Ruby Sinreich's blog
There is a growing connection between open source geeks, programmers, and local government activists. I love it. One of the great things to come from this is a series of events called CityCamp all around the country. These are well-organized unconferences that bring people together to share ideas, learn about local government, and come up with projects to make their communities better. Last year's CityCamp Raleigh led to the city adopting a formal open source policy. So I thought I'd check it out this year and see what Raleigh has going on.
Last night, the County Commissioners did a pretty good job of displaying why it has been so easy, maybe even necessary, for the County Manager to be such a policy leader. Fortunately, I did see Barry Jacobs really step up and push the board forward on transit. I think he'll be even more effective when joined by 2 or 3 new allies after the general election.
Big items on the agenda included delaying property revaluation, reappointing the defunct Economic Development Commission, and approving a long-awaited transit plan. They managed to do all three, but not without some kicking and screaming. See my live tweetage and other responses on Storify and below.
Early voting is well underway, and many of you have already made up your minds about who to vote for. This is our annual special-rules post to learn who your favorites on this year's ballot. Here's OP's 2012 candidate list including links to all of their websites. And our eletion info in general is at orangepolitics.org/elections-2012.
The rules: only write who you are voting for (and why, if you like). You may also list the people you would vote for if you lived in their districts. Do not refer (by name or specific description) to any candidates that you are not publicly supporting. If you do not follow the rules, your comments will be removed. (You are free to write comments on other posts, or even post your own blog entry, that are critical of the candidates. In fact, you are warmly invited to do so!)
A group of activists led by Julie McClintock will be submitting the following letter to the Chapel Hill Town Council tonight. They seem especially concerned about the amount of development in the future, while I am pesonally more concerned about the nature of that growth. Though I don't fully agree with all of their conclusions and I lack their optimism about being able to meaningfully change the process, I applaud their effort to try to keep CH2020 true to the community's values.
March 25, 2012
An Open Letter to the Chapel Hill Town Council:
The purpose of the 2020 Comprehensive Plan is to hear citizens’ vision for the future and write a vision plan and land use map to make that future a reality. The Town Manager says we are on our way to completing the Comprehensive Plan vision and framework document in June. With utmost respect to the Manager, the Town staff, and the 2020 leadership, many 2020 stakeholders feel that our work to date is far from finished and does not answer the fundamental question the Town Council has asked: How much and in what way do we want to grow?
The leadership team of Chapel Hill 2020 discussed the timeline issue yesterday afternoon. Apparently the conversation was quite passionate and the group is divided with strong opposition to extending from co-chairs George and Rosemary. I'm a bit surprised since they have always said they had an open mind and were committed to getting it done right. I have yet to hear a clear articulation of why this comprehensive plan should be created in less than a year.
I have heard some people raise valid concerns about sustaining people interest for a multi-year process, but I think that points to changes that may be needed in the process. For example, what if the stakeholders only met monthly rather than every 2-3 weeks? What if we let the community lead the process more and didn't lean so heavily on the staff to run things? If you would like to explore these questions rather than rushing to complete, please sign on to our letter asking for more time.
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