Monday, September 28, 2009
There he goes again: "Positive voice" Van Dyk attacks Crowder
District D challenger Ted Van Dyk, running as "A Positive Voice for Raleigh," went the negative route again over the weekend with an attack postcard aimed at, of all things, incumbent Councilor Thomas Crowder's good work with neighborhood leaders on the comprehensive plan.
Think of it as a kind of minor-league Swift Boating, where you try to undermine your opponent's strength (John Kerry's Vietnam service) by hinting darkly that if we only knew more about it, it woudn't be a strength.
So Crowder meets once a month with neighborhood folks, mostly (but not exclusively) neighborhood association and CAC leaders?
A secret? Crowder's fellow council member Russ Stephenson burst out laughing when he heard that one. Because as Stephenson says, Crowder offers glowing accounts of the DDNA's activities from dawn to dusk and at every opportunity from a (televised) council session to a chance conversation on a street corner. No audience too big or small, in other words.
It's to the point, Stephenson joked, that he's a little tired of hearing about the vaunted DDNA.
Then there's the caption on the blurry-meeting photo: "Last-Minute Changes." Crowder, the postcard insinuates, "brought forward over 50 changes to the [comprehensive] plan, at the last minute, and after the public comment period was closed. Do you know what they are?"
Oooh, scary. Unless you understand that the public comment period closed in January, before the official public hearing in March that began the review process, which was wrapped up earlier this month. Last-minute changes? Well, there were a few, as there always are in these sorts of highly technical and detailed (380 pages worth) plans. But Crowder and the DDNA started work on the comp plan in January, held their own public forum in city council chambers in February -- big secret? -- and made a slew of recommendations that strengthened the plan in myriad ways.
What's the evidence of that statement? As Stephenson pointed out at a candidates debate last night, almost all of the DDNA's recommendations were incorporated into the plan, either by the planning department itself (which produced the initial draft unveiled in December), by the planning commission during its meetings in the spring and summer, or by the full Council when it reviewed a final draft in August and September.
Van Dyk got an earful from DDNA regulars at the debate, incidentally. Mary Belle Pate, the longtime chair of the Southwest CAC, was among them. She said the tradition of District D councilors meeting regularly with neighborhood leaders goes back to the '70s and the late (and highly esteemed) Councilor Miriam Block. "This is not some secret group," she told Van Dyk. "This is citizens."
To which Pate added a word of friendly advice: "A lot more people may understand what's going on than you realize, Ted."
The DDNA meets, fyi, on the third Saturday of every month at 8 am, usually in the community meeting room at the Whole Foods store on Wade Avenue. I'm not much for 8 am meetings, especially on Saturday, but I've been a few, and everyone is welcome. There's usually a speaker (the city manager, for example), and discussion of neighborhood concerns. Attendance varies from a dozen to 75, depending on the season and whether any issue is hot. There's also a DDNA listserv that anyone can join (link to it here) to get updates and meeting info, including minutes of past meetings.
Comments (6)
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Most of the people in the neighborhoods that participate in the DDNA are poor and uneducated. They get involved in these worthless "organizations" so they can feel like they have a voice and that someone cares about them. Thomas Crowder can easily relate to the uneducated because he didn't even go to college. That's a fact, look it up. It's the blind leading the blind. For such an "independent" publication, you guys did a great job of supporting Crowder throughout the campaign. I guess we should assume you fall into the poor and uneducated category, otherwise you'd be working for a real newspaper.
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Infogirl I believe the author of this article was pointing out that Van Dyk's "positive voice" campaigm is a bit ironic given all the mud he is throwing. The truth is the truth, the DDNA is not a secret organization. It is an absurd insinuation. I don't see where he is endorsing Crowder in these articles.
Paid for by the committee to elect Thomas Crowder? "Indy editorial employees may not run for office. Nor may they campaign or raise money for political candidates, or contribute to those campaigns, including referenda. Indy editorial employees cannot serve on government boards or commissions or boards of trustees." -Independent Weekly Editorial Code of Ethics
Thank you for publishing and clarifying what the DDNA is. This has been a very valuable tool for many of the neighborhoods in the district. This is democracy at its finest!! I'm sure if Ted Van Dyk wins (which is EXTREMELY unlikely) that he will continue with this great communication tool.
I'm a District D resident who has spent, I would estimate, several hundred hours of my personal time over the last nine years working on city-related issues. And there are many people who have spent much more of their time than I have, also working to make Raleigh the great place to live that it is. I am shocked that Ted Van Dyk would attack our neighborhood groups for participating and making our community better. I can't imagine what reason Van Dyk has for doing that. I don't know why Van Dyk thinks that Raleigh would be better off if neighborhood groups didn't work together and participate in civic affairs. What was he thinking?? I think I will just ask him.
For those interested in the candidate forum referenced in this post, it was hosted by the new community at Renaissance Park and you can see my notes here: http://lineberry.org/blogs/2009/09/28/renaissance-park-2009-candidates-forum/ PS If you haven't seen what's happening at Renaissance Park, go check them out!
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