More threats of bix box development looming on our borders:

When M. Travis Blake first pitched the idea of Williams Corners -- a 500,000-square-foot, mixed-use development off U.S. 15-501 and Lystra Road -- residents in adjoining neighborhoods helped him persuade the Chatham County Commissioners to give their approval.

Now Blake is saying a Target or a Kohl's might be among the tenants when the development opens in late 2007. In an e-mail sent this week to residents of Wilders Ridge, an adjacent subdivision, Blake described changes that could be submitted soon for county approval...

Jamie Nunnelly, who received the e-mail, said Thursday she thinks Blake might have engaged in a bait-and-switch maneuver to gain local support.

"One of the things he said to us was, 'Would you rather work with me or would you like to see a big box development?' " Nunnelly said. "He said that to us more than once."
- heraldsun.com: Chatham big box store plan surfaces, 6/9/06

Sounds like a threat as well - as a false choice - to me. The article continues:

Yesterday the Herald reported on WCOM's complaint that the Town of Carrboro was bogging them down by suggesting a public hearing on the proposal to run a flea market in their parking lot.

All WCOM station manager Chris Frank wanted to do was raise a little money for the community radio station.

But he says he dreams of a small community flea market are being derailed by a well-meaning -- but overly complicated -- town bureaucracy...

"It looks like the concerned staff wants to have a public hearing on our 'minor modification,' " Frank wrote in an e-mail Friday. "We can probably say 'so long' to a flea market this season. Heaven help the developer with a substantial project."
- heraldsun.com: Radio station's flea market faces snag, 6/5/06