Except for the last line this is a good petition to sign. Meadowview is a wonderful place and near to the hearts of all the Emory & Henry family. This truck stop is really not need as there is one two exits up, and will be very harmful to the homegrown/homespun/ sustainable economy of Meadowview.
http://www.change.org/petitions/love-s-travel-centers-oklahoma-city-ok-abandon-plans-to-build-a-truck-stop-at-exit-24-on-i-81-in-meadowview-va
Monday, March 5, 2012
Meet The Press This From Sunday March Fourth
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46593547/ns/meet_the_press-transcripts/t/meet-press-transcript-march/#.T1TpwXmOdGU
I did not see the first half of the show, but the best part of what I did see was Congresswoman Wesserman's dismantling of the Republicans for their "not" war on women.
I did not see the first half of the show, but the best part of what I did see was Congresswoman Wesserman's dismantling of the Republicans for their "not" war on women.
A Call To Arms
Normally, I attempt to not speak out against a particular issue or person on this blog. If I do, I try to balance the scales with a future blog or complimentary points within the blog. This post will follow that policy to some degree, though this is a call to arms in every sense of the word.
It has been announced that the Queen City of Charlotte, North Carolina has been chosen as the site of the 2012 Democratic National Convention. This is a wonderful choice, and up until Friday of last week, I was excited for the Queen City, and for the South.(we finally get to show our wonderful region and political wherewithall) My excitement diminished a good bit Friday though has I made my bi-weekly trip down I-85 into town. Mind you, I am not at all opposed to Charlotte, the people of Charlotte, or Democrats.
The weekend of March 2-4, Charlotte hosted the C-IAA basketball tournament in Time-Warner Arena. The event brought twelve HBC basketball teams, alumni, and the black community to Charlotte to celebrate culture, sport, and fashion. It also brought a great deal of traffic both in town and into town. This is to be expected for such a event, but the influx of traffic put a huge strain on the already weak interstate system around Charlotte.
As I stated before, I make a bi-weekly trip to Charlotte, so I feel as though I can comment about this matter with some authority. My trip into town took a complete hour longer than normal and I was met with traffic earlier on I-85. In addition to meeting traffic earlier, it was worse than usual. Typically traffic moves at 20 m.p.h slower than the posted speed limit from the Charlotte side of Kannapolis. Friday I was met outside Kannapolis with slower traffic and by the Concord Mills exit it was a parking lot. Much of this was caused by a narrowing of the roads for construction that will doubtfully be done by September. I would recommend adding an hour and a half at peek travel times for the convention.
If I-85 is not you planned route for entering Charlotte, take head of the perils faced on I-77. This area is compounded by construction as well as multiple mergers that slow the pace of traffic further. This work will not be done by September either, and you can expect to wait as much or longer in traffic trying to enter town. Traffic usually starts around the Lake Normal exits, but I would venture to say that it could be back up as far as Statesville on the week of the Convention.
Once in Charlotte, I was met at every turn (literally) with heavy traffic. Downtown, traffic patterns were disrupted and delays were common. On the periphery, traffic long waits at red lights were the norm, and frequently people continued through lights even once they were green. Finally the amount of people lost or confused tripled if not doubled. Charlotte's roads are confusing enough as it is, compound that with being from out of town and you have a dangerous mixture. My suggestion would be to ride the city light rail when possible or take the bus. Charlotte public transit in okay, but not great, but is a much safer and fast way of getting around in heavy traffic.
If you are planning to visit Charlotte for the convention, do not let my warnings deter you. Charlotte is a great city, full of really nice people and enjoyable things to do. What I am suggesting is allow for more than standard times to get into town. If your estimated time of travel suggests 3 hours, count on 4 to 5 if traveling at peak times. Once you are in town, walk or take public transit to the places you are going. Before I let you go I will call upon you (those who are planning or considering the convention) to write city officials in Charlotte to let them know about the traffic situations before hand. Yes, they are aware of the construction, yes they are prepared for the potential delays, but with gas prices what they are, it would behoove you to let officials know that you will likely not enjoy wasting time in traffic. You might add too that you will be less likely to spend money once you are in Charlotte if you having to increase you fuel bill for having sat in traffic for hours.
Contact Information for Charlotte Officials
Mayor Foxx
600 East 4th Street
Charlotte, NC 28202
North Carolina Department Of Transportation
http://www.ncdot.org/contact/
It has been announced that the Queen City of Charlotte, North Carolina has been chosen as the site of the 2012 Democratic National Convention. This is a wonderful choice, and up until Friday of last week, I was excited for the Queen City, and for the South.(we finally get to show our wonderful region and political wherewithall) My excitement diminished a good bit Friday though has I made my bi-weekly trip down I-85 into town. Mind you, I am not at all opposed to Charlotte, the people of Charlotte, or Democrats.
The weekend of March 2-4, Charlotte hosted the C-IAA basketball tournament in Time-Warner Arena. The event brought twelve HBC basketball teams, alumni, and the black community to Charlotte to celebrate culture, sport, and fashion. It also brought a great deal of traffic both in town and into town. This is to be expected for such a event, but the influx of traffic put a huge strain on the already weak interstate system around Charlotte.
As I stated before, I make a bi-weekly trip to Charlotte, so I feel as though I can comment about this matter with some authority. My trip into town took a complete hour longer than normal and I was met with traffic earlier on I-85. In addition to meeting traffic earlier, it was worse than usual. Typically traffic moves at 20 m.p.h slower than the posted speed limit from the Charlotte side of Kannapolis. Friday I was met outside Kannapolis with slower traffic and by the Concord Mills exit it was a parking lot. Much of this was caused by a narrowing of the roads for construction that will doubtfully be done by September. I would recommend adding an hour and a half at peek travel times for the convention.
If I-85 is not you planned route for entering Charlotte, take head of the perils faced on I-77. This area is compounded by construction as well as multiple mergers that slow the pace of traffic further. This work will not be done by September either, and you can expect to wait as much or longer in traffic trying to enter town. Traffic usually starts around the Lake Normal exits, but I would venture to say that it could be back up as far as Statesville on the week of the Convention.
Once in Charlotte, I was met at every turn (literally) with heavy traffic. Downtown, traffic patterns were disrupted and delays were common. On the periphery, traffic long waits at red lights were the norm, and frequently people continued through lights even once they were green. Finally the amount of people lost or confused tripled if not doubled. Charlotte's roads are confusing enough as it is, compound that with being from out of town and you have a dangerous mixture. My suggestion would be to ride the city light rail when possible or take the bus. Charlotte public transit in okay, but not great, but is a much safer and fast way of getting around in heavy traffic.
If you are planning to visit Charlotte for the convention, do not let my warnings deter you. Charlotte is a great city, full of really nice people and enjoyable things to do. What I am suggesting is allow for more than standard times to get into town. If your estimated time of travel suggests 3 hours, count on 4 to 5 if traveling at peak times. Once you are in town, walk or take public transit to the places you are going. Before I let you go I will call upon you (those who are planning or considering the convention) to write city officials in Charlotte to let them know about the traffic situations before hand. Yes, they are aware of the construction, yes they are prepared for the potential delays, but with gas prices what they are, it would behoove you to let officials know that you will likely not enjoy wasting time in traffic. You might add too that you will be less likely to spend money once you are in Charlotte if you having to increase you fuel bill for having sat in traffic for hours.
Contact Information for Charlotte Officials
Mayor Foxx
600 East 4th Street
Charlotte, NC 28202
North Carolina Department Of Transportation
http://www.ncdot.org/contact/
Saturday, March 3, 2012
1,000 Pageviews!
We're closing in on 1,000 views! Not bad for a little op-ed blog that is free and ad free. Thank you for reading! I will keep posting if you keep reading.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Gerrymandering: A Love/Hate Relationship
Gerrymandering dates back to the beginning of politics in America. James Madison (F, 5th VA) had his district re-drawn by Patrick Henry (that scoundrel) in order to place a Anti-Federalist in Congress. The redistricting caused Madison to run against good friend and future President James Monroe (AF, 5th VA) in the only Congressional race to ever pit two future Presidents against each other. Gerrymandering has accounted for houses being divided in two and districts that follow dirt roads to connect cities, but it is not all bad. It would be easy to throw your hands up denouncing gerrymandering on the grounds that it creates problems for elected official trying to relate to constituents,it leads to misrepresenting of interests, and increased expenses for those in office but there is a silver lining to it all. I personally have spoken out against gerrymandering when my guy lost (http://fairtopartlymoderate.blogspot.com/2011/11/you-win-some-you-lose-some.html) but I have to admit I get more than a little excited to see competitive races. To be fair, I am going to provide my reasons for both hating gerrymandering and loving it at the same time
My distaste for gerrymandering stem from my notions of local government, or at least those from my area governing me. I feel it imperative that someone similar to me represent me in government. If my district were to be represented by someone from a rather large city that has industry, large capitol interests, and say a university, and I lived in a non-urban, poor, uneducated area, I would feel as though I was not being represented. Our very country was founded on the notions that no longer would some elite, landed gentry represent poor, tenant farmers in Parliment, so why would we stand for it today? Districts are often redrawn to add conflicting demographics to a district (ie adding a large city to the farming districts that sit on the far outskirts or adding a university to a industrialized city). This leads to infighting amongst those is the district, which is the ultimate goal of the party that did the redrawing, but compounds the distrust of those in the district.
In addition to the strange districts created by gerrymandering, it does prove to be difficult for representatives to relate to those they represent. Understandably it should be an easy jump for someone who represents a strictly rural area to represent a new district that might contain a small town with a college, but often redistricting leads to much more drastic changes. The strain put on a big city Democrat to attract non-urban farmers is exactly the aim of North Carolina Republicans, just the same as the difficulties faced by a traditional farming Republican might see trying to represent The University Of Virginia might be the aim of Virginia Democrats.
My favorite aspect of gerrymandering is when it backfires. A prime example is the 10th District of North Carolina. Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry has caused nothing by a stink in Congress with his "two-bit security guard" remarks, and not being able to keep a schedule, and now (thanks to Republican redistricting) faces a serious Democratic candidate in Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy. The district had been re-drawn to take votes away from former UT standout Heath Shuler, but now endangers McHenry. McHenry seems to be more likely to get the book that Shuler due Shuler's popularity and consistent voting record.
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| Patrick McHenry |
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| Ward Armstrong |
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