Dan Pollitt was a dedicated activist and leader in our community for decades. He passed away this morning after a lifetime dedicated to peace and justice. My heart goes out to his wife Senator Ellie Kinnaird and the rest of his family. But the loss is all of ours. Pollitt was a beacon, lighting the way forward from just a little ahead of the rest of us.

Here's the Independent's profile of him from 10 years ago:

Chapel Hill attorney Bill Massengill nails it: "He's the aggressive-liberal gentleman. Dan can aggressively press his ideas without offending people." Even when those ideas are quite hopelessly out of fashion--as they so very often are.

Take, for example, Pollitt's defense of free association amid Red Scare panic. Or integration in the Jim Crow South. It took the times some time to catch up with Pollitt on those two.

Right about now, the Chapel-Hill Carrboro NAACP is holding a press conference/rally at Lincoln Center, the administrative home of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School System (CHCCSS).  I'm pasting their entire (long!) announcement below as it has a lot of interesting information, including a history of segregation in the school system.

This morning, the west end of downtown Chapel Hill was immobilized when someone called in a bomb threat against the rising Greenbridge development. I understand that some people have issues with tall buildings in Chapel Hill, although I don't especially.  But I do share the concerns that many have about the gentrification of Northside. However, the fact is that Greenbridge didn't create either of those problems, and stopping it isn't going to help solve them either.

Carrboro was notified yesterday that their Town Hall would not be used as a one-stop early voting site in May. Apparently, the Orange County Board of Elections has decided to only have two one-stop locations for this year's primary: Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill, and the Board's own office in Hillsborough. The e-mail below indicates that there will still be an early voting site in Carrboro for the Novemeber general election, but doesn't offer any explanation for the primary change.

Candidate filing for 2010 elections starts today at noon. Folks only have two and a half weeks (until February 26th) to declare their intent to run in the May primary (and presumably the November general election).  Information will be posted at the Orange County Board of Elections.

The offices that will be on the ballot this year are: County Commissioner (districts 1 & 2 and at-large), Clerk of Court, Register of Deeds, Sheriff, Orange County Board of Education, State Senate, State House, Soil Conservation District Supervisor (non-partisan, no primary).

Help me keep an eye on the BOE page, and let everyone know if anything interesting happens!

I love the Carrboro Citizen, but not as much as I love midwives. And yet CC's recent article about a midwife practicing in Carrboro struck me as vapid puff piece, the likes of which I expect to see in the News or Herald's business or feature sections. For example, while touching on why women might choose a midwife instead of a hospital for childbirth, it failed to even mention the many other midwives practicing in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area, including the pioneers who founded the Women's Birth and Wellness Center something like 20 years ago (originally in Siler City). 

In what way was this "news article" not just a press release for this new business? Where is the reporting? What is this kind of thing doing on the front page of the Citizen?

It's been interesting to see the increasing heat in the debate about the proposed Carrboro section of the Bolin Creek Greenway. It seems to have created a public rift in the group Friends of Bolin Creek, leading to the apparent self-demotion of one of it's co-chairs. Dave Otto was still a co-chair when he wrote "A case for a concrete greenway" in the Chapel Hill News on January 10th, but Julie McClintock was the sole leader by the time her response "The case for keeping Bolin Creek natural" was published on January 17th.

Tomorrow is the second public information session on the Town of Chapel Hill's Long Range Transit Plan.

James Carnahan wrote a great opinion piece in the Carrboro Citizen last month about the LRTP and the importance of public engagement with the questions it raises. Here's just a bit, I recommend reading the entire thing:

This document will play an important role in future investments we make in transit infrastructure, and thus in our ability to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, increase the walkability of our towns and enhance the vitality of our local economy.

Kirk Ross had a good preview of the coming electoral season in The Carrboro Citizen last week.  He highlighted the battle for Ellie Kinnaird's N.C. Senate seat as she will really be retiring this year (we think.)  I'm amused that after his bold declaration that he'd be back after losing to Kinnaird in the 2008 primary, Moses Carey is now quietly enjoying his N.C. state goverment appointment instead of gearing up for a campaign.

Kirk also introduced the emerging races for County Comissioner...