small business

Bike-In Dinner & A Movie Benefit for I-books Move

On Saturday, August 30th bike-in to check out Internationalist Bookstore’s soon-to-be new space in Carrboro at 101 Lloyd St.  All proceeds go to help Internationalist move to the new space and build new bookshelves.  At 7 p.m., we’ll be serving a home-cooked Southern dinner including mashed potatoes with local mushroom gravy, hoppin’ john, and sauteed collared greens (all vegan), and lemon balm iced tea.  There will be popcorn and other concessions available.  The movie will start promptly at 8 p.m.  We’re asking each person for a suggested donation of $20 but whatever you can give is appreciated.  Members of Piedmont Earth First! and friends of Ibooks are hosting this event out of appreciation for the many years Internationalist has allowed us to host free events in their space.  Spread widely!

“This move is a huge undertaking, and a huge leap of faith. We need our community’s support to make this move successful. Please donate whatever you can to pay for the costs of renovations, new bookshelves and furniture, and to help us weather the financial impact of a big move and establish ourselves firmly in our new home. We also want to invite our community to help with workdays in the new space, help us spread the word, and help us with a vision for our new space and the amazing ways our work can grow through this move.”

Other options if you can’t attend:

Internationalist Books is Moving! Fundraising Page on EverRibbon

You can make donations through our PayPal

This would be an excellent time to join Ibooks as a Sustaining Member!

If you’d like to help us in other ways, like donating materials, helping with workdays, or hosting a fundraiser, please be in touch! You can email them at ibooks@internationalistbooks.org.

 

Date: 

Saturday, August 30, 2014 - 7:00pm to 9:00pm

Location: 

101 Lloyd St. Carrboro

Why doesn't Chapel Hill get food trucks?

[carne asada is not a crime, saveourtacotrucks.org]Last night while much of OP was intently watching our live online candidate forum for aspiring Aldermen, the Chapel Hill Town Council was discussing proposed new foodtruck regulations. To me they sound very limiting, including provisions that they cannot operate within 100 feet of an open restaurant, that they can only be located on private property, and that the truck and property must both get permits from the Town. Even with these restrictions, WCHL's Elizabeth Friend reported that the Chapel Hill Chamber of Commerce and the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership opposed the change.

This makes it pretty clear to me that the perceived interests of their members is more important to the Chamber of Commerce than the success and sustainability of our local economy.

Carrboro Economic Development Director to Retire

James Harris, the Town of Carrboro Community and Economic Development Director, will retire February 1, 2011 according to a email from the Carrboro Business Association email list sent today.

Mr. Harris has under his belt over twenty nine years of service to the Town. Of great interest to our community is his management of one of the States most successful revolving loan fund programs. The very shape of Carrboro's downtown is due to this program. Successfull businesses such as Weaver Street, the Cat's Cradle, Orange County Social Club, and Neil's Deli were all participants in the CRLF program. Please share in the comments the memories you may have of Mr. Harris and his service to the town.

Zoning Limits on Agricultural Activities in Orange County?

Lately I have read many articles on the success and development of small farms and agri-businesses across the country.  Key to the success of these operations is on-site processing of the agricultural products to add value. For example, rather than simply raising goats, the farmer would collect the milk, process to cheese and potentially retail on site.  Another example was a farmer growing hops and barley for an on-site microbrewery.

A nearby example would include grape growing and wine production in the Yadkin Valley.

Community Book Forum: Small is Possible: Life in a Local Economy

The Carrboro Cybrary and Carrboro Recreation & Parks invite the community to read Small is Possible: Life in a Local Economy by Lyle Estill. Lyle is a founder of Piedmont Biofuels and he will be leading this discussion along with Michael Tiemann, a founder of the Open Source movement, and William (B.J.) Lawson, PLENTY Revitalization Board Member. This book is focused on the local economy in Chatham County, and will be valuable to anyone interested in sustainability, co-ops, biodiesel, whole foods, slow food, technology, small business, and more. Copies of the book can be borrowed from the Cybrary.

Book Description:

In an era when incomprehensibly complex issues like Peak Oil and climate change dominate headlines, practical solutions at a local level can seem somehow inadequate.

In response, Lyle Estill’s Small is Possible introduces us to “hometown security,” with this chronicle of a community-powered response to resource depletion in a fickle global economy. True stories, springing from the soils of Chatham County, North Carolina, offer a positive counterbalance to the bleakness of our age.

This is the story of how one small southern US town found actual solutions to actual problems. Unwilling to rely on the government and wary of large corporations, these residents discovered it is possible for a community to feed itself, fuel itself, heal itself, and govern itself.

This book is filled with newspaper columns, blog entries, letters, and essays that have appeared on the margins of small-town economies. Tough subjects are handled with humor and finesse. Compelling stories of successful small businesses, from the grocery co-op to the biodiesel co-op, describe a town and its people on a genuine quest for sustainability.

Review:

One of my favorite ideas in this book is the idea of open source. Once you let go of this idea that everything must be copyrighted, everything must be owned and protected in order to make money, you become free. Open source ideas quickly foster a more open community, a more open and honest society. A gropu of people or organizaitons all start working toward a common goal rather than all working against one another. Beautiful, isn't it?

Another beautiful idea is that a community needs a variety of people and businesses to thrive. And that as you begin living locally- and begin working toward a healthy community - people and businesses find their niches. And when you find your own niche within the local economy, your own happiness rises. Your sense of well-being increases when you realize your positive and necessary contribution to society.

As we go further into debt and economic security throughout the world, nurturing our small, local, sustainable businesses and infrastructure will become increasingly important. I recommend this book.
~ Melinda from The Blogging Bookworm

More reviews are linked from:
http://lyleestill.com/blog/?p=9#more-9

Date: 

Friday, June 5, 2009 - 2:30pm to 4:00pm

Location: 

Carrboro Century Center, 100 N. Greensboro St.

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