The back and forth debate on a proposed Fibrowatt power plant in Surry County is way too complex to summarize in this space, although you can read some of the ongoing arguments here, here or here.
But no matter the reason, a majority of local residents are in opposition to the $140 million project, according to [...]
Archive for March, 2009
Fibrowatt survey says ….
Posted in Brook's Blog, Economic Development, Local government on March 27, 2009 | 1 Comment »
That’s one way to oust a county commissioner
Posted in Brook's Blog, state government on March 25, 2009 | 1 Comment »
State legislators sponsor a handful of bill each session and put their names down as co-sponsors for dozens more, few of which ever come up for a vote.
The latest bill filed by Rep. Darrell McCormick probably will fall into that “never see the light of day” category, but it’s intriguing if only for the precedent [...]
Keeping tabs on the flower beds
Posted in Brook's Blog, Local government on March 23, 2009 | 4 Comments »
First came the library defenders, now it’s landscaping advocates asking for mercy. The blowback of the Mount Airy city council’s ranking of essential a municipal services is that those who see their items of choice at the bottom are alarmed at what the final budget could produce. It started when former commissioner Tom Bagnal pleaded [...]
A lottery by any other name …
Posted in Schools, state government on March 16, 2009 | 3 Comments »
When the North Carolina Education Lottery was approved in the NC General Assembly in 2005 by a razor thin margin, I covered the story and was told extensively by Republican detractors that the money generated for schools would get raided whenever budgets became tight.
They were right. With the state facing its first significant budget deficit [...]
Prison recruitment gaining momentum and mystery
Posted in Brook's Blog, Economic Development, Local government, state government on March 6, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Anyone arriving at Thursday’s public hearing on a state prison in Surry County looking for some conflict on the issue, and my strong hunch is that WXII fell into that category, would have left fairly underwhelmed. While the TV news report does make note of some opposition to the concept of a prison, that was [...]
Merger debate: it’s baaaaaack
Posted in Brook's Blog, Schools, state government on March 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In what has almost become a right of legislative passage, Sen. Tony Rand has once again filed a bill that would effectively merge city school systems into the county school system. The legislation doesn’t force a merger, but it cuts out a significant pot of administrative and teaching funds given to each school district, allocating [...]
Chicken salad or chicken s***?
Posted in Brook's Blog, Economic Development, Local government on March 3, 2009 | 3 Comments »
That’s not an original, or even a newly coined, metaphor to describe the prolonged debate over a Fibrowatt plant in Surry County turning poultry litter into electricity. Throughout the two-year recruitment process, public officials and environmental groups batted back and forth on whether the proposed $150 million plant would do more economic good than environmental [...]
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