'A vote for the Parks bonds is a vote to pave paradise'

Earlier this week we reported on the local Sierra Club chapter's endorsements for the upcoming Raleigh municipal elections. In passing, we also referred to The Independent's picks for the city -- including its endorsement of the $88.6 million parks bond issue. But before you go ahead and reflexively vote "yes," read the piece titled "Pink Hotel" by "Lunsford Lane" at the terrific Below the Beltline blog that makes a progressive argument against the bond issue.

Environmental group makes Raleigh municipal race endorsements

The Capital Group Sierra Club has announced its endorsements for the Raleigh municipal elections set for Oct. 9:

* For Raleigh mayor, the group has endorsed incumbent Charles Meeker, who's running unopposed.

*In District A, Sierra's choice is Nancy McFarlane, who's challenging incumbent Tommy Craven.

* In District B, it endorsed Rodger Koopman, who's running against incumbent Jessie Taliaferro, as well as another challenger, Angel Menendez.

* The group declined to make any endorsement in District C, where incumbent James West is running unopposed.

* In District D, it endorsed Thomas Crowder, the incumbent who's running unopposed.

* It didn't make any endorsement in District E, where incumbent Philip Isley is running unopposed.

* And in the at-large race, Sierra endorsed incumbent Russ Stephenson. Also running for one of the two at-large seats are Paul Anderson, Mary-Ann Baldwin, Will Best, Helen Tart and David Williams.

To learn more about the candidates and the issues, check out the Independent's endorsements online here. The Independent also endorsed the $88.6 million parks bond issue that will be on this year's ballot; that money will be used for projects including greenway acquisitions along the Neuse River.

For more details about the upcoming election, including a copy of the composite ballot and a list of one-stop voting sites, visit the Wake County Board of Election's Web site.

Buggin' Out!

A special reel by A/V Geeks in honor of PESTed's 20th Anniversary...

Please join PESTed & A/V Geeks for a night of zany vintage film strips about bugs and pesticides.

When: Sunday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m.
Where: Tir na Nog Irish Pub (218 S. Blount St. in downtown Raleigh)
How much: $5 suggested donation -- and free popcorn!

More information about this event, as well as additional screenings in Greensboro on 10/20 and Chapel Hill on 10/21, is available at www.pested.org.

Want to volunteer? Contact Billie at billie@pested.org, or (919) 833-1123.

Local Democracy Under Siege: A reading at Quail Ridge Books

On Thursday, Sept. 27, University of North Carolina faculty members Donald Nonini and Dorothy Holland will be at Raleigh's Quail Ridge Books to read from their new work titled Local Democracy Under Siege: Activism, Public Interest and Private Politics.

To examine the state of U.S. democracy, Nonini, Holland and their five co-authors (Catherine Lutz, Lesley Bartlett, Marla Frederick-McGlathery, Thaddeus Guldbrandsen, and Enrique Murillo Jr.) lived for a year in five North Carolina communities where they observed public meetings, conducted interviews, and listened in on conversations at bus stops, barber shops, soccer games and workplaces. Their collaborative ethnography sheds light on how diverse members of a community think about and experience politics in ways that transcend merely voting, and on the relationship between neoliberal economics and democracy.

The reading begins at 7 p.m., and all proceeds from the book's sales go to Democracy North Carolina, a Durham-based organization that works for democratic reform of the electoral process. Quail Ridge Books is located at 3522 Wade Ave.

What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire

N.C. State University will be hosting a free screening of a documentary film I've been wanting to see for some time now this Wednesday, Sept. 19. It's titled "What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire," and it's about (as its Web site says) how "a middle-class white guy comes to grips with peak oil, climate change, mass extinction, population overshoot and the demise of the American lifestyle."

The film was made by a team of North Carolinians: writer/director Tim Bennett, producer Sally Erickson and consultant Barbara Trent. It tells the story of Bennett's awakening to the global environmental crisis, and aims to break through the denial that keeps people from taking action.

The screening will take place at 7 p.m. at the Campus Cinema, 117 Witherspoon Center, 2810 Cates Ave., near the intersection with Dan Allen Drive. Free parking is available after 5 p.m. in the Student Health parking lot. For a map of central campus, click here.

Arborfest This Saturday

The J.C. Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh will host Arborfest this coming Saturday, Sept. 15. Sponsored by JCRA along with the Wake County Extension Service and the Department of Horticultural Science at N.C. State University, the free event will give area residents a chance to learn about appropriate plants for local conditions, rain gardens, composting, tree care and planting, and chicken-keeping. There will be a Master Gardener "Plant Clinic" on site to answer gardening questions, information booths staffed by Bluebirders of Wake and other organizations, and plants and craft sales. The event begins at 10 a.m. and goes until 3 p.m. For more details, click here or call (919) 513-7005.