October 2003
(From a Sierra Club statement.)
Although I was at the Chapel Hill Town Council meeting in person tonight to present the Horace Williams Commitee's report, I dashed home to watch the exciting conclusion from the comfort of my sofa rather than wait it out in the Council Chamber which was filling up with hard-drinkin' lovers of civil liberties. And a TV camera! Did anyone see channel 17?
I think at least a dozen local residents spoke to the Council against this proposal to require expensive sprinkler systems in just three bars in town... which are not coincidentally in the same building downtown on East Rosemary Street. This proposal was made in the name of safety after the tragic fire at a club in Rhode Island. What the requirements fail to do is protect us from pyrotechnics and blocked fire exits, which were two of the main causes of the fatal fire.
It's that time of year, and the "vote for me" signs are sprouting like weeds. (Very much like, and in close proximity to, the weeds that have taken over the flowerbeds on the bypass, those desperate looking things planted a few years ago for the Special Olympics and abandoned since. Ah, when we were pretty.)Our own batty uncle Lee Pavão recently got on WCHL to propose a conspiracy theory involving the strategic placement of certain people's signs next to one another and how this plot reveals the stink of brimstone in the dark heart of certain local politicians and on and on etc etc. I'll let Pavão search out the political meaning revealed in the proximity of inanimate bodies in space. I'm more interested in the vocabulary of our local signage.You can't begin to get into the question, at least not these days, without acknowledging that Council Member Jim Ward is the undisputed and reigning champion in the battle of the election signs.
Today's Chapel Hill Herald has an article about the impact of UNC development on the Town Council race. It's great to see the neighborhoods banding together - again - to protect themselves from UNC (over)growth. But it's disappointing to see that those activists still seem to see themselves as struggling in a vacuum. Many others have been working for years to try to make UNC a better corporate citizen of our town and would welcome collaboration with the growing number of neighbors who feel threatened by UNC.
This new group, "the Coalition of Neighbors near Campus," endorsed Sally Greene, Cam Hill, and Bill Strom for Chapel Hill Town Council. And I sure can't argue with that.
(I'm out of town so I won't be posting much this week. I'm still writing up my review of the NAACP candidates forum last Thursday.)
Last Thursday's NAACP Candidates Forum was well-organized and well-attended (except for sparse media presence), including about 10 high school students who asked tough questions of the School Board candidates. Listening to nine Town Council candidates all answer the same question got pretty monotonous – especially since only about half of them generally have anything substantial to say. (I have to thank Rudy Juliano, Mike McSwain, and the ever-absent Woodrow Barfield for not coming, and thereby making the forum about 36 minutes shorter.)
As I search the vast horizon of the print and web media for some small shred of evidence of the existence of a Town Council race, a realization dawns......If anyone is going to write anything about this race, it will have to be me.
Ruby is doing us a great service with this site and her postings have been good but she needs help. The way I see it: The Chapel Hill News has not been interested. Tomorrow's edition may signal the beginning of their coverage with a piece summarizing the candidates. The Chapel Hill Herald has had Rob Shapard covering the race. Too often his coverage of the forums has been a list of the candidates present with an answer to one or two questions. The Herald's Dan Coleman has done an excellent job but he is a weekly columnist. The Tar Heel has had several pieces covering the race; they were the first to discuss the campaign finance issues. Well, election day is three weeks from today and what is a voter to do?
This week, the Chapel Hill News tried to draw some distinctions between Town Council candidates. It got some stuff right, but what a lot of B.S.! And there's at least one inaccuracy in there. I'll buy a beer for the first person to spot it and post here.
The Chapel Hill Herald's coverage of their own candidate forum was interesting, especially since they raised the issue of conflict of interest for UNC employees. They also wisely didn't ask every question of every candidate. Unfortunately these two good factors appear to have conspired to let Diane Bachman off the hook on this crucial question.
The following was written as a series of comments by an anonymous reader of this site. It was based on a survey of the candidates in Wednesday's News & Observer. It is being republished in one post with the author's permission.
What movies tell us:
Terri Tyson lists her hobby as "watching classical film videos" but then her favorite film (the serious acid test of local politics) is "Saturday Night Fever." Besides explaining her hair style, what can this mean?
The Scientologist-starring flick (rated R for strong language, sexuality/nudity and some drug content) is described as "a hopelessly naive film that appears to have no discernible sense of irony." Need I say more.
What movies tell us. Part 2.
Jim Ward goes international with his choice of "Monsoon Wedding" as his favorite flick. Shot in only 30 days in India and in three languages, everyone agrees that this film is something special.
"Four for Town Council"
When Chapel Hill voters cast ballots for Town Council in a couple of weeks, theyll be doing more than filling open seats on the towns governing board. Theyll also be deciding the course of development of UNCs Horace Williams tract, the future of downtown revitalization and other key issues.
This years Town Council race has been a fairly low-key affair because, unfortunately, no candidates emerged to challenge the mayor for re-election. But the issues couldnt be greater, particularly town-gown relations and the development of Carolina North. The outcome of those negotiations will require a combination of firmness and accommodation on the part of our elected officials.
Given that context, The Chapel Hill News endorses the following for election to the Town Council on Nov. 4:
Yesterday's Chapel Hill Herald gave us a preview of the "Friends of Sunrise" forum. Excuse me, but who the hell holds their candidate forum on the same night as a Town Council meeting? Doesn't that sort of indicate that you are more interested in making your own points than hearing other people's?
They also gave the candidates questions in advance:
One of the submitted questions reads in part, "Do you think that the town should continue its current policy of ignoring I-40 noise?" Another question asks, "Do you think nonprofits should be allowed to build large-scale, low-income housing projects with public funds and with no public accountability?"
The question on the bonds reads, "Keeping in mind that property taxes have increased steadily over the past 15 years and many Chapel Hill residents have lost their jobs in the economic downturn, how would you justify that this is the time to initiate the largest bond package in Chapel Hill history? Are there other ways to accomplish the intended goals?"
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