April 5, 2008

Mayoral duties this week included several informative meetings, a few discussions and talks with various citizens, and a big entertainment win for Cary’s Amphitheater.

First of all I am extremely excited that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the John Entwistle Foundation will hold a major fundraising concert at Koka Booth Amphitheatre at Regency Park on September 20th. This should be a fantastic event with a potential of several notable names (can’t mention any until they confirm). So make plans to be at the amphitheater on September 20^th.

The first meeting I had this week was with Cary’s Progress Energy representative. The main purpose of this meeting was to reacquaint him with me and to talk about issues of concern. One of the issues we addressed was Sheron Harris’ potential expansion by adding reactors. Based on my conversation with him, the expansion is in the future and not near term. I also learned that the approval process is probably in excess of five years.

Another meeting of note was with several parties interested in transit in Wake County. Included in the meeting was Raleigh Mayor Meeker, Wake Commissioner Chair Bryan, Wake Forest Mayor Jones, Harvey Schmidt and Smedes York of the Raleigh Chamber, Howard Johnson of the Cary Chamber, managers Coleman of Cary and Allen of Raleigh, and several staff members. The interest was in pursuing a ½ cent county wide sales tax to fund transit. Commissioner Bryan made it clear that school funding was his number one priority and that he would not support a ½ cent sales tax for transit. That is, if the county gained legislative approval for a ½ cent sales tax for schools and transit, he would push to spend it on schools. His reasoning was that the county has significant expense to pay for the last school bond and there is another on the horizon. Mayor Meeker then asked if there was interest in Cary and Wake Forest to pursue a ½ cent sales tax locally (within municipalities) to fund transit. Unfortunately, there is no legislative precedent to allow municipalities to charge a sales tax. In addition, the focus of this meeting was transit within Wake County. Cary’s main destination for transit is toward RTP. Therefore, I am not confident that it would be in our citizens’ best interest to pursue this. In addition, other players are involved providing transit between municipalities such as Triangle Transit. I believe the expansion of their service between municipalities will probably be our first step. One thing for sure though, Cary, Raleigh, and other municipalities should definitely be focusing on transit especially since Cary is planning on urban type development in the downtown area.

Mid week there was an information meeting on the Walnut Street corridor with dozens of residents in attendance. The problem is that the houses on Walnut Street are practically uninhabitable due to noise, traffic, and their proximity to the street. But property owners can’t sell these properties because the only interested buyers are developers who are interested in large developments. To allow large developments on Walnut Street might allow property owners to sell but would just exacerbate the problems with noise and traffic because of the high intensity commercial development from Cary Town Center to Crossroads. In addition, high intensity development would only move the Walnut Street problems to residents living one row back. Low intensity development would keep a bad problem from getting worse. So in the early 2000s the council approved the current plan to address the problem. That plan allows low intensity office and commercial so that owners can sell their properties but with several restrictions. The purpose of this meeting was to get feedback from residents in the area to see if the plan is working and to hear suggestions on how we can make things better.

The remainder of meetings this week was with staff providing information for upcoming meetings.

I participated in four openings, talks, and discussions this week. The first was with the Page Walker Historical Society. Their main focus is not only with the Page Walker but with several historical sites around and near Cary. We discussed the proposed Delay of Destruction Ordinance, the Comprehensive Historic Resources Plan, and renewing and strengthening the town’s relationship with the historic society.

On Saturday morning I opened Cary’s Farmers Market. If you haven’t been there you have missed out. They have locally grown and crafted goods of exceptional quality. I went home with tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce, and strawberry jam (my favorite). At noon on Saturday I welcomed the locale chapter of the Red Hat Society. In case you are not familiar with the Red Hat Society, their mission is no rules, regulations, or programs with an approach of fun and silliness. The hundred plus attendees in red hats was quite intimidating but a lot of fun. I bet being a member of that organization is a real hoot. My final event of the week is tonight when I speak at the Indian Forum. I am not sure what to expect other than they want to hear my ideas on how to move Cary forward and I am to speak for an hour. YIKES! That is not an easy task but I am sure I can fill the time without any problem. I love to talk about Cary and especially about politics. I will be focusing tonight on my initiatives (growth, roads, schools, environment, and citizen involvement) and what I have done in the first 100 days of 2008.

Well that’s about all for this week. Next week, after the council meeting on Monday, I will be attending/working the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia. I hope to post next week on Sunday, April 13th.