July 2005

The closest you can get to Chapel Hill and Carrboro while still being in Chatham County is Starpoint. The intersection of Smith Level Road and 15-501 is at the county line. Starpoint is also the proposed location of a new Wal-Mart.

Elected officials in Chapel Hill and Carrboro have already asked Chatham County to allow them to conduct a courtesy review. This would allow them to formally have input, although it is not binding. According to the News & Observer "This is the first I've heard about that," Morgan said when asked about Chapel Hill's plans to request a review. "I didn't know they did that type of stuff."

Which is exactly why we should be very worried.

No discussion of UNC's role in our community is complete without addressing the topic of fiscal equity. There are many way in which the University affects us financially, both positive and negative, and the town's provision of fire services to the campus is just one of the most obvious examples.

So it's pretty disappointing to hear that the NC House budget fails to fund the municipalities that provide fire fighting to state institutions!

While funding for fire protection for state-owned properties - a request that was included in Chapel Hill's legislative agenda - made it into the governor's budget and N.C. Senate's proposed budget for 2005-06, it was left out of the House budget...

"In Chapel Hill, our fire chief said that we need 18 new firefighters in order to be able to provide the level of service that is necessary," [Mayor Kevin Foy] said.

Foy noted that though the University is putting millions of dollars into construction projects, no extra funds are being allotted to support fire protection.
- Daily Tarheel, 7/7/05

According to Chapel Hill News Editor, Mark Schultz, Chamber of Commerce Director Aaron Nelson told him that our community is “a place where many people still think if you're a successful business person you're exploiting someone or destroying the environment.” (quote is Schultz paraphrasing Nelson)

Now, according to the Herald editors, I'm the farthest left person they know (a debatable point I suppose) and I don't think that. Nor am I aware of any who hold this belief.

So my question to Aaron is: do you really believe what you said to Schultz? if so, who are some of these "many people" you refer to? Or, did you, like Ed Harrison, inadvertently mislead Schultz and it's not your fault?

My question to Chamber members is: does it really serve your interests and your organization when your director makes such hyperbolic and divisive statements?

Chapel Hill Herald, Saturday July 09, 2005

To hear Carrboro mayoral candid ates and incumbent Aldermen Mark Chilton and Alex Zaffron tell it, the election of one or the other will greatly influence the path Carrboro takes with certain key issues in the coming years.

For example, last week Chilton announced his campaign with the assertion that Carrboro's Northwest Small Area Plan needs to be rewritten. He said the plan does "not adequately protect Bolin Creek and it has attracted the most expensive sort of development." Chilton refers to a planning document that is closely identified with Zaffron, one of his signature achievements on the Board of Aldermen.

Zaffron, not showing any strong attachment to his work, agreed that it should be "updated, simplified, and strengthened."

Or, to take another case, Chilton wants "to rewrite a number of rules related to affordable housing," some of which are his opponent's handiwork.

Zaffron identifies no such rewriting but does want to "add new strategies to our toolbox" for affordable housing.

Neither of these are exactly headline grabbing disagreements.