September 2016

Maximum donation limit CH elections

I just noticed this item on Council's agenda for next week. This allows more money to be donated to local candidates. Subject: Adjust Municipal Campaign Contributions and Disclosure Limits as Required by Ordinance   
Staff: Roger L. Stancil Ralph D. Karpinos
Department: Town Manager Town Attorney  
Overview: Chapter 2, Article IV of the Town Code limits the amount of money that an individual or a political committee can contribute to a Mayor or Town Council candidate’s campaign.  The Ordinance also establishes a maximum contribution that can be made without disclosing the contributor’s name in municipal campaign reports. Ordinance Section 2-73 requires that these amounts be adjusted during even-numbered years and provides criteria for making these adjustments based on changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) since 2009 and number of Town of Chapel Hill registered voters.  
The Town established campaign contribution limits in 1999 pursuant to special legislation enacted by the General Assembly.     

Forums on Judges

Hathaway Pendergrass

2 hrs · Carrboro ·

 

Friday morning Hathaway Pendergrass will be on WCHL at 8:40 am with Aaron Keck to discuss the upcoming Judicial Candidates Forum on September 15 from 6 to 8 pm at the Orange County Courthouse (Mural Courtroom) in Hillsborough. We'll have judicial candidates for the NC Supreme Court, NC Court of Appeals, and 15B District Court. Hope to see lots of interested voters!

The History of Carrboro's Jones Ferry Road

A presentation today at the Chapel Hill Public Library shed some light on the history of Carrboro's Jones Ferry Road, recently the site of road improvements and Michael Brown's latest mural. Learn more in the storify of tweets from the presentation.

Can Visualizations Help Create Better Public Input Processes?

It seems like a cornerstone assumption of any democratic process that the more people who are involved, the better. I absolutely believe this. Whether it’s registering voters, encouraging people to volunteer for town boards, making avenues for giving public input easier, or asking whose voice is missing from the table any time a group of people are gathered, we all have a role to play in increasing the quantity and diversity of people who are involved in making decisions.

But I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how to increase the quality, not just the quantity, of public input in decision-making processes. And I don’t mean berating ordinary citizens for not being public policy experts. Far from it. The responsibility to help people make better decisions sits with those people asking for the input to begin with. And in the case of local governments, the responsibility sits with the governing bodies, and by extension, the staffs, who are managing public input processes.

more judge forums

There are 4 local District Court Judge races. Only Democrats are on the ballot. Two have no competition (Beverly A. Scarlett and Jay Bryan). On the ballot Sherri Murrell has competition (Lunsford Long) but Judge Long has withdrawn from the race but is still on the ballot. Logically everyone should vote for Murrell because if she doesn't win, the current governor could appoint to the future vacancy created by Long. The only real contested race is between Samantha Cabe and Sam Cooper. Tomorrow 9/29/16 there is another forum for the district judges sponsored by Orange Democrats.

REMINDER: District Court Judicial Candidates Forum

The Orange County Democratic Party will be sponsoring a candidate forum with candidates for the Long and Anderson seats on our local District Court. Candidates for these seats include Samantha Cabe and Sam Cooper (Anderson seat) and Sherri Murrell (Long seat).

This forum will take place  Thursday, September 29 from 7:00pm to 8:30pm at the Lake Hogan Farms Clubhouse (101 Commons Way, Chapel Hill). 

This event will be moderated by OCDP Chair Matt Hughes and OCDP Vice Chair Susan Romaine.

The Northside Neighborhood Initiative - Progress & Partnerships

The Northside Neighborhood Initiative was launched on March 9, 2015 as a partnership between the Marian Cheek Jackson Center for Saving & Making History, Self-Help Credit Union, UNC-Chapel Hill, and the Town of Chapel Hill. You can read more about that launch in a prior story on OrangePolitics written by Hudson Vaughn, Assistant Director of the Jackson Center.

Today a celebration was held that included an update on the progress of that Initiative to keep homes affordable, help long-time residents to stay in their homes, and foster good relationships between permanent residents and students. The highlights included:

  • Three homes have been purchased through the Initiative.
  • 31 homes have received repairs.
  • Noise complaints have dropped by 60%.

A summary of the event can be found below in the Storify of the tweets, including details of the work that Orange County Habitat for Humanity is doing to increase the supply of affordable homes in the community.

 

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