PARKING FEUD: Raleigh residents squared off Wednesday at a committee meeting about a proposed ordinance that would ban front-yard parking. Members of the council’s Comprehensive Planning Committee asked staff for further analysis before making a recommendation to the full council.

WEST TO COMMISSIONERS: Raleigh City Councilman James West was appointed to the Wake County Board of Commissioners last week, leaving vacant his District C council seat. The council will interview candidates and likely choose one at an October meeting. Parks advocate Eugene Weeks is thought to be the leading contender to replace West.

COUNCIL: Meets at 1 p.m. Tuesday. No public hearing scheduled for Tuesday night.

WINE BAR IS BACK: After closing in February, Frazier’s Wine Bar has reopened on Hillsborough Street, New Raleigh reports. The bar also has a limited food menu, but serves mostly wine.

PARTY ON HILLSBOROUGH: A Hillsborough Street celebration that will span eight blocks is scheduled for 1 to 10 p.m. Saturday. The Live It Up On Hillsborough Street festival will showcase “the local culture of the street and surrounding communities,” according to the city. The eco-friendly event will include a farmers market, beer garden and mini-lecture series featuring. Proceeds go to renewable energy projects. For more information, visit raleighnc.gov.

The Raleigh City Council unanimously passed today the resolution that criticizes the Wake County school board's ending of the socioeconomic diversity policy.

The council members agreed to the resolution that expresses "concern over any attempt to resegregate Wake’s public schools by either race or socioeconomic status.” County commissioners had approved it Monday by a 4-3 vote with all four Democrats in support.

“We need to do anything in our power to stop the school board,” Mayor Charles Meeker said at today's council meeting.

The Democratic majority on the Wake County board of commissioners gave their official disapproval Monday to the plans of the Republican majority on the school board to go to community-based schools.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, the board of commissioners approved in a party line vote a resolution that formally expressed “deep concern over any attempt to resegregate Wake’s public schools by either race or socioeconomic status.”

“Segregate, segregate, segregate is what you are doing!” said Democratic Commissioner Harold Webb of the new school board's elimination of the socioeconomic diversity policy.

Wake County Commissioner Stan Norwalk is going to force his fellow commissioners to take a stand on the school board's decision to scrap socioeconomic diversity.

Norwalk has put on today's agenda a resolution saying that the commissioners and Raleigh City Council "express their deep concern over any attempt to resegregate Wake’s public schools by either race or socioeconomic status."

Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker, who has been critical of the new Wake County school board majority, said he received the resolution a week ago from Norwalk. He said it will be discussed at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

UPDATE

By a 4-3 vote, all four Democrats voted for the resolution while all three Republicans, who are all running for re-election this year, voted no.

At the urging of Democrat Lindy Brown, who is also running for re-election, the resolution was amended to say it will adversely impact economic development, job creation and property values in all of Wake County. It originally only said Raleigh and Eastern Wake.

By the same 4-3 party line vote, language calling for support to lift the state's charter school cap was removed from the commissioners' legislative agenda.

Here's more hand-wringing from critics of the new Wake County school board majority about the resignation of Supt. Del Burns.

In an online column today in the Independent, Bob Geary says Burns' resignation makes it official that Wake County is in crisis. He links it with Asst. Supt. Chuck Dulaney's retirement at the end of the month to say that "the schools staff is rudderless in the storm."

In the latest Gurley-Norwalk battle, both Wake County commissioners went at each other Friday over the cost of neighborhood schools.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, Commissioner Stan Norwalk claimed Friday the school board's efforts to create a neighborhood-based system would cost $250 million.

"You're making things up," responded Tony Gurley, chairman of the board of commissioners, in the article.

Considering all that the Wake County school board and county commissioners have been doing recently on their own, it will be interesting to see what happens when they meet together

Today is the first joint meeting of both boards since the new majority took control on the school board and Tony Gurley was elected chairman of the board of commissioners. The main official thing on the agenda is the discussion of alternatives to the Forest Ridge High site.

But that's just one of the things to watch for today.

Wake County commissioners will tackle today the findings of the SAS EVAAS report that raised questioned about the performance of minority students in the school system.

William Sanders, senior director of the EVAAS K-12 division, will discuss the SAS EVAAS report that became a last-minute issue in the school board election. The presentation, which was originally supposed to take place in November, is scheduled to be given at today's work session.

Tony Gurley, the Republican chairman of the commissioners, has been the one pushing for the commissioners to hear the presentation. Some of the Democratic commissioners have complained about why their board is discussing the report.

Wake County school issues and next year's county commissioners' races are about to be inextricably linked.

Joe Ciulla, a leader of the Wake Schools Community Alliance, said the group plans to be involved in next year's election to back commissioners who will help the new school board majority carry out its campaign pledges. The WSCA helped elect all four new school board members this year.

Jack Nichols, chairman of the Wake County Democratic Party, said he's also expecting the school system to be a major part of next year's commissioners' races. 

We're getting partial poll results from Public Policy Polling.

The Democratic polling firm released survey results Thursday indicating the public isn't happy with how Republicans elected Tony Gurley to be the new chairman of the Wake County board of commissioners.

But PPP didn't release results from that same poll about questions they had asked about the Wake County school system.