czei's blog
The underlying narrative of the election this year has been about growth in Chapel Hill. Runway growth. Incredible growth. Unprecidented growth. Residents are nostalgic for that time 10, 20 or 30 years when the town's growth was so much slower.
The only problem with that narrative is it isn't true. According to the UNC Carolina Population Center, if you compare the growth rates of the state's high tech counties, Orange (Chapel Hill), Durham, Wake, and Mecklenberg (Charlotte), growth rates are now historically low. In fact, if you look at the growth rates during supposed golden age of Chapel Hill, in the 60's and 70's, the growth rate was twice what it is now.
Even if you compare recent growth rates among the state's high tech counties, Orange has the lowest growth rate. Sure, Orange County has grown faster than counties in the middle of nowhere, but Orange is the home to a major economic driver for state, and is right next door to the other fastest growing counties as well.
The recent talk by John Quinterno has been distorted again by CHALT, somehow taking the fact that Chapel Hill and Orange County have grown the least by far of any area of the Triangle and using that as proof of the Town Council's out of control growth policy.
At first the changes to the rules regarding charter schools didn't make sense. What school would hire teachers without college degrees and without doing a background check?
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/03/31/3948579/nc-charter-school-bill-is-very.html
The missing piece was the rise in the number of out-of-state companies that are running for-profit charter schools in NC. The major cost in a school is salaries, so the easiest way to make a profit is to hire teachers with no college degree and limited employment opportunities due to problems that would show up on a background check.
http://www.charlottemagazine.com/Charlotte-Magazine/October-2012/Getting-Schooled/
Sure, that's simplistic, but what other way is there to interpret the legislature's actions?
This time the Carrboro police has been nice enough to clarify the rules ahead of time:
"Hutchison said Carrboro Commune is welcome to protest as long as everyone stays on the sidewalk and out of the street. Anyone crossing the fence onto CVS property at 201 N. Greensboro St. will be warned to leave before officers start charging people with first-degree trespass, she said. Anyone who damages the fence, the building or land will be charged with damage to real property, she added."
Somehow I doubt that the flyer's assertion that all private property is theft is shared by many Carrboro residents.
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.
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