Next year's local political races are getting an early start in Raleigh.
Though filing for October's City Council elections doesn't open until summer, one Southeast Raleigh resident has launched his campaign for the District C seat held by Eugene Weeks.
Lent Carr, a longtime Christian minister, was upset when the council bypassed him and several other candidates and appointed Weeks to the seat this year. He also was outraged by City Manager Russell Allen's plan to reorganize top-level city staffers rather than hire a replacement for former Assistant City Manager Lawrence Wray, who retired Dec. 1. The plan is supposed to save public funds and is expected to have little resistance from the council.
In an e-mail message announcing his candidacy, Carr compared Allen's plan to the Wake County school board majority's attempt to eliminate busing based on socioeconomic diversity in favor of neighborhood schools. Carr called Allen's move an "attack" on Southeast Raleigh, even though Allen shifted many of Wray's responsibilities to other staffers.
Carr also accused James West, who held the council seat for 11 years and has been a popular District C advocate, of "throwing Southeast Raleigh under the bus." West started the Southeast Raleigh Assembly and helped foster the popular African American Cultural Festival.
No word on whether Weeks will try to keep his seat.
General reference
In between fighting the Taliban and leading U.S. forces in Afghanistan, U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus found time to give a reference for new Wake County Schools Superintendent Anthony Tata.
The reference isn't surprising, considering that Tata is a retired Army brigadier general. School board members also noted Thursday that Tata has references from "esteemed educators" such as Philadelphia Schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman, former Boston Schools Superintendent Thomas Payzant and former District of Columbia Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee.
Rhee hired Tata for his most recent job as chief operating officer of the district's school system.
"We agree with their assessments and believe that Gen. Tata's leadership, experience, education background and his passion for public service is the right combination to help lead Wake County to continue to be a world-class school district," said Wake school board member Debra Goldman, who served as head of the search committee.
Sunshine wanted
Wendell leaders are still hashing out a town policy on public e-mail. And one town commissioner questioned the motives of public records requests from The News & Observer's Eastern Wake News.
The town began crafting new guidelines for its public records after the newspaper requested to look at e-mail from officials in November 2009.
The town's board of commissioners is reviewing a second draft of that policy, which, if approved, would give the mayor, commissioners and staff the authority to decide for themselves whether ane-mail message is public and should be stored on the town's system. It also would call for somemessages to be destroyed three years after their creation, and others to be retained permanently.
"It's interesting that there is such interest in e-mails when mine have been shared without my permission," Commissioner Ginna Gray said last week.
Gray asked her colleagues on the board whether Knightdale and Zebulon respond to similar requests.
More TV, more money
A government TV station in eastern Wake County plans to add a second channel to its network. The move should bring more money to local towns and give residents twice the access to the high drama of municipal board meetings.
East Wake Television is a partnership of Knightdale, Wendell, Zebulon and Rolesville. It broadcasts town council and planning meetings and local sporting and other events.
Adding a second channel will double the amount of money the towns get from a state pool of tax dollars from cable television bills. Right now, each town gets about $20,000 annually.
Gary McConkey, the station's director, brought the issue to Knightdale's Town Council last week to make sure no members had serious problems with the move.
The station is governed by the managers of each town, who signed off on the extra channel.
Landfill answers coming
The new year should bring new details to Chatham County residents who are concerned about a proposed 400-acre landfill. There are nine possible sites for the landfill, which is expected to cost about $6 million to build, county leaders say.
They say residents will be able to voice their opinions and learn about the sites in early 2011. Many residents asked county officials last week to push the process. Consultants will pick the three best sites.
"The longer you take to make this decision, you've got a cloud hanging over some percent of the county," said Peter Naylor, who owns a farm next to one site. "Put us out of our misery. Tell us where it's going, and the rest of us can get on with our lives."
By staff writers Ray Martin and T. Keung Hui
