Racial & Economic Justice

Whether to do Payment-in-Lieu

The Herald reports that the Carrboro Board of Alermen discussed whether to allow a payment option for developers to meet their affordable housing obligation. We have debated this issue on the Chapel Hill Planning Board as well. So far we have come out against it every time, but there are also some compelling arguments for it.

Developers in Chapel Hill and Carrboro are currently required to include either a certain number of small (< 1,350 & 1,100 square feet) or affordable (<80% of area median income) homes in all residential developments over a certain size. Payment-in-lieu of housing would allow developers to make a financial contribution instead.

What do you all think? Are we missing a chance to support municipal housing efforts, or would we be letting them off the hook too easily and allowing further economic segregation of housing?

What's up with Abbey Court?

For those of you old-timers, maybe this should be entitled "What's up with Old Well". Many of us remember that apartment complex as the cheapest option for student housing when we attended UNC. The apartment complex has shifted to being condos and has experienced a demographic shift so that most of the residents are Spanish-speaking immigrants trying to make ends meet on a less than desirable income.

Can We Just Bus Them to Durham?

The Town is considering locating the homeless shelter in rural Orange County. That's a pretty strong statement about how we see poverty. More than 5 miles from the economic center of town, half a mile from the landfill, and outside the town limits.

I'm not surprised, but I'm disappointed (again) at the approach that seems to treat homelessness as an unsightly blemish on our community rather than a systemic problem for which we all bear some responsibility.

Payday Lending in Carrboro

Many readers of OrangePolitics.org may be aware of the major state and national movements afoot to reign in the activities of predatory lenders – lending institutions that specialize in products for low-income people and that charge exorbitant interest rates. While a battle rages between the cutting edge laws that have been adopted in NC and the federal government’s efforts to prevent state regulation, the cruel reality of payday lending goes on right here in Carrboro.

All Kids Are Gifted

Guest Post by Alan McSurely
Originally published as "School board right to end ‘segregation,'" a letter to the editor of the Chapel Hill News.

Several letters and at least one News & Observer column by Rick Martinez have explicitly attacked the NAACP and, by implication, Valerie Foushee and Elizabeth Carter of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board, for our efforts to provide equal educational opportunities for each differentiated (and gifted) learner in our schools. These attacks suggest an organized effort to racialize this initiative.

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