April 2004

A PSA from Internationalist Books and Community Center:

April 5 -- Join members of the League of Pissed Off Voters to discuss their
new book, celebrate political activism and collaborate on swinging the 2004
presidential election. Responding to the current political stupidity
(perpetrated by Stupid White Men of all races, genders and IQ scores), 12
ingenious young political artists and organizers have created a book, How
to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office, that could tip the balance in 2004.
It shows how young people who don't do electoral politics can play the game
-- on their own terms.

Monday, April 5, 6:30 PM at Nightlight, 405 1/2 W. Rosemary St, Chapel Hill.

Just when we think we're so enlightened around here, a bunch of teenagers assault a Sikh man because they think he looks like Osama Bin Laden. In fact the kids were so stupid that in addition to the assault charges, one of them got busted for possession of marijuana and intent to sell crack. Not our community's finest, I must say.

Gagandeep Bindra, who has a short beard, brown skin and wears a Patka, a scarf wrapped around his hair, said that it is not uncommon for people to call him and others with brown skin Osama bin Laden or a terrorist.

"This is like a normal occurrence after 9/11," Bindra said Friday. "Every night when I go out to Franklin Street, someone shouts out bin Laden.... They think anybody brown is Middle Eastern. Anybody brown is a terrorist."

The way people treated him after 9/11 changed, he said, but he expected he would be safe in a college community.

I was asked to share this gem from last's night's Planning Board meeting with you. Phil Szostak is an architect who is developing an addition for Olin T. Binkley Baptist Church. Binkley is a leading progressive institution in this community and is also very prominently located next to University Mall on The Bypass. So I found it very amusing that Phil kept claiming "we're just a little church." If that's so, then UNC is a community college, OK?

Guest Post by Blaise Strenn

North Carolina will have a Presidential preference county caucus on April 17th. Participation in this caucus will be for Democrats only. You must be registered as a Democrat by April 9th to vote in this caucus.

There is an updated form available at the State Board of Election site: www.app.sboe.state.nc.us Click on voter registration, Changing your Information, then North Carolina Voter Registration Application/Change of Information Form.

This will open a PDF file you can print out. You must get this form to your county's Board of Elections by the end of Friday; postmarked on Friday will not work. If you plan handing the form in on Friday, please call to check their hours for it is Good Friday.

It is very important to not use an old form, it will not be accepted. You must use the updated form from this website or the new form you would get at the county BOE office.

For caucus sites state wide see: www.ncdp.org Registered Democrats can vote in any county in North Carolina.

Now I know we have some problems, but I never would have guessed that the Triangle would rank #3 on the national urban sprawl index! The report, by Smart Growth America, says...

This study shows that sprawl is a real, measurable phenomenon with real implications for peoples’ everyday lives. Regions wishing to improve their quality of life should consider taking steps to reduce sprawl and promote smarter growth. Based on this research, Smart Growth America offers six policy recommendations:

1) Reinvest in Neglected Communities and Provide More Housing Opportunities

2) Rehabilitate Abandoned Properties

3) Encourage New Development or Redevelopment in Already Built Up Areas

4) Create and Nurture Thriving, Mixed-Use Centers of Activity

5) Support Growth Management Strategies

6) Craft Transportation Policies that Complement Smarter Growth

Internationalist Books and Community Center is soliciting nominations for the Third Annual Bob Sheldon Award. The deadline has been extended to April 25.

Each year, the Internationalist collective recognizes a member of the Triangle community who carries on Bob Sheldon's work and breathes life into his legacy by being gentle and persistent, being radical and free-thinking, being playful and patient, and leading by example...

Bob Sheldon founded Internationalist Books in 1981. He described the store's mission as follows: "We are dedicated to the position that we have no country: we do not support mindless patriotic pleas for 'national unity,' nor are we interested in keeping America number one. We support the unity and liberation of oppressed people worldwide and are working toward the day when all oppression and inequality will be removed from the earth."

Apparently a bunch of people came out to the Town Council meeting this week to oppose re-naming Airport Road to Martin Luther King Boulevard. I'm pretty surprised - I thought this was a no-brainer.

Local NAACP President Fred Battle bristled Monday at criticism of the idea to rename Airport Road for Martin Luther King Jr., which the Town Council will consider May 24.

Any time there's a call to rename something to honor a black person, the first objection that comes up is how much the renaming would cost, Battle said during a council forum.

"It hardens my heart to see that this type of attitude still exists in this community," he said.

Battle followed seven speakers to the podium, each of whom objected to renaming the road or offered other suggestions. Marie Weiden said she thought it would be better to rename Airport Road for Howard Lee, Chapel Hill's first black mayor and a longtime state senator.
- Chapel Hill Herald, 4/20/04

Guest Post by Sally Greene

Congratulations to Ruby! Orangepolitics.org was named by the Independent Weekly today as "Best Blog" in their "Best of the Triangle."

Our own pick for Best Blog is a site that demonstrates how effective the
medium can be as a civic forum: Orangepolitics.org, created by activist
and techie Ruby Sinreich, is a buzzing site full of news about every
conceivable issue: school merger, town'gown relations, traffic, you name
it. Local politicians, activists and commentators often contribute guest
posts, and the message boards host some very lively debate. The site is
elegantly designed and constantly updated, despite being ad-free and
non-commercial. We wish every community in the Triangle had an online
venue like this one.

Sally Greene is a member of the Chapel Hill Town Council. She can be reached at sally AT ibiblio DOT org.

Many of it's neighbors have wanted state-owned Horace Williams Airport closed for a long time. It appeared that they had a powerful ally in the plan for Carolina North which took advantage of the airport's flat, already-cleared land to begin it's own march westward from Airport Road.

The N.C. General Assembly has had other ideas and continues to resist closing the airport. One of the best arguments on their side is UNC Hospital's AHEC program which uses the airport to fly doctors to more remote (and less affulent) parts of the state.

The Chapel Hill Town Council is getting pressure from UNC to move more quickly toward their presumably inevitable approval of Carolina North. But the Council has some pretty important concerns that will need to be addressed before the Town can invest more in this huge development effort.

Earlier this month, the Council unanimously passed this resolution drafted by Councilmember Cam Hill:

I find it very disheartening to hear that the progress made against racism in the Town of Chapel Hill's Public Works department could be undone by the departure of two leaders. This indicates that not much progress was made at all, which is exactly what the Black Public Works Association (BPWA) would have probably told us in the first place.

The Black Public Works Association also suggested a number of remedies to the problems. Until the recent change in leadership, workers said, the department had made progress on stemming some of the problems pointed out in previous years.

"We know it is impossible to change attitudes, stereotypes and behavior overnight," Steve England, president of the association, said in a letter signed by eight other employees.

"But because there are no black people in the highest levels, we know that leadership will backslide in its commitments to being even nonracist -- much less the anti-racist commitment that should be the goal of all management."- News & Observer, 4/29/04