Raleigh

Community-focused posts

There are 773 posts filed in Raleigh (this is page 40 of 78).

Redmond still standing by her sweetheart deal

As part of the N&O’s profiles of candidates for Raleigh Mayor, the newspaper ran another story taking another look at Billie Redmond’s dealings on Wake County’s Citizens’ Facilities Advisory Committee, a citizen’s committee tasked with deciding how to spend bond money. As you recall, as co-chairperson of the board Redmond enthusiastically supported a proposal to overspend $4 million of taxpayer money on property for an Apex school, knowing the deal would net her company a cool quarter-million in commissions. Fortunately, the Commissioners torpedoed the deal and put a new policy in place that all property must be appraised first.

In today’s article, Redmond inexplicably still thinks that was a great decision:
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About those solar panels

Raleigh's going solar

I spent some time Friday at a dedication ceremony for the City of Raleigh Parks Department’s new greenhouse. One might think that a greenhouse wouldn’t be exciting but this is no ordinary greenhouse. It’s got energy-efficient features, it’s fully automated, and for the first time it provides the City the ability to grow any type of plant during any season. Raleigh’s parks, streets, and highways look so sharp because of the work of the Parks and Recreation Department’s horticulture and landscaping teams, who keep Raleigh looking beautiful through the careful stewardship of our trees, plants, and flowers.
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Raleigh #1 Best City in Businessweek.com ranking

Businessweek.com ranked Raleigh the #1 Best City in America. It’s just one more in a long list of accolades for my city.

I had to laugh when the article referenced Raleigh’s “attractive pedestrian mall” downtown, siting an obviously outdated city bio in Frommer’s. We got rid of that concrete abomination back in 2006.

Businessweek.com spent months working with data that would help us to identify the best cities in the U.S. We looked at a range of positive metrics around quality of life, counted up restaurants, evaluated school scores, and considered the number of colleges and pro sports teams. All these factors and more add up to a city that would seem to offer it all. When we began the process we had no idea which cities would come out on top. The winner? Raleigh, N.C.

via Which Is America’s Best City? – Businessweek.com.

Update 5:21 PM: Businessweek.com has since removed the reference to Raleigh’s defunct pedestrian mall. Now the only remaining questions are where are the 51 museums, 867 restaurants, and 110 bars cited in the story? Can anyone name them all? I think those stats might apply to a wider area than just Raleigh, though I’d be surprised if even the entire Triangle had 867 restaurants.

St. Aug’s stadium

This afternoon, the Raleigh City Council unanimously approved St. Augustine’s College’s special use permit for a 2,500 seat stadium. While some neighbors continued to oppose the stadium, I had concluded that the conditions the school was applying to the permit mitigated most of the impact the stadium would have on the community. My home is very near the main entrance to the parking area, so I am one of those who would be most affected by traffic and parking.

One thing that bothered me (and still does) is the way school president Dr. Suber played the victim card in her mailing to supporters. There’s no way a 144-year-old college could possibly be bullied by the neighbors, yet she made it sound that way in her appeal for support:
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Retail follows rooftops

Earlier this week I had to make a trip up to the car dealership to pick up a part for my car. This used to be an easier trip for me but the dealer recently moved a few miles further up Capital Boulevard, adding about 10 more minutes to the trip. As I drifted through traffic heading up Capital, I wondered what sense it made for the dealer to move farther away from the city center.

Was it because of the need for more land? Not likely, it seemed. Capital Boulevard is littered with plenty of former dealerships surrounded by plenty of available expansion space.
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WakeMed’s battle for survival

I and other leaders of Southeast Raleigh were invited to a luncheon today at WakeMed’s Heart Center with CEO Dr. Bill Atkinson. We were given a brief presentation on the New Bern Avenue Corridor makeover to start with before jumping into the heart (no pun intended) of the matter: WakeMed’s proposed takeover of Rex Hospital.

We were given a lot of facts and figures (including a hefty binder) and I’m still sorting through it all, but it was only this evening did I really hit upon the underlying point they were trying to make: this is a battle for WakeMed’s very survival.

I hadn’t gotten that from news stories I’ve read and I had to really sift through what we were told today to get to this understanding, but that’s how it seems to me.

WakeMed is a valued member of my community. Both of our kids were born there and our oldest owes her life to the outstanding care she received as a preemie. It’s hard for me to overlook all of this. I think WakeMed has brought up some pretty good points which deserve to be looked into.

Hasher run through Raleigh

Tonight a neighbor sent an email to the CAC list, alerting our neighbors to unusual activity. People were running through the neighborhood but they weren’t up to no good and the cops (as far as I know) weren’t chasing them.What were they up to? They are “hashers” on a hasher run, an activity that combines drinking and running.

My neighbor describes it as:

an extreme fun-run club that chases a ‘hare’ thru odd locations and they started their run at the Oakwood Dog Park tonite.

Some clubs describe themselves as “a drinking club with a running problem.”
It sounds like my kind of running club! According to The Wikipedia:

At a Hash, one or more members (Hares) lay a trail, which is then followed by the remainder of the group (the Pack or Hounds). The trail often includes false trails, short cuts, dead ends, and splits. These features are designed to keep the pack together regardless of fitness level or running speed, as front-runners are forced to slow down to find the “true” trail, allowing stragglers to catch up.

Apparently, hashers are given nicknames, many of which are bawdy.

If you’d like to engage in this irreverent foolishness, sign up with Carolina Larrikins Hash House Harriers or find another group near you!

Raleigh incubator, part deux

In my job quest, I began checking into Adzerk since I’ve got connections there. On Adzerk’s blog, Andy Schrader bemoans the (perceived) lack of pizazz that Raleigh offers startups:

Problem is that we’re barely considering a move to Raleigh because of its perceived lack of culture (we’re not a law firm or a government office).

Raleigh has made great strives to rejuvenate Fayetteville street and bring businesses back downtown but why no attention to startups?

Here’s your proof that Raleigh’s “stodgy” reputation is driving away promising startup companies.
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Raleigh startup incubator

I went to an job interview last week at a business in Durham’s American Tobacco Complex. The energy there was impressive. I couldn’t help but think it was cool that so many small companies are all right there, building the Next Big Thing.

It got me thinking that it’s high time Raleigh had a startup incubator of its own, bringing tech startups into downtown Raleigh and creating a buzz of its own. Raleigh’s downtown has a bit of a stodgy reputation, filled with lawyers, municipal employees, and electric company people. Until Red Hat announced its intention of moving downtown, there really hasn’t been a tech scene downtown. It’s time to change this!

When I Tweeted this last week a number of my friends immediately jumped on the bandwagon, asking how we begin. I heard from Councilor Mary-Ann Baldwin that plans are in the works for just this thing, which is fantastic. Too often the tech jobs locate in that desert known as Research Triangle Park when they should be feeding their own creativity in places like Durham’s American Tobacco (and, hopefully soon, Raleigh’s downtown too).

Billie Redmond’s love/hate relationship with debt

The News and Observer published a letter today from Raleigh mayoral candidate Billie Redmond, in which she responded to mayor Charles Meeker’s reassurance regarding Raleigh’s debt.

Redmond’s letter closed with this:

Making our debt a high priority, based on a slowing economy, and demanding that we spend within our means – and not take on new projects we cannot afford – is not being critical. It’s being responsible.

Let’s take a look at Billie Redmond’s history with debt, shall we?
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