7/28/05 Cary News

[Laurie]

Hyatt has a LTE in which he mentions Brent and HW.

[dhyatt]

Hyatt has a LTE in which he mentions Brent and HW.

Yes - and I await the rebuttals to my rebuttal! :-)

[Brent]

Hyatt has a LTE in which he mentions Brent and HW.

Yes - and I await the rebuttals to my rebuttal! :-)

They're in process, I'm sure. :wink:

The main thing to rebut, I expect, is this notion that I'm a "prominent local citizen". :lol:

[Rono]

Donh

It is a good and well written LTE, ( pump up those prominent citizens :D ) but as one who was considering running for office, I do find your rose colored glasses a bit suspect.

Lets see…you run a BBS that does a good job of allowing all types and partisans a space for their feelings and beliefs, yet in a public LTE you seem to discredit those (without argument) who may not wear quite your same rose tint of glasses. (The publics or others opinions are wrong…but you fell short of rebutting and refuting Brent’s and HW arguments).

It’s an OK approach Don, but just as you have suggested that I sometime make no sense to you, your “goal” of this LTE does not make much sense to me. Once again, if you intend one day to run for and be a thought of as a leader, I caution you to be careful of getting caught on the fence too many times!

Don, I don’t think you are one that is wishy-washy, but to not suggest that improvements could and need to be made (“I was concerned until I did a little research”) along with your (and my) belief that Cary is an awfully nice place to live (if it is your desire to live there, unlike my desire to not to do so) is to say the least, confusing. (at least to me).

Your letter did not start as a toast to Cary. It was clearly a rebuttal. Herein lays my confusion. What was the purpose? The LTE gives the impression all is well in the sleepy little town. ….go back to sleep public, there is nothing to be concerned about…all is well in Pleasantville!...there is nothing wrong at all. :wink:

Can’t you just imagine Sue Moran holding a swinging pocket watch saying this!...or maybe your driving for a new Cary theme…”Let’s all Toast Cary”…(problem is you would get “burnt” by that one.)

Was this what you wanted as your display of reality? IMHO, Pleasantville is what you painted. Problem once again is, you fell short of rebutting and refuting Brent’s and HW arguments. The public, (that pays attention) thinks, well, Hyatt likes the town, but he had no counter for the others arguments. So what is your message to the arguments? (and no, this time I am not yanking your chain)


Rono

[dhyatt]

Donh

It is a good and well written LTE, ( pump up those prominent citizens :D ) but as one who was considering running for office, I do find your rose colored glasses a bit suspect.

[snip]

Was this what you wanted as your display of reality? IMHO, Pleasantville is what you painted. Problem once again is, you fell short of rebutting and refuting Brent’s and HW arguments. The public, (that pays attention) thinks, well, Hyatt likes the town, but he had no counter for the others arguments. So what is your message to the arguments? (and no, this time I am not yanking your chain)


Rono

I pointedly did not challenge their facts because the facts stand on their own. There's no point in disputing the elimintation of APFs and decreases in spending on roads, parks etc... And there was no point in trying to educate anybody that changes in town ordinances couldn't possibly have affected things as quickly as the apparent drop from #1 to #34 implied. I chose simply to provide some context to the two rankings as reported by Money Magazine. That context was missing from Brent's and HW's editorials. I chose to do it in a way that didn't belittle them nor stir up a debate about the budget, which is settled for this year. I think you'll find this approach will allow the correct message to get out over the course of this year's campaign. Think of it as keeping debate simmering instead of letting it all boil over to soon.

[dhyatt]

I know I said this first but here's the "official" version....
<hr>
Subject: Fact Check

FACT CHECK

Members of the Media:
Please check your scripts, notes, and published stories regarding the
following:

CARY AND MONEY MAGAZINE'S BEST PLACES TO LIVE

Officials from Money Magazine today confirmed that this month's "Best
Places to Live" ranking is different from its January 2004 "Hottest
Town" ranking, and that Cary, NC, is "The 2004 Hottest Town in the East"
as well as the 34th Best Place to Live in America for 2005.

According to Money Magazine spokesperson Keith Carroll, "The way that we
did the list this year is totally different than the way it's been done
in the past few years; it's really like comparing apples and oranges to
compare this year's list to last year's. Cary in no way flipped on any
types of lists."

We hope this information is helpful as you work on this or related
stories.

###

PRIMARY CONTACTS:
Keith Carroll, Money Magazine, (212) 522-2599
Susan Moran, Public Information Officer, (919) 460-4951

[Brent]

I wondered how long it would take Susan to put the spin out to the media. I expect by now she's written an editorial and certain council members are bidding on who gets to sign their name to it.

I find it very interesting that dhyatt was the one who had to point this out.

[johnb]

The main thing to rebut, I expect, is this notion that I'm a "prominent local citizen".

Was that italicized in the original?