The week was a short week due to the Thanksgiving holiday but did have a few significant meetings.

Monday’s only meeting was with School Board Chairman Kevin Hill. I asked for this meeting because of my concern that the school board might be headed towards a division and “an us versus them” mentality. I told Kevin about my experiences on council in the early 2000s when I was on a slate elected to make drastic changes. I explained that I learned a great deal from that experience and now believe a group works better if everyone is contributing. I talked about how our current council still has differing philosophical beliefs but we work together as a team for the best solution. I told Kevin that I hoped to reach out to all the new school board members within the next few weeks. I also told him that my staff was working on setting up a breakfast meeting in Cary during the month of January for the Wake County Mayors and the Wake County School Board. He and I agreed to work on an agenda for this gathering if it became a reality. I was very impressed with Chairman Hill. He is very smart and has been working on trying to bring this group together as they prepare to face huge challenges.

Tuesday I along with Mayor Pro-Tem Robison, the town manager, and the director of engineering met with officials from Triangle Transit, NCDOT, and NCDOT rail division. The main focus was around Walker Street and Cary rail crossings. A good portion of the meeting was spent talking about the possibilities of additional funding for Walker Street. It is important to understand that Cary has received close to $2 million in federal earmarks for the Walker Street tunnel. This has been used mostly for design up to this point. Future funding may have to come from another pool of money. That pool may require Cary to prove they are helping eliminate at grade railroad crossings. Currently, Cary has four at grade crossings. One is near the WPTF towers (which is private), Maynard, Academy, and Harrison. It is a goal of NCDOT Rail to eliminate all at grade crossings from Raleigh to Charlotte in the future. While this might not happen in my lifetime it is a goal to improve the efficiency and safety of rail.

The Walker Street preliminary design has already had a public viewing and comment period. There are several issues related to this design. First and foremost is funding. It is estimated that we will need an additional $14 million for this project. Council will continue to review capital projects in December and will have to reprioritize if this project is to move forward in the very near future. I don’t believe there is political will or interest on this council to raise taxes. Another decision point might be to rethink Walker Street in its entirety. That is, council may decide that it needs Walker Street to be designed as a major corridor. That would mean that Walker Street would be four lanes from Kildaire to Chapel Hill Road. If that is the case then the tunnel would need to be four lanes instead of two.

One of the biggest questions around the Walker Street tunnel is need. Why do we need this tunnel? It is important to understand that downtown Cary is estimated to grow by about 15,000 people. Add to that future light rail traffic and roads in downtown would gridlock with existing roads. Staff traffic studies have concluded that at least one additional grade separated crossing would be needed. In addition, they conclude that South Harrison would need to be connected to Kildaire to handle this traffic. These are all topics that need to be discussed by the council and hopefully we can resolve some of the future downtown questions at the council retreat in January.

Even though I didn’t have any official mayoral work on Wednesday I did talk with Wake County School Board member Ron Margiotta. I have let school board members Kevin, Ron, and Debra each know that I have been, and will be, talking with others on the school board. From my conversations so far I can tell you that these three are working very hard on communication and working together.

I took Wednesday and Thursday off to celebrate the Thanksgiving Holiday. While it was different not having my mother with us this year, it was a wonderful time with friends and family including my wife, daughters, brother, Aunt Fellas (former Mayor Bond’s wife), cousin Lisa, and others. I am thankful and blessed to have such great family and friends.

Friday it was back to work. I met with newly elected school board member Debra Goldman. We talked for about two hours and I learned a great deal about her. She is a very intelligent woman and an independent thinker. I think she has tremendous potential in her newly elected position. I don’t believe she will blindly follow on any decision. I believe she will have to be convinced before doing anything that impacts the children of this county. One topic we talked about was better communication from the school board. She is interested in communicating with the Cary Council directly on a regular basis. I think this is a fantastic idea. She is also interested in several other communication ideas that we will work on together.

This week emails included questions about the Turnpike Authority and its impact on Cameron Pond. I also received a complaint about spending federal funds on our sustainability manager which we are in the process of hiring. Complaints were also received from the Cary Watchman (almost weekly now) about the automated meter reading, a Morrisville resident about the Bowden enforcement of the sign ordinance, and a Cary resident on the Walker Street tunnel.

Next week’s schedule has me shaking hands with about 700 town employees at the holiday luncheon, speaking to a homeowner’s group, and filling in at the Operations Committee meeting for council member Smith.

Well that is all for this week. I plan to next post on Sunday, December 6^th. Please feel free to leave a comment on my post.

The week was a full week of meetings and events including a work session and a taping of Cary Matters.

Monday started with a Public Service Announcement taping for the Census. The taping lasted all of 15 seconds and will be broadcast on our government access channel. The Census will be mailed to everyone in March. The counting of the population is important on many fronts. First it may determine if North Carolina gets another member of Congress. The population count will also determine how many federal dollars get directed back to North Carolina for hospitals, roads, schools, etc. Remember that North Carolina is a donor state. That is we pay in more taxes to the federal government than is returned here. So getting our fair share is important. On the state level we have a similar situation. Sales tax dollars are returned back to municipalities based on population. It is very important for everyone to be counted in the census.

Monday night was the monthly meeting of the Wake County Mayor’s Association. All twelve mayors were in attendance. This is the first time that all twelve of us have been together in a while. We discussed the process of how the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) functions and brainstormed on ideas to make it better. It was decided that we would invite the Wake County school board to our February meeting. We also toasted outgoing Mayor Faulkner of Morrisville. New officers were also approved by the mayors. I will be the incoming president and Mayor Killian of Knightdale will be the incoming vice president and treasurer.

Tuesday’s first meeting was with the town manager and Mayor Pro-Tem Robison. I discussed issues that were brought up at the Mayor’s Association meeting the night before. In addition, we discussed council-manager-employee relationships.

There were two work sessions on Tuesday. The first work session was on the 2020 Affordable Housing Plan. Over the years the town has been supporting affordable housing with various ad-hoc initiatives. The purpose of this plan is to provide strategies for the near term, long term, and longer term. The council seemed to be in favor of strategies that included rehabilitation, senior housing, and revolving loans. The council was opposed to rental rehabilitation, inclusionary zoning, density bonuses for developers, linkage fees, and overlays. Staff took feedback from the council and will send a summary of the meeting to council for review. Once the draft has been reviewed and completed it will be presented to the public at a community meeting. This will be followed by a Public Hearing, a Planning and Zoning Board work session, a Planning and Zoning Board Public Hearing, and then presented to council for approval.

The second work session on Tuesday was on the Automated Meter Reading Project called Aquastar. Here are some interesting facts about our current system:

-              An average of 6 leaks is reported daily. 4 are detected and 2 are reported by the customers.

-              Meter readers have to read roughly 250 meters a day. Approximately 30% of meters have water which requires bailing. It is not uncommon for meter readers to have shoulder injuries, wrist injuries, back injuries, bee stings, and spider bites.

-              There are 57,000 meters currently in Cary and 10 meter readers.

-              Meter readers will travel 71,000 miles and use 7000 gallons of gas each year.

-              It will cost the town $18.6 million over the next 17 years to continue with the system we have in place. Of course this can go much higher with the cost of gas and health insurance.

Aquastar is a wireless meter reading system that will allow the town to read meters from a remote site. The financial benefit for the town over the 17 year system life is $2.4 million. This will result in lower utility fees than if we kept the existing system. I think it is important to note that utility fees will rise the next few years because of the town’s commitment to the future Western Wastewater Treatment plant years ago.

Questions surrounding Aquastar focus on cost and privacy. Here are a few points related to the cost:

-              The cost of the meters will be funded through the utility fund not the general fund. That means taxpayers will pay with their utility bills not their tax bills.

-              To keep the existing system will cost the town more to maintain than the wireless meters.

-              For the town to lose money in putting in the wireless meters would require at least 10,000 meters failing (based on full replacement cost). Note that these meters have warranties for up to 15 years.

Privacy issue questions are mostly focused around big brother. The current system only allows employees with the “need to know” to look at personal data. This will not change with the new system. The town has policies protecting citizens from anyone getting private information about them.

Here are the advantages of Aquastar:

-              Aquastar will increase the level of customer service. Customers, especially non-residential, want to know more about usage. This is information similar to what is being provided by power companies and gas companies.

-              Aquastar will assist with water resource management. That is, it will help find leaks.

-              Aquastar will improve worker safety.

-              Aquastar will save the town and its customer’s money. If we continue with business as usual then customers will pay more in their utility bills.

Council approved the Aquastar system by a vote of 5 to 1. Don Frantz voted no and Gail Adcock was absent due to a conflict. Based on the information presented to the council this was the right thing to do. The Finance director said they used conservative estimates across the board for this project. With those conservative estimates the utility costs will still be less than if we continued with the existing system. This was the deciding point for me.

Wednesday started with the December taping of Cary Matters. My co-host was Mayor Pro-Tem Robison. The main topic in December’s Cary Matters will be the US Census. Questions and Answers will include the Cary Elementary renovation, pedestrian safety, and fiber optics. You may or may not know that I write all the Cary Matters and then have the Public Information Officer’s team fact check the data and make any edits that are necessary. I solicit council members for ideas when I know they are scheduled to appear on the show. Jennifer Robinson was supposed to be in December but had a conflict so I swapped her with Julie Robison. If you have any ideas for main topics or questions you would like answered please send them my way.

After the Cary Matters taping I headed over to the Police building for the graduation ceremony of the 26th class of the Cary Police Academy. The Citizens Police Academy offers members of the community a unique opportunity to become familiar with the operations of the department. During this nine week course which meets one evening a week, citizens will talk with representatives of each unit and division in the department, including patrol operations, communications, traffic operations, criminal investigations, youth services, animal control and records. We had 19 graduating from the 26th class. These are amazing people to sacrifice three hours once a week to learn and become ambassadors for Cary. Hopefully, they will take this knowledge and go to the next level and join the CAP team (Citizens Assisting Police).  The CAP program is made up of a group of citizens who volunteer their time to assist the Cary Police Department in and around the Town of Cary<http://www.townofcary.org>, freeing sworn officers for other duties. The program offers an opportunity for those interested in law enforcement to combine their interest with the personal satisfaction of volunteering.

Thursday I attended the Cary Chamber’s Business After Hours. This was held at Solar Solutions near Davis Drive and High House. I have met the owners of Solar Solutions previously and we talked about solutions to make Cary greener. They have several ideas and are interested in meeting with Cary’s new sustainability manager as soon as that person is hired. The environment is one of the top issues that Cary citizens are interested in. I also met with several other business owners at this event. The feeling of hanging on is fairly consistent among the group I talked with. I still believe Cary is in great position to be one of the first out of this recession and hopefully that means our businesses will be able to thrive soon. I am thinking as early at 2^nd quarter next year. Now if the banks would only start lending a little money to commercial developers.

Friday started with a teleconference of the North Carolina Mayors Board of Directors meeting. The meeting started with all mayors from around the state making introductions.  Since this was a conference call it became interesting hearing several step over another’s introduction. I just waited until it got quiet. I believe Mayor Weatherly and I were the last to introduce ourselves. The meeting’s agenda included an update on the advocacy agenda and a vote on the Coalition Bylaw amendment. While there was a full agenda, the main purpose was to replace Chapel Hill Mayor Foy with Durham Mayor Bill Bell as Chairman of the Board. This was the first teleconference meeting of mayors. While we did have one heavy breather (forgot to put the mute button on when he wasn’t speaking), it was a great way to hear what other mayors from around the state had to say. The most energetic voice of the bunch was Pat McCrory who was introducing Charlotte’s new mayor Foxx. I hope the next meeting of the NC Mayors Board will use a teleconference.

Friday night I attended the third Beaujolais Nouveau fundraiser at the Matthews House sponsored by Cary Sister Cities Association. There was a crowd of over two hundred enjoying the newly released wine and French cuisine prepared by the Wake Tech’s culinary department. I was blessed to be the guest of honor with my wife Belinda. I spent the better part of three hours meeting and greeting folks and talking about all kinds of things. Also in attendance from the council were Mayor Pro-Tem Robison, council member Portman, and council member Smith. It appeared that everyone had a great time and hopefully this raised some good money for the association.

Emails this week included a complaint about the town having debt, complaints about the sign ordinance enforcement of Mr. Bowden on Maynard, a complaint about the lack of on line applications, an invitation to a homeowner’s association meeting, an invitation to welcome folks to the ole time winter festival, and a thanks for the hometown spirit award.

Next week’s calendar has me meeting with Wake School Board Chairman Hill on Monday, and members from TTA and NCDOT on Tuesday in addition to staff meetings.

Well that is all for this week. I plan to next post on Sunday, November 29^th. Please feel free to leave a comment on my post.

The week was a full week of meetings and events including a council meeting and work session.

Monday’s first meeting was with two members of the NC Turnpike Authority (TPA) regarding the Triangle Expressway. Also in attendance was Mayor Pro-Tem Robison, council member Robinson, the town manager, and assistant town manager. Mayor Pro-Tem Robison drove most of the discussion. Our concerns centered around the negative impacts on Cameron Pond and Highcroft. I made it very clear that doing nothing to protect these neighborhoods was not an option. I think I got that point across and they will take it back to the board. Some points to take away from the meeting included:

· While other DOT projects can handle overruns by delaying other projects this project only has a “bucket” of money to spend. There may or may not be money left in the bucket to make changes. We are asking for changes in the ½ million dollar range. They say they have no money at this time for any changes.

· The plans presented by the TPA were called the “final” plans. They were the 5^th revision of the plans. By the end of the meeting it was understood that while these plans could be final they also could be adjusted.

· The addition of a wall or landscaping to screen neighborhoods would require an additional 5 feet beyond the guardrail which is not in the current plans.

· There was agreement at the end of the meeting that we would meet ideally once a week for updates.

I think it is important to note the relationship that Mayor Pro-Tem Robison has established with the TPA board members to make these meetings possible. Relationships are of primary importance when acting from a position of lobbyist.

After leaving this meeting I headed over to a Pancreatic Cancer fundraiser being held at Mimi’s Café in Cary. In attendance were the mayors of Morrisville and Knightdale. Over all we had two to three dozen in attendance. The manager of the restaurant was very kind and accommodating. She even provided complimentary muffins for us to enjoy. If you haven’t tried the excellent food at Mimi’s yet you should give it a try.

Tuesday started with the bi-weekly agenda meeting. This week’s council meeting looked light so there wasn’t a lot of discussion. The main item seemed to be the acceptance of the bid for the renovation of Cary Elementary which came in under $8 million which will go on the consent agenda. This amount is almost half of our estimates. With a 15% overrun in the contract it should stay low. The company that is recommended by staff has done many renovations and many large renovations so it looks like a win-win all around.

After the agenda meeting the council met in a work session to discuss two topics. The first topic was the Historic Preservation Master Plan. The consultants for the Historic Preservation Plan presented actions to be added to the final draft of the plan for Public Hearings and Adoption. The public hearings will be in January. If we adopt the plan it will have three phases. The first phase, which should happen in 1 to 3 years, will include a survey of historic sites in Cary, developing an ordinance for preservation, and creating a preservation commission. The second phase, which should in 4 to 7 years, will include expanding and enhancing Cary’s Heritage Museum, conducting an archaeological assessment to identify potentially significant sites, seeking legislation, and providing incentives to historic property owners. The third phase, which is at least 8 years away, would include establishing a fund to protect and purchase historic structures.

The second part of Tuesday’s work session was on issues related to the Booth amphitheater at Regency. The most discussion centered on the sound and its limits. This year several artists criticized Cary’s sound limits in their performances. In addition, other artists refused to play in Cary. In my humble opinion, this severely damages the reputation of our venue. Currently our noise level is set at 92 db. At Cary Band Day one high school band was measured at 98 db. To me it was obvious that our sound requirements needed adjustment. What the council decided was to allow up to three events at 95 db and leave everything else the same.  We will see how that goes for a year and probably readjust again next year. The amphitheater discussion then focused on crescent seating. There have been complaints that the sound tent was obstructing the view. So the staff recommended that they continue to experiment with moving seats away from the center for an unobstructed view. The final issue related to the amphitheater was concessions. We all agreed that the new menu was going in the right direction. However, some council members complained about the choices of wine. Their point was the choices don’t match the venue.

Wednesday I sat down and talked with Jackie Holcombe who is the Mayor-Elect of Morrisville. We first met approximately 15 years ago or so when our daughters attended the same school. We discussed a variety of things including mayoral duties around the region. I gave her some input to some of the ongoing region wide issues. Jackie has honored me by asking that I administer the oath of office to her. This will be a first for me and I look forward to that evening.

Thursday started with a meeting of the retreat committee. Joining us for this second meeting was the facilitator for the retreat. We discussed topics in more detail. It appears the main thrust of the conversation will be around where we see the town in 20 to 30 years. That is a good question for everyone to ask. What do you see your section of the town looking like in 20 to 30 years or even 100 years? Some of the specific topics that might come into play during that discussion include land use, development activity, population, housing types, land supply, density, traffic, transportation, stormwater, and park facilities. We will finalize our retreat topics within the next few weeks so that staff can prepare.

I next met with three dozen cub scouts and webelos of PAC 200. I explained what was going to happen during the meeting and answered questions. Then they asked questions for about 10 minutes until it was time for the council meeting.

The council meeting was focused on recognitions and presentations. The highlight of the evening was the first annual Hometown Spirit award. We had 12 incredible nominees for this award. I am sure the selection committee had a tough time choosing just one. The winner was Alisa Wright Colopy. I was honored and humbled to present the first award. Another main point of the meeting was the approval of the Cary Elementary renovation bid. This was done on the consent agenda but definitely deserves mentioning. Staff had planned for the bid to come in around $12 million. The project came in at $7.8 million with a company that has proven experience in these types of renovations. This was one time when the bad economy actually worked in our favor. It allowed us to save millions and return almost $4 million to the unrestricted general fund.

Friday I gave opening comments at the second annual Citizen Diplomacy Event held in the council chambers. The inaugural guest speaker was the granddaughter of President Eisenhower. This year’s guest speaker was John Wei who gave an incredible rags to riches story of his life getting to the United States from Taiwan. It also included how he survived crippling accident which almost ended his life in the 1960s. I was fortunate enough to receive slides of his story to review at my leisure. I was honored to receive a gift from Mr. Wei brought from his recent visit to China.

Friday night I attended a bi-monthly dinner meeting with Mayor Pro-Tem Robison to catch up on things. We were later joined by a passionate community activist who wants to bring forth several ideas to make Cary better. We promised to help with these ideas once they were prioritized and fleshed out. Cary is blessed to have many citizens that are passionate about their community and their quality of life.

Saturday morning I attended the dedication of the Kay Yow Court at the Herb Young Center. Some of Yow’s former players held a basketball clinic for several hours for 125 girls. I talked with some of these former players and they were all very glad to be there and loved Kay Yow very much. Before the ribbon cutting I said a few words to the crowd. I was joined by council member Adcock at the ceremony.

A rate comparison staff report was presented to council this week. There were some interesting comparison facts in the report. For example Cary ranks 4^th lowest in terms of annual taxes and utility fees among municipalities in Wake County. Among the large cities in the state Cary ranks 3^rd lowest. In the comparison of residential development fees (including transportation, water, sewer, parks and fire) Cary ranks 5^th. Cary has the highest development fees for commercial. One interesting note is that Cary doesn’t have stormwater development fees like Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill.

Emails this week included several from Cameron Pond and Highcroft about the Turnpike Authority (TPA). I along with other council members continue to stay in contact with the TPA and plan to have another meeting soon.

We also received another email from the Cary Watchmen who now want the town to stop recycling because they think it is a waste of money. That’s interesting, since we sell our recycling.  <Begin editorial on Cary Watchmen> It is unfortunate that these individuals continue to spread half truths and partial facts to criticize almost everything the town is doing. They have called for the shutdown of almost every park, the shutdown of the amphitheater, the elimination of transit, the elimination of our bio solids facilities, the elimination of funding of non profits that benefit Cary citizens, and now the elimination of recycling. While constructive criticism is good, their time would be better spent trying to improve town facilities rather than calling for the shutdown of facilities. Dismantling it is not the solution to anything. I think it also ironic that they claim to want to save the town money but the town is spending a lot of staff time and money answering their constant questions, which by the way are online if they would look. I also think that it is ironic that all the amenities they want stopped helped make Cary one of the top ranked places to live in the US and as a result raised their property values. <End editorial on Cary Watchmen>

Emails this week also included complaints about pedestrian safety, about the town not being transparent (REALLY???), and the Maynard Road house sign. I received one request for interview.

Well that is all for this week. I plan to next post on Sunday, November 22^nd. Please feel free to leave a comment on my post.

The week was a relatively light week consisting mostly of meetings, emails, and phone calls.

The week started Monday afternoon with a meeting of the council retreat committee. It was decided that we will hold the retreat somewhere in Cary on January 15^th and 16^th. The retreat committee is made up of me, council member Portman, and council member Frantz. We talked about several ideas for retreat topics. We have sent those initial ideas to the rest of the council for additions and comments. Once we finalize the topics then staff will get busy preparing.

Tuesday I met with the town manager and mayor pro-tem. One topic we discussed was the meeting on the 9^th with the turnpike authority. We plan to address issues related to Cameron Pond and Highcroft buffering. The meeting will be attended by me, Mayor Pro-Tem Robison, and District council member Robinson. The town manager will also be in attendance. The turnpike authority will be represented by two staff members, one of which is a lead engineer.

Wednesday’s first event was a meeting with the town attorney. We discussed ongoing law suits and potential law suits. I also asked legal advice about topics the council will be addressing in the near future.

Wednesday night I attended the Red Ribbon ceremony in the council chambers. Also in attendance was council member Portman. This contest was part of the National Red Ribbon contest for drug awareness. Each year the Cary Police Department and Parks and Recreation Department hold a drug prevention poster contest in each of the five Cary middle schools. The top three participating students in each school received gift certificates of $25, $50, and $75. The overall grand prize winner was awarded an iTouch. In my mind all participants were winners by getting a better understanding about the importance of staying away from drugs. After the award ceremony everyone retired to the lobby for a meet and greet.

Thursday I met with a former council candidate. This person expressed interest in helping the town and wanted to know of ways to help. It is great to see someone take a negative of losing an election and turn it into a positive.

I spent a lot of time of the phone with several winners and losers of Tuesday’s elections. This included council races, school board races, and mayor’s races. While there were some good people that lost there were also good people that won. I was even asked to administer an oath to one newly elected official. What an honor!

Staff reports this week included some interesting news. Our population as of October 1^st is now at 137,483. That is 3.6% increase from a year ago and an average of 4.89% over the last five years. While it is good that our rapid growth has slowed more towards our target, it is better news that growth now pays more for itself than before this council was elected. Another interesting fact is that Cary now covers over 55 square miles.

There was also interesting crime stats provided this week. Homicides, rapes, robberies, etc were down 15% from 2008. Simple assault, forgery, embezzlement, etc were down 8% from 2008. Overall stats showed the town was down 7% from 2008. It appears the one of the safest towns in the United States is actually becoming safer. Kudos to our amazing Police Department.

Most of the emails I received this week were concerns about the Triangle Expressway and its impact on Cameron Pond and the Highcroft subdivisions. As I mentioned earlier we will be meeting with the turnpike authority to address theses concerns.

Other emails this week included complaints about my involvement in the council elections, questions about school zones, concerns about potential changes to the sign ordinance, and complaints about leaves in the street.

Well that about does it for this week. Don’t forget that this coming Wednesday is Veterans Day. While a lot of people will have a holiday, including town employees, let us not forget that it is a day to honor our veterans. These men and women have put their lives on the line for our freedom and our quality of life. God bless each and every one of them. Please say a prayer for those that have served and those that are currently serving.

I plan to next post on Sunday, November 15^th. Please feel free to leave a comment on my post.

The week was dominated mostly by events with a few meetings.

Monday’s only meeting was with a developer who is interested in multi-family near the intersection of Harrison and Maynard. He wanted my opinion and I suggested that his proposal may be difficult to pass because of the neighborhood opposition to additional multi-family in an area that already has an abundance of multi-family. In addition, this council has not shown interest in rezoning commercial or office to multi-family. We will see where he goes from here.

Tuesday I met with the town manager and Mayor Pro-Tem Robison. We discussed several topics including one on transit.  I then attended a fundraiser for the Cary Community Lions Club.

The fundraiser was at On The Border restaurant which was great since I love eating there.. I don’t know if we raised a lot of money but it was good to see my fellow Lions.

Wednesday I did the November taping of Cary Matters with council member Smith. Jack seemed like a pro on this taping doing it without a mistake. I, on the other hand, flubbed up twice which caused us extra shots. Even with the two retakes we were done in about 35 minutes. The main topic for November is the town’s new web site. I am hoping citizens will thoroughly explore the new website and give us some feedback.

Thursday I did a taping for the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau. I was asked a series of questions and gave answers that were basically an infomercial for Cary. My job was to be the cheerleader and I think it went well. We’ll see when the taping comes out.

Friday night I attended a reception for the 51^st Cary Band Day. I, along with council member Don Frantz, said a few words to the honored guests. I am proud to participate in whatever way I can for Cary Band Day. It is one of the long time traditions in Cary that has helped define this community.

Saturday morning I attended a workshop for affordable housing at the Page Walker Art and History Museum. I gave welcoming remarks to the folks from Cary’s Planning staff, Wake County staff, and from N.C. State. I am anxious to see what great ideas they came up with for affordable housing.

After leaving the affordable housing workshop I headed to the reviewing stand to watch the Cary Band Day parade. Since the start of the parade coincided with the workshop, I missed most of the parade. But I was glad to see what few entries that did come by. I was joined on the podium by former Mayor Booth, council members Robinson, Smith, Portman, and Adcock. Council member Frantz was actually in the parade.

Early Saturday evening I attended the band competition part of Cary Band day. I presented participation certificates to the 1A, 2A, and 3A bands that were in the parade. I was also allowed to hand out the big trophy to the band that won the entire competition between the classes.

Saturday night I returned to Cary High School to once again observe the competition and to hand out participation certificates. This time the competition was with 4A and 5A schools. The top winning band in these categories was West Johnson out of Benson. They did a wonderful job in their performance.

But the biggest most spectacular performance of the evening and night was given by Western Carolina’s band. Their exhibition was the most impressive show I have ever seen by a marching band. I was very impressed to say the least.

Emails this week included complaints about pot holes, gas line lightening risks, construction damage to someone’s yard, leaves in the street, and potentially changing the sign ordinance.

And finally, Tuesday, November 3^rd is Election Day. I hope everyone that can vote in District A does take the time to vote in this important runoff. The District A representative will be one of seven people who will make decisions to set your tax rate, determine how your town grows, and the quality of life issues are maintained or created in town. Unfortunately, Cary runoffs average less than 5 % turnout which is a shame. We need to remember that voting is a privilege that not everyone in the world has. And also remember that people are risking their lives everyday to protect these freedoms. So PLEASE vote.

Well that is about it for this week. I plan to next post on Sunday, November 8^th. Please feel free to leave a comment on my post.