October 2009
Gene Nichol moderates this social justice
focused candidate forum on Wednesday, Oct 21 from 7-9 p.m. Hear
candidate ideas and positions on issues like affordable housing,
democracy reform and civil rights, welcoming Chapel Hill's immigrant
and refugee communities, and environmental justice.
Candidate
forum sponsors include: NC Common Cause, Democracy North Carolina,
League of Women Voters, NAACP (UNC Chapter), Justice and Peace
Commission of The Church of Reconciliation. Individual sponsors
include: Rev. Stephen Elkins-Williams (Chapel of the Cross), Rev. Bob
Dunham (University Presbyterian Church), Richard andJill Edens (United
Church of Chapel Hill), and Rev. Peter JB Carman (Binkley Baptist
Church).
Due to other church business that evening, THERE IS NO PARKING AT UUMC. Please plan to use street or other available parking.
Contact Josh Glasser, JGlasser@CommonCause.org or 919-260-1364 for more information
Date:
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 - 3:00pm to 5:00pm
Location:
University United Methodist Church, 150 E Franklin St.
The Orange Unified Transportation Board has initiated a survey about transportation in Orange County. More information is below.
We need YOUR input! Orange County is working with the NC Department of
Transportation, the Triangle Area Rural Planning Organization, the
Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization, and the
Orange Unified Transportation Board to create a Comprehensive
Transportation Plan (CTP) for the County. It will recommend
improvements for highways, public transportation, and bicycle and
pedestrian facilities over the next 25 to 30 years. Although the CTP
does not schedule or fund improvements, it is an essential tool in
guiding the safe and effective use of the County's transportation
system. The purpose of this survey is to obtain your opinions and
identify transportation issues that are important to the citizens,
businesses, and officials of Orange County.
Just saw this message on Twitter:
WCHL has sold minority ownership in the company to Barry Leffler, currently the General Manager of NBC-17 (WNCN-TV).
More details are available on the WCHL site, including "Leffler will assume the roles of CEO and Managing Partner with Heavner continuing as Chairman." Leffler is leaving NBC17 and plans to buyout all of WCHL.
What does it mean for the community? More or less resources for WCHL? What about local coverage, Air America shows, and CBS headlines? (And do we care about all of those things?)
There are 9 Orange County new homes listed in the Parade of Homes insert of today's Herald.
Only one house is listed at barely under $400,000. The other 8 are all over $500,000 with 3 listed above a million. Does this say something about affordability in Orange County? Combine those prices with the tax rates and what demographics are being invited to live in the OC?
We thought turnout for the municipal elections in Carrboro was low, but word on the street is that the turnout for the board elections at Weaver Street Market is abyssmal. Apparently
even though many folks in Carrboro are members of the Weaver Street
Market cooperative, only a couple of hundred members actually vote in a
given election for the board. Considering there are probably 10,000+
members (educated guess based on the membership numbers i'm hearing people give at the register these days), that's a 1-2% turnout rate. Considering that the market is
arguably the soul and conscience of Carrboro, it's surprising
that so few people take a moment to learn about the candidates and take
the important step of voting.
This year we're hoping that changes. So
in an effort to promote voting of "consumer-owners", both candidates
for the board have written this piece to get the word out about the
voting, to tell you a little about ourselves, and to encourage each of
you to reach out to your friends and neighbors and encourage them to
vote as well.
A parent asked me about a comment I made at a forum regarding how our children will change careers often and need to be able to learn, relearn, unlearn and relearn. Jobs of the future will demand our children be life-long learners and critical thinkers. As a follow up to that question, I want to share with you this video called "what does this all mean".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3rqW_n1Y8o
Laurin Easthom has posted the list of Sierra Club endorsees on her blog.
They are:
-Mark Kleinschmidt for Mayor
-Laurin, Ed Harrison, Penny Rich, and Jim Merritt for Town Council.
I just received an email announcing the organizational meeting for the Durham Orange Friends of Transit and it got me to thinking... As a resident of Carrboro, I continue to hear a lot of excitement at the neighborhood and town level about the idea of some type of fixed rail service with a stop in downtown that takes folks to the university and beyond to Durham. Despite this, everyone that I've heard that is "in the know" about transit issues seems to be dismissive of the idea that a station in Carrboro is a viable idea. I believe this is partially due to the perception that the Carrboro population is not large enough to sustain such a station. The types of statistics I've seen that justify transit and transit stops tend to only use population and density numbers, but don't take into account the percentage of the population likely to use such a service.
In July, the University’s Chapel Hill Foundation
Real Estate Holdings Inc. purchased the 12-acre University Square and Granville
Tower property in downtown Chapel Hill. Cousins Properties Incorporated, a developer that
specializes in mixed use projects, is partnering with the Foundation to
redevelop the property. On Thursday, October 15, the University
and Cousins Properties will host two public meetings to discuss the
redevelopment.
The meetings will be
at 3:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. in Suite 133-G of University Square, next to Ken’s
Quickie Mart. Although the first meeting is primarily for
tenants of University Square, you are invited to attend either
meeting. The same material will be
presented at both.
Parking is available on site. Chapel
Hill Transit service is available via most routes.
Cousins Properties recently
selected Elkus Manfredi Architects of Boston to help plan and design the
project. At the meeting, the development teams from Cousins and
Elkus Manfredi will share their process and initial analysis of the property and
ask for your input on the redevelopment. Public input will guide the architects
as they develop a concept plan to be submitted to the Town next spring.
Date:
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 11:30am to 1:00pm
Location:
133-G University Square (next to Ken's Quickie Mart)
First to be clear I am supporting Mark Kleinschmidt for mayor. Below is a link to a letter I wrote to the Chapel Hill News supporting Mark is you wish to read it.
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/opinion/story/52564.html
In my last blog I challenged the assertion made by councilman Czajowski that rising taxes were impacting the demographics of Chapel Hill in a manner which was reducing diversity in town. I also thought, given that property taxes are being raised by several candidates in the race, that it would be good to review them. Please check me if I am in error, but I believe the current tax rate for someone living in Chapel Hill (as I do) is:
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