February 2014

The Orange County Board of Elections met today to discuss early voting sites for the 2014 elections and beyond.

At the heart of the discussion today was what an on-campus voting site at UNC could be. In other parts of the state, such as Watauga and Pasquotank counties, students have seen their voting rights undermined through the loss of on-campus voting sites and challenges to student residency. While no such issues have emerged yet in Orange County, there has been some speculation that the Republican-majority Orange County Board of Elections might not maintain an on-campus voting site for UNC students for upcoming elections.

However, that speculation seems to have been brought to an end today, when Board Chair Kathy Knight said emphatically, "This board is not Watauga [County]." As the live tweets from today's meeting (below) show, it appears the Board of Elections is committed to having an early voting site on campus. The Board did not make any final decisions on voting sites today, but finalists for the on-campus site appear to include Cobb Residence Hall, Hillel, and the Stone Center.

I already wish I had never heard the term "freezing fog." What is this fresh, freezing cold, hell?

I'm sitting in my home office looking out on Umstead Drive where the cars have been sitting still for at least the last 10 minutes. Have heard reports of at least two people who got stuck and are walking home miles in the snow. 

Apparently, this is the stormaggeddon we've been waiting for.  I can't wait until it freezes tonight!

How are y'all doing?

Google just announced that it's inviting 34 cities to "explore what it would take to bring them Google Fiber." Carrboro and Chapel Hill are among those 34 cities as a part of the Raleigh-Durham metropolitan area. Other area cities invited as part of the metro area include Cary, Durham, Garner, Morrisville, and Raleigh.

Google Fiber is the next generation of Internet access — Internet that is up to 100 times faster that current basic broadband access.

From Google's official blog:

We aim to provide updates by the end of the year about which cities will be getting Google Fiber. Between now and then, we’ll work closely with each city’s leaders on a joint planning process that will not only map out a Google Fiber network in detail, but also assess what unique local challenges we might face. These are such big jobs that advance planning goes a long way toward helping us stick to schedules and minimize disruption for residents.

We’re going to work on a detailed study of local factors that could affect construction, like topography (e.g., hills, flood zones), housing density and the condition of local infrastructure. Meanwhile, cities will complete a checklist of items that will help them get ready for a project of this scale and speed. For example, they’ll provide us with maps of existing conduit, water, gas and electricity lines so that we can plan where to place fiber. They’ll also help us find ways to access existing infrastructure—like utility poles—so we don’t unnecessarily dig up streets or have to put up a new pole next to an existing one.

You can read more about what could potentially be coming to Carrboro and Chapel Hill at Google Fiber's website.

On Monday, 2/24, the Chapel Hill Town Council will debate on passing a resolution calling upon the State Legislature and the Governor to expand Medicaid. This is an opportunity, under the Affordable Care Act, to enroll up to 500,000 uninsured adults in our state whose income is below 138% of the Federal Poverty Line.  Similar resolutions have been past by the Durham City Council and the Orange County Board of Commissioners.

The Resolution points out that our NC State Legislature can at any time accept available federal money to expand Medicaid to our poorest NC citizens. This would provide about 30,000 medical jobs in our state and insure that NC tax dollars stay in NC to serve our citizens and our state economy.

Kathleen Murray

Member of Healthcare for all NC 

Long before European settlers came here, Native Americans lived in the area that is now Orange County. Native Americans created a prominent village on the banks of the Eno River—centuries before the place came to be called Hillsborough. Through the village of the Occaneechis ran a well-established path—a path which the Europeans called the Indian Trading Path, the Catawba Path, the Old Trading Path, or the Western Trading Road. In its full extent, the Trading Path ran from the vicinity of Petersburg, VA, to Mobile, AL.

More locally, the Trading Path had a well defined route from the Eno River to the Haw River. West from the Eno River, it more or less followed the current route of Old NC 10, Bowden Road, and Old Hillsborough Road to the present site of the Hawfields Presbyterian Church on NC Hwy 119.

The news much awaited by transit supporters in Orange and Durham Counties finally came yesterday when the Federal Transit Authority (FTA) announced approval of Triangle Transit's request to enter Project Dvelopment phase on the 17-mile Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit Project. More details can be found in this press release:

DURHAM-ORANGE LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT PROJECT

GETS FEDERAL GO AHEAD FOR PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

 

Research Triangle Park, NC (2-25-14) – The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced today that Triangle Transit’s request to enter Project Development on the 17-mile Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit Project has been approved. 

 

“We are pleased with FTA’s decision,” said Fred Day IV, Chair of the Triangle Transit Board of Trustees.  “This represents an important milestone in the course of this project.”

 

Triangle Transit General Manager David King said, “We can now proceed to complete the environmental process, advance our engineering and make final alignment decisions.  We will also use this time to strengthen our financial plan and work with our municipal and university partners on land use and housing issues around stations.  We appreciate FTA’s vote of confidence in our work on this project.”

 

Triangle Transit asked the FTA for entry into the New Starts program in December 2013.  A Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 will be completed by January 2016.

 

The light rail line would run from Chapel Hill to East Durham with proposed stops as UNC Hospitals and UNC, Mason Farm Road, Friday Center, Hillmont, Leigh Village, Patterson Place, South Square, Duke University, Duke University Medical Center, the VA Medical Center, downtown Durham and Alston Avenue/NC Central University.

 

The Project Development phase is scheduled to take two years. Project Development is followed by a three year phase called engineering.   Construction would follow the engineering phase and would likely take four to five years before light rail service could begin.  More information is available at ourtransitfuture.com.

 

The project cost is estimated at $1.34 billion dollars (in 2012 dollars).  Voters in Durham and Orange counties have approved a one-half cent sales tax to fund the local share of the rail project along with new and expanded bus service.