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This is an opinion piece about the recent city council race and does not necessarily reflect the views of all the members of the Lineberry Alliance. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
It’s one week past the local Raleigh City Council elections in Wake County and the race in District D was hotly contested. Thomas Crowder, incumbent, and challenger Ted Van Dyk put their names in the ring for two years of public service on city council. I was happy with the way things were going in the race until I got a flyer in the mail that called out the District D Neighborhood Alliance (DDNA) and pretty much discounted months of volunteer work that I, and many others, personally committed. This is where Van Dyk made his mistake in the race (besides entering) and undermined District D neighborhoods. I quickly made a parody of the flyer and posted it to Facebook.
Ted Van Dyk campaign flyer
I was pretty upset about the obvious fabrications and the negative tone from the “positive voice” promised in the mailing. I wasn’t the only one who thought about mocking the flyer as you’ll see in the post-election poke:
Lying Liar--Below The Beltline
Post election, we will be stronger, better organized, and ready to take on whatever issues lie in front of us to improve the quality of life in our neighborhoods.
I was very clear about my support for Crowder as he has served our neighborhoods well over the past several terms. He’s helped improve the quality of life in our area with the landlord registry program and noise and party ordinance changes. Not only that, Crowder was a voice for our neighborhoods on getting funding secured for a soon-to-be park at the corner of Lineberry Drive and Sierra Drive, now owned by the City of Raleigh.
The positive actions mentioned above, and the negative campaign from Van Dyk got my feet, and many others, on the street to support Crowder. Before the flyer was released, I hosted a meet and greet for Thomas that brought almost 30 neighbors to my home. After the flyer, I was out canvassing on several occasions for the campaign. So were many other neighborhood advocates in District D. Thanks Van Dyk for the pep talk.
I wrote an article about endorsements and why they matter before the election. I wasn’t the only one paying attention as to how the District D seat in Raleigh is won in the neighborhoods. I attended two candidates forums, one at UPHA and another at Renaissance Park, to see how Van Dyk was going to differentiate himself from Crowder. In the public eye, he seemed very similar, even saying that he would vote pretty much the same as Crowder for most issues. He failed to reflect how he would act differently from Crowder, going as far as saying that the would include all of District D in his decisions (read: business interests). Van Dyk went negative because it’s the only card he had left. I’m not sure why people bought into the smoke and mirrors of the Debnam and Fanjul puppet1. Which were clear in the almost 70% majority election results in favor of Crowder.
It wasn’t clear to me until after the election as to some of the reasons and people backing Van Dyk on how all these pieces fit together. What really got me going were the fabrications about the DDNA and how we were “secretly” meeting. I’ve been posting meeting notes since October 2007. The process that we followed for the 2030 Comprehensive Plan was by the books, by the mayors request even. Last minute changes to the plan that were mentioned in the N&O were not so last minute. In fact, they were the culmination of months of work by the DDNA 2030 focus groups.
I’m sorry to report that Van Dyk chose only to participate in one focus group meeting, then failed to show up to any of the other Urban Form and Land Use study group sessions. Wait, I think Van Dyk had some clients to represent in the 2030 plan, that’s why he couldn’t attend–my bad.
Now that the election is over, I was sad to see Van Dyk go negative on the campaign trail. I personally lost a lot of respect for him. This picture from the Raleigh Public Record sums it up.
Raleigh Public record: District D challenger Ted Van Dyk reacts to news of his loss at the Hibernian Pub on Gelnwood South.
Source: Raleigh Public Record
While I’m glad that Crowder won the election, I’m stoked that Van Dyk stirred the wrong pot. The DDNA got some much needed attention during the election. Pre-election, we were a loosely formed group of neighborhood and Citizen Advisory Council (CAC) leaders. Post election, we will be stronger, better organized, and ready to take on whatever issues lie in front of us to improve the quality of life in our neighborhoods.
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About: Jason: I'm a neighborhood advocate. I started off by getting involved in the Pleasant Ridge & Ramsgate Community Watch program and helped grow that organization. I saw an opportunity to unite other neighborhoods in our area with the Lineberry Alliance. I became chair of Raleigh's South West Citizen Advisory Council (SWCAC) in April 2010 along with vice chair Anthony McLeod and second vice chair Mary Belle Pate. I work with other neighborhood leaders in District D alongside City Councilor Thomas Crowder, on the District D Neighborhood Alliance (DDNA). I've completed Raleigh Neighborhood College (Spring 2005) and Leadership North Carolina (May 2007). In 2009, I lead a group of neighborhood volunteers to review Raleigh's 2030 Comprehensive Plan. I have a genuine interest in strong communities, fostering diversity, understanding the issues, and being transparent in my work. You can follow me on Twitter: @jhibbets |
Tags: crowder, district D, neighborhoods, raleigh
Good comments. Everyone’s efforts were appreicated and our neighborhood is definitely benefiting from the hard work that you and Councilman Crowder have put into improving the neighborhood.
Thank you, both of you.
Charlie Tew
Lawrence Dr.
Raleigh, NC
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