It looks like the Friends of Diversity held their Oct. 5 press conference without having to pay to use the Raleigh Convention Center.

Raleigh City Manager Russell Allen told local conservative political activist Joey Stansbury that nothing was charged because the space "was available and would require no support or expense from the Convention Center operation."

The city owns the convention center, which hosted the press conference on the day before the school board election. Local dignitaries, including Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker, attended the event to urge voters to support keeping Wake's socioeconomic diversity policy.

How will a return to neighborhood schools reshape property values in Raleigh and Wake County?

As noted in today's article by Sarah Ovaska, one person told Raleigh real estate agent Anne Sherron that he's backing out of a deal because of the school board election results. She said the person had been looking at moving his family and his start-up technology company to Raleigh from Austin, Texas.

“He emailed me and said I’ve put my decision on hold indefinitely until I see whether Raleigh is going to end up like Charlotte,” said Sherron, a supporter of the diversity policy, in the article.

Outgoing school board members Eleanor Goettee, Patti Head and Lori Millberg are backing candidates in at least some of this fall's races.

All three board members, whose terms will expire after November, are backing Horace Tart in the District 2 school board race. Tart is the lone incumbent seeking re-election this fall.

"He's brought great service to that district," Head said of Tart. "He's brought great common sense."

Some prominent local officials are putting their money into this fall's school board races.

Campaign finance reports filed last month show a local who's who of Democrats and left-leaning unaffiliated voters among the donors for school board candidates Rita Rakestraw and Lois Nixon. Based on the report, both candidates seem to have deeper war chests right now than their opponents.

The latest reports from most candidats show relaively small amounts raised so far. The exceptions were Rakestraw, Nixon and Horace Tart.

As many television viewers may have noticed, Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker greeted President Barack Obama when Air Force One arrived at RDU on Wednesday.

Meeker, a fellow Democrat, said this was the second time he'd met Obama, the first being a brief encounter on the Wednesday before the November election when the future president was in town for a campaign event.

Meeker said Wednesday's meeting was also brief and "entirely ceremonial."

"I thanked him for coming back to Raleigh and working hard on this health care and he said we’re going to get it done and got in the car and took off."

Rita Rakestraw is getting some help for her campaign run for the District 1 school board seat.

Rakestraw is being assisted by Democratic political strategist Perry Woods. He's also working with Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker and several Democratic candidates for City Council.

Here's the press release from Woods, an occasional poster on the blog, about Rakestraw filing today:

Recent findings by the state water-quality division indicate Falls
is more polluted than rule-makers expected, particularly the Durham
County arm west of Interstate 85.

More than 50 percent of water samples from three western sites
exceeded pollution levels allowed by federal clean-water standards; the
rate at an Ellerbe Creek site was 84 percent.

"The western side of the lake is in poor condition," Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker said Tuesday.

City Manager Russell Allen has told Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker that he will accept any decision by the City Council to lower his recent $10,000 raise.

Lowering Allen’s salary would be in violation of the city manager’s employment agreement, which states that the “employee’s base salary or other benefits shall not be decreased during the term of the agreement.”

But Meeker said Allen won’t object should that occur. “Russell Allen has told me that if the council wants to adjust his salary based on budgetary reasons he will not hold us to the written contract,” Meeker said.

Meeker said last month that the council would revisit its May 5 decision in light of public anger over Allen’s annual salary being increased by 4.76 percent from $210,000 to $220,000.

Allen’s raise is three-quarters of a percent more than any other city employee would be eligible for under the city manager’s proposed $696 million budget for next year. The raise was criticized by a number of speakers at Tuesday night’s public hearing to discuss the city manager’s budget.

Meeker said Allen’s raise will be reviewed after the council has looked over the entire budget. The council will meet each Monday at 4 p.m. until a budget is passed.

The City Council spent 95 minutes in closed session during its May 2 meeting discussing Allen's performance review. Only Councilman Thomas Crowder voted against the raise after that discussion. Councilman Rodger Koopman did not attend the meeting.

Some councilors wanted to give Allen a larger raise than he received, while others wanted no raise.
Meeker said today that the purpose of the raise was to reward Allen for a job well done.

“What the council was attempting to do was reward an outstanding manager for excellent performance,” Meeker said.

Critics of the raise have said the council’s decision was tone-deaf given the current economic environment and the budget cuts being implemented by the city. The decision drew even more criticism after Allen released his budget, which calls for smaller raises for city employees, the elimination of a cost-of-living adjustment and higher health care costs for some.

“It’s certainly a perception issue. It’s not a lot of dollars but it’s a perception issue,” Meeker said. “And the council pays attention to perception so we’ll take a look at it.”

Mayor Charles Meeker made a bet involving beer, barbeque, ham, cheese and potatoes this afternoon with a man 29 years his junior.

And it was all in the name of civic pride.

Meeker and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl spoke today on a conference call and confirmed that a friendly wager between the two cities has been agreed to.

If the Penguins defeat the Hurricanes, Meeker, 58, will send 10 pounds of the The Pit’s chopped barbeque and a case of Big Boss beer to Ravenstahl, the 29-year-old mayor who was first elected in 2006 after his predecessor died in office.

Rumors that Meeker would also agree to change his name to Charles Malkin in the event the Penguins win turned out to be false.

If the Canes dump the Penguins, Ravenstahl will send Meeker five pounds of Isaly’s chipped chopped ham, three dozen pierogies, a case of Iron City beer and a defibulator. Okay, the last item isn't really part of the bet. But for those people worried about the rail-thin Meeker's heath should the Canes prevail, rest easy. Meeker promised to auction off this gut bomb or donate it to a food bank.

The Hurricanes and Penguins begin their best-of-seven series tonight in Pittsburgh. The winning mayor advances to the Stanley Cup Finals where he will be allowed to make another bet with a legendary pol or a former NBA great.

The two Democratic mayors traded some friendly banter this afternoon on their brief phone call.

Noting that the Steelers won the Super Bowl earlier this year, Meeker asked Ravenstahl how the Pittsburgh Pirates were doing and whether the city has any chance of corralling three major sports titles at once.

Ravenstahl said turning the moribund Pirates franchise around is a tall task.

“If you could help be get that done I’d be re-elected for life,” Ravenstahl said.

Ravenstahl undoubtedly has other things besides hockey on his mind these days. Pittsburgh holds its Democratic mayoral primary tomorrow, and two challengers are attempting to unseat Ravenstahl.

Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker gave a regional, three-county emphasis to his push for public transit today when he announced plans to run for re-election.

Meeker last year spearheaded action on a 10-year Wake County plan to beef up bus service and lay tracks for light-rail trains. That would give Wake the option to move on its own if Durham and Orange counties can't agree on priorities and funding for regional transit.

But when he cited transit as one of his top three campaign priorities today, he took the Three Musketeers approach: All for one and one for all. ... [MORE]