economic development
A few weeks ago I had the privilege of seeing Van Jones speak. He co-founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and is founder and president of Green For All. He spoke convincingly of a future of increased equality and how one of the roads to this future is green jobs. Green-collar jobs are employment in the environmental or agricultural sectors of the economy. [Source: Wikipedia] But they also include any work that will help transform our society into a more environmentally sustainable one.
One way our local government leaders could participate in this national movement is to sign the Green Jobs Pledge. Its goal is to "rebuild American competitiveness and environmental leadership by growing a green economy that fights global warming, pollution and poverty at the same time." Here are the five steps this pledge asks our leaders to agree to:
- Commit to Action
- Create a Green-collar Jobs Taskforce
- Identify Goals and Assess Opportunities
- Create a Local Action Plan
- Evaluate, Leverage and Grow
The Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership Board of Directors announced today that Liz Parham,
executive director of the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership, has resigned from her position effective July 18, 2008.
Ms. Parham will assume the role of
director of the Office of Urban Development for the Division of
Community Assistance in the North Carolina Department of Commerce on
July 21st.
From Orange County:
The Orange County Planning Department will host a public
information session for residents, property owners, businesses and others
interested in the Eno Economic Development District (EDD).
The EDD location is in the general area of Highway 70 and
Interstate 85 near the Durham
County line.
The information session will be held on Tuesday, May 13,
2008 at the Planning and Agricultural Building, 306 Revere Road in
Hillsborough. The session will be
held as an “open house” and those interested may drop by anytime between 4:00
and 7:00 p.m.
To learn more or to see a copy of the DRAFT Eno EDD plan,
visit the website,
http://www.co.orange.nc.us/planning/admin_Eno_EDD_SAP.asp
or call Perdita Holtz, Special Projects Planner, (919)
245-2575.
Date:
Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - 12:00pm to 3:00pm
Location:
Planning and Agricultural Building, 306 Revere Road, Hillsborough
The other night District 2 County Commissioner candidate Steve Yuhasz said something to me that I found so incredible that I determined to do a little bit of research on the subject. Steve maintained that in 2006 there were only 3 farms in all of Orange County that claimed more than $20,000 farm income. He said that farming for a living was no longer viable. The implication was that if farming was not economically significant, then the county might as well be subdivided into more neighborhoods and strip malls. Steve said he got that info from something circulated by the Economic Devolpment subcomittee. How scary.
My first thought was how in the world would anybody get such information? Individual and corporate tax returns are considered so private that when the various gov't agencies that report on income sectors make their reports, they go to some lengths to make sure that nothing that could identify a specific person or farm can be gleaned from even a very careful reading of their summaries.
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