Damn. Am I prolific today, or what?

Brother Keith in Kentucky has been keeping me abreast of his "big dig" for a while.  First slated for use back on July Fourth, an unusually wet Jun and July in Louisville has delayed everything.  But... wetter times are on the way.

To wit:

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It started out innocently enough.  I opined a couple of days ago that a cost/benefit analysis should be conducted in advance of the City placing a $20M Coliseum Complex bond before the voters.  The comments to that post haven't abated yet.

Jim Capo, Libertarian candidate for the District 7 County Commissioner's seat, raised objections to ANY public funding of the Greensboro Coliseum and is advocating for it to be taken over by the private sector.  Cone and many others have wieghed in on the issue.  Capo is now being pressed to state his official position on public funding of recreational venues in general.

Greensboro Booster: "I have to ask, how far do your principles extend? Is it an official position of your campaign now that there should be no public funding of parks?"

And in the comments section to another Commissioner related post, Booster asks Jim to lay it all out:

"Give us a list (5 or 10 will do) of concrete proposals for what you, as a libterarian, would do in county government. The more specific, the better. Lay it out for us, Jim. Give us a reason to take your candidacy seriously. Give us a heads up here, then post it on your blog." (For the record: Capo has outlined some of his positions at his website)

Attention candidates and elected officials: 

This is what we, here in the blogoshere, call a conversation.  Pay attention.  Join in.  Start a blog.  Although voters may or may not agree with whatever Jim Capo's position on this issue may reveal itself to be - he has the where-with-all to engage in open and important dialogue in a very public forum

I'll bet, after reading Capo's comments and responses, you know more about where he stands than all of the press blurbs and sound bites that have been uttered or written about all of the other candidates combined so far in your campaigns.

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Two N&R "Letters to the Editor" caught my eye this morning.

Vanquished at-large school board candidate Garth Hebert hasn't figured out that sporting a sign or sticker in one's yard or on one's car doesn't translate into votes.  With all of the ABC o Guilford County signs and stickers that popped up around town calling for school board regime change, you would have thought that the organization was going to shake up the recent primary elections.  But they did not.

Hebert's letter (scroll down) claims that recent actions by the School Board and County Commissioners involving the expenditures of school bond money has "shattered" the public's trust in those elected bodies. He says he is going to do all he can to, "stop the dishonest borrowing on our children's backs."

His opening effort is for people to add another message onto their cars alongside "Get Terry Grier Outta Here".   He tells us, "I have ordered 1,000 magnetic car signs that simply say 'no bonds'."   No ordering information is provided but I'm sure those who have had their public trust "shattered" will seek Hebert out.

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Neighbor Tracy Lamonthe says "Good riddance" when baseball fans move from WMS to the new stadium next year.  Still PO'd about a recent letter to the editor from William Parson's charge that the Aycock Neighborhood is "unsafe", she characterizes fans who park near her house on the corner of Park and Charter as untidy and loud.  She wishes them no good next year when they have to "park in a sea of concrete" as opposed to Aycock's welcoming tree-lined streets.

I know Tracy and she is one of War Memorial Stadium's biggest supporters.  She will be as sad as the rest of us when the Bats play their last game at WMS in a few weeks.

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I've missed having my N&R shadow around this week, but reporter Maria Johnson has definitely been busy compiling information for an upcoming article on moi.  Starting late last week with a "girls-only" kitchen table interview with my lovely and talented wife Jinni, she has been contacting people I have mentioned during our many interviews.  How do I know?  Some of them have contacted me to ask, "What's up?"

School Board Member Kris Cooke called Tuesday and said what all politicians know, "I said nothing but positive things, but you never know how it will come out in the article."  I assured Kris that I have no concerns about it regardless of how it comes out, then we talked education and campaigns for a while.

Next was an email from my great friend Heather Seifert.  Heather is currently the Executive Director of Preservation Oklahoma but before that she was the head of Preservation Greensboro, Inc.  She was the one who started the ball rolling to get War Memorial Stadium considered as an alternative to Action Greensboro's plans for a new downtown stadium.  As Heather likes to say, "We were joined at the hip", for about two years.

In a later phone conversation with Maria I asked how it went with Heather.  She said, "We like sources who have recently left town."  Knowing what I know about the circumstances surrounding Heather's departure from PGI, her comments in the article might be interesting.

This past Thursday, Maria called to, "tie up some loose ends".  She wanted to verify some dates, name spellings, order of events, etc.  She told me she had a conversation with Jim Melvin, head of the Bryan Foundation.... following up on my overtures to, and posts about inviting, Mr. Melvin to support Aycock's visions for the future of War Memorial Stadium.  Maria was apparently trying to resolve a discrepency between Mr. Melvin's and my recollections of a conversation we had right after the stadium vote.

She also asked more questions about this blog.  Among them was, "when did you start blogging?"  I wasn't sure of the date, but knew it was shortly after I filed as a City Council candidate.  Come to find out... my first ever post (also my first received comment by Ed Cone) was one year ago this Tuesday. 

Time sure flies when you don't have any to spare.

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By the way, I found a link listing to many of Maria Johnson's "Maria treatments" while searching for info for this post.  The one I remember best was when she profiled Cemela Foundation Director Priscilla Taylor because she called me for background, just like she is currently doing now with others.

My "Maria treatment" is tentatively scheduled for publication Sunday, August 22nd

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