October 2004
Weaver Street Market's Annual Meeting is tonight at Panzanella at 7:00 pm (I think). This is an opportunity for the people who shop and work there to govern the co-coperative institution (theoretically) by selecting the Board of Directors. In the past, the Board election has been an insulated affair, with the current board choosing their colleagues and offering the membership little more than a rubber stamp.
Unfortunately, I can't attend. But I hope someone will and give us a report. I don't think you have to be an owner to attend. Will it be more of the same?
I loved this article in the DTH last week. It says that UNC administrators will not review or respond to any of the reports of the Chapel Hill's Horace Williams Citizens Committee. The HWCC (of which I am a member) is the Town's opportunity to develop our own vision fo rthe prpoerty that will someday be the home of Carolina North. We just finished laboring over a point-by-point analysis of the latest hints we have from UNC (they have not submitted a plan to the Town). We compared UNC's concepts to our previous report (PDF), which laid out the Town's objectives for the Horace Williams property in great detail.
Guest Post by Terri Buckner
Our local high schools and the university encourage students to participate in service learning, where students receive credit for participating in civic activities. Encouraging young people to embrace volunteer activities is both good for our community and good for the individual kid.
Now is the time for the adults of this community to undertake their own volunteerism. Carrboro needs YOU! According to the Chapel Hill Herald, "the town is facing a flood of openings on its advisory boards, yet few people have applied for the positions since August, according to the town clerk. "
Working on a citizen advisory committee is both fun and rewarding, sometimes even educational. And Carrboro makes their citizen volunteers feel very appreciated. Come on out all you latent activists!
Terri Buckner, an instructional systems designer, lives and works in Orange County.
Something extremely loud just flew over the middle of Chapel Hill, presumably very low to the ground. So close that it left a bunch of honking car alarms in it's wake. We couldn't see it, but it was so loud I was expecting to hear an explosion next. In fact, I was actually seriously scared!
Anyone have any idea what that was? And how it could possibly be legal?
Once again Chapel Hill is moving toward a rezoning of UNC's property according to the Herald Sun.
Joyce Brown and I tried valiantly to rezone Horace Williams to O&I-2 back in the mid-1990's, but we were shot down at the time. Will it be any different this time? Sounds like it might. The Herald-Sun said the council voted unanimously to consider the rezoning.
We'll see . . .
Folks, the election is just about here. And you don't have to wait until November to vote. Orange County will have three early voting sites. You do not have to have any special reason for voting early, so come on down starting this Monday (October 18, 2004) to one of the following places:
CHAPEL HILL-PLANETARIUM – E. Franklin Street
Monday-Friday 9:00-5:00 – October 18-29
Saturdays – 9:00-5:00 – October 23 & October 30
CARRBORO – TOWN HALL – 301 W. Main St.
Monday-Friday 9:00-5:00 – October 18-29
Saturdays – 9:00-5:00 – October 23 & October 30
HILLSBOROUGH – BOARD OFFICE – 110 E. King Street
Monday-Thursday 8:00-5:00 – October 14-29
Fridays – 8:00-6:00 – October 15, 22 & 29
Saturdays – 9:00-5:00 – October 16, 23 & 30
Just as Dr King taught us that we must use love to defeat hatred, so let us use democracy to defeat tyranny.
Guest Post by Tim Ross
Many of you have probably heard about the controversy regarding Sinclair Broadcast Group and its plans to require the 62 local TV stations that it owns to broadcast an anti-Kerry "documentary" shortly before the November 2nd election. The film, Stolen Honor, is reportedly a blatant political hatchet-job on John Kerry - it might as well be called Swift Boat Vets: The Movie. But while the Bush/Kerry race is on everyone's mind at the moment, this particular controversy is much more than just another development in the 2004 presidential race. The real issue at hand is the considerable effect that corporate media consolidation can have on local TV markets. Including this one.
OP readers, I imagine most of you know who you are voting for by now for most races, but few of us have taken a hard look at the non-partisan races on the ballot for this fall. I apologize for the non-local nature of this particular thread, but (especially if you read all the way to the end) you will find that there is a local angle in here somewhere.
There are several non-partisan judicial races to take note of. Let me say this clearly- there are no party affiliations listed on the ballot in any of the following races. You will have to carry a list or work hard to remember the names of your candidates.
We have two Supreme Court races:
In a letter to Mayor Foy, Chancellor James Moeser writes "I wish to register, in the strongest most possible terms, our objection to the action taken by the Town Council on October 11, initiating the rezoning of the University's Carolina North property to OI-2."
Moeser would prefer to "use this time to work together to further our mutual goal of building a better community and university."
So, a zone (OI-3) that allows the university to do whatever it wants without Council involvement is "working together" but a zone (OI-2) under which the Council would review university projects is not?
This strikes me as the sort of knee jerk reaction the university, or any corporation faced with new regulation, always makes: object stongly and in the huffiest terms.
Moeser also conveniently overlooks that all the Council did Monday night was ask for information on a rezoning process. There is a long way to go yet.
[Shameless self-promotion: I discuss the rezoning futher in my column in today's Chapel Hill Herald.]
Arglebargle or fuferau?
There's something more to the story of Kelly Hopper being kicked off the Hillsborough Planning Board than meets the eye. Admittedly she skipped a lot of meetings, but it sounds like there is more at work in this decision than that.
Anyone want to let us in on the big secret?
Republican gubernatorial candidate Patrick Ballantine is quoted in today's Raleigh N&O as opposing regional commuter rail in the Triangle. Ballantine argues that it is a waste of money for the state to support Charlotte's proposed light rail system as well. Says Ballantine in the N&O: "Right now you're not going to be able to take people out of their cars -- despite the traffic. That takes an incredible cultural change that we're not ready for."
Democratic Governor Mike Easley supports state investment in both systems. The N&O Article quotes Easley's Secretary of Transportation: "There appears to be a great deal of wisdom in providing public transportation through additional bus service in rural areas and urban areas, and in the light rail piece for Charlotte and Raleigh."
I think Ballantine is the "incredible cultural change" that I am not ready for.
Live from Chapel Hill Town Hall... I came here tonight hoping to make my predictable comments about OI-4 (briefly: "it stinks") and then run over to the Cat's Cradle to see some creative, noncommercial films at Flicker.
I didn't realize I would have to wait through the "Sunrise Coalition." (Remember Doug Schworer? He's baaack.) White people are out in force to oppose the construction of non-luxury homes (for families making 50-80% of area median income) kind of near their well-manicured cul-de-sacs. Actually, about three backyards are adjacent, but it's probably at least a mile by car.
They won't fail to remind us that they're not opposed to affordable housing, just that evil "density." Oh and they're all environmentalists now too. Wonder how many of their SUVs are in the parking lot right now?
I don't get offended by much, but this is really shocking to me:
A woman who has been fighting to stop high school
students from drinking at unsupervised parties had three vehicles egged
[and received an obscene note] at her home...
It's the fourth such incident since Pratt-Wilson went public with
her concerns that local teenagers seem to have easy access to alcohol
and that parents aren't properly supervising their children.
The first incident occurred July 14, when someone threw beer bottles
and trash in Pratt-Wilson's yard, Cousins said. The second incident
occurred July 23, when someone broke the right side mirror off her car,
cracked the windshield and put a dent in the door above the window,
according to the police.
- Chapel Hill Herald, Police Log, 10/18/04
No they are not. That is what one developer is learning as a plan for a 164 unit apartment complex is planned on property which lies in the jurisdiction of both municipalities. This development (Merrit Mill Apartments) not only raises the issue of properties lying in two jurisdictions but also larger issues of how interconnected development between the city and the town is. Issues like how will traffic get in and out of the development? How important is it that we created connectivity for the Lloyd Street neighborhood? While they are two separate entities, the development of Chapel Hill and Carrboro is closely joined by more than just proximity. While trying to create more connected and denser communities how should Chapel Hill and Carrboro work together over that thin line which is called the town line?
I am excited to release our first-ever Orange Politics Voter Guide! This is not intended to endorse any candidate or issue, although readers may feel free to post their own endorsements in the comments with the caveat that you may not refer to any other candidates that you are not endorsing (same rules as this primary thread).
A lot of this inforation is available from the Orange County Board of Elections or the N.C Board of Elections.
We tried to find candidate web sites when available, please contact us if you have more information. Also, we would like to add columns listing which endorsements each candidate has received, but we need volunteers to do the research... hint hint. Basically, this is a work in progress, so wait until closer to the election before you print it out for November 2.
Talk about write-ins, endorsements, the OP voter guide, what-have-you...
What's wrong with the Indy's endorsements? Is a vote for Nader as good as a vote for Bush?
What do you think of one-stop early voting? Is it advancing democracy or messing up the process?
The Chapel Hill News is replacing long-time editor and publisher Ted Vaden with Brenda Larson ("business development analyst for The News & Observer's community newspapers") who will also act as the publisher of the Cary News. The loss of Vaden is bad in itself, but replacing him with someone who is not from Chapel Hill and won't be focused on Chapel Hill sounds like a disaster to me. I hope I'm wrong!
Before joining The N&O, Larson was director of new product development for York Region Newspaper Group, a group of Canadian community newspapers north of Toronto. In addition, she served as editor-in-chief for seven newspapers in that group, which is owned by Metroland.
Larson also will become publisher of The Cary News, another N&O community newspaper, and will split her time between Cary and Chapel Hill.
UNC is updating the Campus Master Plan. This update seems to be hapenning rather quietly, considering its great importance. ("Quiet" meaning I haven't seen any publicity or listings and can't find any information about it online.) The Master Plan is an internal document UNC uses to guide its growth, and as such it has no formal connection to the Town. However, it is often cited by UNC as a justification when requesting Town approval for various development projects, so it is involved in most of the town-gown conversations about growth.
You'd think that with all the issues at stake in federal, state, and local issues, there would be no problem coming up with headlines. But today, the Chapel Hill News leads with Town politicians not shy about party loyalty.
The idea is that, since municipal offices are non-partisan, those who hold them should not wear political buttons reflecting their allegiances. I find this notion to be fairly ridiculous. After all, the oath of office does not require Town Council-members to foreswear their political allegiances. Nor should it.
Elected officials are indisputably highly engaged political actors. To suggest that they should hide their allegiances during strongly contested campaigns is unreasonable. For them to do so would hardly be possible.
I heard that 'The State of Things' would be discussing local elections today at noon. Check it out, you can even call in during the show at 877-962-9862 (toll free).
I want to give a quick shout out to WUNC for finally archiving their shows online and adding an MP3 stream to their online broadcast. Both of these things make their programs more accessible, although it would also be nice if they would provide archives of some of their previous programs as well (hint).
I'm also glad to see that WUNC added a very insightful show, On Point to the daily schedule. If you are already paying a lot of attention to news and are growing tired of repetitive national headlines, this show offers a deeper listen into what's going on. I enjoyed their pre-debate analysis of the presidential candidates and interviews with fundamentalist christians at the GOP convention.
Two free events this weekend that readers want you to know about: the Really Really Free Market on Saturday in Carrboro, and 'artist-activist' Alix Olsen on campus Friday night.
From Vinci Daro:
In case you haven't heard, the Really Really Free Market is this Saturday, Oct 30th from 1-5 in the Carrboro Town Commons, after the Farmers Market. It will be fun fun fun; please spread the word and bring your friends, something or someskill or someservice or somemusic or somestories to share, or just come and get something for free... Press release below.
The website has been updated, with directions and a downloadable flyer: www.ncveg.com/freemarket
(Saturday is also the last day of early voting in Orange County, and the polling place (for those registered in Orange Co.) is right next to the Town Commons, open till 5.)
From Theresa Champion:
I know a lot of you will be volunteering in various electoral capacities on Tuesday, we'll have an open thread for you to post your reports of what's going on around town. We'll also post any news updates we get from the local Board of Elections there. That thread will open along with the polling places at 6:30 am.
And after the polls close (7:30 pm) The Town of Carrboro has invited us to come watch the returns. As usual, Carrboro is the place to be!
Area residents are encouraged to come downtown to watch election returns starting at 7:30pm. Carrboro restaurants and bars will be offering various drink and food specials. As of press time participating restaurants and bars include the Orange County Social Club, Acme Food and Beverage, Tyler's, and The Spotted Dog. In addition to drink and food specials, these establishments will all provide TV coverage of election returns.
Like many of you, I have been so wrapped up in the presidential horse race, it's been hard to pay attention to local issues lately. But lest these stories fall entirely through the cracks, here are a few notable news items from this week:
CHN 10/26/04: County sees increase in voter rolls
Due to overdue list cleanup, there are only 665 more voters registered in Orange County than we had in 2000, but there are 2,493 more voters registered as unaffiliated.
DTH 10/26/04: Businesses offer voting incentives
Local businesess are offerring deals for voters.
DTH 10/26/04: Town mulls building height
Carrboro continues the debate of 3 stories versus 5 stories, tries to buffer neighborhoods better.
From: Chapel Hill Herald; Saturday, October 30, 2004
The 2000 election was a scandal or, perhaps more accurately, a crime of historic proportions. According to investigative reporter Greg Palast, fully half of the rejected ballots that year, about a million in total, were cast by African Americans. This despite the fact that blacks comprise only 12 percent of the U.S. population.
While we may hope that this disenfranchisement does not recur, it is an unfortunate fact that barriers to voting remain prevalent in many areas that are home to minorities. According to Palast, few of tens of thousands of African-Americans who were improperly removed from voter rolls in 2000 have been returned to them.
For most of us, it is hard to reconcile ourselves to the fact that there are political actors in our nation who do not believe in the right to have one's vote counted. What could be more basic to American democracy than the right to vote?
Have you noticed how many more slick campaign mailers you have been getting? There's a noticeable change in the last few election cycles. I know that elections generally get more expensive over time, but I'm concerned that the increased use of conventional political consultants is making our local campaigns more expensive and less grassroots. This can't be good for promoting civic engagement, and might even lead to less honesty in campaigns. I could go on, but I'll just say that I'm not happy about the impact of some of these paid consultants on our local races.
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