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Implications of a Craig Madans victory


nowensone

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I try to keep up from afar, though it is a little overwhelming, so I'll ask the locals and/or experts - what implications for Charlotte are there with a Craig Madans victory in the upcoming Mayoral election? The transit plans and projects, continued funding for the Arts subsidy, county/city board relations, dealings and policies with prospective CLT developers, etc. It seems both disconcerting that he is fiscally conservative and, depending on his priorities, potentially positive as well. Thanks in advance for your input/opinions.

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Madans has ran for Mayor and failed more than once and as a result has become a laughingstock. The last mayoral election was a joke. I voted for Madans because I had no choice since I dislike McCrory. If he decides not to run again the Democrats have to find someone credible this time around or we will just get another McCrory clone.

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Die-hard Republicans claim McCrory is too liberal, and die hard Democrats claim he is too conservative, but someone he keeps running a way with victories, which says to me this county is really full of a bunch of moderates who are happy with the status quo, regardless of all the loudmouths and media hoopla.

Madans will never win, and no anti-investment Mayor could ever win....they may get a few more seat of the council and board, but I'm not seeing mayor for a long time.

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Trying to look at this from an unbiased point of view here. I'm actually happy with the changes McCrory has brought to Charlotte. Every politician has his ups and downs regardless of which side you're on. I agree that Madans will not and should not win. Assuming all of the investment in uptown goes through, our city is going to get whiplash from all the growth and will need to spur development to help support a viable economy uptown to make sure those uptowners aren't headed to the burbs to go shopping. I honestly don't feel Madans would encourage that.

With all the hoopla about the woes of the LRT, I am interested to see Madans' take on transit. McCrory is doing a good job covering his tracks, making sure that there aren't any fingers pointed at him for any of this. I'm actually surprised McCrory hasn't taken more false shots from the media. I'm starting to get the impression that Charlotte is starting to take pride in McCrory, like a certain former NYC mayor who will probably be mentioned in the history books.

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Trying to look at this from an unbiased point of view here. I'm actually happy with the changes McCrory has brought to Charlotte. Every politician has his ups and downs regardless of which side you're on. I agree that Madans will not and should not win. Assuming all of the investment in uptown goes through, our city is going to get whiplash from all the growth and will need to spur development to help support a viable economy uptown to make sure those uptowners aren't headed to the burbs to go shopping. I honestly don't feel Madans would encourage that.

With all the hoopla about the woes of the LRT, I am interested to see Madans' take on transit. McCrory is doing a good job covering his tracks, making sure that there aren't any fingers pointed at him for any of this. I'm actually surprised McCrory hasn't taken more false shots from the media. I'm starting to get the impression that Charlotte is starting to take pride in McCrory, like a certain former NYC mayor who will probably be mentioned in the history books.

Thats was my impression as an uninformed outsider, but according to the articles, McCrory's margin of victory has decreased with each successive campaign, implying Madans could win this time, and that McCrory's base is slipping away. Of course, with a voter turnout of 25%, who knows what that actually means, could just mean that everyone feels he will win and there is no point in voting.

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I unfortunately think McCrory will run and win again. He would love to ditch this town and get a job in DC but his sucking up to the Bushies did not work and now the political winds may be shifting...So he will want to remain a big fish in a small pond. The man is such an unprincipled hack and just does whatever the banks and the Uptown establishment tells him to do. He is intolerant to diversity and annoyingly smug. A progressive mayor that values all Charlotteans of every stripe would be a breath of fresh air. But I am going to have to move to get that.

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Die-hard Republicans claim McCrory is too liberal, and die hard Democrats claim he is too conservative, but someone he keeps running a way with victories, which says to me this county is really full of a bunch of moderates who are happy with the status quo, regardless of all the loudmouths and media hoopla.

Madans will never win, and no anti-investment Mayor could ever win....they may get a few more seat of the council and board, but I'm not seeing mayor for a long time.

I agree

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I unfortunately think McCrory will run and win again. He would love to ditch this town and get a job in DC but his sucking up to the Bushies did not work and now the political winds may be shifting...So he will want to remain a big fish in a small pond. The man is such an unprincipled hack and just does whatever the banks and the Uptown establishment tells him to do. He is intolerant to diversity and annoyingly smug. A progressive mayor that values all Charlotteans of every stripe would be a breath of fresh air. But I am going to have to move to get that.

Interesting post; not worth moving to get that however, and that's coming from someone who did. I love a lot of things about the Triangle, and the area is out ahead of Charlotte in several areas, and if I were to return to Charlotte I would miss those things terribly. But it's no utopia, and Charlotte has plenty of strengths. I was horrified by the rightward lurch in Charlotte politics from the late 80s into the mid 90s, and felt that I'd made the right decision in getting out, but a lot of people in Charlotte worked very hard and got organized to counteract those developments, and those kinds of developments are what big future successes are built upon.

The Triangle has evolved into a state of "progressivism" that can too easily be taken for granted - there are a lot of people in this part of the state who are surprisingly apathetic about such advances. The Triangle is surrounded by some now suburbanized counties that were 40 years ago hotbeds of things like klan activity, so the progressivism that one finds in the Triangle was hard fought over decades, out of necessity, and the older people I know here who were here then and have memories of that era are a lot less apathetic about the newfound diversity of the area. In many ways, the energy around Charlotte is greater, and it's because people with certain values, who feel that certain advances are beneficial contributions to a healthy metropolis, are less able to take progress for granted.

A year or so ago I got into a discussion on one of the Utne Reader forums with a woman from a rust belt town in PA, a longtime "progressive," and she trumpeted the virtues of living and trying to make a difference in places where not everyone thinks the way you do: you value your successes a lot more, and the community of people who share your principles is a lot stronger, and is much more of a genuine community than say the loose and at times fickle band of self-styled progressives here in the Triangle.

If the best of Charlotte and the best of the Triangle (what I'd specifically miss if I came back to Charlotte: The Cat's Cradle, Galaxy Cinema in Cary, Carolina Theatre, Cary's Little India, 9th St in Durham and 2 very large lakes that remain undeveloped as park space) could be combined we'd have a hell of a city, but that's another discussion...

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You make a lot of sense Davidals. I have often told myself the same thing. I do like Charlotte a lot. Or I would be out of here. I have the type of job you can take anywhere. And in many ways one can make a more tangible difference by pushing for change in areas that may not be as progressive as one woud like. The sense of unity is stronger because it has to be. We don't have any other choice. I am involved in local Democratic politics and the activists here are very dedicated and hardworking. I live in a mostly Democratic and gay friendly neighborhood and its wonderful. But it gets so frustrating and sometimes I think it would be nice to be in the majority for awhile even if its just a larger blue island surrounded by red. For me a lot will depend on Nov 7 and county commission elections. If Republicans regain the majority and Bill James starts up his "morals" crusade, I don't think I want to be around while he and his council cohorts make Mecklenburg a national laughingstock again. And the environment will be made even worse if McCrory or his ilk gets elected Mayor next year. If that scenario comes about, scouting trips for housing in Asheville or The Triangle start right away :shades:

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McCrory may as well look at the Statehouse or Governor, or maybe take over Myrick's seat someday, if he wants to go elsewhere. I think we're about to enter another cyclical 8-12 year swing of Democrats running the show in Washington.. (Something I don't look forward to, actually - but politics has it's ebbs and crests of power, and these shifts usually last for several election cycles.)

There will be no plums doled out for him in Washington.

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