Mayor Meeker’s Sancho Panza, Councilman Thomas Crowder, sees a new threat developing to Raleigh neighborhoods: Pawnshops.

Crowder announced last week that he sees a trend. Pawnshops are moving into residential neighborhoods (News and Observer; 3-31-07). That seemed to puzzle Raleigh police detective Rich Bargfrede, who was testifying before Crowder’s committee. Barfrede – who is apparently the city expert on pawn shops – said to his knowledge no pawn shops have opened in residential areas in five or ten years.

So why would Crowder make it up?

Here’s a guess.

There is a pawnshop on Hillsborough Street where Crowder and the Mayor plan to build their quaint English-style Roundabouts. The Mayor has spent a billion dollars turning downtown into a Mecca of wide sidewalks and strolling pedestrians and there’s no place in Shangri-La for pawnshops.

Crowder wants to exile pawnshops and he knows when voters get the idea they’re about to invade the suburbs there’ll be a groundswell of public support for the Mayor to send them to Durham.

Raleigh can certainly prosper regardless, but the great pawnshop hoax is part of a bigger pattern. The Mayor’s tightening his grip on downtown. He’s telling businesses the types of awnings to use, restaurants the types of planters to put in sidewalk cafes and newspapers which racks are acceptable. Maybe McDonalds, Wendy’s and Chick-fil-A’ don’t fit into the Mayor’s version of Shangri-La, either. If not, they may be next.

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