June 2005
Guest Post by Michal Osterweil
Chapel Hill and the surrounding areas are filled with organizations, groups and businesses that are experimenting with and practicing alternative ways of living on a daily basis. Whether as a collective bookstore, a cooperative living community, bio-fuel collectives, or experiments in public television, we are all working to make the world a better place, not only through protest and opposition, but through different ways of going about our daily lives and work. We are in effect enacting social, economic and ecological alternatives both within and against the current status quo.
Too often, however, we do so without recognizing how many others are out there doing similarly amazing things. We miss out on the potential learning and growth we could all gain from one another if we told our stories and thought together about the possibilities, problems and goals of our projectsâ€â€both individually and collectively as part of a larger movement and community.
The following announcement is circulating by e-mail:
A Community Response to the Recent Cross Burnings in Durham, NC
An Unlikely Friendship, an award-winning documentary film, will be shown in conjunction with a panel discussion with local community and
civil rights leaders.
When: Thursday, June 2nd from 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Where: B.N. Duke Auditorium at NC Central University in Durham
Donation: $1.00 to help offset security costs for the event
Organizing Partners: Character Development Group, The City of Durham, NC Central University, and Duke University
Contacts: Stacy Shelp-Peck, Character Development Group (919) 967-2110 or sshelp@charactereducation.com
Security Note: All attendees will have to go through a metal detector prior to entry into the bldg.
About An Unlikely Friendship
"Their story is one of redemption. It's one of the most important documentaries I've seen, and may be the most hopeful film in years." ÂÂStuds Terkel
Every time elections start looming, I get big ideas for OrangePolitics. I would really like to provide some useful on-going information for voters throughout the campaign season.
Last year, I put together the first-ever OP Voter Guide, but all it contained was candidate websites, endorsements, and a few related OP threads. In 2003, Will Raymond posted a post-mortem on campaign contributions. These were great, but we can do more! I am thinking of selecting key issues and publishing candidate positions. Perhaps a weekly column in October about the races. What else?
I would like to hear suggestions from you, readers. What kind of information would be helpful for you (and your less-informed friends) at election time? And would you be interested in helping to collect and assemble it?
Well, the go-go-growth crowd is not as monolithic as I recently suggested. Sometimes competition can split even the most steadfast of allies. The Herald today reported that a
113-6 vote in the House endorsed an amendment to the state Umstead Act to allow the UNC system's 16 campuses to sell goods and services in competition with the private sector when doing so would further the teaching, research and service mission of the university.
Hackney and Insko voted in favor. Bill Faison voted against thereby joining the "anti-university" crowd that for the moment also includes Aaron Nelson. From the Herald report:
Oh well, that was quick. Now that the Chapel Hill development ordinance has been updated to reflect that fact the town has regulatory power over non-building development (eg: parking lots) on UNC property, the legislature may change their mind again.
The N.C. Senate has voted to repeal a 9-month-old law that gave Chapel Hill and other communities more power to control the development of state property.
The repeal measure, which passed the Senate last week on a 44-6 vote, is moving through the General Assembly at the request of the UNC system's Board of Governors, legislators and system officials said.
"All 16 campuses are very supportive of this," system lobbyist Mark Fleming said, adding that the initial request for a repeal drive came from officials at UNC Chapel Hill and N.C. State University.
Chapel Hill Herald, Saturday June 04, 2005
Recently I was asked what I thought the issues would be in this year's Carrboro elections. I didn't have a ready answer. As I considered the question, it seemed that no one has been putting new ideas on the table for Carrboro lately.
Recent elections have functioned as referenda on the policies of the existing board, policies that have evolved over the past decade or so. This year, things have been pretty quiet.
Alderman Alex Zaffron hit a nail on the head recently when he suggested that the best thing the board had done lately might have been hiring Steve Stewart as town manager. Stewart has brought in his proposed 2005-06 budget without a tax increase.
It has long seemed that if there was an issue that could unite the diverse groups who are unhappy with the status quo, it was Carrboro's tax rate. Property taxes in Carrboro have tracked at some 20 percent above those of Chapel Hill despite the smaller town turning to its larger neighbor for a number of amenities.
This year, under Stewart's proposed budget and thanks to a modest increase in Chapel Hill, the gap will close a bit.
I have a few cool new things to announce for OrangePolitics users.
First, you can now preview your comment before you submit it. Just look below the Submit button and you will see a live preview that updates as you type!
Second, user registration is now open to all. You may make your own account here by clicking on the Register link near the top of the right-hand navigation bar. Right now, the only thing this enables you to do is create your own user profile and write draft guest posts. If you do register, be sure to click on the Users tab to fill in your profile. And if you write a guest post, drop us a line to let us know it's there.
In the future, there may be other advantages to registering here, but right now it's mostly a novelty.
The Orange County Board of Commissioners is recruiting citizen volunteers for the Orange County Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) Taskforce. This taskforce will evaluate the feasibility of establishing a TDR program in all or portions of the county. The taskforce will address: Sustainably balancing rural and urban areas, directing growth and development away from important natural and cultural resources and toward areas with municipal service potential and able to support urban densities, providing working farms with an alternative income potential, and developing policies to accommodate the sending and receiving areas of housing density and economic development to be added to the Comprehensive Plan. The County has hired a consultant to help in this endeavor.
Forget all those excuses. If you're engaged enough to be reading this site, you probably have some opinions to share with the world.
This Saturday Anton Zuiker of BlogTogether is organizing a Blogging Teach-In! Come with your ideas and opinions, he'll help you with the rest. The event will be in a computer lab on campus so you can get help setting up your blog on any platform you choose. Anton and his volunteers will even help you choose a template or design for your snazzy new site!
One-on-one tutorials for anyone who wants help becoming a blogger, or new bloggers who want help improving their blog or making the most of their blogware.
* Saturday, June 11, 2005
* 12 noonâ€â€2 p.m.
* UNC-CH Health Sciences Library Biogen Idec Classroom (computer lab with 40 seats)
* Park in the UNC Hospitals parking deck or find nearby street parking.
The more blogs, the merrier.
Since September 27, 2003: <?php get_post_count(); ?> posts, <?php get_comment_count(); ?> comments.
Hillsborough wants you to get off your butt on Saturday.
Fostering community spirit and promoting the walkability of the town will be the main focus of the fourth annual Walkable Hillsborough Day this Saturday.
There are three different walks to choose from, all based on the level of difficulty. Each will begin at 9 a.m. at the old courthouse on the corner of King and Churton streets, she said.
- The News of Orange County, 6/9/05
The three different walking routes vary from 20-minutes to a vigorous hour-long hike. All of them are short enough that you can come into the cool air-conditioned lab for the Blog Teach-In after you get all sweaty walking around. ;-)
Chapel Hill Herald, Saturday June 11, 2005
With the filing period now just a few weeks away, speculation is rampant about the upcoming municipal elections in Carrboro and Chapel Hill. Rarely have we gotten this late in the pre-election season and known so little about the prospective field.
The mayoral races are the easiest to handicap. In Chapel Hill, the position will again be Kevin Foy's if he wants it. If not, Bill Strom, a tough campaigner, looks unbeatable and might even run without opposition.
In Carrboro, Mayor Mike Nelson has said he won't be running for another term and the only affirmative steps toward a mayoral candidacy have come from Alderman Mark Chilton. This week Chilton mailed out a questionnaire to gauge voters' priorities for the town.
Should Chilton choose to run, he would be an odds-on favorite to win. He came in first among alderman candidates in 2003 with 1,709 votes, a big number for Carrboro. Chilton seems to relish an active grassroots campaign and can be expected to again be knocking on doors throughout Carrboro.
OrangePolitics is a great place to discuss local politics, but should we also be able to discuss/react to our local newspaper articles? Steve Outing at Poynter Online has an interesting article on Citizen Journalism, that identifies 11 ways in which conventional newspapers can open themselves up to interaction with the public. The Daily Tarheel has allowed comments all year and the feature is almost never used. Should the Chapel Hill Newspaper and the Herald-Sun open themselves up? Would we know more about our community if citizens had the opportunity to add to articles, correct errors, or simply comment?
H671/S631 grants the NC Department of Agriculture sole authority for banning plants and seeds within North Carolina. The intent of this law appears to be preventing cities and counties from using their zoning authority to restrict the use of genetically modified plants and seeds within their jurisdiction. However, there may be equally unattractive unintended consequences. For example, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Orange County (possibly Hillsborough too), currently restrict the types of plants used in landscaping new development. By using their zoning authority in this way, they protect our native species from the most egregious invasives such as bamboo, english ivy, etc. Native species are of critical importance in protecting our riparian systems as well as our local wildlife.
In its effort to develop four neighborhood conservation districts at once, the Town of Chapel Hill is looking for some outside assistance. They didn't have to look very far. Recently retired Chapel Hill Planning Director Roger Waldon has been hired as a consultant on the project.
It's true the Town needs outside assistance to be able to do 4 NCDs at once. And clearly Roger understands the NCD rules - he helped create them. But I don't buy the logic that having worked on the previous Northside NCD qualifies one to work on future efforts. The Northside NCD process was not managed very well. Although a lot of people worked very hard on it, and some good regulations resulted, the process generally lacked clear vision and leadership. I would hate to see it repeated.
Also, this budget switcheroo is kind of weird:
Here's the schedule so far for Chapel Hill's Summer Movie and Concert series - of which YOU are a sponsor, OP Readers!
Events are Wednesdays at 7:30 pm at McCorkle Place on Franklin Street.
June 22
concert: Cool John Ferguson (the rockin' blues)
June 29
movie: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
July 6
concert: Dub Addis (reggae)
July 13
movie: Bend it Like Beckham
July 20
concert (t.b.a.)
July 27
movie: Hitch
August 3
concert (t.b.a.)
The summer festival sponsors include: RBC Centura, Ram Development Group, Carolina Brewery, Carolina Car Wash, Chapel Hill Tire Car Care Center, Coldwell Banker Howard Perry and Walston, Earth Fare, Harris Incorporated, Local 506, The Readers of OrangePolitics.org, Rosemary Village, Spanky's, UNC-Chapel Hill, University Florist, Chapel Hill News, Pa'lante Magazine, WCHL 1360 AM
The Town Council talked about a few of the things they don't want to see in the new mixed-use re-development on Lots 2 & 5 downtown.
They don't want to be The Streets at Southpoint, though they avoided speaking the name of the behemoth to the east that's anathema to Chapel Hill business leaders. "I hate that manufactured Main Street," council member Mark Kleinschmidt said.
"That's my biggest fear, that it will look like a mall that's trying to look like Main Street." Council members nodded...
"This space is so important to us," Mayor Kevin Foy said. "The way it looks should respect the existing architecture in the town but doesn't mimic and doesn't try to imitate it."
The council wants modern. It wants cool. It wants something looking to the future in a place that for many -- UNC-Chapel Hill alumni, in particular -- is memory lane.
- News & Observer 6/21/05
Chapel Hill Herald, Saturday June 18, 2005
According to the International Cooperative Alliance, "a co-operative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise."
This is a definition that provides great flexibility of interpretation. Co-ops can be as small as a group of neighbors meeting their child-care needs or as large as the 1,000 orange growers who work together to market their products under the Florida Natural brand.
Unfortunately, the term cooperative has often been stretched so far that it is hard to distinguish a cooperator from an investor. Owners of Weaver Street Market who are currently considering proposed changes to the market's investment system would do well to contemplate this distinction.
Dr. Carol Kirschenbaum passed away last week in her home in Durham after an 8 year battle with ovarian cancer. Perhaps better known in Durham than in Orange County, Kirschenbaum was a leader in the fight to make access to health care a right for all North Carolinians.
She spearheaded the effort to pass a constitutional amendment (current HB 1358) that would read:
Health care is an essential safeguard of human life and dignity, and there is an obligation for the State to ensure that every resident is able to realize this fundamental right. Not later than July 1, 2007, the General Assembly shall provide by law a plan to ensure that by July 1, 2011, every resident of North Carolina has access to appropriate health care on a regular basis.
An obituary written by her husband Dennis Lazof can be found here.
State Rep. Bill Faison defends his opposition to the cigarette tax increase in an interview with Barbara Solow in this week's Independent.
The incredible and troubling aspect of the interview is Faison's dismissive attitude toward the tremendous health problems and costs associated with tobacco. He tells Solow:
I know the health argument, but on balance, we have a lot of things that cause health problems. Sugar contributes to obesity. It could lead you to look at sugar as something that ought to be controlled.
"On balance"?!? Tell that to the families of the multitudes who die from smoking related illnesses each year.
After reading the discussion on a recent thread, I told Ruby that I would find a political spectrum test and let everyone determine his or her correct "label". She said something along the lines of "that's just what we need (not)!"
I looked at several around the net and liked the OKcupid Politics Test. I liked it because it allowed a range of responses and had lots of questions.
I know that this will be distasteful to some and that others will take the test but prefer to keep the results to themselves.
I don't mind sharing my own score which I know will shock many:
You are a
Social Liberal
(86% permissive)
and an...
Economic Liberal
(1% permissive)
You are best described as a:
Socialist
You exhibit a very well-developed sense of Right and Wrong and believe in economic fairness.
Who knew?
One value I found in taking this test was the recognition that I did not have aready answer to every question. Some I had to think about and some might have different responses if I took the test again.
Here's another chance for the town of Chapel Hill to catch up to Carrboro: free wireless Internet downtown.
It seems to have been a resounding success for Carrboro. Some businesses might worry about dozens of folks setting up their laptops for hours while only buying a pastry and coffee, but WSM has got plenty of space on the lawn, and more importantly having free wifi just adds to their role as the community hub. That attracts customers that aren't even using the wireless.
But Chapel Hill has a new angle on this. They are discussing covering the downtown neighborhoods like Northside where some residents can't afford high-speed Internet access.
Across the town line in Carrboro, officials decided last year to put a few thousand dollars into expanding the wireless network in the downtown area, enabling people to connect -- for free -- to the Internet with their laptop computers equipped with wireless cards.
Chapel Hill Herald, Saturday June 25, 2005
Over the 26 years since the accident at Three Mile Island, dangerous and costly nuclear power has seemed a technology on the way out. Now, thanks to the power-industry friendly Bush administration, there is a renewed push for the construction of nuclear power plants. Both area utilities, Duke Power and Progress Energy, are exploring expansion of their nuclear operations. Nuclear power is a cash cow for the utilities with huge profits from construction, state-guaranteed profits from operations and federal protection from liability.
Of particular concern locally is the possibility of additional capacity at the Shearon Harris plant. Originally designed to support four reactors, thanks to the changing economics and politics of nuclear power, the plant was built with only one. Even so, it has been among the worst performing in the nation.
In recent years, Shearon Harris has appeared regularly on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's watch list because of its high rate of emergency shutdowns.
I am happy to inform you (before the papers do) that Mark Chilton is officially a candidate for Mayor of Carrboro!
Here is his statement posted here on OP earlier today:
With Mike Nelson stepping down, I am officially running for Mayor of Carrboro this fall. I held a short press conference this morning at Carrboro Town Hall about this and I am sure the papers will report the details tomorrow, but here is a short synopsis of what I said this morning.
1) The Northern Small Area Plan needs to be completely re-worked. 2) We should take up the Friends of Bolin Creek's challenge to create a Bolin Creek Preserve. 3) We must take a number of steps to strike a balance between increasing our commercial tax base and protecting existing neighborhoods. And 4) we need to rewrite a number of rules related to affordable housing including the Density Bonus, downtown performance standards, and voluntary annexation standards in order to increase affordable housing development in Carrboro.
I also talked some about my view of the role of the Mayor. In short I believe that I will play three roles as a Mayor - a listener, a mediator and a leader.
According to today's Herald,
the NAACP has selected Chapel Hill attorney Al McSurely as this year's winner of the William Robert Ming Advocacy Award. This is the highest honor the national civil rights group gives to an attorney.
McSurely is slated to receive the award July 11 at the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's in Milwaukee.
Congratulations to Al on this well-deserved honor. For background on McSurely and some of the many reasons why he is deserving of this award, read the Herald article.
McSurely's winning this reward should be a sobering as well as a celebratory moment for our community. After all, to win an award like this from the NAACP, one must be active in a community where there is persistent racial discrimination.
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