Raleigh residents may have noticed over the last six weeks that more of the plastic items they put in their green recycling bins are not being picked up by the city’s Solid Waste Services trucks.

The city hasn’t changed the rules about what plastic it accepts (only bottles and soft plastic beverage rings), but it had become more lax about rejecting illegal items during the first six months of this year.

On Jan. 1, Raleigh went from sorting recycling at the curb to having its processor sort it for the city. The processor is the company that collects, sorts and finds a market for Raleigh’s recycling. The processor pays Raleigh based on the tonnage of recycling it delivers.

Linda Leighton, a waste reduction specialist with the city, said when trash collectors stopped sorting at the curb they started just dumping the recycling bins no matter what was in them.
“Our crews became pretty lax,” she said. “They would just dump and go, dump and go.”

Soon the processor started complaining that Raleigh’s deliveries had too much contamination, meaning it included too many unacceptable items. The processor has to hand pick those items out and pay to dispose of them.

If Raleigh’s level of contamination is more than 3 percent, the processor may subtract that amount from the city’s tonnage, thus reducing the amount of money Raleigh gets for its recycling.

In recent weeks the city has been more proactive about not picking up illegal plastics. It’s also begun leaving behind a note reminding residents of what plastic items are allowed.
“From January until now they got used to throwing in anything they felt like throwing in,” Leighton said. “But we’ve got to get them back on the right track.”

Leighton has also recorded a two-minute video that can be viewed here.

Next month the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual planning retreat in Pinehurst. The two-day event will include an evening reception for candidates running for the Raleigh City Council. Last week Mark Enloe, a candidate for mayor, criticized the chamber for holding the event in Pinehurst instead of Raleigh. He said he would attend if the event was moved to the Raleigh convention center or a local hotel.

"We need the leaders in this area to show a stronger commitment to the cause of bringing revenue to the city and providing the services that the citizens have paid for," Enloe said on his campaign blog. "I think the decision to host this event in Pinehurst reflects on the mindset that has resulted in the decline in vitality in Raleigh that I've spoken about."

Harvey Schmitt, the chamber's president, said that for at least the last 15 years the chamber has rotated its annual meeting between Pinehurst and the Grandover Resort in Greensboro. Schmitt said both of those venues are members of the chamber and the two-day conference is paid for with member dues. Between 150 and 250 people typically attend, most of them being members.

As for why the event is held outside of Raleigh, Schmitt said the chamber believes it results in fewer destractions and a better conference.

"The reason we do it is because we get better results from the meeting when we hold it away from distractions," Schmitt said. "The reality is folks hold meetings out of town from time to time ... that's part of the reason they're often called retreats. You take folks away from their normal environment and get them to concentrate on something that they don't normally do and if you're too close to their daily routine it's too easy to get distracted." 

Not to mention the golf.  

If downtown Raleigh had as much interest from lenders as it did parking, the City Council and City Manager Russell Allen would be very happy people.

Last week the council voted to lease the property at 301 Hillsborough Street to Campbell University so that the school can turn it into a parking lot. You may recall that the land was supposed to be sold to the Reynolds Company, who were going to develop it into a hotel. But Reynolds could never nail down financing for the project, and the City Council and Allen got tired of waiting so they terminated the agreement earlier this year. 

Now the giant hole in the ground at 301 Hillsborough has been filled, and Campbell Law students and faculty will soon be able to park across from the school's new home, which opens next month. The lease agreement was approved at the same meeting where the council gave the developers behind Charter Square more time to get their two-tower project off the ground. The developers were given an extension largely because they are about to finish an underground parking deck below the site, which is at the south end of Fayetteville Street next to the City Plaza. 

The city will buy the deck for about $25 million once it's complete. And let's not forget the Wake County parking deck that was just finished on the other side of the convention center. That deck is supposed to be surrounded by Empire Properties L Building, another project halted by the credit crunch. 

Downtown Raleigh already had a lot of parking before these latest decks, so it seems reasonable to ask why the city appears to have never met a parking deck/lot it didn't like. The leasing of 301 Hillsborough is a sensible short-term use of the property, but are all these parking decks necessary? They're not cheap, after all, particularly when they're being build underground. 

What do you think?

Raleigh’s recently adopted $697 million budget was sharply criticized this afternoon by Wake County Republican Chairman Claude E. Pope, Jr.

In a speech before the Wake County Republican Women’s Club, Pope said the council’s budget was stuffed with unnecessary spending at a time when everyone, particularly governments, should be cutting back.

Pope criticized the council’s decision to not reduce funding for the arts, and also took a shot at City Manager Russell Allen for accepting a $10,000 raise.

Pope compared Raleigh’s budget, which increases spending by $53 million, unfavorably with Wake County’s budget, which reduced spending by $30 million.

Pope said the presence of three Republicans on the Wake Board of Commissioners showed that the GOP is the party of fiscal responsibility.
“We applaud the efforts of the Wake County Board of Commissioners,” Pope said. “In contrast to the city, the county commissioners passed a budget that cut spending, showed compromise and fiscal restraint.”

Pope also criticized the City Council for adding $1.85 million in new spending by reducing the amount the city will put towards paying of existing and future debt.

“If you put off paying your mortgage for a year, you would no longer have a house to live in,” Pope said.

Pope praised Councilman Philip Isley, the only Republican on the 8-member Raleigh City Council and the only councilor who voted against the budget.

Pope said after his speech that he hadn’t spoken to Isley since the budget was adopted on Tuesday.

At least one of Pope's criticisms showed an unfamiliarity with Raleigh’s budget. Pope said the city should have cut inspectors since new building permits have dropped as the housing bubble has burst.
“Have any of these jobs been cut?” he asked.

The city’s adopted budget cuts 15 positions from the Inspections Department.

After his speech, Pope fielded questions from reporters. He said the City Council’s recent actions are an opportunity for Republicans to win back seats. City Council elections are officially nonpartisan, but the number of Republicans on the council has been shrinking in recent years.

Pope acknowledged that the GOP needs to field a stronger slate of candidates this fall.
“The Republican Party needs to do a better job fielding qualified candidates,” he said.

The filing deadline for this fall’s election is July 17.

Lee Sartain announced today that he is running for one of the two at-large Raleigh City Council seats. Sartain works on education technology issues at the William and Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at N.C. State. He also graduated from NCSU.

Sartain is the fourth person to enter the race for the two at-large seats. The two current at-large members, Russ Stephenson and Mary-Ann Baldwin, are running for re-election. Realtor Champ Claris announced last week that he is also running.

Sartain's announcement said his campaign would focus on growing new jobs, comprehensive public transportation and strong neighborhoods:

“Raleigh’s high quality of life and embrace of education, technology, and innovation has led to rapid growth over the last twenty years. More people are calling Raleigh home than ever, and the pace is not expected to slow. This growth has also placed us at a crossroads, and Raleigh must take several strategic steps to ensure a bright future. Stepping up job growth downtown, building strong neighborhoods, and building a reliable transportation system will ensure that Raleigh is a destination city for years to come.”

Sartain also wants to create something called the Raleigh Innovation and Technology Zone in downtown Raleigh. He says it would be an economic development zone designed to compliment and model the success of the Research Triangle Park.

Michael Slawter, a 34-year-old examiner for the N.C. Secretary of State's office, announced today that he is running for the District C City Council seat currently held by James West.

West has held the seat, which covers Southeast Raleigh, since 1999.

In a release announcing his candidacy, Slawter said he's running because he's worried the city has become stagnant: 

“These are tough times economically, socially and I believe we need change. Mr. West has done a great job for Raleigh. However, I believe that more can be done for the Southeastern part of Raleigh and the wonderful folks in my district. We have store fronts that are boarded up, folks shot and left dead in the road, drug deals on corners and folks who are scared to shop at their local grocery store in broad daylight.  Now is the time to make changes. To bring about a new era in Raleigh that can move us in the right direction. I hope to be the leader of that movement.”

Slawter, who has lived in Raleigh for the past 16 years, is married with a young daughter. In addition to being an examiner, Slawyer acts as a the corporation's division liaison to professional boards in North Carolina. Slawter previously worked for the city of Raleigh and the sate Social Security Administration.

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.”

The City Council on Tuesday referred a proposal to require a $100 deposit from new water customers to its Budget and Economic Development Committee, which meets next week. There was also another water-related item on the agenda that I neglected to mention in my earlier blog post.

That was a mistake, because it almost certainly will affect more residents than a deposit requirement. That item was also referred to the Budget and Economic Development Committee.

The second proposal recommends raising a host of different fees and adding a new fee for customers who want their meter reread. Councilman James West was among the councilors on Tuesday who seemed queasy about raising or adding more fees in light of the city's recent water rate increase and the bad economy. "It seems like were just kind of nickel and diming people to death," West said.

Here's a summary of the water and sewer fee changes the city staff is proposing:

• LATE FEES: Change from $5 to 1.5 percent of bill with a $5 minimum base charge per month.

• DELINQUENT FEES: Increase current $20 delinquent fee charge to $50 at time of disconnection. (This is the fee customers get hit with if they are over 20 days delinquent and a service order is generated to terminate the account.) The proposal also recommends increasing the after hour reconnection fee from $10 to $50. The city estimates the higher reconnection fee would generate $100,000 in extra revenue if half the average number of evening reconnections agree to pay the higher fee.

• METER REREAD CHARGE: Customers don't currently pay to have their meter reread. The city performed 4,330 rereads last fiscal year. The recommendation is to charge a $35 fee for a reread. City estimates this could generate $113,000 a year and cover a portion of the cost of providing the service.

• SERVICE INTIATION FEE: Landlors and property managers are currently not charged the city's $50 initiation service fee for accounts. The recommended change is that landlords and property managers either register as a Utility Default Landlord, making them responsible for all charges associated to the premise or pay the $50 new service fee each time water service transfers back into their name. Estimated revenue benefit to city: $160,000.

• TAMPERING: Increase tampering fee from $42 to $100 for each offense.

• METER REMOVAL AND RESET: The city currently charges a $42 removal and reset fee when a customer has tampered with their meter multiple times. Staff recomments increasing this charge to $125. Estimated revenue benefit to city: $25,000.

City staff contends that the fee increases and new charges will simply put Raleigh in line with what other utilities charge and help pay for some of those services. (The proposed fee increases could come back up for discussion by the full City Council in two weeks.)

What do you think? Is Raleigh nickel and diming people to death, as Councilor West suggested?

About the only thing less popular than City Manager Russell Allen's raise at Tuesday night's budget hearing was the Hillsborough Street roundabout project. One speaker told the City Council that instead of spending $11 million installing roundabouts on Hillsborough it should have used that money for something more useful, like beefing of city employees pay. The comment drew a standing ovation from much of the crowd, something even the most strenuous condemnations of Allen's raise couldn't do.

It will be interesting to see whether the Hillsborough Street project becomes an issue during this fall's election. The result of more than a decade of dialogue, the redevelopment plan for the street has its supporters. But it's clear the project has its critics. And many of those critics are likely to become more vocal as the street gets torn up and inconveniences drivers.

Of course, the completed project may end up being a smashing success. But that success won't reveal itself until long after the election.