This first full week of the New Year was a light one. It was a chance for me to have one last break before we get into a busy stretch.

Monday I met with the new Cary News reporter Sadia Latifi. This was more of an introductory meeting. I spent a lot of time talking about political actions and events of the last dozen years or so. We also spoke about particular issues and the need for the Cary News to report accurately and to use all council members in their articles rather than just a couple over and over. I enjoyed meeting with Sadia and look forward to working with her.

Tuesday I met with Steve Rao from Morrisville who is interested in running for political office. We talked about strategies to make that happen and what it would take for him to win.

Thursday evening I attended the ribbon cutting for the new Four Points by Sheraton hotel in Crossroads. This is a very nice hotel in a prime spot. I predict they will thrive and prosper in this location. I wish them the best of luck. While I was there I talked with several businesses owners and several people interested in starting a business. The overall belief is that it is still difficult to get a bank loan to start a business. It has been that way for several months now and I’m not sure when that will change.

Emails this week were dominated by the clearing of trees for I540 next to Cameron Pond. Additional emails included complaints about the proposal for a single quadrant intersection at High House and Cary Parkway, more complaints about Christmas trees, a complaint about speeding in Jamison Park, and a complaint on the way I run council meetings.

This week I spent time working on the agenda for the breakfast meeting between the mayors of Wake County and the Wake County School Board. I hope to have that finalized soon and made public. We will be meeting on Friday, January 22^nd at the Herb Young Community Center starting at 8 AM. As far as I know 10 of the 12 mayors will be in attendance. So far only 4 school board members have sent a RSVP.

Information received by council this week had some interesting tidbits. Red light cameras in 2009 produced 22,091 citations with is a little over a 7% increase from 2008.

The population of Cary as of January 1^st, 2010 is 139,100 as estimated by staff.

The first major concert for the amphitheater was announced. Cheap Trick and others in the Rock n Roll hall of fame benefit lineup will play on Saturday, May 1^st. I think that will be a fantastic concert and I look forward to attending.

Next week on the calendar has the governor and me at the Gold LEED certification of McDonalds on Kildaire Farm Road. I will also be meeting with some school board members (some in person and some on the phone). There will be a regularly schedule council meeting on Thursday which promises to be lengthy. Friday and Saturday will be the annual council staff retreat.

Well that is all for this week. I plan to next post on Sunday, January 17^th. Please feel free to leave a comment on my post.