Holden Thorp

If you are interested in the Downtown "Riddle," you must read the May/June edition of the Chapel Hill Magazine.  On page 56, there is an interview with Fayetteville's own Joe Riddle, the well-known owner of some of our empty Franklin St. property.

In the "Letter from the publisher," Dan Shannon says the interview is "a lively mixture of raw honesty, combativeness, disingenuousness and skepticism."  The wary Riddle doesn't treat reporter Lisa Rossi with much respect and obviously doesn't believe that any interview will do him justice.

As reported in the N & O one hour ago:

The university may halt its plans to build an airport in Orange County.

Chancellor Holden Thorp plans a press conference at 11 a.m. this morning to announce a "change" in the plans for an airport authority in Orange County. Thorp had announced in September that UNC would convene the authority early this year.

Orange County Commissioner Mike Nelson said the university would not be pursuing an airport in the county.

"They are not going to establish an airport authority at this time," Nelson said. "They're going to back off and focus on other priorities."

- N&O: UNC airport may not get off the ground, 1/9/09

If this is true, I will be very pleased and will also be very very impressed with Chancellor Thorp. It's easy to SAY the things we like to hear, but harder to really do the right thing, especially with the UNC/BOT/legislative/AOPA machine pushing against you.

We'll know more soon...