How’s your week been? Mine’s been–well, my wife just said something about helping a client group, a low-income neighborhood in Atlanta, “organize their thoughts.” That’s what I need. Can somebody out there help me organize these thoughts about Raleigh politics: I run into a leading Raleigh business official at the RBC Center last Wednesday as […]
Bob Geary
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Bare reform
When I was a kid, back in pre-cynical times (the “Ask not what your country can do for you” era), I was a fan of Wisconsin Sen. William Proxmire, who died in December at age 90. Proxmire was elected in 1957 to fill the vacancy caused by Joe McCarthy’s death. He was re-elected five times, […]
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Designing Wakes growth
Last week I was in a grumpy mood over Fayetteville Street, what with the chronic chandeliers, the white-tablecloth restaurant, the strip-mall hotel, and so on. Since then, a three-hour meeting on the hotel design has me convinced that it’s even more misbegotten than I knew–see below. But this week I can’t help whistling a happy […]
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The case of the chronic chandeliers
Let’s start with an easy one. I think we can all agree, can’t we, that the 14 “dichroic glass chandeliers” proposed to be put on our new Fayetteville Street are, as businessman Andrew Leager says, “a travesty”? Leager’s right, they do look like “court jester’s hats on top of skinny ice cream cones”–appropriate, perhaps, for […]
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It’s the absolute minimum
It says a lot about North Carolina, doesn’t it, that state Treasurer Richard Moore could get so much political mileage from his modest suggestion that we raise our minimum wage? I mean, it’s not like he said we ought to have health insurance for everyone, or decent housing, or even equal education opportunities. No, all […]
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Who needs Raleigh?
So is the TTA rail project dead? That’s the question everyone’s fixating on, and it’s the wrong question. The right one is, does the project make sense? Because if it does–and since all the heavy lifting on it has already been done–it’s not going to die, and it won’t even be crippled, though it’s apparently […]
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Year in Review 2005
Blame the creator. Try as we might, it’s hard to see 2005 as a good year for the planet or any of its nearby parts, such as America, North Carolina or the Triangle. But who’s responsible, exactly? If “mistakes were made,” and by golly a lot of them were, they must’ve been the fault of […]
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Keep Raleigh above average
It was a quiet week in Raleigh, my hometown. Steve Noble, Called2Action’s chair, says he paid $900 for that “Merry Christmas” thing he put in Moore Square. Steve, you paid too much. Couple of trees, a reindeer, a menorah (“Happy Hanukkah”), and the main event, a manger scene. (“Unto you, a savior is born.”) No, […]
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Keep Raleigh unchained
It’s the holiday season, prominently featuring Christmas (thanks, Rev. Woodson, for reminding the folks here how much Jesus loved to shop). But whatever your beliefs, wouldn’t you rather buy that model railroad at Tookie’s Toys instead of a big-box retail goliath that shall remain nameless? There’s been a lot of negative talk lately about a […]
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Battle over Horseshoe Farm Park heats up
Visualize a horseshoe. Horseshoe Farm, a 146-acre tract on the Neuse River in North Raleigh, is shaped like that, filling in behind a big bend in the river that measures a mile and a half from top to bottom. It’s one of Raleigh’s last big pastures. It’s a wildlife habitat for deer, fox, and–very unusual […]
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