Wells Fargo everywhere

Indeed the new Wells Fargo signs are popping up all over town.

N&R editor John Robinson explains the four-page wrap covering the front of Sunday’s newspaper.

And, last but not least, I saw a GTA bus running down the road adorned in garish red and gold.

I can’t help but wonder what the 99 percent —at least the 99 percent here in G’boro — thinks about all this.

Newsflash: Roundabouts are traffic hazards

As I’ve discussed at length, roundabouts are the big fad among city planning departments. My last encounter with roundabouts was in —- of all places —-Randleman, where what should have been a simple stop for gas off U.S. 220 turned into the adventure of a lifetime.

But it’s nothing compared to the adventures drivers are experiencing on Hillsborough Street down in my hometown of Raleigh:

Drivers on Hillsborough Street are still flummoxed by a twin-ring roundabout that replaced the stoplight at Pullen Road more than a year ago. And they’re still crashing their mopeds, bikes and cars there.

Eighty accidents have been reported since traffic began rolling around the two-lane circle in July 2010.

Wait, make that 84. Let’s add four crashes over the weekend in the roundabout in front of N.C. State University’s Bell Tower.

One car flipped over and flattened a fence on the circle’s rim, in front of John Wardlaw’s office building. The latest crashes had not been logged Monday on the Raleigh police website, but Wardlaw reported the overturned car to the Road Worrier.

Seems to me drivers everywhere should study up on navigating roundabouts.

W-S immigration rally

Winston-Salem was the site of a ‘coming out’ rally for illegal immigrants, who lobbied Congress to pass the DREAM Act.

Participants spoke out against out-of-state tuition for undocumented immigrants:

For example, Giovanna Hurtado of Elkin spoke fiercely through tears at the rally. She forced herself to describe to the crowd in a loud voice how attorneys and judges, impressed by her work ethic at the law firm where she is employed, have told her that she should go to law school.

Of course, she can’t go because of the tuition, she said.

“After graduation, I died. I got depressed,” she said, describing the limited options before her as her friends went to college. “But I am here to say that I am Giovanna Hurtado, and I am undocumented and unafraid!”

Seems like immigration has been on the back burner with everything else going on, but it is making its way back into the presidential campaign.

Go Skip, go

N&R’s Inside Scoop passes along this AP photo of Guilford County Commissioner Skip Alston inviting President Obama to tour Greensboro’s International Civil Rights Museum.

N.C. splits vote on scaled-down Obama jobs plan

Sen. Kay Hagan votes yes, while Sen. Richard Burr votes no.

Needless to say I took note of President Obama’s suggestion during his visit to North Carolina that the scaled-down bill was necessary because “Republicans could not understand the whole thing all at once.”

Just mentioning this is like piling on, but that’s an ironic statement coming from an administration that doesn’t even understand its own healthcare plan.

W-S Creative Corridor: Too cool

Here’s what jumped out at me when reading the Winston-Salem Journal’s report on the unveiling of plans for the city’s ‘creative corridor’:

“It is unique because how many cities have an opportunity to create a new face, an iconic image for itself that will last for generations to come?” said Mayor Allen Joines, who helped with the plan’s debut Thursday at BB&T Ballpark.

Hundreds of people turned out despite the cool weather and breezes, though many bolted for the warmth of their cars after the slideshow presentation on the big screen.

OK, anyone who’s lived in the Triad long enough knows that when you’re driving along Business I- 40 —which is butted right up against downtown Winston-Salem — you ain’t got time to look at nothing. It’s survival, pure and simple, so it seems to me they need to worry about getting the road work done to open the corridor up before they worry about beautifying it. Road work’s scheduled to begin in 2018 —-six long years away.

PART: ‘Socialized transportation’

JLF legal analyst Daren Bakst explores the morality of capitalism:

While capitalism brings competition and the many benefits that it provides consumers, socialism brings central planning, shortages and poor products. There’s nothing moral about a select few elites in a centrally planned economy having the arrogance to believe that planning can mimic the complexity of a free market.

Which brings us to PART, which Guilford County Commissioner Billy Yow called “socialized transportation” during last night’s meeting. The N&R reports (unposted) that commissioners voted to give $394,000 to the transportation authority, with Yow and fellow Commissioner Bill Bencini voting against. In return for the grant, PART ostensibly would take over operation of the county’s transportation services, which provides rides for senior citizens. But those details haven’t been worked out yet. Call me cynical, but I suspect Chairman Skip Alston floated the plan in order to better sell the handout.

The N&R editorializes:

The situation is, well, desperate. Higher fuel prices and lower returns from a 5 percent tax on vehicle rental — its main funding source —have strained PART’s finances. Two fare increases within the last six months and route cutbacks will help, but won’t be enough. PART’s interim financial director said recently that the agency can’t keep operating as it is now without going broke before the next fiscal year.

PART’s requests last spring for a $3 vehicle registration tax in participating counties and a later plea for direct payments fell on deaf ears. But a dependable, convenient regional transportation network is critical to the Triad. Not everyone has an automobile and landing and keeping a job starts with physically getting to work.

Bottom line: Everyone’s hurting. The proposed new arrangement with Guilford County possibly could stretch budget dollars for PART and for the county.

And it could possibly buy the ailing transit authority precious time to ride out a bumpy economy.

Many businesses in the private sector don’t have the luxury of a taxpayer cash infusion to “ride out the bumpy economy.” They simply go under. PART may provide a valuable service, but —bottom line —- it isn’t valuable enough to be self-sustaining. With that in mind perhaps perhaps PART just should die a natural death.

N.C. legislature’s business ratings

The N&R’s Mark Binker passes along the North Carolina Free Enterprise Foundation’s ranking of state legislators “business friendliness.” Short version — Republicans rank at the top, Democrats at the bottom. Asheboro Rep. Martin Nesbitt Harold Brubaker get the top rating with a 96.8 out of 100, while —do I even need to say it? —-Greensboro Rep. Pricey Harrison ranks last with a score of 8.2.

NCFEF also ranks key pieces of legislation, including HB 129, the municipal broadband bill on which Gov. Perdue refused to take a stand.

G’boro’s interim city manager

I’ll admit I’m surprised to the strong reader reaction to the news that Denise Turner Roth has been named Greensboro’s interim city manager while the City Council searches for a replacement for Rashad Young, who’s departing for the D.C. area later this month. It’s a logical assumption that Roth will at least be interviewed for the job full-time, is it not?

Surprise headline of the day

Intellectual Roots of Wall St. Protest Lie in Academe

Explains why protesters are blaming Wall Street instead of universities for their massive college debt.