newsobserver.com blogs -- wakewatch

From grease to fuel in Raleigh

SDOvaska1 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:50:43 -0500

The city of Raleigh wants residents to unleash their grease.
City crews will collect used cooking oil and grease from resident's homes as part of a pilot program being enacted for the holiday season. The collected oils will be converted into biofuels by Triangle Biofuels, a local company that's buying the grease from the city for $0.25 a gallon.
The free program is up and running, so residents can begin putting their grease out on the curb along with their trash and recycling once they contact the city's Solid Waste Service Department to arrange a pickup.
The program will run through Jan. 15 and includes pick-ups at churches and places of worship.
Pickup won't be automatic, residents need to call solid waste workers at 996-6890 to arrange a pickup at least a day before their weekly trash day.
The grease should be in a sealed container, like a milk jug or old coffee can, but can not be kept in glass containers.
Questions? Call the city of Raleigh's Public Utilities Department at 857-4540.

From Raleigh to China...

SDOvaska1 — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:57:48 -0400

It appears that Raleigh City Council member Mary Ann Baldwin used $1,800 of her campaign war chest to pay for an upcoming trip to China with the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce.
Baldwin said the trip offers chances to learn about the Chinese economy and viewed the trip as an extension of her council duties.
The trip, scheduled for Oct. 24 to Nov. 1, includes nine days worth of sight-seeing, with stops at China’s Great Wall and Tiananmen Square. Harvey Schmitt, the chamber’s president, said the trip is being billed as a way for participate to familiarize themselves with China to gain a better understanding of the nation’s economy and people.
Baldwin she used $500 of her own money, in addition to the $1,799 that her campaign paid for.
"You’re kind of between a rock and a hard place," Baldwin said about the decision to use campaign funds. "You don’t want to use tax-payer money for something like that.”
Nancy McFarlane, a fellow Raleigh city council member, is also going on one of the three trips the chamber organized this fall to China.
Baldwin, a marketing consultant elected to the council in 2007, is one of five people running for the two council-at-large positions in Tuesday’s Oct. 6 municipal elections.

City Council votes to include median--not center turn lane--in Falls of Neuse Road widening

dbracken — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:48:20 -0400

The City Council voted unanimously today to include a median, and not a center turn lane, in a widened 1.3-mile section of Falls of Neuse Road.

The vote ends several months of debate over the road’s design. City and state officials had recommended that the widening of Falls of Neuse from Raven Ridge Road to Fonville Road include a median with interspersed turn lanes.

A coalition of residents along the stretch had been lobbying for a five-lane design that included a center turn lane. N&O reporter Sarah Lindenfeld Hall explained both sides of the issue in a recent North Raleigh News article.

The approved road design includes a 17.5-foot-wide median and traffic signals at Raven Ridge Road, Dunn Road and Wide River Drive.

Although the council voted for the median design, it also agreed to address several concerns raised by residents. Six months after the road widening is complete, the city will review the road’s performance to see if any additional traffic signals are needed. The city has also agreed to improve landscaping at several points along the stretch being widened.

The 1.3-mile section is part of a $29 million project to realign Falls of Neuse Road through Wakefield Plantation and add a new bridge over the Neuse River below Falls Lake. The city is contributing $15.2 million toward the project, with the remaining funding coming from state and federal sources.

Falls of Neuse is a state road.

Obama to Meeker: We'll Git R Done

dbracken — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:54:46 -0400

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."

Raleigh to recyclers: watch what plastics you place in the bin!

dbracken — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:27:39 -0400

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.

Mayoral candidate Enloe objects to chamber's Pinehurst retreat

dbracken — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:18:59 -0400

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.

How much parking does downtown Raleigh really need?

dbracken — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:53:08 -0400

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?

Wake GOP chair criticizes Raleigh's $697 million budget

dbracken — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:32:19 -0400

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.

NCSU grad enters Raleigh City Council at-large race

dbracken — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:27:53 -0400

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.

State worker to run for Southeast Raleigh council seat

dbracken — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:17:40 -0400

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 Allen will accept council's decision about raise

dbracken — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:34:36 -0400

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.”

Koopman vs. Koopman

dbracken — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:09:35 -0400

Raleigh City Councilman Rodger Koopman has been adamant that his positions on water-related issues has been consistent during his time on the council. Koopman's consistency, and the entire council's, was questioned in a recent column by N&O editor Matthew Eisley.

Below are two letters Koopman sent to the N&O. The first was sent at a time in 2008 when Raleigh was in the midst of a historic drought. The second was in response to Eisley's column.

You be the judge. Is this flip flopping?

----------------------------------------------------

Published: Feb 27, 2008 12:30 AM
Stay the course?

In your Feb. 20 article "As water levels sink, houses likely will continue to rise," the president of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce commented on the water crisis by saying we should "stay the course." Those are infamous words that have been used before. Should we stay the course? Or is this, like New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina, another vivid example that waiting and hoping for "things to work out" doesn't work?

Every expert tells us that this drought is unprecedented in our recorded history, and recently we were told by some of our best weather experts at NCSU that summer weather is the least predictable. Don't we owe it to ourselves and our children to leave nothing to chance? Anything less than that is irresponsible.

This is an opportunity for our largest water users in the business community to voluntarily step forward and partner with the City of Raleigh to help us limit the effects of the drought and to pro-actively plan to combat it. It's pointless to get into a debate with Pepsi as to whether the company uses 400,000 gallons per day or 100,000 gallons. The point is, the company is part of our community, it employs local people (our neighbors) and we need its help to manage this crisis and, once beyond it, to create a permanent and sustainable environment in which businesses can thrive while we protect our water resources.

We need to accelerate the implementation of the Lake Benson water treatment plant. We need to look at a possible pipeline to Lake Jordan. We need to significantly increase our investment in a "gray water" system. Large businesses that benefit from this infrastructure can help the city get there more quickly by investing in these types of solutions.

Telling people we ran out of water because we didn't act while we could have is not leadership. I want Raleigh to be vibrant and wildly successful. I do not wish to put anybody out of business. I do not wish to have a building moratorium if unnecessary.

But let's at least put all of our options on the table and weigh them carefully. To "stay the course" and hope things will get better is not a solution when we're out of time and we need responsible leadership.

Rodger Koopman, City Councilor, District B, Raleigh

http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/letters/story/968288.html

--------------------------------------------

Published: May 20, 2009 02:00 AM

Steady on Raleigh water issues

Thanks to Matthew Eisley for his May 18 column on planning for Raleigh's water. I do, however, want to correct any impression that I changed my position based on our city's drought condition. Last year during the drought, Councilor Russ Stephenson and I were the only councilors to question the staff's assumptions on future infrastructure. Over time we've been proven right.

As I have said, our water system is like an aircraft carrier; you can't turn it on a dime. However, we do know we need to move from a system that assumes water is an infinite resource to a system that recognizes water is limited and must be managed as a whole, and not just by selling more of it. We also need to reduce debt so we stop raising rates by double digits each year. Conservation and reuse help us reduce the need for new infrastructure, reducing future pressure on water rates.

Furthermore, we need to make sure more of new growth pays for itself. This means shifting the burden from taxpayers to developers. It means higher capacity fees and possibly Adequate Public Facilities Ordinances to ensure schools, roads and water and sewer exist before new neighborhoods go in, rather than as an afterthought.

Taxpayers shouldn't be on the hook to pay for it all. Developers need to pay their fair share. This council has already taken steps in that direction by increasing impact fees and water connection fees on new development.

We need a smart reuse system. Instead of just one big city-owned system, we should create incentives for proven "local capture" solutions such as cisterns, rain barrels, etc., so we can reduce the millions spent on new capacity.

This is what I ran on in 2007 and have consistently supported. My council record clearly shows this.

Rodger Koopman, Councilor, District B, Raleigh

http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/letters/story/1534360.html

Is Raleigh nickel and diming its residents to death?

dbracken — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:55:18 -0400

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?

Roundabouts draw the ire of crowd at budget public hearing

dbracken — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:38:58 -0400

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.

News and notes from Raleigh City Council's first budget work session

dbracken — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:32:17 -0400

The City Council held its first budget workshop late this afternoon and it included the release of more details about the proposed cuts in City Manager Russell Allen’s budget. Among the more interesting items included in the budget notes were:

The cut backs at parks facilities include the closing of the Shelley Lake Boathouse, as my colleague Sarah Lindenfeld Hall reported last week. The boathouse is currently open Friday afternoon and all day Saturday and Sunday. Councilwoman Nancy McFarlane asked Parks and Recreation Director Diane Sauer about why the boathouse was closing all operations. (Most of the other cuts involved scaling back hours at all facilities during nonpeak hours.) Sauer said the boathouse’s facilities weren’t used much, the concession stand typically lost money and vandals frequently targeted the boathouse. Add paddle boat rentals and flavored icy drinks to the list of items not immune to the current recession.

Cutting the arts funding from $4.50 per resident to $4 per resident would mean a 14 percent funding reduction for those receiving money under the program. Total funds would decrease from $1.71 million to $1.52 million.

If the City Council decides to move forward later this year with construction of a series of remote operations facilities and a new public safety center downtown it will require a 1 cent property tax increase in fiscal year 2011 and 2 cent property tax increases in fiscal years 2013 and 2015. The combined cost of the two projects is a little more than $400 million. The City Council won’t make a decision about whether to move forward on these projects until the late summer or early fall, and Mayor Charles Meeker has already said the council is unlikely to green light a tax increase until the economy improves. The council doesn’t have to take any action on these projects as part of this budget discussion because no additional funding is being included in Allen’s budget proposal. Councilman Philip Isley, an arch opponent of moving forward on the public safety center, reiterated that point this afternoon. City Manager Allen responded by saying that before the council makes any decision about delaying the safety center and remote operations buildings it should tour the city’s existing facilities. Allen said city staff are operating in buildings that are meant to service a city with a population of 100,000, not one approaching 400,000 people as Raleigh is.

Raleigh to consider making new water customers put down $100 deposit

dbracken — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:19:08 -0400

Among the items on tomorrow's City Council agenda is a proposal that would require new Raleigh water customers to pay a $100 deposit to get service. Raleigh currently does not require customers to put a deposit down before opening a water and sewer account.

But the city’s Public Utilities and Finance departments say the amount of people skipping out on their water bills has risen in recent years, particularly in the last few months as the economy has deteriorated.

City staff is recommending that new residential and commercial customers be required to put down a $100 deposit beginning Dec. 1. That's the date when the city will switch over to tiered-water rates for residential customers and move to monthly billing, two features made possible by new billing software. Existing customers would not be subject to the deposit ordinance unless they have a poor credit history with the city.

Between 1999 and 2008 the annual amount of bills going unpaid to the Utilities Department has increased from $543,371 to $1,226,850. The utility system’s revenues increased from $37.6 million to $89.3 million during that same period.

The city disconnects on average 1,720 accounts per month with an average bill of $100. Over the last year about $30,000 of unpaid utility bills were due to bankruptcies and about $370,000 was due to bad checks or over-drafts, according to the city. In a memo to the City Council, Chief Financial Officer Perry James and Public Utilities Director Dale Crisp said that “the current economic situation only exacerbates the ability to collect on accounts that have gone in to delinquent status.”

Most other utilities in the Triangle do require new customers to put down a deposit. OWASA and Durham charge $50. Cary charges $60 but will soon raise its deposit to $150.

Raleigh already charges new water and sewer customers a $50 new service fee, meaning residents would need $150 to get service hooked up. The city’s proposal would allow for new customers to have the deposit spread over several bills.

The City Council meets at 1 p.m. Tuesday in City Hall, 222 W. Hargett Street. At 7 p.m the council will hold a public hearing to discuss City Manager Russell Allen's budget proposal.

Realtor announces candidacy for Raleigh City Council

dbracken — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:03:16 -0400

Local realtor Champ Claris announced today that he is running for one of the two at-large seats on the Raleigh City Council. The two at-large seats are currently held by Russ Stephenson and Mary-Ann Baldwin, both of whom have already said they will seek re-election.

An e-mail announcing Claris’ candidacy says that “Champ believes his fresh perspective on our issues and responsible approach to government spending will greatly benefit the City of Raleigh. He looks forward to leading a renewed focus on common sense priorities such as: strengthening our economy, reducing crime, improving our roads, and protecting our water supply and natural resources.”

Claris also said, if elected, that he would focus on reducing taxes, improving
public safety, and making Raleigh government more efficient.

Claris grew up in eastern North Carolina and has lived in Raleigh for the last 14 years. He attended N.C. State. Since 2003 he has worked for York Simpson
Underwood.

Shocker: Raleigh drops eight spots on a "Best Of" list

dbracken — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:53:52 -0400

The personal finance magazine Kiplinger's has released its 2009 list of the top cities in the U.S., and Raleigh is ranked 10th. While most cities would likely be happy with a top ten finish, Raleigh ranked second on Kiplinger's 2008 list and has been the Tiger Woods of municipalities when it comes to these sorts of rankings in recent years. (Raleigh's abundance of accolades has been mentioned as a reason why City Manager Russell Allen was recently given a 5 percent raise.)

Why the drop in the Kiplinger's list? It likely has something to do with the Raleigh area's unemployment rate, which has doubled over the last year to 8.6 percent, as Kipplinger's notes.

If there is a connection among many of the cities ranked in the top ten it is that most are state capitals or university towns, meaning they are places with a large number of relatively stable public-sector jobs. The top ten cities, from one to nine, are: Huntsville, Albuquerque, Washington D.C. , Charlottesville, Athens, Olympia, Madison, Austin and Flagstaff. (Huntsville doesn't have a major university and is not the capital, but it is a major center for the missile-defense and aerospace industries.)

The question for Raleigh and the politicians who love citing the city's rankings is whether Kiplinger's is a sign of things to come or an aberation. These things tend to go in cycles, and it could be that the list-makers are looking for some new city to anoint.

On the chopping block

dbracken — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:13:54 -0400

Next week the City Council will hold a public hearing to discuss City Manager Russell Allen's proposed budget. Allen released his budget last week, and it recommends reducing or eliminating funding for a number of local groups. Those groups are likely to plead their case at the June 2 hearing, which starts at 7 p.m. in the council chamber at City Hall, 222 W. Hargett St.

Here's a list of those that would have their funding reduced or eliminated under Allen's proposed budget:

* Groups whose funding would be cut by 10 percent: DHIC, Raleigh City Museum, Healing Place, Kryan Anderson Academy, Kids Voting, Passage Home CDC, Southeast Raleigh Assembly, Downtown Development for the Downtown Raleigh Alliance

* Groups whose funding would be elminated: International Affairs Council, Lost Generation Task Force, Raleigh Area Development Authority

* Some arts nonprofits would also be hit, as Allen's budget recommends reducing the city's per capita spending on art from $4.50 per resident to $4. (This would reduce overall grants by 11 percent.)

* A number of downtown events would also be reduced or eliminated, including MOvies in the Market, St. Patrick's Day event, Christmas Parade floates, Bike Fes and Raleigh Wide Open. No word yet on whether the city could still afford to hire the likes of Eddie Money to perform at RWO.

Youth Violence in Southeast Raleigh

jshaffer70 — Tue, 26 May 2009 11:34:59 -0400

With another teen shot to death, leaders in Southeast Raleigh are calling for action bold enough to grab the attention of the White House.

Early Monday morning, police found Rodriquez D’Shay Burrell shot muliple times at 500 Haywood St. Shortly afterward, activist Daniel Coleman called for citizens to march and pray through the neighborhood on Saturday in hopes of reclaiming the streets from violent youth crime. They will meet in front of the vacant lot at 500 E. Cabarrus St. at noon.

"My friends," Coleman wrote in an e-mail to community leaders, "this madness has to stop."

But just last week, Raleigh's black leadership called for a nationwide summit or panel that would address youth violence's cause from every angle. Hopes are that an event would be large and innovative enough to attract the attention of President Barack Obama. Perhaps each legislator across the state could forward a resolution to Washington calling for attention to the problem, said Bruce Lightner, who said his Raleigh funeral home buried four youths last year.

"It needs to be put on his radar screen," Lightner said in a meeting at The News & Observer. "We can start a groundwell."

Raleigh breaks ground on Hillsborough roundabout project

dbracken — Wed, 20 May 2009 15:23:48 -0400

Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker presided over a groundbreaking ceremony today for the Hillsborough Street roundabouts project.

The $9.22 million project will convert the stretch of Hillsborough between Garner Street and Oberlin Road to a two-lane, median-divided road with on-street parking on both sides. The Hillsborough Street and Pullen Road traffic signal will be replaced with a dual-lane roundabout.

During construction, Hillsborough Street will be reduced to two lanes of traffic, with one lane in each direction.

Most of the improvements are expected to be completed by June 2010.

City Council approves downtown Wi-Fi network

dbracken — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:58:11 -0400

The City Council voted 6-1 today to spend up to $112,000 to create a Wi-Fi network downtown. Councilman Philip Isley was the lone councilor to vote no.

The vote allows City Manager Russell Allen to negotiate a contract with WindChannel.

Once it's up and running, the Wi-Fi network is expected to cost about $21,000 annually to maintain.

Isley quetioned whether there was any reason that the city needed to move ahead with the network now.

"We certainly could not do this ... we just think this will set the stage for the success of downtown," Allen said.

Off the ice it's pulled pork VS chipped chopped ham

dbracken — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:36:29 -0400

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.

Meeker to Pittsburgh Mayor: Let's bet

dbracken — Fri, 15 May 2009 11:43:43 -0400

Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker said today he's ready to make a bet with Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl about the outcome of the Eastern Conference finals meeting between the Hurricanes and the Penguins.

"We're trying to get a bet going with the mayor of Pittsburgh," Meeker said. "We're going to try and do it on Monday."

As for what Meeker plans to offer should the Canes lose, think barbeque and beer.

"We're trying to clear it, but barbeque from The Pit and beer from Big Boss," Meeker said.

(UPDATE: The city announced today that Meeker will place the bet at 1:30 p.m. Monday and that he will wager 10 pounds of The Pit’s chopped barbecue and a case of Big Boss beer. No word on what brew. Mayor Ravenstahl will disclose his city’s offerings during Monday’s telephone conversation.)

In offering 'cue and beer Meeker is sticking to an approach that has been successful in the past.

During the Canes 2006 run to the Stanley Cup Meeker wagered three pounds of 'cue with Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown. Brown ended up sending Meeker three pounds of Buffalo wings.

Before the Stanley Cup finals against Edmonton, Meeker put up a case of Holly Springs-brewed Carolina Pale Ale. Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandell ended up sending Meeker a case of Canadian beer from the Maverick Brewery in Alberta.

Crowder voted against 5 percent raise for City Manager Allen

dbracken — Tue, 12 May 2009 09:20:47 -0400

A quick follow-up to last week's decision by the City Council to give City Manager Russell Allen a 5 percent raise.

The vote was not unanimous. It was 6-1 with District D Councilman Thomas Crowder voting no. (Councilman Rodger Koopman was absent and excused from the meeting.)

Fellow architect Ted Van Dyk recently announced that he will run against Crowder in the October election. District D covers southwest Raleigh.

City Council Gives City Manager Allen 5 Percent Raise

dbracken — Fri, 08 May 2009 11:59:44 -0400

The City Council decided in a closed session Tuesday to extend City Manager Russell Allen’s contract by a year and give him about a 5 percent raise.

The increase will bump Allen’s annual salary from $210,000 to $220,000. Allen’s pay has risen 57 percent since he was hired in 2001 at an annual salary of $140,000.

The council voted on the raise after discussing Allen’s job performance behind closed doors, as state law allows.

Mayor Charles Meeker said after the closed session that the council believes that Allen continues to do an outstanding job and is a key reason Raleigh is recognized as one of the best places to live in the country.

Councilor Mary-Ann Badwin said today that the council did consider how Allen's raise would look given the wider economic crisis that is resulting in layoffs and reduced pay in many industries and some government agencies. But she said Allen has done a very good job, and that his salary remains below what other top managers make in cities of similar size to Raleigh. Here are her comments on the raise:

"We did talk about that. What the perception would be. But we also weighed the fact that he has done what we feel is an extremely good job managing our finances and managing the city. Part of the issue is his pay is actually pretty low compared to his peers in other cities of similar size. What we’ve struggled with over the years is trying to get his pay up a little higher. We did look at the fact that we are in an economic crisis, but we felt that we needed to reward him for his efforts and also get his pay up a little more so he gets more in line with other peers. Also, when someone doesn’t get a raise when they work very hard it’s de-motivating."

Allen had one year left on his existing contract.

Although Raleigh has had a hiring freeze in effect since July 1, 2008, the city has not frozen pay or benefits of its employees. City employees are eligible to receive merit raises up to 5 percent each year.

Allen is scheduled to present his proposed 2009-2010 budget to the City Council on May 19. He warned the council in March that Raleigh could face a budget shortfall of $18 million to $22 million next fiscal year in its general fund.

Allen said Thursday that he has reviewed employee pay and other benefits as well as all programs and services offered by the city. But he declined to share his recommendations in those areas until he presents his proposed budget to council.

Allen has already said he will not recommend any increases in the property tax rate, or any increases in the privilege license fee, the stormwater fee or the solid waste fee.

Allen also proposes reducing the number of general fund employees by not filling vacant positions in an attempt to avoid the need for layoffs.

The city will continue to fill police, fire and other critical service positions that become vacant but likely won’t be creating any new positions in those areas next fiscal year.

The anatomy and soul of Raleigh

dbracken — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:07:29 -0400

Raleigh’s planning director, Mitch Silver, is one of the co-editors of a new version of a popular planning text book. The book, “Local Planning: Contemporary Principles and Practice,” may be of interest to Raleigh residents because it includes a critique of the city by Silver, who was hired to be the planning director in 2005. (Please don't confuse our Mitch with all those other authors named Mitch Silver.)

Silver said he wrote the piece about Raleigh in late 2006 or early 2007. It follows an approach he uses called “The Anatomy and Soul of a Place.” Silver describes the approach as being part detective, part evangelical and part doctor. He takes in the physical composition of a city, looks for clues like a detective to identify the invisible and spiritual aspect of a city and then makes a diagnosis.

So what was his view on Raleigh after about a year of living here?

“It’s part of the New South but it has roots in the traditional South,” Silver said of Raleigh.
He used the term “rural urbanism” to describe the city and its healthy tree canopy. He said Raleigh is a medium-sized city that still has the qualities of a small town. Most people give directions based on physical landmarks, not streets, for example.

Although Silver has used this approach in all his previous planning work, the text book was the first time he’d put it in writing.

City Council to discuss future of Moore Square

dbracken — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:22:34 -0400

On the agenda at tomorrow’s City Council meeting is a request to jump start the redevelopment of Moore Square. The so-called “Moore Square Design and Public Process Concept” would be split into three phases. Phases one and two would cost $9,000 and would involve asking for ideas about what should be done with Moore Square. The third phase would involve a design competition costing $40,000.

This process looks a bit like the idea dump the city had a while back to come up with ideas for downtown. (Let’s build a river walk!) The request notes that any implementation won’t occur until “once the economy turns around,” meaning that in the near-term there is likely to be lots of stuff being thrown against a wall and maybe eventually some renderings.

The request says public investment will jump start private investment in Moore Square. The key component to any revitalization plan for Moore Square remains City Market. Once regarded as the jewel that would spark downtown Raleigh's urban renaissance, it has not enjoyed the investment and development that other parts of the city have. Many blame Hakan Market Partners, the owner of City Market for the last several years, for the area’s fall from grace. Hakan Market Partners announced late last year that it would renovate the 1914 farmers market building and remodel surrounding storefronts. Work has started on those renovations but is not complete.

Another boost for Moore Square could be the Edison, a proposed four-tower office-hotel-residential mix that developer Gregg Sandreuter is behind. Last year Edison Land LLC paid about $12.1 million for at least 2.68 mostly undeveloped acres on the block bounded by Martin, Blount Davie and Wilmington streets. The block is east of the 33-story RBC Plaza tower and north of Progress Energy's new headquarters. Two of the Edison towers could be 39 stories and dwarf the recently completed RBC tower.

Sandreuter had once hoped to break ground on the first Edison building by the end of 2010, though that timeline may be tough to meet given the problems in the credit markets and the wider economy. The city isn’t expecting any actual construction on Moore Square to occur until 2011 at the earliest.

The City Council meets Tuesday at 1 p.m. at City Hall, 222 West Harget Street.

Meeker says economy key factor in decision to run again

dbracken — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:46:48 -0400

_{Mayor Charles Meeker’s announcement this morning that he will seek a fifth term in office doesn’t exactly qualify as a bombshell. Close observers of the City Council largely expected the mayor to run again, even if he had made hints earlier this year that he was considering stepping aside.

Meeker has said he didn’t want to walk away with the city’s economy in turmoil, and although Raleigh isn’t facing a budget crisis the City Council will have to make some tough decisions over the next year or two.

The mayor said this morning that he had come to the conclusion that changing the city’s leadership during a time of economic uncertainty would not be wise.

“The economy was a major factor,” he said. “This is the right decision at this time.”

Meeker is a man who loves the details of public financing, and he surely wants to be around when the council discusses potential budget cuts and debates what projects to go ahead with and what projects to curtail.

Just look at the council’s recent discussion about water rates. Several of Meeker’s colleagues proposed the possibility of letting the public utilities department’s credit rating slip, an option that the mayor is strongly against.

Asked whether he felt obligated to run because of the economy, Meeker said the job has become more enjoyable over time, particularly now that all but one of his fellow council members are fellow Democrats.

“I enjoy being mayor,” he said.

Meeker outlined three priorities for a fifth two-year term: Preparing the city to be in a position to act once the economy improves, adopting a regional transportation plan, and moving ahead with plans to turn the Dorothea Dix Hospital campus into a park.

Two of these items, regional transit and Dix, will require Meeker to do something that is not one of his strengths: build consensus beyond the Raleigh City Council table.

Asked this morning about what kind of leadership role he would take on these issues, Meeker said whatever is necessary.

“I will be involved with it, either up front if needed, or behind the scenes, if needed,” he said.

Meeker was also asked why he hadn’t faced much opposition in recent elections for mayor.

He mentioned the time commitment required for the part-time job, and the fact that in recent years Raleigh has been declared one of the best places to live in the country by an array of groups.

The election is Oct. 6, so there’s still plenty of time for a challenger to emerge.}

Somebody's watching me

mbieseck — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:51:45 -0400

Taking his cue from an insurance company commercial, Wake Commissioner Tony Gurley on Monday engaged in a little political theater to accentuate his opposition to the county granting $25,932 in seed money for a new African-American Cultural Festival.

Shortly before cast the lone no vote against the proposal, Gurley placed a bound stack of cash on the ledge in front of his commissioners' desk and then added a pair of eyes and quizzical brows. The prop borrows from television ads for Geico, where the stack of bills follows around potential customers to represent the "Money you could be saving with Geico."

With the county facing deep budget cuts triggered by the recession, Gurley said it was the wrong time to be giving money for a new street festival that would be highly likely to require additional government support in the future.

"I think we're wasting taxpayer money to plan a party," said Gurley, a Republican. "Our responsibility is to meet the needs of our community first, not a party."

The proposed festival has been backed by board Chairman Harold Webb and Vice Chairman Lindy Brown following the departure of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference basketball tournament from the RBC Center to an arena in Winston-Salem two years ago.

The tournament, which drew thousands of graduates of the conference's historically black universities to Raleigh, was supported with $500,000 in county funds. Webb and Brown have suggested the proposed African-American Cultural Festival would also require taxpayer support for a few years, until it could become established enough to become financially self-sustaining.

The pair won the support of a majority of commissioners for the festival by getting Artsplosure, the non-profit organizer of the city's annual arts festival, to sign on as the new festival's professional organizer. The Raleigh City Council will match the county's expenditure to provide an initial $51,864 to plan a framework for the cultural festival.

What WakeWatch finds interesting is that Gurley, who makes a lucrative living as a pharmacist and lawyer, appeared to use a $500 bundle of real $20 bills to make his point.

About those Hillsborough roundabouts ...

dbracken — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:26:49 -0400

Peter Batchelor, professor emeritus of architecture and urban design at N.C. State, has an interesting letter to the editor in today’s paper about the roundabouts planned for Hillsborough Street.

Batchelor argues that roundabouts are a good way for merging and moving vehicles through intersections, but they are not a pedestrian-friendly solution for the problematic intersections on Hillsborough Street. He says the roundabouts will not be able to accommodate the cyclists, skateboarders and rollerbladers who use the street.

“This dangerous and potentially lethal concept for a problematic intersection on Hillsborough Street needs to be re-examined by the City of Raleigh,” Batchelor writes. “Trendy as roundabouts may be in current planning circles, a far simpler and cost-effective solution was proposed more than 25 years ago: Extend Pullen Road straight through the intersection and connect directly to Oberlin Road.”

Re-examining the roundabouts is no longer an option, as on Tuesday the City Council voted to spend about $9.9 million to construct the first phase of the project. Councilmen Philip Isley and Rodger Koopman were the only two who voted against the funding. Koopman argued that because of the economy it was the wrong time to go ahead with the project, while Isley has been loudly opposed to the roundabouts on Hillsborough since they were first proposed.

Only time will tell whether Batchelor is right about the roundabouts and Hillsborough Street. If he is, it will be a monumental embarrassment for the city. The Hillsborough project has been discussed and debated for years, and if it leaves drivers baffled about how to navigate the street it will have the exact opposite effect that officials intended.

Who knows, may the city will provide roundabout driving training for all residents with driver’s licenses. Of course, that would require the creation create of a roundabout mascot who can hang out with Neusie and Rainy.

The City Council also voted on Tuesday to spend $350,000 extending the Hillsborough streetscape project to a section of Oberlin Road in front of the Players’ Retreat sports bar, and $20,000 installing LED lights and a plug-in station for hybrid-electric vehicles. The $350,000 expenditure will make streetscape improvements to an area just down the road from the driveway of at-large Councilman Russ Stephenson's home.

Stephenson said after the meeting that he checked with the city attorney during the meeting about whether he needed to recuse himself from the vote and was told no.

The joys of exhuming a dead horse

dbracken — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 22:18:59 -0400

It will be a shame when the city of Raleigh finally switches over to tiered water rates and the City Council has to find something else to discuss incessantly.

On Tuesday, the council found itself, once again, wondering aloud why the transition to tiered rates can’t happen sooner.

You may recall that last month it was agreed that residential water customers in Raleigh and Garner would move to a three-tier rate structure on Dec. 1. The structure is designed to encourage conservation as the rates will rise according to consumption.

City Manager Russell Allen has told the City Council on numerous occasions that Raleigh can’t make the switch until it has new billing software in place.

But on Tuesday, Councilman Russ Stephenson asked for an independent investigation to see whether that truly is the case. Yes, an investigation to see whether the city’s own staff truly knows what it is talking about.

The independent inquiry was one of a laundry list of utility-related issues that Stephenson wants both the council and the city staff to take up immediately. Others include a drought surcharge, water audits of area businesses and new capacity fees on water hook-ups.

Allen admitted serious frustration at the fact that Stephenson wasn’t buying staff’s explanation for why the shift to tiered rates can’t happen until December. Councilor Mary-Ann Baldwin said even she was frustrated by Stephenson’s request.

That caused Stephenson to play the garbage disposal card, telling anyone who would listen that the public utility staff giving them advice is the same staff that told the council it needed to ban garbage disposals. (We all know how that turned out, don’t we Neusie.)

Councilor Philip Isley eventually told his colleagues that they were exhuming a dead horse by raising the tiered rate issue, which led to a series of unfortunate horse puns.

So what’s really going on here?

Allen is recommending that the council raise water rates immediately by 17 percent to offset sluggish water sales. This unwelcome news has caused Stephenson to ask city staff why they haven’t made more progress on all the issues he’s been raising for months.

Stephenson essentially described the public utility department as being a black box that has been reticent about changing its ways. “None of us really knows what the reality is,” he said.

(Let's just hope Raleigh Public Utilities Director Dale Crisp wasn't involved in any credit default swaps.)

It was agreed on Tuesday that Stephenson’s issues would be discussed at the next council meeting on April 7. Some of Stephenson’s initiatives would encourage more conservation among Raleigh water customers, which could exasperate the revenue shortage that the department is currently experiencing. Other initiatives would create new revenue streams for the department, which could shift some of the burden away from residential rate payers.

The switch to tiered-rates has been talked about so much that it would be easy to mistakenly think of it as an elixir for all the city’s water woes. But the actual transition has the potential to introduce more instability into the department’s revenue model. The city’s consultant is designing the tiered rate structure to be revenue neutral, but the city won’t know if that’s truly the case until it puts it into practice.

In the meantime, the City Council is likely going to have to explain to customers who answered the call to conserve that their reward is an ahead-of-schedule rate hike.

Tome of Woe

mbieseck — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:20:18 -0400

If the listings of Wake County’s property tax liens printed Friday’s editions of The News & Observer seemed thicker than usual, you’re correct.

In March 2008, the county’s annual list of unpaid tax bills included listings for 12,100 past due parcels.

This year’s list was up to 16,071 parcels — an increase of nearly 33 percent.

Wake revenue director Marcus Kinrade said the actual amount of tax dollars outstanding is actually not that much more, however. As of March 6, the county had collected 96.12 percent of all outstanding taxes, compared to 96.25 percent collected through the same date last year.

Kinrade said the increased linage in the newspaper is largely due to the number of developers with unpaid taxes on multiple parcels, often undeveloped lots. That led to more parcels on the list, though the actual taxes owed on each lot are often relatively modest.

And while the uptick in parcels with unpaid taxes is a symptom of the region’s economic troubles, it would be disingenuous for WakeWatch to ignore that there was at least one beneficiary.

State law requires counties to advertise the liens in a local newspaper of “general circulation.”

Therefore, Wake County paid the The News & Observer $44,800 to print 30 pages of tiny type.

“I tried to talk them down, but they wouldn’t budge,” Kinrade said of the newspaper’s advertising department.

Sorry folks. We need the money.

Need backyard trash pickup in Raleigh? Better prove it.

dbracken — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:10:01 -0400

Raleigh residents who participate in the city’s backdoor trash collection program may soon have to provide proof that they are unable to bring their refuse to the curb.

Concerned that the free program is being abused by some able-bodied customers, the city’s Solid Waste Services Department will recommend to the City Council on Tuesday that residents be required to fill out an application and provide a doctor’s note in order to participate.

City staff say the changes could save Raleigh $450,000 a year.

Raleigh currently picks up trash from 110,540 households across the city. About 4,100 households participate in Raleigh’s “need assistance” program, which allows disabled and elderly residents an alternative to having to drag their trash bins out to the curb.

The program is open to the disabled or residents over 65 years of age, and the city currently has no verification process for determining whether requests are legitimate.

Raleigh surveyed similar programs in other cities and found that the percentage of households participating in the Capital City is much higher than elsewhere. Charlotte, for example, has just 2,002 households participating in its program even though its trash department services 93,000 more households than Raleigh.

Tampa serves 83,000 households and only has 687 residents who participate in its program.
The four cities surveyed by Raleigh--Durham, Greensboro, Charlotte and Tampa--all have some verification process in place to prevent people from taking advantage of their need assistance programs.

The Solid Waste Services Department is recommending that Raleigh require potential participants in the program to fill out an application explaining why they need assistance. The application would also ask whether there is anyone else living at the residence who is able to bring the container to the curb.

Residents would also be required to submit a statement from a doctor verifying their inability to bring trash and recycling containers to the curb.

It costs the city about $905,000 a year to provide backdoor trash pickup to the 4,100 households in its need assistance program. If it cut that number in half it would save about $450,000 a year.

The City Council meets at 1 p.m. on Tuesday in the council chamber, 222 W. Hargett Street.

New urbanist says walkable, urban communities are the future

dbracken — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:25:18 -0400

Author and land use strategist Christopher Leinberger said last night that although this was his first time in Raleigh, he was pleasantly surprised by the changes occurring in the city, and that Raleigh is well positioned to benefit from the ongoing shift to more urban and walkable neighborhoods.

Leinberger spoke at the Fletcher Opera Theater at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts as part of the Raleigh Planning Department’s “Designing a 21st Century City” lecture series.

Much of Leinberger’s talk focused on the history of city building going back 5,500 years. Leinberger said up until the middle of the 20th century cities were built to be dense and walkable. It was only after World War II that the United States embraced with gusto the drivable, suburban model. (Leinberger argued that the major tipping point was at the 1939-40 World’s Fair in New York, where General Motors sponsored an exhibit called “Futurama” that enthralled attendees with models of the vehicle-centric cities of the future.)

Leinberger said the migration to the suburbs was the largest social engineering effort in United States history, with massive subsidies given to build the infrastructure necessary to make suburbia a reality. A developer himself, Leinberger said the mixed-use projects he’s proposed in recent years have all been illegal under existing land-use rules that were designed to promote drivable, suburban developments.

Only in the mid-1990s, Leinberger said, did the pendulum begin to swing back towards more walkable and urban communities. Now there is a pent up demand for such communities, which is causing land and housing prices in those areas to rise significantly (think inside the Beltline here in Raleigh). Leinberger used Washington D.C. as the model 21st Century city, noting that it has a vibrant downtown and a growing number of urban centers on its outskirts that are accessible by public transit.

Among the most interesting aspects of Leinberger’s talk was the economic impact of the shift towards urban, walkable living. The average U.S. household spends 19 percent of its budget on transportation. If they live in a suburb that percentage rises to 25 percent, while in a walkable, urban community the figure is just 9 percent. “That’s a huge amount of money,” Leinberger noted. He argues that many--not all--suburban communities at the fringes of cities will become slums and that the current move to bail out homeowners is in some ways a bail out of sprawl.

So what can we here in Raleigh and the Triangle take away from all of Leinberger’s interesting insights? As he acknowledged, building urban, walkable communities is a lot harder and more complex than building suburbs. But there’s clearly a demand for such product, and getting more of it built will require changes in land-use rules so that they promote mixed-use development and allow for public transit. (Leinberger said he'd be surprised if 5 percent of Raleigh's housing stock was in walkable, urban areas.)

A lot will depend on how quickly Raleigh and the rest of the Triangle adjusts to the shifting pendulum. We are not Atlanta, but we are also not Washington D.C. or even Charlotte when it comes to embracing this shift.

Ratings agencies reaffirm Wake's AAA status

mbieseck — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:43:19 -0400

The nation’s three largest bond-rating agencies have reaffirmed Wake County’s AAA credit rating.

The AAA rating, the highest possible, allows the county to borrow money at lower interest rates for the construction of new schools, a planned courthouse and other public projects.

The New York firms — Moody’s, Standard and Poor's, and Fitch — issued the ratings as the county pursues plans to issue $502 million in fixed-rate general obligation bonds on March 17.

As part of its report on Wake, Fitch issued a “stable outlook” for the county’s finance, despite the turmoil in the national economy. The rating agency said it’s positive assessment was the result of the county’s “excellent financial performance and management, and strong and diverse economic base.”

The Wake County Public School System will get $100 million from the planned bond sale, while Wake Technical Community College projects will receive $35 million. Another $300 million will be used to pay off a short-term loan the county took out last fall to continue construction projects in the face of a collapse in the municipal bond market. The county will also refinance $67.4 million in existing bonds to take advantage of more favorable terms.

Raleigh to hold Comp Plan public hearing March 19

dbracken — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:08:48 -0400

Raleigh will hold a public hearing to discuss the latest draft of the city's Comprehensive Plan on Thursday, March 19 at 6:30 p.m. Residents can offer comments about the plan to both the City Council and the Raleigh Planning Commission. The hearing will be held inside the council chamber at the Avery C. Upchurch Government Complex, located at 222 W. Hargett St.

Raleigh release a 380-page draft of the Comp Plan in December. The plan, which outlines how city officials think Raleigh should grow over the next 20 years, is meant to be a road map to the future. The city held a series of public workshops in recent months to gather citizen comments.

The City Council is expected to approve a final version of the plan later this year. After the public hearing the plan heads to the Planning Commission for review.

New urbanist author coming to downtown Raleigh on Wednesday

dbracken — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:50:39 -0400

The city of Raleigh’s Planning Department is bringing author and land use strategist Christopher Leinberger to town on Wednesday as part of the department’s “Designing a 21st Century City” lecture series.

Leinberger will talk about the emerging challenges facing suburban communities. The event is being held downtown at Fletcher Opera Theater at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts. It's free and open to the public and is scheduled to run from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Check in and registration begins at 6 p.m.

Leinberger has made a name for himself commenting on the future of suburbia, most notably in a March 2008 article titled "The Next Slum?" that appeared in the Atlantic Monthly. Leinberger is currently a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institute. He's also a founding partner of Arcadia Land Company, a New
Urbanism/transit-oriented development consulting firm.

There's been much discussion in recent months about whether the current economic meltdown will make many suburban communities no longer relevant. (The latest issue of the Atlantic has a story by Richard "Creative Class" Florida on which parts of the country will emerge as winners and losers once the economy recovers. Florida predicts the Triangle will be one of the winners.)

It should be interesting to see how Wednesday's audience responds to Leinberger. Many people in the Triangle love their suburban lifestyle, and it may be premature to proclaim the death of suburbia in this part of the country.

Wake spending to be posted online

mbieseck — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:58:45 -0500

In what would be an unprecedented move toward transparency, Wake commissioners this week were briefed on a plan to post all purchasing card spending by county employees in a searchable database on the Web. The move is a reaction to last summer’s scandal involving about $90,000 in improper charges on government credit cards by employees in the county’s Solid Waste Department.

County manager David Cooke said the on-line portal would allow Wake citizens to serve as a posse of watchdogs, with an e-mail address to contact county staff if they spot spending that appears suspect.

Commissioner Paul Coble, a conservative who likes to tout his credentials as a guardian of taxpayer money, expressed concern that allowing unfettered access to the spending data could open a Pandora’s box.

“There are people in this county who will delight in deluging you with questions, taking up staff time,” Coble warned Wake administrators Monday. “They will run you ragged just for fun.”

Take that as a challenge, WakeWatch readers. If all goes as planned, employee spending will start being posted on the county's site this summer.

Holly Hill opens new wing in partnership with Wake

mbieseck — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:25:53 -0500

Holly Hill Hospital held a ribbon cutting Wednesday to officially open 44 new beds at the private psychiatric facility. The first patients were admitted to the new wing January 19.

The addition, built in conjunction with Wake County Human Services, expands the capacity of Holly Hill to help pick up the slack expected when the state Department of Health and Human Services eventually closes Dorothea Dix Hospital.

The closure of Dix had been relayed repeatedly due to regulatory and construction problems with the new state hospital intended to replace it.

Wake County’s mental health crisis and assessment unit will now divert patients to Holly Hill that would previously have been sent to Dix. The county is contracted to cover the treatment costs of those without health insurance or Medicaid.

Who's getting deported ...

SDOvaska1 — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 11:52:47 -0500

In a story in today’s News & Observer, Wake Sheriff Donnie Harrison said a controversial program in his jail that starts the deportation process for jail inmates will only be cut if the county’s budget reaches dire levels when it comes time to balance the books for 2010.

But critics of the 287 (g) program, named after a section of a federal law, are hoping it'll go away. They say it’s too costly for local governments and want Wake to take part in another program where most of the cost falls on federal immigration agents with the U.S. Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

(The 287 (g) program costs Wake County $495,700 a year to run, with includes the salaries of the 12 Wake detention officers trained in the program.)

Moreover, critics say, the 287 (g) program can lead to racial profiling of Hispanics by police that know that a traffic citation can ultimately mean deportation for an illegal immigrants found driving without a license. Supporters say deportation is the risk that an illegal immigrant takes when he or she breaks the law by driving without a license. The program, supporters say, offers a way to fight crime by removing people from communities before more crimes are committed.

Space constraints in the print edition of today’s story gave limited statistics about the types of crimes and offenses that people who are eventually being flagged for deportation are being arrested on.

Here’s the full break-down of the numbers provided by Harrison’s office:

Driving while impaired --- 302 (24 percent of total)

Traffic --- 294 (24 %)

Theft --- 145 (12 %)

Assault -- 143 (12 %)

Drugs --- 111 (9 %)

Domestic violence --- 53 (4 %)

Sex crimes --- 32 (3 %)

Alcohol or drunk and disorderly charges --- 29 (2 %)

Trespassing -- 27 (2 %)

Breaking and entering -- 27 (2 %)

Murder or attempted murder -- 23 (2 %)

Robbery -- 21 (2 %)

Fraud -- 21 (2 %)

Weapons charges -- 17 (1 %)

TOTAL -- 1,245 jail inmates received immigration detainers (July through end of December)

* It’s important to note that these are state crimes that people are being suspected of committed but have not necessarily been convicted.
There’s also no differentiation in some categories, like assault, between misdemeanor and felony charges. The differences can be great. Police filed misdemeanor assault charges when punches are thrown in fist fights, felony assault charges are usually filed in stabbings and non-fatal shootings.
But both of those charges would fall under the general “assault’ category that federal immigration officials define and require local entities to keep track of.

Questions? Reporter Sarah Ovaska can be reached at sarah.ovaska@newsobserver.com.

We’d also like to know what you think about the program. Should it stay, or go? Leave your comments here.

More on Raleigh and how it funds the arts

dbracken — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:22:51 -0500

The Raleigh City Council is likely to approve on Tuesday a resolution that would allocate money towards creating public art in the city. The program being proposed is similar to what many other cities across the country have adopted.

It's worth noting how this funding mechanism would be different from what Raleigh currently spends on art. Raleigh does allocate money towards the arts, just not specifically to creating public art. The city allocates $4.50 per resident towards the budget of the city's Arts Commission. This year that budget totals about $1.65 million (Raleigh's population being 367,995), but about 85 percent of that money is disbursed as grants to nonprofit art groups in the city. Very little, if any, is spent on actually creating public art.

The Arts Commission's proposal to create a percentage-for-art ordinance in Raleigh also calls for a full-time Public Art Program Administrator position to be created. This person would run the program. City Manager Russell Allen said this week that the salary for this position would have to come out of the Arts Commission's existing budget. Raleigh has had a soft hiring freeze in place since July and is only filling positions related to public safety.

A few readers have contacted me raising issues with the percentage-for-art program. One caller called it inappropriate for Raleigh to be adopting something like this given the economic uncertainty about the next six months to a year. Another caller said he supported the program, but was concerned that local artists would not be hired and used on these projects. There will be no stable of artists designated to work on these projects, so only time will tell how many of the jobs go to locals.

Meeker touts conservation and takes a jab at critics of Raleigh's water rates

dbracken — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 10:05:29 -0500

Last year at this time Raleigh was mired in a historic drought and Mayor Charles Meeker's used much of his state-of-the-city address to talk about the need for water conservation. During his address on Monday, Meeker noted that water issues have taken a backseat to other matters this year, thanks both to the tanking economy and the fact that Raleigh has received 50 inches of rain since last spring.

But Meeker still used a portion of his 12-minute speech to talk about conservation. He said the city needs to renew its focus on conservation by making a push to install more low-flow devices and to use less drinking water to irrigate lawns. (The city is also expected to adopt tiered water rates later this year, a system that charges customers higher rates the more water they consume.) More notably, Meeker on Monday took a jab at City Council members who have made an issue of rising water rates.

Raleigh increased water rates by 15 percent in July, and City Manager Russell Allen anticipates that another 15 percent increase will be needed to pay for expensive capital improvements that are now being made to the system. Meeker said Monday that Raleigh's water rates remain among the lowest in the state and he went on to explain why conservation should be pursued even if it temporarily increases water rates:

"This is a challenge very simply because you sell water to pay for the improvements ... at the same time the City Council doesn't want to increase the rates because the customers don't like rate increases and the customers happen to vote in city elections. But our community has got to be better than that ... we don't need to be using drinking water to irrigate our lawns as much as we are ... even though it may not be popular in the short run because it will affect rates, it's the right thing to do in the long run."

This debate over water rates is likely to resurface at the City Council's special budget work session in March and then continue on until a new budget is adopted in May or June. Councilmen Thomas Crowder, Rodger Koopman and Russ Stephenson have all expressed their displeasure with water rates increasing and are likely to press hard for the city to find some way to spare residents a rate increase this year. Meeker made his position clear in Monday's speech.

Paid enough to judge?

SDOvaska1 — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:04:34 -0500

This may not be Wake-centric in the least, but the New York Times' Adam Liptak just posted an interesting column set to run in tomorrow's paper about whether or not federal judges were making enough.

Weighing in were some Triangle-area professors.

The salaries are at levels that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. says have "reached a constitutional crisis."

That, UNC Law's Scott Baker says, just isn't the case. He tells the Times, "“I couldn’t find any evidence to support his claim."

Baker published a study last year in the Boston University Law Review that examined whether society would be better off if judges were paid more. He, and a similar study conducted by the Journal of Legal Analysis, determined that nothing indicates that taxpayers would be better off if federal judges get bigger paychecks.

So what are judges getting paid? Liptak tells us federal district judges get paid $169,300 a year, federal appeals court judges $179,500, Supreme Court justices get $208,100 and the Chief Justice (Roberts) gets $217,400.

Liptak writes that those salaries can easily be topped at big law firms. But there is the whole lifetime appointment aspect that offers some pretty significant job security.

Duke Law Dean David F. Levi, a former federal judge, took up for his former colleagues.

"The country wants and deserves the strongest possible judiciary, and we should be willing to pay for that,” Levi said, according to the Times.

Just some food for thought.

Big ideas and big houses

dbracken — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:36:56 -0500

The Carolina Journal's January issue has an article about Raleigh's updated Comprehensive Plan as well as a story about the fact that Planning Director Mitch Silver lives in a 3,565-square-foot home in North Raleigh. Titled "Green For Thee, But Not For Me?" the latter article also notes that Silver owns a Toyota Highlander.

The city's updated Comp Plan, of which Silver is a key architect, is designed to encourage urban living and more transit options and generally move the city away from the sort of sprawling suburban development that has characterized much of Raleigh's growth over the last 30 years. In the article, Silver says he eventually plans to move to a new home in Raleigh and bought his house quickly when he was preparing to move to Raleigh from Washington D.C. in 2005.

So what to make of this? Is Silver a hypocrite for living in a large house in the Evans Mill subdivision in North Raleigh and advocating that the city try and move away from such living? Would he have more credibility if he was living above a retail store in North Hills and taking the bus to work?

It's not all that surprising to learn that Silver lives where he does. For all the ambitious goals in the updated Comp Plan, it should be noted that the city is a long, long way from transforming itself into something that resembles a transit-friendly city with lots of urban living options.

What do you think? Is it fair to criticize the housing and transit choices of Silver, City Manger Russell Allen or any of the elected members of Raleigh's City Council?

DOT stops reimbursing Raleigh for repairs the city makes to state roads

dbracken — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:10:19 -0500

Raleigh City Manager Russell Allen announced last week that the state's Department of Transportation has--effective Jan. 1--stopped reimbursing the city for any road maintance work performed on state roads. Raleigh and a few other places had agreements with DOT whereby they would fix state roads and be reimbursed later.

Allen said last week that the change could result in repairs not being done as well or as timely. My colleague Bruce Siceloff spoke to Wally Bowman, division engineer for the DOT, who says DOT is still committed to maintaining roads, including fixing potholes when they need to be fixed. They'll just be doing it with their own employees now.

The decision likely was made to give DOT more control over how they spend the limited money they have. Under the reimbursement agreements with Raleigh and others, DOT must pay for repairs whenever they get the bill.

Lots of major roads in Raleigh are state roads, including Falls of Neuse Road which the city is now paying $21 million to widen. City officials have long complained about how road money is disbursed, arguing that large metro areas pay way more into the system than they get back in return.

The question going forward will be whether potholes on state roads in Raleigh linger longer now that the DOT is fixing them.

A new logo? In this economy?

dbracken — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:25:31 -0500

The Neuse River Foundation annouced last week that it has, after nearly 30 years in existence, decided to change its name to the Neuse RIVERKEEPER® Foundation. The foundation has changed its logo and tag line too. (As for those nifty brown riverkeeper uniforms, no word yet on whether they're being replaced.)

The foundation's press release announcing the change also included something that we are seeing more and more these days. It seems like whenever a person, group, company or elected body makes an announcement they preface it with some statement about the economy. It's almost like it has become politically incorrect to do or say things without saying the economy is terrible first. Sure enough, the Neuse River Foundation is no exception.

“In these tough economic times", explains Neuse RIVERKEEPER® Foundation Treasurer, Dick Goodwin, in the release, “the Foundation’s name change and logo project were undertaken with a minimal expenditure of funds thanks to the support of the firm of Misner & Associates Public Relations."

We're looking for other examples of people or groups name-dropping the bad economy before making an announcement that may or may not be affected by the recession. Read or heard any?

Chargers in action

mbieseck — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 12:32:56 -0500

In the week since The N&O printed a front page story about Wake's EMS department buying five Dodge Chargers powered by 368 horse-power V8 engines as part of a program to get paramedics with advanced training to the scene of serious medical emergencies, there have been numerous sightings of the eye-catching muscle cars on local roads.

This one sped past N&O reporter Michael Biesecker, who wrote the story, on Capital Boulevard.

As a testament to the Charger's raw testosterone appeal, the reporter's 3-year-old son was given the option last week of chosing one Matchbox car as a reward for good behavior during a doctor's visit that required a shot. Of the hundreds of tiny toy cars on display at a Target store, what caught the little boy's eye?

A police package Charger, of course — the very same model picked by county officials.

Rickshaw confessionals not exactly risque

dbracken — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:56:28 -0500

Earlier this month my colleague Josh Shaffer wrote about Raleigh Rickshaw joining with NBC-17 to capture video of riders who agree to be taped. Some of the first video footage has now been released and you can view it here.

A warning to those who fall asleep easily. The footage, which is supposedly the best of the bunch, is incredibly boring. This probably shouldn't be all that surprising. Raleigh may be a lot of things, but it's not generally known as wild and crazy place late at night. Then again, maybe all the people doing crazy things in rickshaws just refuse to be recorded.

Raleigh landlords get temporary reprieve

dbracken — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:44:47 -0500

When the Raleigh City Council approved a controversial new registration fee for landlords in June, it was supposed to go into effect in early January 2009. But Robert Spruill, the city's housing inspections administrator, said this week that the city would not begin registering landlords until March at the earliest.

The new fee is related to the city's PROP, or Probationary Rental Occupancy Permit, ordinance. It will require landlords to pay $30 annually for their first registered unit and $10 for each additional unit registered in the same dwelling. The money will be used to create a database of rental properties and to hire a four-person team to deal with landlords who run afoul of the PROP.

The city estimates that about half of Raleigh's 154,000 residential units are rental properties, which means the new fees will generate more than $775,000 annually. The City Council voted 5-3 to adopt the fee in June. Opponents said the fee is excessive and will just be passed on to tenants.

The landlord database is supposed to make it easier for the city to identify problem landlords. A landlord enters the PROP program if he or she accumulates a certain number of housing code violations at a property.

Each landlord in the program is required to get a permit, pay $500 a year for two years and attend rental management classes. Since the ordinance was adopted in 2005, 20 properties have received enough violations to qualify.

Spruill said the city's Public Affairs Department will lead a campaign to let landlords know when the registration period begins. He said landlords will likely have about two months to register their rental properties with the city.