Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The Vice Chair easily defeated her overmatched challenger in District 6 (who could only talk about planning). Based on her campaign she has ideas for how to handle growth that does not rely on capping and redistricting. I am excited to see what she can get done in her second term and think that it may be time to let her, not others take the reign of the important committees.
This will turn out to be one of the biggest yawns in history. Let me break it down:
District One: Old majority supporter replaced by Liberal Democrat Educrat supporter. Advantage: Ellis
District Two: Kevin Stewart. Advantage: Ellis
District Three: Chairman replaced by School Foundation Chair: Advantage: Nobody
District Four: Old majority supporter replaced by TLK fanatic: Advantage: Unknown as yet
District Five: John Collins. Advantage: Ellis
District Six: Marce Savage...never saw a budget she didn't love. Advantage: Depends on the issue.
At-Large: Guzman. Voted against lawsuit. Supported redistricting. Advantage: Leans Ellis on most issues
At-Large: Helms. See Guzman
At-Large: Boyd. Replaces the one vote against redistricting. Boyd wanted it. Boyd Liberal Dem. Advantage: Ellis.
So basically...nothing to see here. Only changes were (1) Merrell takes Pigg seat. Merrell is a TLK fanatic and would be against Ellis on redistricting which is dead issue. She will be all for spending as much of my money as possible so...Ellis wins. (2) Boyd replaces the only one who voted against redistricting and she loved the plan. She will vote lockstep with whatever Ellis wants. Ellis wins. (3) Sides replaced Yercheck. Sides is cozy with Ellis but didn't want anyone to know it during campaign. He would vote against redistricting but guess what...its a dead issue. Sides will spend as much of my money as possible. Ellis wins. (4) Harrell bless her heart...she just wants to spend as much of my money as possible. Ellis wins.
9-0 votes are here to stay.
You might just have it BigDaddy, big spenders are in the ascendant. Alarmingly, your At-Large Liberal Dem. is the least 'big spender' of the freshman class. Most of the other new voices on the board ran on 'new schools' platforms. New Town's grandfathered 5th grade bumper crop will move on and temporarily take off the pressure to cap or build, but Ellis & co. are already making noise about new school construction. New bond $$$ will pile up on top of unpaid debts. The BoCC will be back to holding the line on taxes or spending, or wait... the BoCC is in now in total disarray. I think a lot of voters aren't sure about who they put on the BoCC or what agenda is on the way?
Encumbants Yercheck and Bention were both anointed to fill unexpired terms last time around and both lost this time around. (Yercheck ran a $43 campaign against Rape to win Arp's seat two years ago). Bention has the distinction of winning a precinct by the largest margin possible (100% for Bention at SPCC: ) Merrell ran a solid campaign and came up with a win. She even took Uville by 9 votes! I still haven't figured out District 6, a total mystery to me. Maybe they just enjoy the show.
Stony learned from this year's BoCC primary that it's surprisingly easy to confuse old-line UC voters about who's their guy. He tried to use that to give Maher a GOB bump but came up short. Maher won a plurality in only one of 52 precincts - his home precinct (contains the CAPS Command Center and Wesley Oaks -HOA to the whole county). Stony's 'GOB' bump didn't push the needle much in the rural precincts, but took enough from Dennis to hand the At-large bid to the candidate who stayed out of the food fight.
I think we've seen all the cards at the BoE table, the high stakes ($) poker game has moved over to the BoCC table.
Not sure if you are aware TakingItIn....but the District 6 member is a member of the NC Board of Education and doesn't have time to serve on any committees here locally. She just shows up on occasion and votes however Dr. Ellis tells her to vote (with the only exception being redistricting)...but ultimately she walked out of that meeting so she actually voted for it...therefore there are no exceptions to her full support of Dr. Ellis. Again, when she has time for Union County.
They're all address based caps. Anyone living at an address within the boundary for NTES is capped.
If all they did tonight was to cap NTES you'd be correct. But by reassigning Lawson Phase II and Phase III to Waxhaw they are in effect implementing address based caps in a way that was disqualified as an option last year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeyKid
4 new BOE members are coming in... what do they do moving forward?
Spend a little time in the community, talk to parents/teachers/stakeholders, put their constituents ahead of developers, and develop a long term comprehensive plan.
And if the new BOE is hell bent on doing an investigation lets make it about something that matters, like why BOE members lie to the public about fictitious safety studies, why capacity numbers increase/decrease to fit an agenda, and why policy defines capacity as teaching seats yet Webb can make up his own calculations on the fly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeyKid
They lose the opportunity to vote on how to address the New Town cap if these votes go forward tonight.
Not at all. The new BOE can motion and vote just as easily as the sitting BOE.
I met a gentleman at the polls handing out her information when I voted who said that she in fact did vote against it, one of 2 to do so. I bet she is being kept off the committees that she could really make a difference on. I was told by the same gentleman that she knew all this was going to happen and had been meeting with the towns, etc. about growth. It seems we have someone here who knows what is going on and actually knows how to plan. We should utilize that. I am glad she won, and not some new guy who doesn't have the necessary background and isn't willing to work for it.
I think the election simply showed that only a portion of the county is obsessed with redistricting. Look at the At-Large results map again (Beige-Maher, Orange-Boyd, Red-Rape). I think the focus will soon turn to an issue the whole county will be following---the BOE/BOCC Lawsuit Appeal.
The BOE/BOCC Lawsuit - Appellant Brief replies are out.
I think the election simply showed that only a portion of the county is obsessed with redistricting. Look at the At-Large results map again (Beige-Maher, Orange-Boyd, Red-Rape).
People are missing the boat (not surprising) if they think redistricting is the issue... it was the catalyst. The issue is integrity and transparency.
The thing with redistricting is that it's in your face and it's emotional. The people in the cross-hairs carry the emotion forward, but many people that aren't impacted don't spend the time to understand the situation beyond high level talking points.
People are missing the boat (not surprising) if they think redistricting is the issue... it was the catalyst. The issue is integrity and transparency.
The thing with redistricting is that it's in your face and it's emotional. The people in the cross-hairs carry the emotion forward, but many people that aren't impacted don't spend the time to understand the situation beyond high level talking points.
.
I disagree. Most of the red and orange on the map understood the situation and thought redistricting and utilizing the available assets was the logical solution. The red and orange don't want more debt and a tax increase.
I disagree. Most of the red and orange on the map understood the situation and thought redistricting and utilizing the available assets was the logical solution. The red and orange don't want more debt and a tax increase.
e.g., the talking points... thanks for helping me make the point.
e.g., the talking points... thanks for helping me make the point.
.
Who's talking points? Those of a majority of the county? See the orange and red on the map again.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
