bailout
The Conference on Race, Class, Gender, and Ethnicity would
like to announce its 16th Annual Conference, “Waking Up from the
American Dream: The Sober Reality of Class in America.” On Saturday, February
25th, 2012, academics, community activists, practitioners, and students will
come together at the UNC School of Law Rotunda to contribute to the
rejuvenation of a discussion of class and inequality. We hope to encourage a
heterodox approach grounded in the intersection of an honest exploration of
class and the realities of racial, feminist, ethnic, and queer identities and
the law. For more information and to register please visit our website, http://studentorgs.law.unc.edu/crcge/conferences/2012/default.aspx.
Date:
Saturday, February 25, 2012 - 9:00am to 5:00pm
Location:
UNC School of Law, Van Hecke-Wettach Hall, 160 Ridge Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3380
On Monday, Feb 28, the town of Chapel Hill will hold a public forum in response to Lex Alexander's petition to allow food trucks to operate on private property within town limits. Food trucks, such as Parlez-Vous Crepes and Only Burger, have a dedicated following in Durham and Carrboro, but are prohibited by zoning ordinances in Chapel Hill and Raleigh. These businesses are currently required to meet state health department regulations. At the local level, they pay for a variety of licenses, including a business license and an itinerant merchant permit. In Durham, they are required to be "tethered to a brick and mortor kitchen" and they also pay "rent" to the business whose private property they operate from (same as in Carrboro).
From the N&O today:
"The roll call Friday was 277-148 by which the House passed a bill to avoid a
Jan. 1 spike in income taxes, renew jobless benefits and cut Social
Security taxes.
A "yes" vote is a vote to pass the measure."
Representative David Price voted 'yes'. Republican Senator Burr voted 'yes.' And of course President Obama will sign it.
Thank you Senator Hagan! on Wednesday in the Senate vote, she voted 'no.'
A summary of the bill from DemocracyNow yesterday:
There's been a fair amount of hand-wringing about the president's inability to improve the job market, especially without a cooperative Congress. While the president has little he can do directly, there's one idea that hasn't been considered: cracking down on overtime violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
For 40 years, workers and businesses alike preferred a loose enforcement policy on overtime. Many workers who spend far more than 40 hours a week on the job are insulted at being considered an hourly worker, or a non-professional. There was a greater desire for flexible schedules than for time-and-a-half. The notion of overtime is so quaint that most people have probably forgotten that the laws exist and can be used to protect them against unreasonable demands of management.
We thought turnout for the municipal elections in Carrboro was low, but word on the street is that the turnout for the board elections at Weaver Street Market is abyssmal. Apparently
even though many folks in Carrboro are members of the Weaver Street
Market cooperative, only a couple of hundred members actually vote in a
given election for the board. Considering there are probably 10,000+
members (educated guess based on the membership numbers i'm hearing people give at the register these days), that's a 1-2% turnout rate. Considering that the market is
arguably the soul and conscience of Carrboro, it's surprising
that so few people take a moment to learn about the candidates and take
the important step of voting.
This year we're hoping that changes. So
in an effort to promote voting of "consumer-owners", both candidates
for the board have written this piece to get the word out about the
voting, to tell you a little about ourselves, and to encourage each of
you to reach out to your friends and neighbors and encourage them to
vote as well.
Kerr Drugs will soon move from University Mall to a new location on rte. 54.
That may not seem a particularly earthshaking bit of news. However, for those of us who have a long-standing relationship with that pharmacy, it is a bit of a tremor. For those of us watching the economy change the paths and patterns of Chapel Hill, and for those who've kept an eye on the Mall ever since Belk closed and the K&W moved, through at least two (is it?) changes of ownership, it's at the very least a notable rumble underfoot.
As I learned visiting in Florida, Dillard's recently announced that it was closing both Sarasota stores, shocking the non-Saks shoppers in the area and, even more, the other occupants of the Dillard’s-anchored malls. I instantly thought of the valiant survival of our University Mall Dillard's, despite the opening of Southpoint and shifting ideas about the Mall’s target market. It's hard not to wonder whether it can yet survive the shaky consumer economy, especially if the parent company is sharpening its cost-cutting razors.
Worry about the effect of the economic downturn coupled with changes in information technology is generating a lot of consterned discussion among those concerned with the history and future of libraries. Worries start with concern about reducing public access to books and book culture, as well as to the eroding relationship of public and research libraries to the educational system.
But libraries - the municipal buildings themselves and the staff therein - also see challenging changes in their community functions when times get hard.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education meets tonight at 5:30 (closed session at the Chapel Hill Town Hall) to discuss, among other things, areas for budget reduction.
Though I dislike making judgements on topics with which I'm not
familiar, I must admit that my first glance through the list of
reductions leaves me with mixed feelings. I believe them off-base with
certain items, such as reductions in professional development,
curriculum development stipends, and new-teacher signing bonuses.
(see PDF below-pages 5 and 8) However, I believe them on-target in other
reduction avenues, including looking at the K12 Insight online surveys
and reducing the Superintendent's meeting refreshments.
APOLOGIES, THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO A CONFLICT OF SCHEDULING BY THE STATION AT SOUTHERN RAIL
Today the President announced loans for bailing out the automotive industry. While it is important to save jobs, fuel efficiency improvements and safeguards for consumers and the environment
have not been a part of any of the failed legislation considered by
Congress up until now, and much less by the administration in today's
announcement. With this bail-out our government is demonstrating once again, as with the financial bail-out,
a catastrophic shortsightedness. We are missing a great opportunity
for retrofitting our highly carbon intensive infrastructure. We could
be dealing with global warming and peak oil while at the same time
priming the real economy.
CANCELLED: the Carrborogreenspace (The WITT in exile) will be
presenting 'Who Killed the Electric Car" at the Station at Southern
Rail (201-c East Main Street), Carrboro. The auto-industry has
actively continued to ignore all the signs that would have lead to a
saner predicament then the one that they find themselves in today.
This movie demonstrates the complicity that we are inheriting as our
govenment throws money away to an industry that could be made to do
better.... come out, inform yourself, and hold your Representative accountable to the highest standards. Discussion to follow after the movie.
Location:
The Station at The Southern Rail, 2201-c East Main St., Carrboro
I think we are in about the 4th iteration of the Chapel Hill Public Library debate, but whatever the number, it's an important debate about an important issue. Four things stick out to me:
First, the Town Council has delayed moving forward with the addition. As much as I want to see it built, the current economic situation being what it is gave them little choice. When the situation is more favorable I'm sure that they will move forward.
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