Dr. Goodnight’s Birthday Message
Monday, December 19th I taped a message celebrating Dr. Jim Goodnight’s 80th birthday. He has had a significant impact on our community through the years. The world-wide recognition of SAS has resulted in businesses choosing to locate to Cary and their success has helped existing Cary businesses to expand. His philanthropic work has made a big impact in our community. Such as the Veterans Freedom Park, the SAS Championships, donating land for a fire station, and creating learning programs and institutions.
Mayors Association Annual Banquet
The Mayors Association held their annual banquet on Monday, December 19th. It was held in Garner at the Grand Marquise Ballroom with approximately 150 guests. All 12 Wake County mayors were in attendance. In addition to great food and conversation, we were treated to entertainment by the Hall Sisters. A good time was had by all, and it was a great way to close out the year.
Biennial Survey
The results of the biennial survey were made available right before Christmas. The survey was based on the responses from 400 Cary residents. The results showed Cary had an overall grade of A- as a place to live. Overall, 2 grades improved, 16 remained the same, and 15 declined. There were 23 A’s and 10 B’s. To review all the results go here.
Former Mayor Harold Ritter dies
On New Year’s Eve I was notified that former Cary Mayor Harold Ritter had died. Harold Ritter served as Cary’s Mayor for four years after Mayor Fred Bond. He was mayor during the time Cary began to change from a small town into the mid-sized city it is today. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife, family, and friends. Cary is forever grateful for his years of service to make our community a better place. Rest is peace Harold!
Writing State of Cary Address
The remainder of the year was spent researching and writing the first draft of the State of Cary address. In the address you will hear about Cary’s accomplishments of the past year, and the significance of this year and the next five years. I will need to have the first draft completed in the next week so that staff can fact check and provide feedback.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I spent New Year’s Eve at home with my wife mostly watching the football playoffs. It was a great way to relax and bring in the New Year. I hope you have a Happy New Year!
New Year’s Day Walking Tour
On Sunday, January 1st I joined a few dozen people in a walking tour of downtown Cary. The tour was given by Cary resident Katherine Loflin who can trace her ancestors to this area from the 1700s. Ms. Loflin has done extensive research into Cary’s history and was able to share some of the stories she had found. I was able to learn things about Cary’s history that I had not heard before. It was a great tour and I hope she gives another one again in the future.
Mayor’s Mailbox
- A question on why Epic Games is not moving forward with redeveloping the old mall site
- A question about future Cary Community Center Projects
- A request to visit Carpenter Village’s lighting competition
- A complaint about no bathroom at the Amtrack Station
- A complaint from the “Armenian Origin constituents” about a past proclamation we made
- A complaint on Christmas Eve about power outages: “I always thought Cary was a top city in the south, apparently not” (BTW Duke Energy maintains the power grid not Cary. I passed along the complaint and Duke Energy responded.)
- Compliments on the Academy Street holiday lighting
- Best wishes during the holidays
Next Week
Next week’s activities include staff meetings, an Economic Forecast, Gale Adcock’s swearing in ceremony to the NC Senate, District D applicant interviews, former Mayor Harold Ritter’s funeral, and Ya Liu’s and Maria Cervania’s swearing in ceremony to the NC House.
Well, that is all for this week. My next post will be on Sunday, January 8th, 2023. Although I have Facebook and Twitter accounts those are not the best means of communications with me. Please send all Town of Cary questions or comments to Harold.Weinbrecht@townofcary.org and email personal comments to augustanat@mindspring.com.
Harold's Blog 