Technician
Mayoral, city council elections today Five Raleigh districts and a mayoral position are up for the taking. John Wall
11 2011
Chancellor wary of joining Twitterverse Students and Chancellor weigh the pros and cons of University leaders joining Twitter.w
News Editor
“We are looking to continue extending... those improvements we have made between Oberlin [Road] and Gardner Street.”
october
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
Students will have the opportunity to vote for a new mayor and Raleigh City Council members Tuesday. Three candidates are on the ballot for the mayoral race—Nancy McFarlane, Billie Redmond and Randall Williams. The first to announce a run for the mayoral position, Nancy McFarlane is a city councilor and registered Independent. Current Raleigh mayor Billie Redmond Charles Meeker officially endorsed McFarlane Oct. 3. Meeker is stepping Occupation: CEO of Coldwell Banker down from the position after 10 years Party: Republican at the helm. Policy position: Rewarding system Redmond, a Republican, is the to attract jobs, partner students and owner and CEO of Coldwell Banker businesses to improve education Commercial Trademark Properties and was the second person to announce her run. The last to enter the race was Ran- pus itself, he helps make decisions and carries favor over dall Williams, a areas directly adRepublican and jacent. doctor of obstetHillsborrics and gynecolough Street and ogy. Western BouleA total of five vard fall under districts make up Crowder’s juristhe City Council, diction, a long all of which are with the remainup for grabs. der of the SouthThomas west corner of the Crowder of Discity. trict D, which “[District D] encompasses is basically the land surroundThomas Crowder of District D Southwest quading campus, is rant of the city, running unopand N.C. State takes up a big geoposed in this election cycle. Crowder has been at the helm of graphic area of that,” Crowder said. Decisions relating to construction District D since 2003. Although he does not control activity on the cam- on Hillsborough Street, through pub-
tuesday
Lauren Vanderveen Correspondent
Nancy McFarlane
Randall Williams
Occupation: Pharmacist Party: Independent Policy position: Expanding transportation, encouraging small business
Occupation: Doctor Party: Republican Policy position: Fiscal conservative, attracting jobs through low taxes
lic funding such as municipal bonds, fall under Crowder’s district. On August 2, the city council voted unanimously to put a bond referendum on the ballot for Tuesday, according to the City of Raleigh Website. Part of that referendum, which is “roughly a $70 million bond,” is $1 million that would go toward Hillsborough Street, according to Crowder. “Part of that bond is $1 million to continue the next phase of design work so that we will have a budget to put together for funding the second phase of Hillsborough Street,” Crowder said. “[The money] is for design and planning.” Crowder outlined which section of Hillsborough Street design work would be applied to. “We are looking to continue on toward Faircloth [Street], extending
those improvements we have made between Oberlin [Road] and Gardner Street,” Crowder said. Improvements have been made to Western Boulevard during Crowder’s tenure as well. “We did quite a few improvements to Western Boulevard several years ago that was part of an upgrade with multipurpose paths and landscaping projects,” Crowder said. The referendum contains two bonds — $40 million for transportation and $16 million in housing bonds totaling $56 million. Hillsborough funds come from the transportation bond. If both are passed, funds will be
election continued page 3
Blue light phones to get upgrade Campus Police may use cameras in some of the emergency stations.
Students are debating whether or not Chancellor Randy Woodson should join the Twitter bandwagon. Both the students and Woodson himself are torn on the actual decision to do so. Chancellor Randy Woodson, appointed in January 2010, said he is too busy to focus on a Twitter account. “I’m working hard to cultivate new donors to the University so we can grow our endowment to keep our tuition low,” he said. “Being the chancellor of this University is like being the CEO of a large company because N.C. State has a budget of $1.4 billion, 10,000 employees and 34,000 students. My main focus needs to be in running this organization and keeping it strong.” Woodson’s UNC-Chapel Hill counterpart Holden Thorp, on the other hand, has 5,722 followers, with his tweets dating back to Dec. 5, 2010. Trying to keep Woodson up-to-date is Chandler Thompson, student body president and one of the foremost advocates for Chancellor Woodson getting a Twitter. “One thing the student government has wanted is the administration to be more accessible to students,” Thompson said. “[Social media sites] are the number one way students get their news and information.” Thompson is an avid user of the many avenues of networking available to students. “As student body president, I try to communicate as many ways as possible. I tweet. Student government has
twitter continued page 3
insidetechnician
Sruthi Mohan Staff Writer
The University’s aging “blue light” emergency phones could get an upgrade to include cameras as early as next year. According to Scott McInturf, department head of the University’s Environmental Health and Public Safety Administration (EHPSA), the department installed three cameras in blue light phones on Centennial Campus to research the feasibility of bringing emergency services and surveillance on campus up to date. Although the cameras are not yet active, McInturf said the goal is to start operation and data collecting by the end of the fall. The University has more than 400 blue light emergency telephone boxes spread throughout campus. According to campus tour guides, two sets of blue strobe lights from the emergency call boxes should be visible from any point on campus. The emergency poles are activated when the red button on the pole is tyler andrews/Technician pressed. The telephone box connects directly to the University Police Emer- A designated emergency (blue light) phone outside of The Free Expression tunnel Monday. The emergency phones gency Communications Center, which are meant to provide safety services to the NCSU community. can trace the call. “Even the ones that are recorded are Various options have only been exThe current system is old, however, a few potential changes to the blue light phones in usually for non-emergency purposes plored since the end of spring 2011. according to Jon Over the past summer, different order to make such as a car that needs to be towed, Barnwell, deputy cameras have been added to three them more cost- etc,” he said. chief of the UniThe EHPSA is thus attempting to blue light poles on Centennial efficient and efversity Police Defective in light bring the blue light poles into the Campus, but they are still marked partment. of recent a nd modern era by adding cameras to as “under repair” and are not fully “Current blue expected budget them that would be able to zoom in activated, McInturf said. Nothing light phones are cuts. All of the on any emergency event that occurred, is certain yet regarding the future f rom pre-celof the blue light poles, he said. blue light polls Barnwell said. lular times and “We are attempting to improve One possibility that is being exare still comwere intended Jon Barnwell, deputy chief of the the blue light poles’ technology and plored is having multiple cameras pletely funded as a means of University Police Department by the University, on a single pole: one might be used possibly reduce the number of tocommunicating for parking lot surveillance, while McInturf said. t hroug h ca mThe phones are seldom used now, the other would be activated when pus,” he said. an emergency button was pushed. The EHPSA is experimenting with Barnwell said. light continued page 3
“The ones that are recorded are usually for non-emergency purposes.”
Pack well overdue for some sunshine See page 8.
Alum’s photographs showcased See page 6.
Political film proves familiar themes still impress viewers See page 5.
viewpoint features classifieds sports
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