Mark Chilton's blog
The following is an announcement from the Carrboro Cybrary:
On Wednesday, February 1 at 7:00 pm, the community is invited to the Century Center for a discussion about the social, cultural, and political issues surrounding the growth of the state's Hispanic immigrant population as viewed through the context of Esmeralda Santiago's memoir When I Was Puerto Rican .
Latinos living in North Carolina face both tangible struggles involving language and education and more intangible questions of cultural identity and authenticity. The complexities of the immigrant experience are at the heart of Esmeralda Santiago's memoir When I Was Puerto Rican and are the focus of Carrboro's next Community Book Forum. On Wednesday, February 1 at 7:00 pm, the community is invited to the Century Center for a discussion about the social, cultural, and political issues surrounding the growth of the state's Hispanic immigrant population. The discussion will touch on Santiago's book, the current debate surrounding immigrants in the state's higher education system, and the experience of Latinos in our own communities.
This Monday (May 23) the Orange County Commission will be holding a public hearing on a proposal to downzone most or all of the land in its planning jurisdiction. The purpose of this initiative is to stop suburban sprawl from overtaking the rural areas of the County. And I think we should all be in support of that goal. Preserving the remaining farm land in our community is not merely an aesthetic issue, it is also a national and regional security issue. (What will happen to the availability of food as the price of shipping our food across the globe increases?)
However, the County is missing the boat on one important issue. While we do need to find more sustainable ways to grow, we also need to ensure that we will have areas where we can grow sustainably. Rather than eliminating the possibility of new residences in the unincorporated areas of the County, we could be transferring the presently allowed density into a few, well-chosen sites. That is, we should keep the dwellings, but have them be in appropriate locations (where there is potential sewer-access, low-impact on streams, potential access to public transportation etc.)
This word is just in from a source who spoke with the Governor's office. The new Superior Court Judge for Orange and Chatham counties will be . . .
District Attorney Carl Fox!
According to Gerry Cohen, an attorney for the North Carolina General Assembly (and who is not the source who spoke to the Governor's office), Article 4 section 18 of the North Carolina Constitution gives the Governor the power to appoint an interim District Attorney when there is a vacancy in the office, so the next question is who will the Governor appoint to replace Carl Fox?
Seems like the Governor would not create a vacancy unless he knew how he was going to fill it. We shall see . . .
Meanwhile, congratultions to Carl Fox!
The Chapel Hill Town Council finally bit the bullet and made this name change. Seems like this was not a great process no matter how you slice it. Next question: What should they rename Martin Luther King Street over off of Legion Road?
I'm serious. The previous MLK Street in the Public Housing neighborhood off Legion Road will need to be renamed now that Airport Road is to have the MLK moniker. I have a suggestion, though some might feel that it fails to get away from our history of naming Public Housing streets after African Americans: How about naming the street for late Councilmember Barbara Booth Powell.
Many of you may not remember Councilmember Powell, but she served in the mid 1990's until her untimely death from cancer. Barbara served on the Council with me and was an outstanding advocate for affordable housing and public housing. Her leadership was critical to the development of the Rainbow Heights public housing in Chapel Hill. Her career was spent working for the state of North Carolina in the Department of Commerce investing in affordable housing and economic development projects across North Carolina.
The Town of Carrboro is holding a forum for the discussion of the Carrboro Downtown Transportation Study. This is a great chance for folks to hear about different options that the Town is looking at. Possibilities include limiting cars on Weaver Street, installing roundabouts on Main Street, bigger sidewalks and more on-street parking. Come check it out Thursday Dec. 2 at 6:30 at the Century Center.
Here's the invite on the Town website (www.townofcarrboro.com):
Please plan to attend a community forum on the draft Carrboro Downtown Transportation Study, to be held on Thursday, December 2 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in Century Hall of the Carrboro Century Center, located at the corner of Greensboro and Weaver streets in downtown Carrboro.
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