Charlotte: NC's ugly stepchild (Raleigh, Asheville: how much, minimum wage, to live in)

[adavi215]

Originally Posted by General Ambivalence

You can safely bet that with Bev Pudue in the NC Governor's chair and a solid majority of Democrats in both the NC House and Senate that all parts of NC west of I-77 will get NO HELP from the state. The "good ole boy" Democrats rode the tide of Obamaism into office and they will continue to spend western tax money on DOWN EAST ROADS and projects. Meanwhile the out of date and desperately inadequate roads and bridges in the Western part of the state are clogged with traffic and are unsafe.

Bev Purdue even had TV ads shown in the eastern part of the state riling up the Democratic electorate with insinuations of sectionalism and a gentle reminder that the good roads and bridges in that part of the state were built because of Democrats. Those same ads were never shown on the Piedmont and Western NC stations.



The Democratic party in NC has always been the party of the East. They are so powerful that they can control Democrats from the Piedmont and Western part of the state and make them vote against their own constituency and with them to serve the east!

Very interesting, those tv ads. I wonder if thats why Asheville isn't developing as fast it could.

[LLN]

Oh yeah, thank you guys too, for the bypass on US 70 around Clayton. Shaved 20 minutes off my trip from Raleigh to New Bern yesterday. The only problem was that I was very lonely on that wide road. Kind of skeert -- just me and all that new pavement.

lln

[anifani821]

Originally Posted by LLN

Oh yeah, thank you guys too, for the bypass on US 70 around Clayton. Shaved 20 minutes off my trip from Raleigh to New Bern yesterday. The only problem was that I was very lonely on that wide road. Kind of skeert -- just me and all that new pavement.

lln

Nice to know my tax dollars made your life a bit easier since the $$$$ sure aren't benefitting me or my neighbors. Sorry that stretch of road is so lonely . . . head up our way and see what the traffic is like . . . you may still get skeert driving here b/c of the lousy drivers . . . but it def won't be b/c you are all alone on a newly constructed/widened highway . . .

[adavi215]

Isn't it interesting that the majority of the NC population is in the West? Well, piedmont and on to the west. I wouldn't mind having some wide lonely roads, Especially on W.T. Harris at 6pm.

[NCN]

If memory serves me right, North Carolina has had two Republican governors since the Civil War.
So to those that think the Northerners moved in and turned the state blue, you are wrong. We only vote Republican for U. S. Presidents. We have a few Republican Counties that always have a rough time getting money from the state. Charlotte is considered to be Sin City by most other parts of the state, so they rarely get back their fair share according to them. Raleigh gets what they want because it helps those who spend so much of their time there making laws.

Yes, Charlotte is the red-headed stepchild. I think the representatives are short changing the whole state by not making better roads to the mountains and not helping Charlotte to get rid of their crime. Don't they know these things run over onto the rest of the state? I guess the final straw for me was when Charlotte voters got rid of some of the "easy on crime" judges and the state wants to be the one appointing the judges now. I am beginning to wonder if Raleigh is not jealous of Charlotte. They seem to want to do Charlotte harm. It makes absolutely no sense.

[General Ambivalence]

Interesting to look at the history of Democrats elected to state offices from Mecklenburg and surrounding counties. When they get to Raleigh if they don't fall in line with the power broker Down East Democrats they end up ignored in both the house and senate. I could cite many examples over the past 20 years but let's look at one who DID fall in line and who achieved a great deal of power, Jim Black.

Jim was a young hard working Matthews, NC Optometrist with lofty goals for NC and Mecklenburg County when he was first elected to the NC House. He soon discovered that in order for him to have any power he had to bow and scrape to the Democratic power brokers from the eastern part of the state. Even then he was only occasionally tossed a bone for his Mecklenburg County constituency and even then grudgingly. Over the course of 4 terms Jim voted as he was instructed and did little for Mecklenburg despite his being campaigned in his home district as "helping Mecklenburg".

The Down East Democratic power brokers soon discovered that Jim was a good soldier. He helped big money state road and bridge projects in New Hanover County while the roads in his home county of Mecklenburg were potholed and dangerously inadequate for the traffic load. He helped guide through appropriations for new roads and bypasses in Wake and Guilford Counties while the 485 bypass in Mecklenburg languished for lack of funding (and it STILL isn't complete!) Slowly Jim attained power in Raleigh and became Speaker of the NC House. Democrats and even Republicans in Mecklenburg celebrated thinking things would change in Raleigh. The Observer even wrote editorials endorsing Jim Black and saying his influence and power in Raleigh would bring relief to Mecklenburg's road situation.

It did not!

Indeed things were pretty much the same. Money poured into state road projects in the east while roads in Mecklenburg and the Western part of the state got little new road funds and bare minimum repair and maintenance.

Jim's reign as Speaker lasted as long as it did because he recognized that he had no real power if he did not follow the line dictated by the Democratic power brokers from down east. He lost that power when he went against them.

His conviction for accepting a bribe was a sham. He was set up because he went against the power brokers and worked for funding for Mecklenburg (and surrounding counties) road projects. ----- I realize many of you are going to poo-poo this but the proof can be found if a neutral unbiased prosecutor would seriously question "Meridith"

[LLN]

Well, we do have problems Down East, too, you know. Take the "Super 70" project, a means to get to the beach quicker from Raleigh.

Right now Havelock, just east of New Bern, is a big bottleneck. One, 8 mile long strip mall on either side. Lots of lights, etc, costs a good 10 minutes on the yearly trip to the beach.

Apparently the money is sitting there, ready to by-pass Havelock with a nice, wide, limited access 4 or 6 laner, but for some reason, duh!, the Havelock mayor is not willing to sign on.

Isn't that a change, money ready to spend, but a politico won't go for it.

LLN

[anifani821]

Originally Posted by LLN

Well, we do have problems Down East, too, you know. Take the "Super 70" project, a means to get to the beach quicker from Raleigh.

Right now Havelock, just east of New Bern, is a big bottleneck. One, 8 mile long strip mall on either side. Lots of lights, etc, costs a good 10 minutes on the yearly trip to the beach.

Apparently the money is sitting there, ready to by-pass Havelock with a nice, wide, limited access 4 or 6 laner, but for some reason, duh!, the Havelock mayor is not willing to sign on.

Isn't that a change, money ready to spend, but a politico won't go for it.

LLN

With the Havelock issue . . . the locals have been very outspoken that they don't feel like they should have to accommodate yuppies from Raleigh who are looking for a quicker trip to the beach, LOL. Seems we are not the only citizens in the state who are tired of being "run over" by GovCo.

[Palmetto Heel]

Ani is 100% right on this one.

[TheEmissary]

Originally Posted by anifani821

With the Havelock issue . . . the locals have been very outspoken that they don't feel like they should have to accommodate yuppies from Raleigh who are looking for a quicker trip to the beach, LOL. Seems we are not the only citizens in the state who are tired of being "run over" by GovCo.

They also might be thinking that if this new highway goes through, their strip mall will become a "ghost town" in a few short years. I'm sure they'd also lose money from any "traffic infractions" generated by the Raleigh crowd. It reminds me of the attitude of those towns that were bypassed by the railroads in the late 1800's and slowly disappeared! Everything comes down to money in the long run!