February 2012
Chapel Hill 2020 Special Presentation: State of the Community
A special presentation will be given on the topic of the state of
the community. The speaker will be Aaron Nelson, Chapel Hill-Carrboro
Chamber of Commerce President and CEO and Foundation Executive Director.
For more information on this presentation, see the "State of the Community" News Release.
These special presentations are a part of the Town's Chapel Hill 2020
process:
The community and the Town Council have asked for a new
Comprehensive Plan to reexamine the vision for Chapel Hill and to plan
together for our community's future. The new planning and visioning
document will create a framework for the community to guide the Town
Council in managing Chapel Hill's future over the next 10 years.
Chapel Hill 2020 is a plan that involves Chapel Hill, every
community, every race, every age, every culture, every corner. What is
in Chapel Hill 2020 will directly affect you -- your values, your
ambitions, your family, your future. You have made Chapel Hill your
town, and we want to hear from you. Check the blog for the latest ... www.2020buzz.org
For more information about Chapel Hill 2020, visit chapelhill2020.org.
Date:
Monday, February 6, 2012 - 12:00pm to 2:00pm
Location:
Council Chamber, Chapel Hill Town Hall
Chapel Hill 2020 Special Presentation: OWASA and our Water Supply
A special presentation will be given on the topic of the
community's water supply by representatives from OWASA. More
details regarding this presentation will come soon.
These special presentations are a part of the Town's Chapel Hill 2020 process:
The community and the Town Council have asked for a new
Comprehensive Plan to reexamine the vision for Chapel Hill and to plan
together for our community's future. The new planning and
visioning document will create a framework for the community to guide
the Town Council in managing Chapel Hill's future over the next 10
years.
Chapel Hill 2020 is a plan that involves Chapel Hill, every
community, every race, every age, every culture, every corner. What is
in Chapel Hill 2020 will directly affect you -- your values, your
ambitions, your family, your future. You have made Chapel Hill your
town, and we want to hear from you. Check the blog for the latest ... www.2020buzz.org
For more information about Chapel Hill 2020, visit chapelhill2020.org.
Date:
Monday, February 6, 2012 - 5:00pm to 7:00pm
Location:
Council Chamber, Chapel Hill Town Hall
As my past
posts have indicated I’ve had a growing frustration with the Chapel Hill 2020
process over the past couple of months. This evening’s transportation Tavern
Talk has at least begun to change my mind. Unlike many other Chapel Hill
2020 events, the night was unstructured. And I think that was part of what made
it such a success.
Chapel Hill Special Topic: Light Rail and Bus Rapid Transit -- Chapel Hill's Future Transit Network
Presentation by David Bonk, long range and transportation planner for the Town of Chapel Hill.
Date:
Friday, February 10, 2012 - 12:00pm to 2:00pm
Location:
Council Chamber, Chapel Hill Town Hall
Special Topic: Chapel Hill's Police and Fire Departments - An Overview
Presentation by Police Chief Chris Blue and Fire Chief Dan Jones.
Date:
Thursday, February 9, 2012 - 12:00pm to 2:00pm
Location:
Council Chamber, Chapel Hill Town Hall
A few years ago, did you imagine you would find yourself wondering whether the Orange County Board of Commissioners supported basic progressive causes like enhanced public transit and smart land use planning?
There's only a small number of properties in Carrboro and Chapel Hill that make any sense as takeover targets, so it shouldn't be too hard to guess which one is up next. As the incidident at the CVS site in Carrboro shows this small group isn't ready to give up, even after being subjected to the violence of ice cream and politely being asked to leave.
So, what's up next? Greenbridge again?
Details to come, but really should have a fun evening with OP fans to watch CH candidate Augustu Cho's new movie
Date:
Friday, June 29, 2012 - 7:00pm to 9:00pm
From CarrboroCitizen.com:
Neighbors of 201 N. Greensboro St. are invited to a meeting on Feb. 8 from 7-9 p.m. at Carrboro Town Hall to discuss the proposed CVS development project.
This will be the last neighborhood meeting before a public hearing. Attendees will be updated by developers on plans for the second floor and will hear answers to questions and concerns addressed at the previous meeting in December.
To ensure all questions will be answered at the meeting, email any questions you might have to Chris Bostic at chris.bostic@kimley-horn.com.
Date:
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 - 7:00pm to 9:00pm
After reading the article
'No' vote frustrates critics" in the Chapel Hill News I felt compelled to correct the record. When Council viewed a video showing a representation of Charterwood, presented by the Charterwood applicant, only the Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd side was shown. Similarly, the lead article Jan. 30 in the CH News presented one flawed side of a decision, repeating applicant claims, without ever turning the corner to see the other views.
On July 8th, 2008, BEFORE the Altemueller property was purchased, I met with current owner of the property, Bill Christian, at his request, to discuss his pending purchase. At that time, I pointed out the Northern Area Task Force recommendations for this specific property. (Note: the article refers to a development submission in 2007.) The Task Force looked at 367 acres of development potential and felt that it was important enough to single out ONLY the approximately 14 acres of Altemueller property for special consideration.
That didn't take long: in a new blog post,
the Carrboro Commune announces they're going to be doing some illegal gardening. The fence that's supposed to be going up will prevent some of that if they can get it installed before March 8, but I imagine a fence isn't going to stop anarchists given you can either hop the fence or cut through it at night.
The interesting thing about the announcement to me is they now have a press contact, Maria Rowan, and are linking to press coverage of the event. I wonder if Maria will wear a black mask to the event?
http://carrborocommune.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/carrboro-commune-announces-guerilla-gardening-day/
Tonight’s theme group meeting took a different form from those past (see my post on the first and second theme group report outs). After the usual introductions and settling down, Rosemary Waldorf, one of the two co-chairs of the 2020 process updated the participants on the timeline and outlined some results of discussions from the Town Council Retreat that took place over the weekend.
Yesterday I received a call from a woman who lives in a tent she assembled in the woods east of the railroad tracks near land that Chapel Hill purchased from the estate of Leo Merritt. I have known her for several years and she has been a part of the downtown Carrboro community for a long time. I had mixed emotions about what she had to say. She is moving next month to be with another member of her family in a nearby state. On the one hand, I am happy for her that she will (presumably) have more formal housing arrangements, but on the other hand I will miss seeing her around Carrboro.
UNC Young Democrats is hosting Rep. David Price who will give a short lecture followed by a question and answer segment. This event is open to the public.
Date:
Monday, February 13, 2012 - 7:00pm to 8:00pm
Location:
UNC Campus, Manning Hall, Room 209
The Chapel Hill 2020 process has a special presentation on Friday 2/10 at noon in Town Council Chambers,
" The Light Rail and Bus Rapid Transit: Chapel Hill's Future Transit Network."
Here's a link to the PR:
http://www.ci.chapel-hill.nc.us/index.aspx?page=22&recordid=4534&returnURL=%2findex.aspx%3fpage%3d1656
Based on much experience with presenter David Bonk, even though he'll be dressed in a suit, he will be plenty willing to move the event into informal discussion. I'm hoping for some turnout, as I believe the local public needs to get more familiar with these alternatives as the Orange Commissioners move now into finalizing a bus and rail plan.
I plan to attend, traveling there and back by bicycle on what promises to be a nice day weatherwise.
BTW, thanks for folks starting to pay much attention to the Orange Commissioners' discussions, including attending and speaking at their meetings. The work session at Southern Human Services Center next Tuesday night won't have public comment, but should have interesting discussion.
Thousands of people took to the streets today in North Carolina’s capital city. HK on J (Historic Thousands on Jones Street) is an annual civil rights and progressive issue-based march in Raleigh, NC. The 6th annual march happened yesterday morning. It was really empowering to see so many people there supporting equality, voting rights, and social justice. And it was great to see Rep. Miller marching too.
Note: All the following maps were made by my resident GIS specialist, Jason Baker. Use the checkboxes to toggle the display of old/new districts.
The events in state politics over the last two weeks have served as a reminder that election season is now here. Candidate filing for the May primary starts today. This will also be the first election to use the newly drawn maps for the NC House, NC Senate, and US House districts. These maps alter (rather drastically, in some cases) how Orange County is represented at the state and federal level, so I thought it would be helpful to provide a summary of the changes in each district.
If you know anyone with a teen who's got a learner permit or recently got their license please let them know about this hand's on drivers school. All of the driving schools I know of just have kids drive around in normal traffic. This school is about getting experience driving in adverse conditions. What happens when you stomp on the brake in the rain? What do you do if your car starts to skid? The school is an entire day at the same facility used for police driving instruction in Sanford.
The candidate filing period for the May 8 primary elections begins today at noon. In Orange County, 10 seats in various state and county races are up for grabs.
OC Elections Board chair Jim White just called me to ask my thoughts on an early voting location on campus. In fact the location that he and Matt Hughes had been kicking around turns out to be the one that I would have suggested. We talked about some logistical issues and hours (they are leaning towards 11 am to 7 pm there). The Board of Elections met at Rams Head this afternoon !
Chapel Hill 2020 will offer the special topic presentation "Tourism as a
Community-Based Economic Development Strategy" by Laurie Paolicelli,
executive director of the Chapel Hill-Orange County Visitors Bureau. The
public is invited to the presentation to be held at noon Wednesday,
Feb. 22, in the Council Chamber of Chapel Hill Town Hall. The public
event will be aired live on Chapel Hill Government TV-18 and streamed on
the Town of Chapel Hill website at http://www.townofchapelhill.org/index.aspx?page=1850
According to the NC Department of Commerce, visitors traveling to
and within the state of North Carolina spent a record $17 billion in
2010, supporting more than 40,000 North Carolina businesses and directly
supporting 183,900 jobs all across the state. State and local tax
revenues generated as a result of visitor spending total more than $1.5
billion annually.
North Carolina ranks as the 6th most visited state in the United
States. How does Chapel Hill build upon the state's status as a top
destination for visitors? What challenges does the local hospitality
industry face in light of the current economy? What new developments are
taking place? These topics and more will be discussed.
Date:
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - 12:00pm to 2:00pm
Location:
Council Chamber, Chapel Hill Town Hall
On Wednesday
and Thursday of this week, the town of Chapel Hill conducted charrette-style Future
Focus sessions designed to understand how town residents would like to see
Chapel Hill grow from the urban design perspective. The overall event was split into three sessions, one on Wednesday evening and two identical sessions on Thursday. The first session included several presentations on town growth and an urban design exercise where participants were asked to rate 50 different images on their favorableness for fitting in downtown. The second and third sessions were map mark-ups for five study areas along key transportation corridors (i.e. MLK, 15-501 and 54).
Recently the Orange County Democratic Party signed a lease
for office space located at 209 Lloyd Street (Suite 310 – back of the building)
in Carrboro. The office is very amenable to what the Party’s work will be in
2012 and hopefully beyond into the future.
Currently, we’re allowing the Coalition to Protect N.C.
Families, OCDP is a coalition partner, to use our office space for the purposes
of turning out the vote against Amendment 1. This is just part of the strategy we've adopted in promoting Democratic values in Orange County and statewide, especially since Orange County, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough all offer same-sex partner benefits that will be unconstitutional under this amendment.
This year will be a tough one, but will be one where we will
fight night and day until November 8th to play our part in taking
back the General Assembly and defeating Pat McCrory. We also will be pushing
forward in promoting our candidates in Orange County in the general election.
Subject to expected State approval, the Orange County Board of Elections has published the locations and dates/hours for early voting for the May 8 primary.
Last night, the Orange County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to set June 30, 2013, as the closing date of the county’s municipal waste landfill, and to pursue a costly interlocal agreement to ship our trash to Durham’s waste transfer station.
"Personally I'm really tired of municipal problems being solved by
putting them in rural areas," he said. "I would encourage Mayor Chilton
to come back with a site in Carrboro." ~ BOCC Member Barry Jacobs, quoted in the News & Observer February 23, 2012
Now I admit to coming late to the party although I have been paying attention to this issue for several years (yeah, years if you can believe it). But it seems to me that Mr. Jacobs, for whom I have great respect for his years of service, missed a crucial point that could alter his perception on this issue.
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2012/02/quickpay-turns-your-smartphone-into-a-parking-attendant/
The biggest hassle in using the town lots, besides finding a space, is paying. With few pay stations there's almost always a line. This would be a lot quicker and easier, and even if it attracted only 25% of parkers that would lessen the line to pay.
Earlier this evening town staff briefed the public on the results from the Future Focus sessions held last week. The meeting followed a pretty basic format. During the first and last 30 minutes, participants were free to roam around five different rooms, one or each of the special study areas that town previously identified. In the hour between, Mary Jane Nirdlinger, the town’s assistant planning director, gave a presentation synthesizing the results while taking questions from the audience.
I attended the NHA/Lee Scholars Information Session this evening and I must say, I'm Impressed. As the discussion commenced and powerpoint presentation was shown it became very clear to me that the Chapel Hill/Carrboro City Schools were doing, by charter school criteria, a wonderful job of teaching our children.
The "moral focus" of the teaching process reminded me very much of Positive Behavior Support (PBS) in the middle schools (my children attend Smith.
It was said that the middle school students (they aren't quite there yet but Greensboro is) are taught geometry and algebra in the 8th grade to prepare them for high school. CHCCS has that as a requirement for 8th grade and some students begin algebra 1 in the 7th grade.
When they discussed how each student of NHA managed schools are greeted at the classroom door by the teachers each morning with a bright hello it reminded me of Estes Hills Elementary School under the leadership of Cheryl Carnahan who has turned that school into a School of Excellence. And for the car riders they're greeted in the parking lot! Amazing.
Tonight, the Chapel Hill Town Council will have their first public forum on the FY2012-2013 budget. This is in anticipation of the Manager's presentation of the recommended budget on May 14. The full budget calendar can be found here.
Next week, grassroots Democrats will be convening for their
annual precinct meetings. These meetings will kick off this year’s campaign for
precincts in getting ready for the work ahead.
At these meetings, local Democrats are invited to introduce
resolutions on local, state, and national issues for consideration at the
county convention on April 14. The
meetings will also elect delegates to the county convention (which then elects
delegates to the district and state conventions – the bodies that will elect
delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte).
This year will be a tremendous one and attending these
meetings will be a spectacular launching point for Democratic victory from defeating
Amendment 1 to re-electing President Obama and Democrats from the top of the
ticket, to the bottom.
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