Citizen Will

Tag: north-carolina

  • Whereas What’s The Best Use Of The Sales Tax Increase?

    I’ve had several folks ask me about my suggested and rejected changes to the recent Democratic Party resolution supporting the 1/4 cent sales tax increase (Orange County Dems: Thanks for the Consideration…). This is a terrible year to raise any tax yet the Orange County Board of Commissioners (BOCC) decided 4/5/2011 (VIDEO [my comments at […]

  • Nov. 2nd, 2010 Election

    In case there’s any confusion, Morgan Freeman had nothing to do with this post! I’ll be helping the Orange County Democratic Party over at the Caldwell precinct in northern Orange County from 9:30am to 4:00pm. Drop by if you’re in the area. Over the last week I’ve received emails asking my recommendations for the judicial […]

  • Internet Gambling: Laura Takes A Stroll

    Quick follow-up to my recent post on NC’s Internet gambling ban (Cognitive Dissonance? NC Legislature Bans Internet Sweepstakes). WUNC’s reporting treasure Laura Leslie (can you tell I am a fan?), made an informal personal survey of her community’s (Garner) “Parlor Games”. Ripping a page from the big boys (It’s Not A Spill), one “parlor” (sounds […]

  • Burr vs. Marshall: Let’s Start With A Little Credit

    I generally don’t say much on CitizenWill about Federal officeholders but since there’s been a lot of blather about Elaine Marshall’s chances of overcoming Richard Burr I thought I would submit one way she can challenge Burr’s reputation of supporting our troops. Elaine, as part of her Senate campaign, started a petition calling on Burr […]

  • “You Are Excused”

    Of the few ways one can “exercise” citizenship directly, being chosen as a sitting juror seems most capricious. Ever since I turned 18 I’ve waited for the call. Master jury lists in North Carolina are randomly drawn from voter rolls and driver license records. Having been a licensed driver and voting maniac (all elections except […]

  • Making North Carolina Legislative Sausage

    Two posts in two days highlighting Gerry Cohen’s Drafting Musings? Hey, quality posts deserve link love! Following on the heels of his historical survey of buffalo noses and other NC legislative curiosities is this post on how bills actually wend their way through the legislative process. Most civics classes focus on how a bill becomes […]

  • North Carolina’s Third Legislative House

    Gerry Cohen, Director of Bill Drafting for the North Carolina General Assembly since 1981 and former Chapel Hill Council member, maintains a fantastic ‘blog Drafting Musings. While he usually covers the vagaries of NC’s legislative sausage-making, luckily for his readers he also veers into interesting back-stories of local and state events. Today he posts the […]

  • Voting Nov. 4th: I’m Not Worried

    Ellie, Elijah and I go to the polls Election Day (it deserves to be both capitalized and a holiday) – it is a family tradition. Even though I’ve voted in every major and almost all primary elections since 1980, I still get excited on Election Day (doubly so when I was running). While I’ve worked […]

  • NC Ballot: Designed For Failure?

    Early voting is moving at a breakneck pace this year with large turnouts from day one. Unfortunately, NC’s “straight party” ballot option continues to confuse. Even if you vote “straight party”, you MUST vote for President separately!! Luckily, our new local BOE Director Tracy Reams made sure this year’s poll-workers were well trained to notify […]

  • Carolina North Development Agreement Public Hearing Oct. 15th

    Tomorrow the Town Council will hold a public hearing describing the basic framework for managing Carolina North’s development over the next couple decades. This is the second meeting discussing the framework. The first was Sept. 25th. Unfortunately, I was the only citizen not directly involved – as either a representative of the Town, UNC or […]

  • June 6th’s Closed Council Session

    As we wind down the planning for this fiscal year, Council’s deliberations take on a bit more gravitas, thus demand even more attention by the public. As one might observe listening to last year’s Lot #5 closed negotiations ( “Downtown Development Initiative: Listen and Learn How Negotiations Went Awry”), going too long or waiting until […]