And how dastardly.

The independent local political Web site carypolitics.org features an amateur music video dinging incumbent Mayor Ernie McAlister, whose financial backing comes mostly from the development industry, for "listening to the ones with the dough." A roadside placard of uncertain origin cries, "McAlister lied, good trees died."

McAlister and his supporters have tagged mayoral challenger Harold Weinbrecht, a former Town Council member who served with slow-growth Mayor Glen Lang from 1999 to 2003, as a hypocrite who demonized developers while voting for several large developments now being built.

"We remember the mess he and Lang left to be cleaned up," said a pro-McAlister newspaper ad.

The mayoral race is one of four elections for a majority of seats on Cary's Town Council. After Cary's swings on growth policies in recent years, the election Tuesday will determine whether Cary sticks to its pro-growth course or moderates somewhat.

There is not much of a no-growth movement afoot.

Still, many Cary residents are frustrated by growing pains in the town of about 123,000 people. As elsewhere in the Triangle, roads, water systems, and public schools haven't kept up with demand.

A citizen coalition has sprung up around opposition to a big mixed-used infill development at Davis and High House roads, complete with a Web site and fliers endorsing slower-growth candidates over McAlister and his allies.

A vocal slice of the citizenry thinks the town has lurched from the extremes of too much growth, to too little, and back again during the past decade. They tend to favor Weinbrecht.

The town's business establishment, meanwhile, backs McAlister, a former chairman of Cary's Chamber of Commerce.

No matter how fast the town grows, most Cary residents and leaders agree that smart growth is not dense or urban. They favor spread out and suburban, without closely mixing homes and businesses and without buildings taller than two or three floors.

"People here want an attractive, suburban look, with well-manicured lawns and sidewalks you can push your stroller down," said Nels Roseland, the council's District B incumbent. He faces two strong challengers: small-business owner Don Frantz and community activist Vickie Maxwell.

But some think rapid growth is threatening that quality of life.

"Going door to door and talking with folks, there is concern about growth," Roseland said. "Growth management is important. But Cary is lucky in that our biggest problem is that too many people want to call us home."

Disillusionment

Sandwiched between Raleigh and Research Triangle Park, Cary is a natural place for many affluent, highly educated people to want to live. They bring with them high community standards and expectations of their government.

Outgoing council member Marla Dorrel says more and more of them are disillusioned.

"The greatest thing at stake in this election is the role people can play in making policy for their community," she said. "There are lots of people who feel they're not being looked out for. They have the feeling that the deck is stacked against them. I think it may be."

But in terms of the election campaigns, she said, growth is the defining issue -- though in a different way than in recent years.

"Six or eight years ago, I heard a lot of people say we need to slow growth or stop growth," Dorrel said. "I don't hear people say that now. I hear them say let's have smarter growth."

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