Is Greensboro a Model Oligarchy?

In the case of redistricting, the answer is a resounding yes. Real estate interests got what they wanted and Marlene Sanford was their go-to woman.

Sanford is a representative for TREBIC, which is a front for those very influential real estate interests that run the Gate City. The above map is the Moderate Change Option that won out over the Pie-Shaped Map. The problem? The Citizens' Redistricting Committee contained six other people from diverse backgrounds and these other six backed the Pie-Shaped option, which as it turns out, would have resembled the 2001 districts. All five districts would have served downtown and as we all know, the elites who really run Greensboro don't like the idea of the plebs having a say over the city's crown jewel. For those outside of North Carolina, Downtown Greensboro was a ghost town 20 years ago while it was thriving pre-Covid.

The excuses that councilmembers used were completely laughable. They just didn't want to implement the most equitable map. 

What's good is a citizens' committee if those in control are just going to ignore it anyway? At the very least, Dr. Roberto has this blog's support for speaking out against the city's act of democide and for tossing his hat into the at-large race next year.

I have no doubt that other cities in the state would have tried doing the same thing as Greensboro had they thought of it first but none of them would have gone through the motions of pretending to allow citizens' democracy the way the Gate City does. Crony politics with the blessing of the city's political clans won out again.

Imagine that, Tammi Thurm didn't want to run against Nancy Hoffmann. What a shocker (not)! An incumbent vs incumbent/establishment vs establishment race was avoided. The oligarchs get what they want because too many citizens are either asleep or have given up on electoral politics altogether. Looking back at Democracy Greensboro's efforts to upend the ruling elite four years ago, I say that it will take a multi-pronged effort similar to the masses of people who came together during the George Floyd uprisings last year, and it will have to be multiple groups who are sick and tired of business as usual if there's to be a political earthquake in either 2022 or 2025.

Gate City latest

So, the mystery of who will fill Michelle Kennedy's vacated seat is over and it looks like another insider was chosen. Out of the people who lost out to Hugh Holston, Mike Barber was the least surprising candidate since he could very well run for his old seat next year.  As for T. Dianne Bellamy-Small, people will once again question whether she's committed to the school board (especially since she had no opposition last year) or if she wants to return to her old job.

In any case, I found this quote interesting:

While many of the applicants noted that they were only hoping to fill the seat temporarily until next spring’s primary elections, Holston made no such distinction during his comments.

We shall see if Holston makes it four for four with temporary councilmembers deciding to run for a full term the following election.

Meanwhile, the same edition of TCB put out an editorial on how the leading candidates for mayor have just put the Marcus Smith case on the backburner. AFAIC, it isn't bizarre to me as to why both the mayor and her main are avoiding progressives. First of all, both Nancy Vaughan and Justin Outling belong to many of the same political clans that fund the City Council--which made Kennedy a glaring exception--political clans that look down on the very people who marched downtown last spring after George Floyd was killed. Second, in addition to Marikay Abuzuiater, there are at least three other candidates who are in effect Blue Lives Matter supporters--District 4's Nancy Hoffmann, ex-councilman Tony Wilkins and the Karen candidate known as Katie Rossabi (the latter two are likely to run against Marikay) so, the top two mayoral candidates could be trying to keep center-right voters from staying home or rallying behind a last minute surprise entrant.

It's incumbent on those residents who are tired of business as usual to find somebody who isn't willing to play ball with Greensboro's establishment or if that effort fails, to enact extreme pressure on the next City Council from outside of electoral politics. 

Triangle Transit Bus History Part 3

 

Rebranding 

In the Spring of 2015, Triangle Transit, DATA, and CAT were rebranded as Go Triangle, Go Durham, and Go Raleigh respectively.

Brief Routes

• JCX served a park & ride lot off NC 42. Service started in early 2014

• CLX: Clayton Town Center and White Oak Shopping Center in Garner to downtown. Service started in January 2015

• CTX: Wellington Park Shopping Center in Cary to N.C. State and downtown. Service started in January 2015. Eliminated in November 2015

• 300X: Cary Town Hall to N.C. State and downtown Raleigh. Service started in January 2015. Eliminated in August 2015

• Robertson Scholar Express was a special bus route operates between the campuses of Duke and UNC. Eliminated in early 2020.

• RDU Airport Shuttle. This is a temporary route during the COVID era. Route 100 is temporarily skipping the airport during the day Mondays thru Saturdays. Route 105 is temporarily suspended as well.        

The first three routes were all implemented by the Fortify 40/440 project that widened the Raleigh Beltline's southern portion. The project was completed in late 2017 and these routes were eliminated thereafter.

More Express Services

• ODX serves Durham, Hillsborough, Efland, and Mebane and connects to Piedmont Authority for Regional Transit at the Mebane Park & Ride Lot.
• FRX: Hilltop Crossings in Fuquay-Varina and South Hills in Cary to downtown. Service started in January 2015

Triangle Transit Bus History Part 2

2010
Routes 105, 402, 403, 412 & 413 were split up into seven routes—all day Core routes and peak hour only routes. There was only one RTP-Durham route as the 402/403 segments were dropped due to low ridership.
Raleigh: Core Route 100 stops at RDU, absorbing Shuttle 747. New Route 105 stops at District Drive Park & Ride.
Durham-Chapel Hill: Core Route 400 serves portions of Routes 412/413 while new Route 405 serves 402/403 portions.
Durham: Core Route 700.
Chapel Hill: Core Route 800 serves portions of 412/413 while new route 805 serves 402/403 segment.

These other changes also took place in August 2010:
• Express routes were relabeled as letters (CRX and DRX respectively) and combined. The DRX route stops at the Durham Area Transit Authority station in both directions
• Wake Forest and Knightdale Expresses had their letters changed as well (from WFX and KDX to WRX and KRX respectively)
• Evening and Saturday service were replaced by Core Routes

TTA shuttles have served the Research Triangle Park area from the company’s inception. Here’s a running of these routes—then and now:
Airport Shuttle
• Served Innovation Drive
• Relabeled Airport Shuttle 747 when the agency began numbering shuttles in 2003
• Replaced by Core Route 100 in 2010

Factory Shops Shuttle
• Served southeastern RTP and Morrisville
• Extended to RDU in 2003 and relabeled Airport Shuttle 43
• Eventually replaced by Routes 105 and 301

South Shuttle
• Served southern RTP
• Renamed Shuttle 45, which was discontinued in 2009
• Southernmost portions replaced by Routes 302, 310 & 311 and Shuttle 49

East Shuttle
• Eastern RTP area is served by Shuttles 42, 46 & 47
• Shuttle 48 (Northeast RTP) was introduced in 2005, replaced by Route 248 in 2006. Route 248 was extended to serve the Brier Creek area during peak hours. At all other times, Airport Shuttle 747 went to Brier Creek
• Shuttle 48 was reintroduced in 2007 when Route 248 was discontinued due to low ridership
• In 2008, Shuttle 48 was combined with Shuttle 46

North Shuttle
• Was covered by Shuttle 45 on a demand response basis
• Currently covered by Shuttle 47

Triangle Transit Bus History Part 1

 

The Early Years (1993-99) There were three routes in the beginning: • The Green Line operated from RTP to Chapel Hill to Durham and vice versa. • The Red Line operated from Durham to RTP to Raleigh and vice versa. • The Gold Line operated between RTP and Raleigh via Cary. • The Orange Line was added in 1996 as a one-way commuter route where it traveled from North Raleigh to RTP in the mornings and from RTP to North Raleigh in the afternoons. The first two routes operated every 30 minutes during peak hours and every hour off-peak while the Gold Line only operated during peak hours. The Red and Green Lines interlined (i.e. the Red Line would change to the Green Line once the bus got to downtown Durham and vice versa) with each other. Regional pricing was implemented and started out as $1 and went up to $2.50 the further away you traveled. In September 1999, major changes began with the TTA system as night and Saturday services were added to the Green and Red Lines. Unlike the weekday version, the Saturday version of the Red Line would express its way to downtown Raleigh via I-40 before resuming its regular route once it left Moore Square Station. Another thing that changed was that the RTP-Durham portion was shifted to the Green Line. Expansion (2000-02) In September 2000, the TTA began expanding to other areas of the Triangle and ditched colors for numbers. • The Green Line became Route 401A (counterclockwise)/B (clockwise) • The Red Line became Route 101A/B • The Gold Line split into two routes—301A/B and 302A/B • The Orange Line became Route 201A/B • New peak hour route to Garner introduced as 102A (to Garner)/B (to Raleigh) Route 302A/B used Davis Drive and Western Boulevard. Route 101A/B interlined with 102A/B during peak hours while it continued to interline with 401A/B at all times. All “A” segments except 102 were headed to RTP while the “B” segments were headed to the main cities. • The Orange Line became Route 201A/B • New peak hour route to Garner introduced as 102A (to Garner)/B (to Raleigh) Route 302A/B used Davis Drive and Western Boulevard. Route 101A/B interlined with 102A/B during peak hours while it continued to interline with 401A/B at all times. All “A” segments except 102 were headed to RTP while the “B” segments were headed to the main cities. In August 2001, the following changes took place: Route 101A/B was rerouted to serve Prime Outlets in Morrisville during peak hours Route 102 A/B was extended to serve the area around the Garner Town Hall and became a 45-minute route instead of a 30-minute one.Route 102 A/B was extended to serve the area around the Garner Town Hall and became a 45-minute route instead of a 30-minute one. Interlining between Routes 101 and 102 ended due to the latter’s longer route structure.Route 102 A/B was extended to serve the area around the Garner Town Hall and became a 45-minute route instead of a 30-minute one. New Routes • 311A/B: RTP-Apex-RTP • 410A Hillsborough-Duke Hospital (AM peak) • 410B Duke Hospital-Hillsborough (PM peak) Restructuring (2002) In the spring of 2002, regional pricing was replaced by a one size fits all price. Interlining and the confusing A/B route designations were eliminated. Frequencies for all day routes were doubled to every 15 minutes with alternating routes Existing Routes • 101 & 401: Became Saturday-only routes • 410: Express service implemented on AM peak routes to Hillsborough and PM peak routes to Duke Hospital Restructured Routes • 105: RTP-Raleigh-RTP via Prime Outlets • 107: RTP-Raleigh-RTP via Corporate Center • 402: RTP-Durham-Chapel Hill-RTP via NC Central & Woodcroft • 403: RTP-Chapel Hill-Durham-RTP via Woodcroft & NC Central • 412: RTP-Durham-Chapel Hill-RTP via New Hope Commons & Southpoint • 413: RTP-Chapel Hill-Durham-RTP via Southpoint & New Hope Commons Night service was operated by Routes 105, 412 and 413. Night Time 105 operated as an express route between RTP and Moore Square in both directions. Cutbacks and Modifications (2002-03) In the fall of 2002, TTA expansion was halted. While Route 202 was added to serve the Leesville Road and Fairbanks Drive areas in North Raleigh during peak hours, Route 410 was eliminated. Route 301 was rerouted to serve NC State via Western Boulevard. In 2003, Route 105’s midday routing resembled its nighttime version and Route 151 served Hillsborough Street between the State Fairgrounds and Moore Square. Wake County Expansion and Second Restructuring (2005-10) Part 1: 2005-08 Express service was introduced in January 2005 for commuters in Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. These buses ran nonstop between the endpoints, skipping the RTP station. Express Routes • 500: Chapel Hill-Raleigh AM peak, Raleigh-Chapel Hill PM peak • 550: Raleigh-Chapel Hill AM peak, Chapel Hill-Raleigh PM peak • 600: Durham-Raleigh AM peak, Raleigh-Durham PM peak • 650: Raleigh-Durham AM peak, Durham-Raleigh PM peak Also, in 2005, all peak-only routes except 102 were moved out of Moore Square Station and served a separate stop on Wilmington Street just north of the Martin Street intersection and Route 401 was replaced by Routes 412 and 413 on Saturdays. In 2006, Midday Route 105 absorbed Route 151 as passengers were once again able to directly utilize bus service between Hillsborough Street and RTP without having to transfer at Moore Square. Route 202 was eliminated and Route 302 was replaced by two separate, nonintersecting routes. New Routes • 248: RTP-Brier Creek-RTP • 305: Apex-Raleigh-Apex • 310: RTP-Apex via Davis Drive • 420: Takeover of Orange Public Transit’s Hillsborough-Chapel Hill route In 2007, the three night routes were replaced by express routes that bypass the RTP station. • 470: Durham-Chapel Hill Night • 570: Chapel Hill-RDU-Raleigh Night • 670: Durham-RDU-Raleigh Night These changes also took place as well: • 107: Eliminated • 248: Reverted back to Shuttle 48 • 303: New midday Cary-Raleigh-Cary route • 310: Cut back to RTP area and changed to Shuttle 49 In August 2008, the Wake Forest area was served for the first time as Capital Area Transit supplied the buses. • WFX: Wake Forest-Raleigh Express. Midday service only serves between Wake Forest and Triangle Town Center. Peak service extends to Moore Square. • WFL: Wake Forest Loop. Clockwise loop between Forest Pines Drive at Kroger and downtown Wake Forest Restructured Routes • 105 & 301: New RTP Transit Center prevented routes from serving stops west of the Slater Road at Emperor Road intersection • 201: Bus to stay on the Outer Loop to access new Transit Center. Serves existing stops on Emperor Boulevard • 311: Continues on N54 to access Transit Center. Replaced Shuttle 49’s stops along Davis Drive • 402, 403, 412 & 413: Service on T.W. Alexander Drive shifted to new Shuttle 47. Buses use I-40, NC 147, Davis Drive, Cornwallis Road, Fayetteville Road and/or Slater Road to and from RTP • 420: Midday frequencies added and Chapel Hill Transit buses used during that timeframe to alleviate overcrowding • 570 & 670: Stopped at Transit Center Weekend frequencies reduced to every 70 minutes in an effort to improve on time performance. In January 2009, the WFL route became a part of the CAT system. Within the next 10-12 months, two Express routes were provided from Moore Square to Eastern Wake County. Both routes are operated by CAT.

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Triangle & Wolfpack Links

 

NC State http://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/technician http://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog?_=1422050350393&f%5Bispartof_facet%5D%5B%5D=Agromeck+Yearbooks http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/scrc   Wolfpack Alum Related http://www.arielleaudio.com/ https://jenniferbringle.com/   Triangle Entertainment & Media http://raleighco.com/ http://dtraleigh.com/ https://triangleexplorer.com/ https://www.raleighagenda.com/ http://www.inboundraleigh.com/

Will the 2020s be the decade that the two party system finally ends?

A 2018 Black Agenda Report article first highlighted a possible future of the duopoly giving way to a multiparty system.

If the duopoly were to collapse, and the various cohorts of the U.S. political spectrum were reorganized along ideological lines, the two biggest parties would be the Trumpist White Man’s party and a social democratic party with a platform to the left of 2016 Bernie Sanders, with the (rightwing) Democrats and establishment Republicans coming together in an avowedly “centrist” party, the smallest of the three. Space would also be created for more radical and libertarian politics.

Breaking Down How the Split Could Happen

Socialist Alternative gave some key analyses into something that seems to currently be impossible on paper but could end up being prescient due to this country's instability. 

First, it looked at how the far right may end up rendering the Republicans obsolete:

The creation of a new far-right party would mean a split in the Republican Party. This may not be immediately on the cards, but a period of sharp internal conflict has begun. The emergence of a far-right party with a mass base would both reflect the deepening of the political crisis of American capitalism and also point to further turmoil and instability.

Given last week’s events, the collapse of that party is now in play much sooner than anticipated. The question is just how bad the rift is going to be—in other words, does the GOP split into two or three factions? The alt-right and the religious fanatics are likely to be part of a new nationalist party. Meanwhile, the hard rightists who aren’t enamored with libertarianism or right-wing populism may be on the outside looking in, they could join the other two camps, or they could end up defecting to the Constitution Party. As far as the remnants of the Republican establishment, see below.

Next, it focused on the crisis that is facing the Democrats:

While it is certainly possible that progressives can win more races as Democrats, the impossibility of transforming this corporate owned party into a tool of working people to achieve meaningful change is increasingly exposed to millions.

This whole “move Biden left” thing is going to end badly for progressives. The Never Trumpers responsible for the Lincoln Project have already started switching to the Democratic Party so #DemEnter for progressives is already a bust after Bernie’s two failed presidential runs. The Dems have had the military industrial complex in an integral role ever since the 2016 presidential election given that the latter deemed Trump as a liability on foreign policy.

As some independent media analysts have pointed out, the Democrats would actually be considered to be a right-wing party in any other developed nation while the Republicans would be considered to be neo-fascists on par with Europe's far right parties. If more establishment conservatives like John Kasich and Meg Whitman decide to switch parties, the rightward tilt of the Democrats will be even more evident.

Some more things that stood out:

One very important recent development is the wave of strikes and threatened strikes by nurses and other healthcare workers in a number of states in the past weeks. These center on unsafe working conditions made far worse under the pandemic. Despite enormous exhaustion, these workers are fighting back, pointing to what can be unleashed once the pandemic is tackled.

Given the May Day protests and the March for Black Lives after George Floyd's death, there are multiple groups who have next to no one who will stand up for them. 

There are two critical and intertwined questions: the rebuilding of a fighting labor movement and building an independent political force to represent the interests of the multiracial, multigender working class. Objectively we have the most favorable situation for the formation of a party on the left independent of corporate interests since the 1970s because of the massive disillusionment in neoliberal capitalism and capitalist institutions generally. The ruling class does not have a coherent narrative for how to take society forward although there are certainly forces pointing to how to take it backward.

The Party for Socialism and Liberation is a small party that could be a vehicle for radical change in the future. After a bitter convention, ballot purges brought on by Democrats nationwide, and a very poor showing by Howie Hawkins during his presidential bid, the Green Party is in serious trouble.

The apparent solution is Movement for a People's Party. The party was founded by a former Bernie strategist Nick Brana, it was formed last August, got on the Maine ballot last month, and refuses to take corporate money. Since it is a progressive populist party, it could be a force in safe Democratic areas, and if it plays its cards right, even in areas that strongly went for Trump both times--like the once radical West Virginia.

The question is where the leadership to build a new party will come from? The role of radical educators and healthcare workers who have spearheaded labor struggle in recent years is crucial. So is the potential role of young BLM and climate activists as well as prominent individuals like Nina Turner, former leader of Sanders’ Our Revolution who is on record saying a new party is needed. Turner appears to be planning to run for Congress, a potentially significant development.

If Nina can win her congressional race and then switch to the People’s Party in time for the midterms, that would be a great starting point.

The DSA also has a key role to play. They have grown significantly and helped elect people to Congress, state houses, and city halls. They have formally committed themselves to the idea of helping build a workers party although many prominent members are still wedded to the idea of reforming the Democrats or “using” the Democratic Party’s ballot line while waiting for developments toward a new party without a clear plan.

In a lot of ways, this could make or break the DSA. The leadership is strongly attached to the Democrats but the rank and file is rebelling against that line of thinking.

Currently we see an offensive against socialism from the political establishment, both Republicans and Democrats. Seattle independent socialist councilmember Kshama Sawant is facing a recall effort driven by big business interests including Amazon. These interests know that major struggles are coming and they want to behead our movement before it becomes stronger.

Just like with ballot access in various states, the corporatists want to squash a movement before it takes off.

Corporate America will do whatever is necessary to protect their system no matter how destructive it is to the interests of the overwhelming majority. If necessary, they will also give support to a far-right party despite the current pretense of many corporations to care about racial oppression and social justice generally.

I could definitely see the corporate elite propping up a neo-fascist party if the People's Party is successful while both the Democrats and Republicans collapse.

The Possible Political Landscape by 2030

• Movement For a People's Party. Progressive populist, social democratic, lots of former Bernie supporters
• American Nationalists. Former Trump supporters, alt-right, religious conservatives, neo-fascist, America First platform
• Moderate Party. The remnants of the Democratic and Republican Parties. More right wing despite its name. Continues advocating neoliberal austerity domestically and neoconservative foreign policy 
• Libertarian Party
• A coalition of of the left. An amalgamation of various socialist parties that push a united agenda. The PSL would likely be the strongest alongside some former Greens  

The Constitution Party is the wild card here. If the nationalists show signs of populism, then the CP may stick around since it already opposes fiscal liberalism. If the nationalists espouse any type of austerity, then the CP is likely toast.

The biggest hurdle for any of these parties governing in a new paradigm is the archaic first past the post system. Whether America switches to a majority voting system, proportional representation, a semi-proportional one, or a final five voting system, a more representative form of government is a must.