October 2009
PACT! is about community
Last Friday morning, Suepinda and I joined Lori Hoyt on WCOM 103.5FM, Carrboro's low powered community radio, on her weekly radio program WILPF Wake Up Call. We were discussing the beginnings of PACT! as an organization and the need for parent and child advocacy in the CHCCS district.
When we first arrived, scurrying through the doorway just minutes before going on air, Suepinda dropped the bomb that I was to be the sole speaker. Boy! was I surprised.
I asked how long was the segment. Lori told me we were on for the full 30 mins. I thought, "OMG, what can I talk about for 30 minutes? We tested mic's, started a bit of conversation and then went on the air.
Well, in the real world, 30 minutes is NOTHING. Part of the reason were were scurring in the doorway at 7:20am was the fact that we had just got the four little children out the door for school to make the bus. To say that our mornings are busy and 30 minutes is nothing is an understatement.
The deadline came and went and the 12 applicants are:
On the ballot - John DeHart, Gene Pease, Matt Pohlman, Will Raymond and Penny Rich
Former Council Members - Joe Capowski, Lee Pavao
Former Candidate - Jason Baker
Newcomers - Donna Bell, H. Brock Page, Joshua Ravitch, Aaron Shah
Did not apply - The three incumbents running for reelection
I am a graduate student in the UNC Planning Department (and the School of Law). My Site Planning class tonight had guest lecturer Bruce Ballentine to talk about Glen Lennox. About an hour into the lecture, a classmate of mine asked if Glen Lennox is an issue in the current municipal election. In the discourse about his take on the municipal election that followed, Mr. Ballentine called several of the candidates "anti-growth, anti-business, anti-University, and anti-downtown." He spared "three of the mayoral candidates" and DeHart, Pease, and Pohlman by name. He portrayed the muncipal elections in a biased manner, one that I felt was purposefully misleading. Regardless, it was an inapprorpriate forum for his stump speech.
I attended the well-run, PTA Council School Board Forum last night. Many thanks to all of the candidates putting time, effort, and emotional energy into putting forth their vision on how to continue to improve our school system. As advertised by my neighbors Ms. Brownstein knows policy, has a history of school involvement, and communcates her commitment to schools and children clearly and passionately. My expectation is that she will receive the most votes, including mine, and will be an excellent school board member.
I read the Town Council candidates' responses to the
League of Women Voters' questionnaire in the Chapel Hill News this morning. (A valuable service, but shouldn't the CHN actually publish reporting on the front page?) I noticed that the candidates were unanimous in their support for putting increased density (if it happens) in transit corridors, but not a single one of them named an appropriate area or an example of how this should be done.
It's easy to be reactionary and rail against tall buildings and vague notions of density or against East 54 in particular. Where are the courageous candidates that can hammer out policies, make the hard decisions, and stand up to the inevitable complaints about change? Evolution of this community's landscape is not optional. We must put on our thinking caps and establish some direction for doing this in the best way for our collective future.
An event for parents and high school youth to share stories about our schools with a professional organizer. This will inform our education agenda for Orange County Justice United going forward.
- Bring your concerns about Chapel Hill-Carrboro Public Schools
- Bring your ideas for change
- Bring your commitment to organize for change
- Bring your friends!
For more information and transportation needs, please call Tish Galu • 919.960.4437 • galu@bellsouth.net
Date:
Sunday, November 8, 2009 - 10:30am to 12:00pm
Location:
HARGRAVES CENTER, 216 N. ROBERSON STREET, CHAPEL HILL
My endorsements for 2009:
First, a bit of background: I did not support Barack Obama in the Democratic primary last year, because I didn't think he had the strength to bring real change to our country. Many would agree I've been proven right about that. I also think that change is needed in our local politics this year. If you like exactly how things are today, stop reading now. I've moved into Chapel Hill 4 times in my life, lving here almost all of the last 32 years, so I can certainly say there's a lot I like about this town. But there are also some disturbing trends I think we need to change. Amongst them:
1) Taxes are too high
2) Lack of commercial diversity in town forces consumers to drive out of town for most shopping (huge environmental issue in my mind), including the issue of decreasing downtown vitality.
3) Schools that are not educating every child.
The ability and willingness to bring change in these areas is my biggest criteria for voting.
Haven't seen much buzz on this topic, and don't know who's behind Orange County Voice, but there's a group in rural Orange passing out information that Orange county is considering what could be some pretty radical changes in the way trash is handled for non-incorporated residents. If this is true, rural residents really need to voice their opinions and concerns.
Part of the "silly season" (thanks to Fred Black for that great term) is the bloom of letters to local papers supporting certain candidates. In some cases, individual expressions seem quite heartfelt, regardless of any larger party or issue contexts. In some cases, the letters seem pretty much obligatory, as if someone feels the endorsement musn't fail to appear among the other letters -- for example, regarding the Sierra Club endorsements.
Often it seems, however, that there might be a somewhat more coordinated effort to flood the letters pages with statements endorsing a given candidate -- suggesting he or she may be an underdog but with a significant groundswell of public support.
As the county still scrambles to try to find a solution to the impending loss of all landfill space in Orange County, I was happily surprised by an article about mainstreaming the zero waste concept that appeared in today's New York Times. I recognize that the solid waste folks here in the county are way ahead of the game compared to other municipalities in North Carolina, but I wonder if we should be pushing them harder as a community to approach zero waste. I'll admit to being a bit ignorant about the current philosophy of the solid waste authority, so perhaps they are already pushing this. But I have been dismayed by the fact that we do not yet have a small business and residential composting program that can handle organic wastes for those who don't have the option of composting on site. At the very least, it seems like such a program is necessary for capturing food waste from cafeterias, restaurants, and businesses with more than 10 or so employees. I've set up a worm composting bin at work, but I don't believe most workplaces would be willing to go to that length to create a smaller waste st
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