September 2008

Joint Policy Meeting Regarding Carolina North

This is interesting. I may have missed the announcement of this high-level negotiating process between UNC Trustees and the Chapel Hill Town Council. It's not clear to me whether it's open to the public, or if we just get to watch the highlights later.

Report from Joint Policy Meeting Regarding Carolina North: An update was given on the process to plan a future joint meeting of the Town Council and University Trustees to develop a process for considering Carolina North. A special meeting of the Council will take place at 7 p.m. Sept. 25 at the UNC-Chapel Hill Friday Center. The meeting will include Roger Perry, chair of the University Board of Trustees; Bob Winston, chair of the University's Buildings and Properties Committee; and Chancellor Holden Thorp. Information will be posted on the Town website for the public. The meeting will be videotaped to be played later on Chapel Hill Government TV 18 and by streaming video on the Town website at www.townofchapelhill.org.

- Chapel Hill eNews

I wonder if they will take the bus there, in honor of TryTransit week.

Date: 

Thursday, September 25, 2008 - 3:00pm

Location: 

Friday Center, Chapel Hill

Women, Power and Change (Women's Agenda Assembly)

The Orange County Commission for Women is co-sponsoring the event with local organizations as part of North Carolina Women United's "Women's Agenda Assembly process."

The 2008 Agenda Assembly marks the 20th anniversary of these events in North Carolina. Across the state, women hear from local experts on issues like health care, education, the economy, equal political representation, immigration and violence against women. Participants discuss the issues, prioritize them, and set the agenda for policies addressed by local and state leaders. It's democracy at its best; your voice will count! Our goal is to include over 100 women in the process this year.

  • >What:2008 Women's Agenda Assembly: "Women, Power, Change"
  • When: Thursday, October 2, 6:00-9:00pm
  • Where: Southern Human Services Center, 2501 Homestead Road in Chapel Hill.

Candidates and community organizations are invited to attend and bring information to share. The event is non-partisan.Pre-registration is encouraged. Fill out the form. Distribute the flyer via your networks.

Food served starting at 6:00pm. Speakers start at 6:30pm and include experts from across Orange County and the Triangle area.

Transportation is provided from Hillsborough. Simultaneous interpretation to Spanish also provided. Registration is FREE. Contact Pam Reynolds at 919-960-3875 for more information or to turn in a registration form.

Date: 

Thursday, October 2, 2008 - 2:00pm

Location: 

Southern Human Services Center 2501 Homestead Rd, Chapel Hill

Help us build your newspaper

This may come as a bit of a shock to those of you who've heard nothing but doom and gloom about newspapers.
Over the past couple of months, publisher Robert Dickson and I have been talking about how we can expand The Carrboro Citizen.
With a healthy, growing local ad base, incredible encouragement from readers and a pickup rate that now leaves us with very few returns and a lot of empty boxes at the end of the week, we sense that we can grow and should.
As regular readers may have noticed, we've started to cover more news out of Chapel Hill, Hillsborough and Chatham County. We've also expanded distribution into these areas.
Following are a couple of things we're looking at to make our decisions. We've decided to share them in the interest of gathering feedback and suggestions.

Who's filling the Gap

My favorite absentee landlord, Joe Riddle, has found a tenant for the vacant Gap/Carolina Theater space* at the corner of Franklin and Columbia Streets. However, he's being very tight-lipped about what is going in there. This makes me hopeful, but also nervous. This should be an improvement over the other vacant Franklin Street storefronts and lots that Riddle owns, but then again he doesn't exactly have a record of being terribly concerned about the well-being of our downtown.

The Daily Tar Heel reports that Riddle has signed a lease and begun demolition inside, but hasn't applied for any permits that might offer a clue as to at least what type of use this will be nor who the tenant is. Anyone want to guess?

Marriage Equality & this Election

*Commentary Playing on WCHL1360 Local Radio this week*

This is Jake Goad, I'm a Chapel Hill resident, and I've got something to say.



It's time as a community to get serious about LGBT equality. We can all take a stand through simple acts, like asking our employers to include sexual orientation in the non-discrimination clause of their employee manuals—which I did at my own workplace in Carrboro. We can support local chapters of groups like the ACLU, the Human Rights Campaign, and Equality NC. And we can support fair-minded candidates like Kay Hagan for Senate and Barack Obama for President, both of whom have campaigned right here in Chapel Hill.

We've already seen domestic partnerships established and a gay mayor elected in this area. But we have to go further than that. It is time for marriage equality.

To those on the left who would say "too soon, wait for a more convenient season"—I call to mind the words of Dr. King. "We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring

Watch the debate tonight at the Peoples Channel


If you haven’t already made plans, please consider watching tonight’s presidential debate at the Peoples Channel on Elliot Road.

Copied from the Peoples Channel web site

“TPC is opening the airwaves to members of the community to come in the studio to watch the Presidential debates. We will be going LIVE Friday Sept. 26th at 8:30pm with the debate between Sen. John McCain & Sen. Barack Obama
on the big screen.

The community is welcome to come in to
share their thoughts before, during, & after the debates.

Live coverage will go on until 11pm
with rebroadcasts the following day.
Don’t let the corporate pundits have the last word,
come in & tell the community what you think while you watch.

What: TPC Watch & Share of the Presidential Debate LIVE
When: Friday Sept 26th. Doors open at 8pm,
we will broadcast LIVE at 8:30 until 11pm.
Where: TPC Studios 300AC S Elliott Rd Chapel Hill
Please call 919.960.0088 if you have any questions”

Engaging the US Financial/Democratic Crisis: a Workshop with Robert G. Williams

A workshop on the current US financial crisis/crisis in democratic governance, with the noted economist Robert G. Williams, John K. Voehringer Jr. Professor of Economics, and Chair, Department of Economics, Guilford College, and author of the Money Changers: A Guided Tour through Global Currency Markets (Zed Books, 2006).

Sponsored by: Department of Anthropology, UNC Chapel Hill

Date: 

Monday, September 29, 2008 - 11:30am to 1:00pm

Location: 

Gardner 105, UNC Chapel Hill

OP's 5th birthday

It's today!  Happy anniversary to all of you who make this community kick ass!

I've been too busy to organize a party, but you are are owed one. How does Wednesday, October 15th sound?

I'm also going to kick off another annual fund raising drive. This one is for 1 year's worth of hosting costs. Last fall you all raised $1,000 to help move the site from WordPress to Drupal. I think it was definitely worthwhile, as we are now reaping the benefits of a more powerful community platform. The new software uses a new host and that costs me $35 each month. 

Town Council Process for Development of Carolina North

On Thursday evening September 25th, at 7 PM, the Chapel Hill Town Council held a special meeting at the Friday Center.  In addition to all of the Council members (except Councilman Bill Thorpe who is absent due to medical issues) the Council Members were joined by UNC representatives Roger Perry (Chair, Board of Trustees), Bob Winston (trustee, Chair of the Building Committee) and Jack Evans, who is is chair of the Carolina North project for the University.

One of the important points that was made early by Roger Perry was that he and Bob Winston speak for the trustees and he gave assurances that anything that they agreed to in principle would be supported by the Trustees.  Another important issue was that of timing.  Roger pointed out that in July there will be 6 new trustees (out of 13) and that these new trustees would come in with little or no background.  Thus he urged the Council to consider a timetable that would complete by the Council's summer recess the necessary steps (e.g., rezoning, development agreement?) to allow Carolina North to go forward.

Bolin Creek Festival

From BolinCreek.org:


The 5th Annual Bolin Creek Festival will be from 11am-5pm, October 4th at Umstead Park in Chapel Hill. Featuring local artist Dale Morgan, music by Club Boheme, Skeedaddle, Project Mastana—passionate Bollywood dance music, and rhythm circles by the Music Explorium. Special activities for children will include the introduction to stream critters and the popular Enviroscape by the Chapel Hill Stormwater Office.

Date: 

Saturday, October 4, 2008 - 7:00am to 1:00pm

Location: 

Umstead Park, Chapel Hill

Pages

 

Community Guidelines

By using this site, you agree to our community guidelines. Inappropriate or disruptive behavior will result in moderation or eviction.

 

Content license

By contributing to OrangePolitics, you agree to license your contributions under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

Creative Commons License

 
Zircon - This is a contributing Drupal Theme
Design by WeebPal.