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City Council

Why the Council should have the final say on a second motorcycle rally

Posted Mon, 01/11/2010 - 11:32

UPDATE: Unfortunately, I received incomplete information during my meeting with our City Attorney in December. Yesterday, the Assistant City Attorney (our regular City Attorney is out sick), informed me that because this permit is already in process, the Council has no legal grounds to deny it. Any action the Council took could only affect future permits. So I'm dropping opposition to this event.Read more of this post.

City Council: First meeting in January

Posted Mon, 01/04/2010 - 13:06

AccessfayettevilleOne year down, three more to go. I've enjoyed my first year on the Council, and I'm looking forward to being more active this year, now that I've learned the ropes.

Here's what's coming up...

At the meeting

Special election decision

Agenda linkRead more of this post.

City Council April 21 2009

Posted Tue, 04/21/2009 - 12:59
Fayetteville Politics

A pre-game summary of the Council session, from my perspective. In this issue, we have a rezoning, the Fayette Junction plan, a new lobbyist, a resolution about social media, and some other public policy nuggets.

If you can't make it to the meeting, you can watch it and Twitter it.Read more of this post.

Do the newspapers understand new media?

Posted Mon, 04/13/2009 - 21:41
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I'm not sure the newspapers understand new media. Their industries are failing because they refuse to leverage their position to crowdsource and use new technology - for profit. The papers command the respect and have the capital needed to take positions as leaders in multimedia journalism.Read more of this post.

City Council - April 7 2009

Posted Tue, 04/07/2009 - 16:41

The agenda for tonight's City Council has a few interesting nuggets. Here are some you might find interesting: (sorry for typoes; I typed this quickly!)Read more of this post.

Good Faith Governing in the 21st Century

Posted Tue, 04/07/2009 - 10:41

A picture of a local business that has banned talking about Facebook.
Is social media valuable, or just useless chatter?
Governments (and the elected officials that operate them) have a duty to communicate with their entire constituency, or at least make a good faith effort. In the old days, that meant nailing a notice up in front of City Hall, and in modern times it has come to mean radio adverts and column inches.Read more of this post.

Eliminating Waste: An orientation for new Aldermen

Posted Fri, 01/23/2009 - 15:16

Staff time is by far the greatest expense the city has. Just to give you an idea, staff expense makes up 80% of our operations budget. Don't get me wrong; it's a worthwhile expense! But being so valuable, we should make sure to be as efficient with staff as possible. They are our greatest resource, and we can acknowledge that by using their time wisely (and therefore, our tax dollars).Read more of this post.

Can the Morning News deliver?

Posted Tue, 01/20/2009 - 14:35

Tonight on the Council we are considering a contract with the Democrat-Gazette to do all of the City's meeting notices. We've never held a bidding process before, and I think it's a good idea. On the other hand, is the Morning News able to provide a quality service? Watch the video for more...

Post-election First Thoughts

Posted Tue, 12/09/2008 - 21:29

My first reaction after the [local] election runoff was "Oh well, that sucks. Things are really going to change." During the runoff, I didn't think they would change for the better if Lioneld Jordan were elected.
Now, I'm taking a slightly different approach, even though my agenda hasn't changed. I think good things are going to happen, and we're going to see change and evolution, even though I'm not sure how large of a role Lioneld will play as an executive.Read more of this post.

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