Carrboro
It is clear from recent police forums and from experiences shared by people of color in our communities that we have a serious problem with racial equity in policing in Orange County. The most recent example is a guest column by Stephanie Perry in Sunday’s Chapel Hill News (12/21/14). Perry serves with me on the board of Orange County Justice United. We heard other stories like this during the Carrboro community forum on policing in October.
Law enforcement behavior that is disproportionately affecting communities of color is unacceptable to me. It is especially troubling to see that these disparities exist in our communities regardless of how enlightened we think we are. I am cautiously optimistic about the steps I see the Carrboro and Chapel Hill Police Departments taking.
Carrboro
I'm going to be a little awkward. There is already a thread about the recent Carrboro and Chapel Hill Police Forums. I will be linking this post to that thread. But I want to set out (at boring length) what I have been advocating for since those Forums. And I don't want to clutter up the entirety of that other thread with my meanderings (as fascinating as I know you will find them!).
As the above link to the forums make clear, a number of us in Carrboro want the establishment of a Citizen's Task Force, to be given the responsibility thoroughly to review policing in Carrboro, and, if thought necessary, make recommendations. I have my own thoughts about what I would like such a Task Force to address. But my main purpose is to help to create the space where citizens of Carrboro may have the opportunity to ensure that the policing approach in their community has their consent.
I set out in more detail here why I think we need a Citizen's Task Force.
Extensive mold and other serious maintenance issues, unannounced inspections, living with no water, play equipment removed, violence, disrepect by management, inability to use shared resources, children not allowed to play outside.....
Would you be surprised to know that these are just some of the complaints coming from our neighbors who live in affordable housing complexes throughout Orange County (Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough)?
Orange County Justice United is partnering with residents in all of these complexes to organize the community, conduct neighborhood audits to acertain the extend of the issues, present these findings to management, and have the issues addressed.
The Gateway Village Apartments in Hillsborough is one such housing complex. A story about our work together can be found here.
We know that there is a shortage of affordable housing in our communities. We must work to ensure that the affordable housing that is available, is welcoming unless we want to be a community of the wealthy.
Join us for this third session of the Carrboro Planning Board's three-part fall forum series on community-scale energy use and climate change
In this session, we'll hear about and discuss:
- Climate Protection Planning in Carrboro (Randy Dodd, Town of Carrboro environmental planner)
- Solarize Orange County (Rob Pinder)
- Passive and Active Solar Energy Opportunities for Your Home, featuring an Interactive 3-D Model (David Clinton, architect and principal at Szostak Design Inc, and Planning Board member)
- Energy Conservation (John Hines, marketing representative of Piedmont Electric Membership Corporation)
- Base Hits, Strike Outs, and Home Runs: Twenty Renewable Energy Businesses I Have Loved (Lyle Estill, vice president of Piedmont Biofuels and serial entrepreneur)
We'll have light refreshments and plenty of time for questions and discussion. See you Wednesday!
Also:
- Chapel Hill Transit routes CW, F, and J stop in front of the ArtsCenter.
- There's a beautiful new bicycle corral at the ArtsCenter entrance.
- There's free car parking (and covered bicycle parking) in the 300 East Main parking deck.
Date:
Wednesday, November 5, 2014 - 7:00pm to 9:00pm
Location:
Carrboro ArtsCenter, 300 E Main Street, Carrboro
In light of national struggles with policing methods, enforcement and militarization, both Chapel Hill and Carrboro police departments hosted sessions for community members to voice their potential concerns directly to Chapel Hill Police Chief Blue Oct. 4 and Carrboro Chief Horton Oct. 5. The two forums revealed underlying issues in each community, with Carrboro’s discussion especially distinct in the way it gravitated toward racial profiling issues.
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