Ruby Sinreich's blog

Oh Good, Another Forum

It doesn't inspire much confidence for me to see Orange County government holding yet another forum about our affordable housing problem. In addition to forums like this, a "summit" a few years ago, and a lengthy report from a well-qualified task force you'd think they'd be up to doing something about affordable housing by now.

In my experience, the County's not even particularly good at the one thing they do, which is disperse the voter-approved bond funds to support the building and acquisition of affordable housing.

Hillsborough Hypocrisy

This week in the News of Orange, columnist Paul Newton invents a new word to describe Hillsborough politics:

NIM-BY-cron-ism (N) (2004): partiality to cronies by elected officials esp. as evidenced through the rejection of development applications without regard to the general welfare and common good of the citizenry who elected them.

I'll admit, my casual following of the debate over siting a new alternative school in Hillsborough's historic district has made the detractors sound pretty bad and made the school into a political ping pong ball. You know that can't be good.

But I don't know much about what's behind this, and Paul's got his own (good) reasons to gripe. Anyone care to enlighten me/us further?

Red Lights Stopped

Here is my recap of tonight's Council meeting. There were jillions of people speaking on Red Light Cameras (RLCs), mostly in favor, including the paid and volunteer lobbyists from the ACS family. Many Council members made a point of saying how glad they were to be able to discuss this heated issue in a reasonable way in the past few weeks. Then after about two hours of hearing citizens and making speeches, they voted in favor of Mark Kleinschmidt's petition to terminate the RLC contract!

I would like to present the following awards:

Most righteous indignation: Edith Wiggins (Red Light Cameras, agenda item # 7)
Runners-up: Dorothy Verkerk, Mark Kleinschmidt, Jim Ward (in that order) .

Why does Edith seem to feel that this issue is such a personal affront to her? She & Cam Hill didn't impress by reading from prepared statements. This let the citizens who took the time to contact them or to come to the meeting in the snow know that their input was not a part of their decision-making process. (Although that was actually the case for the entire Council anyway.)

Got Cabin Fever?

Come on down at 7 pm to the postponed Chapel Hill Town Council meeting and warm up with lots of hot items on the agenda. (Sorry I'm getting a little giddy, I haven't been out of the house in a while.)

I still can't access the Town web site so I can't link to the agenda, but I know they will discuss red light cameras (hopefully ditching them), the latest report from the Horace Williams Citizens Commitee (hopefully adopting it), appointing someone to the Planning Board (hopefully Donna), and much much more. Come say "hi" to new Assistant Town Manager Bruce Heflin! He got out of public works just in time. ;}

Don't be Bored, be on a Board

Hey all you civically engaged readers, here's a public service announcement for you. (Heads up, students.) There are a number of openings on Chapel Hill's advisory boards. I know the County is seeking someone who lives in the ETJ for the Chapel Hill Planning Board, as well a bunch of other positions on boards and commisions. Hillsborough lists their boards and you can see their recent agendas.

Of course Carrboro has openings as well. (Ooops, looks like their site is due for an update. It says "The Town of Carrboro is now accepting applications for its advisory boards for terms expiring in February 2003.") You can even help expand free wireless Internet access all over town!

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