August 2007

Tonight - final screening at the WITT?

The WITT (Walk in Tributary Theatre) is located in Carrboro's historic community pool, 'Sparrow's Pool.' For the past year, as part of a federation of projects at the Carrboro Greenspace, the WITT has served as a space to show informative movies, information exchange being essential to a healthy democracy. This last remaining greenspace in the heart of Carrboro is being prepared for sale and perhaps development. We are losing access to the property after August 5th. Please come and experience for the last time(!?) THE WITT and what the Carrboro Greenspace could be if we save it!..

Orange County Comprehensive Plan Update

Orange County is about to complete Phase 1 of its Comprehensive Plan Update. At 7:00 pm on Tuesday, August 7 there will be a Public Information Meeting at New Hope Elementary School (click for Google Map) hosted by Orange County Planning staff. The meeting is intended to explain the purpose of and process for the Update, as well as receive feedback regarding the County's Draft Goals (PDF) that will be presented at a Public Hearing on August 27th. For the latest official information about the Orange County Comprehensive Plan Update you can visit the Orange County planning department.

Preserve the Early Voting Site Near UNC

The Orange County Board of Elections will be deciding on Tuesday, August 7th on whether to move the one-stop early voting site from UNC's campus to the Seymour Senior Center off Homestead Road.

We have the following objections to the proposed move:

1. The Seymour Senior Center creates a significant impediment to voting for students, faculty, staff and the many community members that live/work in and around downtown.
2. Moving the site away from campus will adversely impact student engagement in the upcoming election.
3. With the passage of the same-day voter registration bill, more students are likely to vote this fall. Moving the site will hurt these efforts.
4. If we want to encourage students to take an interest or an active role in their community, we should not making voting inaccessible to many who cannot make it to the Seymour Center.
5. Many faculty and staff that work on or near campus benefit from having a central voting site on campus.
6. A better location can be found that will benefit both students and residents of Chapel Hill.

Free water in Hillsborough this month

This just in from the Town of Hillsborough:

The U.S. Postal Service has misplaced about 5,000 Town of Hillsborough water/sewer bills.

The bills were delivered to the Hillsborough Post Office early last week and should have been received by customers by Aug. 1. Payment is due by Aug. 25.

If the Post Office is unable to find the bills by this Wednesday, the town will reprint the bills as long as the data can be retrieved, Hillsborough Finance Director Greg Siler said.
[...]
If the bills can be reprinted, customers should expect to receive them by early next week. Any customers who do not receive a bill this month should call or come by the Water/Sewer Billing and Collections Office to find out how much is owed. Payments may be mailed or paid at the office.
[...]
If customers receive two bills in August, they should disregard one.

Uh right, like people are going to march on down there and ask to pay the bills they haven't received. Good luck, Hillsborough! If I was you, I'd sue the USPS for the lost revenue. I hope you don't charge late fees for customers who didn't get their bills.

Remember Hiroshima

Sorry for the late notice, I just found out about this event going on tonight to commemorate the 62nd anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima:

From Hiroshima to Iraq: Take the Nuclear Option off the Table
Monday, August 6th 2007 7:00 pm

"From Hiroshima to Iraq: Take the Nuclear Option off the Table", a commemoration. Welcome from Chapel Hill Town Council Member Mark Kleinschmidt, proclamation of Mayor Mark Chilton, University of North Carolina historian Wayne Lee speaks on "War, the Nuclear Option, and Habits of Mind", readings, music by Catherine Grodensky and Jim Magaw, candle lighting ceremony and chanting led by members of the Chapel Hill Zen Center. Children's activities.

Location:
Gene Strowd Rose Garden, Chapel Hill Community Center Park Estes Drive opposite Chapel Hill Post Office Chapel Hill NC 27514

Sponsored By:
Orange County Peace Coalition (NC)
- United for Peace & Justice : Events

Neighbors come out tonight

These events are always very fun, with friendly neighbors and good music. Wear a hat and bring a fan!

Neighborhood Night Out

Tuesday, Aug. 8, is "Neighborhood Night Out: Unity, Street by Street." The Chapel Hill Police Department, Carrboro Police Department and Empowerment Inc. are jointly sponsoring the event.

Registration will be held at 6 p.m. at the Carolina Carwash, 414 E. Main St., and the walk will begin at 6:30 p.m. There will be community speakers, entertainment, refreshments and gifts for those who participate. The walk will end at Hargraves Community Center, 216 N. Roberson St.

Event sponsors include AT&T, Carolina Carwash, Myoshin, Carrburritos, Carolina Brewery, Pro Fresh D.J., Top of the Hill, UNC-Chapel Hill, and the Northside, Pine Knolls Carr Court and Lloyd Street neighborhood associations.
Residents are encouraged to turn on their porch lights to show support.

Hillsborough says no to ashpalt plant

I admit, I'm not the biggest expert on Hillsborough issues, but this sure seems like a good thing.

The Hillsborough Board of Adjustment unanimously denied the application for a proposed asphalt plant at its meeting Tuesday night.

The vote against developer Doug Robins, owner of Durham-based Asphalt Experts, is based on four failed compliances with the town's ordinances, said Margaret Hauth, Hillsborough's planning director. The plant is proposed for 410 Valley Forge Road, off N.C. 86 between Interstate 85 and U.S. 70 Business.

The board ruled that Robins failed to a complete an air quality permit, obtain written approval from the fire marshal, obtain written approval from the director of utilities and did not meet Hillsborough's definition of permitted uses for the property.
- heraldsun.com: Plans for new asphalt plant voted down 8/8/07

Change is comin'

What's everyone up to?

I've been thinking a lot about blog/community software, specifically a new one for OP. Here are some that I know, please suggest other sites or platforms that you like.

http://www.soapblox.net
http://scoop.kuro5hin.org
http://drupal.org / http://civicspacelabs.org / http://bryght.org
http://ning.com
http://mu.wordpress.org or http://lyceum.ibiblio.org
or just updating and souping up our current platform: http://wordpress.org

Migrating this site to another platform isn't anything I have time to work on in the next month or so, but we might was well start talking about it.

Help me understand

Did anyone else try to read the editorial by John Rhodes called "Campus censorship is alive and well at UNC" in the Chapel Hill News this weekend? It sounded important, but so much was based on literary and historical references and previous letters to the editor, none of which I am conversant in. I really wanted to, but I literally could not understand the information being conveyed in this column.

So, I'm sure one of you smart readers understands this issue. Care to explain? Or is this a conversation between UNC staff and the administration that the rest of us should stay out of?

Carrying a grudge

Maybe this is why local politics has so many personality problems:

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to forget your most embarrassing and most painful memories?

It's not just your imagination -- UNC psychology professor Keith Payne says those memories really do seem to be harder to forget.
- WCHL 1360 - UNC study finds bad memories do last

Actually, I am starting to forget some of those crazy things the Indy said about me in 1999, so maybe there's hope yet. ;-)

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