It does look like the efforts of the economic development folks at town hall coupled with development pressure are having an effect on Carrboro's downtown. For better or worse, there is a long list of proposals for development that are going to hit the town over the next few years.
Some of the ones I know about include a 100+ unit complex adjacent to the concrete plant and bike trail, a 5 story condo complex behind Cat's Cradle, some sort of mixed use multi-floor thingie where the current Carrboro arts center parking lot is, a remodeling/addition to the "Trading Post", the Weaver Street market sponsored redo of the Norina on Weaver Street and N. Greensboro, some kind of redevelopment of the Andrew-Riggsbee building, and a 2 story mixed use building on Weaver Street that might house a barbeque restaurant. All of these are simply in planning/talking stages and haven't been approved.
Guest Post by Matt Compton
Bob Dumas, the host of radio-station G105's morning "Showgram" is organizing a "Heterosexual Pride Parade" to be held in Chapel Hill a week from Saturday. Anyhow, he's already gone through the proper legal hoops, and if I heard correctly on the radio this morning, he lacks only a central meeting location in order to attain permission from the Town of Chapel Hill.
Apparently, this is for real. Dumas told his listeners that he was expecting a huge crowd to show up for the event, including "hundreds of students." A listener of the Showgram is even manufacturing apparel for the event, which the disk jockey plugged on the radio program this morning.
Dumas and the Showgram are no strangers to controversy. Just months ago, a Durham minister circulated a petition calling for Dumas' resignation after he heard the disk jockey insult American Idols winner Fantasia Barrino as "ghetto" and "low class."
OK, maybe not, but a bunch of folks have been spent some time thinking about how you will be able to get around Chapel Hill and the Triangle area more efficiently and healthily (is that a word?) in the future without having to park your butt on I-40 for two hours daily.
The Town of Chapel Hill's draft Bicycle and Pedestrian Action Plan will be discussed at a public hearing at the Town Council Meeting on Spetember 20. Some of my initial impressions:
Guest Post by Terri Buckner
Periodically on OP the issue of voter-owned elections (also known as Clean Elections) has been raised as a solution to the rampant influence of money in politics. Legislation (SB 760) was before the state legislature last year to give local governments the authority to enact their own clean elections, but it never reached a vote so it will have to be reintroduced this year. Next year will bring us a new round of local elections. How might these elections be different if we had voter-owned elections? Would we see different kinds of candidates? Would there be more openness about controversial issues such as town/gown relationships?
A few folks in Greensboro are putting together an informal gathering to discuss political blogging in North Carolina. They have got local elected officials and prominent bloggers attending from at least Guilford and Orange Counties, we will probably see folks from Wake County and other central parts of the state as well.
It is being modelled on the BloggerCon gatherings that have challenged traditional conference formats. I think the Piedmont Blog Conference should be interesting to anyone who enjoys reading or writing blogs. Y'all come!
What: Discussion of weblogs and politics, weblogs and media, weblogs and...
When: Saturday, August 28, 2004, 9 AM
Where: 620 South Elm Street, Greensboro, NC
Who: Candidates, bloggers, media, readers...moderators include Matt Gross, Ruby Sinreich, David Hoggard, and Ed Cone
How much: Free
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