I admire what John Kane has done at North Hills in Raleigh. He’s obviously a businessman with vision and guts.

But I wonder if he knows what kind of political buzzsaw he has walked into now.

Specifically, the anti-developer buzzsaw that seems to be dominating Raleigh politics.

Kane has asked Raleigh and Wake County for $75 million in bonds to finance a parking deck for the next phase of his North Hills expansion.

At first blush, the deal sounds no worse to me than the city directly subsidizing a downtown hotel to the tune of $20 million. Or sinking millions of dollars more into a downtown parking deck.

But – apparently – the city only subsidizes downtown development.

Mayor Charles Meeker and City Manager Russell Allen already say they oppose Kane’s request, according to The News & Observer. And the rest of the City Council is reported to be “wary.”

No wonder. Council members who aren’t automatically anti-developer have been wary since a blitz of negative, anti-developer direct mail hit in the final days of last year’s city elections.

I’ve been told the mail came from the Service Employees International Union, which wants to be a political power and wants to organize local government employees.

The SEIU’s political play succeeded. Now anybody running for city office next year has to factor in the anti-developer factor.

The questions to be answered:

• Like cheeseburgers, anti-developer politics may taste good, but is it good for you?

• Why does the city subsidize development downtown, but not elsewhere?

• Is the business and development community in Raleigh politically clueless?

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