Posts by Carter Wrenn
Risky Business: Taking the Heat for Mayor Meeker?
Lately, City Manager, Russell Allen, has been gone from a low-profile to a high-profile city manager. I agree with him on some of the issues heâs speaking out on like the Plensa Plaza. But one result of his new âhigh-profile is heâs got the arts crowd mad at him, the sanitation workers mad at him,…
Read MoreYear Round Schools
The school board meeting the other night was packed with parents opposed to year round schools. One mother let the ‘chips fall where they may,’ put it bluntly and said “switching to year round schools would force her family to eschew the annual beach vacation.” (News and Observer; 9-26-06). Now, there’s something about all this…
Read MoreMcCorkle Again
The Governor just rewarded political advisor, Mac McCorkle (who’s pet line, especially when it comes to the lottery scandal, is ‘I don’t discuss my conversations with the Governor with the press’) with a new appointment. Governor Easley has named Mr. McCorkle Chairman of the North Carolina Progress Board, the state commission Governor Hunt founded to…
Read MoreThe Rest of Raleigih
Raleigh’s North, Northeast and Northwest planning districts accounted for 58% of the city’s growth over the last six years. Compare that to the Central District (downtown): its share was 2.5%. The Mayor’s spokesman, City Manager Russell Allen, says North Raleigh hasn’t been forgotten when it comes to city spending – and adds, as an example,…
Read MoreLivable Streets and Traffic Jams
Last Wednesday the City’s “Livable Streets” newsletter came out boasting about the groundbreaking of the new RBC Centura Plaza downtown, another huge new mixed use project downtown, four new parking garages downtown – and taxi fares going up everywhere. The next morning I talked to a friend who got stuck in traffic on Glenwood Avenue…
Read MoreBrad Miller, Sex and Vernon’s Ad
Gary, after all the trials and lottery scandals a little dose of sex and politics sounded interesting so when I read your blog (see below) about Vernon Robinson’s new ad about Brad Miller I looked at the copy on factcheck.org. Unfortunately, poor Vernon’s his own worst enemy. He has two legitimate points. Congressman Miller did…
Read MoreShoot the Alligator
This is from Dick Morris’ newsletter (“Attack Dog – Bill Threatens Media”) about President Clinton’s interview on the Today Show and his eruption during an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News. Morris says former President Clinton’s ‘Play Book,’ when it comes to dealing with critics, works this way: “Item one is ‘deny the allegation;’…
Read MoreBubba is Back
Well, Gary, I watched President Clinton on Fox News the other night and it was like old times not forgotten. He said four times he wanted to kill Osama bin Laden and it was sort of a shock hearing the words, “We tried to kill him,” come out of anyone’s mouth quite so bluntly. He…
Read MoreThe Devil and the United Nations
Sometimes you just have to wonder about the United Nations. Last week the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, flew to New York to address the United Nations the day after President Bush spoke. “’Yesterday, the devil came here,’ Chavez said, drawing giggles from the audience as he crossed himself, looked toward the heavens and said…
Read MoreHillary’s Secret Weapon
“Half of all the women in the United states are single, and they voted for John Kerry in 2004 by a margin of 25 points” – (DickMorrisReports@Vote.com). I guess because I’m old and married I never thought of half the women in America as being single; and though I knew women are more likely to…
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