We’re in Charlotte, driving south out of the downtown (their “uptown”) along the route of the Queen City’s first light-rail commuter transit line, now under construction. When it opens in a year or so, the South End line will cover nearly 10 miles, with 15 stations, before terminating just short of Interstate 77. Our guides […]
Bob Geary
Posted inNews
Planning Dix (and not planning Plensa)
So now, three years into its deliberations, the General Assembly’s Dorothea Dix Hospital Property Study Commission is bringing in the Urban Land Institute to tell it what to do with the 306-acre site. Is that a good idea? Well, sure, says Sue Sturgis, on www.raleigheconews.com, as long as you know that ULI is the nonprofit […]
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In America, terror goes both ways
Is there an example in American history of the police reacting to a radical threat and not making things worse? From the abolitionists to the anarchists to the communists, and in more recent memory from the Black Liberation Army to the Symbionese Liberation Army to the Weather Underground, we’ve never lacked for a few revolutionaries […]
Posted inArt
What’s creativity all about?
With Spark Con just a week away, here’s a question: What problem is this inaugural conference (about “igniting the creative hub of the South”) trying to solve? The answer, says Becky Shankle, one of the principle organizers, is that Spark Con is not about solving a problem. It’s about recognizing opportunities–opportunities to boost our region’s […]
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A few good races (and a few opportunities)
Labor Day traditionally kicks off the election season. Not for the candidates, of course. Most of them have been at it for months (or since they were in high school, take your choice). But for the voters, that dwindling band of democracy’s believers, it’s just two months until Election Day, Nov. 7, and less than […]
Posted inNews
Sparking the Triangle
We’re just days away from the inaugural Spark Con, which runs Sept. 14-17, and I am psyched. One reason is, I’m very curious to hear what people will say about Raleigh’s (and the Triangle’s) creativity quotient. We rank so high on so many lists, you’d think we’re a lock to be the next (fill in […]
Posted inUncategorized
Etheridge on the war: not my issue
Folks who came to the Wake Progressive Democrats meeting in Raleigh last week hoping to learn where Congressman Bob Etheridge stands on the war left shaking their heads. Whether we should be in Iraq, Etheridge said, is just not his issue. His issue, he told some 50 of his fellow Democrats, is veterans. His 2nd […]
Posted inNews
Iconic Raleigh
What a strange sight we encountered in Raleigh on Saturday night. It was a traffic jam–I kid you not–at the corner of West Davie and South Harrington streets. There were four stretch limousines implicated. I counted them as I watched from the patio at Humble Pie. The traffic was headed, beautiful young people in tow, […]
Posted inNews
Plaza? Or no plaza?
The question of whether or not to install Spanish artist Jaume Plensa’s light show on Fayetteville Street has set off the most amazing debate in Raleigh over whether we’re too dull, too philistine, too cheap or too something else to appreciate great art, on the one hand; or, to hear some others tell it, too […]
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The Vanishing Voter
Article navigation: Why so few elections? | Why no third-party candidates? | No limits on party fundraising (the Black problem) | No limits on rich politicos (the Pope problem) | No spending limits, no public financing Consider the case of Democratic House Speaker Jim Black. He raises campaign funds from notorious special interests (payday lenders, […]
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