Faced with a looming, $3 billion budget deficit, North Carolina is eyeing a major shakeup of its tech operations that could see the state outsource the bulk of its IT work to the private sector while consolidating other operations internally.

Exclusive: North Carolina to Privatize IT Operations, Jobs

Hoping the presentation will get us talking about local economic development and in particular the opportunities we have here given the relatively cosmopolitan hub of Wilmington and the Cape Fear area, and the surrounding, less-well-off counties, such as Columbus County. I had the great pleasure of going out to Columbus County as a representative of the CFEDC with Tim Will, a genius in the mountains who turned Rutherford County around with an innovative high-tech infrastructure plus low-tech, healthy farming techniques project, Farm Fresh Market, that has transformed that Tier 1 county in exactly the way grant providers like Golden Leaf had hoped. Things are starting up with Columbus County and this Farm Fresh project. I think great things may happen there.

Hope you’ll come too.

CFEDC Presents: Feast for the Southeast: Community supported agriculture (CSA) and economic development

For the first time in the past six years, local public radio station WHQR 91.3fm, is in the black.

“We’ve lost money since 2004,” said Jeff Hunter, WHQR board chairman, to members and staff of the station at its annual meeting on June 30. “We’ll break even this year.”

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Flyer (PDF)

A Time Warner Cable call center in Wilmington that employs 120 to 130 people is closing next year.

The center at 3809 Shipyard Blvd. will close in December 2011, said Andi Curtis, public affairs manager for Time Warner Cable’s coastal and Fayetteville operations. Sales, technical and billing calls for this area will then be routed to the Raleigh call center, she added.

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Your report said: Bill Caster says he thinks the wave against incumbents helped end what will be 18 years on the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners once he steps down. “It was the worst campaign I’ve ever been in. It was the meanest, and nastiest. I don’t care for that kind of thing, that’s not the kind of person I am.”

Tom Looney (Wilmington resident) says:

So, Mr Caster goes down classless in defeat, still tone-deaf and seemingly unaware about how voters/tax payers are sickened by guys like him overseeing, participating in and failing to effectively administer, among others things, the secretive cartel-like behavior that led to the ABC Board’s misconduct and the ABC Operations FIASCO that went down on his watch…and the secretive cartel-like behavior that led to the Titan Cement taxpayer money commitment…a promised payout to a foreign company that is from a country (Greece) exposed in recent months for their nation’s BUSINESS cultural instincts towards tax evasion, graft, and corruption. Producing a product in one of the three dirtiest/polluting industries in the world today. In an industry that does not compete on the market, but rather through political patronage, lobbying, lawyers….who disrupt and tax imports from other producing nations so USA cement makers get “fixed” business funneled their way…..and who regularly pay EPA fines for pollution (and keep on polluting)…and who on occasion, as alleged in Florida over the course of the last decade….enter into illegal price and territory fixing with their “competitors”, who are most often (like Titan Cement) owned by foreign interests. This is what our County Leaders expended their time and energy (and our money) around….Big Cement and their lackeys….instead of aiming our 21st century economic development/jobs creation a bit higher up the food chain in manufacturing….which despite rumors of its demise….US manufacturers produced $1.7 Trillion in products in the last measured year….making us still #1 in the world in manufacturing…..and so what do we have to show for this here?! We so need CHANGE in overall leadership (elected AND appointed) so that we can develop and execute a county strategy/approach for proactively attracting companies, people, ideas, and capital to our Region. One down (Mr. Caster), so many more to go.

I know people are equally disturbed by similar back-room dealings on the Utilities Commission etc. Lord only knows what else went down in his overstayed 18 years in office, that people either have forgotten about, or were not aware of due to the habitual lack of transparency by Mr. Caster and the other old white male wheeler-dealers in the county. Enjoy it now fellas because more CHANGE is on the way. And for Mr Caster to complain about “mean and nasty”….hahaha…look in the mirror Mr. Caster, as it is you who has sneered at and snubbed the desire of the majority of taxpayers on Titan….as just one example……and did very sleazy ads and fake letters in your desperate futile effort to hold onto control of what you must have felt was commissioner-for-life destiny!

Mr. Caster and the County’s good old boys network acted as if the ABC System really was a “business” in which they could turn their back on the LAWS for keeping official county meeting minutes, conducting fair and open competition for the construction of county facilities, etc. What an insult to REAL BUSINESSPEOPLE in the County who run REAL businesses in wickedly competitive markets of all kinds…how dare you guys compare a government controlled and operated monopoly, which stands in sharp contrast to the great entrepreneurs in our region, with their remarkable ideas, business plans, and execution plans in such a tough economy!! Indeed, Mr Caster is yet another cradle-to-grave government worker/operative who has no clue what a real budget is, and what it is like to run a business. It is stunning that we seem to think we should have life-long bureaucrats overseeing efforts to ignite a 21st century economy for Greater Wilmington…..everywhere I turn in Wilmington, Mr. Caster and his ilk are standing in the way of real progress, innovation, and creativity. And stop with the nonsense that you think you are running a business when you have a bottomless pit of Federal Debt supporting YOUR business-for-life (Coast Guard).

Wow, what “strong conservative leaders” of NH County we’ve had over the years, and that includes the self-important blow-hard lawyers who serve at the side of the elected and the appointed when things go haywire, as they did when the long-term mismanagement and gross misconduct by the County ABC Board and Operation, and of those who were supposed to be overseeing them (commissioners, county manager and his staff, etc.) I mean, didn’t anyone know about it, really?! How culturally embedded is the arrogance to ignore the will of the many in exchange for the money of the few?!

The entire STATE system for running our quaint little Government liquor monopoly has been under review and revision thanks to the failings in leadership in NH County, and hopefully NOBODY serving in that government job of glorified tax collector for the county liquor stores will re-enter that reality distortion field where people THINK the stores are producing bona fide revenues and “profits.” I bet there are very hard working County employees, tax collectors for other streams of taxpayer monies (property taxes, sales taxes, hotel and tourism taxes, etc.), who are totally insulted that ONE TAX COLLECTOR (the ABC chieftain) deserved SO MUCH COMPENSATION in the eyes of the ABC Board….AND, the eyes of the County Commissioners……BECAUSE THIS WAS YOUR JOB TO OVERSEE!

The taxes they collect and aggregate are just like those “net revenues” produced by the county/state monopoly liquor cartel.

So Mr Caster, please accept the fact that county voters didn’t just send you packing in a glorious defeat today because we don’t like incumbents……that is true (especially the “seasoned” guys like you who seem to never step aside for new blood, new ideas, and a new generation)……….but it is EVEN MORE TRUE that people REALLY sent you packing because so many BAD DEALS, so many bad blows to the county’s image, went down on your watch! You lost for showing an utter lack of imagination for creating new revenues for the county, and managing costs when you had the chance back when the economy was strong and revenues were flowing.

Mr. Berger is far from being a perfect candidate, and it will be a good competition for the Board seats come Fall elections. And yet Mr Berger DESTROYED Mr. Caster in this run-off. Not even close. That should be the resonating impression of the end of Mr. Caster’s over-extended stay in county leadership.

The people spoke, and they wanted to make sure it wasn’t even close.

http://greencoastrecycling.com

As the tag line says, this business is “Recycling done right”. I can’t name how many pro-bono cleanup projects the company has been involved in — fund raisers, beach cleans, Masonboro, music events — THOUSANDS of hours of good will for the Cape Fear area.

Tuesday, May25th, 7PM
Community Action Center
317 Castle St.
Wilmington, NC 28401
(910) 791-4877

More information from the SEACC Meetup website

New Hanover County, NC –This Saturday, May 8th, Rick Harris of Cape Fear Rainwater Harvesting, Inc. (http://www.cfgreensolutions.com/) will share a free presentation in the classroom at Airlie Gardens on how residents and businesses can collect, contain, and conserve rain water for use in daily activities. There are two sessions: in the morning from11am-12pm, and in the afternoon from 1pm-2pm. The presentation will be given inside the Garden Services Center Classroom, adjacent to the main parking lot. This Saturday is a Free Day at Airlie Gardens for any resident of New Hanover County.

The lecture will briefly discuss world and local water issues and trends and demonstrate how Rainwater Harvesting can be a practical, economic and environmentally beneficial practice. Topics discussed will be basic system components, design considerations and applications, as well as, the varied products presently in use on local projects. Cisterns and other products from Cape Fear Rainwater Harvesting will also be displayed outside during this program.

Airlie Gardens, located on Airlie Road near Wrightsville Beach, is 67-acres of quintessential Southern gardens with access to Bradley Creek and 10-acres of freshwater lakes. Over 100,000 azaleas, 3,000 camellias, statuary, and the Historic Airlie Oak adorn the landscape. This once privately owned garden was purchased for the public by New Hanover County in 1999. For more information, check out www.airliegardens.org.

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