Triangle Rock Club rejects cancellation by anti-Trumpers | JoCo property tax valuations skyrocket - supply & demand? | 17-year-old armed carjacker shot
No. 106 — Jan. 5-Jan. 11, 2025
Local climbing gym chain stands firm against cancellation attempt over founder's Trump support
In a post this week with >1.2k upvotes on the Durham subreddit, and anonymous user encouraged fellow redditors to spread the word and stop patronizing Triangle Rock Club over images from a Trump rally which the chain’s founding partner Andrew Kratz shared one day before the November election with a message supporting the now-president-elect:
If you know others who patronize his gyms this may be good information to share with them especially if they are part of the LGBTQ community or care about anyone in this community or prefers that women control their own bodies and aren’t criminalized or die doing so or wants to have a habitable planet or likes democracy and isn’t down with fascism.
One such "queer climber" followed this advice and shared what he received in reply after sending an email passively-aggressively demanding the company "lead with clear, proactive values" in compliance with the LGBTQ+ agenda
In the reply, the president of the Triangle Rock Club, which has six locations in total, shared that one of the organization's values is to "abstain from participating in political discussions," and to "respect the rights of others to vote according to their beliefs":
Hi Jake,
The team forwarded me your email. Thanks for your patience!
First, I sincerely understand your request to speak on this further.
To be candid, one of our values is to abstain from participating in political discussions as an organization. Sadly, many folks are always lining up on political issues. There are few places left in the world where you can escape it.
That said, we also respect the rights of others to vote according to their beliefs. And we gladly welcome anyone to swing by and enjoy the facility. Our shared passion is in climbing and is what unites us all.
Thanks again for reaching out. And thank you for the kind words about our team!
Kindly,
Mike
ICYMI:
Johnston County property valuations shock residents
Tax anxiety rises after Johnston Co. sends property reappraisal notices - WRAL
Rising property values: Johnston County neighbors take concerns to leaders - WRAL
Soaring property values have Johnston County residents worried about footing the bill - N&O
The average nominal market value of properties in Johnston County has gone up by 70.6% since the last property tax revaluation in 2019, which is closer to a 35% increase in real value when taking the parallel decrease in the dollar's purchasing power due to inflation over the six-year period, as measured by the Consumer Price Index.
According to Jocelyn Andrews, the county's tax commissioner, the increased property valuations are due to supply and demand.
On the demand side of the equation, the primary driving force is mass migration, which composes approximately 90% of the county's annual population increase. (This is some back of the napkin math; subtracting the 2020 census population of 215,999 from the 2023 estimate of 241,955 gives 25,956, or 8,652 per year; the latest vital statistics report from the state lists 1,972 deaths and 2,860 births for a "natural increase" of 888 in the county for the year 2022).
It's intrastate, interstate, and international migration which has brought Johnston County from it's most recent population dip of 61,737 in 1970 to 215,999 in 2020, for a total increase of 292% over the five decades:
As of the 2024 election, just under half of the Johnston County voters with a birth place on their registration listed North Carolina, followed by New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey:
Do higher property tax evaluations result in a higher tax bill?
According to North Carolina law (NC GS § 159‑11), county and municipality budget officers must prepare what is referred to as a "revenue-neutral property tax rate" to be included in the next budget.
What this rate represents is the rate at which property taxes would be levied on the new valuations to match the total amount of revenue projected under the old valuations and the current tax rate.
So when the property valuation increases by a significant amount, the revenue-neutral rate would decrease by a commensurate significant amount.
However, there are two important caveats. First of all, the county is not required to adopt the revenue-neutral rate, it merely provides a baseline for the citizens to understand whether the new tax rate adopted is a tax bump or a tax cut.
Second of all, it almost goes without saying, but valuation change will vary between properties: those with a lower-than-average valuation change will have a lower tax bill under a revenue-neutral rate, while properties with a higher-than-average valuation change will pay more with the same rate.
"Non-traditional Social Museum in downtown Raleigh set on fire: "This was intentional"
Officials investigate fire damage at popular House of Art in downtown Raleigh - WUNC
Fire severely damages House of Art in downtown Raleigh: 'Our hearts are shattered' - ABC11
Fire devastates House of Art in downtown Raleigh. ‘Our hearts are shattered.’ - N&O
A fire which caused serious damage to the "black-owned" House of Art was apparently an act of arson, according to security camera video shared by on the organization's Instagram account, which shows a woman at walking away as smoke exits the building at three in the morning:
The unidentified individual appears to be an older white female with blonde hair in a long coat:
The Raleigh Police and Raleigh Fire Departments are investigating, but have not determined a cause.
17-year-old carjacker shot by armed defender
Teen suspect shot as Raleigh victim fights back in carjacking attempt at motel off Glenwood Ave. - CBS17
According to Raleigh Police, a 17-year-old male with a gun fired at least one shot while attempting to carjack a sedan in the parking lot of the Red Roof Inn near the Crabtree Mall on Sunday night. However, the man in the vehicle had a firearm of his own, and was able to stop the attack by wounding the carjacker, who was transported to WakeMed for treatment.
Under North Carolina's castle doctrine, the lawful occupant of a motor vehicle is "presumed to have held a reasonable fear of imminent death or serious bodily harm," justifying lethal defensive force against a person who already has or is in the process of unlawfully and forcibly entering the motor vehicle, even if they are not armed as in this case. (NC GS § 14‑51.2)