October 2004
Weaver Street Market's Annual Meeting is tonight at Panzanella at 7:00 pm (I think). This is an opportunity for the people who shop and work there to govern the co-coperative institution (theoretically) by selecting the Board of Directors. In the past, the Board election has been an insulated affair, with the current board choosing their colleagues and offering the membership little more than a rubber stamp.
Unfortunately, I can't attend. But I hope someone will and give us a report. I don't think you have to be an owner to attend. Will it be more of the same?
I loved this article in the DTH last week. It says that UNC administrators will not review or respond to any of the reports of the Chapel Hill's Horace Williams Citizens Committee. The HWCC (of which I am a member) is the Town's opportunity to develop our own vision fo rthe prpoerty that will someday be the home of Carolina North. We just finished laboring over a point-by-point analysis of the latest hints we have from UNC (they have not submitted a plan to the Town). We compared UNC's concepts to our previous report (PDF), which laid out the Town's objectives for the Horace Williams property in great detail.
Guest Post by Terri Buckner
Our local high schools and the university encourage students to participate in service learning, where students receive credit for participating in civic activities. Encouraging young people to embrace volunteer activities is both good for our community and good for the individual kid.
Now is the time for the adults of this community to undertake their own volunteerism. Carrboro needs YOU! According to the Chapel Hill Herald, "the town is facing a flood of openings on its advisory boards, yet few people have applied for the positions since August, according to the town clerk. "
Working on a citizen advisory committee is both fun and rewarding, sometimes even educational. And Carrboro makes their citizen volunteers feel very appreciated. Come on out all you latent activists!
Terri Buckner, an instructional systems designer, lives and works in Orange County.
Something extremely loud just flew over the middle of Chapel Hill, presumably very low to the ground. So close that it left a bunch of honking car alarms in it's wake. We couldn't see it, but it was so loud I was expecting to hear an explosion next. In fact, I was actually seriously scared!
Anyone have any idea what that was? And how it could possibly be legal?
Once again Chapel Hill is moving toward a rezoning of UNC's property according to the Herald Sun.
Joyce Brown and I tried valiantly to rezone Horace Williams to O&I-2 back in the mid-1990's, but we were shot down at the time. Will it be any different this time? Sounds like it might. The Herald-Sun said the council voted unanimously to consider the rezoning.
We'll see . . .
Folks, the election is just about here. And you don't have to wait until November to vote. Orange County will have three early voting sites. You do not have to have any special reason for voting early, so come on down starting this Monday (October 18, 2004) to one of the following places:
CHAPEL HILL-PLANETARIUM – E. Franklin Street
Monday-Friday 9:00-5:00 – October 18-29
Saturdays – 9:00-5:00 – October 23 & October 30
CARRBORO – TOWN HALL – 301 W. Main St.
Monday-Friday 9:00-5:00 – October 18-29
Saturdays – 9:00-5:00 – October 23 & October 30
HILLSBOROUGH – BOARD OFFICE – 110 E. King Street
Monday-Thursday 8:00-5:00 – October 14-29
Fridays – 8:00-6:00 – October 15, 22 & 29
Saturdays – 9:00-5:00 – October 16, 23 & 30
Just as Dr King taught us that we must use love to defeat hatred, so let us use democracy to defeat tyranny.
Guest Post by Tim Ross
Many of you have probably heard about the controversy regarding Sinclair Broadcast Group and its plans to require the 62 local TV stations that it owns to broadcast an anti-Kerry "documentary" shortly before the November 2nd election. The film, Stolen Honor, is reportedly a blatant political hatchet-job on John Kerry - it might as well be called Swift Boat Vets: The Movie. But while the Bush/Kerry race is on everyone's mind at the moment, this particular controversy is much more than just another development in the 2004 presidential race. The real issue at hand is the considerable effect that corporate media consolidation can have on local TV markets. Including this one.
OP readers, I imagine most of you know who you are voting for by now for most races, but few of us have taken a hard look at the non-partisan races on the ballot for this fall. I apologize for the non-local nature of this particular thread, but (especially if you read all the way to the end) you will find that there is a local angle in here somewhere.
There are several non-partisan judicial races to take note of. Let me say this clearly- there are no party affiliations listed on the ballot in any of the following races. You will have to carry a list or work hard to remember the names of your candidates.
We have two Supreme Court races:
In a letter to Mayor Foy, Chancellor James Moeser writes "I wish to register, in the strongest most possible terms, our objection to the action taken by the Town Council on October 11, initiating the rezoning of the University's Carolina North property to OI-2."
Moeser would prefer to "use this time to work together to further our mutual goal of building a better community and university."
So, a zone (OI-3) that allows the university to do whatever it wants without Council involvement is "working together" but a zone (OI-2) under which the Council would review university projects is not?
This strikes me as the sort of knee jerk reaction the university, or any corporation faced with new regulation, always makes: object stongly and in the huffiest terms.
Moeser also conveniently overlooks that all the Council did Monday night was ask for information on a rezoning process. There is a long way to go yet.
[Shameless self-promotion: I discuss the rezoning futher in my column in today's Chapel Hill Herald.]
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