CRAVER'S COMMENTS

July 2006

IN THIS ISSUE

·         NO COMMENT

·         YOU WON

·         WHY DURHAM

               

FUTURE ISSUES

        EVERY COUPLE OF MONTHS OR SO.  EMAIL YOUR COMMENTS  TO:  TONY.CRAVER@VERIZON.NET

ALSO, USE MY WEB SITE TO LOOK FOR HOUSES:

                             TONYCRAVER.COM

 

THINGS TO BE PROUD OF

    AINSLEY ELIZABETH CRAVER, OUR NINTH GRANDCHILD, SHOWED UP RIGHT ON TIME MAY 15TH IN COLUMBIA, MO. AT JEFF AND KIRSTEN’S HOUSE. DID I MENTION SHE IS OUR THIRD RED-HEAD?

DID YOU KNOW?

      THIS IS THE FIFTY YEAR  ANIVERSARY OF THE INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM. THAT’S 47,000 MILES WITHOUT A STOPLIGHT. PRESIDENT EIENHOWER’S DREAM ROAD SYSTEM NOW CONNECTS 45 OF THE STATE CAPITALS IN THE LOWER 48. RALEIGH WAS LEFT OFF OF THE ORIGINAL LIST. THIS WAS FIXED WHEN I-40 WAS EXTENDED TO THE COAST.

 

NO COMMENT

       No matter where I have gone this spring or summer, as soon as people find out that I am a “Dukie” from Durham, they ask me about the Duke lacrosse case. My official comment is “no comment”. Unlike the DA, the press, the Duke and NCCU Administrations and facility, I still believe in “innocent until proven guilty.”  As the mounting “lack of evidence” continues, most of these folks have now expressed doubts in the case as well.

     One of the things that disturbed me the most about the case, other than the disgusting party thrown by the lacrosse team, was the way Durham was portrayed nationally.  While at some meetings recently in Washington, D.C., I heard on their local news about the “poor, predominately minority southern town of Durham.”  The only point of debate here is whether or not we fit the definition of a town. I prefer to believe we are a city with all of the big city amenities, but with  small town charm. The last stats I saw had Durham County the highest per capita income county in the state and nearly $10,000 per person ahead of the national average. Everyone in Durham is a minority. No one group has a majority representation with white, black, and international groups ranking in that order.

      Another interesting side story is the recent petition drive to add a candidate to the ballot in the November elections to run in opposition to the DA. The necessary (subject to verification) signatures were raised in about a week with plenty to spare. Hopefully what this has done to local politics is to awaken the sleeping giant of formerly dis-interested voters that have let a small group of folks run local politics for a number of years.  Other than that, I have no comment.

 

YOU WON

    The North Carolina Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal from Durham County to overturn the judge’s ruling in the impact fee case. In case you don’t recall, Durham County sought to charge an “impact fee” of potentially up to $5,000 for every new house and apartment unit built in the county. Permission to do this sort of thing had previously only been granted by the General Assembly who, on numerous occasions, had refused Durham County’s request. The county commissioners decided to bypass the Legislature and impose impact fees on their own despite a vigorous campaign against the idea by the local Realtors and Home Builders. The Realtors did not really have a dog in this fight since they were not going to have to pay the fee. Their only concern was protecting you, the home buyer, from paying illegal fees that would artificially run up the cost of housing. The county commissioners said the money would be for the schools. We still wonder why the leader of Durham cannot find enough money for schools when their taxpayers are already paying the highest taxes in the state. What else are they doing with the money? The local Home Builders sued Durham County to stop the impact fee and the judge agreed. So did the Court of Appeals and the State Supreme Court said enough is enough and refused to hear the case.  The courts are now trying to figure out how to disperse the more than $7.5 million   already collected.

    Don’t celebrate too long because the folks you voters keep sending to Raleigh are proposing many new ways to take your money. One of these would be a tax on services. Another would be to greatly raise the transfer tax on houses. Currently you pay $200 per every $100,000 of the sale price when you sell your home. New proposals could be more than five times as much. The folks in Union County, for instance, are gearing up to fight a proposed fee of up to $20,000 per new house. Sound familiar?

 

 

WHY DURHAM?

 

     I was pleased to read an interesting article recently in the Herald-Sun about why the American Institute of CPA’s decided to move a large (400 people) part of its operation to Durham from New York City. Their Senior V-P sounded like he had been taping one of my area tours. He cited great facilities, reasonable housing costs, cultural diversity, steady growth rate, and a cosmopolitan environment with small town safety and charm. All of these things would save his company money and make his work force happy. He credited the local Chamber of Commerce for showing him and his company what the area had to offer. Good job folks—right out of the old playbook.

 

MISC. STUFF

 

     The annual Newsweek Magazine rankings of the top one thousand high schools in the United States are always interesting. If you are thinking that the top one thousand is not a very exclusive list, remember that there must be around five hundred in North Carolina alone. Nine of those schools were right here in the Triangle. Four of Wake Counties 21 schools made the list: Charter, Enloe, Broughton, and Green Hope. Both Chapel Hill high schools were included. Three of Durham’s six were included: Jordan, Riverside, and Northern.  Two other Durham high schools unfortunately made a state judges “shape up or ship out” list this year. Even though there is still work to be done, the often maligned Durham school system is quite proud to have had three high schools make the prestigious list.

 

                                  *********

     All great food does not have to be expensive. One of the best hamburgers I have ever had was served to me at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers recently. This refreshing new franchise with a 1950’s feel is located across US 70 from the Briar Creek mega shopping complex. If you wait a couple of months, one will be opening on US 15-501 half way between Duke and UNC.

 

                               *********

 

     Raleigh gained 13,983 people between ’04 and ’05. That is the sixth largest gain in the U.S.  Charlotte was right behind in eighth place.