April 2006
Just yesterday, while planning a trip to the other side of downtown, I was wondering when the heck are we going to get some community bikes that I can jump on, ride across town, and leave for the next person to use?
This morning I got the answer: May. SURGE and the ReCyclery are planning to introduce a community bike program during national Bike to Work Week, May 15-19.
John Herrera proposed a program like this during his re-election campign in Carrboro last fall. But I haven't heard anything since...
The weather is georgeous and we are going to do some spring cleaning at Orange Politics. There are currently about 50 unpublished guest posts hanging out in the system. We need to clean these up so that new posts can be easily found.
There is one small change to the guest posting instructions. You no longer need to inform the editors of your post. But this means that if you are working on an entry and are not ready for it to be published yet, you must save as "Private" to keep the editor's prying eyes out.
All old guests posts still in the queue by Thursday at 5 pm will be deleted.
And here are the updated instructions (with changes indicated by underline and strikeout). Remember they are always available on the right side of every page via the How to post on OP link.
The Chapel Hill chapter of Drinking Liberally will be meeting this Thursday, April 6, at Tyler's (back in the Speakeasy) from 7pm until 10pm. To keep up with goings-on, you can sign up for the chapter mailing list here. A word or two about DL:
An informal, inclusive progressive drinking club. Raise your spirits while you raise your glass, and share ideas while you share a pitcher. Drinking Liberally gives like-minded, left-leaning individuals a place to talk politics. You don't need to be a policy expert and this isn't a book club - just come and learn from peers, trade jokes, vent frustration and hang out in an environment where it's not taboo to talk politics.
Bars are democratic spaces - you talk to strangers, you share booths, you feel the bond of common ground. Bring democratic discourse to your local democratic space - build democracy one drink at a time.
I just learned that Al Franken is returning to Chapel Hill this Friday, April 7. I went to see him last April and had a whale of a good time. I won't be able to go this year because of the job thing but hope hear it on the radio. If I'm a good boy perhaps WillR and others will web log it again.
Doors open at 10:30, he did a bit of stand up last time that wasn't broadcast. The good seats go quick. Show runs from noon till 3:00. Admission is free. It's in the student union on the UNC campus. Check it out.
WCHL's web site say's this is in conjunction with some kind of movie Al's in. It's showing at 8:30 PM and is part of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.
For any of you that are Democrats or plan to vote in the Democratic primary*, the local party is having some events of interest including their convention this weekend.
The County Convention is on Saturday, April 8, at the Orange County Courthouse in Hillsborough. Registration begins at 11:00, barbecue lunch ($10.00 donation) at 11:30, and the meeting itself at 12:45. Candidates will be politicking in the parking lot before the convention, and the keynote address is by Patricia Timmons-Goodson, Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court.
Meet the candidates for District 15B Superior Court Judge at the April 6 meeting of the Orange County Democratic Women, 6:00 pm at the Exchange at Meadowmont.
Come to the Open House for all Democratic candidates at the Occoneechee Steak House, 378 S. Churton Street, in Hillsborough from 6:30 - 9:00 pm on Monday, April 10.
Nancy Suttenfield, a key UNC "mover-n-shaker" since 2000, current member on many Town-n-Gown related boards, is leaving UNC and is headed to Wake Forest.
Nancy's been quite busy both at UNC overseeing the recent tidal wave of capital expenditures. She's also been involved in a number of Town-n-Gown outreach efforts, such as Kevin Foy's Downtown Partnership. Not only did she help form UNC's new Carolina North committee, she's one of UNC's key representatives on that committee.
I wonder if her leaving will change the current shaky dynamic of that committee?
More from today's Herald-Sun.
I was pretty shocked to read today that Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy has written a memo to the Town Council proposing that they should end the Horace Williams Citizen's Committee (old web site, new web site). Just a few months ago, I helped to draft a plan for how the HWCC would proceed in the next year or two to study some of the issues surrounding Carolina North and to make recommendations on them to the Town Council.
In all of the discussion of Ken Broun's new committee to advise UNC's leaders, it has always been made clear that the HWCC would still exist to advise Chapel Hill's leaders. I have not seen any change in situation that would mean we don't need this service any longer. This decision would be a major reversal and it deserves more explanation than the Mayor has given.
Important stuff going on next door in Chatham County. Road trip to Siler City, anyone?
A page in history will be written in North Carolina on Monday, April 10 when anywhere from 2,000 to 10,000 immigrants and their allies will march and rally in Siler City, NC, about 1 hour west of Raleigh on Hwy 64, and many more will gather in Winston Salem, Wilmington, Murphy, and other cities across NC. This is a national day of action against terrible anti-immigrant legislation being considered by Congress, with hundreds of protests planned around the country. We need hundreds of volunteers, observers, and allies to help ensure the safety and rights of all participants.
A statewide Volunteer Training is set for 4:00 pm, Sunday April 9, at the Carrboro Town Hall, 301 W Main St, Carrboro, NC. RSVP hospitality@ncpeacejustice.org
Please consider standing in solidarity with immigrants who are fighting for their rights and their lives!
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce is partnering with EmPOWERment, Inc., the Village Project, and WCHL 1360AM to host an Orange County Commissioner candidates forum on Tuesday, April 11 from 7:30pm-9pm at Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill. The forum will be broadcast live on WCHL 1360AM. The forum partners hope that you can attend or listen to the live broadcast on WCHL.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce also asked candidates to complete a questionnaire and interview. The Chamber elections brochure complete with questionnaire answers and chamber commentary on candidates is available online at http://www.carolinachamber.org/elections/
I know you're all waiting on the edge of your seats for this shocker:
For Orange County commissioner, the chapter endorsed candidates Mike Nelson and incumbents Alice Gordon and Barry Jacobs. It also expressed support "short of an endorsement" for Fred Battle.
- newsobserver.com | Chapter picks its faves
I have become increasingly disillusioned with Neighborhood Conservation Districts, Chapel Hill's attempt to manage change in our delicate, older neighborhoods. I have always seen them as way to protect the character of neighborhoods as they evolve over time. I'm afraid they are being used more as a tool to stop any change or growth in the areas entirely. In my opinion, this is neither healthy nor fair.
So I was intrigued to learn that Carrboro has taken a different approach to this problem:
The Board of Aldermen sat down Tuesday in another bid to hash out its architectural standards. But there was little agreement other than the idea that they must preserve the town's individual character without allowing in mega-developments with McMansions.
- heraldsun.com: Carrboro building standards elusive
Guest Post by Susan Brown
Bring your lunch to the Carrboro Century Center this Thursday, April 13th, at 12:00 noon and hear award-winning poet Jaki Shelton Green read, enjoy coffee from the Open Eye Cafe, and celebrate National Poetry Month!
In 2003, Jaki Shelton Green received the North Carolina Award for Literature. Her poetry has appeared in publications such as The African-American Review, Ms. and Essence. She has performed her poetry and taught workshops in the United States, the Caribbean, Europe, and Brazil. Green also teaches creative writing to marginalized populations of our society such as the homeless, the newly literate, and the incarcerated. She collaborates with human service agencies and non-profit organizations whose focus is using writing as a tool of recovery and change. Her newest collection, Breath of the Song, Selected and New Poems, was released in August 2005.
I have completed what I think is a comprehensive list of candidates for the primary, which is 3 weeks from last Tuesday, but early voting starts TODAY!
This election information required quite a bit of research as the County Board of Elections doesn't list judicial or congressional races, or candidates that file in other counties for state legislative races. All the state BOE offers is one huge document listing all legislative, jusdicial, and congressional candidates for the entire state. Oy. Anyway, I have also included candidate web sites if I could find them. Please visit http://orangepolitics.org/elections-2006 and let me know if I have missed anything.
Here are the early voting locations:
In light of recent events, please join us in sending the message that domestic violence will not be tolerated in our community.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE COMMUNITY VIGIL
Thursday, April 13, 2006
6:00 p.m. – Rain or Shine
Franklin Street Post Office, Chapel Hill
For additional information, please call (919) 929-3872.
Organized by the Family Violence Prevention Center of Orange County and Family Violence and Rape Crisis of Chatham County
It's time again for the biennial review of confusing judicial races in North Carolina.
Orange/Chatham Superior Court
Locally, we have the first ever competitive local Superior Court Judge race featuring the following candidates: Chuck Anderson, Allen Baddour, Carl Fox, Ken Oettinger, Michael Patrick, and Adam Stein.
This race is a tough decision in that we have six really strong and well-qualified candidates, all of them with strong Democratic party history and some of them with strong progressive political backgrounds. You get to vote for two candidates in the Superior Court race.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro PTA Council is sponsoring a Board of County Commissioner Forum on Education to help inform voters about the candidates running for the Orange County Board of County Commissioners. The education forum will be held on Monday, April 17, at 7 PM, at Carrboro Town Hall. The forum will be aired live on the public access channel (Time Warner channel 18) and will also be rebroadcast later. It will be moderated by Frances Henderson, Executive Director of the Dispute Settlement Center. This event is free and open to the public.
The May primaries are of great importance to our school community because the County Commissioners decide how much money is allocated to the two school systems existing in the county and determine other educational issues as well. The PTA Council has also compiled a list of questions and answers from the BOCC candidates. This survey can be accessed through the Council's website, www.ptacouncil.com. For more information about the forum and for procedures for submitting online questions for the forum, please go to the Council's website.
I thought for a while about whether to post this, but I think people should know that fear and homophobia are unfortunately alive and well in Orange County. In his e-mail newsletter last week Orange County Commission candidate Mike Nelson wrote:
Apparently, a representative of the Orange County Democratic Party leadership attended a recent precinct meeting and told folks that a vote for me would be a "wasted" vote. His contention, apparently, was that if I win the primary it will make it easier for the Republican candidate to win in November.
[...]
The same arguments this gentleman made---that voting for me would be handing a seat to the Republicans because of the perceived anti-gay vote in Northern Orange--these same arguments used to be made about African-American and women candidates. If people had listened to this kind of doom-and-gloom mess 20-30-40 years ago, we'd never have elected African Americans or women to office around here.
Guest Post by Dennis Markatos-Soriano
You are all invited to the Chapel Hill/Carrboro CRed Summit!
11:30am-2:30pm, Earth Day Saturday, April 22, 2006
Carrboro Century Center
A gathering to develop our commitment to local CRed (Carbon Reduction) climate stewardship from the written page to coordinated action that can achieve results.
We have commitments to participate from both local Mayors, members of the Chapel Hill Town Council, Carrboro Board of Aldermen, Orange County Commissioners, our State Senator Ellie Kinnaird, State Representative Verla Insko, students and faculty at the University, leaders of OWASA, and representatives of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce.
Key stakeholders that we aim to bring together include:
-Elected officials and staff in the Towns, County, state, and federal level
-Staff and officials at the University
-Members of the business community
-Students who can contribute to the process (from the University and local K-12 system)
-Local citizens who want to help our community achieve the CRed goals
The very influential Independent Weekly announced its endorsements today for the primary election, which will be on May 2nd.
In the Orange County BOCC election, it couldn't pick. Thus it encourages you to vote for three out of the quartet of Fred Battle, Mike Nelson, Barry Jacobs, and Alice Gordon.
In the Superior Court race it endorses Carl Fox and Adam Stein.
For Congress it endorses David Price.
In the statewide Judicial races it endorses Robin Hudson for Supreme Court, and Bob Hunter and Linda Stephens for their respective Court of Appeals seats.
Pretty much on the mark in my opinion...
I just got the following announcement by e-mail.
Also the LWV candidate forum is tonight in Hillsborough!
You're Invited.....
Bob Hall of Democracy North Carolina is the guest speaker at a public meeting hosted by the League of Women Voters Orange-Durham-Chatham chapter on
Thursday, April 20 at 10 am
at the Hargraves Center
216 N. Robeson St. (which runs off Rosemary St., next to Dip's Restaurant)
Chapel Hill
He'll be talking on the theme: "Fulfilling the Promise of Democracy in North Carolina." He will discuss the current state of state-level campaign finance reform, lobbying reform, voting-rights issues, and pending legislation at the N.C. General Assembly.
Join us at the Hargraves Center at 10 am for this informative discussion.
Refreshments will be served.
I'm not sure what's up with "public" meetings at 10 am on a week day, though. :-(
WCHL (1360 AM) will holding its annual Forum on air today from 8 am to 6 pm. I can't find the schedule on their site, but they generally dedicate each hour to a different topic with 4-6 guests and a couple of journalists.
It probably won't be as exciting as in 2004, when the forum was kicked off by a tense 2-hour tete-a-tete over UNC development.
In 2005, I was a particpant in the "Civil Rights & Equality" topic. This year I'll be on during the 3 pm hour in which the topic is "Community Diversity," which appears to be a re-phrasing of the same issue(s). And I'm still frustrated at the hourly separation of topics because of course I have things to say about all of them! ;-)
Here's another Commissioner candidate forum. There's no excuse for not going to one of these at some point. The election is a week from Tuesday!
Here is your opportunity to meet the candidates for County Commissioner, ask questions, learn about the issues facing Orange County and weigh your choices.
The Orange County Democratic Party, along with the NAACP and Young Democrats organizations, is sponsoring a County Commissioner Candidates Forum Saturday, April 22, at the Southern Orange Human Services Center, 2501 Homestead Rd., in Chapel Hill. Doors open at 3:00 p.m. for informal interaction; the formal session begins at 3:30.
I hope to see you there.
Jack Sanders
OCDP Chair
(Links added.)
According to the N&O Chatham regularly invokes Jesus prior to its Commissioner meetings. Bunky is saying Jesus taught him to pray, Outz says non-christians can leave the room, Emerson says his Jewish friends don't care...do you?
"I always thought if they didn't like [the prayer], they could step outside," Commissioner Carl Outz said.
"I talked to a Jewish person about it, and he had no problem with the Lord's Prayer," Emerson said. The Lord's Prayer begins, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name."
Doesn't seem like a very friendly and welcoming place to me. So, who wants to go to the next commissioner's meeting?
The Partnership to End Homelessness, a broad coalition of community groups and government officials will sponsor a forum to develop action steps and solutions for ending homelessness in Orange County. The Community Forum on Homelessness will be held Thursday, April 27, 2006 from 6-9pm at A.L. Stanback Middle School located at 3700 NC Highway 86 South in Hillsborough, NC.
COMMUNITY FORUM
SEEKING SOLUTIONS FOR ENDING HOMELESSNESS
THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2006
Community encouraged to participate.
The Partnership to End Homelessness, a broad coalition of community groups and government officials will sponsor a forum to develop action steps and solutions for ending homelessness in Orange County.
The Community Forum on Homelessness will be held Thursday, April 27, 2006 from 6 pm at A.L. Stanback Middle School located at 3700 NC Highway 86 South in Hillsborough, NC. Dinner will be served at 5:45pm.
I have been so incredibly upset since I heard about the Chapel Hill Town Council's swift decision to retire the Technology Advisory Board and the Horace Williams Citizens Committee last week, that I couldn't even write about it. I have been waiting to cool down, but the more I think and the more people I talk to about it, the madder I get.
So I will let Jason Baker do the talking for me (from his blog):
Last week, the Chapel Hill Town Council opted to end the service of both the Horace Williams citizens' committee and the technology committee.
Doing so was a mistake. With her sole dissenting vote, apparently only former citizens' committee member Laurin Easthom saw the value of the hard work and diversity of perspectives those folks would bring to the town in the years to come.
As a town, we're far behind where we ought to be in the technology realm, and disbanding our technology committee without a thoughtful replacement is only going to put us farther back.
I thought Apple Chill and the motorcycle festival and the associated traffic management was handled very well today.
Unfortunately, a few idiots have chosen mess it up for the rest of us. "Two people have been taken to UNC Hospitals Sunday night after four shots were fired on Franklin Street." - WRAL.com News
UPDATE: "Forty-five minutes after the initial shooting Jarvies said police received another report of gunshots fired several blocks east of 110 W. Franklin Street. In a third incident, a gun was brandished, but no shots were fired." - N&O: Three people shot in Chapel Hill
Did you blink? If so, you might have missed the Chapel Hill Town Council's entire discussion and approval of rezoning a neighborhood near campus. This is intended to effectively immobilize any development of any kind there.
This is ostensibly temporary while a Neighborhood Conservation District is developed for the Mason Farm neighborhood. I voted against this down-zoning on the Planning Board because I believe zoning is a long-range tool that is being applied here in a short-term way.
Compare and contrast... Young black men with guns at After Chill vs. young white man with gun at East Chapel Hill High. What's the difference?
Many people have complained of Apple Chill's $100,000 price tag as a drain on the town. But no-one batted an eye at the $681,000 cost of the Council's acquiesence to the Dogwood Acres neighborhood at the same meeting on Monday night. When Southern Village was being built a decade ago, Dogwood Acres vehemently fought any physcial connection to their new neighbor. After it was done they had a change of heart.
Now that the town is building the Southern Community Park on their doorstep, again Dogwood Acres wants to innoculate itself from the change. It seems to me that these folks are pretty lucky getting access to so many amenities within walking distance of their lovely neighborhood, but they fight these improvements like they are a stinking landfill! That is, until they are built.
The song that's sweeping southern Orange County now has it's own web site, and the video shoot is on for this weekend!
Group Video Shoot! Wilson Park, April 30th, 2PM!!!
That's right, Carrboro! Your time to shine on camera is now… that is, April 30th! At 2PM!! At Wilson Park!! It's gonna be a party, and I mean that. We will cater the event. We're going the whole nine yards. Bring your friends as this will be the biggest, most awesome party ever filmed!
- ItsCarrboro.com
Come show that local politicos know how to have fun, too. :-)
The primary is coming up on Tuesday, May 2nd. You can still vote early tomorrow, and the polls will be open from 6:30 AM-7:30 PM on election day.
There are races for County Commissioner, Congress, Superior Court, and State Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. See the OP Election Guide for a full list, with links to local candidates and other information.
Who are you endorsing and why? Please write only about who you are endorsing- any negative comments will be deleted.
Happy voting!
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