Category Archives: Fayetteville Politics

Reverse Engineering – Downtown Parking Continued

September 29, 2018 By in Fayetteville Politics Leave a comment

Early this Spring, this website brought to light the details behind the new parking deck being built next to our baseball stadium in downtown Fayetteville.  Most importantly, I broke the news that the public would not get to use any of the spaces.  Rather, the spaces in our deck were contractually reserved for Prince Charles Holdings, LLC, our new “business partners.”  In short, Fayetteville is paying 15 million dollars for a parking deck its citizens cannot use so that rich investors will build a hotel in downtown Fayetteville.

The news caused a stir.  City Manager Doug Hewitt went on the radio and criticized my findings.  Other interested parties came out of the woodwork in defense of the deal, but they couldn’t kill the story.  The Fayetteville Observer got in the mix and began asking questions.

A few weeks later, in response, the mayor and the city council did what any smart municipal government does when it can’t answer hard questions and needs to buy time:  order a study!

Yes, we’ve hired some “parking professional” to spend our tax dollars to tell us that when you take away 800 parking spaces from a growing downtown and increase demand by building a stadium, your citizens might not have a place to park.  The “big reveal” of the results of the study is Monday night.

Can’t wait.

Fayetteville Florence Update: Cross Creek is Falling; Cape Fear Might be O.K.

September 17, 2018 By in Fayetteville Politics Leave a comment

They said Florence would be a “Mike Tyson punch” compared to Matthew.   Well, they were wrong.  It was many Mike Tyson punches, for four long days. Southeastern North Carolina woke up today bruised and swollen.  The good news is that we’re catching our breath as the sun peaks out between the clouds.

Cross Creek (the namesake of this blog and the colonial village that eventually turned into Fayetteville) is falling in downtown.

Here’s some additional good news, something you might miss in the coverage:  The Cape Fear River, the subject of an unprecedented, mandatory evacuation is not reaching its predicted levels:

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We’re about four feet below the predicted level.  You can keep up with the rising water using this link.

Pray this good news stays good news.

 

 

 

Meredith Breaks (R)ank – Senate 19

July 31, 2018 By in Fayetteville Politics, NC Politics 1 Comment

Last week, I wrote about controversial Senate Bill 3 that was passed in the recent special session.  The bill makes it easier for a Republican to win the upcoming race for a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court by preventing another candidate from running as a Republican and splitting the Republican vote.  For more detail and the text of the bill, use this link.

News outlets caught on to something during the vote.  A few Republican legislators in competitive districts broke with their party and voted against the bill.  Wesley Meredith was one of them.

Meredith is the definition of a party-line voter.  As the “Majority Whip” in the Senate, his job is to keep others on that same line.  He was one of only five senators to score a 100% rating from Civitas for his “conservative effectiveness” in 2017.  So what gives???

There’s only one thing that can explain Meredith’s novel attempt at moderation:  he’s worried.  His district has been “un-gerrymandered” by the federal courts, and now he must appeal to swing voters if he wants to beat Kirk deViere in the fall.

Senate Bill 3 has been vetoed by Governor Cooper.  There will be a vote in Raleigh on Saturday, August 4 to override Cooper and make the bill law.

Do you think Meredith will side with Cooper or have another change of heart?  I have a feeling he might stay on vacation this Saturday.

 

McCready’s Choosing the Battlefield (NC-09)

July 16, 2018 By in Fayetteville Politics, NC Politics Tags: 1 Comment

Andrew Dunn over at longleafpolitics.com wrote an interesting post criticizing Dan McCready’s response to controversy surrounding a sermon given by his opponent, Mark Harris.  McCready (D) and Harris (R) are set to battle it out in November for North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District.

Harris gave the sermon in 2013, but it found its way to the internet and made national news.  In sum, it lays out traditional “biblical womanhood” with man as “head” and woman as “helper” and criticizes society’s treatment of young women:

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