#wake county

[unteriors]

Old Christian Chapel Road, New Hill, North Carolina.

[raleigh-nc-official-totally-real]

Wake County Town and City Tier List

thank you @totally-fuquayvarina for the idea!

S Tier

Raleigh - Amazing, show stopping, stunning, too many potholes, etc. etc. Nothing to say other than wow what a beautiful city. The Krispy Kreme Sign^tm. We are plenty southern, fuquay (just ignore all the relocated Californians and Yankees)

Apex - Cutest downtown in all of wake county! Lots of stuff to do. And great greenways!!!! Peak of good living ya'll! (though that peak also means peak prices eek!)

A Tier

Fuquay-Varina - Got good vibes and keeps getting better day by day. I like to see it continue to grow! Though 401 scares the shit out of me...

Holly Springs - FV and HS are siblings who have a deep respect for the other to me so they get their own tier together. Same as above, but for people with more money. Has the dump and sometimes smells

B Tier

Wake Forest - I like wake forest its just so far from home I'm usually not doing stuff up there. Has good vibes and my favorite crab place. Would be higher if there wasn't as much traffic lol

Morrisville - A bit to similar to cary is vibes, but i was at their pride and they asked us about road improvements so that's cool! Go morrisville!

Zebulon - Here because I like saying its name

C Tier

Rolesville - Its a place i have been too. Its ok i guess

Garner - Just feels like south raleigh. Garner tries its hardest to be its own thing but its the middle ground between raleigh and clayton/fuquay.

D Tier

Wendell - Fine except for the planned development Wendall Falls. It gives me Truman show vibes (and car dependency)

Knightdale - Knightdale reminds me of Capital Blvd if it was an entire town.

Honorable mentions (not fully wake, but wake enough)

Angier - cute little town! I love driving through it <3 (havent had much reason to stop in angier sadly)

Durham - cool city though way less navigable than Raleigh is (thank you raleigh planners for making a grid!). Has a lot of cool stuff i want to go do but its so far from me its hard to make it happen ;-;

Clayton - It feels wake to me, but the only time I'm really there is when I'm on my way to the beach lol

F Tier

Cary - dystopian suburban hellscape

[totally-fuquayvarina]

Zines made with resources specifically for the Wake County area. Feel free to print or write them out and spread them around!! ICE has been in Raleigh since November and just because it’s dying down doesn’t mean it’s gone. Protect your neighbors and your communities

@raleigh-nc-official-totally-real

[huariqueje]

Towards Morrisville  -   Susanna  Coffey , 2000.

American b. 1949 -

Oil on panel, 5 x 7 in.

[oldnorthcarolina]

"Children of Dalton MC Leod. Fuquay Springs, North Carolina. Sept. 17, 1935. Three African American sharecropper's children—one playing the harmonica and the other two listening—sitting on porch." Photo by Arthur Rothstein. From The New York Public Library.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

Embattled North Carolina Lawmaker Losing Support in Droves Following Attacks on Israel, Zionists

Raleigh City Council member Mary Black speaking at a rally and anti-Israel activist Rania Masri holding a “Freedom for Palestine” …

by Peter Reitzes

A member of the Raleigh City Council in North Carolina who has come under fire for regularly attacking Israel and Zionists received a major blow to her re-election bid this week, with the local Democratic Party opting to endorse her opponent as the embattled lawmaker continued to receive backlash from Jewish and progressive leaders.

 Following two recent reports by The Algemeiner, Mary Black came under increased scrutiny from the media, community members, and fellow Democrats for spending a disproportionate amount of time lashing out at the Jewish state, despite her job having no apparent responsibilities concerning Middle Eastern affairs.

Amid the uproar, the Wake County Democratic Party — who endorsed Black in 2022 — came under pressure not to endorse Black this year.

On Monday, the Wake County Democratic Party — which includes Raleigh — endorsed Black’s opponent, Mitchell Silver, who is a former New York City Parks Commissioner and Raleigh Chief Planner. Political insiders tell The Algemeiner it is now unlikely Black will be re-elected even as an incumbent in this nonpartisan election.

A local columnist explained, “In a county and city that vote heavily Democratic, the party’s endorsements will guide many voters. That’s especially true this year when a presidential and gubernatorial election will bring a wave of voters to the polls who are unfamiliar with local officials and issues.”

There is widespread agreement that Black won her seat in 2022 in large part based on the endorsement of the party.

Nonetheless, Black dismissed the importance of being passed over by the party.

“I’m actually kinda happy to not be endorsed by the dems this time [sic],” she posted on social media. “That means I can talk shit without fear … I can be a menace now.”

Local Jewish and Democratic leaders told The Algemeiner that they were both “thrilled” and “relieved” that the party did not endorse Black.

“The caucus is thrilled to see that the Wake County Democratic Party shares our belief that Mitchell Silver is the most qualified candidate for District A. Mitchell will continue his long track record of delivering results for Raleigh,” said Conner Taylor, 2nd vice chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party Jewish Caucus.

Rabbi Eric Solomon of Beth Meyer Synagogue, the largest congregation in Raleigh, added that he was “relieved that the Wake County Democratic Party did not endorse Council Member Mary Black, a city councilor who exploited her position of power to incite against her district’s Jewish community.”

[bones-ivy-breath]

Pretty Baby in a Cotton Patch, Wake County, NC, c. 1905. Hosted by the State Archives of North Carolina. From North Carolina Digital Collections.

[dr-archeville]

School bus driver protest causes headaches for Wake families, brings pledge of support from district officials :: WRAL.com

Dozens of school bus drivers in Wake County are participating in a mass "sick-out" on Friday to protest working conditions and demand for better pay.

Cary, N.C. — Dozens of school bus drivers in Wake County participated in a mass "sick-out" on Friday to protest working conditions and demand better pay, leaving parents to find other ways to get their children to school.

"Due to significant bus driver absences in some areas of the county, parents should prepare for the possibility of significant bus driver absences this afternoon," officials posted on the Wake County Public School System website on Friday afternoon.

"If possible, parents should arrange their own transportation for their students," the statement continued. "This is true even if bus transportation was available this morning, as we are uncertain which drivers will be available."

Parents were urged to check online for updated information on individual bus routes.

“We are putting our families and our students in a tough situation when we have students not picked up or left at school," school board Chairman Keith Sutton said.

On Friday morning, dozens of routes listed on the district's transportation website included the notation "No driver available. Route is uncovered." A district spokeswoman said one-third of the 600 buses didn't operate on Friday morning.

Many parents said their children walked to school, or they drove them when buses didn't show at the regular stops.

"When I got done dropping him off, there were kids still standing at the bus stop waiting for the bus to arrive," Wake Forest parent Cory Silker said.

"Green Level High School had multiple buses that did not show up this morning/are not running this afternoon," one woman wrote on the WRAL Facebook page. "I took a car full of kids to school that didn't have rides."

Another parent said her child reported only one bus arrived at their school.

District officials apologized for the inconvenience on Friday morning, but by Friday afternoon, they were apologizing to bus drivers who felt they needed to take action to get noticed.

"The pay and salary structure for the work we do is not adequate," Sutton and Superintendent Cathy Moore wrote in a message to school district staff. "Our bus drivers shone a harsh light on this reality."

Bus drivers have said that their concerns about being overworked and underpaid remain unaddressed.

"When I say stressful, it is like, beyond stressful," one driver told WRAL News. "You have some drivers out here that are on food stamps and that are on housing assistance."

Moore and Sutton noted that many drivers have to run up to six routes a day – double the normal workload – without receiving any extra compensation. They noted most school staffers are likewise overworked and underpaid.

"While it is never acceptable for any of us to deny services to families, it is important we understand we are all facing a similar problem of low pay made worse by the pandemic," they wrote.

The school board is expected to approve a $1,250 "recognition and retention bonus" for every district employee at next Tuesday's board meeting.

"This is just the first step toward recognizing your work and efforts to date," Moore and Sutton wrote, saying the board also is likely to consider extra pay for additional bus routes or teaching duties.

A district spokeswoman said administrators hope to see additional salary increases for school employees once a final state budget is passed.

A former bus driver who quit over the pay and workload issues applauded the drivers who took part in Friday's protest.

"I am proud of them. I am so proud that they are taking a stand, but it needs to be consistent," she said. "They need to do it every day, every day, every day until their demands are met."

Sutton said he hopes that doesn't happen.

"We do understand the frustration they are feeling, the challenges that we are up against as a system," he said. "I am hopeful we can alleviate that and arrive at mutually agreeable solutions to keep this from spilling over into Monday."

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