local government

We can act now to channel over $1 billion into local government efforts to improve energy efficiency, lower energy usage, and reduce fossil fuel emissions.

Over recent months most of my non-work attention has been redirected from purely political issues to more local Town oriented work.

Local involvement was an total accident for me. I didn't plan it. Back last winter things started to happen with our growing County's land use plans and I did not particularly like what I was seeing. Being a resident of a small town in the part of my county that's been experiencing massive growth over the last ten years, I tried to get appointed to a county wide committee as a representative of our Town.

Naive? Absolutely.

Needless to say, that didn't work out, but it opened other doors.

A great and inspirational story. Frontpaged. A.

At Yearly Kos I kept hearing that local blogging is where it's at. There were two panels and a caucus on "state-local blogging." The San Francisco Chronicle reports that "Local blogs are key to future of politics." People are learning that the smaller the area represented, the more impact each constituent has

And yet, there was hardly a mention of county or municipal politics at Yearly Kos, other than how to work with local Democratic Parties. I'm certainly not opposed to advocacy targeting state and federal reps - in fact BlueNC.com does a great job of this and more power to you - but I think that truly local politics transcends party and hinges much more on individual relationships and reputations in a way that even state house races really don't.

This fact sheet on land transfer taxes from Chatham County is timely, informative, thought provoking and accurate.

So far, the General Assembly has only granted seven counties in the northeastern part of the state (Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Pasquotank, Perquimans and Washington) [the authority] to levy a land transfer tax. Only Washington County has opted not to levy the tax.

The counties without the land transfer tax must rely on property taxes, state-authorized sales taxes and other limited fees, which rarely keep pace with demands for schools, water-sewer and other important needs.

I've been puzzling over this issue and talking to people about it for a few months now. Besides getting Johnston County off of Aero-Contractors' payroll, I think this is the most pressing moral issue facing our homey little triangle satellite county. I speak about transfer taxes here in relation to Johnston, but this is truly a statewide issue as other BlueNC diarists have noted.

Why? Because ...

Thanks to everyone for the great response to my first post about a statewide alliance to support local control over impact fees.

What I'm interested in now is knowing what parts of the state have the capacity to get behind it. I know what the story in Durham and Wake is like, but I don't know what it feels like on the ground in Mecklenburg, Buncombe, New Hanover, Guilford, Forsyth, Johnston, Alamance, Davidson, or any other county that's seeing fast growth. If this is going to work, we're going to have to put together a coordinated effort to bug legislators in a lot of different parts of the state.

So, here's my question: How much are your Commissioners amenable to impact fees? How about your legislative delegation? Are there existing environmental, smart growth, or other progressive groups which would be willing to lend their support in the form of coordinated letter writing or calling campaigns?

it's not just for Cary any more.

My first blog entry here at bluenc is about a trend happening in the real estate development approval process in Johnston County. Below the fold is part of an email I recently sent Ms. Sherry Altman, Democratic candidate for NC Senate District 12, on the issue. I decided to post this partial letter here to get some of y'all's thoughts on the matter as a whole.

More below the fold ...

On Thursday May 18 the Chapel Hill Town Council will host a public forum on Municipal Wireless Networking. The event will be from 7 to 9PM and be held at Town Hall, 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. All citizens are invited to attend.

The event will be moderated by Shannon Schelin, Ph.D. of the Institute of Government at UNC. She will also make a presentation. Other speakers include Casey Lide of Baller Herbst in Washington, DC, Lynda Goff, Executive Director of WinstonNet in Winston-Salem, NC, Ray Reitz, Chief Technology Officer of Chapel Hill Carrboro School System, and Chad Johnston, Executive Director of The People’s Channel. For more information about the speakers please see the Town event webpage. There will be time at the end of the event for questions and answers. If you can't make it in person you can watch the event on Public Access channel 18.

Well, We seemed to enjoy a pretty good Convention and Meal last night.
Sheriff Bob Debruhl brought up several good points concerning the building of a new Jail and challenged DA Mike Bonfoey if he would place a full time Asst. Da in Graham County if the Office Space was provided.

State Senator John Snow(NC-50) was in attendance and offered his help in obtaining help with the DA Problem & Jail issue when asked. Senator Snow has truly made progress for this little county in the field of Jobs and also introduced the Meth Bill which has put a major hurt on it. He is also responsible along with Heath Shuler and the county Commissioners in the creation of our new Veterans Service Office.

Cruzan faces contempt charge for violating court order
By Lynn Hotaling
http://www.thesylvaherald.com/html/cruzan_faces_contempt_charge_f.html

A former Jackson County sheriff who is seeking to regain that post faces an April 10 hearing on a contempt of court charge.

Documents on file at the Jackson County Clerk of Court Office indicate that Jim Cruzan of Sylva, who was sheriff from 1994 until 2002 and is a current candidate for the Democratic nomination, has been accused of violating an October 2002 consent judgment. That document, a property settlement, requires him to pay $1,000 per month to his former spouse in addition to making mortgage payments.