October 2009

How the Town of Chapel Hill stole Halloween

"This is a local event,” Mayor Kevin Foy said in an official Town video. “If you can walk to Halloween, you’re invited. If you can’t, don’t come.”

Wow. Watch the Youtube clip. Lame.

(3 min 15 sec) CUE CREEPY MUSIC and Watch Mayor KEVIN FOY DISAPPEAR INTO A MISTY FOG CLOUD. REALLY? Really Chapel Hill? You can't make this Homegrown Halloween initiative "cool" with special effects or rationalization. Limiting the growth of events like Halloween hurts the "Brand" of our Town and ultimately has a negative effect on our Local Economy.

Weaver Street Market Annual Meeting

Sunday, October 25 at the Carrboro Century Center
6:30 pm Local Food Tasting
Meeting 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm


The Annual Meeting is an opportunity to share your thoughts, find out what your fellow-owners are thinking, and have an effect on our future together.

• Engage in lively dinner conversation about the Co-op of the future!
• Hear the "State of the Co-op" reports from the General Manager and the Board of Directors!
• Hear Michael Shuman Speak on "Building a Local Food System" - Get your ticket now! • 4th Annual Cooperative Community Fund Awards!
• Meet the candidates for Board of Directors!
• Vote for a candidate for the Board of Directors!
• Raffle prizes!

Date: 

Sunday, October 25, 2009 - 2:30pm to 5:00pm

Location: 

Carrboro Century Center

Signs 2009

Anyone have any comments about the good, bad and ugly in the signs this year?   Here are photos I took yesterday:

Peace for Yonni

Many of you know that local civil rights activist and historian Yonni Chapman has been struggling with cancer. Last night he peacefully ended that battle. Here's part of the touching e-mail that his daughters Sandi and Joyce sent out last night:

Yonni lived his life for The Struggle but has spent the last 29 years with his own intense struggle to live with cancer. His struggle is over, but our struggle continues and what he would want from all of us is to use his passing to renew our commitment to justice, equality and to each other as sisters and brothers. We'd like a few days just to be on our own so we probably won't be answering the phone right away. We'll be organizing a celebration of his life and will contact you all as soon as that plan is made. For now, please just send him your best wishes to speed him on his way home.

Yonni gave so much of himself to this community, and I have no doubt that we are a more just and equitable place because of it. I also think I'm a better person for having been poked, prodded, enlightened, and inspired by his work. 

African-American Representation on the Chapel Hill Town Council

Whether it is by accident or amounts to a local tradition, the Chapel Hill Town Council has had African-American representation continuously ever since the election of Hubert Robinson in 1953.  Since that time, R. D. Smith, Bill Thorpe, Roosevelt Wilkerson, Barbara Booth Powell, Edith Wiggins and Jim Merritt have maintained a continuous presence on the Council. 
 

Helping Homeless Men

I watched Monday night's public hearing on the IFC's proposed new shelter on Homestead Road with dismay. Every time the IFC identifies an affordable parcel of land appropriate for a new Homestart shelter, the neighbors object. Although the Town Council does a good job of responding to the concerns of neighborhoods, this time we have a pickle. The shelter has to move. It cannot stay downtown and achieve the type of service the town and the IFC want to provide to our homeless male population. To help promote a more positive dialogue, I'd like to propose that we stop talking about "the shelter" and begin discussing the various services currently offered by the IFC and the new proposed services.

The current shelter offers three primary services: overnight beds, job and life counseling, and meals. Those who wish to spend the night at the shelter must be clean and sober, and they have to be inside by 8:00 pm and gone by early morning. Counseling is obviously used by those who desire the service. Meals are available to men, women, and children, whether they stay in the shelter or not. Many of those who use the meal service are the underemployed. 

The most important endorsement

...Yours!  The most influential endorsements of all are the opinions of people you know and trust.  This is our annual special-rules post to share YOUR favorites on this year's ballots. Here's OP's candidate list complete with links to all of their websites.

Czajowski's Attitude Toward Homeless Disconcerting

Since the Chapel Hill News regularly posts FIVE pro-Czajowski letters to every ONE pro-Kleinschmidt letter, I thought maybe they just weren't getting enough, so I submitted one this week.  I guess lack of Kleinschmidt letters isn't the issue, as this wasn't published and the ratio was 9 to 2 for Czajowski.  I post here because there's no editorial board to stop me!!

Justice United meeting last night

I went to the Justice United meeting last night - it was energizing. Congregations and citizens from all over Chapel Hill and Carrboro attended.  All were focused on the betterment of our community. Those of us in attendance who are running for public office committed to meeting for two hours with Justice United within 90 days of being elected, at their request.  Here is a link to a write-up on the meeting: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local_state/story/159876.html.

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