Raleigh

It looks like our crusade to get the Raleigh City Council focused on schools is making progress. In his annual State of the City address this week, Mayor Charles Meeker laid out three goals for 2006: reduce fuel consumption, fight homelessness and – according to The News & Observer – “push Wake County to solve…

The News and Observer reports, “Raleigh-Durham Airport officials just approved a $257.6 million contract to replace the red-roofed Terminal C,” and the total cost of the project is “expected to reach $555 million.” So we have taxpayers funding: • $555 million for a terminal at the airport;• $215 million (and still rising) for the downtown…

If Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker runs for reelection next year, he might face a challenge from a Democrat to his left. Like maybe Thomas Crowder. Meeker and other Council members aren’t happy with Crowder putting the issue of Marriott Hotel stucco on the front page. Not a team player, you know. And word is The…

The price of Mayor Meeker’s downtown Convention Center just soared again: to $215 million. The City Council just approved spending another $23 million on the Convention Center without a blink or hardly a nay vote. In fact, every County Commissioner and every City Councilman but one – Councilman Tommy Craven – voted for the increase.…

The downtown hotel has hit a stumbling block – but not because City leaders decided it was a mistake to stick taxpayers with a $20 million bill to build a Marriott Hotel. Instead, the problem is stucco. That’s right, stucco. Councilman Thomas Crowder is raising all sorts of cain because the builders want to put…

The N&O reported today that the downtown Raleigh Convention Center keeps getting more expensive. And the city-subsidized hotel keeps getting uglier. The political hole is getting as deep as the construction hole.

The News & Observer headline Thursday (January 19) said “Wake school officials fear sticker shock.” I believe Raleigh Democrats are in for voter shock if they don’t wise up. This month, Democrats on the City Council refused to even talk about using city revenues to meet school construction needs. Fortunately, two Council Democrats – Jessie…

One of the School Board Financial Advisory Board members has come out for something called an Adequate Public Facilities ordinance (ADF) – which sounds like a good-old-fashioned impact fee. Now that’s wrong with that? First, it’s a hidden tax. The county slaps a big fee on developers – but whoever buys what the developer sells…

The News and Observer reports Wake County Commission Chairman Tony Gurley has switched sides – he’s now a moderate (he ran for election as a conservative). That doesn’t sound too bad. People have a right to sincerely change opinions. But in this case I feel there’s another tried and true political tradition at work here.…

Here’s the outrage of the week. Two of them. Mayor Meeker has given us a downtown Convention Center, a downtown hotel and a new up-scale downtown supermarket – all funded, subsidized or paid for by taxpayers. Now he’s giving us a ritzy, white-tablecloth fine cuisine downtown restaurant – at a cost to taxpayers of $1,000,000.…