Environment
Gene Nichol moderates this social justice
focused candidate forum on Wednesday, Oct 21 from 7-9 p.m. Hear
candidate ideas and positions on issues like affordable housing,
democracy reform and civil rights, welcoming Chapel Hill's immigrant
and refugee communities, and environmental justice.
Candidate
forum sponsors include: NC Common Cause, Democracy North Carolina,
League of Women Voters, NAACP (UNC Chapter), Justice and Peace
Commission of The Church of Reconciliation. Individual sponsors
include: Rev. Stephen Elkins-Williams (Chapel of the Cross), Rev. Bob
Dunham (University Presbyterian Church), Richard andJill Edens (United
Church of Chapel Hill), and Rev. Peter JB Carman (Binkley Baptist
Church).
Due to other church business that evening, THERE IS NO PARKING AT UUMC. Please plan to use street or other available parking.
Contact Josh Glasser, JGlasser@CommonCause.org or 919-260-1364 for more information
Date:
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 - 3:00pm to 5:00pm
Location:
University United Methodist Church, 150 E Franklin St.
One of the recent threads raised the issue of the unsustainable increases in taxes that Chapel Hill citizens are faced with. I'd be interested in knowing what services/benefits citizens (this includes Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Orange County) would be willing do do without in order to minimize tax increases or to even decrease taxes. Would you be willing to have trash picked up every two weeks instead of weekly? Would you be willing to have recycling every other week as well? What about schools? Would you be willing to have larger class sizes and/or fewer teachers? How about fire/police protection? Would you be willing to have fewer police and fire persons or to have fewer stations and longer response times?
Anyone who watched the Chapel Hill budget process last year knows that the Town Manager and his staff worked hard to cut the budget to the bone, in many cases leaving staff positions unfilled to make the Council-requested percentage cuts. Although I don't believe public safety was jepoardized by these cuts it is hard (for me, at least) to see where any future cuts might come from.
Recently I’ve been thinking about Barack Obama, Henry Louis Gates, Van Jones, and Greenbridge.
When tension around race comes up, our society has a really difficult time differentiating between individual incidents of incivility and patterns of bias. South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson thinks that an apology for his single act of disrespect is enough. But others see his “You Lie” comment towards the President to be part of a larger racial pattern questioning Obama’s authority. Henry Louis Gates saw being arrested in his own home in the light of a larger pattern of racial profiling. The police officer who arrested him thought he was just arresting a guy who threatened his authority.
Closer to home, Greenbridge and its developers continue to come under criticism for gentrifying Northside, and some attacks this summer called the Greenbridge developers racist. UNC-NOW and other Greenbridge critics see this project as a part of the larger pattern of African-American displacement in Chapel Hill. Not surprisingly, Greenbridge’s developers say they’re just one project impacting the neighborhood, and one that came relatively late to the gentrification party at that.
Found on Sierra Club website, but not a Sierra Club event.
Orange County Environmental Summit
Saturday, September 12, 10 a.m-12 p.m.
North Carolina Botanical Garden's Education Center, Chapel Hill
(Old Mason Farm Rd.)
This event is not sponsored by the Sierra Club. The following
paragraph was adapted from a portion of a press
release by the Orange County Environment and
Resource Conservation Department.
Keynote
speaker Dr. Larry Band will discuss storm water sustainability in
Orange County watersheds. Dr. Band is the Director of the UNC Institute
for the Environment and a Voit Gilmore Distinguished Professor in the
Geography Department. There will also be a panel of experts who will
discuss issues pertaining to the quality and quantity of water
resources in the county followed by questions from the audience.
Following the summit there will be an optional tour of the Botanical
Garden’s brand new Education Center. This will be the first public
event held at the Center, which was built using a variety of “green
building” technologies intended to achieve LEED-Platinum certification.
Date:
Saturday, September 12, 2009 - 6:00am
Location:
North Carolina Botanical Garden's Education Center, Chapel Hill
Via e-mail from James Carnahan:
Chapel Hill Candidates Forum: Wed, Sept 9, 7-9pm:
Chapel Hill candidates for Mayor & Town Council
will answer questions prepared by the Orange-Chatham
Group of Sierra Club. Questions also can be submitted
from the audience. The event will be carried live on local
cable channel 18. Town Hall, 405 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd.
Chapel Hill. For more info: 942-6114
Date:
Wednesday, September 9, 2009 - 3:00pm
Location:
Town Hall, 405 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. Chapel Hill
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