Why are the University's community relations people so tight-lipped about their new Carolina North committee? The town's Horace Williams Citizens Committee (HWCC) first learned about it in the paper in October. But at our last several meetings we have asked our University representative, Linda Convissor (UNC Director of Local Relations) for any news and she had none. When I ran into Jonathan Howes (UNC Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Local Affairs) he asked me why we keep hounding Linda for information.
Perhaps it's because we can't collaborate with a partner that doesn't share critical information? It's also because "UNC news" is a standing item on the HWCC's agenda, and we can't do much of anything without it.
The chairman of a new "leadership advisory committee" being set up by UNC to get input on Carolina North planning will be Kenneth Broun, a former mayor of Chapel Hill and former dean of the UNC School of Law.
UNC Chancellor James Moeser notified officials from Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County this week that Broun had agreed to serve in that role for the new committee. Moeser said the committee will "review major issues concerning Carolina North to develop principles that reflect our commitment to sustainability. These principles would then be used by the university to develop a master plan for Carolina North."
The idea is for the advisory committee to address issues such as fiscal equity, housing, transportation and zoning, and to include representatives from the university, the local communities and the state, Moeser stated, adding that all the meetings would be public.
A Town Council-appointed group -- the Horace Williams Citizens Committee -- already has spent more than a year crafting a set of principles that could guide Carolina North, and the council has adopted a modified version of that committee's recommendations as its own position.
- Chapel Hill Herald, 12/30/05: Broun to head Carolina North committee
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Or, perhaps we should
Or, perhaps we should resurrect the Department on Redundancy Department.
Vision, BTW, is beyond the purview of the LAC. The vision, at least in terms of use and function, comes from the university. We get to debate the principles for implementing it.
Minnesota's vision does seem more rooted in the dimension of place, Carolina's in the global dimension. The latter strikes me as fraught with greater uncertainty and, ultimately, less "sustainable."
That said, I find MN's definition of sustainability (pg 7) to be irresponsible in its blinkered localism. Any definition of sustainability that defines success locally while ignoring devastating impacts elsewhere on the planet is hardly worthy of the term. Yet, too often, that is how the discussion is framed, is it not?
I was thinking more along
I was thinking more along the lines of, "WILL There be a Horace Williams Vision or WILL There Not Committee."
Maybe we need a community
Maybe we need a community committee to frame the vision for the executive vision committee so that they can offer it as input to the committee on committees.
That's funny Fred. Maybe we
That's funny Fred. Maybe we could even call it the Horace-William's Citizens Committee on committees (HWCC 2)
Fred, Me neither - what's up
Fred,
Me neither - what's up with that? How can a community be asked to accept something which has not even been defined yet? Where's the vision?
Mark, correct me if I'm
Mark, correct me if I'm wrong and I could be, but I have yet to hear from UNC what exactly and specifically will be located at CN.
One aspect that I like is
One aspect that I like is that its sustaiability goals are manifested in the activity that the buildings will support - not just the "greenness" of the buildings & infrastructure.
As far as I can tell, at CN we may get the finest super-platinum LEED building in the world housing research on bio-weaponry.
The MN plan contains a health & wellness center, agricultural research to serve the community, etc. The MN plan seems focused on a bioregional approach whereas the CN approach seems like more of the same Corporate Economy colonization that will bring short-term prestige and money to UNC but doesn't really address the fact that we have pressing planetary issues.
What is it you like about
What is it you like about the Minnesta plan Mark? What aspects of it do you think are missing from the UNC process?
Thanks, Mark. The U-MN
Thanks, Mark. The U-MN report is here.
I couldn't find the exact
I couldn't find the exact thread where alternative sustaianable visions for CN were discussed, but here is a link to info about the University of Minnesota's plan which is way out ahead of anything we've heard officially discussed on CN.
http://www.sustainablog.blogspot.com/
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