UNC

It's certainly good news for current and future residents of northern Carrboro that UNC will be leasing land to the town for $1/year. The town will be able to build a fire station for the newly-annexed area for about $2.5 million.

But I have to wonder if Carrboro noticed what happened to Chapel Hill's similarly sweet deal. For decades, the town leased space for it's public works facilities from UNC, also for $1/year. A few years ago UNC decided it needed the land back (to build Carolina North) and Chapel Hill scrambled to find a location to build a new Town Operations Center which is costing the town millions of dollars (but which will rock - although it's not very conveniently located unless you live at the landfill).

Wouldn't it have made sense for Carrboro to build a station on land owned by the town, instead of borrowed? What if UNC decides it needs the land back to build a Carolina NorthWest in 2020?

And is Carrboro going to respond to this gesture the way UNC Assistant Vice Chancellor Bruce Runberg hopes they will:

Let's see... tuition keeps going up... staff and faculty need raises... and the fattest cats on campus get raises based on a bigger percentage of their bigger salaries!

Raspberries to the General Assembly and UNC Board of Governors, for handing out raises to top university officials as if they had already won the lottery.

Raise your hand if you're accustomed to raises of up to 16 percent from one year to the next. That's what we thought.

The UNC Board of Governors approved raises for system presidents of 8 percent to 16 percent. James Moeser, chancellor of UNC Chapel Hill, got a 13 percent hike.

The board said the increases were necessary to keep the state system competitive with other universities nationwide. But it's an all-too-familiar slap to regular folks, including state employees with titles less lofty than chancellor, who are told the budget can't handle more than a 2 percent raise.
- Chapel Hill News, Roses & Raspberries, 11/16/05

UNC announced plans yesterday for a community and university steering committee for planning Carolina North.

I am pretty skeptical about the university's motivations here.

First, why was the Chamber's Community Leadership Council told this before the Town Council? I think it's a real slap in the face not to make the members of Council the first to know. The Chamber may be easier for UNC to work with but it doesn't need the Chamber's approval of its plans, it needs the Town Council's.

Second, why is the university creating a new committee when it still has yet to respond to the report of the Horace Williams Citizens Committee? This group made a lot of very meaningful recommendations, and several Council candidates and progressive groups have formally asked the university to make a response- we have been met with nothing but silence.