Ruby Sinreich's blog

Snow Daze - Council Meeting Delayed

Submitted by Ruby Sinreich on January 26, 2004 - 3:32pm

We're covered in ice and snow yet again! Why couldn't we get storms like this when I was a kid and longed for them? Now I am a telecommuter so as long as the power is on, I don't get snow days. :(

Feel free to share your snow stories here in this open thread. Anyone know if the Chapel Hill Town Council is still meeting tonight? Their website is still down!

Red Means Stop

Submitted by Ruby Sinreich on January 25, 2004 - 2:52pm

The Town Council will take up the Red Light Camera issue on Monday. Half of the Council seems squarely and enthusiastically in the pocket of the company that runs the system, in fact they recently held a "forum" in which several of this company's lobbyists were given the Town's bully pulpit to advocate for their client/sponsor, ACS.

Fortunately, Council Member Mark Kleinschmidt has petitioned the Council to return to due process for red-light runners. And the Chapel Hill News weighs in with an editorial in favor of eliminating the program:

There are numerous problems with the concept — technological flaws, incursions on privacy, conflict with state public records law — but the basic issue stems from introducing commercial, for-profit enterprise into a basic governmental law-enforcement responsibility.

Pardon the Rant

Submitted by Ruby Sinreich on January 25, 2004 - 2:12pm

I was about to post about the big decision on Monday about Red Light Cameras, but I am once again stopped in my tracks by the Town of Chapel Hill's website, which is so haphazardly cobbled together that instead of seeing the front page I am seeing this:

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access / on this server.

What the heck is going on? Can someone (Terri?, Paul?) tell me why there isn't room in Chapel Hill's multi-million-dollar town budget for one qualified, full-time webmaster and a consultant to redesign the site and make it useable?

Blogs and TV Don't Mix

Submitted by Ruby Sinreich on January 22, 2004 - 1:21pm

I guess this story continues our on-going documentation of the lazyness of professional journalists. You have to wonder about NBC 17 when they decided to do a story about blogs without talking to anyone but Todd Melet and Henry Copeland. They must have picked up on Todd's spokesperson status from his WCHL editorial calling 2004 "The year of the Blog" a few weeks ago.

Here is how NBC 17 introduced their story: "If you are so inclined, you can snoop inside someone's online diary... It's also an opportunity for local businesses to make more money." That pretty much sums up their story. Yep, voyeurism and capitalism, that's blogging.

Rock n' Roe @ Cat's Cradle

Submitted by Ruby Sinreich on January 21, 2004 - 1:50pm

I'm excited about this event for so many reasons. For more info and to sign up for the march, visit this page I made about the March for Women's Lives.

Local musicians will play Thursday for "Rock 'n' Roe," a concert to benefit the Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina Action Fund and the 2004 March for Women's Lives.

The concert will take place in Cat's Cradle, 300 E. Main St., Carrboro, and feature performers Glory Fountain, Shannon O'Connor, Regina Hexaphone, Ameliorate, Destroyed by Kittens, and Lise Uyanik and the Mobile City Band. The doors will open at 7 p.m.

The March for Women's Lives, organized by a coalition of national women's organizations, will occur on April 25 in Washington.

Tickets for Thursday's concert cost $10.
(Chapel Hill Herald, 1/21/04)

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