April 2005
WCHL will hold its third annual Forum tomorrow, putting folks from around the community on the radio for a marathon of local issue discussion. Last year's forum was pretty interesting, especially the hand-to-hand combat between UNC administrators and local elected officials.
While I have to repeat my now-annual complaint about not publishing the forum schedule on the website in advance, I will give WCHL kudos for putting the entire 2004 forum audio archive online after the broadcast.
Here is this year's schedule as it was relayed to me in the mail:
8:00 Town-Gown Relations10:00 Suburban Growth11:00 Civil Rights & Equality noon Carrboro 1:00 Downtown Chapel Hill 2:00 Violence & Crime 3:00 Affordable Housing 4:00 Education 5:00 Young Adults
Guest Post by Mary Rabinowitz
Here's an information-packed, Earth Day festivities announcement originating from Karen McCollough, parent at the Children's Cooperative Playschool. Thanks, Karen!
Everyone, check out the "Earth Action Fest" this Sunday in Chapel Hill: http://www.earthactionfest.org
Activities will include:
Tree planting
Arts and crafts
Coloring and jewelry-making for kids
Face painting
Bicycle safety inspections by REI
Caricatures by Richard Cloudt
Clown character, Mickey Le Pew, with his environmental magic program (and his family of stuffed skunks!)
And here are some other sites with kid-friendly Earth Day activity ideas -- I just did a quick web search:
Here in southern Orange County we have a lot to be proud about when it comes to community resources. For example we have a fantastic bus system, public meeting places, community art, and municipal wireless Internet access a.k.a. wifi. The great thing about wifi is the massive diversity of its uses. Not only can you send email or surf the World Wide Web you can also learn from the experiences of millions of people. Our increased connectedness to one another electronically augments our individual power. When we "speak" with each other with software tools - like Orange Politics - we share energy with each other. This energy empowers us to be become better at many things. So in thanks and respect for all that I've learned from you all I'd like to give some back.
The Daily Tarheel had articles today looking ahead to this fall's local elections in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. There wasn't any big news, but it's good to start getting people on the record. Here's what it looks like so far:
In Carrboro: In addition to the Mayor, Alderpeople Diana McDuffee, Jacquie Gist and John Herrera are up for re-election. I don't think any of them have decided, but Jacquie and Diana are leaning against running after having put in many years of service. I'm pretty sure Mayor Mike Nelson is serious this time when he says he's not going to run anymore. Alex Zaffron and Mark Chilton, the other two Alderpeople (whose seats are safe this year), are considering it. And 2003 mayoral challenger Jeff Vanke has moved from definitely running to maybe.
Keep your fingers crossed. I am about to attempt to upgrade this site to the latest version of Wordpress. A a few things will inevitably break in the process. Please be patient. Thanks.
Chapel Hill Herald, Saturday April 23, 2005
It's not often that the mayor of Chapel Hill, the chancellor of UNC, a key UNC trustee, an outspoken councilman and several prominent residents address town-gown relations at a public event. That's just what happened last Thursday during the first panel of WCHL's "Building Bridges" community forum.
You might have expected the following to have been discussed: the pending rezoning of part of the Horace Williams property, the also pending modifications to the OI-4 zone of the main campus, the town's stellar job hosting the celebration of UNC's men's basketball championship and the mysterious delay in the agreed-upon improvements to South Columbia Street, a delay that panelist Bill Strom recently laid squarely at the feet of the university.
But if you expected the forum to have much to do with what's actually going on, you were surely disappointed.
There will be protests all around the country today to oppose The Nuclear Option- the Republicans' attempt to change the rules of the senate to suit their heavy-handed domination. Chapel Hillians will meet in front of the Franklin Street Post Office at 5pm.
Hope to see you there!
Peacefully Unite to Oppose Congress Going Nuclear at the Chapel Hill post office next Wednesday the 27th at 5PM! We will meet outside the Franklin Street Post office to peacefully protest the Congressional majority from Going Nuclear. Please bring signs, friends, and family as we join together in solidarity to demand that our minority's right to filibuster the right-wing-judicial takeover is preserved!
Guest Post by Billie Guthrie
Below is some information about the upcoming Roundtable Discussion on Homelessness in Orange County.
A broad coalition of community groups and government officials will sponsor a second Roundtable Discussion on Homelessness on April 30th at New Hope Elementary School located at 1900 New Hope Church Road in Chapel Hill from 9am to 12pm. Registration and a continental breakfast will begin at 8:30am. All interested members of the community are invited to attend.
The goals of the event are:
1. To educate the community by dispelling myths and putting a face on the homeless,
2. To develop a long-term plan to end homelessness in Orange County
3. To encourage personal responsibility by inviting the community to address this issue individually.
After establishing Neighborhood Conservation Districts (NCDs) in the town Land Use Management Ordinance, the town of Chapel Hill started the process to create an NCD for Northside, the historically black neighborhood north of Rosemary Street and west of North Columbia Street. I was disappointed that the Northside NCD didn't do more to define and promote community design principles that could actually improve our quality of life. But it was a step in the right direction.
Last night, UNC's department of environment, health and safety held a public meeting on the latest plans for the hazardous waste clean-up at the Horace Williams property. I was unable to attend and am hopeful that a report will be made publicly available.
Some of Director Peter Reinhardt's comments, as reported in the Herald, were disturbing.
Reinhardt said he doesn't expect the work to create much disruption to the surrounding neighborhoods.
"It's so far away from any house that I can't imagine anyone will be able to hear it," Reinhardt said.
The buried waste will be excavated and removed from the site by hazardous material trucks.
Fencing will be erected around the site for safety reasons and to mark the area's perimeter, Reinhardt said.
My concern, having listened to the din when Horace Wms was the staging site for the power plant upgrade, is not the noise. Rather, it is what might enter the air and affect lungs, skin, or eyes.
Pages
About Us
OrangePolitics is a not-for-profit website for discussing progressive perspectives on politics, planning, and public policy in Orange County, NC. Opinions are those of their authors. Learn more.
Community Guidelines
By using this site, you agree to our community guidelines. Inappropriate or disruptive behavior will result in moderation or eviction.
Zircon - This is a contributing Drupal Theme
Design by
WeebPal.
