Raleigh

Thomas Friedman wrote in The New York Times recently that Iraqis can’t be having a civil war because they’re not sufficiently organized to have one. But I suspect my fellow Democrats are. And next year’s Raleigh elections may be the first battle of that war. There are two very different schools of thought in the…

Mayor Meeker wants the City to set up a development corporation to buy the Dix Hospital site for $40 million. (The money would come from bonds, new taxes and donations.) Voters just passed a billion dollar school bond. Are they likely to favor another bond so the City can go into the land development business?…

City Councilman Thomas Crowder, apparently, takes the City’s new regulations on the height of grass, outdoor cafes and hot dog stands pretty seriously. He sounds like a dedicated advocate of Urban Correctness. The problem is, sometimes, he sounds like a killjoy too. When the City fined Lew Barnes $236 for not cutting his grass to…

Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker is taking the lead on the future of the Dix property in downtown Raleigh. That’s a good thing. The Mayor gets criticized for sitting back too often, rather than standing up. But we ask the Mayor: What about North Raleigh? What about, for instance, the Horseshoe Farms debate? People in North…

One reason I’ll watch the Wake school bonds vote is to see whose polls are accurate: The News & Observer published a Mason-Dixon poll strongly indicating the bonds would lose. That poll showed support at only 35 percent. But two other polls show the bonds winning. Public Policy Polling said last week the bonds were…

There’s a lot to be learned from the News and Observer’s poll (10-24-06). Let’s start with the School Bond. Supporters say their poll shows voters support the bonds 56% to 37%. The News and Observer’s poll shows almost the exact opposite. Voters oppose the bonds 54% to 35%. Every group in the News and Observer…

The November 7 election could be a big win for Wake County Democrats. And it could dump a big problem into their laps. Assume two things: The school bond issue loses. Democrats take control of the county commissioners. First task for the Democrats will be figuring how to pay for more schools. The Democrats I…

Parents who oppose mandatory year-round schools also oppose the Wake County school bonds. But they may be the biggest losers if the bonds lose. Especially if you look deeper into the WRAL/News & Observer poll on the bonds. The bonds are losing 54-35, the poll says. But the internal numbers are even more interesting: Most…

When it comes to downtown Raleigh Mayor Meeker has his own version of political correctness – it could be called “urban correctness.” The Mayor and two of his allies on the City Council, Russ Stephenson and Thomas Crowder, have very definite – and rigid – views about what they do and don’t want downtown and…

The News & Observer says its poll with WRAL shows that voters are “leaning against” the Wake school bond issue. It looks more like a tsunami to me. Only 35 percent of the voters said they’ll vote for the bond issue. The result could be nearly 2-to-1 against. School bond supporters sound like George Bush…