Don's Cary Town Council Journal

Neon

2012-01-16T15:31:00.005-05:00

The council has received about a dozen or so emails in opposition to our consideration of a neon theater marquee sign on the soon to be renovated downtown Cary theater.

As much as I would like to take credit for our initiating specific amendments to our town's sign code to allow for high intensity/neon lighting downtown, I cannot.

This particular recommendation comes from Cary's professional planning staff who through years of successful experience working to revitalize downtowns in cities like Boulder, Colorado and Scottsdale, Arizona, along with the careful study of other communities, believes that neon/high intensity lighting when done in a thoughtful and tasteful manner can help Cary's revitalization efforts. I couldn't agree more.

Here are a couple examples of theater marquee signs. Note: these did not come from staff – I snagged them off the internet – but they are representative of what we may be asked to consider, and they reflect MY vision for our downtown theater marquee. The actual theater marquee (to date the council has only seen a concept image) will be designed by a collaboration of artists and the community.

If either of these two images is offensive to you, then you can stop reading now and we can simply agree to disagree. If not then read on!

Our vision for downtown is a destination place - a vibrant community where folks want to live, do business, and play. Nobody comes downtown for bland and beige; they are looking for something unique; a place that is alive and bustling with activity. A theater with a bold marquee sign will help in this regard.

We all want more retail and dining establishments downtown, but these will not come if they have no customers. Most of the restaurants and retail stores that have located in downtown in recent years are either struggling to stay afloat, or have packed up and left altogether. Many point to the lack of traffic – especially during evening hours – as their primary concern.

We have every intention of protecting the visual landscape in Cary, but we must also recognize that successful downtowns are lit up and alive at night. We will take great care to ensure that whatever is constructed is of the highest quality possible and tasteful in design.

I must say that I have been quite surprised at some folk’s reaction to our consideration of neon lighting on the theater marquee sign. Some of the same people who supported the bold and bright "art" on the Cary Arts Center fly-tower; and who also support the installation of “public art” throughout downtown are some of the same opponents of neon. Heck, even one of the sculptures in front of the Cary Arts Center head lights up at night. This makes no sense to me. A giant pink pig in Fidelity Bank’s courtyard or a 15 foot tall mummy is ok, but a neon marquee sign isn’t. I don’t get it.

If we are serious about our downtown revitalization efforts we have to think outside the box. The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.

In regards to criticism that Cary is “changing the rules for government only”, that is not entirely true. “IF” Cary decides to amend our town’s sign code to allow for neon or other high intensity lighting on theaters, then any theater or similar use (skating rink, bowling alley)could do the same. It is also my understanding that the Crossroads movie theater was allowed to have a bold marquee sign but chose not to – I have not however confirmed that.

I have historically supported relaxing Cary’s sign rules to better allow businesses the opportunity to advertise. I initiated Cary’s Sign Ordinance Review Task Force which recommended a host of changes to Cary’s sign code, and as my council colleagues will tell you, I have always supported the allowance of tastefully done and architecturally appealing neon lighting on any business in Cary. The council majority however, hasn’t been as receptive – and there is no guarantee the majority will support staff’s recommendation this time either. They just haven’t said, “no” yet. I hope they don’t. This is an opportunity to do something bold that will have a positive and lasting impact downtown.

I hope we don’t blow it.

Retreat! 2012

2012-01-16T11:30:00.001-05:00

Thursday afternoon I headed to Wilmington for our annual council/staff retreat. While we have typically stayed in town for our retreats to better encourage citizen attendance and reduce costs, the conveniences of being in town proved too much of a distraction for some. Two years ago one council member actually left our retreat so they could attend another meeting for three hours! We decided the best way to eliminate the distractions was to head out of town.

Council members met Thursday evening for dinner and social. This was a great opportunity to get to know each other better outside of town hall – especially newly elected council member Lori Bush. We had a great time and learned a few things about each other we didn’t already know. Council member Julie Robison did not attend our retreat.

The retreat began Friday morning with a session on how to be an effective council. We mainly discussed how council members expect to work with one another; respect differing viewpoints, agree to disagree, stuff like that; stuff we already know and do. We did however learn a few things about each other that we didn’t already know. For instance, did you know we have a “Doobie” and a “Wino” on the council??? ;-)

Next was a session on the Land Use Plan update. Cary will be revisiting our land use plan and our staff was looking for direction on how the council wishes to proceed. We broke out into smaller groups and brainstormed key points we want the new plan to address. Some of the more popular suggestions included:

• Economically sustainable

• Promotes lower density housing

• Simple and easy to understand

• Better reflects changing demographics (our growing senior population for example)

• Better transitions between uses

• Infill development

• Increased citizen input

There will be a number of community meetings and worksessions as this goes through the process. I encourage you to get involved and offer your vision for the future of Cary. This is your town after all.

The next session dealt with intergovernmental effectiveness; how to better work with other local, state and federal elected officials. So much of what Cary can or can’t do is determined by others – especially our state and federal officials and we need to do a better job of communicating to them issues impacting our community. We heard from Jack Cozort, Cary’s state legislative consultant, Paul Meyer from the North Carolina League of Municipalities, and Roger Gwinn and Leslie Mozingo from the Ferguson Group, our Federal legislative consultants. “Consultant” in this case really means lobbyist. Yes, Cary has lobbyists and while they do a great job for us, there is no substitute for one on one elected official to elected official communication.

We will work to better communicate with our state and federal officials and staff will do a better job of keeping us informed of issues that require our involvement.

Afterwards we broke for dinner and social, and yes we all paid for our own bar tabs. ;-)

Saturday morning began with a session on customer service. While I think most everyone would agree that Cary provides exceptional customer service, we can always do better. We discussed a number of areas for improvement, and ways in which to accomplish that. For years Cary has had a reputation as a difficult place to do business, and while we have worked very hard to make Cary a more business friendly community, we still periodically hear complaints from business owners about issues with permitting and inspections. We will continue to look for ways in which we can better serve Cary customers.

Next we discussed general capital projects and funding. The economic recession has significantly impacted Cary’s revenues, and while the council and staff have done a good job trimming the fat from our budgets and taking on no new debt, the “needs” list continues to grow. The bottom line is that there are more future needs and capital projects (fire stations in West Cary, parks and community centers, and transportation projects) than there is funding available.

We discussed a number of options:

• Continue to delay projects and operate as we have been for the last three years

• Utilize roughly $60 million of unappropriated bonding authority (authorized by voters in 2003)

• Begin preparations for a new 2012 bond

The council chose to offer a new community bond to the voters this fall. The thinking was that economic times have changed tremendously since 2003, and that the voters should again decided if Cary is to take on any new debt. One thing citizens should be aware of is that “IF” voters approve the bond, they will also be voting for a tax increase.

Previous bonds were offered to citizens with the promise of no tax increase. This was possible due to Cary’s high growth rate; new revenues were able to cover the debt. That is no longer the case.

I cannot say at this time whether I support a new bond or not until see I see the list of capital projects proposed, how much they will cost and the impact on our tax rate. We will have a number of worksessions and community meetings as this moves through the process. I encourage all of you to get involved and offer your input.

Finally was our session on boards and commissions. Some town boards work well while others have struggled. Some have a consistent work load, mission and purpose while others have either completed their mission or duplicate existing efforts of other boards or staff. The council decided to eliminate the following boards and commissions:

Economic Development Commission (EDC): This board has completed it’s mission. They were created prior to the current Economic Development partnership with the Chamber of Commerce. Cary also has an Economic Development Governing Board that is comprised of council members, key staff and Chamber representatives. Current EDC board members have become frustrated that there is nothing for them to do. They are correct. We decided instead to take a few members from the EDC and add them to the Economic Development Governing Board.

Citizen’s Issue Review Commission (CIRC): This board was formed a couple of years ago with the intent of providing citizens an avenue to bring community issues to council. While the creation of CIRC was well intentioned, it has not worked out as we had hoped. This is mainly because there is a much easier way to get an item on council’s agenda – the pink slip process. It only takes two council members (a sponsor and co-sponsor) to get any item on the next council agenda. Why go through a long and bureaucratic process when all you need is the support of two council members and you’re on our agenda? Existing CIRC members also recognized this and stated that they do not find their board effective, nor do they find that it serves a purpose.

We will instead tap into these board members upon occasion when a specific issue arises that requires a citizen task force to better help us.

Town Center Review Commission (TCRC): The Town Center Review Commission serves as an advisory board to the Town Council for the review of subdivision plans, site plans, and variances within the Town Center Zoning District. In a nutshell, it serves as the Planning and Zoning Board for downtown. This board was created prior to the creation of Cary’s Downtown Development Department and the hiring of Downtown Development Director, Ed Gawf.

Existing board members expressed frustrations that their work duplicates that which town staff is already doing, there isn’t enough happening downtown to justify their existence and that their current mission is inadequate. I agree.

This board, like CIRC, was formed with good intentions. However, the reality is that they don’t do anything our Planning and Zoning Board couldn’t do and even adds another layer of government bureaucracy to the process.

We will call upon the existing board members to assist us with Cary’s land use plan rewrite and serve on future citizen task forces.

After a quick review of the retreat topics and action items we were out of there and headed back to Cary. I took Lisa and a few of the kids out to Chili’s…where we found that Mayor Wino…I mean Weinbrecht ;-) had the same idea. Too funny….

That’s the council retreat in blog form. Thanks for reading!

2011 - December

2011-12-18T17:39:00.000-05:00

With the holidays, the last couple of weeks have been relatively light in regards to council responsibilities while heavy on the fun and festivities! The only downside is that with so many holiday events, you just can’t make them all. Highlights for me were the Heart of Cary Association’s Ole Time Winter Festival, the town’s Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony and the Cary Jaycees Christmas Parade. Congratulations and Thank You to all the volunteers and town employees who worked so hard to make all of these events a huge success! And thanks to the man upstairs for the great weather!

And while we’ve had a lot of fun, we did have some work to do.

Notable items from our December council meeting included the swearing in ceremonies for newly elected council members, a number of public hearings and annexations, specific council initiated requests and ordinance amendments pertaining to telecommunications towers.

The meeting began with the swearing in ceremonies for Mayor Weinbrecht and Council Members Adcock, Bush and I. After we were sworn into office, the first order of business was to elect a Mayor Pro-Tem. Congratulations to Cary’s new Mayor Pro-Tem Gale Adcock! I am confident she will be a great ambassador and represent Cary's interests well.

Following the election of Mayor Pro-Tem, Mayor Weinbrecht announced the new committee assignments for council members. The list is long and boring so I will let the Mayor post it on his blog. ;-) I will say that I (finally) get to Chair the Planning and Development Committee and I remain the liaison for the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources (PRCR) advisory board and the Town Center Review Commission (TCRC).

Notable public hearings included:

• C-Tran fare increases and changes. Changes include the elimination of free transfers – this is consistent with both CAT and DATA, modifying the current bus pass structure, and allows for seniors and children to now ride fixed route for free, but remember, ID is required (just not to vote). You can view a complete list of changes here. The council unanimously approved the amendments.

• Land Development Ordinance Amendments regarding telecommunications towers (cell towers). Proposed amendments provide incentives to telecommunications providers to utilize stealth technology – hopefully resulting in fewer ugly cell towers throughout Cary. The incentive is basically an administrative review and approval process vs. the current costly, time consuming council approval process. If a proposed cell tower is NOT of stealth design, it must still come through the council…and considering previous council decisions…well…good luck with that. The proposed amendments now go to our Planning and Zoning Board for review.

• Site Plan for the old Austin Foods site in Downtown (at the E. Durham Road/E. Chatham Street Intersection) Basically the applicant wants to take an old, ugly, environmentally contaminated site and make improvements that will not only allow for re-use of the existing structures and improve aesthetics downtown, but also better protects our environment and reduce stormwater runoff. The council unanimously approved the request.

Council initiated requests included:

• A request from Councilmember Adcock and Mayor Weinbrecht to direct staff to investigate and report back to council the pros and cons of amending our ordinances to restrict or eliminate the tethering of dogs in Cary. This request passed unanimously.

• A request from Mayor Weinbrecht and I to direct staff to investigate the pros and cons of implementing a trap, neuter and release (TNR) program in Cary to reduce the number of feral cats in Cary. This request also passed unanimously.

• A request from Council member Bush and Mayor Weinbrecht to direct staff to investigate suggested actions the town may take in regards to hydraulic fracturing (AKA fracking) in town limits or Cary’s extra territorial jurisdiction (ETJ). This request passed 5-2. Both I and Councilman Smith voted “no”.

I opposed the request because:

• Fracking is currently illegal in NC – what problem are we trying to solve?

• I would prefer to work on real issues facing Cary today and not waste time and resources making a political statement.

• Would a ban on fracking in Cary – the intent of this request – even address our concerns?

From the discussion at our meeting it is obvious that no one has a clear understanding of what fracking really is, or what the impacts to our community may or may not be; and given the amount of media sensationalism and special interest spin on both sides of this topic, I don’t know that we could ever get the truth.

But the reality is that even if state law is changed to allow fracking, it’s probably not going to occur in Cary (zoning, property values etc..), so trying to ban it really doesn’t do anything to address any concerns we might have. If anything we should be more concerned with what might occur in neighboring jurisdictions – especially those near Jordan Lake – our water source.

If the state legislature is going to allow fracking in NC, then it makes more sense that we work with our law makers to ensure that whatever legislation is passed provides for the highest environmental protections, best management practices and transparency as possible so that regardless of where any drilling/fracking occurs, all of NC is protected.

We cannot ignore the potential economic impact of drilling in North Carolina, nor can we ignore the potential environmental impacts. Fracking has worked well for many communities across America while others have concerns. Let’s learn from the success and failure of others and see if we can find something that works for us.

Following our council meeting we held a closed session to discuss a number of legal matters, none of which I can tell you about. Confidential, sorry.

Our December Planning and Development Committee meeting lasted a whopping three minutes. We had only one agenda item for discussion that was a no-brainer. I also met with Town Manager, Ben Shivar to discuss a few items.

That’s about it for this post. I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season and have a Happy and Safe New Year!

Week(s) in Review - 11/14/2011 - 11/25/2011

2011-11-27T16:55:00.002-05:00

Sorry I haven’t posted in a few weeks – the Thanksgiving Holiday, family obligations, work and the hot-rod (not necessarily in that order ;-) have taken priority over blogging. I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Highlights from the last couple of weeks include:

A number of area elected officials and I attended a town hall session in Morrisville hosted by NC Speaker of the House, Thom Tillis. We discussed a number of issues including transportation funding options, healthcare costs and increasing competition in the marketplace, reducing unreasonable regulations on business and other accomplishments from this year’s legislative session.

Afterwards I high-tailed it over to Cary Town Hall to tape the December edition of CaryMatters with Mayor Weinbrecht. This went well considering that both the Mayor and I had been recuperating from bad colds and our voices weren’t 100%. Topics included cell phone towers, golf carts on public roads and leaf collection. Check it out on Cary TV channel 11 starting December 1st.

Following the taping session the Mayor and I met with a number of folks interested in implementing a trap, neuter and release (TNR) ordinance for feral cats in Cary. The gist of what they are seeking is to require that Cary Animal Control Officers – when responding to a cat complaint – offer the citizen 2 options. 1) the officer can trap the cat and take it to the shelter where it will most likely not be adopted and killed (BAD), or 2) they can call a number of area providers that will trap the cat, have it neutered and give it all of its shots and return it to where it was captured – at no cost to the citizen (GOOD). Needless to say their request makes a lot of sense and the Mayor and I have included this item for discussion on our December meeting agenda.

Prior to our November 17 council meeting we hosted a reception for this year’s Hometown Spirit Award nominees. This was a lot of fun and I was blown away listening to each nominee’s accomplishments and records of community activism. All four finalists were truly deserving of being named this year’s award winner – but in the end their can only be one. Congratulations to Cary’s 2011 Hometown Spirit Award Winner, Keith Bliss.

Council meeting highlights included recognition of Ms. Jessica Elliott of Gladys, Virginia for her heroic efforts to provide emergency medical assistance to Cary Officer Chad Penland after his motorcycle accident on July 15, 2011 (not a dry eye in the room); 2 quasi-judicial public hearings for a storage unit and auto care facility; and a public hearing on proposed land development ordinance (LDO) amendments.

Notable LDO amendments proposed include the reduction or elimination of parking requirements, streetscape and road improvements and sign regulations in downtown. Reducing these over-burdensome regulations will further help incent new businesses looking to locate downtown, and allow existing businesses the ability to further grow their business without penalty. The amendments now go to the Planning and Zoning Board for review before coming back to council for decision.

Council also held a worksession on November 15 to discuss Cary’s Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO) and Transportation Development Fee (TDF) requirements and to receive an update on downtown initiatives.

The APF/TDF part of the worksession was painful to say the least. The council had expressed concerns that our ordinance was inequitable (it sometimes punished the last guy in because previous developers used up all the allowable vehicle trips), created gaps in our road network (wide road/skinny road) and that it is over-complicated (it is). About a year ago we directed staff to investigate and report back to council with options on how we can modify our APF and TDF ordinances to make them more equitable and easy to understand (at least that’s how I remember it). That’s not what we got.

What we got was a liberal mass-transit loving consultant from Maryland whose top suggestions included raising fees on developers and existing citizens, and even mobility fees/taxes. He offered very little – if anything – about how to address our concerns of complexity and inequity, and seemed more interested on increasing revenues – especially to pay for mass transit, which the council NEVER even mentioned as a reason to review our ordinance in the first place. We also learned that the citizen input part of this process only included input from 3 citizens. This is unacceptable (note – the next morning I sent a list of over 30 citizens for staff to contact for another citizen input meeting. Other councilors did the same)

I want a simple and fair system that folks can understand and addresses our concerns; one that says, “If you build X, you must also build or fund Y to offset your impact on Cary’s road network”. That’s it.

Thankfully the downtown portion of the worksession was more positive. The council discussed a number of options for the development of the new Downtown Cary Theater before unanimously deciding to construct a three story addition to the theater to provide additional classroom, storage and meeting space as well as leasable business/office space. The town will also be making water/sewer and stormwater infrastructure improvements in the area along with streetscape enhancements. Oh – and those downtown LDO amendments I spoke about earlier? Once approved, the theater can utilize neon lighting both in the architecture and marquis sign! Neon in Cary?!?! Woo Hoo!

We received even more good news this past week with the announcement that the town has closed on a few more properties in downtown – including the building adjacent to the downtown theater (used to be the old Mitchell’s Pharmacy and most recently the India Bazaar) and a large L shaped property that fronts both Academy and Chatham St (formerly owned by the Suggs family). The old pharmacy will be updated and leased/sold to a private retailer, and we are pursuing a public/private redevelopment opportunity with the other. Great things are happening in downtown Cary!

And last but certainly not least, the hot-rod should be back from the body shop soon. ;-)
Well that’s it for now – as always, thanks for reading!

Week in Review - 10/24/11 - 10/29/11

2011-10-29T18:21:00.000-04:00

This past Tuesday I served as a judge for the 2011 Red Ribbon Poster Contest. This was no easy task as this year’s entries were probably some of the best I have seen in the four years I have been judging this event. The theme this year was “Peace out to Drugs”. While some posters were funny and colorful with hippies and VW buses, others were more hard hitting and spoke to the negative effects of drugs on one’s family and life. If you happen to be near town hall, stop by and check them out – good stuff.

Council held a worksession Tuesday evening to receive an update on Cary’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources master planning process and to discuss the upcoming council retreat.

The information gathering phase of the master planning process is now complete and included a very comprehensive public input process to include a mail in survey, an online survey, focus groups, community meetings and meetings between boards and commissions. These findings were presented to council for review and discussion.

While much of the presentation wasn’t anything we hadn’t already heard before, a few things did stand out to me. Past surveys had indicated a lack of cultural facilities space, but this survey didn’t. It appears that the new Cary Arts Center is filling this need as intended. Folks are also looking for more festivals and special events – especially in the downtown area.

Which leads to a meeting I had on Wednesday with staff and a few car buffs to discuss the Town of Cary’s first ever Classic/Custom Car Show!!!! That’s right folks; Cary will be hosting a car show near the end of March 2012 in downtown Cary. How cool is that??? If you know someone with a classic or custom car or motorcycle that might want to participate, send them our way. More information will be coming soon once we get farther along in the planning process.

Our council meeting on Thursday was relatively light with only one public hearing regarding a rezoning on Old Apex Road near Laura Duncan. The applicant was requesting a change from commercial to townhomes. Two citizens spoke at the hearing to voice their concerns over stormwater runoff. After a healthy discussion regarding stormwater management and development standards the council unanimously approved the request.

Town Manager, Ben Shivar also presented an operational update to include a financial report. The bottom line from the financial report is that a number of funds are doing better than budgeted, and at this time, we are projected to end FY2011 with about a $4 million surplus.

Friday evening Lisa and I attended the 53rd annual Cary Band Day reception at Cary High School. Council member Gale Adcock and former Cary Mayor Koka Booth also attended. This is always a wonderful time as decades of CHS alumni and supporters come together to celebrate and reminisce. Congratulations to all the volunteers – especially Cary Band Day Chair Sandra Williams – for all their efforts towards making Cary Band Day a huge success. If only they could control the weather…

Unfortunately this year’s Cary Band Day Parade had to be cancelled due to rain, but the Band Day Competition did go on as planned.

Well that’s about all for this week. Have a Happy Halloween!

Week in Review - 10/17/11 - 10/22/11

2011-10-24T08:53:00.000-04:00

After last week’s elections - and all the craziness associated with that – it was nice to see things return to normal; or as normal as life was for me anyways. I worked to get caught up on a number of things that were put on hold until after the election was over, and I spent a lot of time with Lisa and the family. We even had three home cooked meals in a row! Woo Hoo! ;-)

I cannot thank Lisa and the kids enough for all their love and support, and for the sacrifices they make so that I can serve you on the council. Lisa is my inspiration and motivation in life, and I am so blessed to have her by my side.

Our council meeting last Thursday was fairly light with only a couple of discussion items; a quasi-judicial hearing for the Sri Venkateswara Temple located on Chapel Hill Road, and proposed improvements to Wake Med Soccer Park.

The folks at the temple acquired one of the homes along Chapel Hill Road with the intent of using it for additional classroom space. Institutional uses such as churches are permitted in residential zoning districts with a special use permit, and therefore are required to come before council for approval. After conducting the required hearing the council unanimously approved the request.

The proposed improvements to Wake Med Soccer park, for the most part, were pretty straight forward and weren’t anything we hadn’t already seen before. They include new locker rooms, seating, parking and concessions. While Cary would be fronting the money for these improvements up front, the town will be reimbursed by Wake County over time via the hotel/meals tax revenue. What did however generate concern among some council members – myself included – was the proposed Trinity Road extension to the park from Cary Town Blvd. Staff was requesting $250,000 to design the road and associated stream crossing. To actually build the road however would cost an additional $1.3 million.

The council unanimously approved the soccer park improvements, but we split 5-2 regarding the road design funding. Council member Robinson and myself voted against the design over concerns that given current economic conditions, we may not have $1.3 million to build the road when the time comes; and if it turns out we did have the money, is this road project a higher priority that other needed transportation improvements throughout Cary? While I hope we will be able to meet our obligations three years from now, I need more assurance than hope before I will vote for something. I don’t vote for hope. That’s somebody else. ;-)

Gary Roth from Capital Area Preservation “officially” presented Cary with the Anthemion Award for our work on The Cary Arts Center. I look forward to receiving more Anthemion Awards from CAP once we complete work on the downtown Cary Theater….and the Jones-Foy House….and….

My wife Lisa and I had the honor and privilege of attending the Occoneechee Council Boy Scouts of America Dinner honoring Ralph and Daphne Ashworth for their lifelong commitment to our community and the Boy Scouts. This was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed all the stories from the Ashworth family and friends. Cary truly is a better place because of the Ashworths.

Our Planning and Development Committee meeting consisted of three discussion items;

• Transportation improvement waivers, Highcroft Village

• A transportation improvement waiver for the Barber property along Piney Plains Rd.

• Modifications to the town’s Housing Rehab Program

You can review all of the staff reports for these items here, here and here.

Highcroft Village was requesting a waiver for a right-turn lane, and instead offered a payment in lieu equal to twice the amount of constructing the turn lane, and they were also seeking to partner with the town in the funding of a stream crossing for the construction of Morrisville Parkway to Hwy. 55. The connection of Morrisville Parkway to Hwy. 55 is critical for Cary citizens in West Cary and this partnership with the developer will allow this project to be completed sooner than later, and at a lower cost to Cary taxpayers!

The Barber property is a 1700 sq. ft. home that is proposed to be used as a small office. They were requesting a waiver of required road improvements along Piney Plains Road, but would dedicate the necessary right-of-way. This office use might generate a dozen or so vehicle trips a day – to require them to widen 135 feet of Piney Plains Road makes little sense, and would prevent the re-use of and improvements to this site. The town can require road improvements if and when this property ever redevelops.

Modifications to the town’s Housing Rehabilitation Program include a deferred loan for income eligible applicants and seniors and an amortized low interest loan. Federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds will be used and all applicants must meet Federal HUD requirements. We are working hard to better focus available resources towards improving existing affordable housing instead of just trying to build more of it. Cary already has a great supply of affordable homes – especially inside the Maynard Loop – that with a little TLC would make great homes for new families or folks on fixed incomes.

All three items were unanimously approved by the committee (Mayor Weinbrecht, Council Member Adcock and I).

Afterwards I met Lisa and Liz for a few hours of fun at the North Carolina State Fair. They had a hard time dragging me away from the food – YUM!!!!!

On Saturday Mayor Weinbrecht and I attended the 11th annual Cary Diwali Festival at Koka Booth Amphitheater. Diwali is the Indian festival of lights and celebrates the victory of good over evil. It was my honor to address the crowd and present the proclamation from the Town of Cary designating October 22nd as the 11th Annual Cary Diwali Celebration. This event is always a lot of fun and I look forward to it every year. If you have never attended Diwali you must check it out. Congratulations to Hum Sub, the Town of Cary and all the volunteers who worked so hard to make this event a huge success.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me at don.frantz@townofcary.org .

Downtown Cary Theater Renovations to begin next week!

2011-10-20T09:46:00.000-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19, 2011

Cary Downtown Theater Begins Extreme Makeover

CARY, NC – As part of its renovation project, contractors working on behalf of the Town of Cary will deconstruct the façade of its downtown theater located at 122 E. Chatham Street. The removal is set to begin October 24, weather permitting, and finish in November; while no traffic implications are expected, pedestrians in the area will be detoured and are asked to use the alternative sidewalk routes. Reconstruction of the building is anticipated to begin this spring.

“The transformation of Cary’s downtown as a viable entertainment district is a major priority for the Town, and the renovation of the downtown theater is an important step in achieving this,” said Eric Simpson, Engineer. “Thanks to the cooperation and preparedness of our construction partners, we are pleased to be working on schedule and still on task for a winter 2012 completion.”

Cary purchased the property at 122 E. Chatham Street over the summer with the intension of renovating and repurposing it as an intimate cultural venue perfect for movies, music, comedy, and theater on the smaller side. While the 65 year-old building was the former site of the Town’s first indoor movie theater, it has also operated as a clothing store, auto parts store and recording studio.

To follow the renovation, search “Downtown Theater” at http://www.townofcary.org/ or call (919) 380-4204; for more information on Cary’s plan for downtown, search “Downtown Development” at http://www.townofcary.org/ or call (919) 462-3870.

Forbes Names Cary NC one of the Top 25 Retirement Communities

2011-10-13T10:31:00.000-04:00

Forbes Magazine has named Cary one of the top retirement communities in the Nation!

But we already knew that.

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/eeik45egge/cary-north-carolina

Thank You Cary Voters!

2011-10-13T10:22:00.000-04:00

Thank you Cary voters for your faith and trust in me to continue to serve as your District B Representative on the Cary Town Council! This victory wouldn’t have been possible without your support and encouragement; especially that of my amazing wife, Lisa and family.

It has truly been my honor and privilege to serve as your voice in town government.

Four years ago you elected me to give citizens a greater voice in your government. You sought leadership that was in touch with our community and better understood our concerns. You wanted representation that was swift, courteous and most importantly, effective.

You were concerned Cary was growing too fast and that your quality of life was declining; that Cary was losing sight of some of the things that made our town such a wonderful place to live, work and raise a family. You were worried about the town’s finances and increasing debt, and the council’s lack of focus in Cary’s older communities.

Despite these challenges, together we have worked to address a number of community concerns. We have made great progress in Cary over the last four years, but we still have work to do.

During my second term I pledge to continue to work to make growth a benefit to our community, not a burden; to balance the rights of folks to develop their property while protecting the rights of communities from the negative effects of development. Great things happen when all stakeholders are involved in the process. Under my leadership Cary has managed a sustainable growth rate of 3-4%.

I promise to continue to practice fiscal restraint and budget responsibly; to make Cary a friendlier place to do business; and I will continue to fight to ensure that all areas of Cary receive their fair share of town investments.

Most importantly, I will continue to listen. My door is always open. If I can be of any assistance to you, please don’t hesitate to contact me. You can reach me at don.frantz@townofcary.org or 919-612-6870.

Thanks again for your support and I look forward to continuing to serve you as your District B Cary Town Councilman. Together we are making a difference!

In your service,

Don Frantz
Cary Town Council
District B

Week in Review - 9/12/11 - 9/17/11

2011-09-17T22:08:00.001-04:00

What a busy but great week!

Monday began with a meeting with our Town Manager, Ben Shivar. We discussed a number of topics including a recently discovered leak at major water supply line near Highway 55 and Jenks Road. Crews have taken this supply line out of service and are re-routing water through another line while repairs are made. You can read the full press release from the town here. Repairs should be complete mid-October.

Afterwards I attended Cary’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Advisory board meeting. We heard a wonderful presentation from the folks out at the Western Wake Farmer’s Market in Cary about their desire to locate in the future A. M. Howard Agricultural Park. I really like the concept and this is a good time to be having this discussion since we are currently updating the town’s master plan.

The WWFM not only provides citizens access to quality, locally grown produce – they also conduct a wide array of demonstrations to better educate folks about healthier living. Unfortunately the market loses their lease at their current location next year, so I hope we can work something out sooner than later.

Council held a worksession on Tuesday evening to discuss whether or not to begin charging multifamily development (apartments and condos) impact fees to pay for parks like we do for single family development.

This is an equity issue. You can’t charge one group of residents without charging the other.

The council unanimously voted to begin charging multi-family development the fees.

Wednesday was the Cary Community Candidates Forum taping at town hall. This was a lot of fun. The District B tapings (my race) was first and I stayed to watch the other three. You can catch all of the forums on Cary TV Channel 11 every day from now until the election, or you can watch them online here. I encourage everyone to watch and judge for yourselves who is best prepared to lead Cary forward for the next four years. I already know who I’m voting for. ;-)

Cary’s Planning and Development Committee meeting was relatively light with only two agenda items; amending the Town’s sign ordinance to further prohibit the placement of signs in the town right of way, and consideration of whether or not to waive the one year waiting period for a rezoning near the Waycroft subdivision in North West Cary.

Cary already prohibits the placement of signage in right-of-ways on roads located in and maintained by the town. The state however passed legislation a couple of months ago allowing political signage on state right-of-ways. In Cary that would be roads like Highways 54 and 55, and portions of Kildaire Farm and Maynard Road. This ordinance amendment clarifies that Cary is still allowed enforce its regulations on roads in and maintained by Cary. It passed unanimously.

After hearing from a number of concerned citizens in the Waycroft subdivision regarding the proposed Carpenter rezoning, we unanimously recommended denial of the applicants request for waiver and encouraged them to continue to work to better address resident’s concerns, and come back when more progress had been made.

Friday I had the privilege of participating in the Cary High School Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies. This is always so much fun and I enjoy watching the emotions of the award recipients and their families – and listening to all their stories. One of this year’s inductees, Gary Nobles called it “one of the five greatest days of his life.” I believe it. Cary High School is such a big part of so many people’s lives and for many, a second family. Once an IMP, always an IMP. Congratulations to all the inductees for your recognition and for your accomplishments both on and off the field.

The only thing that could have made the day any better was a win over the Bengals. Unfortunately Cary lost 19-8.

That's about it for now. As always, thanks for reading!

Week in Review and Hurricane Irene

2011-08-26T15:16:00.000-04:00

You know life is busy when the nice lady at the Wendy’s drive-thru says, “good to see you again, Don”.

With work, my council responsibilities and a reelection campaign to run, I haven’t had dinner with the family in a week. I can’t thank Lisa and the kids enough for their unwavering support.

Council held a worksession on Tuesday to review and discuss a number of items to include:

• The Western Wake Water Reclamation Facility (WWWRF)

• Aerating a section of Jordan Lake to improve water quality

• Telecommunications Facilities Ordinance Amendments

• Board and Commission Appointments.

Cary has secured all necessary permits and construction will begin on the WWWRF on September 1st. Construction is expected to take three years to complete.

Council also discussed the concept of aerating a portion of Jordan Lake to better improve water quality near Cary’s water intake. The theory is that by improving water quality BEFORE the water goes into the treatment plant, we will reduce the amount of energy and chemical treatment required to treat the water; thus saving Cary water customers money while at the same time improving the environment in and around Jordan Lake. Council approved the concept, but asked for a cost/benefit analysis prior to moving forward.

The council also reviewed proposed amendments to Cary’s telecommunications ordinance that will better incent stealth tower design and installation. This includes reduced set-back and buffer requirements for stealth facilities. The goal is to make it easier and more cost effective to obtain approval for stealth towers than it will be to go through the process for non-stealth towers. Cell companies aren’t stupid (the folks in customer support are a different story, but I digress…). They will choose the past of least resistance that still meets their needs.

I am optimistic these amendments will not only improve the visual landscape in Cary, but will also help cell providers better meet their customer’s needs.

Board and commission appointments were pretty straight forward with no surprises. I serve as the liaison to the Town Center Review Commission (TCRC) and the Parks Recreation and Cultural Resources Advisory Board (PRCR). PRCR Chair, Denny Hoadley and I interviewed a few candidates prior to making our recommendations.

Our council meeting was pretty uneventful with the only notable topics being a public hearing for proposed Land Development Ordinance (LDO) Amendments, Thomas Brooks Park Site Plan Revisions, and a request by councilmember Robison to direct staff to investigate the possibility of working with Wake County and Apex to complete the missing segment of the White Oak Greenway.

I also met with a number of land owners in west Cary to discuss an upcoming rezoning and hear their concerns and suggestions. I am optimistic a compromise can be reached that all parties can be satisfied with.

It’s that time again! Cary Council campaigns are heating up and my reelection campaign is full speed ahead! I attended a number of political events and meet-n-greets over the last two weeks to hear from folks in the community; and to talk about my work on the council and my vision for Cary over the next four years. It has truly been an honor and privilege to serve you on the council and I hope that through my efforts, I have earned your trust and support for a second term. We’ve made a lot of progress over the last four years, but we still have work to do.

For the safety of our citizens, vendors and artists, Cary decided to cancel this year’s Lazy Daze Festival due to Hurricane Irene. It is the first time the event has been cancelled in its 35 year history. While unfortunate, we cannot take chances when the safety of our citizens is at stake.

The town has spent the last week preparing for Hurricane Irene by cleaning culverts, clearing vegetation away from power lines, test running generators and equipment, and making sure we have shelters ready for those in need. Should you experience a non-life threatening emergency, please do not call 911, and instead call the Cary Police non-emergency line at 919-469-4090. Let’s keep 911 available for those who need immediate assistance.

Be smart and stay safe. Possessions can be replaced – your life cannot.

Lazy Daze Cancelled Due To Hurricane Irene

2011-08-26T08:24:00.000-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 25, 2011

For the Safety of Everyone Involved, Cary Cancels Saturday's Lazy Daze Arts & Crafts Festival

Event will not be rescheduled for later this year

CARY, NC – After consulting with local, state, and federal forecasters and emergency management officials, the Town of Cary has cancelled Saturday’s Lazy Daze Arts & Crafts Festival because of the significant potential for unsafe conditions due to high winds from Hurricane Irene. This is the first time the event has been canceled in what would have been its 35-year history.

“Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our artists, entertainers, guests, volunteers, and workers,” said Town of Cary Festivals Coordinator Joy Ennis, who recalled the August 13th weather-related collapse at the Indiana State Fair that killed seven an injured 40 people. “For over three decades, we’ve built a reputation for providing one of the most wonderful festival experiences in the nation, and with our not being able to meet that standard this year, we’re really left with no other choice but to wait until Lazy Daze 2012.”

Ennis pointed out that, for several reasons, the festival could not be postponed to Sunday or moved to another date entirely. “First, we set up the festival one day before, so with the Hurricane’s effects being here on Saturday, there would be no way to prepare for a Sunday festival. And, if we do sustain damage in Cary, we’ll know that on Sunday, and our first priority will have to be to help our community recover from the storm. As for picking another day later this fall, most of our artists, venders, and entertainers are already committed to other events, so we wouldn’t be able to get them here on what for them would be such late notice.”

Next year’s Lazy Daze is scheduled for Saturday, August 25, 2012. But if you can’t wait for good art until then, mark your calendars now for Cary’s Annual Spring Daze Arts & Crafts Festival, which will be held on April 28, 2012.

For information about Cary’s arts festivals, search “Festivals” at http://www.townofcary.org/.

###

PRIMARY CONTACTS:

Joy Ennis, Festivals Coordinator, (919) 462-3864

Lyman Collins, Cultural Arts Manager, (919) 462-3861

Deanna Boone, Deputy Public Information Officer, (919) 462-3908

Susan Moran, Public Information Director, (919) 380-4240

Smells Like Town Spirit!

2011-08-03T11:44:00.000-04:00

Cary Residents Invited to Nominate the Person With the Most Hometown Spirit in Cary

CARY, NC – The Town of Cary is looking for the most community-minded of all to receive the Town’s Hometown Spirit Award, an annual award that recognizes a citizen who enhances the quality of life in Cary by preserving, promoting and carrying out positive and quantifiable small town community values and traits. Cary citizens can submit nominations now through 5 p.m. on September 9, 2011 using an official nomination form available at www.townofcary.org. Nominations should be submitted to Town Clerk Sue Rowland by email at sue.rowland@townofcary.org, by fax at (919) 460-4910 or by mail to Town Clerk, Town of Cary, P.O. Box 8005, Cary, NC 27512-8005.

“The Town Council decided long ago that no matter how large Cary’s population grew, the community would always be called a town, not a city, to reinforce our small town heritage and values. This award is the perfect opportunity to recognize outstanding Cary residents for the role they play in helping keep Cary’s small town charm thriving,” said Town Clerk Sue Rowland.

Cary residents ages 21 and older are eligible for the award. Nominees should demonstrate leadership and integrity and be respected by peers. In addition, nominees should exemplify at least one of the following criteria: helps out neighbors and fellow Cary residents; demonstrates hospitality; promotes and preserves traditional American past-times; shows a concern for preservation and works to preserve traditions and the small-town atmosphere in the community; promotes entrepreneurship through supporting locally owned business; promotes a sense of community in their neighborhood and all of Cary; demonstrates patriotism through promotion and preservation of the country's symbols and dedication to the U.S. military, past and present; and serves the community through business.

The Town Council will recognize all nominees at a reception from 5-6:15 p.m. on November 17, 2011 in the lobby of Cary Town Hall. Immediately following the reception, the mayor and the 2010 Hometown Spirit Award winner, Kay Struffolino, will announce the 2011 winner at 6:30 p.m. at the Town Council meeting.

For more, search “Hometown Spirit Award” at http://www.townofcary.org/ or call (919) 460-4941.

(apologies for the blog title - that's as creative as I can be at the moment) ;-)

Council Update - 7/14/11 - 7/22/11

2011-07-23T20:12:00.000-04:00

Our July council meeting agenda was light. Notable discussion items included the Walnut Street sidewalk project and consideration of a request by Councilmember Adcock and I regarding traffic concerns in the Wellington Park and surrounding areas.

Due to concerns regarding impact to property, the Council directed town staff to amend the proposed Walnut Street sidewalk project from five feet wide to four back in March. Since a portion of Walnut St. is a state road this required NCDOT review and approval. NCDOT unfortunately denied the town’s request for a four foot wide sidewalk along Walnut St. from Walker St. to Ralph Dr. as this portion of Walnut is state maintained, and therefore must meet state standards. The section of Walnut from Walker to Kildaire Farm Rd. however, is town maintained and not subject to state requirements. The council voted to make this section of sidewalk four foot wide where necessary to mitigate the impact to sensitive properties; many of which were constructed 50 years or more ago, with no thought of sidewalks in mind, and who have already lost much of their front yards when Walnut St. was widened years ago. They simply don’t have much front yard left.

After a brief discussion the council supported Councilor Adcock’s and my request to direct staff to direct town staff to investigate traffic concerns in the Wellington Park and surrounding areas and bring back to council a summary of available options and associated costs for consideration.

The council has been hearing about traffic concerns from folks in the Wellington Park community for years. Whenever new development is proposed nearby they protest it because they know that any development – regardless of type of use – will make existing traffic issues worse; and they are right. It is long past time that we investigate these concerns and see what, if anything we can do to help.

Council held a worksession this past Tuesday to review and discuss the proposed 2011-2012 Downtown Work Plan. Goals of the plan include:

• Finish Town Site Acquisition (downtown park site – we have acquired 70% of the property to date)

• Theater Restoration

• Chatham St. Public Parking Lot

• Chatham St. Improvements (incl. level and repair sidewalks, curb, gutter and stormwater improvements)

• Downtown Entries

• Better Support Existing Downtown Businesses

• Academy Street Improvements

• Wayfinding Installation

• New Development

• Recruitment and Marketing

To better incent new development and investment downtown, the council also agreed to eliminate impact fees, parking requirements and streetscape improvements downtown for the next three years. Not only will this help offset some costs associated with redevelopment, but it also sends a message to the development and business community that we are serious about our efforts downtown and that we are open for business. While the town does have a role downtown, the private sector is who will ultimately decide downtown Cary’s future. The town can’t do everything alone and nor should we.

After three years on the council I finally feel like we are moving forward. We have gone from being a town that talks downtown, to a town that’s doing downtown. One of the reasons I ran for council was my frustrations regarding inaction downtown. We planned, planned and then planned again but we never did anything. Well now we are and I can’t help but feel proud to be part of the reason why. Much of what we are doing isn’t anything new, and some of the initiatives we are working on now others indentified years ago. What didn’t exist however was the political will to act on them. We didn’t have a council majority that believed in the vision for downtown. Now we do, and it shows.

This past Thursday and Friday I had the pleasure of attending the Cary Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Planning Conference in Southern Pines. Agenda items included:

• Presentation on current economic conditions and political environment

• Business Development

• Wake County Update

• Downtown Cary

• Transportation

• Education

I was a panelist during the downtown discussion (surprised huh? ;-) Friday morning’s agenda included a meet the candidates forum and Q+A. Councilor Gale Adcock, Mayor Harold Weinbrecht, Michelle Muir, Zeke Bridges and I participated. While other candidates are expected to announce, none have done so as of yet. Monday is the first day of filing so we’ll find out soon enough!

Saturday was CaryCitizen’s annual Cary Scavenger Hunt. This was a blast! Our shop was one of the clues so we got to see most of the teams in action. Afterwards I headed over to the Cary Arts Center to watch the judging and awards presentation. The event was a huge success with the only complaint being the 102 degree heat. Thank goodness for the air conditioned Arts Center lobby! Congrats to everyone at CaryCitizen and thank you for everything you do to support Cary. Ya’ll are awesome!

That’s about it for now. As always, thanks for reading!

Campaign Announcement - Press Release

2011-07-18T08:20:00.000-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Don Frantz (919) 612-6870

Don Frantz Announces Run for Re-Election to Cary Town Council

CARY, N.C., -- July 13, 2011 – Cary Town Councilman and Businessman Don Frantz announced his run for re-election to the Cary Town Council today.

“It has been an honor to serve Cary citizens on the council. Together we have accomplished a lot in four years, but we still have work to do. I hope that through my efforts I have earned your trust and support for a second term.” Frantz said.

During his service on the council, Frantz has been a strong advocate for fiscal responsibility, economic development and environmental protection, while serving as a voice for small business and “old Cary”.

“I have worked hard to provide the high levels of service that our citizens demand at the lowest possible cost to the taxpayer, and to create an environment that encourages business growth and creates jobs.” Frantz said.

Frantz also highlights his efforts to increase government transparency and accountability. “Through my blog and social media I have kept citizens informed of what it is I am working on as a member of the council and how I vote.” Frantz said. “We may not always agree, but folks will always know where I stand.”

Don Frantz, 40, was elected to the Cary Town Council in 2007 and also serves as the council liaison to the Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Resources Advisory Board and the Town Center Review Commission. Don is also a member of the North Carolina Chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Leadership Council, is a past President of the Heart of Cary Association, and represented Cary on Wake County’s Growth Issues Task Force. Don has lived in Cary since 1991. It is in Cary that Don married his wife Lisa and where they decided to raise their six children as well as start their small business, Frantz Automotive Center. Don and Lisa Frantz were the recipients of the Cary Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business of the Year Award in 2008 and were recognized as one of the Top 100 North Carolina Small Businesses in 2010 by Business Leader Magazine. For more information about Don’s re-election campaign, please visit http://www.frantzforcary.com/.

Tryon Place

2011-07-02T12:37:00.000-04:00

This is going to be a long post, but I have a lot to say. I apologize in advance.

I am sure a number of you have heard about Tryon Place – a three story 206 unit luxury apartment complex proposed at the corner of Cary Parkway and Tryon Road. A number of residents have opposed the project.

For the project to move forward, the council must vote to rezone the property from commercial to residential. Section 3.4.1(E) of Cary’s Land Development Ordinance sets forth the following criteria that should be considered in reviewing rezonings:

1. The proposed rezoning corrects an error or meets the challenge of some changing condition, trend or fact;

2. The proposed rezoning is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan set forth in Section 1.3 (LDO);

3. The Town and other service providers will be able to provide sufficient public safety, educational, recreational, transportation and utility facilities and services to the subject property while maintaining sufficient levels of service to existing development;

4. The proposed rezoning is unlikely to have significant adverse impacts on the natural environment, including air, water, noise, stormwater management, wildlife and vegetation;

5. The proposed rezoning will not have significant adverse impacts on property in the vicinity of the subject tract;

6. The proposed zoning classification is suitable for the subject property.

In simpler terms, the proposed use must do no more harm than that which could be developed under current zoning. However, that doesn’t mean that we’re going to automatically approve something just because it isn’t any worse than what could be built today. A lot of time, money and careful consideration went into crafting Cary’s land use plans and they have served our community well. We’re not just going to throw all that away. But we must also recognize that development patterns and market demands do change.

Applicants must provide compelling reasons and offer clear, tangible benefits to our community before I or any other councilmember will consider granting a change in land use. There is greater leverage during a rezoning process as proposals are held to a higher standard.

After careful consideration the rezoning was approved with conditions at our council meeting by a vote of 4-3. I voted for the project for the following reasons.

Traffic: The proposed apartment complex of 206 units will generate significantly less traffic than that of a commercial project at the same location. The traffic impact analysis reports 1,370 average daily trips for Tryon Place. Commercial development however, could generate anywhere from 2800 to over 11,000 average daily trips depending on what type of commercial get’s built. For example: a gas station with 10 pumps would generate 5400 trips.

But not being one to believe that everything presented to me is fact, I decided to do my own traffic study. I staked out the parking lots of the Amberwood apartment complex and the Wellington shopping center for 15 minutes each on a Friday afternoon from 5:00 – 5:40. I counted vehicles coming in one entrance only. I counted 157 at Wellington and 13 at Amberwood. Based on my observations, I believe the traffic studies to be accurate.

I don’t believe there is any question that commercial development generates significantly more weekend traffic than residential.

Increased Environmental Protection: Tryon Place will provide for reduced impervious surfaces, increased buffer protections, better stormwater management practices, and greater open space preservation than a commercial project.

• 61% of the total site will be preserved as open space.

• Over 2 BUILDABLE acres will be forever preserved as open space.

• Tryon Place will be a Green Certified development

• Nearly 50% of parking will be located under the buildings.

• A 200 foot buffer between the adjoining residents in Lochmere Village vs. 65 feet required of commercial.

The proposed development promotes sustainability by adding a much needed residential component to the existing activity center. Many existing businesses in the Wellington shopping center lack the traffic needed to support and grow their businesses, which leads to high turnover and vacancy rates. Adding more commercial across the street will only exacerbate this. Adding residential however, promotes walkable, pedestrian friendly development and better supports existing businesses.

The majority of adjoining residents – those most impacted by this project - support the proposal vs. the commercial alternative. To me, their opinion carries more weight than those who do not live adjacent to the site. They are the ones who will see it every time they look out their kitchen or bedroom windows. They are the ones who will be subject to the noise, lights and smells of commercial development on a daily basis.

The area is already saturated with commercial, and with Waverly set to reopen soon it’s only going to get worse.

The proposed development provides for no vehicle drive access between the buildings and adjoining residents as you would most likely see with commercial development – resulting in improved aesthetics and no early morning trash trucks or late night tractor trailer deliveries.

Those are many of the reasons why I support Tryon Place. While not perfect, it is better than what could be built today.

I in no way want to discount anyone's opinion or position on this issue. I listened to each and every one of you - both for and against - before making my decision and I heard a number of reasons why I should support or oppose this project and I respect all of them - I really do. Most everyone I spoke with was polite, professional and respectful.

I must however address some of the misinformation that has been disseminated to the public by a couple members of the opposition via email or their website.

The opposition has intentionally misled the public by choosing only to present data from those years which support their claims, by mixing staff approvals (already zoned and meets our codes)with council approvals (rezonings), and blaming this council for prior council decisions. The simple truth is that this council (we took office Dec. 2007) has approved fewer apartments than any council before us. How many exactly? 3 including Tryon Place. In fact, we have made the approval process more difficult for developers by requiring that both they and town staff participate in a community workshop with area residents and hold an additional public hearing at the Planning and Zoning Board meeting prior to council consideration – not to mention that we know the word “no” and aren’t afraid to say it.

Their website claims we approved 1690 apartment units in 2008. This is false. This council approved ZERO apartments in 2008. Their website claims we approved 815 units in 2009. This is also false. We approved ZERO apartments in 2009. Comments such as “…there seems to be a fast track approval process for apartments”, and “the council is out of control” have no merit whatsoever and only work to destroy one's credibility and the process.

It is fair to say that apartment aprovals were trending up in 2006 and 2007. This council however, is reducing that trend.

Other claims include:

“40% of all apartments in Cary have been built or approved in the last ten years” That statement, while true is very misleading. It ignores the fact that 40% of EVERYTHING in Cary has been approved or built in the last ten years. But including that information would not help their cause, so they leave that part out. Cary grew 100% every decade until 2000, and has grown 40% since. In 1970 the ratio of single family homes to multi-family in Cary was 75%-25%. Today that ratio remains 75%-25%.

“The applicant didn’t listen to us”. This is also false. The applicant worked with those area residents who chose to participate in the process, resulting in a number of concessions (see above) from the developer. When originally proposed, this project was 4 stories and 256 units. In an effort to respond to community concerns regarding building height and density, the applicant reduced building heights to 3 stories and capped the number of units at 206 – even though they really didn’t need to do this in order to avoid a valid protest petition (which would have required 6 of 7 votes to pass instead of 4). The majority of border residents – again, those most impacted by this proposal - actually supported the project at 256 units vs. the commercial alternative. You can’t say, “There is nothing the developer can do to make me consider apartments” and then complain he won’t work with you.

“The applicant is using scare tactics and threatening residents with a tire store should his project not be approved.” This claim was taken very seriously by council. Councilmember Erv Portman personally spoke to all but one border resident about this. They all stated that the claims of intimidating behavior were false and without merit. In fact, Councilman Portman reported that all had positive comments about the applicant, and were surprised anyone would make such an accusation. A number of border residents have also spoken in support of this project at public hearings.

But the reality is that if this project were denied, then yes, the property would most likely develop as commercial. Allowable uses under commercial zoning include fast food restaurants, drug stores, a hotel, gas station/convenience store, car wash, and yes, a tire store. It would never come before council and would be approved at staff level.

“Town Staff have been unresponsive to questions.” Totally false. Town staff have spent countless hours providing detailed answers and data to residents who requested it, to include additional research and the creation of documents and spreadsheets outside the scope of their duties. Just because you don’t get the answer you were looking for doesn’t mean you didn’t get a response. The council and staff have received over 150 emails from one individual alone. There are only so many times you can answer the same question.

The opposition complains that we even considered a change to the town’s land use plan - but ignores the fact that their neighborhood and homes could not have been built had a previous council not approved a change to the land use plan.

The opposition has on numerous occasions stated that they would support a medium density project instead of high density. Yet in 2006, when a medium density project was actually proposed, they opposed that project as well. The simple truth is that some don’t want to see anything built there, period. They know the site doesn’t lend itself well to commercial, and that if they continue to oppose residential development it will remain trees.

I fully understand that there are those who want to see nothing built here. What I don’t understand is the preference for more commercial, nor have I heard anyone make a compelling case for it. Tell me why we need another strip mall here. We seriously want another drug store? Heck, the majority of council that was elected in 2007 was elected to stop putting drug stores on every corner. What benefit does more commercial bring to the already struggling businesses and vacant stores across the street?

Upscale apartment development provides additional housing options for young professionals, new families and senior living. When I moved to Cary in 1990 I rented an apartment for a year until I found a home. I am forever thankful it was there as I might not have settled in Cary. There is no data that suggests that this development will increase area crime or decrease property values any more or less than a commercial project might. I cannot make a decision based simply on the fear of “apartment dwellers”.

I believe that given the choices before me, I made the better decision for Cary’s future. I understand there are those who do not agree and that is fine. I have never made a decision based on political consequences and I’m not going to start now. It’s actually pretty easy to make a decision when you know what your values are.

May Update

2011-05-30T16:49:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven’t posted in a few weeks. Life has been very busy – and that’s a good thing.

I want to wish everyone a very happy Memorial Day. One can’t turn on the television or read the news without being reminded of how precious and rare the freedoms we enjoy really are. As you enjoy this weekend with family and friends, please take time to remember those patriots who paid the ultimate price so that you and I can live free. Freedom exists as long as there are those willing to stand together and fight for it.

I had the honor and privilege of attending the Town of Cary Firefighters Awards and Promotions Ceremony last week. I cannot begin to express my appreciation and support for all of our brave men and women in uniform for everything they do to help make Cary one of the safest communities in the nation to live. A number of awards were presented and I couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride listening to the stories behind the awards. Each response being recognized had a specific fire call designation number (Fire Call #2546 for example) yet not one of the awards was actually given to anyone responding to a fire. Every award recognized exemplary service in response to an accident, trauma or heart attack victim. Our firefighters are most often our first responders, and they respond to all life threatening medical emergencies. Congratulations to everyone recognized and thank you for your service to our community.

Council has held two budget worksessions and appears to have settled on the FY2012 budget. There will be a public hearing on June 16 prior to council decision on June 30. Some highlights include:

• Total Budget is about $222 Million – This is a 36% Decrease from the previous year.

• 27 new positions – includes 15 Firefighters and 10 Police Officers.

• $8 Million allocated for downtown initiatives/infrastructure

• $3.7 Million for WakeMed Soccer Park – the majority of which will be reimbursed to Cary via the interlocal hotel/meals tax revenue.

• No tax increase. Cary continues to have the lowest tax rate in the county

• A 5.9% increase in utility rates to help cover the costs associated with the state mandated Western Wake Regional Wastewater Management Facility and other utility system upgrades and maintenance.

• $2 Million for street and greenway repaving

You can view the proposed budget here: http://budget.townofcary.org/budget/fy2012/budgetfy12proposed.htm and feel free to email the council with any comments at council@townofcary.org .

Our council meeting was relatively short, with the notable decision item being the Town’s new redistricting map. The new plan was presented for public hearing at our May 12 meeting. No one spoke at the public hearing, and the council unanimously approved the new plan. I gotta pat us on the backs on this one; I am very proud of the council and how well we worked together on an issue that typically becomes a heated, partisan battle. We set clear criteria with predetermined goals, stuck to them and got the job done with no conflict.

Councilmember Portman was absent from the council meeting as he was attending a democrat party meeting where he was selected to replace resigning Wake County Commissioner, Stan Norwalk. Now I gotta admit it – if ya told me two years ago I would be a sad to Erv leave the council I might have laughed at you. But I am honestly a “little” disappointed to see him go ;-). Erv and I have worked well together over the last couple of years – especially on budget/development related items. As business owners, we share a number of real world experiences and try to bring our knowledge and talents to work for the town. I wish Erv the best on the County Commission. Cary’s loss is the county’s gain. I hope that he can remain on the council until July 1 (that start of our fiscal year) so that he can see our budget process through. It wouldn’t make much sense for him to go to the county commission and be expected to vote on a budget he is not familiar with.

I believe the council should and will fill this vacancy as soon as possible. Cary citizens deserve adequate representation. To leave the seat open demonstrates a lack of leadership, as evidenced by Morrisville’s decision to not fill the seat vacated by newly elected State Representative, Tom Murry. We are better than that.

Harold and I taped the June episode of CaryMatters this past week. The main topic is Cary’s FY2012 budget. You can watch CaryMatters, as well as other town meetings here.

I also had the pleasure of attending graduation ceremonies for Cary’s School of Government. This was a lot of fun as the topic for the last class was downtown – one of my favorite topics. The speaker for the evening was Cary’s Downtown Development Manager, Ed Gawf. Congratulations to all the graduates and thank you so much for caring enough to become more involved in your government! Our community is what we make of it – the more who get involved, the more our community reflects our desires. While there are a number of reasons that our community is one of the greatest places to live in America, none is greater than the citizens who live here, and give so much back to our town.

Another item I am sure a number of you have heard about is the proposed apartment complex at the corner of Tryon and Cary Parkway. I will speak more about this project later, but in the meantime I wanted to provide you with a couple of links so that you can learn more about the proposal.

Click here to be directed to the site opposing the project.

Click here to be directed to the project’s website.

That’s all for now. As always, thanks for reading!

We Want YOU!

2011-05-03T10:29:00.000-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 2, 2011

Apply Now to Serve on Cary's Boards and Commissions

Community-minded citizens are encouraged to apply for one of 26 upcoming vacancies on the Town council’s nine advisory boards and commissions. Use your talents and take an active interest in your community on one of the following: Economic Development Commission; Environmental Advisory Board; Information Services Advisory Board; Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Advisory Board; Planning and Zoning Board; Public Art Advisory Board; Town Center Review Commission; Zoning Board of Adjustment; and Citizen Issue Review Commission (for Cary’s School of Government graduates, only). Selected applicants will serve for three years starting in October, except where unexpired terms are being filled, and advise the Town Council on their board/commission’s cause. Applications can be found at http://www.townofcary.org/ and will be accepted until 5 p.m. on June 30, 2011. Learn more at “Boards and Commissions” at http://www.townofcary.org/ or call (919) 319-4508.

###

PRIMARY CONTACTS:

Karen Gray, Deputy Town Clerk, (919) 319-4508

Deanna Boone, Deputy Public Information Officer, (919) 462-3908

Susan Moran, Public Information Director, (919) 380-4240

Redistricting Update

2011-04-29T11:20:00.000-04:00

Council held another redistricting worksession last night prior to our council meeting. After a brief discussion the council unanimously approved moving forward with the following redistricting proposal. Note - Precinct 05-05 currently shown in District A was moved to District B. Only 5 people live in 05-05. It made no sense to leave this in District A and continue to have District A span from Chatham County to the Airport.

The council will now hold a public hearing to solicit citizen input prior to making our final decision. For comparrison, here is the current map:

Please feel free to email the council at council@townofcary.org with any comments or questions regarding the proposed district map.

Week in Review 4/11/11 - 4/16/11

2011-04-18T13:33:00.001-04:00

Saturday’s storms were the most violent I have seen since Hurricane Fran tore through North Carolina in 1996. Twenty two people are confirmed dead and hundreds are homeless. Businesses have been damaged or destroyed, and their employees now find themselves indefinitely unemployed. We can help. Please consider making a monetary donation or volunteer your time with the American Red Cross or Samaritan’s Purse to aid in relief efforts, or check with your church or area civic groups to see what you can do to help. You can also find more information on how to help here. Together we can make a difference and help North Carolina recover from this tragic event.

I had the privilege of participating in the Raleigh Regional Association of Realtors Leadership Academy this week along with Wake County School Board Member Deborah Prickett and Raleigh City Councilor Mary-Ann Baldwin. We were “guest panelists” for a session on Governmental Relations and Political Affairs. We spoke mainly about our call to leadership (why did we run for office?), our roles in our positions and what a typical day is like for each of us.

On Thursday the council held a worksession prior to our council meeting to discuss “sustainable site design guidelines”. Our town staff has been working to update Cary’s design guidelines in an effort to encourage development that creates more walkable, pedestrian friendly communities and better protects our environment through greater open space preservation.

Staff presented recommendations to council for consideration and feedback. My thoughts were that while I “liked what I saw”, I wanted to know more about the costs associated with these recommendations. Any time you create a new rule or regulation you add cost to a project, and we need to be sure that we aren’t imposing unrealistic burdens on small business owners in Cary. Sometimes blanket “one size fits all” ordinances don’t fit and might not work in a particular case. We need to ensure that there is flexibility so that when this happens – and it will – that we can resolve the issue in a timely manner.

Following the worksession was our council meeting. Notable discussion topics included the Pamlico Drive flood minimization and stream restoration project and associated greenway connection and sidewalk, and the Swift Creek Parallel Forced Main Project.

While residents in the Pamlico Drive area are eager for flood relief, they expressed concerns regarding the proposed greenway improvements – especially the greenway stub to their neighborhood and sidewalk. The council unanimously voted to remove the greenway connection and sidewalk from the project.

The council ultimately postponed a decision on the Swift Creek forced main project for two weeks to give our town staff time to resolve issues raised by property owners most impacted along Holly Springs Road.

The council also unanimously approved a quitclaim deed to relinquish property purchased from yours truly. I asked that I be recused from voting on this matter as it directly pertains to my property. You can read a detailed explanation on this item here.

I had a number of meetings this week including a meeting with Councilwoman Gale Adcock to discuss a number of items, as well as a budget preview meeting with our Town Manager and Budget Director.

On Saturday I had the honor of welcoming folks to this year’s Basant Bahar held at Athens Drive High School. Basant Bahar is the Indian celebration of spring and includes a number of beautiful dance and music performances. Unfortunately this year’s event was delayed due to severe weather and loss of power. Nonetheless the event was still a huge success and well attended. Thanks to everyone at HumSub for all your hard work and for your ongoing partnership with the town. Your involvement in our community is tremendous and we are all better for it.

Making Wrong Right

2011-04-08T10:39:00.000-04:00

I recently learned that I made a mistake that I must take responsibility for.

The downtown streetscape project was approved as a component of the town’s budget in 2008 by a vote of 6-1. I voted for it. After the project was approved, the town began to acquire the necessary easements and right-of-way to implement the project, up until the project was ultimately postponed by council in 2009 to reduce spending to cope with the economic recession. The vote to delay the streetscape project passed unanimously.

From the time the project was approved until the time it was delayed, the town had acquired right-of-way and easements from over 90 different properties. Ours was one of them. The town purchased a small portion of our business property frontage for $14,550. Land prices paid to all landowners ranged from $100 - $102,000 depending on the size and value of the property acquired.

We have since discovered that NCGS 14-234 prohibits the town’s purchase of our property outright given my position on the council. The town should have instead performed what is referred to as a “friendly condemnation”. The town would have still acquired a portion of our property and we would still have been compensated for it.

It’s not THAT the town acquired a portion of our property, its HOW the town acquired it that is the problem. It is a process issue. Neither I nor the town was aware of this.

To correct this mistake, I have already paid back the entire $14,550 to the town and our property will be deeded back to us. If in the future the town finds itself in a position to move forward with the streetscape project, we will proceed with the condemnation process at that time (which unfortunately is a more expensive process than a simple purchase).

I apologize for this mistake and take full responsibility for what happened, yet I take great pride in the fact that I was treated no differently than any other land owner downtown.

I had spoken with Cary’s legal department shortly after joining the council regarding voting on matters pertaining to downtown projects and initiatives. I was told that being a downtown business owner did not prohibit me from voting on matters concerning downtown, and that state law actually requires me to vote barring a legal conflict. It’s not much different than Mayor Weinbrecht or Councilwoman Adcock voting on matters pertaining to their employer, SAS.

My support for downtown Cary is no secret. Heck, it was a large part of my campaign platform when I ran for council and has remained a priority during my service on the council. I have championed a number of downtown initiatives including the Cary Arts Center, the streetscape project and Cary’s new Downtown Manager. I have worked with residents, business owners and Cary PD to reduce crime in our downtown neighborhoods; as well as our zoning enforcement department to address minimum housing violations and hold absentee landlords accountable.

And during this time I have worked hard to keep citizens informed about my service on the council right here on my blog. I have always been open and honest with you. We may not always agree, but you will always know where I stand. And when I make a mistake I am going to tell you about it and take responsibility for it.

Thank you for your understanding.

Almost There!

2011-04-07T10:28:00.000-04:00

Here are a few photos I took inside the Cary Arts Center yesterday. Construction is progressing along nicely - and within budget! I can't wait until the ribbon cutting!

Main Entrance Lobby

Classroom Space

Another Classroom

Stage

Fly Tower Cable Controls

Looking out from the stage

Week in Review 3/21/11 - 3/27/11

2011-03-27T19:12:00.012-04:00

Council held a worksession on Tuesday to discuss three topics: Quasi-Judicial hearings, redistricting, and the naming of the Cary Community Arts Center.

Council received information and training regarding quasi-judicial hearings from our town attorney and Mr. T.C.Morphis of the Brough Law Firm. A Quasi-judicial hearing is much like that of a legal court proceeding as the council acts as judge and jury. Discussion topics included the responsibility of the Mayor and council, what type of information may be entered into the record (council may only receive factual information – not opinion) and who may give testimony. This session was very valuable as council is seeing more and more special use applications these days for projects such as cell towers and day-cares.

Staff presented a number of options for council to consider regarding redistricting. Cary’s growth over the last ten years has resulted in a significant imbalance in Cary’s council districts. District A (West Cary) for example has nearly 55,000 citizens where District B (Downtown to North Cary) has only 26,000. Council reviewed and discussed a number of options before narrowing our choices to just a few. We will meet again next month to discuss further and finalize Cary’s redistricting plan.

The council asked citizens to suggest a new name for the Cary Community Arts Center and did they ever! 191 different names were submitted in total with some names recommended numerous times. After a healthy discussion the council voted 5-2 to select the name “The Cary Arts Center”. Ya, I know – not very creative, but it works. It calls the center what it is – Cary’s arts center. We call our soccer park a soccer park, USA Baseball is USA Baseball, Cary’s Tennis Center is the Tennis Center and so on. It helps folks better understand what these facilities are, and who they serve. These are not private facilities – they are public.

I had the honor of participating in the national Title 1 Distinguished School Awards ceremony at Kingswood Elementary School in Cary this week. Title 1 schools are defined as those with high percentages of low income students as determined by those enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program. To be considered for recognition – and the $10,000 that comes with the award – a school must demonstrate exceptional student performance for two consecutive years and/or close the achievement gap between student groups.

Only two schools in each state are selected each year by the National Title 1 Association. With over 1800 elementary schools in North Carolina, this is truly an amazing achievement for Kingswood Elementary. Congratulations to Principle Sherry Schliesser, her staff, teachers, parents, the PTA and especially the students for all their hard work and dedication. You have made Cary proud and hopefully will serve as a model for other schools to follow.

Our council meeting this past Thursday consisted of a few notable discussion items.

Northwoods Activity Center Rezoning: After conducting a public hearing, the council voted to approving the rezoning from commercial to high density residential by a vote of 5-2. I supported the request for the following reasons:

· High density residential provides for less vehicle traffic than commercial.

· Over 2 acres of buildable land will be forever preserved as open space.

· Increase buffer protections (the smallest section of buffer being 115 feet – the largest being over 450 feet)

· Area commercial is struggling – area already saturated with commercial.

· Applicant committed to exceeding town requirements for stormwater runoff and treatment. Ordinance requires they mitigate up to a 10 year storm event. The applicant has agreed to mitigate to the 50 year storm event.

· Applicant reduced building heights to address resident’s concerns.

· Residential adjacent to commercial helps to create sustainable, walkable communities.

· Applicant committed to supplement buffer beyond what exists today with evergreens.

· Our Planning and Zoning Board recommended approval by a vote of 6-1.

· Reduced impervious surfaces.

When a developer asks for a rezoning, they must convince the council that the proposed use will benefit the community more so than if the property developed under base zoning. The council has greater leverage during a rezoning process, and developers know they have a higher bar to reach in order to gain council approval. More importantly, they must also get the support of the majority of neighboring residents and property owners.

Should the property be developed under base zoning, it must only meet the requirements of Cary’s land development ordinance. The project is not required to receive council approval. In fact, it would never come before council at all. It would be approved at staff level – without concessions from the developer.

My first choice of use would have been office, but the property owner wasn’t asking for office. They asked for high density residential. Given the reasons above, I believe this change in use with conditions to be more of a benefit to the surrounding community than more commercial. The existing commercial is struggling as the area is already saturated with commercial, and more commercial is coming in the future along the east side of North Harrison. A change to residential will help the existing Northwoods shopping center and businesses.

This particular project was the first to go through Cary’s new community workshop process. The community workshop process was designed to help applicants and citizens work together to craft a project that all stakeholders can support. The process appears to have worked relatively well in that some citizen concerns (such as building height) were addressed. While a handful of residents remained opposed to the rezoning, the majority of the surrounding community appeared to support the change.

The council also approved entering into an interlocal agreement with Chatham County that would prohibit any involuntary annexation by Cary into Chatham County and require Chatham County approval for citizen-initiated annexations. I cannot begin to explain how wonderful it is to finally have a Chatham County Commission who understands the words “regional cooperation”; that we share many of the same issues and concerns that can best be addressed by working together.

Cary also held public hearings regarding land development ordinance amendments pertaining to signs, and Cary’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). Afterwards council held a closed session to discuss a lawsuit and seek legal advice from the town attorney.

On Sunday I had the pleasure of attending a reception at the Matthews House hosted by the Heart of Cary Association to welcome Cary’s new Downtown Manager, Ed Gawf. Ed brings a wealth of experience and a track record of success helping other communities revitalize their downtowns. Needless to say, a lot of folks can’t wait for him to get to work. We have high expectations of Ed, and I am sure he won’t let us down…but no pressure, Ed. ;-)

That's it for now - as always, thanks for reading!

Hostage Situation Update.

2011-03-18T14:51:00.007-04:00

Many of you have been asking for updates regarding the attempted bank robbery and hostage situation that occurred at the Wachovia Bank in West Cary in February. Unfortunately there isn’t much I can tell you as the State Bureau of Investigation has not completed their investigation as of yet.

I would however like to share some information I discovered on my own.

I am sure most of you are aware that one of the hostages, Mr. Lee Everett, has filed a complaint with the Cary Police Department alleging he was mistreated because he is black. The hostage-taker was black. Cary PD detained Mr. Everett until they could verify he was not the suspect.

Mr. Everett’s attorney, Mr. Alan (Al) McSurely sent the following letter to the town.

The name Al McSurely sounded very familiar to me – but I couldn’t place it so I Googled it.

The Duke Lacrosse case.

Mr. McSurely was (maybe still is) the attorney and legal director for the North Carolina NAACP during this fiasco. You can learn more about his efforts during the Duke Lacrosse case here, here, here and here. Please read and come to your own conclusions.

Mr. McSurely also happens to be the agent of organization of NC Fire! Films and Books LLC. - the publishing company created to publish Ms. Crystal Mangum’s (Duke Lacrosse accuser) book titled “Last Dance for Grace”.

Nice.

Mr. McSurely also represented the family of a Mr. Gil Barber in a civil lawsuit against the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department and Deputy Thomas Gordy.

Mr. Barber – after crashing his car – broke into a nearby church and desecrated the property. Deputy Gordy responded to the call and found Mr. Barber inside the church…naked. Mr. Barber attacked Deputy Gordy. During the altercation Mr. Barber was able to gain control of Deputy Gordy’s weapon and shot the Deputy twice before he could regain control of his firearm, shooting and killing Mr. Barber.

Deputy Gordy should have received a commendation. Instead he was sued and called a murderer…by the family and representatives of the man who tried to kill him.

So who did win an award?

I’m sorry I can’t provide any greater details than that above, but at least now you know a little more about the man representing Reverend Lee Everett.

I wonder why the media has failed to report any of this???

On second thought, no I don’t.

Hostage Situation

2011-02-14T15:57:00.003-05:00

I am sure you have heard of the attempted bank robbery and hostage situation that occurred at the Wachovia Bank on Green Level Church Road in Cary this past Thursday. After a three hour standoff with law enforcement officers, 19 year old Devon Mitchell of Cary was fatally shot when he exited the building holding what appeared to be a gun pointed at one of the hostages.

We now know that was not the case. Devon Mitchell was not armed.

“Despite what the 911 call reported, despite what he said to the hostages, despite what he told our hostage negotiator, despite what we all thought we saw when he came out of the bank with something pointed at one of the hostages’ head, we know now that there was no gun,” said Town of Cary Police Chief Pat Bazemore.

It doesn't matter - he made everyone believe he was armed and a threat.

Devon Mitchell played – and lost - a sick game with law enforcement. He claimed to have a gun and threatened to use it. For three hours Devon Mitchell instilled fear and terror in the lives of his hostages and their families. He had plenty of time to realize the error of his judgment and give himself up to authorities. He didn’t. He continued his charade until the very end, and now four outstanding law enforcement officers have to live the rest of their lives knowing they killed an unarmed 19 year old.

While the loss of this young man’s life is unfortunate and the outcome was not what we had hoped for, I could not be prouder of the Cary Police Department and supporting law enforcement agencies for the manner in which they handled this situation given the information available to them at the time, and my prayers go out to everyone involved and their families.

A number of citizens in the Cary Park area have contacted the town about their concerns regarding increased crime in their community. Some of the actions the town is working on include:

• Increased police patrols.

• The District 2 Commander for that area has begun implementation of a new effort called DDACTS (Data Drive Approaches to Crime and Traffic Safety). This is a national based model that uses high visibility patrols and law enforcement presence to reduce social harm and improve quality of life.

• Cary is following up with the Grove apartment complex to encourage them to be a part of next month’s launch of Project Phoenix. This is a new crime prevention program that is being designed especially for multi-family communities.

• The town manager will meet with the police chief and the command team today to evaluate additional steps. They will brief council immediately after the meeting.

• The police chief, town manager, Mayor, I, and others will meet with the homeowners of Cary Park at their homeowners meeting on February 23rd at Panther Creek High School at 6:30. I look forward to hearing from area residents and any ideas that we as a town can do to improve folk’s quality of life in this area.

Week in Review 2/7/11 - 2/13/11

2011-02-13T12:18:00.003-05:00

Our council meeting agenda this past Thursday was relatively light, with the notable discussion item being Cary’s state legislative Agenda.

Cary’s legislative agenda is a list of goals or legislation that we as a town want to see our state leaders address while in session.

Recommended items on this year’s state legislative agenda include:

1) A request by Cary and the Wake County Mayor’s Association to grant Cary and other Wake County Municipalities the authority to enter into long-term leases (up to 20 years) without treating those leases as sales. This will enable municipalities to enter into public-private partnerships for the generation of renewable energy on municipal property.
2) Support of the Wake County Mayor’s Association Legislative Agenda.
3) Support of the North Carolina League of Municipalities Core Municipal Principles and Advocacy Goals.

The council unanimously supported agenda items 1 and 2 minus one item on the Wake County Mayor’s Association agenda that council requested more information on before making a final decision.

After a lengthy discussion the council did NOT vote to support the NCLM Advocacy Goals or Core Municipal Principles. Needless to say, I am thrilled!

Why? Because the NCLM’s Advocacy Goals included the following:

· Seek legislation to revise the local land transfer tax so that it can be adopted without a referendum.

The land transfer tax has already appeared on the ballot 23 times in 21 counties in North Carolina since 2007. Each and every time voters rejected the proposed tax hike. That apparently doesn’t matter to the NCLM who believes that local governments should have the authority to implement this tax regardless of what the voters say. Ridiculous.

· Support legislation providing municipalities with the authority to impose a fee to recover the costs of vehicle accident and fire response from at-fault drivers and parties responsible for fires, up to a statutory maximum amount.

Yes, you read that correctly. The NCLM wants to give local governments the authority to charge you a fee for fire and accident response – on top of the tax dollars you already pay for this service. Never mind that you may have just lost your home and all your worldly possessions to a fire, now they want to send you a bill for fire response…assuming there is still a mailbox left to put it in. Absurd.

· Seek legislation reforming annexation laws that ensures the ability of a city to grow in a reasonable manner, while providing quality municipal services on a timely basis.

This statement is too vague. If you are going to request annexation reform I believe we should say what kind of reform we hope to achieve. Examples could include requiring a vote of county commissioners, or more importantly, those targeted for annexation. It could better define meaningful services or perhaps even require that the annexing municipality cover the cost of water and sewer hook-up. The above statement says nothing to that effect.

The reality is that the NCLM has consistently opposed any real annexation reform and have opposed any efforts to give those most greatly impacted a voice in the process. The above statement from the League is political pandering and rings hollow to those of us who have experience with the League’s position on annexation.

· Seek legislation to allow municipal creation or extension of extra territorial jurisdiction (ETJ) without county approval.

I find this request problematic as it could result in a land grab competition between municipalities. While obtaining county approval for ETJ extension can be difficult at times, it also ensures that municipalities grow in a reasonable and fair manner.

· Support legislation to expand the sales tax base to include services.

Here a tax, there a tax, everywhere a tax tax. The NCLM has never met a tax they didn’t like. While I understand there is an effort to reform North Carolina’s tax code – to possibly include a reduced sales tax rate combined with a tax on services (this COULD reduce the overall cost to taxpayers IF done correctly) – the above statement says nothing to that effect. It simply states a request to tax services. North Carolina already has the highest combined tax rate in the Southeast and the NCLM wants us to pay more???

· Seek legislation to increase the existing municipal vehicle fee for public transportation from $5 to a maximum of $20, and allow it to also be used for pedestrian and bicycle projects.

Here we go again – we need more money!!! A 300% increase in vehicle fees is outrageous – especially in this economy – and to pay for non-vehicle related expenditures???

Now in all fairness to the NCLM, some of their agenda requests were reasonable. That being the case the council first attempted to approve those items which we could support, and deny those which we did not. Halfway through our debate however, the council ultimately decided not to support any of the League’s agenda, and directed town staff to acknowledge receipt of their agenda, but not endorse it.

I opposed this proposal as I believe we need to send a message to the NCLM and make clear our concerns regarding these specific agenda items.

Afterwards council held a lengthy closed session to discuss a number of legal matters ….that I cannot discuss. Sorry. ;-)

That's all for this week's blog. As always, thanks for reading!

Week in Review 1/17/11 - 1/21/11

2011-01-24T10:43:00.000-05:00

Council held a worksession Tuesday to discuss redistricting. If this sounds familiar that’s because it is. The council considered redistricting in 2008, but voted 4-3 against it.

Municipalities are required by law to evaluate their districts following each decennial census. If population imbalances exist among the districts, the municipality is required to adjust the districts to correct the imbalance. Although municipalities are only required to redistrict after a Federal census, they can voluntarily redistrict more often to keep districts balanced. Cary has voluntarily redistricted numerous times in the past. Redistricting occurred in 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991, and 2001. Only 1981, 1991, and 2001 were census years.

A combination of explosive growth and a failure to redistrict during the last ten years have resulted in a significant imbalance in Cary’s Council districts. Cary’s district A, for example has nearly 54,000 of Cary’s 140,000 residents, while Cary’s district B and district D have 28,000 and 26,000 respectively. District A has roughly double the population of the other council districts and stretches from Downtown Cary into Chatham County.

Cary should have redistricted years ago, but better late than never I guess.

I recommended and the council agreed to direct staff to begin work on the redistricting process; specifically that they develop a couple of different proposals to bring back for council consideration. It is my hope that by having our town staff perform the majority of work will help to keep this as non-political a process as possible. Ya, I know, wishful thinking huh? ;-)

Our Planning and Development Committee meeting had two notable discussion items; whether or not to rename the Cary Community Arts Center and consideration of a four party agreement to modify and close rail crossings pertaining to the Parkside development in west Cary.

The four party agreement is somewhat complicated, so instead of me trying to explain it I suggest you read the staff report here. The bottom line is the agreement would extend the timeline of construction and closing of rail crossings at Carpenter Fire Station Road and O’Kelly Chapel Road and would also waive a $500,000 developer contribution towards the bridge construction.

We unanimously supported the agreement EXCEPT for the $500,000 developer fee waiver.

The Town’s Cultural Arts Committee along with town staff have discussed potential name options for the Cary Community Arts Center (Old Cary Elementary) and offered the following three possibilities.

· Arts on Academy
· Cary Arts and Cultural Exchange
· Kaleidoscope, Cary’s Arts Center

After a brief discussion, we selected none of the above and unanimously recommended that the Cary Community Arts Center be named the Cary Community Arts Center.

I also met with the applicants of two projects in Cary this week to discuss their progress towards addressing area resident’s concerns and to review proposed changes to their plans.

Well that’s about it for now. As always, thanks for reading.

2011 Retreat

2011-01-17T14:39:00.001-05:00

This past week was dominated by meetings – the most notable being our council and staff retreat.

This year’s retreat was again held at the Embassy Suites Hotel on Harrison Avenue. Day one began with a session on remarkability. Each council member was tasked with defining what remarkable means to them, and to identify examples of what we consider remarkable on note cards. The cards were then placed on the wall and categorized. I am pleased to report that no one picked “beige”.

There was a wide-range of opinions on what remarkable means to each council member. Some of the items listed by council members, like the craftsmanship of the Library of Congress for example, were very detail oriented, while others, like a healthy economy or sense of community were more broad. The goal of this exercise was to identify the characteristics of a remarkable municipal environment, identify actions to achieve that environment, and then prioritize those actions.

After a healthy discussion about what is both remarkable and unremarkable in Cary, the council identified a number of action items for the following year. These include but are not limited to the following:

· Evaluate ways to incorporate features and amenities for our growing senior population into existing parks.
· Access the needs of our aging community to provide future services.
· Encourage and create gathering places and spaces for public events.
· Increase the use of technology to improve customer service interface.
· Expand Cary’s SPRUCE program.
· Encourage a vibrant and dynamic downtown.
· Identify needs and improve roads to meet desired standard.

The afternoon session focused on the transportation system improvement process and funding. This included a presentation and review of Cary’s current APF/TDF/CTP structure, a look at what other municipalities are doing, and North Carolina’s legal framework.

The goal of this session was to determine a future direction for transportation requirements and improvements regarding new developments. The council has expressed the following concerns with our existing ordinances:

· Gaps - Developers are required to widen the roadway in front of their property. This often results in roads going from narrow to wide, then back to narrow.
· Fairness – oftentimes the last one in bears the burden of fixing everyone’s problem. While previous development surely impacted area traffic, if it did not degrade the level of service beyond a level of “D”, it is not required to mitigate their impact. Yet the last guy in whose project takes the intersection’s level of service below a “D” is now required to mitigate their traffic. Every project contributed to the area traffic but not every project was required to address it. That’s not right.
· Small Business Impact – Small businesses looking to open up shop in existing buildings may also find themselves responsible for traffic mitigation if their use is more intense than the previous. Often times the costs of traffic mitigation are a deal killer and the business locates in another city.

I believe we did a good job of articulating our goals to staff and they have an idea of what we are looking to accomplish with any ordinance amendments.

Day two focused primarily on our downtown area and on low to no cost initiatives – what do we want to do versus what CAN we do now given the economy? Discussion focus primarily on potential incentives (fee waivers, tax abatements, public/private partnerships etc..) to incent new development, as well as increased opportunities for events and festivals downtown.

I was VERY pleased to see council now open to fee reductions downtown as this is something I have been pushing for since I joined the council. The cost of developing downtown is far greater than that of developing a greenfield site for a number of reasons, most notably land assemblage, escalated property values, demolition, etc.. You aren’t just buying land. You also have to purchase the building sitting on it…before you tear it down. Parking is also a concern.

Council directed staff to communicate with potential downtown prospects that we will consider incentives for worthy projects. However, before others would commit to fee waivers/reductions downtown, they requested that staff mock up potential downtown projects and associated costs and fees so they can better understand how much of an incentive reduced/eliminated fees would provide.

I understand the concern that reduced fees mean reduced revenue. I get it. But right now we are seeing NO redevelopment downtown. 100% of nothing is nothing. A fee waiver or reduction just might be enough help to get a project going, and create a few jobs in the process – not to mention increased sales tax and property tax revenue – and bring something desirable downtown.

The final session was to develop an updated list of initiatives to provide staff with a foundation to prepare specific work plans and adjust resource requests accordingly. We also discussed how best to report these initiatives and their progress to the public and in the town’s budget document.

The most frustrating part of the retreat was one council member’s push for a “mobility fee” and a “transit tax”. Thankfully the rest of council did not agree.

Increasing fees and taxes are the LAST thing our economy needs.

I found this year’s retreat better than previous years as there was more discussion and action, and less presentation. I look forward to the months ahead as we turn words into action, and work to make Cary even more remarkable than it is today.

Week in Review 12/11/10 - 12/18/10

2010-12-20T15:03:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday I had the honor of participating in the Cary Jaycees Annual Christmas Parade in Downtown Cary. Unfortunately Mother Nature didn’t cooperate and it rained all day, but a great crowd still braved the cold to come out and watch. This was a lot of fun and congratulations to the Cary Jaycees, volunteers, sponsors and businesses for another job well done!

Tuesday evening the council held a worksession to discuss two items; Tax Increment Financing and Land Dedication requirements.

Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is a public financing method typically used as a subsidy for redevelopment and community improvement projects and relies on projected increases in tax revenue from new development to fund current projects. When public amenities such as an arts center, a town park or other public amenity are developed, there is often an increase in surrounding property values and increased private investment. Increased values lead to increased tax revenue. The “incremental” increase in revenue is committed to finance the debt of the public amenity, which – in theory – incented the new development and associated revenue increase.

Yes it’s complicated – and risky. We’ve all heard the phrase, “if you build it, they will come”. Well, sometimes they do, and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes things work out as planned and a $30 million public investment nets $400 million in new development. And then sometimes projections are wrong or the private sector doesn’t respond as anticipated – or the economy goes south or financing falls through or… well, you get the idea.

Obtaining the necessary approvals from the state, the Local Government Commission and Wake County is time consuming and costly, and TIF interest rates are higher than that which we can obtain through traditional debt financing thanks to Cary’s excellent credit ratings and fiscal health.

The bottom line is that while TIF might work in some instances for some communities, it doesn’t work for Cary.

Council also reviewed new legislative authority granted to Cary that would require land dedication as a component of multi-family housing development. Our current ordinance and practice has only applied to single family housing. The council saw this as an equity issue – one type of residential development is paying for their “impact” while the other is not. The council directed staff to begin drafting an ordinance requiring land dedication of all residential development.

Our Council meeting on Thursday lasted six hours – four of which was spent on a special use public hearing for a cell tower at the intersection of Cary Parkway and Old Apex Road. This was a quasi-judicial hearing so the council acts as judge and jury and can only receive factual information. Both sides – for and against – are allowed to make their arguments, rebut and cross-examine witnesses. There are no time limits on presentations or length of comment like regular public hearings.

After all was said and done a motion to deny the tower passed 5-2. I voted against the motion as I could not support one of the motion’s findings of fact. I could have voted to deny the tower based on their request for set-back reductions. We have set-back and buffer requirements in this town for a reason, and this proposal was asking for a significant waiver of that requirement.

I have a whole new respect for Judges after this hearing.

Other notable items on our council agenda included the adoption of our new ethics ordinance, Land Development Ordinance amendments, a Comprehensive Transportation Plan amendment, and whether or not to opt out of the 2009 Permit Extension Act.

The North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation requiring municipal governments adopt a code of ethics. Cary already had a code of ethics, but it did not meet the criteria set forth in the NCGA’s legislation. While I agree that governing bodies should have a code of ethics, I find it just a wee bit odd that the elected body in North Carolina whose had more members in prison than we have on the council is legislating ethics…but I digress…

After revisiting the decision of whether or not to opt out of the 2009 Permit Extension Act, the council supported a modified plan that would honor the approval of development plans except site and subdivision plan approvals, and that buildings must meet current building code.

Lisa, Elizabeth and I left for Florida early Friday morning to attend our son, Jordan’s graduation from the University of Central Florida. We heard ya’ll got some snow? It was 70 in Florida…but it rained. CONGRATULATIONS JORDAN!!! We are so proud!

Cary Matters

2010-12-01T13:08:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Ours was great – family, food and football! (not necessarily in that order) But can you believe Boise State lost to Nevada? - and I thought we were in for a BCS shake-up until Auburn came back from 24 down to beat Alabama.

My council responsibilities were light this past week due to the holiday. The highlight of my week was taping the December Cary Matters television show with Mayor Weinbrecht. Maybe I shouldn’t say highlight – I haven’t seen the show yet. It’s supposed to be HERE, but it hasn’t been posted at the time of this blogging. Maybe that says something? ;-)

A lot of you have inquired about the show at one time or another, so I figured this post would be a good opportunity to give you a behind the scenes look at the cinematic masterpiece we like to call, Cary Matters.

Cary Matters was created over two years ago in an effort to keep you, our citizens better informed and involved in the issues that we, the members of your town council, are working on as your elected representatives.

The show’s content focuses on initiatives and activities supported by the council as a whole. The program cannot be used to advocate for a particular individual, minority opinion, idea or position.

The key phrase there is “supported by the council as a whole”. Majority rules. What does or doesn’t get done in our town happens by a vote of council. Not every decision is unanimous, but once a decision is made, the decision is made.

Those decisions often become discussion topics for Cary Matters.

Council members rotate as “guest hosts” with the Mayor on Cary Matters. The show is scripted and is written by the Mayor with input from council and our public information office. Prior to taping the script is sent to participants for review and comment.

Most of the time there are no issues regarding program content – it’s usually the, “I would rather say it this way” kinda stuff. However, once in a while a guest host finds themselves scripted to speak positively about an initiative they did not support. Majority rules remember?

So what do you do if you are that council member? Well, you first lobby for changes to the script and or discussion topic, and if that fails you change the names on the script so the Mayor says that part. ;-)

The show costs about $5000 a year to produce and utilizes existing town resources and outside contractors. It requires four people (excluding hosts) to tape and produce the show. Taping time can last anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour and a half and yes, we use a teleprompter.

Some totally useless Cary Matters trivia for you: I am the only council member besides the Mayor or Mayor Pro Tem to host Cary Matters. Why? I wrote the script.

There is no make-up or wardrobe department and the beverage in the coffee mugs is water. I promise. ;-)

Week in Review 11/15/10 - 11/20/10

2010-11-21T12:33:00.004-05:00

Council held a worksession on Tuesday to discuss two items; potential changes to the town’s sign ordinance as recommended by the town’s Sign Ordinance Review Task Force, and transit oriented development. The transit oriented development portion was a joint session with our town’s Planning and Zoning Board.

The council accepted a number of recommended amendments to the town’s sign ordinance, rejected others and asked for more information and discussion on few others. The council will meet again on this topic once more before we present the final version for public hearing.

The transit oriented development worksession was more presentation than discussion. As a result the council agreed to hold another session on this topic so that we may discuss in greater detail. The council has been holding these worksessions to better understand how the proposed light rail, regional rail, and high speed rail projects will impact and shape how our town grows.

I haven’t been shy with my concerns about the rail projects. The high speed rail project is a $5 billion boondoggle that has the potential to devastate our existing highway and road network should a number of at-grade crossings be closed. Yet at the same time I believe that planning for a light rail/regional rail system in our region makes sense, I just don’t believe it is needed now, or anytime soon for that matter. We simply don’t have the population densities to support it.

That’s the real question that needs to be answered, and the discussion that we as a council haven’t had. Do we want that density? Do we want to see Cary grow from a predominantly suburban community to something more urban? Do we want to encourage higher densities along and around the rail corridor? How much of a factor do we want rail to play in our future land use decisions?

Whether or not rail comes to Cary is really out of our hands. This is a regional project. We do however have a voice in how much of a stakeholder we want to be. The majority of council has indicated its support for regional and light rail, and has asked TTA for four rail stations between Cary and Morrisville.

Rail will encourage a significant amount of dense development. Consultants and industry professionals agree that in order for rail to be successful (as successful as it can be I guess) it needs density to generate ridership. They have also made it clear that if we as elected officials support rail, we must also support land use decisions and zoning that encourages dense development along the rail corridor.

This is where I see conflict. The biggest supporters of rail on the council are often the same who consistently vote against the type of projects which would support rail. The argument most often used to vote against them? Density.

This conflict needs resolution before we can adequately and honestly plan for the future of our town. It is disingenuous to send the message that we support rail when the majority of council’s actions – up to this point – says otherwise.

My thoughts: While density has its place in Cary, I don’t believe that place is along every inch of railroad track from Raleigh to Morrisville. Cary didn’t become one of the greatest places to live in America by trying to be something it isn’t. We are a safe, family oriented suburban community. Heck, we’re even Martha Stewart approved, and that’s a good thing. ;-)

Yet should the rail projects materialize, we must work to ensure that they are a benefit to our community, not a burden. This will not be easy, but I believe it can be done in a manner which protects and preserves the character and charm of our community, and in the spirit of that which makes Cary such a great place to live, work and retire.

What I really struggle to understand however, is that the proponents of rail claim it will alleviate traffic congestion by removing up to 5% of vehicles off the road. Yet in order for rail to succeed we must increase population? That makes absolutely no sense to me. Increasing our population will in turn increase the number of vehicles on the road as the majority of all those new residents will have a car; not to mention the increased impact on our area schools, water supply, environment and overall quality of life. What good is removing 5% of the cars when you’re adding 20%? You would think that if we were going to invest billions in a transportation initiative, we might look for one that will actually reduce traffic. But I digress…

Thursday evening was our council meeting. Notable items included:

A reception honoring Cary’s Hometown Spirit Award nominees and announcement of this year’s winner who is, drum roll please……Kay Struffolino! Kay is an amazing woman who gives so much of herself to help make Cary one of the greatest places to live. Kay currently serves on our town’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Advisory Board and volunteers countless hours of her time at Cary’s Senior Center, Koka Booth Amphitheater and town events and festivals. Thank you and congratulations to all the nominees. Cary is a better place because of you.

Also on our agenda was consideration of whether or not to move forward with Cary’s Comprehensive Annexation Program. Ten areas previously identified were recommended for Town initiated annexation by our staff. After a lengthy discussion I made the motion not to proceed with annexation. My motion passed 4-3.

The council also discussed whether or not to opt out of the 2009 Permit Extension Act. This legislation, passed by the NC General Assembly, extends the period of validity for previously approved development projects. The act was amended this past year to add an additional year to the previous extension period, but local governments have the option to “opt out” of the additional extension. The council voted 4-3 to not opt out. However, after our closed session meeting, council members Adcock and Robinson made a motion to reconsider. That motion passed 4-3. A follow-up motion was then made to consider another alternative at our December meeting. This alternative would support the extension for previously approved development plans and site plans, but that buildings would have to be constructed to today’s standards. We will consider that request in December.

I opposed the request to reconsider for two reasons; first, these are trying economic times and this legislation provides a little more economic opportunity to projects that were already approved at Cary’s high standards, and secondly, for the council to reconsider something we already publicly debated and voted on – after coming out of a closed session on a different topic – is bad governance and lacks transparency. The Mayor had already announced prior to going into closed session that there was no further business, and that at the conclusion of our closed session we would adjourn the meeting. That did not happen. How then could anyone watching not come to the conclusion that the permit extension act was discussed behind closed doors?

Friday evening I had the honor and privilege of speaking at the Graduation Ceremonies for 16 of Cary’s newest Firefighters. Being a firefighter is not just a job, it’s a calling. A job is something that folks do from 9-5 to earn a living. A calling is a career with purpose – it goes beyond a monetary pursuit. It takes a very special person to respond to a calling. Over 850 people applied for these 16 positions, and after meeting and speaking with the new cadets and learning more about their backgrounds I am confident that we hired the best of the best. Thank you for answering the call.

That’s all for now - as always, thanks for reading!

Thank You!

2010-11-05T12:51:00.001-04:00

Thank you all so much for your support of my campaign for the North Carolina House. Thank you for your sacrifices, your financial support, and for caring so much about the future of our great state to try and make a difference.

This campaign was never about me – it was about us. It was about those of you who wanted your government to be a little more efficient, a little more honest, and a lot more effective. It was about the gentleman I spoke to at a rally in Raleigh who, for over a year still can’t find a job. It was about the small businesses that are struggling to stay afloat, and those which have already gone under. It was about those of you who want your government to work as hard for you, as you do for it. This campaign was about YOU. And I hope that I helped lend each of you a voice during this election.

Although the outcome of this election is not what we would have hoped for, we have much to be proud of. It is truly an honor to be a part of such a historic election in our state. For the first time since 1898, Republicans are now the governing party in North Carolina State Government. And while we have all worked so hard to win the majority – our work has just begun. We must now govern. Our state faces intense challenges – a $3.5 Billion budget deficit, 10% unemployment and our economy is a shambles.

It won’t be easy, and the media, liberal special interest groups and unions will do everything in their power to vilify Republicans. Our leaders need our help more now than ever. Please help them help us. Offer them your time, your moral support and most importantly – hold them accountable for promises made.

Thank you all again for your faith in me to serve as your voice in Raleigh, and I look forward to continuing to serve you on the Cary Town Council. We can all hold our head up high knowing that we did make a difference, and were a part of history.

Who's Got Spirit?

2010-10-19T22:49:00.002-04:00

Cary Announces Hometown Spirit Finalists Winner to be Announced During November Council Meeting

CARY, NC – After reviewing numerous nominations, the Town of Cary is proud to announce the finalists for this year’s Hometown Spirit Award. The Hometown Spirit Award is bestowed annually on one Cary resident who enhances the quality of life in Cary by preserving, promoting and carrying out positive and quantifiable traditional small-town community values and traits. The 2010 Hometown Spirit Award finalists are: Michael Carlton, George Dohanich, Jason Harloff, Rosalind Heiko, Ruth Merkle, Gay Purvis, Cynthia Sinkez and Kay Struffolino.

“All eight nominees actively demonstrate the core principles of the award program. They are all dedicated to enhancing Cary’s quality of life and preserving the small town atmosphere that makes our community such a great place,” said Cary Town Clerk Sue Rowland.

The Cary Town Council will host a reception in honor of all of the finalists on November 18 at 5:30 p.m. Immediately after, the 2009 award recipient, Alisa Wright Colopy, will join Mayor Harold Weinbrecht in announcing this year’s winner during the regular Town Council Meeting at 6:30 p.m.

To learn more about each finalist, visit Hometown Spirit Award at www.townofcary.org or call (919) 460-4941.

Congratulations to all the nominees! Cary is a better place thanks to you.

Council Meeting - 10/14/10

2010-10-17T15:53:00.005-04:00

I apologize for going so long between posts, but my campaign for NC House has required so much of my “free time” as of late – and given my work, family and council responsibilities, I didn’t have much free time to begin with! ;-)

My council responsibilities this week consisted mainly of reviewing staff reports in preparation for Thursday evening’s council meeting.

Highlights from our meeting included a discussion on staff recommended sidewalk construction projects and changes to the sound level limit at Koka Booth Amphitheater.

Bottom line regarding sidewalk construction projects; there are more desired projects than money. Staff did a good job in ranking these projects based on need and cost resulting in 8 projects able to move forward within budget. You can see a list of the approved projects here.

Regarding the sound levels at Koka Booth; council voted to increase the sound level limit from 92 decibels to 95. We did this for two reasons.

1) SMG (our management company) has had a difficult time recruiting some big name bands to play at Koka Booth given current noise restrictions. (a couple of bands who did play even complained while on stage that the levels were too low)

2) In surveying concert patrons, the overwhelming complaint has been the low sound level.

Hopefully this change will not only provide a better concert experience for our patrons, but also improve our chances of booking big-name artists; resulting in increased concert ticket sales and revenue to Cary. Koka Booth Amphitheater, while doing much better than years past, continues to be subsidized through tax revenue. I would love to see this facility not just break even, but turn a profit.

Regardless, you would be hard pressed to find a more beautiful and fan-friendly concert venue in North Carolina. Many thanks to our staff and the hundreds of volunteers who work so hard to make Koka Booth such a huge success.

Saving Money

2010-09-17T09:15:00.002-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 16, 2010

Bond Refinancing Saves Town of Cary Over $700K

CARY, NC – Thanks to current market conditions and a competitive bid process, the Town of Cary has successfully refinanced a portion of the 2003 voter-approved Public Improvement general obligation bonds, saving the Town and its taxpayers $728,000 in debt service, $217,000 of which will be realized in the current fiscal year. The action has a present value savings of almost $645,000 or 4.3 percent.

This transaction is the second bond refinancing opportunity the Town has taken advantage of this year. In June, Cary refinanced a portion of the 1999 voter-approved Cary Community general obligation bonds as well as a portion of the 2002 Certificates of Participation valued at $25.4 million, saving Cary taxpayers $1.5 million, with $795,000 of that also being realized this fiscal year. To take advantage of a refinancing opportunity, staff constantly monitors the market to ensure debt savings of at least three per cent.

“The Cary Town Council is always challenging staff to remain financially smart, and we are constantly monitoring the market for opportunities to save our taxpayers money,” said Karen Mills, Town of Cary Finance Director. “In this situation, bids were competitive, resulting in a great rate and emphasizing the importance of the Town’s AAA bond rating and sound financial practices.” Mills added that while only five to seven bids were expected, 12 bids were received and Citigroup presented the best refinancing option.

In May, Moody’s Financial Service, one of the three major bond rating agencies in the U.S., upgraded the Town of Cary revenue bonds to a Triple A rating, the highest possible. As a result, Cary now boasts the AAA rating from all three agencies—Moody’s, Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s—on all revenue bonds. Cary has been rated Triple A by all three rating agencies for its general obligation bonds since 2001. In North Carolina, Cary and Charlotte are the only municipalities to share the prestigious ranking of Tripe A for both general obligation and revenue bonds. Cary’s AAA ratings help its taxpayers save hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest over the years.

To learn more, visit Municipal Bond Sales and the Finance Department at www.townofcary.org or call (919) 469-4380.

PRIMARY CONTACTS: Karen Mills, Finance Director, (919) 469-4110 Carrie Roman, Public Information Specialist, (919) 481-5091 Susan Moran, Public Information Director, (919) 460-4951

Frantz for House - Vote Your Values

2010-09-05T14:02:00.002-04:00

Frantz for House Campaign Video

VOTE YOUR VALUES

Week(s) in Review: 8/22/10 - 9/3/10

2010-09-05T13:44:00.002-04:00

To say the last couple of weeks have been busy would be an understatement! But I’m not complaining - it sure beats the heck out of the alternative.

Council held a worksession last Thursday prior to our council meeting to discuss recommended board and commission appointments. All appointments were unanimously approved, however I did express dissatisfaction regarding appointments to the Environmental Advisory Board – NOT because of the appointments themselves, but because the council wasn’t given time to review them as the liaison submitted them less than 24 hours before the worksession. Every other council member had their recommended slates in a week prior, giving council members ample time to review and voice any concerns they may or may not have. Believe it or not, the same thing happened last year also.

The main discussion item at our council meeting last week was the consideration of a plan that would resume issuing building permits in the Peninsula at Amberly development. The town had placed a hold on the issuance of building permits as the developer has not completed the required infrastructure improvements, and fails to respond to the town’s requests to do so.

Realizing that developers can and sometimes do go out of business, the town requires that they (developers) submit financial guarantees to the town to ensure these improvements are completed. This developer did submit a financial guarantee in the form of a letter of credit from a bank. So no problem right?

Wrong. The town was notified through FDIC that this bank has been placed in receivership and closed.

A number of builders – local custom home builders I might add – and private citizens purchased lots from the developer and have been trying to get building permits for months. But the town’s land development ordinance will not allow issuance of building permits without financial guarantee for the required infrastructure improvements.

The town has worked to create a temporary ordinance amendment to address this unprecedented issue. This temporary ordinance amendment would charge lot owners a per lot fee to cover their cost of the infrastructure improvements. It would also allow them to pay half of the fee when the building permit is issued, and the remaining half before issuance of certificate of occupancy to help with cash-flow concerns.

While all of council supported this proposal, the majority of our discussion centered on at what amount to set the fee level. The council ultimately decided by a vote of 6-1 to set the fee amounts based on the original letters of credit since this is the amount the town would have received from the bank had they not gone under. The town will also continue to aggressively pursue collection from the developer to include legal action.

I feel sorry for the builders and lot owners who have been put in the position of having to bear someone else’s financial responsibility. They already paid their “fee” when they purchased the lots from the developer as we all know that that amount was factored into the lot price. This isn’t the builder’s fault. It’s not the town’s fault. It’s not the citizen’s fault. Yet someone has to cover the costs of the infrastructure or else it falls on the backs of Cary taxpayers – and that’s not acceptable.

It is my hope that through legal action we can get the developer to comply and/or that maybe another developer will purchase the project and complete these improvements; allowing us to refund those fees back to the builders and lot owners. In the meantime, builders can start building again and those folks who were trying to build their dream home will realize that dream sooner than later.

I had the honor of attending the annual neighborhood picnic at Meadowmont this past week. This was a blast as over 100 people gathered for food, fellowship and fun. I spoke to those in attendance about a number of initiatives in the old Cary area and answered questions from area residents.

I also had the pleasure of attending a baby shower for soon to be Grandma Sue Rowland (our Town Clerk). Sue is an amazing woman who works very hard to keep Cary organized and legal. She dots every i and crosses every t. For those of you who may not know what the town clerk does, they are the custodian of all permanent town records, responsible for noticing and recording all of our meetings, manages our boards and commissions, and provides support services for the council and staff… and a bazillion other things that aren’t in their job description. ;-) I have learned a great deal working with Sue and I will forever be in her debt. Congratulations Sue!

Council held a special meeting on Thursday to consider actions needed to refinance some of the town’s existing debt obligation. We approved refinancing about $15 Million in general debt obligation saving Cary taxpayers about $875,000. Great meeting! Council also held a brief closed session afterwards to discuss a legal matter.

WCPSS Vice-Chair Debra Goldman and I met with area parents to discuss the proposed student reassignment plan. Parents expressed concerns that some of the proposed zones do not have a good balance of schools in them. The right ratio of elementary, middle and high schools is critical towards achieving a good feeder system; too many of one type of school and you run the risk of overcrowding the next. There was also discussion of assigning students based on regions instead of zones. I am confident that with more work these issues can be worked out as this is still just a preliminary proposal.

That’s all for now – as always, thanks for reading!

8/11/10 Council Meeting

2010-08-22T17:05:00.002-04:00

I apologize for not posting my week in reviews as frequently as I would like, but with work, my council responsibilities, a campaign and trying to find some time for my family… well, there just haven’t been enough hours in the day.

This post will focus on our council meeting which was held on 8/11/10.

Our meeting had 2 notable discussion items: Consideration of a traffic light at the intersection of Kildaire Farm Road and Loch Highlands Drive, and whether or not to apply for a federal grant to assist with funding a section of the White Oak Greenway.

After NCDOT completed a road widening project and installed a new bridge on Kildaire Farm Road, citizens have been contacting the town regarding their concerns for pedestrian safety. The project resulted in an asphalt trail being removed that residents had used for safe pedestrian access. A new sidewalk was instead installed along the roadway and bridge. This section of road curves slightly, and residents feared that if a motorist took their eyes off the road for a second, or if a traffic accident occurred, vehicles could end up on the sidewalk – seriously injuring or killing a pedestrian. They asked the town to look into a guardrail or some other form of barrier.

Numerous attempts to work with NCDOT in an attempt to get a barrier installed failed. NCDOT was unwilling to modify the bridge, and informed Cary that any modifications would be the town’s responsibility as the bridge met state standards.

After further review, town staff recommended that a traffic signal with crosswalks be installed at the intersection of Kildaire Farm Road and Loch Highlands Drive. This would allow residents a safe manner in which to cross the street and use the multi-use path on the other side of the street…which has a concrete barrier between it and the road. Yes you read that correctly.

You see, NCDOT “cheaped out” on the bridge. The southbound side of the bridge was constructed with a multi-use path. However, in an effort to reduce costs that section of the bridge was not engineered to hold the weight of vehicles, so NCDOT installed a concrete barrier to prevent maintenance or emergency vehicles from parking on it. Nice huh?

After investigating numerous options, our town staff determined that installing the traffic signal would cost less than installing a parapet wall or barrier on the bridge, and once installed the signal becomes NCDOT’s responsibility. Staff’s traffic data also indicated that this intersection meets warrants for a traffic signal.

The traffic signal was approved by a vote of 6-1. I voted against it. While I do support the signal installation, I have grave concerns regarding next year’s budget and economic outlook. If this is truly a “need to have”, which I believe it is, then we should be willing to give up a “nice to have” to fund it. I also believe, as does our town staff, that we have numerous pedestrian safety issues throughout town (the bridge on Walnut Street at Crossroads and the lack of a crosswalk and sidewalks on Cary Parkway near North Cary Park are two that come to mind) that might be of higher priority. Without conducting a study there is no way to know.

I made a motion to table this for 2 weeks to give staff time to determine which already funded project(s) we could postpone to cover costs. No one supported my request.

Prior to this decision the council considered whether or not to apply for a $2.7 million federal grant to fund a section of the White Oak Greenway….in Apex’s jurisdiction. Yes Apex. If Cary receives the grant we are on the hook for $675,000 to cover our portion of the project. The decision to apply for the grant passed by a vote of 5-2. Councilman Smith and I voted no.

$850,000 spent in about 20 minutes.

I like greenways as much as anyone, but these are difficult times we’re living in folks, and I don’t see it getting better any time soon. Sure, $2.7 million in “free money” might sound hard to pass up. But I fear, as Councilman Smith so eloquently stated, “that we could go broke trying to save money”. Hopefully we are wrong.

That’s it for now – as always, thanks for reading!

Five to Thrive

2010-08-21T19:58:00.002-04:00

As I've been speaking with voters, I've been sharing my vision for North Carolina; a healthy economy, small business growth and job creation, improving education, getting tough on crime and restoring honesty and integrity to state government and our elections process.

Now I'd like to tell you how I plan to do that. North Carolina needs real solutions. I have them. I believe it will take . . .

FIVE to THRIVE

Five to Thrive is the name for five pieces of legislation I'm going to be introducing on Day One of next year's legislative session.

I've worked with citizens, and with business and community leaders to craft these bills because all the talk in the world isn't going to solve our problems. Action and leadership focused on the right priorities will keep North Carolina a leader in the nation.

This is the direction our state desperately needs and this is the leadership that I'll bring when you elect me. The first piece of FIVE to THRIVE legislation will restore fiscal responsibility to our state budget process.

It's not often you hear North Carolina mentioned with states like California and New York, that is, unless the conversation happens to be about budget deficits.

A recent report shows North Carolina facing one of the largest budget deficits in the nation. Only California, Connecticut, Minnesota, Texas and New York are in worse financial shape.

When asked about North Carolina's financial woes, my opponent and current NC Representative responded, "Most states are struggling with the financial crisis, but North Carolina is faring better than other states." (http://www.scribd.com/doc/29954803/The-Daily-Tar-Heel-for-April-15-2010)
Technically she is correct. We are faring better than other states - five of them. She fails to mention we are doing worse than 44. My opponent's solution? "Broaden the tax base." As if the $1.4 Billion tax increase last year wasn't broad enough.

My solution? I'll be introducing the GROWTH in BUDGET ACT which will limit government spending increases to the average increase of inflation and population growth. The Growth in Budget Act will require a two-thirds majority vote of the General Assembly to exceed this limit and will establish an emergency reserve trust fund. Any funds unspent as a result of this act that exceed 5% of the general fund appropriation for the prior fiscal year will be returned to the taxpayers.

Just as families and businesses across North Carolina have had to tighten their belts and live within their means, so must state government.

The GROWTH in BUDGET ACT is the first of my Five to Thrive solutions. I can't wait to tell you about the other four over the coming weeks so stay tuned! The complete text of all five bills will be available for online viewing on my website after October 1.

It's time for real leadership in North Carolina and together, we can make a difference.

Week(s) in Review 7/26/10 - 8/7/10

2010-08-08T11:43:00.002-04:00

Busy Week!

Monday began with our monthly Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Resources Advisory Board Meeting. The main discussion topic was an update on the bad bug problem at the Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve. Aggressive Woolly Adelgids were discovered as the town was conducting an inventory of the Hemlocks. The bad bugs feed on the base of the tree’s needles which prevents nutrients from flowing to the needles - the needles drop and the tree dies. The town is currently working with a number of experts and agencies to develop treatment and management plans including the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, The United States Forest Services, NC State University, and Bartlett Tree Experts.

Rest assured the town and partnering agencies will do everything we can to protect and preserve our Hemlocks. Cary will also be releasing information to the general public soon so that those who have Hemlocks on their personal property will have the necessary resources to protect their trees as well.

On Monday evening Councilwoman Jennifer Robinson and I were the honored guests at a dinner with the Cary Chapter of the NC Police Benevolent Association. We were presented a plaque of appreciation for our work on the Town of Cary’s new shared leave policy. Councilwoman Gale Adcock was also recognized but was unable to attend.

National Night Out was this past Tuesday. National Night Out brings law enforcement agencies and citizens together with the goal of fostering partnerships for safer communities. I visited two neighborhood events with members of the Cary Police Department – Dutchess Village and Silverton. This annual event is always a huge success and a lot of fun, especially for the kids! The officers allow the kids inside the police cars and even let them play with the lights the siren! Heck, I’m 39 and I look forward to doing that! ;-) It’s always fun to see the looks on the resident’s faces as five police cars roll up with lights and sirens going.

I met with three different property owners this week to discuss their plans and my/citizen’s concerns regarding their proposed development projects. Two will be coming to council soon and one is still in the discussion/neighborhood meeting stage. I was pleased to see how hard they had been working to alleviate neighbor’s concerns and ensure that these projects benefit – not burden – their surrounding community.

I am also working with a resident regarding their concerns related to a proposed sidewalk installation on Walnut Street and will be meeting with staff next week to discuss further. Sidewalk installations in communities that were not developed with sidewalks in mind are always difficult. The public safety benefits of sidewalks are obvious, but folks are often hesitant to give up part of their property to accommodate them. We must be sensitive to the impact on property owners and design accordingly.

Over the last few weeks I have been working with our town staff to address an issue that has been negatively impacting certain small businesses looking to come to Cary. Cary’s water and sewer impact fees are calculated based on the type of use and square footage. The town uses a state of North Carolina chart that categorizes different uses and estimates their water consumption per 100 sq. feet to calculate peak water usage and determine the amount of fee. The problem is some businesses don’t necessarily fall into any of the categories, or the category they are placed in doesn’t accurately reflect the amount of water they use (over estimates) resulting in that business being overcharged for their “impact” to our water and sewer infrastructure.

Yes I do believe growth should ultimately pay for itself. But when the water and sewer impact fees for a 15,000 sq. ft. gym for kids that has no showers or kitchen (only restrooms) are calculated to be $150,000 we have a problem. When the fees for a 6,700 sq. ft. dance studio are calculated to be over $40,000 we have a problem. This discourages small businesses from locating or expanding in town and negatively impacts job creation.

Our town staff shares my concerns and has worked diligently to address this issue by allowing businesses to challenge the rate assumptions through data certified by an engineer that proves what their actual usage will be. I have proposed that Cary create its own fee calculation chart that better estimates usage, but unfortunately this may require hiring a consultant and conducting an extensive study which would cost thousands of dollars that we just don’t have right now. In the meantime our staff will work to better explain available options to small business owners until this issue can be resolved permanently.

Our campaign for NC House is going great and I can’t thank our volunteers and supporters enough for all their help! This isn’t my campaign – it’s our campaign. And together we are going to win this election and bring real world business leadership and experience to the NC General Assembly.

I spent a good portion of the day on Saturday campaigning at the Dixie Gun and Knife Show at the NC State Fairgrounds. I also picked up 200 rounds of .380 for the Beretta. ;-) I had a great time meeting and speaking with folks about my vision for North Carolina – and not surprisingly my support of the 2nd Amendment. I am also a proud member of the NRA.

Growing up the son of an avid shooter I spent many a weekend camping and target shooting in the California desert. I learned the importance of firearm safety and responsibility at a very early age – and became a pretty good shot as well. I also learned that responsible gun owners were some of our nation’s greatest citizens.

The Constitution guarantees Americans the right to bear arms. I will never support legislation that infringes upon those rights and I will always support every law-abiding citizen’s rights to buy and own firearms for personal protection or any other lawful purpose.

Well that’s about it for now. As always, thanks for reading!

To Debate, or not to Debate

2010-08-01T13:44:00.002-04:00

The Cary Chamber of Commerce’s Planning Conference took place on July 22 and 23 in Southern Pines. Discussion topics included downtown Cary, transportation, and a presentation of the Chamber’s 2010-2011 Business Plan. Also on the agenda was a forum for the 2010 NC House of Representatives Candidates.

Nearly all the candidates for House Districts 35, 36, 37 and 41 were in attendance. My opponent however did not attend. This was very disappointing as I was really looking forward to learning more about how her votes to increase taxes and government spending were going to improve North Carolina’s economy. I wanted to hear how expanded bureaucracies, gimmick legislation and over-regulation were going to help small business growth and create jobs. And I really wanted to hear about her plans to address next year’s projected $3 Billion plus budget deficit.

So did a lot of other people.

I had a great time at the conference and feedback about our campaign to unseat one of the most liberal, anti-business members of the North Carolina House was very positive. Thanks to the Chamber for hosting this forum and for all they do to support the Cary business community and that of our region.

To learn more about my vision for NC please visit www.frantzforhouse.org

The Audacity of H.E.L.P.

2010-07-09T21:59:00.002-04:00

Small businesses are the backbone of North Carolina’s economy. They account for 99.7% of all employer firms, employ more than half of all private sector employees, and have accounted for 65% of the new jobs created in the last 15 years.

These same small businesses have been hit particularly hard by the current economic crisis. Thousands of small businesses across our state have been forced to downsize, and in many cases have gone out of business.

May marked North Carolina’s 15th straight month of double-digit unemployment and North Carolina now ranks 11th in the nation in unemployment.

Small businesses throughout North Carolina need help. North Carolinians need and want jobs.

Under North Carolina’s current leadership neither is likely to happen.

Legislative Democrats – including my opponent - continue to oppose any real economic reform and instead seem intent on creating gimmicks with silly names to intentionally mislead the public. There is no better example of this is than HB 1721 – the “H.E.L.P. Small Business Act”.

H.E.L.P. stands for Health Care, Employment, Leverage and Preparation. This legislation would provide qualifying small businesses with a whopping $1000 tax credit for creating AND sustaining a job for three years.

A $333 a year tax credit will not help businesses provide health care to its employees. It will not stimulate any kind of employment. The only reason the word leverage was selected was because you can’t spell “help” without an L. The only preparation this bill will result in is the preparation of additional paperwork required by a business to qualify for the credit.

This legislation will not help businesses create one job. It might cover the costs of their toilet paper…unless of course they happen to be in the restaurant business.

We can improve North Carolina’s economy and create jobs – real private sector jobs. But it takes leadership with the guts to make unpopular choices, reduce government spending and create a competitive tax climate. Small businesses are who will lead North Carolina out of this recession – not gimmick legislation.

H.E.L.P won’t help at all. But it looks good on a campaign mailer – the real intent behind this legislation.

The audacity of them!

Week in Review 6/20/10 - 6/25/10

2010-06-28T00:17:00.005-04:00

This week was a bit light in regards to council responsibilities.

On Tuesday I met with our town Budget Director, Scott Fogleman to discuss a couple of outstanding concerns I had regarding the proposed FY 2011 budget.

I first want to thank all of our town staff - especially the budget department for all their hard work in presenting council with a very conservative budget that holds the line on taxes and keeps garbage, recycling, and yard waste fees unchanged. Water and sewer fees unfortunately will increase about 7% to fund the state-mandated Western Wake Water Reclamation Facility.

My concerns are that appropriations exceed projected revenues by roughly $1 million, and that council members decided to increase each council member’s travel allowance $326 a year (Mayor Pro Tem gets a $390 increase). Each council member’s annual travel allowance is already $9300 a year.

The FY 2011 budget was adopted as presented by a vote of 5-1. Mayor Pro Tem Julie Robison was absent again.

I voted against the budget.

After meeting with Scott Fogleman, some (not all) of my concerns pertaining to appropriations vs. revenues were satisfied. Cary has a healthy fund balance (reserves) and ended this past year with about a $4 million surplus. So while we are still in very good shape, I still have concerns about how reducing fund balance now might impact us in years to come should the economy not improve. I also have concerns how the state’s $3 billion shortfall next year will impact Cary’s budget in following years (see previous post for more on this)

I remain disappointed that during these tough economic times the council chose to increase their compensation. Yes I know that in the grand scheme of thing it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the total budget, but it’s much bigger than that to me. It’s about principle.

Council last received travel allowance increases in 2008 and 2006. The average fuel cost in 2008 was $3.27 a gallon with a peak price of $4.11. In 2010 the average cost of a gallon of gas is $2.76. Gas costs less now than it did in 2008.

This was about increasing compensation without calling it a raise. I could not support that. If the council believes they deserve an increase in pay – as evidenced by one of my colleague’s “we don’t even make minimum wage” comments at our meeting - then they should call it what it is.

That’s about all for this week. As always, thanks for reading - I hope everyone is staying cool and safe during this heat-wave.

What an Honor!

2010-06-27T18:40:00.005-04:00

*** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ***

June 24, 2010

CARY, N.C. – Frantz Automotive Center, the Triangle’s premier automotive repair and service center has been recognized as one of the Top 100 North Carolina Small Businesses for 2010 by Business Leader Magazine at an awards ceremony in Raleigh on June, 24.

“It is an extraordinary honor to be recognized as one of the top small businesses in North Carolina,” said Don Frantz. “We are especially grateful to all of our customers and employees who have contributed to our success.”

Frantz Automotive was ranked number 13 by Business Leader Magazine in its annual list of top 100 small businesses and was selected for demonstrating significant business achievement, community involvement and business advocacy.

About Frantz Automotive Center:
Located in downtown Cary, N.C., Frantz Automotive Center is a nationally recognized automotive repair and service center providing motorists and business fleets throughout the Triangle with a cost effective, reliable alternative to the automotive dealership. Locally owned and operated by Don and Lisa Frantz, Frantz Automotive Center is committed to making your automotive service experience as pleasurable and professional as possible. For more information please visit http://www.frantzautomotive.com/ or call (919) 469-5423.

Week in Review 6/7/10 - 6/12/10

2010-06-13T14:19:00.004-04:00

Council held our final budget worksession on Tuesday. Staff provided clarification on a few items that council had requested at a previous worksession and we discussed a few outstanding issues before we approved bringing the budget to our council meeting for final discussion and vote on June 24th.

While our town staff has done an amazing job at crafting a very conservative budget that continues to maintain the high levels of service Cary citizens expect without increasing taxes, I am undecided at this time whether or not to support the proposed budget.

Appropriations exceed revenues by roughly $1 million. And although conservative budgeting, reducing last year’s budget 26% from the previous year and the postponement of $89 million in capital projects has allowed Cary to maintain a healthy fund balance to cover this, I am concerned how this may position the town in the years to come. I am not optimistic that the economy will rebound any time soon and I have concerns regarding the state’s financial situation, and how that will impact Cary.

North Carolina’s reliance on federal stimulus funds and “temporary” (ya right) tax increases combined with increases in spending will result in our state facing a $3 Billion hole next year when all that “free money” runs out. North Carolina is already withholding a number of funds from municipalities in an effort to balance their budget. What other revenues might they decide to withhold next? We must ensure we are prepared for the worst and pray it doesn’t happen.
I meet with the Town Manager on Monday to discuss my concerns further.

Council also held 3 closed sessions to discuss town employee performance reviews.

The agenda for this past Thursday’s council meeting was light in content – long in discussion. There were really only 2 notable items on the agenda – a public hearing on the proposed FY2011 budget, and a quasi-judicial hearing for a special use permit for a proposed cell tower installation. The hearing regarding the cell tower lasted 2 ½ hours. In the end, the council voted 7-0 to deny the special use permit.

This past Thursday and Friday I had the honor of attending the graduation ceremonies of Green Hope High School, Panther Creek High School, and Cary High School…or as Principal Thilman likes to say, “THE Cary High School”. ;-) Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht and WCPSS Vice-Chair Debra Goldman attended all three graduations as well. It was wonderful to see so many family friends receive their diplomas and hear the reactions from proud parents as their son or daughter’s name was called. Very few parents complied with the request to remain silent as each graduate’s name was announced. Five of our six children have graduated from Cary High School – we didn’t comply either. ;-)

As I sat on the stage staring out at hundreds of young adults wearing long gowns and funny hats I thought to myself, “In front of me sits our nation’s future doctors, scientists, engineers, lawyers, and service technicians. They are our future United States Servicemen and women who will defend our nation in time of need and fight for freedom around the globe. I saw future business executives who will lead fortune 500 companies and entrepreneurs whose innovative ideas will transform small businesses into large corporations. I was among the next generation of teachers and professors who will pass along to hundreds of other students the wisdom and knowledge which others had passed along to them. I saw our future police officers, firefighters and emergency medical service professionals who will protect us and rush to our aid at a moment’s notice. I even saw a few elected officials whose leadership will guide our state and our nation for years to come. I was looking at the future – and the future is bright. Congratulations Class of 2010!

On Saturday I attended Alex Joiner’s graduation party. Alex is a very bright and talented young man who will be attending UNC Chapel Hill this fall. He also happens to be the producer of two of my campaign for NC House’s YouTube videos. See? I told you he was talented. ;-) Afterwards I attended a campaign rally for 4th Congressional District Candidate BJ Lawson in Apex.

Well those are some of the highlights from this past week. As always, Thanks for reading!

Help Me Win!

2010-06-11T15:59:00.002-04:00

The NC House Republicans are holding a contest to see which house candidate has the greatest amount of online support. If you haven't done so already, please click the link above and vote for me as your favorite house candidate. The winner of this contest will receive $4000 - enough money to buy 2000 campaign signs or 50 radio ads. Please also consider forwarding this email to your friends and family and encourage them to vote as well. Thanks so much for all your support!

Remember why we celebrate Memorial Day

2010-05-31T00:29:00.003-04:00

As we celebrate Memorial Day I want to share a poem written by Mary Castaldi. It is a tribute to her father who was killed in Korea when she was six years old.

Over 1 million brave men and women have died fighting for freedom, liberty, and democracy since 1775. Over 400,000 were killed in WWII alone. Many were husbands, wives, sons and daughters who never returned to their families. We are forever in their debt. Freedom isn't free.

World War II called out to him
And that was all it took
But he was there when I was born
I saw my baby book.

When I was six he left again
He looked into my eyes
"I'll be back with hula skirts"
And then he said good-bye.

His uniform was crisp and green
He held me in his arms
I knew he wasn't coming back
No Dad, no skirts, no charms.

And though I was a little girl
I cried upon his shoulder
I knew deep down this was good bye
He wasn't getting older.

I felt so old, so wise that day
I still can feel the shame.
The family gathered round and played
I thought they were insane.

Twas Christmas day and he was gone
Korea was the name
Two months later MIA
No words can share the pain.

Fifty years have come and gone
Since we received the letter
He never came back home to us
It never does get better.

I need to tell the story
Because old men forget.
It's not just soldiers that we lose
their families are bereft

They hold a family update
To pacify our hurt
And then they send more babies
Out to die on foreign dirt.

It's not that I'm a pacifist
I'm not against all war
But I'm for talk and talk and talk
And then you talk some more.

The wars may be inevitable
And we will be prepared
But war should be the last resort
So little girls are spared.

What an Honor!

2010-05-26T14:52:00.004-04:00

Don Frantz named 2010 NFIB NC Small Business Champion

Week in Review 5/9/10 - 5/14/10

2010-05-17T13:46:00.001-04:00

Monday was our monthly Parks Recreation and Cultural Resources Advisory Board (PRCR) meeting. I serve as the council liaison to PRCR. The highlight – or maybe lowlight is a better word? – was a brief retirement reception for Cary’s outgoing PRCR Director Mary Henderson. Mary’s passion and dedication to making Cary a better place to live, work and especially play will be sorely missed.

On Thursday I attended the Cary Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Awards Luncheon at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Cary. Council members Jack Smith, Jennifer Robinson and Julie Robison were also in attendance. A good time was had by everyone – especially the folks at S&A Cherokee, the 2010 Cary Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year Award Winner! Other businesses and community partners receiving awards were:

· Carolina Auto Spa: Award for Innovation
· Avcon Inc.: Community Service Award
· Tri-Clean Inc: Employer of the Year
· Green Hope High School: Entrepreneurial Award in Education
· Triangle Aquatics Center: Charitable Partners Award

Congratulations to all the award winners and thank you for everything you do for our community!

Afterwards was our council meeting. Two notable topics included whether or not to pursue LEED certification for Cary Fire Station #8 (being built soon) and a shared leave policy for Cary Town employees.

The council voted 4-3 to not support pursuing LEED certification due to the additional $41,000 it would cost Cary taxpayers. The council did however agree to pursue a green-build. In a nutshell, the fire station will be built to LEED standards, but without the certification due to cost. These are trying economic times. To fund this initiative would mean we would have to cut somewhere else and our budget has already been scraped to the bone. Make no mistake, the council takes environmental protection seriously. The definition of environmental protection is just that – protecting our environment. By constructing the fire station to LEED standards that’s exactly what we are doing.

The shared leave policy is a program that allows an employee to donate some of his or her vacation time to another employee if that employee or an immediate family member experiences a catastrophic medical event. For example, if a town employee was diagnosed with cancer, and after using up their own sick leave and vacation time, town employees could donate some of their own vacation time to help the individual meet his or her financial obligations while they recover. Since an employee is donating time that they would otherwise be paid for to another employee, it costs the town nothing. The discussion centered on how much time an employee may ever receive. The council approved the town staff recommendation of 160 hours (4 weeks) and directed staff to investigate the effects of expanding that to 480 hours like that of many other area municipalities.

That’s about it for this week. Thanks for reading!

Week in Review 4/26/10 - 5/2/10

2010-05-02T22:34:00.006-04:00

I want thank everyone for the positive feedback on our first campaign video! We really wanted to do something out of the ordinary and I think we succeeded ;-) We had a blast making it and thanks to everyone – especially Green Hope High School student Alex Joiner – for all your help!

Speaking of video, on Monday afternoon Mayor Weinbrecht and I taped the May episode of Cary Matters – the monthly program designed to help keep you informed about and involved in the issues that we, the members of your town council, are working on as your elected representatives ;-) Taping Cary Matters is always a lot of fun and who knows, maybe the Mayor and I will win another award!

Afterwards I attended the Western Wake Republican Club’s monthly meeting at Ragazzi’s near Cary Town Center.

On Tuesday I met with the developers of a potential project in northwest Cary. While they are in the early planning stages, and most of what they are proposing makes sense, I encouraged them to meet with the area residents to better understand whatever concerns they may or may not have. Things tend to work out for the best when all stakeholders have a voice up front in the process.

Afterwards the council held a worksession to discuss stormwater runoff and flooding. The council has worked hard over the last couple of years to strengthen our stormwater runoff and retention ordinances which are now the strongest in the state. While I am confident they will better protect area residents from any runoff associated with future development, unfortunately these ordinances were not in place 5, 10 or 20 years ago. Some of the older areas of town that didn’t used to have any stormwater issues now do.

The majority of council felt that Cary’s current policies (policies 35 and 146 which enable residents to petition the town for assistance) are working well and that we did not need to make any significant adjustments. While I too believe these policies are working well, I believe we can do better.

What council ultimately directed staff to do was:

· Better incorporate flood control measures into future stream restoration projects
· Reevaluate the 50/50 cost share associated with policy 35
· Perform a FEMA Floodplain study and report back to council

(note – it appears that Cary will be receiving a $750,000 federal grant to perform this comprehensive study. When council approved our Federal Legislative Agenda a few months back I had requested we include a request for federal assistance to address stormwater/flooding issues. It appears that request was successful)

On Wednesday I attended the Civitas Poll Luncheon in Raleigh and the Cary Chamber of Commerce Elected Officials Reception at the Matthews House in downtown Cary. Thanks to everyone at the Chamber and the Matthews House for their hospitality. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time…, well, almost everyone ;-)

Our council meeting was Thursday evening. Notable agenda items included five annexations – all voluntary, two comprehensive transportation plan amendments, one comprehensive plan amendment, a rezoning, the award of contract for C-Tran services, and a partridge in a pear tree.

The discussion regarding the C-Tran contract award took much longer than expected as one council member believed this to be a good time to try and reengineer and expand the current program. While that discussion may or may not have merit, that was not what was on our agenda. The town’s contract with our current service provider is expiring and it was council’s responsibility to review the eligible bids received, and award a new contract. That was all. The council selected MV Transportation as our new service provider, replacing First Transit as MV offered increased services at a lower cost than what we are paying now.

After a healthy discussion, the council voted to deny the Weldon Ridge Planned Development District rezoning. The property in question was previously restricted to a school or church use during a previous rezoning and the applicant was requesting a change to allow age restricted (senior) housing. Council members that were on the council when the original rezoning was approved stated that their basis of support for the original rezoning was the reservation of this site for a school – and that had they anticipated this site being developed as residential they never would have supported the original rezoning in the first place.

On Friday morning I spoke to a group of area businessmen and women about the economic climate in Cary and North Carolina, my work during the last 2 ½ years on the council and my run for NC House District 35. I also answered a number of questions from those in attendance regarding business and town policies.

On Sunday I had the pleasure of attending the Historic Landmark Plaque Presentation Ceremonies hosted by Capital Area Preservation and the Wake County Historic Preservation Commission at the Guess-Ogle House in downtown Cary. It was truly an honor to be a part of the event’s festivities recognizing four area historic properties, including the old Carpenter Farm Supply Complex located on Morrisville-Carpenter Road in Cary. Thanks to Carroll and Sheila Ogle for opening up their home for this special event.

Before I wrap it up I want to take a minute and say, “Good Luck” to all the candidates running for office who have a primary election this Tuesday. It has been a pleasure to get to know each and every one of you, and while everyone can’t win, you’re all winners in my book. Anyone with a desire to become involved in their government and the guts to stand before the voters will always have my respect. May the best man or woman win!

That’s it for this week. As always, thanks for reading!

Are You Tired of Being Misled?

2010-04-26T15:46:00.004-04:00

www.frantzforhouse.org

Thanks to Green Hope High School Student, Alex Joiner for his great work on this video!

Week in Review 4/11/10 - 4/17/10

2010-04-17T21:35:00.004-04:00

What a busy week!

On Monday I had the honor of participating in Cary’s National 911 Appreciation Week Kickoff. National 911 Appreciation Week (April 11-17) recognizes and honors all telecommunications personnel in the public safety community for their hard work and dedication towards making our communities a safer place. Cary’s 911 calltakers and dispatchers provide a vital link to our public safety personnel in the field so they may respond to emergencies faster and better prepared. I spoke to those in attendance about a personal experience I had with Cary 911 about 7 years ago when I was thankful to have a calm and professional 911 operator on the phone. I caught a burglar breaking into a downtown business and I held him at gunpoint as best I could while Cary PD was in route. Unfortunately he got away (Crackheads run fast let me tell you!) but Cary PD caught up with him two days later. I also presented a proclamation in honor of National 911 Appreciation Week and Cary’s telecommunicators.

Afterwards I met with Town Manager Ben Shivar to discuss a couple of items related to our upcoming council meeting and an issue I have been working on with a downtown business owner. It is so frustrating sometimes when something that should be so simple becomes so complicated.

On Monday evening I attended Cary’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Advisory Board Meeting. Notable discussion Items included a review and recommendation of approval for Cary’s proposed Historic Preservation Master Plan and a review of Cary’s Biennial Survey results.

On Tuesday I met with two separate business owners to learn more about their plans to open a business in town and provide them with feedback. Both proposals are very exciting and would add significant value to our community. I hope they decide to move forward with their plans and I wish them both the best of luck.

Cary’s Sign Ordinance Review Task Force met on Wednesday evening. Main discussion topics included canopy, wall, awning and window signage. We were supposed to discuss neon signs as well, but time was running out and that one’s sure to generate quite a bit of discussion. ;-)

Thursday stunk. Not only was it tax day - and boy did we get hit hard again this year – but our council meeting was very disappointing to say the least.

The two main discussion items at our council meeting were the consideration of a resolution in support of public campaign financing for municipal elections, and Cary’s state legislative agenda.

I have already blogged about my position regarding public campaign financing here, but it’s worth saying again. I adamantly oppose public campaign financing of municipal elections for the following reasons:

· Loss of Freedom: A citizen’s tax dollars would be used to fund a candidate’s campaign that citizen might not otherwise support.

· Public campaign finance does not help candidates spend more time campaigning and less time fundraising as advocates claim. We see this with Judicial candidates who utilize a similar version of public financing (the majority of which comes from attorneys btw). They spend all their time traveling the state trying to collect enough contributions to meet the program’s requirements and deadlines.

· It would not prevent outside interest groups from spending money on the candidate(s) of their choice. They just could not give directly to the candidate.

· We have much more important items to spend tax dollars on.

· Candidates might not use public funds as responsibly as those which were given directly to them by a known supporter.

· The argument that an average citizen can’t beat money is a crock. The following municipal election results prove this.

In 2007, Harold Weinbrecht spent roughly $60,000 in his bid for Mayor. Incumbent Mayor Ernie McAlister spent nearly $200,000. Weinbrecht won.

In 2007, Durham Mayor Bill Bell spent $52,000 in his bid for reelection. Challenger Thomas Stith spent nearly $200,000. Bell won.

In 2007, Cary Councilman Nels Roseland spent nearly $38,000 in his bid for reelection. Challenger Vickie Maxwell spent roughly $12,000. I spent $8,000. I won.

In 2007 Cary Councilwoman Gale Adcock was outspent in her bid for a seat on the council. She won.

After discussion and debate the motion to approve the resolution passed 4-2. One councilmember in particular surprised me by supporting the resolution once language was changed to imply – but not guarantee – that a referendum (public vote) would be held to gauge citizen support before council approved such a program. State law however would only require that Cary hold a public hearing. Assuming the state grants Cary the authority to use public campaign financing this year, the earliest Cary could hold a referendum (without a special election) would be in 2011. Four council members are up for reelection in 2011. Three of the four supported the resolution endorsing public campaign financing and just might want the program in place before their election. I sincerely hope I am wrong.

Approval of Cary’s state legislative agenda – specifically whether or not to support the North Carolina League of Municipalities (NCLM) position on involuntary annexation - also proved to be contentious debate. I oppose the League’s position on annexation because:

· The NCLM does not support providing the affected residents a vote in the process.

· They do not support requiring that the annexing municipality covers the cost of water and sewer hook-ups (this can cost individual property owners upwards of $20,000)

· They do not support requiring county commissioner approval (County Commissioners are an unincorporated resident’s only locally elected official)

· And the NCLM does not adequately define “meaningful services”.

What was really disappointing to me however was that during our legislative committee meetings the committee agreed to compromise in order to get an agenda we could unanimously support. I agreed to state that we would support a municipality’s authority to annex (vague statement I know), and they agreed to not support the league’s opposition to referendum. Yet once the issue came to the council table, that all changed. The Council ultimately supported the NCLM’s position on annexation by a vote of 5-1. I was the 1. It is absolutely stunning to me that we can support policy that significantly impacts people’s lives and financial situation without even allowing them a voice in the process.

On Friday I had the honor of attending a reception honoring Cary’s Animal Control Officers in celebration of Animal Control Officer Week. Long-gone is the stereo-type of the dog catcher who did little more than round up loose dogs and put them in his truck. The reality is that Animal Control Officers save the lives of dogs and cats - and make their communities a safer place for people and animals every day.

According to National Animal Control Association, Animal Control Officers face more one-on-one contact with the public than any other public safety employee. They risk their safety and health on a daily basis dealing with aggressive and dangerous animals. Additionally, they are exposed to multiple zoonotic diseases through contact with infected animals. It was an honor to attend and show my appreciation for all their hard work and dedication.

I also attended the Wake County Republican Women’s Club meeting at the University Club in Raleigh. The guest speaker was NCGOP Chairman Tom Fetzer. I had a great time and it was wonderful to see so many friends. Feedback about my campaign for NC House was very positive and everyone is very excited about our chances of success in November.

Well that’s about it for this week in review. I hope that what I’ve shared has been of value to you and as always, thanks for reading!

Week in Review 3/29/10 - 4/4/10

2010-04-05T11:05:00.000-04:00

Cary’s State Legislative Agenda Committee met again this week to finalize our agenda and discuss a few outstanding issues that we had requested more information about from our staff. Most of the discussion however focused on whether or not Cary should support a number of items agreed upon by all Wake County cities and towns, and the North Carolina League of Municipalities’ (NCLM) legislative agendas. My concern pertained to NCLM’s position on annexation, which other municipalities were endorsing as well.

I cannot support the NCLM’s position on annexation for the following reasons:

· The League does not believe affected residents deserve a vote in the process.
· The League believes annexed residents should bear the cost of water and sewer hook-ups instead of the annexing municipality.
· The League does not support legislation that requires county commissioners also approve the annexation (county commissioners are the only unincorporated resident’s locally elected officials) *NOTE – if unincorporated residents were allowed a vote in the process this probably would not be necessary.
· The League has yet to define what they believe to be “meaningful services”.

After hearing my reasons for opposing the League’s position on annexation, the committee agreed to not include support the NCLM’s position on annexation on Cary’s State’s Legislative Agenda.

I do value much of the support that the NCLM offers to cities and towns throughout North Carolina, but we must always keep in mind the League’s primary goal is to assist municipalities – not those citizens residing in the unincorporated areas. Those folks have rights too.

I had the pleasure of attending the Friends of the NRA Banquet in Raleigh this past Wednesday. I saw a number of old friends and even made some new ones – which is pretty easy to do when everyone in the room shares the same values of liberty and freedom. This was a lot of fun and everyone had a great time.

I also attend the North Carolina Heroes Fund Breakfast at the VFW this past week. U.S. Senator Richard Burr and State Senators Neal Hunt and Richard Stevens were also in attendance.

The North Carolina Heroes’ Fund was created in 2007 with the mission of aiding North Carolina servicemen and women, or those serving at one of North Carolina’s many military installations. The vision of the Fund began with its founder, Scott Stone, and his drive to help those that are defending our freedom. It was devastatingly clear to Stone that many of our men and women were returning from active duty and facing very difficult transitions as well as financial hardships.

The support is primarily centered on hardships in which these men and women, or their families, may be enduring as a direct result to their service overseas. In addition to financial hardship assistance the Fund has established an educational grant process to assist the dependents of our military men and women with the cost of continued education. For more information about the NC Heroes Fund please visit http://www.ncheroes.org/ .

Other events I attended this past week included the Republican Women of Cary and Southwest Wake’s monthly meeting and the Civitas Poll Luncheon in Raleigh.

I took a break from work and our campaign this weekend to celebrate Easter with family and friends. Good times! I hope your Easter Holiday was as joyful as ours!

Well that’s about it for this week – Thanks for reading!

Week in Review 3/21/10 - 3/28/10

2010-03-28T21:30:00.003-04:00

On Tuesday afternoon I had two meetings: Cary’s State Legislative Committee meeting and our Town Council Meeting.

Cary’s State Legislative Committee members this year are Mayor Weinbrecht, Council Member Adcock and myself. We reviewed a number of topics but most of the discussion centered around two items in particular; public financing of municipal elections and annexation.

The committee discussed whether or not Cary should add support of HB120 – which is currently still in committee - to our legislative agenda. This legislation would grant municipalities with a population of 50,000 residents or greater the authority to use public financing (taxpayer funded) for municipal elections. Just so we are clear, if HB120 were to become law it does not mean that Cary would automatically begin utilizing public campaign financing. Cary would still have to hold a public hearing and then decide for ourselves if this is right for us.

I adamantly oppose public financing of municipal elections for the following reasons:

· A citizen’s tax dollars could be used to fund a candidate’s campaign that citizen would not otherwise support.
· It would not prevent outside interest groups from continuing to spend money on the candidate(s) of their choice. They just could not give directly to the candidate.
· We might not get a true read on citizen support at the public hearing (all committee members acknowledged this at our meeting). We witnessed this during the IRV debate. Only elections advocates such as the League of Women Voters or Fairvote came to speak.
· We have much more important items to spend tax dollars on.
· Money doesn’t buy you love. The following municipal elections results prove this.

In 2007, Harold Weinbrecht spent roughly $60,000 in his bid for Mayor. The incumbent Mayor Ernie McAlister spent nearly $200,000. McAlister lost.

In 2007, Durham Mayor Bill Bell spent $52,000 in his bid for reelection. Challenger Thomas Stith spent nearly $200,000. Stith lost.

In 2007, Cary Councilman Nels Roseland spent nearly $38,000 in his bid for reelection. Challenger Vickie Maxwell spent roughly $12,000. I spent $8,000. I won.

The committee agreed to not place this item on our legislative agenda.

The committee also discussed whether or not to support the North Carolina League of Municipalities Legislative Agenda and Wake County’s Joint Legislative Agenda. I opposed both of these given the League’s position on annexation, and that Wake County’s Joint Legislative Agenda also includes support of the League’s agenda. I believe we need comprehensive annexation reform in North Carolina. You can read more about my position on annexation here.

The committee also unanimously recommended including the request to exclude municipal email listserv databases from being classified as public information. This would hopefully prevent folks from requesting the town’s email list of thousands of citizens for the sole purpose of spamming them. To be clear, we are only requesting that the email addresses themselves not be classified as public information – not actual emails or other public information.

After our Legislative Committee Meeting was our Council Meeting. Notable discussion items included:

· The approval of a special use permit, annexation, and site plan for a church to be constructed at 910 Twyla Road
· Designation of the Old Carpenter Farm Supply Store on Morrisville-Carpenter Road as a Historic Landmark
· Consideration of Cary’s first Historic Preservation Master Plan. Council forwarded this to our Planning and Zoning Board for review.
· Approval of a request by Mayor Weinbrecht and myself to amend Policy 123 regarding guidelines for Cary’s Government Access Channel. You can read more about this issue here. Council decided to create a blackout period that prevents council members from appearing on Town of Cary programming such as the CaryMatters TV show or BudTV 90 days before their general election.

I met with a citizen on Wednesday to discuss his interest in becoming more involved in government; possibly to include a run for office one day. I spoke about the responsibilities of a council member, the time commitment and rigors of running a campaign. I encourage everyone to become more involved in their government and will gladly speak with anyone interested in doing so.

On Thursday I had the privilege of speaking with two 3rd grade civics classes at Saint Michael the Archangel School about local government. The students were very bright and asked a number of great questions. This was a lot of fun and I hope they invite me back.

Thursday evening I attended the “What’s Up Downtown” event at Havana Grill on Chatham Street in downtown Cary. It was great to see so many downtown friends and Heart of Cary Association members. I didn’t have very far to travel either as Havana Grill is right next door to Frantz Automotive. ;-)

On Saturday I had the honor of officially kicking off the Miracle League of the Triangle’s spring baseball season by throwing out the first pitch. The Miracle League provides children with special needs, regardless of their disability the opportunity to play baseball. The Miracle League was started by Robin Rose and Tony Withers, who after seeing an HBO special about a similar program in Georgia, believed the same could be done here in the triangle. A board of directors was soon formed and over $750,000 was raised to cover the costs of field construction and programming. Kenny Moore, owner of Andy’s Restaurants donated $250,000 towards the program. The field is named Andy’s Field in his honor.

The Miracle League has come a long way from the first game held in the Adams Elementary School parking lot with 40 kids. Today the program serves 258 kids and fields 20 teams. They will soon be looking to add a second field to further provide for the special needs children in our region.

The Miracle League is always looking for volunteers and sponsors. Please consider helping out by volunteering your time or donating today.

My campaign committee met on Sunday for our bi-monthly meeting. Things are moving along fabulously and everyone is very excited! I am so blessed to have such wonderful volunteers assisting me in my efforts to serve as your next representative. The outpouring of support has been truly humbling. I can’t thank everyone enough for all your help thus far!

Well that’s about it for this week in review. As always, thanks for reading and please don’t forget to check out my campaign website at http://www.frantzforhouse.org/ !

Week in Review 3/8/10 - 3/14/10

2010-03-14T22:39:00.003-04:00

My week began with a meeting with Town Manager Ben Shivar. We discussed a number of topics including transportation and rail, a signage issue we are trying to work through in the Silverton community, and Cary’s upcoming budget.

Afterwards I visited with a successful business owner in the Raleigh area and was given a tour of their North Carolina manufacturing facility – very impressive. We also discussed the need for increased vocational education and training for service and manufacturing jobs in North Carolina.

A highly skilled and educated workforce is critical to our state and nation’s economic future. Preparing our children to compete in a global economy must include investments in vocational education for those children who do not want to go to college. We must educate not only the next Fortune 500 CEO or pharmacist but also the next electrician, service technician, and nurse. Providing increased opportunities for students to learn a skill or trade not only increases their chances of success once they leave the public school system, it will also significantly reduce North Carolina’s abysmal high school drop-out rate.

On Tuesday evening I attend the Wake County Young Professional Republican Club’s meeting at Foster’s in Raleigh. The guest speaker was House Minority Leader Skip Stam. A number of elected officials and candidates for office were in attendance and a good time was had by all. Just as an FYI – if you are looking for some of the best fire roasted pizza in the area, Foster’s has it. Yum!

Our council meeting was this Wednesday evening. Notable discussion topics included a request to amend policy 157 pertaining to the Citizen Issue Review Commission (CIRC) and a request from Council Members Robinson and Portman to direct staff to prepare a staff report outlining the I-540 impacts on Cameron Pond so that Council may determine the best manner in which to address these concerns. The request regarding Cameron Pond was a no-brainer and passed unanimously. Thanks to council members Robinson and Portman for their work on this.

While I supported the requested amendment to Policy 157, I still have concerns regarding the CIRC process in general. The proposed amendment reads as follows:

Amend Policy 157 pertaining to the citizen issue review commission (CIRC) as follows: (1) All applications will be initially reviewed by CIRC staff liaison to ensure eligibility by meeting the criteria set forward in Policy 157 and then all applications will be forwarded to CIRC with a recommendation. (This replaces current policy which engages Town Manager). (2) CIRC can do one of the following: deny application; or forward application to council with recommendation to form an issue advisory group; or recommend applicants present to other board/or refer town department; or recommend applicants send a written report to council; or table application in order to request more information or to continue assessment of application.

I supported creating CIRC over a year ago because I believed it could better help citizens bring issues of concern to council. I fear I was wrong.

While well intentioned, I believe the CIRC process has created another level of government bureaucracy that lengthens the time it takes to get an issue to council for discussion, increases costs and possibly gives folks false hopes.

We already have a great system in place to determine whether or not an issue warrants forming a task force or issue advisory board. It simply takes the support of two council members (a sponsor and co-sponsor) to bring any issue to the council table for discussion and vote. While not every idea is adopted, every request receives a fair hearing and an up or down vote.

Two examples are the Animal Issues Task Force and the Sign Ordinance Review Task Force – two advisory groups created by council to assist us on two important issues. They didn’t require months of process or have to go through a staff liaison or our town manager and then to a committee before coming to council to be sanctioned.

With the CIRC process we essentially have a committee to study whether or not to form a committee. Why would a citizen or group of citizens want to go through the CIRC process when all they really need to do is earn the support of two council members and their request is on our next agenda for discussion and decision?

We'll see how it goes after these most recent changes.

Council received the unfortunate news this week that Mary Henderson, Cary’s Parks and Recreation and Cultural Resources Director will be retiring effective June 1st. Mary has worked for the town for over 27 years and has given so much of herself to help make Cary one of the best places to live in the country. She will be sorely missed and I wish her all the best in her retirement.

On Sunday afternoon my campaign for NC House 35 held our first meet and greet at the home of Jim and Sherri Phillips. It was wonderful to see so many old friends and make some new ones. Turnout far exceeded my expectations – especially considering we inadvertently scheduled this during the ACC Basketball Championship game ;-). I can’t thank everyone enough for all your support and confidence in me to serve as your next representative.

Well that’s about it for this week in review – as always, thanks for reading!

Week in Review 3/1/10 - 3/6/10

2010-03-07T14:50:00.002-05:00

What an incredibly busy but productive week!

The week began with our monthly Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Advisory Board meeting. The board received a number of reports from sub-committee members as well as an update from Joy Ennis and Sal Cammarata regarding the Town of Cary’s Volunteer Banquet, awards presentation and silent auction fundraiser. Thanks so much to everyone who worked so hard to make this event such a huge success!

I had the honor and privilege of reading to students at Kingswood Elementary School on Tuesday for Read Across America. The book I chose to read was one of my all time favorites – Dr. Suess’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The kids were a lot of fun and I can’t thank the staff and teachers at Kingswood enough for all their hospitality.

Cary’s Sign Ordinance Review Task Force met again on Wednesday evening. Main discussion and decision items included monument sign height and required materials, the allowable number of pieces of information that sign may have, text colors, and directory signage. Not all the task force’s decisions were unanimous, which just goes to show how diverse a group the council assembled to perform this important review. I am very pleased with the task force’s work thus far and I believe that what will ultimately be brought to council will be a good reflection of our community’s values. I can’t thank the task force members enough for taking so much time out of their busy schedules to assist us in this endeavor.

On Thursday I attended the Republican Women of Cary and Southwestern Wake Club’s meeting and briefly spoke about my campaign for NC House. The club’s guest speaker was Judge Barbara Jackson who spoke about her campaign for NC Supreme Court.

I will be the club’s guest speaker in May. I hope to see you there!

Thursday evening I was the guest speaker at the Cary-Kildaire Rotary Club’s meeting. I spoke to the club about ongoing and future downtown projects including the renovations to old Cary Elementary School, the streetscape project (on hold), the recently approved way-finding signage concept and the proposed high speed rail project.

On Friday and Saturday I attended the 2010 Annexation Law and Reform Conference held at the Hampton Inn at Brier Creek. Notable guest speakers included Daren Bakst from the John Locke Foundation, Kathy Hartkopf of FreedomWorks, Tryon NC. Town Council Member Doug Arbogast, Rowan County Commissioner Tina Hall and NC Property Rights Coalition founder Kieran Shanahan.

This was an incredibly informative conference and all speakers did a great job of articulating the issues with the current annexation and eminent domain laws in North Carolina.

The conference concluded with a panel of state legislators who included Representatives David Guice and Bill Faison and State Senators Phil Berger and Larry Shaw – 2 Democrats and 2 Republicans; who all support annexation and eminent domain reform in North Carolina.

It is sad that there is obvious bipartisan support for reform, yet no real reform laws have been passed. It just goes to show how broken our government is when a few powerful people control which legislation comes to the floor for debate and a vote.

Real annexation reform should include the following:

Prohibits municipalities from annexing an area unless that area is in clear need of water and sewer service, police and fire services, and the municipality can adequately provide those services.

County Commission approval of forced annexations.

A simple majority vote of the property owners being annexed.

The annexing municipality – NOT the forcibly annexed citizens - will be financially responsible for water and sewer infrastructure.

I also had a number of meetings this week regarding my run for NC House 35. These are very exciting times and it is clear that our message of bringing experienced small business leadership and sound principles to North Carolina is resonating with voters on both sides of the aisle. I can’t thank everyone enough for your support and trust in me to serve as your next state representative.

Well, those are the highlights from this past week. I’m sorry I didn’t post a week in review last week but given my extra busy schedule these days I hadn’t seen the family much lately and I wanted to spend time with them. I can’t thank Lisa and the kids enough for all their support – I am one lucky man.

Editorial Regarding the Proposed High Speed Rail

2010-03-06T16:55:00.002-05:00

I have submitted the following to The Cary News:

The Triangle Transit Authority’s plans for regional and light rail, along with increased bus service have merit, and further planning for additional transit options now so that our region is well positioned to handle the expected growth over the 10-20 years makes sense.

Increased rail service in Cary will also help to spur reinvestment and redevelopment in Cary’s downtown, and in other areas along the rail corridor.

NCDOT Rail’s current plans for high speed rail however, could have just the opposite effect.

During a council worksession, NCDOT Rail Director Patrick Simmons stated that the primary goals of high speed rail is “to move people”, and “public safety”

Public safety to NCDOT Rail means eliminating at-grade rail crossings and the train/car conflict. NCDOT Rail has already recommended eliminating 156 at-grade crossings between Raleigh and Richmond. That means 156 roads that may now dead end where they meet Railroad tracks – unless of course the local municipality invests millions in above or below grade crossings.

Think about how many at-grade rail crossings currently exist in Cary, and how much it would cost Cary taxpayers to grade separate (bridge or tunnel) each one of them. Are you willing to bear a substantial tax increase so that a few hundred people can now get to Charlotte an hour faster than Amtrak’s current service?

Would closing crossings at Maynard Road, Academy Street, Harrison Ave, Cary Parkway and other roads throughout Cary be acceptable to you?

What sense does it make to improve an existing transportation system that negatively impacts another? Why invest so much money in a system that only 3% of the population will ever utilize? And who will want to invest in Cary’s downtown if the majority of road access is eliminated?

The congestion on our roads and highways is not because everyone is trying to get to Richmond or Charlotte. The overwhelming majority is caused by folks traveling to and from work each day, to school, and running errands.

TTA’s plans of regional and light rail, and especially increased bus service to major employment and activity centers might help in this regard. NCDOT Rail’s plans will not.

You may see the majority of council support NCDOT Rail’s plans for high speed rail once we are assured that their plans will not negatively impact our community, our road network, and our taxpayers. Unfortunately that hasn’t happened yet.

In the meantime you can be assured that we will do everything in our power to ensure that Cary’s interests are represented to NCDOT. It might help if they heard from you as well. You can contact them at http://www.bytrain.org/redbarinfo/feedback/

Week in Review 2/15/10 - 2/20/10

2010-02-22T09:37:00.002-05:00

I want to start by thanking all of you who have taken the time to contact me to express your appreciation of my efforts to better communicate with citizens through this blog. It means a lot to me.

I realize that some of you may not always agree with every decision I make, but I have committed to keeping each and every one of you informed about why I voted a certain way, or why I supported a particular initiative. I do work for you after all.

I was sent to town hall to do a job – not to be everyone’s best friend. Heck, that’s government’s biggest problem today. The more government tries to be everything to everyone, the more it becomes nothing to no one and we can’t afford it any longer. But I digress.

Anyways, thanks again – Now on with my week in review.

Monday evening I attended the Wake County Republican Party’s Executive Committee meeting in Raleigh. WCPSS Vice-Chair Debra Goldman was the evening’s guest speaker. She provided an update on the new school board’s work thus far, including the status of the controversial H6 high school site northeast of Raleigh. Afterwards we attended the Western Wake Republican Club’s meeting at Ragazzi’s restaurant at Cary Town Center. I spoke to the club about the state of Cary and our financial situation, and my campaign for NC House 35.

The Town of Cary’s Sign Ordinance Review Task Force met again on Tuesday evening. Discussion items included potential changes regarding ground signs, monument signs, and directory signage, as well as allowable colors. While at times it seems we are going around in circles, I do believe we are making progress towards Cary becoming a little more business friendly while continuing to protect the visual landscape of our town. One of the challenges we face is Cary’s strict buffer and streetscape ordinances – which no one wants to tamper with. But requiring so much screening of development makes it very difficult for potential customers to see what businesses are in a particular development – often resulting in businesses going out of business due to lack of exposure. One example is Waverly Place (yes I realize Waverly also has topography issues). Unless you regularly patronize a particular business inside Waverly, you have no idea what other businesses are in there.

Cary’s Planning and Development Committee met this past Thursday. We had three consent agenda items and only one discussion item on our agenda. There just isn’t any development occurring in town right now to speak of. While it makes for a rather quick meeting, it doesn’t make for a sound financial situation. Just as business needs to grow to remain financially healthy, so does the town – or any municipality for that matter. A growth rate of around 3-4% provides new revenues to the town to fund new capital projects while at the same time allowing infrastructure to keep pace with development.

Our one discussion item was the re-adoption of Cary’s existing resolution of consideration of annexation. Cary has a comprehensive annexation program and state law requires it be readopted every two years. This program identifies land or properties that may be considered for future annexation. Re-adopting this resolution does not mean that Cary intends to annex these properties any time in the near future, but it does make it a lot easier for Cary to annex when and if the council decides to do so.

I oppose involuntary annexation and believe that affected property owners deserve a voice and a vote in the process. Given the ongoing debate in the General Assembly I also believe that Cary should wait and see what changes the state implements before moving forward with any annexation plans. The committee recommended sending this item to our next council meeting for discussion as we were divided on whether or not to approve it, and because this is a political issue that deserves council discussion. I intend to vote against this resolution.

Friday morning was a lot of fun. I spoke to 5th graders at Davis Drive Elementary School regarding the importance of reading. I spoke both from my experiences as a business owner and as a member of the council. The students were a lot of fun and asked a number of great questions.

Afterwards I attended a follow up meeting with town staff and Councilwoman Julie Robison regarding an issue we have been working on in the Silverton Community. Staff will be following up with us in the near future with potential options.

On Saturday I had the honor and privilege of representing the Mayor and Council at the 12th annual African American Celebration held at the Herb Young Community Center. I spoke to those in attendance about the importance of diversity, encouraging youths to become involved in their community, and that while we have made great progress towards eradicating racism in America; we still have a lot of work to do. I also presented a proclamation recognizing February and National African American History Month.

Well those are the past week’s highlights – as always, thanks for reading!

Week in Review 2/6/10 - 2/13/10

2010-02-14T18:26:00.005-05:00

On Monday I officially filed for my candidacy for North Carolina House at the Wake County Board of Elections. We are very excited about our race and I am humbled by the amount of support we have received thus far. Some of you have expressed a little sadness that I may be leaving the council – I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little sad also. I have really enjoyed my time on the council and believe that we have made great progress in a very short period of time.

During my time on the council I have focused on fiscal management and economic development; creating an environment that encourages business growth through low taxes, high levels of service, and reducing burdensome regulations. I have worked to further protect our environment and address stormwater issues, and I have worked very hard to increase accountability and transparency in our government. I take great pride that Cary has the lowest tax rate in Wake County, and one of the lowest unemployment rates of any municipality in the state.

I sincerely believe this same focus and my brand of leadership are desperately needed in state government. North Carolina cannot continue business as usual and expect to compete in our nation’s economy. Last year alone the general assembly – and my opponent – voted to raise taxes over $1.1 Billion. They imposed a 2% surcharge on NC citizen’s income tax, and a 3% surcharge on the corporate income tax rate. This means that come April 15th, the average NC citizen will pay 102% of their income tax bill. But don’t worry – this is only “temporary”. They even created a new internet tax that taxes everything from internet downloads to ringtones. Yep – that Eddie Money song you wanted now costs a little more money. $55 Million in new fees, $70 Million in new “sin taxes” and legislation that allows the CURRENT gas tax rate to be set as the new MINIMUM tax rate are but a few examples of how out of whack our state legislator’s priorities are.

I don’t get it – and neither do North Carolinians. I promise to govern in Raleigh with the same conservative principles, dedication, and energy as I have in Cary.

OK – candidate hat off now – on to my council journal ;-)

On Tuesday council held a worksession to hear from a number of presenters regarding the proposed high speed rail, light rail, and regional rail projects. Speakers included Mr. Pat Simmons from NCDOT Rail, Mr. David King from TTA, Mr. Joe Durham and Mr. Tim Maloney from Wake County, and Mr. Ed Johnson from CAMPO. All presenters spoke to the current status and long term goals for these projects.

Council requested this worksession since Cary had received little to no information regarding these initiatives – and given these projects will directly impact Cary, we want to know what is going on – and who is planning what for our town. Sounds fair enough right?

What we learned is simply unbelievable. While the light rail and regional rail projects have merit, and we should be planning for these initiatives now so that in 20-30 years when they really would be an asset to our region we are prepared, the high speed rail project is absolutely absurd.

$5 Billion Boondoggle. The high speed rail project will cost taxpayers $5+ billion. So what do you get for $5 Billion? You’ll get to Charlotte 30 minutes faster than Amtrak currently does. That’s worth $5 billion right? Now I’m not sure what data NCDOT Rail is looking at, but the folks trying to get to Charlotte or Richmond aren’t the ones clogging up our roadways. It’s the folks who are trying to get to work and back each day.

What is terrifying is that NCDOT Rail’s goals are to ELIMINATE every at-grade crossing from Raleigh to Charlotte, and Raleigh to Richmond. Yet they will most likely not be the one’s paying to construct above or below grade crossings. Guess who will have to pay to grade separate should we desire to keep crossings open in Cary? Cary citizens, that’s who. NCDOT Rail has already submitted their recommendations regarding the route from Richmond to Raleigh. Care to guess how many crossings they recommend being closed? 156. That’s 156 roads that will now most likely dead end where they meet a RR crossing.

Mr. Simmons stated their goals are to move people and public safety. Now I can understand their concerns regarding public safety, but how in the heck does this project “move people” when they have shut down every at-grade crossing? How will you be able to drive through Cary – or any other municipality for that matter – when NCDOT Rail has essentially eliminated your ability to cross over RR tracks?

This dark cloud might have a silver lining however. The feds have currently allocated NCDOT Rail $545 Million – they still require another $4.5 Billion to complete the project. Given the current makeup in Washington and their lust to spend, spend, spend they might have a shot at getting it. However, after this fall’s elections I am not so sure that will be the case. For all our sake let’s hope not. In the meantime you can be assured that we will do everything in our power to represent Cary’s interests.

Wednesday morning I attended the North Carolina Community Foundation Breakfast at the Mathews House in Downtown Cary. The guest speaker was James W. Narron, Chairman of the Board of the North Carolina Community Foundation. He gave a great speech on how to better encourage folks to become more involved in their community by giving back through charitable contributions.

Our council meeting was Thursday evening. Notable topics included a potential partnership between SAS and the town regarding the Veteran’s Freedom Park, a comprehensive transportation plan amendment, and our federal legislative agenda.

Council directed staff to work with SAS and prepare a report to come back to council for discussion regarding SAS’s offer to donate the Veteran’s Freedom Park property to the town and their desire to construct a monument in the park honoring our veterans. While the specifics of what may be required of the town aren’t available yet, for us not to consider such a partnership would be criminal. I’ll report more on this item once I know more.

I pulled our federal legislative agenda off our consent agenda for discussion to propose the addition of a request to seek federal assistance regarding stormwater/flood damage protection. Stormwater and flooding problems are a big concern for a number of Cary citizens and I believe any assistance we can obtain from Washington to help assist us in this regard might better help us provide some relief to folks in town. Council unanimously approved my request.

On Friday I attended a meeting with Councilwoman Julie Robison and representatives of Silverton to discuss a signage issue they have been trying to work through with our staff. We will follow up with our town’s Planning Director to discuss further.

Well that’s this past week’s highlights. As always, thanks for reading!

Week in Review 1/25/10 - 1/30/10

2010-02-01T09:24:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone had a great time playing in the snow and stayed warm and safe! The kids had a blast and we now have a miniature snow family in our freezer. ;-)

I attended Cary’s Planning and Zoning Board meeting on Monday evening so I could hear the board’s thoughts on two items of interest. The first was a public hearing on the proposed Silverton/Singh development at the corner of Cary Parkway and Evans Road. Much progress had been made in regards to satisfying neighborhood concerns, but unfortunately one in particular we recently learned is in conflict with our town’s Land Development Ordinance; specifically the proposed turning restrictions out of the development onto Winfair Drive. This is very disappointing to me as I believed this concession went a long ways towards reducing the amount of traffic on Winfair. The elimination of the proposed turning restrictions also further impacts a property owner at the corner of Winfair and Cary Parkway. The applicant requested this item be tabled so they could have more time to try and address these concerns.

The second item of discussion was proposed amendments to our LDO regarding signage. After a healthy debate the board recommended that the majority of the proposed amendments be addressed by the Sign Ordinance Review Task Force which is currently undertaking a comprehensive review of our ordinance. The board did however recommend for approval to increase the number of open houses a homeowner could advertise with signage from two to five. Currently Cary only allows homeowners the ability to advertise 2 open houses with signage. Yet given the current economic climate many homeowners are having a difficult time selling their homes and may need to host 3, 4, 5 or more open houses. The proposed amendment was recommended to have a two year sunset clause (will revert back to the current ordinance in two years) in the hopes that the economy will improve by then. Given how well the feds have done thus far however, I wouldn’t hold your breath.

Tuesday evening council held a worksession to discuss Cary’s Public Art Master Plan and hear from the town’s consultant and staff. Needless to say I was not surprised to hear that they were further recommending ways in which to implement public art into town constructed facilities. What was shocking however was that they were also recommending we create an ordinance or policy that requires a certain percentage of the cost construction be allocated to public art – 1% was their recommendation. What this means to Cary taxpayers is that if Cary were to build a $10 million community center for example, $100,000 must be allocated to public art. Sound familiar? What about made me fall out of my chair was that they stated this would NOT increase the cost of construction…seriously! When I asked how that was possible the consultant stated we could reduce construction costs by using cheaper doorknobs. I am not kidding! While council did agree to perform a comprehensive review of the town’s Public Art Master Plan – as it has been ten years since the plan was created and it’s probably time to review it – I will NOT support any plan that requires a percentage of construction be spent on public art. And honestly I don’t believe our current plan is broken so I’m not sure why we’re trying to fix it.

On Wednesday morning I attended the Cary Chamber of Commerce’s Eye Opener Breakfast to hear Mayor Weinbrecht’s State of the Town Address. Mayor Weinbrecht did a great job with his speech and it was wonderful to see so many friends and business colleagues.

On Thursday afternoon I had the honor and privilege of attending the Lady Daze Grant Awards presentation at the Page Walker Hotel. Monies generated from Cary’s annual Lazy Daze festival are given back to the community in the form of grants to local non-profits. $31,000 was presented to 28 area non-profit organizations.

Afterwards I high-tailed it to council chambers for our council meeting. Notable topics included LDO Amendments pertaining to adult businesses and home day cares, and a rezoning of the Russell Hills neighborhood in downtown. While I believe most everyone would agree we would rather not have any adult businesses in town, the reality is we cannot legally prohibit them from locating “somewhere” in town. The proposed ordinance amendment would require they not be sited within 1000 feet of a school, not be sited within 2000 feet of another adult business, and be allowed in the office, research, and development district in the airport overlay. Council directed staff to pursue making adult business a special use in the airport overlay and bring back information to council at our next meeting. Since our meeting I have heard from a citizen asking why 1000 feet from a school, yet 2000 feet from another adult business? – shouldn’t it be the other way around or 2000 feet for both? I can’t argue with that logic and I have asked our legal department to address.

In regards to home daycare uses I believe the ordinance amendment passed is a good compromise that protects both the rights of home day care operators and residents of residential neighborhoods. The amendment also only pertains to new home day cares – existing day cares would be grandfathered in.

On Friday I had the pleasure of speaking to 5th graders at Weatherstone Elementary about government, and my role as a member of the council. This was a lot of fun. Kids are so honest and have no idea what political correctness is. ;-) Some of the more interesting questions I was asked were, “What is the difference between a Republican and a Democrat?” “Have I ever met President Obama?”, and “Why doesn’t Cary have its own school system?”

That's the highlights from this week - as always, thanks for reading!

4th Annual George Almond Officer of the Year Banquet

2010-01-30T13:07:00.002-05:00

Dear Friends of Law Enforcement:

On behalf of the Cary Chapter of the North Carolina Police Benevolent Association I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to the fourth annual “George Almond” Officer of the Year awards banquet.

The North Carolina Police Benevolent Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving officers working for North Carolina public law enforcement entities. We support personnel by advocating changes to improve the quality of work life for our members along with addressing issues through political action. The Cary Chapter was formed in the fall of 2005 and has been very active in working for our membership and also in the Cary community.

The Cary Chapter board, in its first year, chose to sponsor an Officer of the Year Award in honor of retired Detective George Almond. Almond, a PBA member, was shot in the line of duty in October 2001. Almond survived the shooting and returned to duty as a Detective in juvenile investigations before retiring in August 2004. The award recognizes outstanding achievement in the areas of leadership, community service, mentoring, excellence in performance, and valor. Five finalists will be selected from a group of nominees for this year’s award. One of these individuals will be selected as the Officer of the Year for 2009. The award will be presented by Almond at the Embassy Suites in Cary on February 27, 2010. The doors to the event will open at 5:30 p.m.

We, as a chapter, would welcome your attendance at this event. Tickets are $50 per individual. We are also raising funds for the event to help defray some of the expenses. All contributors will be recognized at the ceremony in a special section of our program literature. Contributors who choose to be a Host ($250) or Sponsor ($500) will be formally recognized during the ceremony and through placards that will be placed on the dining tables. The deadline for receiving these funds is February 1, 2010. Checks should be made payable to the NCPBA. Cary Officer of the Year Banquet should be written on the memo line. Checks can be mailed to Holly Doychak – Southern States PBA, 2155 Highway 42 South, McDonough, GA 30252.

As part of our event the Police Benevolent Foundation has created as successful partnership with Cary Crime Stoppers to raise funds at the event through a live auction. The Police Benevolent Foundation is a charitable arm of the PBA which provides aid to the families of our fallen members, scholarships to well deserving youth and funding for law enforcement officers in times of natural and man-made disasters. Cary Crime Stoppers is a volunteer organization comprising local citizens dedicated to the reduction and quick resolution of crime. The Cary Crime Stoppers organization gathers funds to reward individuals who provide information anonymously to the Cary Police Department so that crimes can be solved.

For more information please contact:

Randy Byrd- Cary Chapter President
North Carolina Police Benevolent Association
1-800-233-3506 ext. 311
rbyrd@sspba.org
*contributions are not tax deductible for IRS purposes

Week in Review 1/18/10 - 1/23/10

2010-01-25T12:22:00.002-05:00

The highlights of this week included the groundbreaking of the Cary Community Arts Center, a Planning and Development Committee meeting, Cary’s Sign Ordinance Review Task Force meeting and a few meetings with citizens.

Cary’s Sign Ordinance Review Task Force met on Wednesday evening. The goal of this task force is to see if there are ways in which Cary can be more flexible in allowing businesses to advertise while continuing to protect the visual landscape and character in Cary.

Councilwoman Gale Adcock joined the task force this week replacing Councilman Portman who had to resign due to scheduling conflicts. Welcome aboard, Gale! This was the task force’s second meeting and discussion topics included principle ground signs and shopping center signs. We reviewed Cary’s current ordinance and that of a number of different communities and discussed what changes – if any – we might be amenable to. The consensus of the group was to continue to require materials found in the associated development (brick, stone, etc..) but to also see how we might be a little more flexible regarding materials used to construct the sign itself to allow for more creativity, as well as different fonts, sizes, and logos. There was also an interesting discussion regarding signs and their readability on roads with different speed limits; should we allow larger signage on highways with higher speed limits to increase readability? I look forward to seeing what staff brings back to the group after our input.

On Thursday I met with a citizen to discuss the proposed zoning changes to the Russell Hills community and her desire to see us protect the character of the existing community while still allowing for reinvestment and redevelopment.

Afterwards was our Planning and Development Committee meeting. We had two consent agenda items and one discussion item. The item for discussion was consideration of acceptance of a design concept for integrated art enhancements for Cary’s C-Tran bus shelters. Approving the concept is one thing – paying for it is another. While I support the proposed artwork, I do not support funding it until Cary’s financial situation improves. I also would like to see Cary pursue sponsorship opportunities with the private sector to help cover these costs.

Saturday was a great day for Cary as we broke ground on the new Cary Community Arts Center in downtown. 147 years after it began, old Cary Elementary School is embarking on a new adventure in education, once again poised to play a critical role in the next chapter of Cary!

Preserving our heritage and our history is of utmost importance to me and the council. Old Cary Elementary School is one of Cary’s most precious historic resources, and is in dire need of repairs. Of all our town’s capital projects, this particular project – in my opinion – is our most important. I cannot in good conscience support new capital projects in Cary while Cary Elementary further deteriorates. The longer we wait to make these improvements, the more expensive this project becomes, and by moving forward now we are able to get it done for nearly $4 million LESS than anticipated. This project will be funded with cash on hand, and will not add to the town’s debt level or tax burden of our citizens.

I cannot thank the hundreds of volunteers and our town staff enough for all their efforts to make this project a reality. I believe Councilman Jack Smith said it best, “Finally!” Yes, Jack, Finally!

You can read more about it and see photos here.

I also attended two political functions this week - the Wake County Republican Party’s Executive Committee meeting and the Wake County Young Republican Club’s meeting. Remind me next time to avoid Hillsborough Street until they finish construction – what a mess! ;-)

That’s about it for this week. As always, thanks for reading!

Let's Help Cary Crash the Superbowl!

2010-01-20T22:35:00.002-05:00

Let's help James and all the folks at 5 Point Productions in Cary crash the Superbowl!

Out of over 4500 entries, BOTH of 5 Point Production's videos made the top six finalists. They are the only finalists from North Carolina and the east coast.

But they need your help to win.

Please visit http://www.doritoscontest.com/ to see both videos. WARNING - According to the Video General, 5 Point videos might cause uncontrollable laughter.

Once you are done wiping the Dr. Pepper off of your monitor, please vote for your favorite video! It's that simple. Please forward this link to your friends and family and encourage them to vote as well.

Good Luck 5 Point Productions - North Carolina is rooting for you!

Retreat Take 2

2010-01-20T22:18:00.002-05:00

The fine folks over at CaryCitizen.com did a much better job at reporting on our council retreat than I could ever hope to, so I thought I'd share the links to their online articles. Heck, they even have pictures! :-)

Day 1

Day 2

Day 2 part 2

Week In Review 1/11/10 - 1/16/10

2010-01-18T10:28:00.002-05:00

This week mainly consisted of a few meetings with local residents and elected officials, a council meeting and our retreat.

I met with WCPSS School Board member Debra Goldman on Tuesday to discuss relocating a bus stop at Evans and Evans Estates Roads to better protect children from the existing high speed traffic on Evans and future construction traffic associated with an approved subdivision. We also discussed her service on the school board thus far and her thoughts about how things are progressing along.

Council’s last meeting was on December 10th last year. It’s been over a month since we last met and not one development related item on our agenda for discussion. We continue to feel the effects of the struggling economy. While no development might be good news to some folks in Cary, the reality is that if this trend continues for much longer Cary will have a very difficult time maintaining the high levels of service that our citizens expect. A healthy growth rate of around 3-4% provides new revenues (tax base) to the town that funds new infrastructure projects, amenities, and services. Hopefully this trend won’t continue for much longer.

After a month of debate both on a local and national level I am pleased to report that the council voted 6-1 to approve my request to call the town’s tree lighting ceremony Cary’s Christmas Tree lighting ceremony, and to call our Community Tree Cary’s Community Christmas Tree. I have already blogged on this topic HERE so I won’t recap it again.

Council also unanimously voted to deny the proposed single quadrant intersection design proposal for the Cary Parkway and High House intersection, and we directed town staff to further solicit citizen input and look for other alternative designs and options. A number of folks have expressed concerns that existing traffic at this intersection are not that bad, and were confused as to why we were looking to redesign the intersection. For the most part they are correct. However, once the approved Davis and High House projects and the Park West project in Morrisville are completed, and as our community continues to grow, the level of service at this intersection will continue to deteriorate. This is unacceptable to council and we are trying to plan ahead and ensure that adequate infrastructure is in place before growth occurs.

I have attended six council retreats over the years – three as a member of council, and three as an observer. It may sound cliché but this year’s retreat was hands down the best I have ever attended. I think this was due largely in part to less presentation and more discussion among council and staff.

Day one consisted of a comprehensive review of the town and its departments (where are we now) and a visioning exercise (what do we envision Cary looking like in 2030?) Council discussed a wide range of topics including stormwater quantity and quality, growth, densities, public safety, environmental protection, parks and recreation and cultural arts, and technology.

Day two focused on Cary’s downtown. Yes I know we’ve talked about downtown at nearly every retreat Cary has had, but this time it was different. Given the current economic climate and our lack of confidence that we will rebound anytime in the near future we reevaluated current plans and focused on how we can better work with the county to site a regional library downtown, and how we may better incent the private sector to implement our vision for us.

Council agreed that the new library would best fit in the future downtown park, and we agreed to locate the future performing arts center near town hall to both help incent redevelopment on the north side of downtown, and to take advantage of existing structured parking.

Council also discussed the future high speed rail and light rail plans and how that will impact our downtown. We will be working very closely with all stakeholders involved to ensure that these rail initiatives –should they become reality – do not negatively impact our vision for downtown.

That's about it for this week, as always, thanks for reading!

Cary's Newest Cop

2010-01-14T10:06:00.001-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 11, 2010
Latest addition comes as K9 Axle retires after seven years of service to local communities

CARY, NC – On the heels of its first K9 retirement, the Town of Cary Police Department is proud to introduce its newest K9 officer, Enzo. Purchased from the Czech Republic, Enzo is a solid black, 17-month-old German Shepherd. He and his new partner, K9 Handler and Cary Police Officer Seth Everett, are enrolled in a three-month K9 training program in Chapel Hill that started January 4, 2010. Enzo replaces Axle, a German Shepherd that serviced both Carrboro and Cary during his seven years as a K9 Officer. His replacement allows the community to continue to benefit from around the clock K9 coverage.

“We are so grateful for the assistance Axle has provided our police department and the local communities over the years, and we really look forward to introducing Enzo into the same role,” said Major Tony Godwin, Operations Bureau Commander of the Cary Police Department. “Our K9 program is an invaluable resource to our police force as we strive to keep Cary a great place to live, work and raise a family.”

The Town of Cary paid $6,500 for Enzo and will pay an additional $2,000 for training. Funding to acquire and maintain Enzo is made possible by numerous community partners. The Police Department’s Citizens Assisting Police (CAP) Team donated $1,000 toward the purchase of the dog. Both Mayfair Animal Hospital and Veterinary Specialty Hospital have committed to donating veterinary services free of charge to all dogs in the Cary K9 Program. Dog food maker Iams Corp. will continue to provide food free of charge. Remaining costs not covered by these community partners are covered with Town funds.

The addition of Enzo comes as the Cary Police Department celebrates its first retirement of a K9 officer, Axle. In his seven years of service to local communities, including two years with the Cary Police Department, Axle helped locate missing persons, tracked suspects that tried to elude officers and found concealed drugs and money. During his career, Axle met over 3,000 children and their parents during special community events. Axle’s last day with the Cary Police Department was December 29, 2009.

In addition to Enzo, the Town of Cary Police Department will be recruiting a third dog in March 2010 to join the K9 Program. This dog and its K9 handler will be in training by the end of March and on patrol serving the citizens of Cary by June 2010. In just the last two years, the Town of Cary K9 Program has been used to investigate or solve over 600 cases.

Created in 2005, Cary’s K9 program is designed to enhance the high level of service provided by the Town’s nationally accredited police department. Cary is consistently ranked as the safest large city in North Carolina, the safest large community in the Southeast, and the fifth safest of its size in America. Cary’s first K9 team, Master Officer Jeremy Burgin and a German shepherd named Max, completed a rigorous 14-week training program together in June 2005. Max finished as the Top Dog in obedience and apprehension work. The team hit the streets together in 2005, and continues to serve the citizens of Cary today.

To learn more about the Town of Cary’s K9 Program, visit the Police Department Web page at www.townofcary.org.

PRIMARY CONTACTS: Major Tony Godwin, Operations Bureau Commander, (919) 462-3812 Deanna Boone, Deputy Public Information Officer, (919) 462-3908 Susan Moran, Public Information Officer, (919) 460-4951

Me for NC House District 35

2010-01-10T00:55:00.008-05:00

It is with great excitement that I announce my candidacy for North Carolina House District 35.

It is an honor and privilege to serve as the District B Representative on the Cary Town Council. During my time on the Council, I have focused on fiscal management and economic development. I have worked hard to provide the high levels of service that our citizens demand at the lowest possible cost to the taxpayer, and to create an environment that encourages business growth and creates jobs. I have supported initiatives that further protect our environment, and I have worked to bring accountability and accessibility to our government. Maybe most importantly, I have listened.

I sincerely believe that same focus is desperately needed in our state’s government. If I am fortunate enough to be elected as your state representative, I promise to bring to Raleigh the same dedication, professionalism, and energy I have brought to the Council. With my experience in both business and public service, I am prepared for the intense challenges that lie ahead in the North Carolina General Assembly.

House District 35 needs a representative who understands that in tough economic times, we must tighten our belts and live within our means. We need leadership that understands that the last thing you do in a bad economy is raise taxes. North Carolinians believe that budget cuts do not start with education.

Our state’s economic engine is sputtering. Unemployment is at an all-time high and North Carolinians want and need jobs. Small businesses are closing while our state gives away millions in sweetheart deals to select out-of-state corporations. Corruption in our state’s government is rampant and the current leadership is unwilling to do anything about it. In trying times such as these, citizens deserve accountability and transparency at the highest possible level.

North Carolina needs leadership based on sound principles and common sense. We need leadership with the strength and confidence to stand up and fight for what is right. It’s about time our government worked as hard for us as we do for it.

I promise to continue to work for and represent you on the Council with the same dedication and commitment to service as always until at which time I am fortunate enough to be elected to the state legislature. I will not allow my campaign for NC House to negatively impact my service to you on the council.

I hope you'll join me as we bring a stronger government to North Carolina. I look forward to meeting and hearing from you as I walk the district in the coming months, and I commit to carrying your concerns to Raleigh on your behalf. Together we can make a difference.

Don Frantz

Last Week in Review of 2009

2010-01-02T10:08:00.002-05:00

Sorry for not posting in the last couple of weeks but we’ve been traveling a bit lately to see family and friends for Christmas and to watch our son Jordan and UCF play Rutgers in the St. Petersburg Bowl.

Council held a worksession with town staff on Dec. 15 to discuss capital projects and next year’s budget. After a review of recommended projects we agreed to postpone or eliminate $89 million in capital projects to reduce debt and spending and avoid a tax increase. Cary has seen a significant reduction in revenue as a result of the down economy and there just simply isn’t enough money to do all the things Cary has planned to do. We are working hard to craft a budget that focuses on priorities and continues to provide the levels of services our citizens demand at the lowest possible cost and without raising taxes. Families across the country have had to tighten their belts and adjust – their government should be no different.

Well I think that at this point unless you live under a rock you’ve heard about the great Christmas Tree controversy in Cary. Let me assure you there is no controversy folks. But thanks largely in part to some media outlets trying to make the news rather than report it there has been quite a bit of misinformation spread about resulting in a lot of angry folks.

Let me begin by saying that I know of no time in our town's history that the town "officially" called our Christmas Tree(s) a Christmas Tree. According to town staff for the last 25 years it has always been called a "holiday tree" or "community tree". No one is currently trying to remove Christ or Christmas from the town’s holiday celebrations. Someone 25 years ago might have been (or was), but not now.

However, while I do appreciate the town's efforts over the last 25 years to be all inclusive during our holiday celebrations, I feel that in our efforts to not offend anyone we have succeeded at offending nearly everyone.

A tree decorated with lights and ornaments during the Christmas season is a Christmas Tree. It's neither a Holiday tree nor a community tree. To call it anything else would be like calling the Jewish Menorah a candelabra. It is as much a part of our culture and tradition as it is our faith.

I along with Councilman Jack Smith have asked the council to consider calling Cary’s tree lighting ceremony the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony, and to call the tree inside town hall Cary’s Community Christmas Tree.

I believe the majority if not all of council will support our request.

I apologize for all the media attention this issue has received. That was not my intent. As a matter of fact I intentionally requested the council discuss this in January as to not be a distraction from this year’s holiday celebrations. In hindsight I maybe should have waited until May to bring this forward, but regardless it’s the right thing to do and I believe the overwhelming majority of citizens agree. I’ve received well over 100 emails on this – I can count the number of those who support the current practices on one hand.

It was an honor and a privilege to attend Cary Fire Chief Don Daniels’ retirement luncheon this past week. Don has dedicated the last 38 years of his life to serving and protecting Cary’s citizens. He is truly an amazing man. It was a lot of fun hearing from current and former town employees about their experiences in working with Don over the years. Man how things have changed in 38 years! I wish him all the best as he begins a new chapter in his book of life.

Well that’s about all for now. Happy New Year and as always, thanks for reading!

Week in Review 12/7/09 - 12/12/09

2009-12-13T17:20:00.003-05:00

I hate to sound like a broken record but this was a very busy week – a council meeting that lasted until almost midnight, meetings with citizens, staff and a neighborhood, and a couple ceremonial events. There is no way I can cover everything that occurred this week without putting ya’ll to sleep so I’ll just hit the highlights.

On Tuesday I had the honor and privilege of attending the swearing in ceremonies for the newly elected Morrisville Town Council members as a guest of Councilman Tom Murry. Tom and I have been friends for some time now and I wouldn’t have missed his swearing in for anything...well ok, almost anything. ;-) This was a lot of fun and the comments from outgoing council members were especially entertaining. I hope the new board members have similar senses of humor - given the long meetings and contentious items that council members often deal with a little laughter goes a long way towards helping to maintain one’s sanity. I wish the new council members and Mayor the very best and look forward to working with them over the years to come.

Wednesday evening Councilwoman Julie Robison and I along with representatives from our town staff participated in a neighborhood meeting with residents of the Evans Estates Subdivision and the applicants of a proposed 30 home subdivision adjacent to Evans Estates. The applicants are requesting a waiver from the town’s connectivity ordinance which would require them to construct a road stub for a future road connection and bridge to Evans Road. For those reading who may be unaware, the town’s connectivity ordinance requires that when certain are met that new development connect to adjacent development and/or provide new road connections to collector roads or thoroughfares.

Residents were roughly split as to whether they supported the requested waiver or not and many in attendance expressed concerns regarding additional traffic and safety of neighborhood children as well as significant environmental and economic impacts.

After a healthy discussion the following day at our council meeting the council unanimously rejected staff’s recommendation to deny the appeal and supported the requested waiver. While I cannot speak for the other council members specific reasons for supporting the applicant’s request, I supported it for the following reasons:

· Concerns over the negative environmental impact, loss of mature trees and natural area and increased impervious surface. Roughly 16,500 square feet of buffer and 181 linear feet of the stream would be destroyed.

· Evans Estates was planned and built knowing these 30 homes would be constructed in the future. Evans Estates Road is a collector street and the Evans Estates subdivision has three connections to Evans Road already.

· Economic Impacts: Requiring the road construction and associated bridge/stream crossing would add significant cost to the project (over $600,000.00) potentially resulting in a request to increase the project’s density to offset these additional costs. A reduction in the current lot sizes (some as large as 24,000 sq. ft.) and/or increase in density would be unacceptable.

· Construction traffic will utilize Evans Estates Road regardless of whether or not a stub connection is made to Evans Road or not. We are better to work to reduce its impact as we cannot eliminate it.

· The applicant’s agreement to work with the Evans Estates HOA to implement traffic calming measures to address existing and future traffic concerns.

After speaking with Chief of Police Pat Bazemore we also learned that Evans Estates Road has no posted speed limit signs – therefore the legal speed limit is currently 35mph. We will be working to reduce the speed limit to 25mph and post the appropriate signage. I have also contacted WCPSS Board members to discuss the possibility of relocating the existing bus stop further inside Evans Estates to move children waiting for the bus away from the dangerous corner at Evans and Evans Estates Road and away from any future construction traffic.

Other council meeting highlights included the swearing in ceremonies of Councilwomen Jennifer Robinson and Julie Robison and Councilman Jack Smith. Immediately following the ceremonies was the selection of Cary’s Mayor Pro-Tem. Councilwoman Julie Robison was elected Mayor Pro-Tem by a vote of 4-3.

Also on Thursday’s agenda was the first of two public hearings regarding the proposed single quadrant intersection design at Cary Parkway and High House Road. Not one citizen spoke in favor of the proposal and of the 40-50 emails council has received thus far regarding the project none have been supportive. That speaks volumes to me. Given the overwhelming opposition to the current proposal and the fact that most likely not one council member will support it I made the motion to cancel January’s public hearing and to direct staff to cease and desist work on this project and to begin work on an alternative proposal. To my amazement my motion failed for the lack of a second. The council majority (everyone but me) felt that since we have already scheduled and noticed the January public hearing we should go forward with it to further solicit public input. That’s all well and good but in my opinion why waste any more time or resources on something we know we will not consider?

Afterwards council held a closed session to discuss an ongoing lawsuit and potential incentives contract.

Saturday I had the honor of riding in the Cary Jaycees Christmas Parade in downtown Cary. What a great day for a Christmas parade – the cold air and overcast skies had everyone bundled up in winter coats and blankets and drinking hot chocolate trying to stay warm. It just felt like Christmas. Thanks so much to the Cary Jaycees and everyone who worked so hard to make the parade a huge success.

It was great to see so many friends and neighbors. Then again I was pretty easy to spot riding atop a bright yellow Corvette. And after riding in it I gotta say, nothing says Christmas like Corvette. ;-) Maybe once we graduate a few out of college Santa will bring me one? I’ve been a good boy right? ;-)

Well that's it for now. I may not post next week as we will be in Florida to watch our son Jordan and the University of Central Florida take on Rutgers in the St. Petersburg Bowl. This game is extra special for all of us as this will be the final game of Jordan’s five year college football career. We are so proud of Jordan’s success on and off the field, and while he will soon begin to write a new chapter in his life story, we can’t help but be a little sad that this one is coming to a close. Congratulations, Jordan. We couldn’t be any prouder. Go Knights!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Cary!

We Want YOU!

2009-12-02T15:49:00.001-05:00

Apply Now for Cary's 7th Annual School of Government

Get an innovative, hands-on, behind-the-scenes look at Town government, decision-making, and the people and facilities that provide the services you use every day. Applications will be accepted through December 31 for the 2010 Town of Cary School of Government. Sessions are scheduled for Wednesday evenings from 6 to 9 p.m. from February 3 through March 17 plus one session on Saturday morning, February 13, from 9 a.m. to noon. For more information or to download an application, visit School of Government at www.townofcary.org or call (919) 469‑4006.

PRIMARY CONTACTS:
Lana Hygh, Assistant to the Town Manager, (919) 469-4006
Deanna Boone, Deputy Public Information Officer, (919) 462-3908
Susan Moran, Public Information Officer, (919) 460-4951

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T14:44:00.001-05:00

I love Thanksgiving. It’s one of the few holidays left that hasn’t been ruined by commercialism or political correctness. I don’t have to worry about offending anyone by wishing them a Happy Thanksgiving and I don’t have to run all over town and spend a small fortune buying gifts for folks either…at least not yet. ;-) It’s all about family, getting together with loved ones, giving thanks for all the good that we have in our lives, great food and football!

I have so much to be thankful for. First and foremost I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for my wonderful wife who is always supportive, loving, and patient. I am thankful for our six amazing children who have brought so many blessings into our lives. I am thankful for my mother and father who taught me responsibility and that life is what you make of it. I am thankful for my brother Dan who has been my best friend for my entire life.

I am thankful for all our friends. Through good times and bad they have always been there for us. I am thankful for our good health.

I am thankful for God and that he sent his only begotten son to die on the cross for our sins. I am thankful that God has a plan and brought me to Cary.

I am thankful for our success in business and for our incredible employees who make that happen – especially you, Darryl. I learned a long time ago that in business you are only as good as the people you have working for you. We are truly blessed to have such highly skilled and dedicated employees.

I am thankful for the trust and support Cary’s citizens have bestowed upon me by electing me to serve as your representative. I am thankful for my council colleagues and for our town staff who work so hard day in and day out to make Cary one of the greatest places to live in America.

I am very thankful, and I hope that you are too. Happy Thanksgiving!

A Day in the Life

2009-11-23T08:37:00.002-05:00

Folks often ask how I balance my business and family responsibilities with those of a council member. I decided that instead of my usual week in review I would post a day in review instead to give folks a better idea of what an average day is like for me. Hopefully you find it interesting. If not, I’m sure you’ll let me know. ;-) So without further adieu,

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Alarm goes off – hit snooze. Repeat. I am so not a morning person. ;-) After coming to terms with my denial and accepting that yes, I do have to get out of bed and go to work, I roll out of bed and sleepwalk to the shower. My day begins.

I arrive at work at 8:00 am to find that Darryl’s got everything under control. Why am I not surprised? He’s awesome. I check the morning paper and internet sites for anything newsworthy. Find nothing. ;-) Check and respond to a couple dozen emails. Some require staff assistance to better address –contact staff for assistance. This will generate more email. Respond to three phone calls missed from the previous evening. One is from a citizen requesting a meeting regarding a neighborhood issue, one from a fellow councilor and one is from a newly elected school board member.

Time to get to work…the kind that pays the bills anyways ;-) I am needed to diagnose a couple of drivability problems. One is a high idle and check engine light on a Ford Focus, the other a hard start on a Honda CRV. I find that the CRV needs a new oxygen sensor and an intake service to remove excessive carbon build up, and the Focus needs a new PCV hose assembly to cure a lean condition. I write it up and give the info to Darryl so he can authorize repairs and order parts so I may participate in a conference call with the North Carolina NFIB Leadership Council of which I serve as a member.

The NFIB conference call lasts almost an hour as we discuss a wide range of topics including the NFIB’s and small business' position on health care, taxes on services, card check legislation and incentives vs. North Carolina's corporate tax rate.

10:30 am: I check email again to find that staff has provided some of the information I had requested earlier – follow up with citizens. I have found that I keep up with email best if I check it numerous times throughout the day. There isn’t much worse than opening your email account to see that you have 120 new emails. Ahhh!!!!

Back to work. I complete the needed repairs on the CRV and Focus – yes I still turn wrenches – and also perform a routine service on a Toyota Highlander. After my work on these three vehicles is complete I handle a number of business related responsibilities for both Frantz Automotive and Rosedown Weddings.

2:00 pm: I leave work and head home to clean up and change clothes before attending the town’s employee appreciation reception. I Hit the BK drive-thru on the way home to grab a quick bite for lunch and call Lisa to see how her day is going. It’s no surprise to hear she’s doing five things at once. Those of you that know Lisa know what I’m talking about. ;-) She’s an amazing woman who works hard not only at home, at work, and in the community, but she also takes up my slack – especially at home – as my council responsibilities keep me away from home more often than not. My wife is a saint. I love you sweetie!

2:50 pm: Arrive at Town’s employee reception at the Herb Young Community Center and speak with a number of guests and town employees prior to the start of the presentation. Our town’s staff is an amazing collection of dedicated professionals who work very hard to help make Cary the great place to live that it is. Attending this reception was the least I could do to show my appreciation for all their efforts.

Afterwards I head back to the shop to tie up a few loose ends. No time to change back into my work clothes so I take a little extra care to make sure my tie doesn’t get caught in a fan belt. ;-)

4:30 pm: Back to town hall for a meeting with the Town Manager, Engineering Director, Councilwoman Robinson and a family who lives on Pamlico Drive to discuss flooding issues they are experiencing and what steps the town can take both short and long term in an attempt to address their issues. I wish I could report that I left this meeting with the confidence we will be able to help. Unfortunately I did not but we will work as hard as we can to do so. Afterwards I race across the hall and into Council Chambers for our Planning and Development Committee meeting – on time with 30 seconds to spare!

5:30 pm: P+D Committee meeting begins – notable topics included consideration of a Comprehensive Transportation Plan Amendment and whether or not to consider an appeal from an applicant regarding a staff decision to require connectivity to their proposed site plan. The committee agreed to hear the appeal. Both of these items will come to the full council for discussion and decision at our next council meeting.

After our P+D Committee meeting I head across town to attend the tail end of a reception for WCPSS Board Member-elect Debra Goldman. It has been a pleasure to get to know Debra better over the last few months and she has become a great friend. I look forward to working with Debra on school related matters both in Cary and Wake County and I am confident she will do a great job as a member of the school board.

I stop the shop to pick up some documents and tie up a few loose ends before getting home around 8:00. Once home I grab a bite to eat (not out of a bag – yay! Thanks sweetie!)- and help Elizabeth with her homework before reading her a story and tucking her into bed. I spend the remainder of the evening responding to email and reviewing staff reports before retiring around midnight.

And there ya have it – an example of what a typical day is like for me as a business owner, family man and member of the council. There is always much to do, but by focusing on what’s most important - and with a little help from my family and employees - we get it done. I am very proud of my work on the council and hope that you are too.

And no matter how busy I might get I try very hard to make sure I make time for family – although there’s never as much time as I would like. I can’t thank my family enough for their love and support and for understanding how important my role as a council member is to both me and Cary. I couldn’t do what I do without you. I love you!

Week in Review 11/9/09 - 11/15/09

2009-11-16T13:47:00.004-05:00

My week began with a meeting with Town Manager Ben Shivar to discuss a number of topics including Old Cary Elementary (more on this later), the town’s current financial outlook and council relations.

This past Tuesday Council held a work session to discuss two topics – Cary’s Historic Preservation Master Plan and Koka Booth Amphitheater.

Town staff and consultants presented the final round of updates and recommendations for Cary’s Historic Preservation Master Plan before preparations begin to send this to public hearing. Council asked that the public hearing be held AFTER the Holidays thinking that folks will already have enough on their plates (turkey I hope!) and might miss their opportunity for comment. As important as this initiative is we want to ensure we gather as much citizen input as possible before making any final decisions.

Next on the agenda were Koka Booth Amphitheater and sound levels. After a healthy discussion council ultimately agreed to allow three events next year to exceed the current limit of 92 decibels but not to exceed 95 decibels. This doesn’t sound like much of a difference I know, but believe me it is. A number of artists, patrons, and citizens have complained about our noise restrictions and a number of artists have even refused to play at the amphitheater due to sound limits. Council decided on limiting the number of shows which may exceed 92 decibels to three as a “test” to see how this works out for the amphitheater and area residents.

Council also discussed concessions and seating – but those are mainly operational items so we differed to staff….although one council member was somewhat critical of current wine selections. Obviously not me. ;-) Beer and pretzels and I’m good to go!

Thursday the council retreat committee and staff met to discuss the upcoming retreat agenda. The retreat will focus on where, or what we want Cary to be in thirty years from now – a visioning exercise in some regards. We will be reviewing allowable densities throughout town, housing types (suburban vs. urban), transportation, stormwater issues and our downtown. The retreat will be held locally in Cary again this year to reduce costs and encourage citizen participation – so if you have an opinion on Cary’s growth rate – and I know you do! – please come.

Afterwards was our council meeting. The majority of the meeting consisted of ceremonial presentations and awards but there were definitely a few other notable items worthy of discussion here.

Funding for the Old Cary Elementary School renovations and conversion to the Cary Community Arts Center was unanimously approved by council. Cary had previously estimated construction costs to be in the neighborhood of $15+ million. Bids came in at 7-9 million; a substantial savings given the down economy and increased competition. The remaining balance of the $15 million that was allocated for Cary Elementary (cash on hand) will be returned to the general fund to help make up for the reduction in revenue we are experiencing given the recession.

Council also unanimously approved the hiring of six new police officers for a new police beat in West Cary – our fastest growing area of town. Council had previously held off on filling these positions as we had applied for a federal grant to help defray some of the costs. Once we were notified we did not receive grant funding we approved the hiring of these additional officers. I wish all our decisions were this easy.

The highlight of the council meeting was the awards presentation for Cary’s first ever Hometown Spirit Award. All 12 finalists were recognized at our meeting and received a small token of our appreciation. Congratulations to Alisa Wright Colopy who was selected as Cary’s first ever Hometown Spirit Award Winner. Many thanks to the selection committee as well – in reading the nomination forms their job of choosing a winner from such an incredible group of individuals was surely no easy task.

On Friday evening I met with WCPSS Board Member Elect Debra Goldman to help her with her new blog, Debra’s Chalk Board. Make sure you bookmark it and check back often for updates…just like you do for my blog right??? ;-) Hopefully more elected officials will follow suit and make the effort to better communicate with their constituency. Great job, Debra!

On Saturday evening I attended John Tedesco’s victory ball in Garner. This was a lot of fun and it was great to celebrate with so many friends and colleagues. I can’t wait for December 1st!!!

Well that’s about it for this week in review. As always, thanks for reading!

Proud Mama and Papa!

2009-11-09T16:08:00.001-05:00

Jordan Richards and Rocky Ross Named to ESPN The Magazine CoSIDA Academic All-District Team

Knight student-athletes named to ESPN The Magazine CoSIDA First Team.

Nov. 5, 2009

ORLANDO, Fla. - Two UCF football players, linebacker Jordan Richards (Cary, N.C.) and wide receiver Rocky Ross (Jacksonville, Fla.) were honored for their academic success on Thursday as they were both first-team selections by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) on the ESPN The Magazine CoSIDA Academic All-District teams.

To be eligible a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore, a starter or key reserve, and have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.3. As first-team all-district picks, Richards and Ross both advance for consideration for the national ESPN The Magazine CoSIDA Academic All-American teams.
Richards and Ross are both pursing master's degrees in sports and fitness after earning bachelor's degrees in criminal justice. Richards has posted a 3.63 cumulative GPA while Ross carries a 3.88 cumulative GPA.

Both also have helped the Knights (5-3, 3-2 C-USA) greatly this season. Ross is the team's leading receiver with 27 catches for 327 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winning score with 0:23 left to play against Marshall on Sunday night. He has also returned eight punts for 99 yards on the year. Richards has made 17 stops this year from his linebacking position, including two tackles for loss. He also forced a fumble.

This is Ross' second time receiving the honor, also doing so in 2007. He is the third Knight to be so recognized twice, joining Ron Johnson (1980-81) and Sha'reff Rashad (2005, 07).
These two honors make a total of six times that a Knights has been named to the all-district team over the past three years. In 2007, Keith Shologan went on to earn ESPN The Magazine CoSIDA Academic All-America honors.

To see Richards, Ross and their UCF teammates play in either of their two remaining home games at Bright House Networks Stadium (Nov. 14 vs. No. 13 Houston or Nov. 21 vs. Tulane), please either call the UCF Athletic Ticket office at (407) 823-1000 or logon to UCFAthletics.com.

CONGRATULATIONS JORDAN! We are so proud!

Week in Review 11/2/09 - 11/8/09

2009-11-09T10:07:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the late post – Lisa was in Texas all weekend to watch our son Jordan play Colt McCoy and company so I had Mr. Mom duties all weekend. Boy am I glad she’s home! ;-)

My week began with a council retreat committee meeting with staff, Mayor Weinbrecht and Council member Portman. First item on the agenda was the retreat location. To reduce costs and encourage citizen participation we again decided to stay local and host our retreat in Cary. While I offered the use of Rosedown in Smithfield at no charge to Cary, committee members and staff felt it did not provide enough space and was a bit too far away (40 minutes) for folks to travel to and from as we do not have enough bedrooms for all to spend the night.

Topics to be discussed at the retreat will include a review of allowable densities throughout Cary, Downtown, and Stormwater issues throughout town. We will have another retreat committee meeting to shore things up so stay tuned! I know – you can’t wait right? ;-)

Tuesday was Election Day in Cary’s District A and boy am I glad that’s over! I could write a book on this topic, but what really needs to be said that hasn’t already been said? The voters have spoken. Congratulations to Jennifer Robinson on her reelection to the council and thanks to everyone who turned out to vote.

Congratulations also go out to John Tedesco who won his District 2 School Board election in convincing fashion and a big shout out to Tom Murry in Morrisville, Gene Shulze, Mike Jones and Lance Olive in Apex for their Election Day victories.

Thursday morning I attended the Heart of Cary Association’s monthly meeting at the Cary Chamber of Commerce. The main discussion topic was the upcoming Heart of Cary Association’s Ole Time Winter Festival which will be held in downtown Cary on December 5 from 10:00 am till 5:00 pm. The Town of Cary’s Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony (ya I know, it’s technically a “Holiday Tree” but it will always be a Christmas Tree to me!) immediately follows the festival at 6:00 pm. Please come to the Ole Time Winter Festival and have your picture taken with Santa and Mrs. Claus, enjoy the live entertainment, local artisans and tasty eats! This will be a very fun time – see you there!

On Friday Councilman Jack Smith and I had the privilege of attending the Town of Cary’s Annual Veteran’s Day Appreciation Luncheon. It was truly an honor to be in the company of so many incredible men and women who sacrificed so much of themselves fighting for liberty and freedom around the globe. I am forever grateful for their service to our great nation.

On Sunday I presented a proclamation on behalf of the Mayor and council honoring Bradley John Vohler’s achievement of making Eagle Scout. This was a good time for all and a number of family friends were in attendance. My remarks focused on the principle goals of scouting. A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. “Wouldn’t it be nice if all our elected officials lived by these same principles?” I asked. After commenting that the world would be a better place if we had a few more Boy Scouts in government service, I presented the proclamation.

Well that’s it for this week in review. Thanks for reading!

GO VOTE!

2009-11-02T11:49:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow, November 3 is Election Day. Go vote.

What’s that you say? You don’t think your vote matters? Think again.

I lost my first election by 130 votes. I won my last election by 48 votes.

Wake County School Board Candidate John Tedesco missed winning outright in last month’s school board elections by 38 votes.

Cary Councilwoman Jennifer Robinson came 4 votes short of winning Cary’s District A seat outright last month.

Al Franken ring a bell? Ya, I know – a dumbbell. ;-) But you get the point…I hope.

Voter turnout in municipal elections rarely breaks 13%, yet local officials impact our daily lives more so than that of our state and federal representatives. Apathy is often times a local official’s worst enemy.

Cary district A voters have the opportunity to head back to the polls tomorrow to either cast their ballot for change (whatever that means), or reaffirm Cary Councilwoman Jennifer Robinson’s leadership over the last ten years. Regardless of your preferred candidate I challenge each and every one of you to do just that - GO VOTE. And while you’re at it, call your friends and neighbors and encourage them to go vote. Drag your co-worker out of his cubicle and get him or her to the polls. Volunteer to drive someone without transportation. Allow your employees extra time during lunch so they may go vote. You never know, your vote just might decide Cary’s leadership and direction for the next four years.

Actually, I know it will.

Cary High School Band Day

2009-10-29T14:43:00.004-04:00

It's that time of year again! Come one, come all to the 51st annual Cary Band Day parade and field competition. The parade begins at 10:00 in downtown Cary and the field competition starts at noon at Cooper Field at Cary High School.

Started in 1958 by the Cary High School Band Boosters, Cary Band Day is one of the longest running high school marching band competitions in the nation and the most highly regarded in the Southeast. High School bands from all over the state of North Carolina and as far away as Virginia and Tennessee converge upon Cary each year with the hopes of returning home as Cary Band Day Grand Champion. Who will win this year? Well you'll have to just come and see now won't you? :-)

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of many parents and band boosters this event has become tradition in Cary. I can't ever imagine Cary without Cary Band Day - it just wouldn't be the same.

Oh - I almost forgot! Special guests at Cary Band Day this year includes the Western Carolina University Pride of the Mountains Marching Band. If you have never seen Western Carolina's band perform you MUST come and check them out. Electric guitars, keyboards, drum sets on platforms - they put on a show! Western Carolina's band takes the field at 5:45 immediately following Cary High School.

I'll see you there!

Week in Review 10/19/09 - 10/24/09

2009-10-26T08:37:00.003-04:00

Council held a worksession on Tuesday to discuss the town’s adequate public facilities ordinance for roads (APFs) and our transportation development fee structure to determine if there is a more equitable way of ensuring that all development along a corridor pays its fair share. Currently the projects which develop early in the process don’t place too heavy a burden on our infrastructure, and therefore are not required to make as many improvements as those projects which come in towards the end when the need for transportation improvements are much greater, and much more expensive. All development taxes our infrastructure and therefore all development should pay its fair share. I feel like we left the worksession knowing what we want to do – we just don’t know how to do it yet. We’ll continue to work on it until we get it right.

I met with the applicants of a proposed cheerleading and tumbling gym in West Cary off of Davis Drive. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss their request for a 20% parking reduction from what our ordinance requires. The town calculates parking requirements based on building square footage and they are proposing to build a 10,000 sq. ft. facility; yet the majority of floor space is open gym space with spring floors and tumbling tracks. Our ordinance requires they provide enough parking to accommodate 185 people, yet according to the applicant they will never have more than 115 children there at any given time. They simply do not need the amount of parking our ordinance requires. Makes sense to me. Another positive is that reducing the number of parking spaces reduces the amount of impervious surface at the site which will result in less stormwater runoff and increased environmental benefits.

Afterwards Councilwoman Jennifer Robinson and I met with a family on Pamlico Drive to discuss the flooding issues in their neighborhood. We were shown a video the couple had created that clearly documented the flooding problem folks in this area are experiencing. It was truly amazing to see the amount of water behind these folks’ homes after only a half inch of rain – after just a few inches water was coming inside their home.

More and more folks – especially in our older areas of town – are experiencing increased flooding with each passing year. While I am proud that the council recently strengthened our stormwater retention ordinance to prevent future development from negatively impacting nearby property owners, we must also address the existing problems folks are experiencing now. Mrs. Robinson and I will continue working with our staff to determine the best course of action.

Prior to our council meeting Thursday evening the town hosted a reception for our outgoing board and commission members. Seeing everyone was a lot of fun. I cannot thank our board members for their dedication and service to the town. Cary is a much better place because of their efforts.

Of the five public hearings scheduled for our council meeting, two generated the most comments. The first was Round 13 Amendments to Cary’s Land Development Ordinance. A number of folks spoke in opposition to the proposed reductions to the number of children a home day care provider may keep at one time from eight to six. While existing providers would be “grandfathered in”, a number of folks expressed concerns regarding the current shortage of day care providers throughout town, and how these restrictions would further reduce folks ability to obtain child care for their children, as well as reduced income earning potential of home child care providers. Our Planning and Zoning Board will now review the proposed ordinance amendments and then make a recommendation to council.

The other public hearing which generated significant comment was the proposed rezoning of the Russell Hills community in our downtown area from TC-LDR to TC-LDR-12. A number of residents voiced their support of this proposal as the proposed zoning would in effect align the neighborhood’s zoning with the original covenants the neighborhood was developed under, and remain valid today. Russell Hills’ original R12 zoning was changed to TCLDR when TCAP was adopted back in 2001. This allowed for zero lot line development and reduced setbacks resulting in redevelopment that residents found out of character with that of the existing Russell Hills community. While Russell Hills residents originally requested that the town rezone their neighborhood back to R12, given the neighborhoods proximity to downtown we believe there value in keeping this community zoned town center (TC) and instead worked to create a new zoning classification that addresses the neighborhood’s concerns yet still provides opportunity for redevelopment and reinvestment. One property owner spoke in opposition to the proposed rezoning. This proposal now goes to our Planning and Zoning board before coming back to council for final decision.

Another item that generated some discussion - and quite a bit of frustration among most all on the council I might add - was a Comprehensive Plan Amendment for a parcel in the Carolina Preserve at Amberly on Pittard Sears and O’Kelly Chapel Roads. The applicant was requesting a change in the land use plan from low density residential (LDR) to medium density residential (MDR) as they are looking to expand their retirement community – a community which brings little traffic and adds no school aged children I might add. The parcel is surrounded by MDR except that which fronts Pittard Sears and O’Kelly Chapel Roads. Pittard Sears Road provides a good boundary between the existing MDR on the east side and LDR on the west side. Simply put, this amendment made sense…well, six council members thought so anyways.

One council member who after speaking with a Chatham County Commissioner very familiar with the proposed amendment just a few hours before our council meeting stated she would oppose the amendment because – in her words – the Chatham County Commissioner was “unsettled” about the proposal. That’s it. Not because she believed it to be a bad amendment or anything like that, but because a Chatham County Commissioner – who by the way is no stranger at Cary Council meetings and has communicated her thoughts to council on numerous Cary developments in the past including this one – was “unsettled”.

Another Cary Council member said it best, “I work for Cary”.

On Friday I had the honor and privilege of attending a retirement party for Mr. James Brice, Custodian at Cary Elementary School for over 33 years. After some brief remarks I presented him with a Proclamation from the Mayor and council thanking him for his many years of dedicated service to both Cary Elementary and the community. He will be sorely missed.

Well that's all for this week in review. As always, thanks for reading!

Week in Review 10/12/09 - 10/17/09

2009-10-18T14:51:00.003-04:00

Monday began with a meeting with Town Manger Ben Shivar. We discussed a number of topics including the upcoming budget worksession and the town’s financial outlook as well as next steps regarding the spray painted house on Maynard Road.

On Monday evening I attended a community meeting with residents of Russell Hills and our town staff to discuss the proposed rezoning of the Russell Hills neighborhood from TCLDR to TCLDR-12. Russell Hills residents have submitted a petition requesting the zoning change as they are concerned that the current zoning (put in place when TCAP was adopted) is in conflict with pre-existing neighborhood covenants and would allow for new construction to be built up to the street and property lines altering the character and charm of the existing Russell Hills community.

On Tuesday I met with a developer and property owner regarding a potential development project at Harrison Ave and Maynard. I encouraged him to include area residents in the design process sooner than later to ensure that what is proposed better meets the expectations and satisfaction of the surrounding community.

Afterwards council held a worksession to discuss next year’s budget. Given the current economy and associated loss of revenue next year’s budget will be even leaner than our last. While maybe good news to some folks, growth in Cary has come to a screeching halt. No new growth means no new revenue to the town, yet the costs associated with maintaining existing levels of services will continue to increase. Just as your cost of living increases each year due to inflation or other factors so does the towns. If your family suddenly experienced a 20% reduction in income could you maintain your current standard of living? Of course not, and neither can the town.

Like it or not, the town needs to maintain a healthy growth rate to continue to provide the high levels of service and amenities that our citizens demand. I believe our Budget Director Scott Fogleman said it best, “If we were still seeing a 4-5% growth rate this worksession would be over”.

On Wednesday Town Manager Ben Shivar, Assistant Manager Mike Bajorek, Councilwoman Jennifer Robinson and I met with a family in the Russell Hills neighborhood to discuss ongoing stormwater problems and future plans to help alleviate these concerns.

Afterwards I attended the Town Center Review Commission’s (TCRC) meeting at town hall. Discussion items included a presentation on the town’s ongoing Historic Preservation Master Plan Project and the appointment of a vice-chair. Congratulations Susan!

Our Planning and Development Committee Meeting was Thursday evening. Our one discussion item was consideration of the next steps towards determining a future intersection design for the Cary Parkway and High House intersection. The town has been working to develop a new intersection plan for this intersection for some time, and after gathering community input and consideration of a number of alternatives our engineers are recommending a single quadrant design; similar to that of “jug handle” intersections like those seen in northern states. While this plan – on paper – makes sense and increases pedestrian safety by not adding asphalt and widening the intersection, I have concerns over how confusing this will be to motorists – especially those traveling this intersection for the first time. We recommended this item go to the full council for discussion and decision.

On Friday I met with representatives of the Amberly – Pittard Sears Road development seeking a comprehensive plan amendment from LDR to MDR. This project is in our town’s Northwest Area Plan. We discussed the existing resident’s concerns and their progress thus far in addressing those concerns. This item comes before council for decision this Thursday.

Well that’s it for this week in review. Thanks for reading!

Week in Review 10/5/09 - 10/10/09

2009-10-11T14:01:00.003-04:00

The majority of my time this past week was spent helping candidates running for both school board and municipal elections and preparing for Thursday evening’s council meeting.

Tuesday was Election Day – and what a great day it was! All four conservative, family friendly, pro-neighborhood schools, anti-mandatory year round school board candidates won their elections handily. Debra Goldman, Debra Prickett, and Chris Malone each won landslide victories garnering 60% of the vote. John Tedesco, candidate for district 2 school board running in a five person race also won big, but just missed the 50% + 1 of the vote required to avoid the need for a runoff. He finished with 49%. Tedesco now faces a runoff on November 3 with distant runner up Cathy Truitt who received only 24% of the vote. Why she is even calling for a runoff I am not sure but regardless I am confident that Tedesco will seal the deal in November. However we cannot rest on our laurels. This election is too important folks. I encourage everyone reading this to call or email John and offer your support. We know where John stands on the issues – Truitt’s positions change almost hourly depending on which way the wind is blowing, or to whom she is speaking with.

Voters sent a clear message to WCPSS. Parents and taxpayers are sick and tired of having our children used as pawns in some liberal social engineering experiment without any data whatsoever that proves the experiment even benefits the children it is designed to help. Now don’t get me wrong, I believe diversity in our schools to be a good thing – as long as a child doesn’t have to give up their seat at their neighborhood school so another who lives 15 miles away can sit in it.

Jack Smith and Julie Robison, candidates for reelection to the Cary Town Council also won big. Jack Smith received 66% of the vote and Julie received nearly80%. Councilwoman Jennifer Robinson also won on Election Day, but like Tedesco, failed to receive the 50% +1 of the vote to negate the need for a runoff. Jennifer received 49.97% of the vote in a four person race – 2 VOTES shy of winning outright. Think your vote doesn’t matter? Think again. There are a handful of provisional ballots left to count so there is still hope that Jennifer may pull this one out without the need for a runoff.

Regardless, the Robinson campaign is not sitting around waiting for the final tally. That’s not her style. Its full steam ahead towards victory in November! On a positive note, a month long runoff election allows Jennifer the time to debunk all the misinformation coming from the Bush campaign. Cary's citizens deserve honest answers to their questions, not quotes taken out of context and half truths. Whether you agree with all of Jennifer’s decisions or not, it's poor character to make her out to be something less than the dedicated and honest public servant that she is. I look forward to a debate between the two of them.

I also want to say “Thank You” to Terry ‘Doc’ Thorne and Cindy Sinkez for running positive, issue oriented campaigns. It has been an honor and a pleasure to get to know the both of them better during this campaign season. I wish them all the best in their future endeavors.

Thursday evening was our council meeting. The main topics of discussion were the proposed Cameron Pond revegetation plan and associated subdivision plan amendment.

The Cameron Pond buffer issue has been one of the most difficult subjects; if not the most difficult I have dealt with during my time on the council. For those of you who may be unaware of this issue, the 100 foot buffer behind Cameron Pond that would have protected the residents from the future I540 was annihilated by Progress Energy to make way for massive 100 foot tall high voltage transmission lines. This was done without any knowledge or notification to the town or the council by Progress Energy or the developer of Cameron Pond. Unfortunately, no matter how wrong this was, Progress Energy is a condemning authority and has the power to do so.

The town, Cameron Pond residents and developer have been working for months to develop a revegetation plan that provides for as much screening from the future I540 and the power lines as possible. The reality however is that no amount of revegetation can ever right the wrong that has been imposed upon this community. You simply cannot replace the 100 foot of mature hardwoods and pines that were removed – and Progress Energy will not allow any plantings within the easement. Council was tasked with determining whether or not the proposed plan was sufficient (in my opinion no), and met the letter of the law in regards to Cary’s opaque buffer standards (it does). After a lengthy discussion and a commitment from the developer to install even more plantings the council swallowed hard and unanimously approved the revegetation plan.

The next item of discussion was the associated subdivision plan amendment. The existing plan is nonconforming as it does not include the utility easement nor the revegetation. Council voted 5-2 to approve the plan. Both Councilwoman Jennifer Robinson and I voted against the subdivision plan as we felt there was more the developer could do within the development to help compensate for the diminished quality of life in Cameron Pond. On behalf of the Town I sincerely apologize for everything the Cameron Pond residents have had to endure, and I thank them for all their work in helping us get to this point.

Afterwards council members pledged to partner with NCDOT in the construction of I540 so that we may better work together to further reduce the impacts that I540 will have on this community.

Council also unanimously denied the Nelson Road Industrial site plan as they were requesting a reduction to the required buffers along the west side of their property and the 100 foot thoroughfare buffer along Aviation Parkway. Great timing huh? I don’t see this council granting any buffer reduction requests any time soon - if ever; and in fact we will be working to strengthen our buffer standards in the very near future.

On Saturday I had the honor and privilege of attending the 9th annual Diwali Festival at Koka Booth Amphitheater along with council members Smith, Robison and Portman. Congressman David Price was also in attendance. I had a great time and I can’t thank the folks at Hum Sub enough for all their hospitality. Being a history buff I always enjoy learning more about other cultures – and sampling their food while I’m at it! ;-) But no matter how different our cultures may be, we still have so much in common. We all want good government, safe communities, a clean environment, great educational opportunities and respect. Sounds simple enough to me.

I also want to take a minute to thank everyone who took the time to email or call with your concerns regarding our son Jordan’s injury in the ECU/UCF football game. It really means a lot to our family and we are forever grateful for all your support.

Well that’s about it for this week in review. As always thanks for reading!

Week in Review 9/21/09 - 9/26/09

2009-09-28T14:12:00.001-04:00

This past Tuesday council held a worksession to receive and update and discuss the town’s wayfinding project. The town’s wayfinding project is a comprehensive signage system that will help direct visitors to destinations in our downtown area, and other town venues such as Koka Booth Amphitheater, USA Baseball and many of our town parks and greenways. Council reviewed options and recommendations from our citizen wayfinding committee, consultants and staff prior to endorsing the project and directing staff to continue with only a few minor recommended changes.

I am very pleased to see this project taking shape as this is an initiative that the Heart of Cary Association and I have been working on for years. I can’t tell you how many phone calls and comments I have received over the years from both Cary citizens and visitors who have expressed concerns with not being able to find their destination due to lack of adequate directional signage. It is also my hope that better directional signage will help to alleviate traffic (less folks getting lost/making u-turns etc..) and reduce harmful vehicle emissions by reducing vehicle run time.

On Wednesday town staff, council member Robinson and I met with residents in the Pamlico Drive/Maynard Road area to discuss stormwater issues they are experiencing in their community, and current projects underway and/or in the design process to potentially alleviate this problem. We also requested a meeting with town staff and residents be held at Swift Creek to further analyze and discuss issues the residents are experiencing.

Later that afternoon Mayor Weinbrecht and I taped the October edition of Cary Matters. Topics for the show included explaining the differences between open and closed sessions, upcoming meetings, worksessions and events. I got to have a little fun at the end of the show so be sure and check it out! Afterwards I attended WakeUp Wake County’s Cary Council Candidate forum held at the Kirk of Kildaire Church. Highlights of the forum can be seen on NBC17.

Thursday evening was our council meeting. Discussion items included a rezoning request for the Russell Hills neighborhood in the town center area, consideration of options for roadway improvements for the proposed expansion of St. Michael’s Church, and appointments to the town’s Information Services Advisory Board. Council also held a closed session afterwards to discuss property acquisition through purchase.

Council supported the request of Russell Hills’ residents to create a new zoning district for their neighborhood that mirrors that of the pre-existing Russell Hill covenants and called for this change to be included in round 13 of amendments to the town’s LDO - a public hearing will be held on October 13, 2009. Council also recommended accepting St. Michael’s offer of a payment in lieu instead of requiring them to install a turn lane at the intersection of High House and Cary Parkway as the town is currently studying this intersection and, at this time is not entirely sure what improvements will be needed or recommended. That last thing we want to do is require an improvement that we later discover is not necessary – or worse even, not recommended. St. Michaels will also be required to install a traffic signal in front of their property across from Bond Park.

While council ultimately agreed to councilmember Robison’s recommended slate of appointments to the Information Services Advisory Board, I was very disappointed that this information was late in coming to council (about 3 weeks late) and that there was no time to review the recommended slate’s applications. In fact, I was handed a piece of paper with names on it only 30 minutes prior to this discussion. I found this very unprofessional, embarrassing and unfair to those applicant’s who had applied to serve on the ISAB.

Friday morning town staff, council member Robinson and I met with residents in the Pamlico Drive/Maynard Road area to follow up on our Tuesday meeting, and see first hand the progress – or lack thereof – of the stream restoration project. Unfortunately, after our meeting I think we now have more questions than answers. While the stream restoration project was necessary to further protect the environment and to provide for greater water quality - and a requirement of the state resulting from the Maynard Road widening project I might add. I believe a more comprehensive project that not only addressed environmental protection and greater water quality, but also stormwater runoff that is causing problems for folks in the area would have been wise. We are continuing to work with staff and the residents to come up with the best solution(s) available.

Afterwards Mayor Weinbrecht, Councilman Jack Smith and I attended the Cary High School IMP Club Hall of Fame Induction Luncheon at Carraba’s Restaurant. This was a lot of fun and it was great to see so many long time friends. With five of our six children attending and participating in athletics at Cary High School it goes without saying that our family has been a part of the Cary High School family for years – five down, one more to go! We presented a proclamation and medal to this years Hall of Fame inductees.

Saturday went from being a great day to one of the most terrifying moments of my life in the blink of an eye. Our son Jordan, who play’s linebacker for UCF was back home in North Carolina to play ECU this weekend. We trekked to Greenville early with many family members and friends to tailgate before the game and had a great time. During the game it was clear this was going to be Jordan’s best game of the season thus far as he had racked up 6 tackles and a forced fumble by halftime. At the beginning of the fourth quarter Jordan broke through the defense once again to tackle another Pirate. Only this time he didn’t jump up and celebrate. He wasn’t moving at all. Medical personnel from both sidelines rushed the field and began tending to Jordan. Shortly thereafter they called for a back board and spent what seemed like an eternity moving him onto the board securing his neck and body. As Lisa and I waited near the end zone I kept looking for the thumbs up from Jordan to signal that he was ok. He never did. Only when they began to transport Jordan to the ambulance did we learn he was awake – and angrier and about being removed from the game more so than anything else. A UCF athletic trainer said Jordan was unconscious on the field for nearly 4 minutes. After numerous tests and observation Jordan was later discharged from the hospital and on a plane headed back to Florida.

Lisa and I want to thank all the medical staff and the athletic department at ECU for all their help and support. This was a very stressful and emotional time for our family and they treated us like part of the Pirate family. We are forever grateful.

That’s it for this week in review. As always, thanks for reading!

Week in Review 9/14/09 - 9/19/09

2009-09-20T16:30:00.002-04:00

Sorry for not posting a week in review the last couple of weeks but its college football season. ;-) Seriously though – our son Jordan plays linebacker for the University of Central Florida in Orlando so we’ve been on the road the last couple of weekends. This year is Jordan’s last and we are traveling to every game we can get to. Next week will be nice as we won’t have to travel far at all. UCF plays ECU in Greenville this Saturday.

My council week began with a meeting with Town Manager Ben Shivar. We discussed a number of topics which included the proposed Cary / Chatham County land use plan, shared sick leave for town employees, and the town’s Comprehensive Transportation Plan – specifically as it pertains to Evans Road. I have concerns with Evans Road being planned for 6 lanes median divided and hope that we may be able to review this very soon.

I about had a heart attack on Wednesday when I received a call from fellow council member Jennifer Robinson stating that someone was cutting down trees in Dorothy Park. (The town is planning a stream restoration project for the park and is working with area residents to iron out the details and respond to their concerns). Terrified that someone had made a grave mistake (Buffalo Tract), I jumped in the truck and flew over to the park to investigate - and possibly jump in front of a bulldozer. But upon arrival we found no tree removal crews. It turns out a couple of residents had received a draft plan from the town that did not clearly indicate which trees were to be removed/replaced. The residents in reading the plan interpreted what they believed to indicate that 60+ trees were being removed, so they marked each of those trees with pink tape to alert area residents of the town’s plans. And alert area residents they did! As folks drove by, one after the other stopped to find out what the heck was going on.

Councilor Robinson and myself did our best to answer questions and tried toease resident’s concerns and reassure them that nowhere near the amount of trees marked were being removed. We also encouraged everyone to come to the community meeting on the 29th to hear firsthand from the town about the stream restoration project and have an opportunity to provide feedback and voice any concerns they may have.

Afterwards council attended the Cary Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Leadership Dinner. The guest speaker was Governor Bev Purdue. Purdue spoke about the recession’s impact on North Carolina while at the same time praising Cary’s leadership and vision as being largely responsible for Cary weathering the economic crisis better than most. I liked her speech. ;-)

Thursday evening was our Planning and Development Committee meeting. Notable topics of discussion included transportation improvements to Cary Parkway and High House Road resulting from proposed additions to St. Michael's Church, and a proposed new zoning classification for the Russell Hills neighborhood in our downtown area.

After our Planning and Development Committee meeting we high tailed it to Chatham County to meet with the Chatham County Commissioners to discuss the proposed Cary/Chatham Land Use Plan. Board member comments were positive and both boards agreed in principle to the proposed plan. I was glad to see both boards put prior differences aside and work together towards crafting a plan that protects Jordan Lake and the environment and helps to preserve the rural character and charm of east Chatham County.

I also spent a good amount of time this week working for candidates running for office both in municipal and school board races. I’m making phone calls, sending emails, facebooking, and stuffing envelopes for quite a few folks these days. Please remember to vote on October 6th!

Well that’s about it for this week in review. I hope to post again next week but with the UCF/ECU game and ensuing postgame victory celebration it may be difficult. ;-) Sorry Pirate fans. ;-)

Red Letter House Update

2009-09-16T11:20:00.002-04:00

Many of you have asked about the status of Mr. David Bowden's home at 305 Maynard. The following letter was hand delivered to Mr. Bowden by Assistant Town Manager Mike Bajorek and Engineering Director Tim Bailey on Sept. 4, 2009.

September 4, 2009

Mr. David Bowden
305 SW Maynard Road
Cary, NC 27511

Dear Mr. Bowden:

Over the past month, you and I have met several times without success to try to resolve concerns about your home. In an effort to unblock what appears to be a logjam between you and the Town, we are hoping that you will join us in mediation. As you may know, mediation is a model often used for resolving disputes. The process uses a trained, neutral third-party to facilitate discussions between parties and assists them in working together to settle their differences. Mediators don’t render judgments; if an agreement is reached, what the parties decide is written down and the parties sign an agreement as if it were a contract.

If you agree with us that mediation could be a productive next step – and we hope you do -- the Town of Cary will contact a local mediation service to provide a mediator certified by the NC Dispute Resolution Commission to conduct the mediation. Both you and the Town will have input into which mediator is actually selected according to the standard practices of the mediation service, and the mediator will be checked to ensure there are no conflicts of interests before the proceeding. Should you agree to participate in good faith, the Town will pay for the mediation service.

I would appreciate hearing from you about your decision by Thursday, September 10, 2009 and can be reached at mike.bajorek@townofcary.org or by phone at 469-4003. In addition to mediation, the Town of Cary’s June 15, 2009 offer to install a grated trench drain at no cost to you to handle water going onto your carport is still available.

We remain very interested in resolving this issue for the good of our community and hope you will join us in this effort.

Sincerely,

Mike Bajorek
Assistant Town Manager

cc: Ben Shivar, Town Manager
Town Council

Mike and Tim explained the mechanics of mediation to Mr. Bowden, but unfortunately Mr. Bowden appeared uninterested, and has not responded to or accepted the town's offer for mediation. He continues to refuse the town's offer to help.

Debra Goldman Fundraiser

2009-08-31T15:34:00.002-04:00

Come one - come all to a reception for DEBRA GOLDMAN, Candidate, Wake County Board of Education, District 9. This event is hosted by Sheriff Donnie Harrison and the Committee to Elect Debra Goldman.

When: Tuesday, September 8, 2009 from 6 to 8 PM
Where: Catering by Design 132 Kilmayne Drive, Cary 27511
RSVP to Sandy, 919-387-9235
Great appetizers - Cash bar - wine and beer
$50 per person
Sponsorship opportunities are still available! $100 Bronze, $250 Silver, $500 Gold, $1000 Platinum, $2500 Emerald, $4000 Diamond

For more information please visit www.electdebragoldman.com

Who's Got Spirit!?

2009-08-31T15:17:00.002-04:00

Some of you may remember this was an initiative I championed at the request of a citizen. It is great to see it finally come to fruition.

CARY RESIDENTS INVITED TO NOMINATE THE PERSON WITH THE MOST HOMETOWN SPIRIT IN CARY
First recipient of the Hometown Spirit Award to be honored at a fall Town Council meeting

CARY , NC – The Town of Cary is looking for the most community-minded of all to receive the Town’s first Hometown Spirit Award, an annual award that recognizes a citizen who enhances the quality of life in Cary by preserving, promoting and carrying out positive and quantifiable small town community values and traits. Cary citizens can submit nominations today through 5 p.m. on October 9, 2009 using an official nomination form available at www.townofcary.org. Nominations should be submitted to Town Clerk Sue Rowland by e-mail at sue.rowland@townofcary.org, by fax at (919) 460-4910 or by mail to Town Clerk, Town of Cary , P.O. Box 8005 , Cary , NC 27512-8005 .

“The Town Council decided long ago that no matter how large Cary’s population grew, the community would always be called a town, not a city, to reinforce our small town heritage and values, and this award is the perfect opportunity to recognize outstanding Cary residents for the role they play in helping keep Cary’s small town charm thriving,” said Town Clerk Sue Rowland.

Cary residents ages 21 and older are eligible for the award. Nominees should demonstrate leadership and integrity and be respected by peers. In addition, nominees should exemplify at least one of the following criteria: helps out neighbors and fellow Cary residents; demonstrates hospitality; promotes and preserves traditional American past-times; shows a concern for preservation and works to preserve traditions and the small-town atmosphere in the community; promotes entrepreneurship through supporting locally owned business; promotes a sense of community in their neighborhood and all of Cary; demonstrates patriotism through promotion and preservation of the country's symbols and dedication to the U.S. military, past and present; and serves the community through business.

During the November 12, 2009 Council meeting, the Mayor will recognize the nominees and announce the winner. The winner will receive a plaque, and the Town will recognize the winner on a perpetual plaque that will be placed in Town Hall. In addition, the award winner and family will be invited to participate in the community Tree lighting event on December 5, 2009 . Immediately following the tree lighting, there will be a reception to honor the award winner.

The Town Council approved the award program on July 23, 2009 . At a cost of $250 per award winner, funding for the program will come from the Town’s General Fund.

For more details on the Hometown Spirit Award, visit www.townofcary.org or call (919) 460-4941 .

Week in Review 8/24/09 - 8/28/09

2009-08-31T14:50:00.002-04:00

This past weekend I attended my 20th High School Reunion in sunny (sort of) Fullerton California. It was great to see all my old friends and classmates again. And seeing the old neighborhood sure brought back a lot of memories. So much had changed, yet so much had stayed the same. I had a great time, but it’s great to be back home in Cary. It took 20 years for me to miss California enough to go back. Once there it took about two days for me to miss Cary. I love this town.

Council had a worksession on Tuesday evening to discuss and vote on our recommended boards and commission appointments. While this sounds simple enough, given the number of highly qualified citizens that applied to serve (82 for 42 vacancies) I must say it was quite a bit of work to get to this point in the process. I personally reviewed each and every application, and determining which candidates to support for which position was no easy task. We are blessed to live in a community with such educated, passionate and creative citizens – the caliber of talent we have here in this town is truly amazing. Unfortunately there simply wasn’t enough vacanies for everyone deserving – and for what its worth I know what that’s like. I applied to serve for three years before finally being appointed to the town’s planning and zoning board. Although politics may have had a little something to do with that. ;-)

While we continually strive to do better, I believe Cary has done a relatively good job engaging its citizens. And I am proud that as a member of this council we have further increased opportunities for citizen involvement through the creation of the Environmental Advisory Board, Issues Advisory Board, and Animal Issues Task Force. We have changed the manner in which mixed use development is approved in order to give citizens a greater voice in the process, and we also created Cary Matters to better inform you, our employer, of the goings on in Cary. The Mayor and I also started blogs to better communicate with citizens – we do work for you after all. But like I said before, we are continually looking to do better. If you have any ideas of how we can further increase citizen involvement in Cary please feel free to let us know.

Council also held a closed session to discuss an ongoing legal issue.

Thursday evening was our council meeting. At our meeting council voted to table the proposed Cameron Pond Revegetation Plan as we just received it the day before and had not had ample time to review it. Council also received the annual reports from our Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Resources Advisory Board, Our Sister Cities Commission, and the Public Art Advisory Board.

The notable discussion item was the rezoning request and annexation petition for roughly 40 acres located at the intersection of O’Kelly Chapel and Pittard Sears Road. The applicant hopes to construct 166 age restricted homes. During the public hearing citizens expressed concerns regarding notification and further stressing of neighborhood amenities. Council members were torn on whether to continue the public hearing or move this forward to the November Planning and Zoning Board Meeting. While all council members expressed concerns regarding the notification process, in the end the majority of council voted to send this one on to P+Z and encouraged the residents to work with the applicant to address their concerns. November is a ways away – much can be accomplished between now and then.

Afterwards council held a closed session to discuss a number of legal issues – none of which I can say anything about. Sorry. ;-)

Thats it for this week in review. Thanks for reading!

Week in Review 8/10/09 - 8/14/09

2009-08-17T14:12:00.003-04:00

This past week I met with a small business owner in our downtown area and members of our town staff to discuss their concerns relating to our town’s sign ordinance. They recently opened up a small scooter sales and service business and would like to place a couple of scooters out front near the road to better advertise their new business. Sounds reasonable – especially considering there are numerous used car dealers in the area who display their vehicles for sale near the road. After meeting with staff it appears a minor change to the business owner’s site plan from retail to vehicle sales may be all that is needed to correct this concern.

On Monday evening I attended the Wake County Young Republican’s monthly meeting in Raleigh. Our guest speaker was Lenny McAlister, author of “Diary of a Mad Black PYC (Proud Young Conservative)” and contributor to numerous media outlets such as Fox News and CNN.

Tuesday evening council held a worksession to review and discuss the town manager’s update on boards and commission’s structure and action plans, council operating procedures, and council communications.

Wednesday I spent the better part of the day reviewing staff reports and our agenda for Thursday evening’s council meeting before heading to the Cary Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Dinner. The Chamber’s Leadership Dinner is an annual event which brings local, state, and federal officials together for an evening of networking and an opportunity to discuss issues facing our state and region. The highlight – or lowlight depending on your perspective – was when Congressman Brad Miller attempted to turn the event into a health care town hall (which was a bit odd considering the congressman has refused to hold a town hall on health care “out of fear for his safety” - reality is he had scheduled no town halls to start with). Anyways, halfway into his comments an elected official’s wife began to question Mr. Miller’s statements. Brad Miller immediately went on the defensive and began spewing typical pro-government health care statistics and talking points. (NOTE: when politicians resort to quoting statistics when making their argument it’s a good indication they have no real knowledge of the issue). The discussion quickly became heated as others, including her husband, joined in until Chamber officials intervened and asked folks to finish this discussion some other time.

Thursday evening was our council meeting. Notable discussion topics included whether or not to officially sanction a group to study allowing chickens in Cary town limits and report back to council (council denied the request), a decision to award $75,000 in financial incentives to Deutsche Bank to locate a technology development center in town, council’s decision to support a shared sick leave program for town of Cary employees, and a very lengthy closed session to discuss a number of legal issues facing the town.

While I am thrilled that Deutsche Bank is coming to Cary and creating 300 jobs, I voted against granting Deutsche Bank $75,000 in financial incentives as I believe Cary’s high quality of life, our highly educated workforce, and our proximity to RTP, the airport, and numerous educational institutions are already incentive enough. What really makes me sick however is that North Carolina – who is in a budget crisis and cut education funding statewide by 10% - is granting Deutsche Bank $9.4 million in incentives. In Wake County alone our school system is losing over $21 million in state funding and a number of teachers have lost their jobs, $600,000 has been cut from the Sheriff’s dept. budget, and the state is even withholding $500,000 in ABC store revenue from the county in an effort to balance their budget – yet they can somehow magically find $9.4 million for Deutsche Bank….amazing.

Council directed staff to develop a shared sick leave program for Town of Cary employees and bring back to council for decision. Should council approve of the program it would most likely take effect during next year’s budget process.

I spent a good deal of time this week responding to email and speaking with citizens regarding a number of issues such as the Red Letter House on Maynard Road, Flooding concerns in the downtown area, chickens, and the Dorothy Drive Park and Stream Restoration project.

And in all that free time I have ;-) I also worked on a number of candidate’s campaigns for this fall’s municipal and school board elections. I realize that some of you might not be pleased with my involvement in political campaigns given my position as an elected official. While I am an elected official I am a citizen first and foremost and have the same rights as anyone else. I believe it’s long past time our governments started working for us instead of us working for it and I will continue to do anything and everything I can to help those candidates who I believe will work hard for the citizens of Cary, Wake County, and of our state. I encourage you to do the same. We get what we elect.

Well that’s about it for this week in review. I doubt I will post next week as I am leaving for California on Friday for my 20th High School reunion. I am really looking forward to seeing all my old friends and the neighborhood I grew up in. I haven’t been back in 15 years. I am sure a lot has changed. Thanks for reading!

Red Letter House

2009-08-07T12:12:00.002-04:00

I’ve received a lot of calls and emails as of late pertaining to the home on Maynard Road whose owner, Mr. David Bowden, determined that the most effective manner in which to voice his displeasure with the town was to spraypaint “Screwed by the Town of Cary” in bold bright red letters on the front of his house. Well, actually he didn’t do it – he paid a painter $200 to do it for him. Mr. Bowden claims that the widening of Maynard Road to 4 lanes has caused significant water damage to his home.

Let me start by saying I feel for Mr. Bowden, and all of the residents negatively impacted by the Maynard Road widening for that matter. I really do. I can’t begin to imagine what it must be like to have a four lane thoroughfare thrown in your front yard and having to live with the increase in noise, traffic, and loss of privacy that comes along with it. While I was not on the council when the project was approved, I don’t believe the project should have caught folks by surprise either as Maynard Road has been planned to become a four lane thoroughfare since the adoption of Cary’s Thoroughfare Plan back in 1967. And while the town’s thoroughfare plan has been updated over the years, Maynard has always been dentified as a four lane thoroughfare or greater. In 1999 voters overwhelmingly approved a bond referendum which listed widening Maynard Road as a potential project.

Since taking office I have met with a number of Maynard Road residents – including Mr. Bowden – and have worked to help address their issues and concerns. Some were relatively minor problems – others a bit more complicated. A couple of times it was simply a matter of putting the resident in contact with the appropriate staff member or department.

After being contacted by Mr. Bowden I gladly met with him at his home to hear his concerns and to see things for myself. While there were obvious signs of water damage to Mr. Bowden’s home (rotted siding, mold, etc…) a number of things just didn’t add up with Mr. Bowden’s claims that the widening of Maynard Road was responsible for his water problems. The rotted siding in the carport area for example had clearly been rotting for years. I asked Mr. Bowden if he had any photographs of his home taken before the road widening project began. He did, and low and behold one photograph clearly showed rotting siding in the carport area.

When the town performed a survey of Mr. Bowden’s home in 2008, it was determined that a clogged gutter downspout was most likely responsible for water entering his crawlspace. Mr. Bowden claimed this was not the case as he “had never had a problem with his gutters”. However, seeing first hand the trees – yes trees – growing from Mr. Bowden’s gutters I respectfully disagreed and asked when the last time he had them cleaned was. Come to think of it, I don’t remember ever getting an answer to that question. Anyways, it does appear however that sometime between my visit to his home and the media’s he has since had his gutters cleaned…or at least removed the trees. Maybe the ‘sign painter’ removed them, I don’t know.

There were other obvious signs of neglect such as mildew/mold growing all over the siding (you can clearly see it here), the back yard was littered with limbs and tree debris and the grass hadn’t been cut in ages. Siding all around the home was rotting (gotta love masonite) and in desperate need of paint. It was clear that regular home maintenance was not high up on Mr. Bowden’s ‘to do list’.

The town also states they have observed Mr. Bowden’s property during heavy rainfalls and have witnessed only normal water levels in the yard – no standing or deep water.

I promised Mr. Bowden I would do what I could to help. I met with our town manager and engineers to discuss the situation and possible solutions. Staff determined that constructing a trench drain would help divert water away from his home, and that the town was willing to cover the costs. NOTE: Town engineers do not believe this to be necessary as the engineering study shows the water situation to be better now than pre-road widening. However I was very glad to learn that the town, in an effort to satisfy Mr. Bowden's concerns, was willing to implement a fix, and I “assumed” (ya, I know) Mr. Bowden would be pleased as well. I never heard back from him…until now.

Mr. Bowden has refused to allow Town of Cary employees on his property to construct the drain, and instead is demanding that the town buy his house for $170,000 and pay him $80,000 for his “troubles”.

A few more FACTS to consider:

Mr. Bowden admits knowing that his home had water issues when he purchased it. The previous owner had installed a sump pump in the crawl space.

Mr. Bowden stated that shortly after purchasing his home he excavated the foundation to further waterproof.

Simply put – this house has had water issues from day one.

Looking back at my meeting with Mr. Bowden what I find most interesting now was a more casual disussion we had in which he spoke about his online ‘friend’ and his quest to buy a Dodge Viper. I remember thinking to myself, “Really? What does a 60+ year old retiree need a Dodge Viper for? I get the friend part. ;-)

But now I get it. It all makes sense. Mr. Bowden isn't looking for help. He's looking to leave - quick. What he wants is a new life and he is trying to strong arm the town into buying it for him. He’s unhappy living in his current home. He’s tired of dealing with ongoing water problems and feels he cannot sell his home for what it is, or was once worth. (NOTE: home was purchased in 1986 for $88,000 – Tax value currently $177,000) He hates living on a four lane thoroughfare. He even went so far as to tell the media he wants to use the money buy a motor home to travel the country. And yes, he was serious about the Dodge Viper because a beautiful new Plymouth Prowler ($35,000+ sports car) has recently appeared in his driveway. This man doesn’t want a new house, he wants a new life. He hasn’t invested in or maintained his home for years because he hasn't cared about it for years. He just wants out, and in all honesty I can’t say that I blame him. But it is not the town’s responsibility to send him on a permanent vacation.

As I said earlier I have spoken to and worked with many along Maynard Road and heard loud and clear their disdain of having to live through the construction, and in some cases having to live there now. Quite frankly I’ve never heard of any road widening/construction project that was ‘pleasant’. While they typically benefit the masses, they often punish the few….a lot. I do believe however that the town has tried very hard to address concerns and issues that have arisen, while at the same time working under state and federal regulations.

The town is, and has been very willing to help address Mr. Bowden’s water problems. Heck, some general repairs here and there, paint and a little landscaping it could be a real nice home again…if he wanted it. The 35 grand spent on the Prowler might even cover the costs. But I guess it all depends on what your priorities are.

While I do not approve of what Mr. Bowden has painted on the side of his home, I do support his right to free speech. There are however more appropriate ways in which to get your point across.

If nothing else good comes out of all this, I at least hope this serves as a lesson to other potential homebuyers. DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Take the time to review transportation and land use plans. Speak with a planner or engineer in the city you are buying in. Ask questions – lots of them. What you see today may not be what is planned for tomorrow.

Week in Review 7/20/09 - 7/25/09

2009-07-26T10:46:00.003-04:00

What a week – a council meeting that lasted until 12:45 am, a worksession, numerous meetings with town staff and residents, and political campaigns….not necessarily in that order.

Monday morning I met with representatives of Infinite Solar Power, our town Manager Ben Shivar and his assistant Lana Hygh. The purpose of me calling this meeting was to introduce Infinite Solar Power to the town in the hopes that we may be able to work together and possibly utilize solar power to help power some of Cary’s buildings and facilities – while saving Cary taxpayers thousands of dollars in the process. It is estimated that one solar installation at a town wastewater facility for example might amount to $50,000.00 in savings without any capital outlay. As with anything, the devil is in the details - I'll keep you posted as this moves along through the process.

Monday evening I attended the Wake GOP Executive Committee meeting to hear from all Republican candidates running for office in Wake County. After hearing from the candidates, the committee then went in to closed session to debate and determine party endorsements. Some were slam dunks – others took a great deal of time and debate to determine who would receive the party’s endorsement. While not every candidate seeking the party’s endorsement received it, everyone one of them is to be commended for their desire to serve, and all are winners in my book.

One candidate that stood out to me was WCPSS District 9 Candidate Debra Goldman. I also had the pleasure of meeting with her for lunch the next day. Hearing first hand her vision of education in Wake County and her passion for increased parental involvement and neighborhood schools was very encouraging. I am proud to support Debra Goldman for WCPSS Board District 9.

Council held a worksession Tuesday evening to receive an update from consultants and staff, and for council to provide feedback regarding Cary’s creation of a Historic Preservation Master Plan. The main goals of the Historic Preservation Master Plan are to preserve, protect and maintain Cary’s historic resources, viewsheds and landscapes; and to discourage demolition of significant structures and promote policies and actions that reinforce downtown’s significance as Cary’s historic core. I was very pleased with the work that has been completed thus far, and am optimistic that when all is said and done we will have a plan in place that protects Cary’s historic resources, while at the same time providing for reinvestment in Cary’s historic districts.

Wednesday morning I met with Cary citizens for a general discussion on a number of regional and local issues which included but was not limited to annexation, incentives, environmental protection and politics. It is our hope to meet on a regular basis and potentially serve in an advisory capacity to local and state government. I’m just hoping we find a better time to meet than 7 too darn early am. ;-) Afterwards I spent the better part of the day in preparation for this week’s council meeting.

Thursday evening was our council meeting. Notable discussion items included a stealth cell tower installation at Greenwood Forest Baptist Church, an economic development incentives contract, round 12 of land development ordinance amendments, a comprehensive plan amendment to a proposed development near Carpenter’s historic district, land development ordinance amendments pertaining to front yard vehicle parking, a potential new low density residential (LDR) zoning district in our downtown area, council’s decision to direct staff to perform a comprehensive review of the town’s sign ordinance, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Council held a quasi-judicial public hearing pertaining to the proposed installation of a stealth cell tower in Greenwood Forest’s bell tower. While council members – myself included – expressed concerns over the potential negative health effects associated with a cell tower (potential radiation exposure), there is no proof that a cell tower poses any health risks to the adjoining community and/or church membership. The proposed cell tower would emit less than 1% of the maximum radiation allowed by the FCC. In a quasi-judicial public hearing the council acts as judge and jury and MUST base our decision on fact – not fear. Given the facts presented to council we unanimously voted to approve the installation.

Council voted 6-1 to approve an economic development incentives contract with Loparex LLC. in the amount of $25,000.00. Yes, I was the lone no vote. I find it very hard to believe that a company such as Loparex bases their decision on which city to set up shop over 25 grand. I voted against the incentive as I believe our quality of life, low taxes, and high demographics are incentive enough, AND I am sick to death that every time we turn around another business wants a government handout at taxpayer’s expense. I aint playing this game.

Land development ordinances pertaining to Cary’s new mixed use development approval process were tabled until our next meeting to give staff time to make a few minor adjustments. The new process for mixed use development approvals has been a long time in the making – we want to make sure we get them right.

A proposed comprehensive plan amendment pertaining to a development proposal adjacent to Carpenter’s historic district was also tabled over concerns that the proposed changes to the buffer language in the plan’s note would potentially reduce the buffer’s effectiveness and provide less protection to the historic district. Considering the devastation that has occurred to Cameron Pond’s buffer the council has grave concerns about changing any buffer restrictions at this time. I can also promise you we will be looking to increase the effectiveness of our buffer restrictions in the very near future.

Council also directed staff to begin a comprehensive review of the town’s sign ordinance. While Cary has weathered the recession better than most communities, many businesses and residents are feeling its effect nonetheless. Businesses are having a harder time making ends meet and homes are taking longer to sell. It is our hope that we may find areas where we can be a bit more flexible in our ordinance while at the same time continuing to protect Cary’s visual landscape. Times change and it’s been ten years since our sign ordinance was last reviewed. This process will take time and I will do my best to keep everyone abreast of our progress. I was also interviewed by WRAL and NBC17 regarding this topic.

Town Manager Ben Shivar also announced this week his selection of Mike Bajorek as the Town of Cary's new Assistant Town Manager. Mike replaces Ben Shivar as assistant who was selected by council to serve as Town Manager; replacing retiring Manager Bill Coleman. Congratulations Mike and Good Luck!

That’s all for this week in review. As always, thanks for reading and thank you very much for allowing me the opportunity to serve you.

Please Support Jack Smith and Jennifer Robinson for Cary Council

2009-07-19T12:13:00.003-04:00

Instead of my usual week in review I will be taking this opportunity to speak about the upcoming Cary Town Council elections….since that’s what everyone is asking me about lately. My phone hasn’t stopped ringing….until I turned it off. ;-)

I proudly support Cary Town Council members Jack Smith and Jennifer Robinson for reelection to the Cary Town Council.

Why you ask? That’s easy.

Jack has served as the district C representative on the council for 20 years. During that time Cary NEVER raised taxes – not once. In fact, thanks to Jack and Jennifer’s leadership Cary actually lowered taxes in 2000. Cary’s tax rate of 33 cents per $100 of valuation is the LOWEST tax rate of any municipality in Wake County and one of the lowest in North Carolina. Cary continues to have a AAA bond rating. Cary has been nationally recognized for its fiscal health – and is in the top 2% - of all cities in the US. Cary’s cash reserves exceed even that of Charlotte’s and far exceed the minimum required by the State.

Jack led Cary’s efforts to create an Economic Development Commission, including a strategy to have a dedicated professional focus entirely on bringing businesses to Cary. During the current economic slowdown Cary has recruited 24 companies to move here or expand (including 5 headquarters), resulting in 1600 new professional jobs at salaries averaging greater than $75K.

Jennifer Robinson has served on the council for nearly ten years. During her time on council Jennifer has always been an advocate for careful planning, economic development, environmental protection and fiscal conservancy.

Understanding the importance of sustainable development, Jennifer Robinson was the driving force behind Cary’s lower density Southwest Area Plan which counterbalances higher density development near employment areas and protects our environment. Jennifer also led Cary’s first land banking effort to purchase land ahead of time for future parks, community centers, libraries, fire stations, and schools. Banking and preserving this land now for future use saves Cary taxpayers millions of dollars in escalated land costs. Jennifer has also been a strong advocate for Cary’s downtown and older neighborhoods inside the Maynard loop.

Cary has achieved the very best Fire, Police & Parks/Recreation Personnel. All are nationally accredited and have been recognized as ‘best of the best’ – no other municipality in the State has achieved this recognition. Cary continually is nationally recognized as one of the most livable cities in the U.S & annually is recognized as safest community in the Southeast. This didn’t happen by accident folks.

And last but surely not least, I have had the pleasure of serving with council members Jennifer Robinson and Jack Smith for two years now. I have known them both personally for seven years. I have witnessed firsthand their impressive work ethic, commitment to excellence, and passion of making Cary an even better place than it is today. While we may not always agree on every item that comes before council, I trust that both Jack and Jennifer are making the decision that they believe is best for Cary – NOT what is best for their next reelection bid. They have given me no reason to believe otherwise.

You will hear a lot of cries for the need for “change” this year. You will surely read letters to the paper claiming the sky is falling and that Cary is doomed unless we elect new district A and C representatives. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Look around you and judge for yourself – are things really that bad in Cary right now? There is a reason Cary is continually ranked one of the best small cities in the country to live work and play - leadership. Can we do better? Absolutely. I am confident that Jack and Jennifer will continue to work hard to make Cary an even better place than it is today.

I think most everyone reading this blog knows who I am and what I stand for. I have no problem speaking my mind or holding elected officials who aren’t doing their job accountable - regardless of party affiliation (that can be a full time job sometimes). Good, honest elected officials seem harder and harder to come by these days. So when I see one – or two – who I believe have earned another 4 years, I am going to do everything I can to help and support them.

Please join me in supporting Jack Smith and Jennifer Robinson for reelection to the Cary Town Council.