We’re getting down to the wire in the Cary Town Council election. Early voting starts this Thursday in Raleigh, then next week in Cary, and the local election day itself is the 6th of October.
It’s a fair question.
In advance of the election I’ve been out canvassing nearby neighborhoods, asking two open-ended questions to see what people like and don’t like about Cary. I’ve hit only a tiny fraction of District D — the district has over 20,000 registered voters in it — but here’s what the people I’ve talked with have told me about their top issues.
First I ask people, What is your favorite thing about living in Cary, or the thing about Cary that you think works the best? The top answers have been:
- Parks & Greenways (24%)
- Location: 4 Seasons; Proximity to RTP, Raleigh, Conveniences (18%)
- Security / Public Safety (11%)
- Established Neighborhoods / Good Family Environment & Schools (7%)
- Small-Town Feel (7%)
- Town Services / Attentiveness to Needs (7%)
A few people mentioned other things like the town’s friendliness, its cleanliness, its people, and even its emphasis on recycling. But consider those top results for a moment.
For many people the thing that sets Cary apart is the care the town has taken to ensure a variety of green spaces for recreation and relaxation — and as someone who walks the greenway around Bond Lake several times a week, I feel the same way! But for nearly a fifth of the people I talked to the best thing about Cary is not what the town does but rather where the town is. “Location, location, location,” as they say.
What those top results tell me is that the resources we put into keeping the town livable and safe are likely to pay dividends in the form of a continued high quality of life for Cary residents. That’s been a priority for the Council as well as the town staff, and should remain so.
Then I ask people a contrasting question: What about Cary would you most want to change, or the thing about Cary that you think doesn’t work so well? The top answers have been:
- “Nothing” / “I Don’t Know” (17%)
- Need a Better/Revitalized Downtown Environment (15%)
- Excessive Growth / Density / Urban Sprawl (15%)
- Crumbling Traffic & Other Infrastructure (10%)
- Loss of Trees from Excessive Construction (7%)
- Crowding: Schools, Roadways (7%)
No kidding: When I asked that question, more often than not people seemed to struggle to think of anything substantial that they would like to change or see done differently. One gentleman I spoke with yesterday just smiled and shook his head, as if I shouldn’t have bothered with such a question. I don’t remember his exact words, but they were along the lines of, “We have the lowest taxes and the best services in the county, what else do we need?”
Some people did mention other issues, like the need for clearer rules and exceptions (e.g., about Cary’s infamous sign ordinances), the need for more activities, better broadband access, and more affordable housing, but even some of those responses appeared to be second thoughts rather than immediate concerns. Undoubtedly some citizens in my district are concerned about other issues, but I can only report on what people have told me, and no one — I must emphasize, not a single person — has so far mentioned the kind of things that I expected to hear, like wanting better government accountability, or lower taxes, or public transportation, or even better parking downtown.
In other words, for the people I’ve been talking to, Cary is a nice place and there’s precious little about it that needs to be changed. That’s part of the reason why I wrote to someone recently that I’m not running to “make a difference,” and I’m not on any “damn fool idealistic crusade” (to quote a famous movie character). I’m running because I’m interested in making sure Cary stays the safe, prosperous community it is, and that it doesn’t ruin itself by growing too fast and discarding its small-town feel and charm.
If that appeals to you, and if you’d like someone on the council with an analytical but creative way of thinking, then I’d be happy to have your vote on October 6th … or early, if you prefer!
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Spending Disclosure: As of this date, my campaign has spent a total of $84. (And that includes the T-shirt I’m wearing in the picture.)
This blog post was “paid” for, at the cost of $0 and whatever time it took Gray to write and upload it, by The Gray Man: Service, Leadership, Creativity.
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