December 2005
From yesterday's N&O:
Fred Battle remembers having to sit in the back of the bus. So he and the local NAACP are hosting a bus-ride tribute to the late Rosa Parks on Thursday, the 50th anniversary of her refusal to give up her seat.
"Most people are not even familiar with the history of the Montgomery bus boycott," Battle said. "This is our attempt to not only pay tribute to what's happening in the present but also to educate people."
All are welcome to board Chapel Hill Transit buses at 11 a.m. at the Hargraves Community Center, 216 N. Roberson St. [MAP] The buses will travel down Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and then head to the Franklin Street post office, where a rally will begin at noon with Battle and civil rights lawyer Al McSurely.
Guest Post by Ginny Franks
"Voting is perhaps the most important duty we have as citizens of the United States. But it also is important to remember to vote for the area that we are shaping as students at this University. We are a part of this community, whether we're from Wilmington or Boone.
So register to vote.
It doesn't matter for whom or what you vote. Just do it. It's as simple as that."
– Emma Burgin, Daily Tar Heel columnist and former City Editor
If the State Board of Elections records are right (Disclaimer: they aren't always!), then Emma Burgin didn't vote.
Today's DTH reports that Bill Strom is the 2005 winner of the Jim Goodmon Award for regional leadership by an elected official in the triangle.
The award will be presented by Leadership Triangle at a luncheon next week.
Bill has been a strong leader on the TTA Board of Directors, helped broker the purchase of Erwin Trace, and has worked on regional affordable housing initiatives with the Triangle J Council of Governments.
Bill is the first elected official from Orange County to receive this honor.
It's nice to see folks from around the triangle recognize the quality of one of our own elected officials!
An astute reader wrote to ask that we announce this film, and I'm glad he did. I hadn't even heard of it!
You wouldn't think the wall separating McCorkle Place and Franklin Street could serve as a political forum for University students.
But one UNC professor shows how pivotal that location was for political thought in his documentary set in the '60s.
Gorham Kindem's “Beyond the Wall†will be shown at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Varsity Theatre. A question and answer session with the filmmaker will follow.
- The Daily Tar Heel - Film scales UNC's political culture
According to the N&O:
A designer with a striking, modern style will play a pivotal role in designing parts of downtown Chapel Hill's brick-laden landscape.
Mikyoung Kim will be the lead artist shaping the look of an estimated $75 million effort to transform two town-owned parking areas into a mix of condos, shops and open space.
Based in the Boston area, Kim has left her mark over the country and even abroad.
She has completed a huge canal project in Seoul, South Korea, helped redesign a federal courthouse in Little Rock, Ark., and worked on projects in a Boston wharf district, among many other projects.
Some of her most prominent work involves colorful fiber-optic lighting and illuminated streams of water. She describes it as "orchestrating an experience."
This seems like very big news for the town. Kim sounds like an artist whose work could help elevate downtown Chapel Hill in the region, especially given the potential of UNC's coming Arts Common.
Check out Kim's work here.
Guest Post by Eric Muller
Is Raleigh Metro Magazine delivered to your home without your ever having subscribed to it? It is to mine. It's a monthly high-gloss magazine that's trying to be a guide to The Good Life here in the Triangle, with stories on food and wine, art and architecture, music and theater, local businesses, and the like. And lots of advertisements from local businesses. It's the kind of magazine you'd expect to be handed by a real estate agent if you were thinking of moving to town. A polished, visually attractive, feel-good, community-boosting, inoffensive publication.
Wait. Did I say "inoffensive?" Let me change that. It's inoffensive until you get to the back pages of the magazine, where editor and publisher Bernie Reeves cuts loose with his political views in his monthly column. And when I say "cuts loose," I mean "cuts loose." This is stuff that would make Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or even Michael Savage blush.
Here's a sampling of views and quotes from his columns:
Chapel Hill Herald, Saturday December 03, 2005
There is a strange paradox in American culture. On the one hand, we are taught to view ourselves through the lens of individualism, extolling the self-made "man," and looking out for number one. On the other hand, there has rarely been a society more characterized by the utter economic dependency of its citizens than ours.
We depend on distant, faceless corporations for the energy to warm our homes, cook our food and power our vehicles. We depend on them for our entertainment and our communication, our clothing, tools and materials, and for many aspects of our health care.
Historically, few humans have ever been independent in a true sense. Nor have we had the kind of dependency that characterizes modern society. Rather, we have been interdependent, denizens of self-reliant communities where what one could not do for oneself could be accomplished by a tribe, extended family, community or village.
You may be among the many Chapel Hillians who have been wondering why some of the best business locations on Franklin Street stand vacant with no inhabitants. Apparently it's because their owner, Fayetteville developer Joe Riddle, is waiting for the "right" tenants. Riddle owns the Top of the Hill building (former home of the Gap, the Sunglass Hut, and the Carolina Theatre) and some lots on West Franklin on either side of Lantern and the art supply store, including University Chrysler. He doesn't seem to be in a rush to find those uniquely suitable tenants either.
Could it be Riddle is too distracted with other matters? Or does he have so much money that he can afford to hold on to prime real estate until the right mood catches him? Either way I see it as bad for Chapel Hill.
In an effort to bring a free public WiFi network to Chapel Hill and to let our elected representatives know how we feel I've created an online petition.
To: Chapel Hill Town Council
The time has come for the Town of Chapel Hill to build a free, community-owned, public municipal network. The network should have wireless access and provide an open, unfiltered, and unmonitored connection to the Internet available to ALL people. It must be maintained by a local nonprofit for the people of Chapel Hill. Not by a private business or corporation.
We request that the Chapel Hill Town Council act swiftly to bring this service to the people.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
It will be presented to the Town Council as soon as posible. If you are a citizen of Chapel Hill please go to http://www.petitiononline.com/chwifi/petition.html and sign it. Thank you!
According to news reports, Mayors Foy and Chilton pledged to do their holiday shopping locally:
"We really feel that it is very important for Orange County residents ... to buy local and to help reinvest the money we spend in our holiday shopping season here in Orange County," Chilton said, just a day after being sworn in as Carrboro's new mayor.
The potential impact, according to the Chamber:
a 1 percent increase in Orange County retail sales, assuming the money would not be spent in another county anyway, would generate nearly $360,000 in extra revenue. That's roughly enough to hire nine new police officers or sheriff's deputies.
Last Saturday, Aaron Nelson took advantage of the holiday parade to hand out "Buy Local" decals to a captive, holiday-primed audience.
The benefits of shopping locally are pretty clear, as are the additional benefits of supporting locally-owned businesses.
Kudos to Chilton, Foy, and Nelson for taking advantage of the holiday season to promote this awareness.
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