Growth & Development

Receuved via e-mail:

"Why Stories Matter: An evening of performance and discussion about development and gentrification in Chapel Hill-Carrboro."
>
> Tuesday, Nov 11
> 8:00 PM
> Bingham 103

Join us as we watch sections of a promotional DVD put together by Greenbridge developers during their plans to build ten story building adjacent to Northside.  We will watch the film in sections, with group discussion and performances by Spoken Word artists and others in between.

-Come out and learn how Chapel Hill and the University are caught up in the globalizing force of development, and the discourse that produces certain understandings of progress and progressive.

-Come out and see the amazing power of performance as an intervention in oppressive discourses and practices.

-Come out and help us think about how the stories we tell about ourselves and others have material and real impacts on humans and communities, how contested definitions of sustainability and community come out of different histories.

Greenbridge is a $50 million mixed-use project going up on the Graham, Rosemary and Merritt Mill Road block of Chapel Hill, bordering the Northside neighborhood, one of the few historically African-American communities in Chapel Hill.  The building will be 10 stories high, more than three times as tall as any surrounding building.  As the group started working on their application for a Special Use Permit from the Town Council for their project, they produced a "documentary" of the history of the community, weaving stories of elderly residents in the area and their vision of "sustainability" in the LEED certified building.

Northside, one of Chapel Hill's most historic neighborhoods, has been a community of  African American families for more than a hundred years. It was an active site of Civil Rights activism, a pioneer in public education for African-Americans in the South, and a place known for vital church communities.  In the 90s there was a community push to clean up the neighborhood, which also made it more lucrative for development.  Now student renters and bigger developments like Greenbridge threaten to price out people on fixed income, long-term residents and keep out families from moving to the area.
 

Via e-mail announcement:

Dear NRG neighbors and supporters:

Mark your calendars for December 10, 2008!  Chapel Hill 2020:  where are we headed?

Neighborhoods for Responsible Growth will hold a public forum on growth, density, and the future vision for our community on the evening of Wednesday, December 10, 2008, in the Chapel Hill Town Council Chambers, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

As our community has grown, the need for a community-wide discussion on how we want our town to look has become acute. More and more citizens are expressing uncertainty and concern about what degree of density is most appropriate for our community, and where the best locations for it might be.

NRG believes that our region will develop best if it develops based on a comprehensive vision that is understood and endorsed by informed citizens. The goal of this forum is to kick off a community-wide discussion of these issues.  NRG will be broadcasting more information as the agenda and speaker list firms up. But for now:

-  Mark your calendar for this event

-  Please forward this e-mail to any and all potentially interested friends and neighbors

-    Please send any questions to NRG by return response to info@nrg-nc.net

 

    Thank you, and please watch for more details on this important event!

 

Julie McClintock and Kristina Peterson

Co-Chairs, NRG

www.nrg-nc.net
info@nrg-nc.net