You may have noticed an editorial in Wednesday’s edition of the Durham Herald-Sun concerning the Chapel Hill 2020 process. It’s author—Chapel Hill resident and writer Joe Buonfiglio—points out some conflicts of interest that may be present in the theme group structure and argues that the public input process will result in a plan with only “the mere appearance of citizens running the narrative.” While Mr. Buonfiglio makes some legitimate points about the weaknesses of the process thus far, I would argue that the 2020 process features more involvement than past planning efforts in Chapel Hill and than can be seen in other similarly-sized cities around the country. 

Durham's  60% to 40% margin for the 1/2 percent transit sales tax eclipsed Mecklenburg's 58-42 margin on its initial vote on the same issue in 1998. In 2012, the two allowed dates for a similar referendum are the primary (currently scheduled for May) and the November general election. Putting the issue on the ballot will involve approval by the Orange County Commissioners, the Durham-Chapel Hill Carrboro MPO, the Burlington-Alamance MPO, and the Triangle Transit Board.

In the past we have looked at candidate yard signs on OP, I thought it might interesting to do the same with mailings so I did some hasty scanning this week. Since I live in Chapel Hill, they are only for Town Council candidates, and it's entirely possible there were other mailings that were not sent to me. But this is what we got at my house...