A Winston-Salem blogger lives near the RJR building downtown and noticed some hand made signs hanging in the lobby window. Looks like management let their people vent some steam about the state's recent regulatory moves. Pics here.
Winston-Salem's mayor Allen Joines, or someone on his staff, just posted this status on Facebook:
Allen Joines Doing what is responsible for our future Sometimes doing what is right is not the easiest or most popular course to take. But the plan we have come up with to get our baseball stadium completed is responsible and will not cost our taxpayers any additional money. For more discussion please go to my blog page at AllenJoinesForMayor.com – Thanks
He's referring to the story that broke today that the city is going to have to pony up a BIG loan to Billy Prim to get the downtown baseball stadium finished. They're giving citizens today and the weekend to share their comments with the mayor and the city council before a special meeting next Monday night. More on that later. Anyhoo, head on over to the mayor's site and give him an eareyeful.
BTW, props to the mayor for using Facebook. I can tell you that there are LOTS of constituents there, no matter what the Luddites and old codgers say. Not sure why he's only asking for comments on his website since Facebook is also an ideal environment for online discussion, but at this point let's just say that something's better than nothing.
We seem to have gone directly from severe drought last year directly to over saturation here in the Triad. We had some wicked storms in Lewisville last night, but apparently it was even worse just a few miles south in Clemmons. In fact they had to shut down Tanglewood Park for the day today in order to clean up.
As for our humble abode, the rain meant I didn't have to water my newly seeded lawn, but it also pointed out that I need to clean our gutters…badly.
My friends, if you manage to make it through this weekend in Winston-Salem without gaining, like, 20 pounds, you're made of better stuff than me. To wit:
Edible Evenings weekend being hosted by Smitty's Notes this weekend. Here's a description from Smitty's email:
"So, in the spirit of Smitty's Notes, which has developed a tradition of networking and gathering people for dinner and see what cooks up has teamed with The Stocked Pot Cooking School to host three cooking events for friends with Chef Don McMillian and Andrew McMillian. That's right! You get to cook your own gourmet meal.
On two nights – Friday, June 12th and Saturday, June 13th at 6:30 p.m. Chef Don has put together a great menu and Andrew has selected the perfect wines, all that is missing is you. Sign up today and join the fun, all proceeds go to The Meals On Wheels program right here in the Triad.
Chef Don will demonstrate recipes from one of his most popular classes, International Chicken dishes, as you will prepare and enjoy, Chicken Saltimboca, Risotto with wild mushrooms and Eggplant and Peaches flamed in Brandy will complete the meal, Andrew has chosen the perfect wine to compliment our evening's offerings. Cost is $49.00 per person. Class is limited to 30 students. Proceeds will be donated to Meals on Wheels. Sign up today
That's not all! On Saturday, June 13th there is a Chef and Child Lunch class. Chef Don teaches Chef and Child classes every summer in North Carolina counties. Eager minds quickly pick up cooking techniques when it is taught with fun. Nutritious foods is the real reason for educating our offspring’s in the art of cooking. This hands-on class covers lunch favorites that are sure to please every young palate. Check out this menu, Easy Bake Lasagna, Garlic Bread, Fresh Fruit Carvings, Fruit Juice spritzers, Oatmeal cookies. Yes the students will prepare, and EAT the meal. Cost is $29.00 per person. Class is limited to 20 students. Proceeds will be donated to Meals on Wheels. Sign up today
I just got an email announcing that registration is open for Greensboro's next City Academy class. This looks like a very cool idea and I wonder if Winston-Salem has one. If not I think it would be a very good idea. Here's a description from the Greensboro city website:
The mission of Government Works is to develop future leaders and build a better community through the efforts of well informed and civically engaged residents.
Classes use engaging hands-on activities to show how City government affects the quality of life in Greensboro. Class are held weekly from 5:45-9 pm from September 3 through November 12. Sessions include information on topics ranging from police to economic development to leadership.
Program components include:
- Preparation for service on a City board or commission
- Experiential learning and hands-on activities
- Thursday evening classes for 11 consecutive weeks at various locations throughout the City
- Free meals at each session beginning at 5:30 pm
- Graduation will be held on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at the regularly scheduled City Council meeting at 5:30 pm
City Academy is free and open to any resident who lives within the corporate limits of City of Greensboro. Twenty-five people representing all council districts and various backgrounds will be selected for the academy. Other selection criteria include:
- 18 years of age or older
- Must attend 80 percent of classes
- Written statement of desire to participate
- Preference given to those willing to serve on a board or commission
An excerpt from Magnet's interview with Winston-Salem natives Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey of The dB's:
Chris and I both went to the same elementary school in Winston-Salem. I remember seeing him waiting to get picked up in the parking lot with his viola case. He and Mitch were in the same class. I was in the same class with Will (Rigby). It was an interesting group of people who grew up together for years and years. I was 12 and Chris was 13. I was a little bit in awe of him because he was really close pals with Mitch. Their moms were even close. And Mitch was a total guitar god, even then. He was playing in a cocktail band somewhere. Chris had gotten into recording. I remember standing with him in the R.J. Reynolds High School auditorium pit, recording another band called Rittenhouse Square with Mitch, the predecessor version to the one we were in. It was a who’s-who of great players in Winston-Salem and one of those moments when you make a connection between what the local band was doing and what the Beatles were doing. It may have been disparate, but I kind of got the feeling from watching that that it was obtainable.
Here's a link to a 2002 story about the 80s' power pop era to which The dB's belonged.
Here's a link to the profile of Winston-Salem and an overview of Wachovia's history written for the Wells-Fargo Wachovia blog by Wayne Thompson, a resident of Winston-Salem and member of the Wells-Fargo communications team. It's a nice piece but Mr. Thompson had a couple of small errors: one was a sin of ommission when he forgot to include Arnold Palmer in the list of Wake Forest sports greats (this was pointed out by a commenter on the blog) and the other was identifying Chris Paul as a native of Winston-Salem (he grew up in Lewisville).
I love positive thinking, especially the variety that goes something like this: "Yes, you lost your foot in that freak bicycle accident but on the positive side you still have your leg!" Thus you'll understand why I really like this story from the Winston-Salem Journal titled Existing-Home Sales Up for Fourth Month and this excerpt in particular:
The Winston-Salem Regional Association of Realtors said yesterday that 324 homes were sold last month, up 3.8 percent from the 312 sold in March.
"While it is not uncommon for sales to increase month over month for the first half of the year, it is encouraging in this climate that we are returning to more normal home-buying patterns in our community," said Phillip Rector with Mundy Realty and the president of the association.
Still, April home sales were down 34.8 percent from April 2008, when 497 homes were sold. The average sales price was $157,000 last month, down 11.3 percent from $177,000 for the same period a year ago
I think a better gauge of how good this news is (or isn't) would be to compare the growth from March-April in 2008 with March-April of this year. While this story tells us that home sales were up 3.8% from March to April of 2009 we don't know what the increase from March to April of 2008 was, which means we don't know if we have better or worse growth than last year. If housing sales actually declined this time last year then it makes the fact that April sales this year were down 35% from last year not so bad, because last year sales were sliding from month-to-month and this year they're on the rise. But if March-April sales last year were actually an increase of 7% then that means that not only are the year-to-year comparisons bad, but the seasonal growth in sales this year is also worse than last year, which makes the news really bad.
Long story short: I really hope the news is good, but the data given in this story doesn't really tell us if it is or not.
Driving past Winston-Salem's delayed crown jewel of a downtown baseball stadium it occurred to me that with all the rain we've had and all that exposed Carolina clay that's where the outfield will someday be the Dash's outfield (we hope) there's actually something the venue can be used for until the sod's ready to roll out: the world's largest mud-wrestling pit. Rather than let the site just sit there let's get some entertainment value out of it. It really might work, especially if you consider the stadium's proximity to several of Winston-Salem's adult entertainment establishments…not that I'd know anything about that.
Hot off the presses:no baseball downtown this year. Wrassling it is.
In our house the History Channel is actually watched fairly regularly so it's kind of exciting to us that the History Channel is going to film a series following one of the short track racers over at Bowman Gray stadium. From Channel 14:
WINSTON-SALEM – Reality TV is making its mark on Winston-Salem and Bowman Gray Stadium. A television crew from the History Channel will film its show, “Madhouse,” at the race track this summer.
“They're filming a TV series here that's going to be on the History Channel. And it's about the life and struggles of a Saturday night short tracker here at Bowman Gray Stadium,” Chris Fleming, a driver from Mount Airy, said.
The track is NASCAR’s first and longest running weekly race. Drivers began running their cars at the stadium just one year after NASCAR started.
Befuddled 