September 21, 2008

This week was a week mostly dominated by events and meetings.

Monday started with a meeting at Triangle Aquatic Center (TAC). Michael Curran gave me a tour of the facility and talked about his ideas for a public private partnership. Council will be addressing aquatics at a work session next week.

Monday evening was the monthly meeting of the Mayor’s Association. We had a presentation by Gregory Poole on making Raleigh’s Dix property a park. After the presentation the mayors discussed the current economic situation in their towns. Almost all towns were reported residential growth at about half of what it was last year and non-residential growth about the same. Raleigh’s Mayor Meeker suggested the economy should turn around after the presidential race has been decided. I tend to agree that an uncertain political outlook has an affect on the economy.

Tuesday morning I met with a representative of Cary Community in Action. We discussed operations at their current Dorcas Shop and their recent purchase of a shopping center. This group is a non-profit group that helps many people in Cary and surrounding areas. I told them their service was greatly appreciated and that I would like to tour their current facility to have a better understanding of their operations.

Tuesday evening’s event was the annual meeting of the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce held in the new Raleigh civic center. I spent a lot of time talking with representatives from real estate firms, medical firms, energy firms, etc. My mingling almost caused me to miss dinner and the main speaker Ben Stein. What a very interesting speaker. He gave his thoughts and opinions on the economy which was a hot topic on this day due to what was happening on Wall Street. He also made his political preferences know saying “the thought of having Palin’s trigger finger on nuclear weapons makes my blood curdle.” I thought that was a very bold statement and I am a big supporter of Obama.

Wednesday started with a staff meeting to discuss various issues. The most significant one was the Capital Metropolitan Planning Organization’s (CAMPO) recommendation of road projects. Out of the 66 projects and 365 miles of roads Cary only was included for 2 projects totaling 1.2 miles. This is totally unacceptable to me and I will be voting against this recommendation at the next CAMPO meeting.

Wednesday evening was the Cary Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting at Prestonwood Country Club. Again, I mingled with representatives from various businesses. The speaker for the evening was an inspirational speaker, Steve Stefano. His main theme was about leadership in all walks of life whether it is in home, church, business, etc. One other point of interest for me at this dinner meeting was that outgoing President Mike Winters made a point of saying how he appreciated my work as mayor and my working with the chamber. I really appreciated this since it is my intention has always been to be inclusive and to extend a hand to everyone and every group.

Thursday morning I met with the new Metropolitan Coalition Director. She was interested in what the big issues were for Cary and how the coalition could help. In addition, she was trying to arrange for me to meet with other large metropolitan mayors in Charlotte within a few weeks.

Thursday evening was the back stage bash for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame event to be held on Friday and Saturday at the Booth Amphitheater. This “bash” was held at the Deep South Bar in Raleigh (first time I have been in a bar like this in a long time). It was a lot of fun as I was able to meet the board members from the Hall of Fame and many legendary stars. I read a proclamation to the crowd which was well received and even shown on the news by NBC 17.

Friday’s main event was the first day of performances by artists from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Being a Rock and Roll fan I can say that the performance of the White Sox All Star Band was one of the best I have seen in my life. During the show I talked with representatives of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame about coming back to Cary next year. They said they would consider it but the plan was to move from place to place each year.

Saturday’s main event was the second day of performances by artists from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Again, this was an outstanding show. The best news from this show was that after much prodding the board members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced that they would come back to Cary next year. Cary will be glad to host them and I am looking forward to helping make next year’s event even better than this year. The only downside about the two days was that the show went about 45 minutes over and we had to ask that three songs be cut from the last set. But in my opinion this event was a huge success for Cary and hopefully for the John Entwistle foundation and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

That is about all I have for this week. Next week will be busy as well. So I’ll close for now and hopefully post again by Sunday, September 28^th.