The Pinehurst Hot Mess: Back to Court!
The Old Town Pinehurst prune-faces are surely still celebrating their election accomplishments. They bullied their way from a 3-2 majority to a 4-1 majority. *Things must be going great, eh?*
They got what they wanted: a perpetual village-wide development moratorium and a crack-down on vacation rentals. When they got told their plans flew in the face of the US and state constitutions and were basically unenforceable, they got mad. They ran off their puppet mayor, installed a new one, and added another puppet to the council for insurance.
*”Haaaaaarumph. How dare you tell us NO. No one stands in the way of Tri-State royalty.”*
Go ahead, let them sue, appears to the be the battle-cry of the Old Town crew and their elected puppets. Getting sued is no big deal if someone else – all your taxpaying neighbors, for instance – is paying the bills. If you didn’t know, Pinehurst is a lot busier in court than most municipalities.
One of the craziest outcomes of the election was the elevation of a man to mayor who has lived here not quite three years. They had the same guy elected to council in 2021 after only being here eight months.
The plan to elevate newcomer Pat Pizzella to the village council was engineered thanks, in big part, to secretive meetings involving outgoing mayor John Strickland, two council members, some village government resources, and two village employees. The scheme produced a smear campaign against two perceived opponents of the Old Town prune-faces that hit the papers less than a month before the 2021 village council election. One of Strickland & co.’s targets went down — thanks to the smear — and the way was cleared for newly-arrived DC lobbyist Pat Pizzella to enter village government.
As the details behind the smear became public, one of the victims – now former councilman Kevin Drum – decided to pursue legal action. He went after the village for blatantly violating state open meetings laws.
Drum offered three times to take the dispute to mediation. Mediation is less time-consuming and typically cheaper. The village – led by mayor Strickland and manager Jeff Sanborn – denied all three requests and pushed for court.
(During the last election, the Old Town crew had the nerve to bad-mouth Drum for actually making Pinehurst spend money on lawyers. Not a word about possible violations of law, or three refused offers to solve things simpler and quicker and cheaper in mediation.)
The Village government and their army of taxpayer-funded lawyers have successfully shot down Drum’s court efforts TWICE — thanks to some of that good ol’ fashioned home-cookin’ the Moore County courthouse is known for.
The state Court of Appeals shot down the Village’s first effort to kill Drum’s suit. Unfortunately, the matter was kicked back to the judge whose decision on Drum’s complaint had been shot down by the Court of Appeals. Apparently still suffering from butt-hurt, the judge found another inexplicable reason to shoot the Drum complaint down.
Now, it appears Drum is headed back for another round with Pinehurst at the state Court of Appeals. If the Appeals Court once again finds fault with the Moore County judge’s decision and kicks it back to Superior Court, things will likely be different this time. The Village attorney’s favorite judge — now retired — will not be available.
I once heard someone muse about how if you want to go talk to local government in Pinehurst, you need to take your lawyer with you. *Planning. Zoning. Public Works. It doesn’t matter.*
You’re in for combat, not teamwork or problem-solving. (Imagine living under ONE BIG NIGHTMARISH HOA.)
What happened to public service? One would think these old people would grow nicer and more civil as they got older. Is it just something about their northeastern US heritage?
HOW ABOUT a lot less Machiavelli and a lot more serious give-and-take and teamwork to ensure fairness to everyone?
For those new to Pinehurst, it is likely a smaller and quieter community than those they left behind. Perhaps that is what attracted them. Homes in town are bieng expanded to 2 or 3 times their original footprint on small lots.
Some homes of 1800 sq ft are being removed and replaced with homes of 4,000-6,000 sq ft. Little thought has been granted to deal with traffic, speed limits, parking, and expansion of key services such as law enforcement. growth regulation, and a meaningful long term plan in spite of warnings 20 years ago by the BRAC Commission.. Strange priorities prevail.
The current Mayor is a Master-“Wordsmith” as will be his successor, so carefully selected for the job. Much of the influience on community management comes from the local Cocktail Party Set. Self-esteemed Elites. STR’s have been driven by the local real estate industry that dominates the Village and influences elections. Now there is controversy. A number of hand selected residents (the Friday Group) were assembled in 2019 by the then Mayor to support his agenda for the community. Campaign promises became forgotten words, and again in the election that followed. Great efforts were taken to ensure the next Mayor is a repeat of the Friday’s Group’s founder.
The Village of Pinehurst is unlike most small villages in North Carolina. Growth and over commercialization are taking its toll. Most of the town is an office park….with no place to park.. Let us hope that some real leadership appears in the near future.
“Let them sue” Parachute Pat, during only 24 months has gone from new full-time citizen to Mayor pro tem councilperson, to Mayor of Pinehurst! Quite an amazing accomplishment! – but then if you have made a career of swampy DC politics, DC Lobbying and questionable business associations, and then are eagerly recruited by the Strickland founded Friday Group, this outcome is really not surprising. I’m concerned the real surprise is yet to come for all of us!
A couple words of wisdom from the past to advise those governing in the present:
“Those disputing, contradicting, and confuting people are generally unfortunate in their affairs. They get victory, sometimes, but they never get good will, which would be of more use to them.” – Benjamin Franklin
“He that sows thorns should never go barefoot.” – Benjamin Franklin
Congratulations to John Strickland, his Friday Group, and of course his Pat Pizzella. They once again have a majority on the Council, so it will remain John Strickland’s way again. History has already provided the community with a window into their exceptionalism. This next few years will be a scorecard of their performances. We all should anticipate perfection. After all, look at their record of promises kept. Watch how everyone will seem scripted and “organized”. Sound familiar?
Life in the Village has been in decline ever since Strickland first took power. The Village Police are understaffed and stressed with the advent of recent growth. But, in the meantime, the Village has a $25 Million Surplus!!!
ROR Pinehurst !