September 2012

A Cultural Center for Orange County

OCCC logo

The Orange County Cultural Center (OCCC), a nonprofit cultural arts organization located in Hillsborough, is thrilled to partner with OrangePolitics to help celebrate OP’s 9th birthday on Thursday at Mystery Brewing. The OCCC shares OP’s vision of an open, diverse, and thriving community of ideas where creativity and innovation are nurtured.

We strongly believe that the more rural areas of Orange County are currently neglected in terms of access to arts and cultural events, despite the abundance of nationally known writers, storytellers, artists and other performers who inhabit Central and Northern Orange. There is no large, centrally located performance space serving Hillsborough and rural Orange. Youth do not have a central location for after-school arts programming, often having to drive a significant distance to reach the nearest arts center. The OCCC envisions a cultural arts center in or near downtown Hillsborough. The OCCC will benefit the economic vitality of the region by providing open space and the infrastructure to foster artistic and historic enrichment, collaboration, and education.  

We're 9! Have some birthday treats with us.

First some digital goodies: This site has a few cool tricks and an archive of 3,600 posts that don't get utilized much. One is the random post generator: http://orangepolitics.org/random.  Another is what I call "in review." It allows you filter and sort posts by date and rating to find some of the best (and worst) and most commented posts of previous eras: http://orangepolitics.org/in-review. For example, here are the top rated posts of the past 365 days.

And some less virtual treats: at today's birthday party we'll be serving BBQ sliders, catfish bites, and hushpuppies from Hillsborough BBQ, as well as fresh, delicious beer (by the pint) from Mystery Brewing. And there will also be a limited number of cupcakes from Weaver Street Market's bakery for the early birds.

NC ACLU Takes on Chapel Hill Bus Ad Controversy

About a year ago, the Town of Chapel Hill amended its bus advertisement policy to spell out rules for ads with political messages. In August, the Church of Reconciliation in Chapel Hill placed an ad that shows a Jewish and a Palestinian grandfather each with a grandchild and reads “Join with us. Build peace with justice and equality. End U.S. military aid to Israel.” The ad stirred up a controversy and led to a petition from citizens to change the bus ad policy to disallow such ads. The current policy is available online at http://www.townofchapelhill.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=15328.

On Friday, the ACLU of North Carolina sent a letter to the Chapel Hill town manager and elected officials outlining why changing the bus ad policy would violate the free speech clause of the First Amendment. Below is the ACLU-NC press release. The full letter is available here.

The Social Justice of Public Transit

After years of planning and community discussion, the Orange County Board of Commissioners recently placed a referendum on the November ballot for a half-cent sales tax to support public transit. Together with state and federal contributions, the new revenue will support a 20-year investment in bus and rail service in Orange County. There are many reasons to support the transit tax, like reducing the environmental degradation wreaked by overreliance on car travel and the sprawl it generates. Often overlooked are the benefits of public transit for marginalized populations.

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