I took the Kiersey Personality test again yesterday and it pegged me as an ENTP. My values were pretty strong in the Extroverted and Intuitive traits but almost exactly down the middle for Thinking and Perceiving. So it’s not too far off from the ENFJ that I came up with six years ago.
Follow-Up
There are 521 posts filed in Follow-Up (this is page 15 of 53).
Dogs in parks issue moved to committee
Last week, the Raleigh City Council moved the issue of restricting dogs from certain areas of parks to the Council’s Public Works committee. I was aware that might happen but don’t know what the committee might hit on that the parks board and its committees did not. We have carefully considered the issue, collected public feedback, and made sure all along to take our time to get it right.
Again, I feel the key to success here is to provide more dog-friendly areas, whether they be dog runs in existing parks or biting the fiscal bullet and ponying up for additional much-needed dog parks in our growing city. Part of the Parks board’s recommendation was to be tasked with studying where more dog-friendly resources could be added. I hope the Council will see fit to approve that.
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Nextdoor getting mixed results
Earlier this week I saw someone forward a notice to a neighborhood listserve which had first gone out over Nextdoor. The forward was prefaced with this comment:
This was on nextdoor. I hate nextdoor, I need another social network like I need a hole in my head.
I responded to the poster, asking her to elaborate. She was happy to do so:
I don’t really want my neighborhood communications shunted off into a stand-alone platform, I thought email worked well for [Belvidere Park – Woodcrest.] When I do get email notifications from nextdoor, I have to click through to see the whole thread, which I don’t want to do on my smartphone. If Nextdoor were integrated into FB, which I’m already resigned to, that would be one thing. I have zero interest in ramping up conversations in a new platform. I felt like I had to join it to stay looped into Oakwood/Mordecai events, where my office is located, because they opted into Nextdoor entirely.
Police Protective Fund still suckering people
A friend posted a list compiled by Tampa Bay Times of America’s worst charities today so, knowing there’s a special place in Hell for scumbags who rip people off in the name of charity, I decided to check it out.
Lo and behold, spot number twenty was held by one of my favorite charities, the Police Protective Fund (PPF). You may recall I profiled the Police Protective Fund back in 2008 after I got a call from a solicitor seemingly trying his best to sound like a police officer.
According to tax records, PPF raised about $50 million from 2001 to 2010. Of that, roughly $15 million went to pay its solicitors. Oh, and as for the first responders PPF claims to assist, those brave men and women received $260,000 over that timeframe. That’s about $29,000 a year.
What most people don’t know is that the Police Protective Fund is a North Carolina corporation with its registered office at a corporation service on Hillsborough Street. I wonder if our fine attorney general would like to check these folks out. After all, they want to help cops, right? Why not help our state’s top cop investigate them for possible fraud?
On anarchism, Moral Monday surveillance and The Color Run – Technician: Columns
My ever-popular post on the Color Run got a mention in a recent editorial in NCSU’s Technician student newspaper. While I appreciate the attention, I’m not sure what point the writer was trying to make. His column kind of rambles.
On Sept. 28, Raleigh hosted The Color Run, a for-profit 5K race in which the runners are doused in cornstarch dye through the race. But as The N&O reported, “Residents of the historic Oakwood neighborhood are fuming after a recent ‘color run’ left brightly colored powder on houses, and some people’s cars were towed from outside their homes.”
Mark Turner, a Raleigh resident and blogger who saw bleach mixture being used to wash the streets after the race and the “chemical-laden broth” allowed to drain into the Neuse River, said, “Raleigh Police posted ‘no parking’ notices with as little as 13 hours’ notice, leaving many residents unprepared. Tow trucks hauled off their cars and stuck them with bills upwards of $150 to get them back.”
via On anarchism, Moral Monday surveillance and The Color Run – Technician: Columns.
Flares over Raleigh attract no 911 calls
After learning from the Raleigh Fire Department that the flares I saw on the night of September 28th didn’t belong to them, I thought I’d reach out to the Raleigh-Wake 911 center to see if any calls had come in about the flares.
I got a response today from deputy director Walt Fuller who checked the records for downtown calls and turned up nothing:
I went back and looked into CAD and I saw several calls in the downtown area but they mostly security checks, traffic stops and other normal incidents. I saw no calls of the nature you mentioned.
Raleigh ‘Color Run’ race leads to dyed houses, towed cars
Looks like Colin Campbell at the N&O has picked up on the Color Run story.
By the way, I’m up to 16,045 page views now. Word has really gotten around.
Residents of the historic Oakwood neighborhood are fuming after a recent “color run” left brightly colored powder on houses, and some people’s cars were towed from outside their homes.
The Color Run is a for-profit 5k race where runners are doused with dyed starches along the route. They are held in dozens of cities across the country each year, billing themselves as “a race that celebrates healthiness, happiness and individuality.”
via RALEIGH: Raleigh 'Color Run' race leads to dyed houses, towed cars | Wake County | NewsObserver.com.
Residents seeing red after Raleigh ‘Color Run’ | abc11.com
Ed Crump with WTVD just ran a story on Raleigh’s Color Run fiasco (and nice headline, Ed. Sounds kinda familiar …)
RALEIGH (WTVD) — Some residents of historic Oakwood in downtown Raleigh say they are annoyed by the noise and mess left from last weekend’s “Color Run.”
Runners and volunteers played loud music and threw colored powder as part of the 5K event at Halifax Mall on Sept. 28.
However, some residents said they were really upset when their cars were towed off the street with less than 24-hours notice.
via Residents seeing red after Raleigh 'Color Run' | abc11.com.
Color Run post attracts attention
I’m overwhelmed. Really. My post about the Color Run has gone viral with over 6,400 page views already, simply from posting a single link on my Facebook timeline. My webserver’s been buzzing ever since. Apparently I’ve struck a chord.
I understand the Color Run company is aware of it, too. Should they reach out to me I’ll be happy to share their perspective, too.
Activate Good responds
Activate Good
The director of Activate Good, Amber Smith, reached out to me almost immediately after my Color Run post, having been alerted by a mutual friend. We chatted some this afternoon about the run and the aftermath.
It seems Activate Good was given the same deal that most other charities get from Color Run. That is, they got a donation based on the number of volunteers they provided. Activate Good contributed over 180 volunteers and performed a lot of the heavy lifting for the run, including the “color toss.” Amber says their volunteers were not involved in the clean up as that was done by others.
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