IT'S NOT LIKE THEY TORE DOWN THE SHIMMER WALL OR PUT GRAFFITI ON THE SIDE OF THE MINT RESTAURANT

So should we care? It only made the national news and has been on Drudge all day.

Related Story

Tell me once again about the hundreds of millions spent within a few blocks in downtown Raleigh and priorities........

CUT DOWN SOME MORE TREES, WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF PAPER FOR CERTIFICATES

You can view Wake County's declining graduation rate here.

More than 1 out of 5 overall.
2 of every 5 African Americans
5 of every 10 Hispanic/Latino

WHAT A GREAT JOB WAKE COUNTY'S SCHOOL BUSING AND ASSIGNMENT POLICIES HAVE DONE!

CONGRATS AGAIN DEL! YOU'RE ON A ROLL.

WE'LL GET MCNEAL AND OXHOLM CERTIFICATES AS WELL FOR THEIR SCHOOLS OF EXCELLENCE.

WANT THE DAILY NEWSLETTER?

Wake Community puts out a daily newsletter of Wake County related news and information. To be added, send an email to wakecommunity@bellsouth.net with the words subscribe wake in the subject line.

IT'S A START....

In what is probably a shattered relationship between current "Super"intendent Del Burns and former "Super"intendent Bill McNeal, we suggest the following as a starting off point:

Dear Bill:

I'm sorry I ran your "Schools of Excellence" into the ground.

Sincerely,

Del

NOW ONLY 25% OF THE ORIGINAL PRICE

A SCHOOL DISTRICT'S JOURNEY TO EXCELLENCE

WORLD CLASS SCHOOLS? HECK, WE WOULD SETTLE FOR MEDIOCRE OR EVEN CRUMMY.

WRAL-TV reports tonight that less than 25% of Wake County schools met Federal No Child Left Behind standards. That's right, less than 25% met federal standards.

Want to see the results?

LOOK AT THE WONDERFUL JOB BUSING HAS DONE TO IMPROVE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE.

CONGRATS DEL! WE'LL MAIL YOU A 25% CONGRATULATIONS CERTIFICATE SUITABLE FOR POSTING IN YOUR OFFICE.

Let's play an education quiz!

Del Burns will blame:

A. Ongoing mismanagement by Wake County School System administrators
B. George Bush
C. Greedy taxpayers
D. B & C

And what did our great education leader Del Burns have to say about the greedy taxpayers in Wake County and future school performance?:

"There will be changes," he said. "We won't be as effective at providing the current level of service."

Should we expect 15% or 10% next year then?

And Beverly Clark?:

Beverly Clark, vice chairwoman of the school board, called Cooke's proposal "disappointing" and said his figure was too low to build a "world-class" school system.

Bev - Even if we had given you the extra $55 million, what then? Only 60% of our schools failing instead of 75%?

Yes, once again it's our fault Del.

One last question Del: Can you let us know what you did with the extra $6 million you did not return to the county because of poor growth projections by your staff? I don't think we ever found the 2,290 students. Would an Amber Alert be in order?

LEST MR. BURNS RECEIVE ALL THE PRAISE, MIGHT I RECOMMEND A BOOK? :

A SCHOOL DISTRICT'S JOURNEY TO EXCELLENCE

WE'LL MAKE SURE OXHOLM AND MCNEAL GET CERTIFICATES ALSO FOR THEIR ILLUSTRIOUS PERFORMANCE.

WANT THE DAILY NEWSLETTER?

Wake Community puts out a daily newsletter of Wake County related news and information. To be added, send an email to wakecommunity@bellsouth.net with the words subscribe wake in the subject line.

WEEKLY CALENDAR, JULY 21-27 (2008)

Please find below a list of relevant governmental, public policy and political meetings for the week. Have an item you want considered for inclusion? Email wakecommunity@bellsouth.net with the group name, nature of meeting, speaker (if applicable) and time, date and location. Please put “event” in the subject line.

Thanks.

Wake Community Network

Upcoming:

Americans for Prosperity Defending the American Dream Summit
October 10-11, 2008


July 21 – July 27

Monday:

John Locke Foundation Shaftesbury Society Meeting with Judge Doug McCullough
12:00 pm
John Locke Foundation

Joint meeting of the Wake County Board of Commissioners and Board of Education
9:00 am
WCOB, Ground Floor Conference Center, 337 S. Salisbury Street, Raleigh

Wake County Board of Commissioners Meeting
2:00 pm
Wake County Courthouse – 7th Floor

Tuesday:

Raleigh Planning Commission Meeting
9:00 am
Raleigh Council Chambers

Raleigh Budget and Economic Development Committee
11:00 am
Raleigh City Hall – Room 305

North Carolina Veterans for McCain
12:00 pm
Front of General Assembly

Wake County Citizens’ Facilities Advisory Committee
4:00 pm
Human Services, 220 Swinburne Street, Raleigh – Room 2149

CAMPO – Capital Area Bicycle and Pedestrian Stakeholders Group
4:00 pm
Raleigh City Hall – Room 301

Wednesday:

Civitas Institute DecisionMaker Poll Luncheon
12:00 pm
Clarion Hotel on Hillsborough Street

Thursday:

Wake County Human Services Board
7:30 am
Wake County Eastern Regional Center, 1002 Dogwood Street, Zebulon

Wake County Human Services Regional Networks Committee
10:00 am
Human Services 220 Swinburne Street, Raleigh – Room 5040

Raleigh Housing Authority
5:00 pm
900 Haynes Street – Board room

Other noteworthy meetings:

Raleigh Citizen Advisory Council Meeting Schedules

Other standing municipal government meetings

YOUR TURN

Itching to let the Special Transit Advisory Commission know how enthusiastic you are to pay increased local sales taxes and vehicle registration fees for a rail system no one will use?

You can do so at http://www.transitblueprint.org/stac/staccomment.shtml.

To view the full report, go here.

CHECK OUT RENEW RALEIGH

Check out Renew Raleigh. You can click the link here to get a yard sign and stand beside them to protect property rights.

WANT THE DAILY NEWSLETTER?

Wake Community puts out a daily newsletter of Wake County related news and information. To be added, send an email to wakecommunity@bellsouth.net with the words subscribe wake in the subject line.

WHAT WILL SOLVE THE ATTRITION OF RALEIGH POLICE OFFICERS?

Chris Hayes at Red Clay Citizen has an excellent post on the issue of Raleigh law enforcement and the turnover facing the department.

You can tell a lot about the priorities of Boylan Mayor Meeker by looking at where his enthusiasm lies.

How will this problem be solved? Only by a rash of crimes to hit Fayetteville Street that threaten the crown jewel of Meeker & Co.

You see, Boylan Mayor Meeker believes in a livable street. Unfortunately that leaves out those seeking a livable city to fend for themselves by hiring security firms for their local neighborhoods.

NOT SATISFIED WITH ABRIDGING PROPERTY RIGHTS

City Councilman Rodger Koopman apparently has moved on to loftier goals - stripping people of their FIRST AMENDMENT rights under the United States Constitution.

Koopman, upset that Raleigh residents booed at one point during this week's city council meeting, suggested that "they should be ejected" because they upset his friends at the meeting.

This after Koopman, Meeker, Stephenson, & Co. have for the last several years put horns on Raleigh's homeowner community.

THIS WEEK - RALEIGH RESIDENTS: 0, WAKE/DOWNTOWN RALEIGH ELITE: 2

SO FAR (JUST THIS WEEK):

David King, head of the Triangle Transit Authority, proposes yet another regressive sales tax increase for area residents.

Boylan Mayor Meeker proposes a very regressive 50% surcharge on Raleigh water users.

Also let's not forget that Gordon Smith and the downtown Raleigh elite also want to raise your taxes through the property revaluation process.

I'm sure this is just beginning. Raleigh's City Council (Meeker & Co.) will also use the bonds passed last fall to raise property taxes as well.

Look soon for the "it's just a cup of coffee daily for the children, etc." lobbying effort. We've long since gone past the cup of coffee. We've already taxed the whole breakfast meal and are moving on to lunch and dinner.

THE SCHOOLS RALLY .....

In Cary Saturday reminded me of this very surprising development last fall.

Talking to a brick wall gets you just that. Tearing down the brick wall and replacing it is another thing altogether.

RALEIGH'S NEW CONVENTION CENTER WILL CREATE 1000 NEW JOBS

Well, not the new one, but the old one planners wanted to build in 1992 when Raleigh voters said no by a 58% to 42% margin. Though given the scale of the new building and the massive public spending spent over the last several years in downtown Raleigh, one would assume 1000 new jobs would be a floor and not a ceiling for job creation.

From the RALEIGH MEANS BUSINESS COMMITTEE:

"A new Raleigh convention center is a sound economic investment. It will create 1,000 new jobs, generate more than $50 million a year in new visitor spending and $3 million in new tax revenues."

Job creation is welcome. We welcome you working here. Our Mayor and Councillors Koopman, Stephenson and McFarlane would prefer you find somewhere else to live however.

RALEIGH'S OFFICIAL POLICY IS REVENUE NEUTRALITY

IN 1999 the Raleigh City Council passed a resolution that tax rates should remain "revenue neutral" in years when property in the city is revaluated.

In fact, former City Manager Dempsey Benton stated in the News & Observer "That's always been our practice." (N&O 2-18-00)

Let's see if Boylan Heights Mayor Meeker and his merry band of newcomers respect tradition or find yet another way to financially burden Raleigh taxpayers with a hidden tax increase. They've done that in the past with fee increases. Maybe the revaluation will be 2008's version of a tax increase.

APPEAL YOUR REVALUATION

Americans for Prosperity NC held a great overview of the revaluation process for Wake County residents last night.

This is the first of two steps to keep the reassesment process from impacting your family's financial health for the worse. The second step is to step up and let the county commissioners know that you want the reassesment to be revenue neutral.

There is currently a move afoot by the downtown elites to further tax Wake County homeowners by hiding a tax increase in the revaluation process.

If you want more information about AFP's forum last night, click here.

CHAPEL HILL - A TAX HAVEN FOR RALEIGH AND CARY?

"I believe we have the potential to be more liberal than San Francisco or Chapel Hill."

- Philip Isley, The News & Observer - Thursday, October 11, 2007 (Commenting on Tuesday's elections)

JUST POLITICS

I see that the "progressive" community in Wake County has returned to its demonization of Wake County developers. In sophmoric language, the Capital Sierra Club has come out with their list of candidates who will "work for the environment -- not for developers!"

The silence was defeaning last year in relation to the 2006 Wake County School Bond issue. Where was the outcry for their support of the bonds last year? I assume the WakeEd folks, etc. were disturbed by developers, who's sole mission is to destroy Bambi's home, meddling in school issues.

Make up your mind already!