August 2007
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 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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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?
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. ;-)
Welcome back students, and welcome back Daily Tar Heel. Today's city desk is jam-packed with updates about Carolina North, the Bolin Creek Greenway extension, the Town of Chapel Hill's wifi pilot and staffing issues, the location of early-voting sites, and Katrina Ryan's new restaurant in downtown Chapel Hill.
Wait, what?
A new bakery and gelato shop will create a sweet spot in downtown Chapel Hill where Julian's clothing store once stood.
The shop, called Sugarland, might open for the Oct. 6 football game against Miami, owner Katrina Ryan said.
Ryan is the pastry chef at La Residence and also a candidate for a spot on the Carrboro Board of Aldermen.
I would like everyone to know that there will be a community open house on Tuesday, August 28th, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm at the Library. We will present a draft of the Northern Area Task Force report for your feedback and comment.
This was an amazing accomplishment, considering the small amount of time that we had to work. Those of you who were on the Horace Williams Citizens Committee will appreciate what I am talking about because we HWCC members worked hard for 2 years in order to produce our report. Because of the time limit imposed by the moratorium, the Northern Area Task Force and Town staff only had time to meet 7 times over 3 months and participate in 2 workshops with planning consultants.
Our charge was to prepare recommendations for the Council for the implementation of transit oriented development. We have recommendations and guidelines for over 350 acres of land along Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Northwest Chapel Hill. Not only are we the gateway entrance from the north, we will be the northern neighbor to Carolina North.
Please come and weigh in on plans for our future.
Finances are not my specialty, but I think a transfer tax is an OK way to raise money from the thing that costs us: growth. I think it would also make sense to have a higher rate or additional impact fees for new development, though.
The Orange County commissioners decided Tuesday that more discussion is needed before voting on whether to put a transfer tax question on the ballot in the upcoming election.
"I think we're all trying to get up to speed on what the legislature did," Chairman Moses Carey Jr. said.
In the last legislative session, the General Assembly voted to allow counties the option of adding a quarter-cent sales tax increase or a 0.4 percent tax on land transfers. Either way, local voters would have to approve the additional tax in a referendum.
I do a weekly show on 103.5 WCOM if you want to listen to the stream where I oftentimes have a guest DJ. During the peak campaign season I will feature all the Carrboro candidates to be my guest DJ's in a "musical debate." Here is the schedule:
Sept. 1: Katrina Ryan & Chuck Morton
Sept. 15: Joal Hall Broun & Sharon Cook
Sept. 22: Dan Coleman & Mark Chilton
Sept. 29: Lydia Lavelle & Frank Abernathy
Oct. 13: Brian Voyce
What do our candidates listen to?
*Yet Another Carolina North Meeting. Actually two!
The next in UNC's series of informational sessions about their Carolina North plans is tomorrow afternoon. Meanwhile community group NRG will hold a forum on the same topic on Wednesday. Details below:
The meeting will begin at 4 p.m. in Room 2603 of the School of Government's Knapp-Sanders Building. Parking is available in the N.C. 54 visitor's lot and the Rams Head deck. Chapel Hill Transit service is available via the RU, G, S and V routes. See http://www.townofchapelhill.org/index.asp?NID=399 for timetables of these routes.
Jack Evans, executive director of Carolina North, and other university representatives will present an overview of potential infrastructure scenarios on the UNC-owned property. They will also seek community feedback on topics such as water, sewer and energy options for the site.
[...]
Biking here is pretty good, but far from perfect. If I was still in Durham, I'd bitch'n'moan (and occasionally engage in more constructive communication :-) about things on durhambikeandped.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/durhambikeandped/
... but I'm not. Is there equivalent online community(s) for Orange County or its metropoli? One alternative is rtp_bike_ped, but that's overbroad, and its discussions tend to center on the Park itself. (Plus in past its moderator has, been too strict WRT decorum, but that's just My Humble Opinion. One prefers a place where a spade need not be called a fine earth-moving implement. :-) )
Folks may remember Jacquie Gist's line in the 2005 campaign to the effect that "lawns grass makes us stupid." Well OWASA is trying to do something about it by sponsoring Sustainable Lawn Care Workshops:
To help our customers learn more about effective and sustainable lawn care principles and practices, OWASA is sponsoring three public workshops in September. Come learn about the “myths and mistakes†of lawn care, as well as the proper and sustainable methods of fertilization, reseeding, weed control, scheduling and watering. Mr. Mark Danieley, Horticulture Extension Agent, NCSU Cooperative Extension Service, Orange County will lead the workshops.
Choose the date and time most convenient for you:
• Tuesday, September 11, 2007 - 10:00-11:30 am
• Tuesday, September 11, 2007 - 7:00-8:30 pm
• Wednesday, September 12, 2007 - 2:00-3:30 pm
**ALL WORKSHOPS ARE FREE, BUT PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED**
*SPACE IS LIMITED *
TO REGISTER PLEASE CALL:
Orange County Cooperative Extension Service at
245-2050 or 968-4501 or 967- 9251, ext. 2050
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