Economy & Downtown
Chapel Hill's downtown has long benefited from its proximity to a captive audience of University students without cars. While downtowns around the country have been failing, ours has survived fairly well. However, we have seen an increase in the number of chain stores locating downtown, and instability in the Downtown Economic Development Corporation. In the near future, we will see new Town-directed development on two major parking lots have a big impact.
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Carrboro's downtown has also done better than many towns of comparable size, thanks largely to the presence of Weaver Street Market and progressive shoppers from the rest of the county. The Board of Aldermen has been addressing the evolution of the downtown, and have established a number of community resources in the downtown area including free wireless Internet access, and a low-power radio station.
An important, community-wide meeting to learn about and discuss the Chapel Hill Downtown Development Framework and especially its implications for Northside
Citizens of Chapel Hill have a right to opportunities to educate themselves about changes in their community and provide input in the development process
Co-sponsored by The Marian Cheek Jackson Center, Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP, EmPOWERment, Inc., St. Paul A.M.E. Church, St. Joseph C.M.E. Church, Justice United.
For further inquiries email jacksoncenter.info@gmail.comor call (919) 929-6595.
Date:
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - 1:00pm to 3:00pm
Location:
St. Paul AME Church - 101 North Merritt Mill Road
On Monday, Feb 28, the town of Chapel Hill will hold a public forum in response to Lex Alexander's petition to allow food trucks to operate on private property within town limits. Food trucks, such as Parlez-Vous Crepes and Only Burger, have a dedicated following in Durham and Carrboro, but are prohibited by zoning ordinances in Chapel Hill and Raleigh. These businesses are currently required to meet state health department regulations. At the local level, they pay for a variety of licenses, including a business license and an itinerant merchant permit. In Durham, they are required to be "tethered to a brick and mortor kitchen" and they also pay "rent" to the business whose private property they operate from (same as in Carrboro).
I thought this was a very direct point about the philosophical divide on economic development (ED) from the Carrboro Board of Aldermen's recent annual retreat.
The aldermen agreed that some organizations just don't get Carrboro's vision, especially the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, and Orange County's Economic Development Commission, and they wondered aloud whether they should seek support from those two groups for the Think Local First Campaign.
- The Herald-Sun - Carrboro wants people to Think Local First, 2/2/2010
Brian has written about this divide before, but I've never seen it laid out quite so starkly. Can't we all just get along?
The Executive Team of the Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness is interested in ideas for possible social enterprises in the county that could provide sustainable, living wage jobs for our homeless and low-income neighbors.
One possible model is being tried in Cleveland, Ohio, which though a much more urbanized area, could provide an example for us:
This is a spin off from the current thread on economic development. However, since I am addressing two specific items I thought new blog entry was warranted.
The useful life of a significant investment, be it an outlet mall or a residential/retail complex, has to range to at least 20-50 years for there to be an acceptable rate of return, particularly if governmental subsidies or tax incentives are included. Therefore, a large investment like Tanger Outlets (just over the county line) or 140 West Franklin represents a bet on the future. In the case of these two projects the bets on the future could not be more different.
The Tanger Outlet bet is that the future will be very much like the recent past in that low transporation costs will persist, allowing large volumes of goods to be transported long distances to a place where people get in their large personal vehicles and travel 10-100 miles to buy these goods. In aligning themselves with this bet on the future Alamance County is arranging its infrastructure, tax base, and utility services to allow for car travel to shopping destinations along the highway.
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