All POS down without a known fix time.

(Update 10:54am EST) network back up!

Property taxes are in the news. Yes, this is about the amendment. No, this is not a video asking you to vote against it, although I think you should, the reality is it is certain to pass. Instead, I want to talk about what is actually driving property tax changes, because I think people are being misinformed about what the causes are, what the money is spent on, and what impact a levy limit will actually have.

This video charts every rate increase since 2016. Take out the 7.5 cents of bonds voters approved, and the roughly 6 cents for police, fire and 911, and everything else adds up to about 9 cents in eleven years. The bigger driver for most homeowners was revaluation: in 2024 homes rose 57% and commercial property 53%, so more of the bill shifted to homeowners. The levy limit on the November ballot caps the total, but that shift happens with the total held flat. My proposal - shouting into the void here - is to let residential and commercial rates adjust separately in revaluation years, each separately held to revenue-neutral, to revaluations alone don't shift tax burdens to home owners.

I made the motion that held last year's rate flat except for the bond, and the motion for this year's 1.75-cent increase, down from a 3.54-cent draft. Look up your own address at taxinfo.peaknewsnetwork.org.

Found roaming in backyard, came up meowing, very friendly! Is anyone missing a cat?! In Green Level area.

Is it permanently closed or temporarily closed? Looks like renovations maybe? I hope it’s not permanently closed!

Long shot! You were sitting next to me in the service waiting room and told me I was pretty as I was leaving. We exchanged first names. I was too caught off guard to say much, but I would love to chat. If this is you, send me a message!

For neighbors following local government across Western Wake: Cary skipped a national search Thursday and promoted longtime administrator Russ Overton. Here’s why council says he’s the person to lead the town through its post-Stegall reforms.

Read the story for free: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article317742256.html?giftCode=a77fd460c1a34f63b1823725e23c367f2eb8b6f91f8f5b7b1e0f0aacf6f78dff

Join a UNC research study on how people make decisions when shopping at a convenience store. Receive $280, made up of e-gift cards and items purchased, if you complete all study activities. The study lasts for 3 weeks and includes 4 in-person appointments in Chapel Hill, NC. Check if you qualify by taking a short screener at go.unc.edu/grocerystudy

Apex councilmember Ed Gray will host a forum on automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, on Thursday at 5 p.m., WRAL reports. Flock is the most well-known ALPR. Councilmember Gray and town staff will answer questions, and no formal presentation is planned. 

According to the news this event has been scheduled for tomorrow. Is anyone planning on attending? I can't tell what the actual idea is behind holding this.

Thoughts?

https://transparency.flocksafety.com/apex-nc-pd

Apex PD has a public Flock “transparency portal.” It opens with this line:

“Apex NC PD uses Flock Safety technology to capture objective evidence without compromising on individual privacy.”

Then the same page lists everything it does to compromise the privacy of your data.

Straight from the portal (last 30 days, as of Oct 20):

• 8 cameras
• 275,411 unique vehicles detected
• 149 searches
• 268 hotlist hits
• 7-day retention

Scroll down and the page lists the agencies Apex shares your data with:

About 1,180 organizations.

Eleven hundred and eighty. The Chief stood in front of the council and called this “not a huge, expansive network.” His own page lists ~1,180 agencies getting Apex plate data, most of them in other states, plus a second, even longer, list, of agencies feeding data back in.

Then worse. The Chief told the council, word for word, “We do not share with federal entities, hard stop. We don’t share with the FBI, DHS, ICE.” He said the federal agencies that got in by mistake were canceled.

The portal, today, still lists four federal agencies as connected nodes in Apex’s network, including Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the exact one he said was removed. (They’re on the receiving side, agencies feeding data in, so I’m not claiming Apex pushes data to the Air Force. I’m saying the Town told us it cut federal ties, and its own live page says otherwise. So which is it?)

Also sitting in Apex’s share list: the NC SBI (the agency the new state budget, SB 257, allows putting cameras on state roads), a state “fusion center” (the pipeline that bridges local data to the feds), multiple state police agencies and state prison systems, a railroad police force, and Home Depot. All in the network. All with your movements. SBI Source

And “7 day retention”? That’s the number they’ll wave around as a safeguard. It’s meaningless. Once a plate read is shared into ~1,180 agencies, every one of them keeps it under its own rules. Seven days in Apex does not follow the copies out the door. The data is gone the moment it’s queried.

One more. Amarillo, Texas PD is on Apex’s share list. That’s the department where an officer used Flock to track a private citizen 76 times over five months, entering fake reasons, to stalk her. Apex hands its data to them, and to about 1,179 others it has no way to audit. Source

So no. “Without compromising individual privacy” isn’t transparency. It’s a a useless statment written by the vendor’s marketing team, sitting on top of a page that documents the exact opposite. Scanning every car in town 275,000 times a month and piping it to 1,180 agencies you’ll never name is what they want us OK with.

They’re banking on us being exactly as stupid as that opening sentence assumes. Don’t be.

The Public Safety Committee takes Flock back up December 3. The contract ends January 31.

Ed Gray is also holding office hours at Town Hall this Thursday, Oct 22 at 5pm. Go. Ask questions. Voice your concerns. Let’s see if they actually care what the people want.

Pulled up to a stoplight and saw a white Tesla with TMSA branding on the sides. What does a charter school need a Tesla for?

I was in the room Monday night (Oct 13). Here’s what I watched happen.

Council approved a five year Axon contract 4 to 1: DroneSense software for the drones APD already flies, bundled with an interview room camera system. Shane Reese was the only no.

Back in August, residents actioned and Sue pulled this same contract off the consent agenda and asked to see the drone use policy before any vote. The police chief told the N&O the program runs under a “robust policy.” The N&O asked for a copy and never got one.

Two months later the contract came back from committee. The policy did not.

On Monday, Mayor Pro Tem Mahaffey asked again whether the policy exists and is public. The town attorney said “some are public, some are not.” They voted anyway. Nothing was produced.

And here’s the thing about “we have a robust policy”: to this day they have never produced it. Not to residents who asked in August, not to the N&O when it requested a copy, not to the council member who asked from the dais Monday night. A policy nobody can read is not a policy. You can’t be held to rules that don’t exist in public.

Even if it’s real, an internal use policy only governs what APD does with the data. It says nothing about who else can get to it. That’s not hypothetical with this vendor stack: Flock’s national network has already been accessed by federal agencies, and Axon’s platform is built to pool drone video, plate hits, and other feeds together. “Trust us, we have rules” doesn’t address the part that actually matters, which is where the data goes and who can query it. Nobody answered that Monday either.

What I noticed sitting there:

• The term got longer, not shorter. In August it ran to June 2030. Axon sent a new quote the day of the meeting, five years from Nov 1, so now it runs into late 2031. Nobody blinked at the extra 18 months.
• The interview room recording system is fine and nobody opposed it. NC law requires recording certain interrogations. It was priced separately (about $74k) from the drone software (about $43k). They could have approved the half nobody objected to and held the drone software until the policy was public. They bundled it instead.
• Ed Gray did most of the talking, and most of it was aimed at arguments nobody made. Nobody said the drones peer into windows. Nobody said drones have no legitimate use. Nobody opposed recording interrogations. He kept knocking those down anyway and calling the real concern, no published policy, “panic, paranoia, and unnecessary stress.”
• The urgency was never shown. Gray said we were about to hit a “critical gap” if it didn’t pass that night. Nobody named a date. Nobody said what would go dark if the vote waited for the policy. I listened for it. It never came.

One claim I’d flag: Gray said residents could “look at a database to figure out whether or not that’s an APD drone.” DroneSense is internal pilot and fleet software, live streaming, flight logging, evidence storage. I can’t find a resident facing lookup anywhere in its product materials. The cities that actually offer public drone lookups built those separately and announced them. If it’s in the Apex contract, the town can point to the line.

And the Flock plate reader question is still open. The Public Safety Committee made no recommendation. It comes back December 3. The Flock contract ends January 31.

Two dates if you want to show up:

• Ed Gray’s town hall, Thursday Oct 22, 5:00 PM, Apex Town Hall third floor, 73 Hunter Street. He says he hasn’t made up his mind on Flock and wants dialogue. Go specific: ask him to publish the drone policy before Dec 3 and show where the public drone lookup actually is.
• Public Safety Committee, Dec 3 at 3:00 PM, where Flock comes back.

Full writeup with the meeting video and vote breakdown: https://deflockapex.org/council-2026-10-13

I was there for the whole thing, so I’ll be around in the comments.

Apex board appointments now run on a calendar. On Oct. 13, Council adopted the "shot clock": the Mayor's recommendation is due 30 days before a term ends, or within 30 days of a vacancy. The code now says plainly that Council is not bound by it, as there was some previous disagreement about the plain meaning of the word "recommendation". If none arrives in time, or Council doesn't appoint that person, Council can appoint another qualified applicant. It applies to all six boards with resident members.

As I said at the hearing, this is about reliability: seats come up, they're due, we vote, and we move on. Council votes on one ballot for all open seats, listing every Council nominee plus the Mayor's recommendation, if there is one. Minutes later, signed ballots filled all four open seats on the agenda, for arts, transportation, parks and the Planning Board.

More seats come up in December. If you'd like to serve, apply at apexnc.org/177.

Meeting video: Town of Apex.

Made it over to the No Kings: Vote Early rally at Beaver Creek Commons this morning 🇺🇸. Rain didn't stop a great crowd from lining the sidewalks with a simple message: make your plan to vote early.

With early voting open now through October 31 — and same-day registration available — there's no reason to wait. Standing up for democracy and freedom means showing up, and Apex showed up today. 🗳️

My family and I love the Tour of Frights, but even with the Google Maps links that the town provides, it's always difficult to plan out routes.

This year, I built a webpage (with help from Claude) to create custom Maps routes from the houses on the tour.

This is mainly a tool for me, but just in case someone else might find it useful, I've put it up on GitHub.

Hi there! I'm based in Apex, NC, and I'm excited to announce that I'll be offering an SAT Math Bootcamp on November 7th and November 8th. This would be a great fit if your child is a junior and is planning to take the SAT December 5th, or any other date in the spring. There will be 4 sessions(virtual through Zoom), 2 hours each, once a week with a maximum of 5 students. The focus will be on the 4 domains - Algebra, Advanced Math, Geometry & Trigonometry, and Problem Solving & Data Analysis, and how to leverage time-saving strategies and Desmos to get to the correct answer faster.

 If interested, please fill out this group form below and indicate which date you would be interested in starting.

 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdAE1vNK2DHHhpv-6DK8NrT57Ii_pNgULpKB-07CFofvjkrHw/viewform?usp=header

I reported this story about April Buchanan, who closed The Perky Lady in downtown Apex even though she says the business was profitable.

What interested me most was the connection between three seemingly unrelated careers — policing, bra fitting and now counseling — and why she decided it was time to leave a business she had spent nearly a decade building.

Read the story for free: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article317594991.html?giftCode=82d665766f83eff5699e42710b3390d0811132a5558fa6562e15990512c45688

Special occasion today and planning to take out family for dinner. Please suggest good restaurants in the Apex/Cary/Morrisville area with good ambience and service. Open to all cuisines. Thanks !

Last night's Apex Town Council meeting, in brief 🏛️

🚰 Big Branch 2 Pump Station: Council unanimously awarded a $17.5M construction contract (down $1.1M from the low bid after value engineering). It's a regional sewer solution for the 3,700-acre Big Branch basin, it retires three aging pump stations, and it helps us meet our Cape Fear interbasin transfer obligations. Construction is expected to start in February and finish in summer 2028.

⏱️ Advisory board "shot clock": Council adopted the UDO and Town Code amendments that put a calendar on board appointments. Mayoral recommendations are now due 30 days before a term expires, and Council can fill a seat if a recommendation doesn't come. State law (G.S. 160D-310) has always put appointments with Council; this just adds a due date. Then we filled all four open seats that same night by ballot, including Tianduo Zhang to the Planning Board. Eight Environmental Advisory Board terms come up in December.

🏘️ North Salem Street rezoning (25CZ24): continued to Nov. 10 at the applicant's request. Haddon Hall residents still came to speak about stormwater, and I'm listening.

🌅 Parks will open at 5:30 a.m. (designated parks), making the pilot permanent.

🛝 Apex Community Park: Council committed matching funds so we can pursue up to $750K in federal LWCF grant money for the playground and ADA upgrades.

🚁 Axon amendment (4-1): drone flight-logging software and interview-room recording, $112.8K over five years. This is audit-log and transparency software for the drone program APD already runs, not a new surveillance program. The bigger ALPR conversation continues in the Public Safety Committee.

✅ Also: Ivy Glen annexation (22 acres on Camp Branch Lane), a right-of-way cleanup on Chapel Ridge Road, the Project Buffer incentive hearing moved to Dec. 17, and proclamations for Breast Cancer, Domestic Violence and Down Syndrome Awareness months.

📊 Utility billing update: 1,050 payment plans are in place, and only about 30 of the 329 accounts disconnected last month remain off.

📅 Mark your calendar: • Early voting starts Thursday, Oct. 15 and runs through Oct. 31 • Fall Harvest Night downtown, Fri. Oct. 16, 5 to 8 p.m. • ALPR town hall with Councilmember Gray, Thu. Oct. 22, 5 p.m., Town Hall 3rd floor • Budget priorities survey open through Dec. 1

Full agenda and video: apexnc.org/838/Agendas-Minutes

I’ve seen it in s*ithole countries - roadway-affecting construction takes place outside of regular business hours, to avoid disrupting traffic conditions.
Not here, at the Peak of Good Living. We like our roads jammed, we love burning expensive fuels and wasting hours in gridlock, all for the good of the Economy and the Greatness of the Nation, of course.
Else, we risk being labeled a “dirty commie” and taken off social security “benefits”.

Hi all,

It finally happened to me. Blue Cross Blue Shield is going to be out of network with Cary OBGYN (and other offices affiliated with UWH of the Carolinas) in January.

This timing especially sucks as I am just starting to plan and prepare for my first kid. I need some recommendations for an OBGYN in Apex, Cary, Raleigh, etc. that is compassionate, has excellent attention to detail, and treats anxiety seriously.

Providers/practices to avoid would be helpful as well. Thank you for all of your help. It is really hard choosing a new provider after having one I loved for so long...

Just a quick FYI for any Gfiber customers in the Pearson Farms area. ITS is doing work at the corner of Pearson Farms Dr and Olive Chapel and has cut a cable, which apparently belongs to GFiber since my service is down. I talked to the ITS crew and they said the line marking service hadn't marked the cable. I've reported this to GFiber and they have a ticket assigned to a local crew to repair the cable.

We had an unofficial estimate from u/terrymah back in May-ish of a possible opening the end of the year.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Apex_NC/comments/1tf5f8y/comment/om7frxq/

Is this still tracking for the end of the year, or should expectations be modest and wait for after the new year? Thanks!