I just did the following commentary for WCHL which will play on Friday of this week. I've organized Carrboro Plaza Vet's 2nd Annual Pet Food Drive in conjunction with the Orange County Animal Shelter. My first blog posting on this site was about this about the first pet food drive that I organized last year which you can see here:
Kerr Drugs will soon move from University Mall to a new location on rte. 54.
That may not seem a particularly earthshaking bit of news. However, for those of us who have a long-standing relationship with that pharmacy, it is a bit of a tremor. For those of us watching the economy change the paths and patterns of Chapel Hill, and for those who've kept an eye on the Mall ever since Belk closed and the K&W moved, through at least two (is it?) changes of ownership, it's at the very least a notable rumble underfoot.
As I learned visiting in Florida, Dillard's recently announced that it was closing both Sarasota stores, shocking the non-Saks shoppers in the area and, even more, the other occupants of the Dillard’s-anchored malls. I instantly thought of the valiant survival of our University Mall Dillard's, despite the opening of Southpoint and shifting ideas about the Mall’s target market. It's hard not to wonder whether it can yet survive the shaky consumer economy, especially if the parent company is sharpening its cost-cutting razors.
The vicious cycle of annual OWASA residential rate increases many times the rate of inflation is rapidly making water unaffordable. These exorbitant increases are unwarranted, reflective of poor management decisions. OWASA has set-up a vicious cycle of rate increases leading to reduction of water usage, which leads to further rate increases, leading to further usage reduction, ad infinitum. This system is not sustainable.
This hurts me. I have good friends at Whole Foods. But now I have another reason not to shop there.
If you are a progressive and you are shopping at Whole Foods, you are feeding a high-priced machine that violates many of your personal principles. Please join me in shopping elsewhere. And just so you know what soapbox your hard-earned dollars are funding, consider this from Whole Foods CEO John Mackey in the Wall Street Journal.
The last thing our country needs is a massive new health-care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system. Instead, we should be trying to achieve reforms by moving in the opposite direction—toward less government control and more individual empowerment.
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This coming Tuesday, the Orange County Commissioners are scheduled to endorse the Reality Check Report: Guiding Principles for Quality Growth. Apparently this was a conference held back in February for visioning the ideal principles of growth in the 15-county local area. The 3 guiding principles adopted by this group are:
Transit
Vibrant Centers
Sustained Greenspace
These are all solid principles, but are they really the top three? What about clean air and water? What about human issues like education?
Does anyone know anything about this process or the groups sponsoring it? The only local name that I recognize is Rosemary Waldorf.
Looking to get more involved in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro community? Interested in environmental awareness, healthy lifestyles, educational access, and international partnerships?
Sustain Foundation is a growing, grassroots, community service organization seeing passionate and committed individuals to serve on the board in an advisory role. The requirements of the position include a regular monthly meeting lasting no longer than 90 minutes and critically reading comprehensive ‘update’ documents every other week. Board terms last one year, and additional information is included below. Send an email to Sustain Foundation at sustainfoundation@gmail.com to inquire more information about Sustain Foundation and this opportunity to substantially contribute to the development of a local non-profit.
More information: The mission of Sustain Foundation, a 501c3 based in Carrboro, is to create and implement sustainable solutions to health, environmental and education challenges in the local and global community. The organization focuses on promoting partnership of mutual support in order to match the strengths and needs of different communities. Within the local community the organization has focused on Latina women's health through a walking program as well as environmental awareness through the publishment of the Community Trail Guide, which mapped natural surface trails in the area. Sustain Foundation is also active in promoting well-being through a local women's running group. In Sakina, Tanzania, Sustain Foundation is implementing community-based educational and health programs.
Congratulations to Carrboro Alderman John Herrera on his recent remarriage. (A beautiful wedding ceremony it was, too!) John's new blended family has six (!) children and I received the news this afternoon that his new family is making a new home in Holly Springs, which necessitates his resignation from the Board of Aldermen.
I want to say that although I will miss having John on the board (and in Carrboro), I know he is doing the best thing for his family and I wish him all the best. I am also confident that John will remain a leader in North Carolina and I look forward to hearing what he is up to next. Congratulations and thanks for your service, John.
I am sure most, if not all, Orange County residents are unaware that a Special Use Permit (SUP) to cram a large dog boarding and training facility on a portion of an occupied residential lot bordering New Hope Creek in the Rural Buffer of Orange County has been granted by our Board of Adjustment (BOA). I am nonplussed how this came to pass.
Orange County’s 1981 Comprehensive Plan describes our Rural Buffer as “a low-density area consisting of single-family homes situated on large lots…a minimum size of two (2) acres…rural in character and which will remain rural, contain low-density residential uses.” New Hope Creek is a primary tributary of Jordan Lake. Several communities draw drinking water from Jordan and thus have a direct interest in protecting its watershed. It is one of the most important wildlife habitats in the Triangle.
In one of the most transparent website design copy jobs I have ever seen, the Herald-Sun stole basically the entire frontpage format of the online version of the New York Times this week, and as far as I can tell, does not give the NYT any credit as the inspiration for the visual upgrade.
Open the two websites in two browser windows to compare:
At the top left in light blue, the NYT lists: Jobs, Real Estate, Autos, All Classifieds
At the top left, in light blue, the Herald Sun lists: Jobs, Real Estate, Cars, Classifieds, Obituaries
The NYT has a Most Popular feature with three tabbed rankings for stories that are either Emailed, Blogged, or Searched. The Herald-Sun has a Most Popular feature but its tabs are Recommended, Commented, and Viewed.
The NYT encourages people to Log In at the upper right. The Herald-Sun encourages us to Sign In at the same location.
Sustain Foundation has published the first comprehensive mapping
of the natural surface trails in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. These important
natural resources are unknown to the community at large.In response, members of the organization used
GPS/GIS to walk to trails, researched and designed 12 trifold brochures about
the 12 main trails in the area and linked them all on general map of Chapel
Hill/Carrboro. There are over 25,000 brochures in print and they are currently
for sale at several businesses and at UNC Student Stores. However, Sustain Foundation
needs help in accomplishing our mission of providing these trail guides to the
community so that people are introduced to these beautiful trails and begin
utilizing them.
Position: Sustain Foundation is
looking for volunteers who genuinely appreciate running in nature or being
active in the environment more generally to promote the Community Trail Guide.
We are building a Task Force of volunteers to attend events and lead creative
efforts in which awareness and sales of the Trail Guide are increased. In
addition, Sustain Foundation hopes to have a weekly guided hike and/or run of
each of the 12 trails over a 12 week period to students or community members.
This volunteer opportunity would be a great way to serve the community by
making information about the vast, beautiful natural areas and trail network
known to all who seek to trail run, hike or connect with nature. Also,
volunteers would be able to network with businesses, non-profits and
students/community members with similiar interests in active living and
promoting natural spaces. Positions could vary from a structured weekly
engagement with the community such as leading a walk/run on a trail to
consideration leadership and creativity in event planning or fundraising for
the Sustain Foundation and for the team through selling
the guides on commission and splitting the revenues. Semester commitment of 3
hours per week. Visit our website: sustainfoundation.org to learn more and contact sustainfoundation@gmail.com
if interested.
To celebrate the recently-named Peace and Justice Plaza (formerly known at the square in front of the downtown Post Office on Franklin Street where we always have rallies and community events) the Town and the local NAACP are having a rally today and a reception on September 20th when they formally unveil the public marker there. I'm going to try to swing by this when I get off the bus today.
From the Town of Chapel Hill's press release:
Chapel Hill and NAACP Honor Nine Community Activists on the Anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington
On Friday, Aug. 28, the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington,
the Town of Chapel Hill and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP will jointly
sponsor the first of two programs to honor nine local peace and justice
leaders.
An outdoor rally will be held from 5 to 6 p.m. at the
Peace and Justice Plaza outside the Post Office-Courthouse at 179 E.
Franklin St. The program will include biographical tributes read by
members of the community and remarks by Michelle Cotton Laws, president
of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP. Following the program, there will be
a reception inside the Post Office featuring light refreshments and an
educational photo display.
Three weeks later, the public
unveiling of a tribute marker at Peace and Justice Plaza will be held
from 3 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20. Family members and others will speak
of the nine peace and justice honorees. A reception for the families
and all others in attendance will follow at the home of Chris and
Sharon Ringwalt, at 8 Cobb Terrace, Chapel Hill, N.C.
The
header on the granite marker reads "Peace and Justice Plaza" and
commemorates nine local activists: Charlotte Adams, Hank Anderson,
James Brittian, Joe Herzenberg, Mildred Ringwalt, Hubert Robinson, Joe
Straley, Lucy Straley, and Gloria Williams. The quote on the marker
comes from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "True peace is not merely the
absence of some negative force, it is the presence of justice." The
Town Council has established a process to honor additional peace and
justice leaders in the future.
The March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom took place in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 1963.
Attended by some 250,000 people, it was the largest demonstration ever
seen in the nation's capital, and one of the first to have extensive
television coverage.
The Town of Chapel Hill has recently
increased efforts to commemorate its history from the civil rights era,
when the local movement played a leading role in ending Jim Crow. The
Town Council in 2006 named the plaza the Peace and Justice Plaza in
honor of the energy and spirit of the thousands who have stood in the
shadow of the Courthouse and exercised their rights to assembly and
speech and have spoken out on issues as diverse as the Vietnam War,
environmental justice, women's rights, gay rights, the death penalty,
and racial justice.
From 1960 to 1964, black Lincoln High
School students led a powerful civil rights movement, including weekly
marches that began at local black churches and ended at the old Post
Office, now Peace and Justice Plaza. UNC students joined the civil
rights movement in large numbers. They became increasingly vocal in
their protests of local racial segregation, legislative restrictions on
free speech (the Speaker Ban Law) and national events. Students used
marches, sit-ins, and strikes to support the 1969 UNC cafeteria workers
strikes and to protest the Vietnam War. Charlotte Adams and other
members of the local chapter of the Women's International League for
Peace and Freedom led a weekly peace vigil in front of the Franklin
Street Post Office that began on Jan. 4, 1967. The weekly vigils
continued every Wednesday until 1973.
In February 2009,
national and local civil rights leaders gathered in Chapel Hill to
unveil a historic state highway marker at the corner of Rosemary and
Columbia streets. This is the first state marker to commemorate one of
the most important North Carolina civil rights protests before the
sit-ins of 1960. The Journey of Reconciliation, known as the "First
Freedom Ride," consisted of an interracial group that used non-violent
resistance to test a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1946 that ruled
state Jim Crow laws on interstate buses and trains were
unconstitutional. Their Chapel Hill stop created national news when
local segregationists threatened and attacked the Freedom Riders. Four
of the riders were sentenced to the state chain gang. The incident
prompted a community wide debate on Jim Crow that had lasting impact.
For more information about the Aug. 28 rally, please contact Suepinda Keith, NAACP History Committee, suepinda@lanzilla.com or 919-338-2065 or Catherine Lazorko, Chapel Hill Public Information Officer, clazorko@townofchapelhill.org or 919-969-5055.
Carrboro Candidates Forum: Wednesday, September 2, 7 to 9pm. Town of
Carrboro candidates for Mayor and Board of Aldermen will answer
questions posed by the Orange-Chatham Group of Sierra Club on
environmental topics of interest to the community. The public is
invited and questions will be taken from the audience. The forum will
be broadcast live on local cable channel 18. Town Hall, 301 West Main
Street, Carrboro. Call 942-6114 for info.
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Transit