October 2003

The next to last forum was tonight, on campus, sponsored by UNC student government and the DTH. Pretty unremarkable.

I've figured out a format which would deal with eleven candidates.......The Weakest Link. There was a television show a few years ago where the contestants were winnowed out when they couldn't answer a question or they were voted out by the other contestants, or some such stuff (I never actually saw more than a few minutes). Applying this principle to our forums would have sent folks home early when they said something stupid. This would have dramatically reduced the candidates quickly.

In an affort to flush out Gregor Samsa. There has been some talk of a drinking game based on the Town Council candidates. For instance: every time you hear me say: "I was born here" you get to take a drink. Whenever Terri Tyson says: "For the record, I'm opposed to school merger." you take two drinks. Any thoughts on other cues?

The Chapel Hill Herald reports that Pat Killian is challenging Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy as a write-in candidate! Although I've wished repeatedly and vocally for mayoral options, this campaign is even more suicidal than Jeff Vanke's in Carrboro. You just can't win the top office in town with a half-assed, last-minute campaign. Especially given this:

Killian didn't offer any specific criticism Tuesday of what Foy has and hasn't done in his two years as mayor.

"I'm just hoping that perhaps I have some other ideas that he maybe doesn't have," she said.

Killian lives on the part of Mason Farm that's in the path of UNC's future expansion, and her home basically is an "island" surrounded by land that UNC now owns, she said. ... [But] "it's not about me living on Mason Farm Road," she said. "That's not where I want to go with this. It's about a bigger picture.

I'm always glad to see more civic participation, but the "big picture" looks to me like she's wasting time and energy that could be used to support good candidates.

From this week's Indy (the endorsement issue that was missing a whole page of Orange and Chatham!), the following correction on page 21:

An Oct. 22 article "Town vs. Gown," should have said that Chapel Hill Town Council candidate Dianne Bachman was a board member of the Community Action Network, not the chair. Also, as a university architect and project manager, Bachman did not present plans to the Town Council, but attended council meetings to assist senior adminstrators on technical issues.

Sounds like Dianne didn't like being asked the old "so when did you stop beating your wife" question, and insisted that the Independent let folks know that it was months ago. Really. How reassuring.

And the fox says: "I wasn't actually 'guarding' the hen house per se, I was just, um, watching it for a friend. He'll be right back, I promise."

Hi folks. The amount of participation and dialogue on the site lately has been amazing! It's really exciting to see so many ideas being exchanged, and to hear voices that aren't often reflected in the local media and government chambers. A lot of people have contacted me to say so - including candidates, reporters, and elected officials!

While I understand that some folks have compelling reasons for posting anonymously or under pseudonyms, I also am concerned that by not standing behind the words, writers really lessen their credibility in the conversation. I've also seen that such anonymity tends to lower the level of discourse. Speaking to strangers on the Internet is very different than speaking to folks you run into around town. Please try to write as if you were talking to your neighbor, ie: someone you have to get along with, even if you disagree or dislike her.