[Durham INC] what happened...

[Reyn Bowman]

Here is another viewpoint.

Polls indicate the meals tax failure had everything to do with the economy, not popularity of the measure.  Prior to the economic turndown the measure was more than 2 to 1 in favor.

I wouldn't read too much into it or judge those who had much more time to study the pros and cons...voters were given an artificially short window for voter education by virtue of the state legislation.

It was also clear in analysis that had the measure been on a local election ballot as is more typical vs. forced into a presidential, the more than 35,000 votes it received would have given it more than any other measure or candidate for that matter on the previous local election.

One thing is clear.  If it had passed, we'd see 2/3rds of the costs of many things transferred to non-residents, opening up millions in the general fund to soften the impact of these cuts on core services.

-----Original Message-----
From: inc-list-bounces at rtpnet.org [mailto:inc-list-bounces at rtpnet.org] On Behalf Of RW Pickle
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2009 3:06 AM
To: inc-list at durhaminc.org
Subject: [Durham INC] what happened...

Melissa brings up another point:

>> But I do not think this museum needs any additional improvements at
>> this time, particularly a new and larger gift shop...and many Durham
>> citizens did not vote for the prepared food tax because they didn't
>> want the money used toward this end.

This brings up something that has been a topic of conversation for a
number of people; both associated with INC and outside of it. But I have
yet to hear it discussed in an open forum.

How could INC reps be bringing information back to the meetings, and vote
overwhelmingly for the Meals Tax, only to have it defeated by >73%? It
just doesn't seem like the neighborhoods and their reps are even talking
about the issues. Otherwise the INC vote wouldn't have been so positive in
favor of the tax. (I don't believe anyone voted against it when the vote
was taken). Obviously there is a problem here somewhere in the
communication paths. Otherwise you'd expect the vote to be reflected
similarly by INC as it was by the voters. Yet it was so far off, you have
to wonder why.

Or is it that only the HOA's that are members of INC truly have a
membership of ALL of their neighbors while some Associations that make up
INC have as little as 10% (or less in some cases) membership/participation
in them? For example, INC currently has Board member that has claimed to
represent a neighborhood for years. Yet, last year when I mentioned them
to the long-term President of that Association, she didn't even know them.
Maybe it's that type of lack of neighborhood conversations/involvement
that led INC to support something that clearly had little support by the
people it claims to represent. It's hard to believe that INC is that out
of touch, but the Meals Tax vote is a clear sign that something is wrong.
The last couple of years INC has moved further away from the core values
that made it work so well for so long. It has taken on some bedfellows
that perhaps it's time to kick out of bed. These are hard things to
think/talk about, but it's necessary if votes are to be taken on issues
that clearly the community INC purports to represent believes the exact
opposite.

RWP
27 Beverly

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