our police officers aren’t interested in doing that, either.

My issue with recycling theft stemmed completely from seeing men in pickup trucks systematically scouring recycling bins, never with the homeless people trying to get by. Perhaps Raleigh’s recycling theft ordinance should be adjusted so that those taking smaller quantities might not be unfairly targeted.

One suggested adjustment the ordinance I’ve heard would simply make the contents of the recycling bin the city’s property and make it a crime to remove them, omitting the spelling out of any penalty. Raleigh could then choose how to respond based on the level of the theft. It’s definitely worth considering.

Raleigh’s Community Watch forum

There has been a lot of discussion in Raleigh’s neighborhoods regarding the Treyvon Martin tragedy in Florida, specifically about the proper role of community watches. I thought to email Chief Dolan, Raleigh’s chief of police, today to see if he and his staff would be interested in participating in a forum delving into the role of community watches and how we can keep our communities safe while still respecting everyone’s civil rights. I initially thought this would be a good discussion at April’s RCAC meeting but the interest and audience might be bigger than that.

I think this is something that the community needs to discuss so I am hopeful we can hash things out to clear up any confusion.

Home sales are hopping

Home For Sale


I’ve been watching from my window this afternoon as car after car of prospective homebuyers drive through my neighborhood. A few days ago I Tweeted that nearly every home that’s been on the market in my East Raleigh neighborhood have been snapped up within the past few weeks. Some of these homes were vacant for many months and now they’re occupied. It’s been stunning to see how quickly things have taken off again.

The News and Observer reported last week that home sales in the Triangle have jumped 35% over last year. My real estate agent friends have confirmed the brisk sales. It’s great to see all the new neighbors coming to Raleigh!