Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
In the 70s and 80s, Brent Hackney was a familiar figure in Raleigh political circles. Yesterday, I got the bad news that he had died – at 57 – at his home in Moore County. Brent came here in the mid-70s as a capital reporter for The Greensboro News & Record. He was about the…
Read MoreFive Wake County Mayors have “asked the North Carolina Turnpike Authority Tuesday to figure out how fast it could build the western and southern arcs of the Outer Loop by making them toll roads.” (News and Observer, 12-14-05) Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker was not one of them. Now it may just be Mayor Meeker is…
Read MoreThe Turnpike Authority apparently wants to build the last two portions of the Outer Loop as toll roads (News and Observer, 11/28/05). Here’s an alternative. Put a tollbooth in front of Mayor Meeker’s Convention Center. Then put another one in front of the Exploris Museum (which is showing the new Harry Potter movie to fulfill…
Read MoreI know Gary is all for the lottery and it’s probably foolish of me to even bring it up since every poll shows 70% of voters agree with him. But there’s something about the lottery – besides the highly entertaining scandal it brought us – that is troubling. It’s this: with the lottery the politicians…
Read MoreRepublican State House Leader Richard Morgan says Republican Representative Ed McMahan is a skunk. (Those weren’t Richard’s exact words; he actually said McMahon “is about the most hypocritical person I know. I don’t like him. I don’t like his character. He has no business being National Committeeman or being Republican nominee for a legislative seat…
Read MoreFollow this logic: A. Mayor Meeker’s law firm has received $75,000 for work on the downtown Convention Center. B. Mayor Meeker’s law firm has – for years – represented the Triangle Transit Authority. C. As Mayor, Meeker supports spending $190 million to build the Convention Center and $800 million to build the TTA’s Light Rail…
Read MoreThe City Council is deciding what kind of tunnel to build to connect Mayor Meeker’s $190 million (and already $12.5 million over budget) Convention Center to an underground parking deck. The choices are a “no frills” $2.5 million tunnel. Or a “spruced up” $3.4 million version. Want to guess which won? The Council voted to…
Read MoreThe City wants to sell 1.8 acres of land it owns downtown near Mayor Meeker’s Convention Center and Hotel. TMC Associates have already submitted a bid for the property. Duke Realty asked the City Council to extend the deadline for bids sixty days so it could bid too. The question was, would Mayor Meeker and…
Read MoreAbout a week ago, I got a copy of an email from a group that calls itself ‘Smart Growth Democrats’ urging their supporters to support two candidates – Rev. Renee Bethea and Rev. Paul Anderson – for openings on the Raleigh Planning Commission. The third candidate, according to the ‘Smart Growth Democrats,’ is unqualified because…
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Republicans usually are better than Democrats at closing out elections, because they’re better at scaring voters.…
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Ethel Kennedy’s death recalls a time when hope and idealism triumphed over hate and fear. Robert…
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First came cataclysmic floods. Then came the cascade of lies. The lies – and the lying…
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