January 2012
This weekend, a group of people who have been involved since the very beginning of the Chapel Hill 2020 process (including the editors of OP) drafted a letter to town leaders asking them to take more time. You can see it at http://bit.ly/ch2020-letter. Currently the entire timeline from kick-off to plan approval is less than 8 months. Last week when UNC planning Professor David Godschalk gave a talk about comprehensive planning, he referenced the plan done in Fort Collins, CO which took 18 months to complete. That is the fastest of any of the other examples I've heard. The City of Austin is currently reviewing a draft plan after spending almost a year and a half on their visioning process alone.
No, no, really (he says, doing his very best, over-the-top, under-the-weather Ricky Gervais). Bear with me for a sec. If those who advocate for corporations to be persons (*cough* *hack* -- the 1%) follow through consistently with their political beliefs (granted, with Gingrich and Romney as standard-bearers, not very likely – but this is my satirical piece, so let me finish) …
Anyways, if corporations are persons (especially those megadeath Wall Street banks), then it follows (a la Tea Party Republicans in Mississippi) that they are persons from the point of their conception.
Now, bearing in mind that it can take years, if not decades, for corporations to be incorporated (and, therefore, start to pay taxes), long after they have been conceived, I would say that most of America’s corporations (keep thinking, megadeath Wall Street banks) owe gazillions in back taxes. Cha ching!
Back to Tea Party Republican principles, if corporations are persons, then you can’t abort them. So, all those insolvencies are now redundant. And a whole slew of ‘former’ corporations owe another huge chunk of back taxes. Double cha ching!!
Passing on an invitation from a friend:
Dear Friends,
I've mentioned the 100,000 Homes Campaign and my work as the Coordinator here in the Triangle to many of you. NOW is the time to consider volunteering. Read on for more information....
The national 100,000 Homes Campaign is a grassroots effort to find and place the most vulnerable, long-term homeless individuals into 100,000 households across the country by July 2013. To learn more about the campaign, please click here and be inspired by these videos: 100K Homes Introduction , 100K Homes Registry Week
As part of the national campaign, the United Way of the Greater Triangle, the Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness and the Wake County Partnership to End Homelessness are planning a weeklong effort called “Registry Week” to identify and help persons who are homeless obtain and sustain permanent housing.
The goal of Orange and Wake Counties’ Registry Week is to create a by-name registry of people living on our streets and in shelters, enabling us to prioritize those who have significant medical issues and have been homeless the longest. The Vulnerability Index is administered in the form of a survey, which captures a homeless individual’s health and the duration of his/her homelessness. This ranking allows those with the most severe health risks to be identified and prioritized for housing and other support. What we learn together during Registry Week will help us reduce chronic homelessness in Wake and Orange counties.
We are recruiting dedicated volunteers to canvass streets and shelters to survey the most vulnerable homeless individuals and families. To ensure the most accurate count possible, we will survey individuals during the early morning and evening hours for three consecutive days. The survey findings will be presented at a community debriefing at the conclusion of Registry Week on Friday, January 27th.
Volunteer opportunities include:
Administering surveys to homeless individuals on the streets, in campsites and shelters throughout Orange and Wake Counties in early morning and evening hours
Entering survey data at the United Way offices in Morrisville
For more information about training times and volunteer opportunities, check out visi thttp://www.unitedwaytriangle.org/100khomes/
Consider joining us in two weeks and help us end homelessness in our community.
Best,
chantelle
Chantelle Fisher-Borne
Coordinator, 100K Homes – Triangle Registry Week
cfisherborne@unitedwaytriangle.org919 260 2189
Date:
Saturday, January 21, 2012 - 12:00pm to Friday, January 27, 2012 - 12:00pm
The leadership team of Chapel Hill 2020 discussed the timeline issue yesterday afternoon. Apparently the conversation was quite passionate and the group is divided with strong opposition to extending from co-chairs George and Rosemary. I'm a bit surprised since they have always said they had an open mind and were committed to getting it done right. I have yet to hear a clear articulation of why this comprehensive plan should be created in less than a year.
I have heard some people raise valid concerns about sustaining people interest for a multi-year process, but I think that points to changes that may be needed in the process. For example, what if the stakeholders only met monthly rather than every 2-3 weeks? What if we let the community lead the process more and didn't lean so heavily on the staff to run things? If you would like to explore these questions rather than rushing to complete, please sign on to our letter asking for more time.
Last night marked the first meeting of the Orange County Board of Commissioners this year and hopefully the first post in a push by OrangePolitics to take a deeper look at the board and its biweekly meetings. Since the board had not met in over a month, the agenda was quite crowded, but a few items are worth delving into.
Race to the Ballot, a statewide campaign to raise awareness of the effects of Amendment One, the current hate campaign against gay and lesbian North Carolinians, will arrive in Chapel Hill on February 16.
Over a five-week period, from January 27 to March 2, 2012, Protect NC Families Communications Director Jen Jones, trailed by a team of campaign organizers, social media street teams, and documentarians, will run 322 miles across the state of North Carolina, from the mountains of Asheville, N.C., to the coastal city of Wilmington, N.C., to raise awareness about the harms of the Amendment.
You and your friends can participate in the race and invest in its success.
Race to the Ballot will support the voter education and registration efforts of the Coalition to Protect NC Families.
Date:
Thursday, February 16, 2012 - 12:00pm to 9:00pm
Just received this email:
James,
Because your support has been so important to me, I wanted you to hear from me that I will not seek another term in Congress.
Serving in Congress has been a remarkable opportunity. Thank you.
I knew Republicans in the legislature would
dismantle the district that I have represented for the last decade, and
they did. The thirteenth district was split six ways. I also knew that
they would create one packed Democratic district in the Triangle, so
that all the surrounding districts would be Republican, and they did. I
knew that both David Price and I would both reside in that district, and
we do. And I knew that the district would include the neighborhoods
that we have each looked to for our support, and it does.
The Chapel Hill 2020 team invites the public to “Future Focus,” work
sessions scheduled Feb. 15-16 at the UNC-Chapel Hill Friday Center to
explore ideas about growth, change and visualizing our community in
2020.
The input and results of the work sessions will be incorporated
into the ongoing Chapel Hill 2020 planning process. Chapel Hill 2020 is
the community-wide effort to create a new comprehensive plan. The Chapel
Hill visioning process is open to all residents – and others who live,
work, play, study and invest in Chapel Hill.
The February special event will include facilitated roundtables focused on areas of potential growth.
Participants will look to the ongoing Chapel Hill 2020 conversations for ideas about potential types of change.
Participants will explore the fiscal trade-offs for the scenarios.
There will be opportunities for the community to comparee scenarios and
identify preferences.
The work sessions and analysis will be led by Seven Hills Town Planning Group Inc. and Urban Collage.
“Future Focus” community modeling and visualization sessions:
- Wednesday Session: The work session from 6
to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, will be held in Trillium A of the Friday
Center. The session will include an overview of current conditions in
the community, a discussion about growth areas and a focused exploration
of the future vision for downtown. Participants can expect to learn and
share their vision for where change could happen and what change might
look like in Chapel Hill.
- Thursday Sessions: Two identical work
sessions will be offered on Thursday, Feb. 16, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30
p.m. and again from 6 to 8 p.m., both in Trillium A of the Friday
Center. These sessions will be facilitated “roundtables” focused on
areas of potential growth. Participants will evaluate growth areas,
using several scenarios as a starting point, and propose their ideas
about potential types of change. The scenarios will include financial
information, current conditions and potential changes based on the
Chapel Hill 2020 process.
Participants’ input will be collected and analyzed after the work
session and the results will be shared at the Chapel Hill 2020 meeting
scheduled for 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, at Estes Hills
Elementary School.
The community will have an opportunity to consider the analysis
of the work session results, including fiscal trade-offs. They will
compare new scenarios, identify preferences and make recommendations to
the 2020 process. After the Feb. 23 meeting, information will continue
to be available for review and reaction to the work session materials.
For Chapel Hill 2020 meeting materials and news updates, visit the website at www.townofchapelhill.org/2020
To catch the latest comments and posts, visit the blog: www.2020buzz.org
Please help us involve more people who care about our community in planning its future. Contact compplan@townofchapelhill.org or 919-969-5068.
Date:
Thursday, February 16, 2012 - 11:30am to 1:30pm
Location:
The Friday Center, Trillium A
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