Sierra Club rocks endorsements for 2009 Raleigh elections

Raleigh's local Sierra Club chapter has made its endorsements for the municipal elections set for Oct. 6 -- and the environmental advocacy group is sticking with the tried and true by backing all incumbents.



In the race for mayor, the group picked attorney Charles Meeker (photo right) who was first elected to the office in 2001. An advocate for open space preservation and public transportation, Meeker is facing three relatively obscure challengers: computer scientist Mark Enloe, construction firm recruiter Larry D. Hudson III and entrepreneur Gregg S. Kunz.

In North Central Raleigh's District A, Sierra endorsed pharmacy executive Nancy McFarlane, the incumbent who's running unopposed. (For a map of all council districts, click here.) In District B, which extends from inside the Beltline to Northeast Raleigh, it endorsed incumbent Rodger Koopman, a software businessman and Air Force veteran who's facing a challenge from former city council member John Odom, executive director of the Greater Raleigh Merchants Association, muffler shop owner and Vietnam vet.

In Southwest Raleigh's District D, Sierra endorsed incumbent Thomas Crowder, who's being challenged by fellow architect Ted Van Dyk. City electrical inspector and landlord Jerome Goldberg also registered for that race, but he was disqualified by the state and county election boards following a dispute over the residency requirement.

The Sierra Club did not make an endorsement in Southeast Raleigh's District C race, where incumbent James West, retired county operations director for the Cooperative Extension, faces Charles Reisinger, a broadcast radio technician. Nor did it endorse in Northwest Raleigh's District E, where Bonner Gaylord, a realty company executive and member of the city's Planning Commission, and Waheed Haq, president of an environmental consulting and engineering firm, are battling for the seat vacated by retiring council member and attorney Philip Isley.

In the race for two at-large seats, the Sierra Club has made only one endorsement, of incumbent Russ Stephenson, an architect specializing in urban design and preservation. Also in that race are incumbent Mary-Ann Baldwin, a marketing and communications consultant, and challengers Lee Sartain, a technology specialist with the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at N.C. State, and realtor Champ Claris.

For more on the upcoming elections, check out Independent Weekly reporter Bob Geary's Citizen blog, the News & Observer's WakeWatch blog, the Raleigh Public Record, and the anonymously written but always insightful Below the Beltline -- which by the way has a fascinating story about how Goldberg, the candidate disqualified from the District D race because he doesn't live there, is being represented by attorney Jerry Meek, the former chair of the N.C. Democratic Party who's now with the high-powered law firm Poyner & Spruill.

(Photo of Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker playing guitar from his campaign website's photo gallery)

Keep those pizza boxes out of Raleigh's recycling bins

An important reminder from the City of Raleigh:

So you've been putting yogurt cups, pizza boxes, and ceramic cups in your recycling bin. Guess what? The City of Raleigh cannot recycle these products.

The top three containers that residents are putting into their recycling bins which the City cannot recycle are:

* Non-bottle shaped plastic items, such as yogurt cups, bags, utensils, and margarine tubs. The City also is urging residents not to put acceptable items into plastic bags when their recycling bin is full. Instead use a box or other container;

* Pizza boxes; and,

* Non-food glass products such as ceramic cups, vases, dishes, plate glass, mirrors and light bulbs.

These items should be placed in the trash can, not the recycling bin. Putting them in the recycling bin with other acceptable recyclable items can be harmful to the City's recycling efforts.

"Non-bottle plastic items, even those with the same resin code on them, will melt at a different temperature during the recycling process. If they end up in the oven together, bottles will be burning up before the non-bottle products even begin to melt, sending the entire load to the landfill," said Linda Leighton, waste reduction specialist for the City of Raleigh Solid Waste Services Department.

"In the case of non-food glass items, again, each type glass melts at a difference temperature during the recycling process, resulting in bubbles, cracks and holes in newly manufactured glass bottles. Plastic bags are the nemesis of the recycling plant as they become tangled in equipment and burn up motors, shutting them down," Ms. Leighton added.

For more details about Raleigh's recycling program, click here.