September 2006
Hey all,
I know many of you have seen me posting on here regarding State and Federal telecom politics..yuck.....well, I'm not going to do that tonight. I just wanted to extend an invitation to you all to come on down to The People's Channel and really see what we're all about. We all use OP to raise our voices and discuss issues, and that's exactly what we do at TPC as well! We teach people how to communicate using media, and let them air programs on our community TV station...how cool huh? This event is also a formal opportunity for other independent media makers to share their work (let me know if you want a table) and network with others who are creating local independent community media.
Guest post by Michal OsterweilWe're still here... and we still want to dance!For more of that community magic and power...Same time, same place, same dance... let Carr Mill know that we still care about this issue and we are not going to just get bored and go away. Lets make this one even bigger.Bring your friends, musical instruments... and your dancing shoes!WSM lawn, Wednesday, September 6, 5:30 PM, the Carrboro community dances back!Please forward widely.
Carrboro has launched a new online system to help residents interact with town government. The Carrboro Action Line is oriented toward facilitating communication with town staff on a wide range of informational and action items.
There is an article on the project in today's Herald.
We discussed improving the friendliness of the town web site at the board retreat last February. This strikes me as a big step forward, entirely from staff initiative and at a fairly low cost.
I'll be interested to learn of the experience of users of the system (as, I'm sure, will town staff who just rolled out the program). In particularly, you web savvy folks who've been riding Chapel Hill's case on technology, let us know what you think of this step for Carrboro.
In July, I wondered what people were thinking about the Inter-City Visit and Leadership Conference to be held in Madison, WI by the local "Community Leadership Council" on September 24-26. I considered participating in it, and in fact my husband and I both applied for scholarships to attend.
However, in addition to the fact that we did not receive the amount of scholarship requested ($1,300 for two of us, for a conference costing $2,190), the timing of the trip is singularly bad for us, and we simply cannot attend without throwing our lives into disarray. But! Just because the bloggers aren't going is no reason to for all of us who are staying home to miss out on what I'm sure will be interesting experiences for the folks in Madison.
I have suggested to the director of the Chamber of Commerce that they either set-up their own blog for the travellers or use OrangePolitics to help document the trip as it happens. The offer still stands...
Here is one definition:
"A public space or a public place is a place where anyone has a right to come without being excluded because of economic or social conditions." [Wikipedia]
That last part is important, "without being excluded because of economic or social conditions". The economic part means that a public place ideally should not charge anything, money or services, in return for the use of the space. No entrance fees, no minimum purchase, no reservation fee, etc. The social conditions part encompasses a lot. Mainly it stipulates that no one can be barred from entering or using a public space because of their race, appearance, movements, gender, political affiliation, loudness, hair color, clothing choices, etc.
The Chapel Hill Town Council will have a packed agenda on Monday at their first post-summer meeting. After today you can see the agenda online. Here's a run-down from the Town's e-mail update list:
- Castalia at Meadowmont
The Council will consider a special use permit application that proposes to construct a building with office space and dwelling units on a 4.2-acre site that is located in the Meadowmont development, at the intersection of West Barbee Chapel Road and NC Highway 54, across from the Hilltop Condominiums.
- Changeable or Moveable Signs Outside of the Town Center Zoning District
In response to a petition from business owners, the Council will review options regarding changeable/moveable signage outside the Town Center, including whether to expand sandwich board use to other commercial areas; to expand sandwich board use to commercial areas with sidewalks on both sides of a road and speed limits no greater than 25 miles per hour; or to make no changes to the existing sign regulations.
Announcement from Peggy Misch
Ira Chernus
University of Colorado
Homeland Insecurity:
From Terror and Fantasy to Hope and Reality
Wednesday, September 13, 7:30 PM
Chapel Hill Town Hall Council Chambers
405 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
The Bush administration's War on Terror has undermined our civil liberties at home and created more enemies abroad, especially in the Middle East.
Commemorate September 11 and Constitution Day, September 17. Reconsider the War on Terror, its consequences, and some alternatives.
Presented by the Curriculum in Peace, War, and Defense and the Orange County Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Cosponsored by Charles M. Jones Peace and Justice Committee of the Community Church of Chapel Hill UU, Coalition for Peace with Justice, Committee to End the Cycle of Violence, Elders for Peace, Jews for a Just Peace-NC, Peace 1st, Students United for a Responsible Global Environment, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom-Triangle Branch
For more information: 942-2535
The following is an announcement I got this weekend from Linda Convissor in UNC's Local Relations department. The Development Plan was a 300+ page document outlining the next 10 years of development on campus. Under the terms of the OI-4 zone created in 2001 for UNC, the University submits these plans to the town in return for the removal of a cap that had limited them to 14 million square feet on development on the main campus.
Under the terms of OI-4, the Town will have 4 months to review and approve the plan modifications, which range into hundreds of pages, plus maps, and the inevitable corrections and clarifications.
Dear Friends and Neighbors:
On Wednesday, September 13, 2006, the Town of Chapel Hill will hold a public information meeting on the University's application to amend its campus Development Plan. The meeting will be at 5 p.m. at the Chapel Hill Town Hall. The Town has mailed notice to property owners within 1,000 feet of campus.
On Friday, September 22, residents of Carrboro and Chapel Hill will for the third straight year join millions of others around the world in celebrating World Car Free Day, leaving their cars at home and using other means of transportation instead.
Residents of Orange County who formally pledge to go Car Free or at least Car Lite (reduced car use) for September 22 will be entered into a drawing for prizes that include Amtrak tickets to Washington, DC & New York, a new bicycle, gift certificates for Squid's, Spanky's or 411 West, and more. Anyone can pledge on-line at www.gocarfree.com; pledge forms that can be mailed will also be available in the Chapel Hill News and Chapel Hill Herald over the next three weeks.
In what the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau has highlighted as a national publicity coup, Mark Kleinschmidt takes viewers on a tour of Chapel Hill in an episode of the LOGO Channel's U.S. of Ant show:
Ant talks politics with Mark, an openly gay city council member in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He shows him around town and is soon introduced to Thomas, a student at Chapel Hill who was the victim of a gay bashing.
I don't doubt that the Visitors Bureau is correct about the public relations value of this segment for its audience. Says Director Laurie Paolicelli, "Special thanks to Mark and Mike for carrying the torch and making national viewers/travelers even more aware of our area."
We locals will find the bussing and hugging a salutary alternative to the serious business of mainstream TV journalism.
[Note: those of you who've been around as long as he has will forgive Mike's forgetting that he first ran for Alderman in 1989, not 1993.]
As published in the Chapel Hill Herald on September 9th, 2006:
If you have a strong stomach and some free time on Tuesday night you can head over to Memorial Hall at 6:30 p.m. to hear John Ashcroft speak. Of course, you might have a previously planned date to wash your hair.
Ashcroft is just the latest in a succession of right-wing extremists to speak on the UNC campus. Other recent appearances have come from well-known conservatives like Ann Coulter, Alan Keyes and Patrick McHenry. There have also been the lesser-known folks like Rush Limbaugh's brother and a speaker billing himself as the "conservative Jesse Jackson."
There is a consortium of conservative groups on the UNC campus that sponsors these events. The College Republicans are often involved, and this week's event is being sponsored by the UNC chapter of the Federalist Society and the Committee for a Better Carolina.
Just a heads up that the early entry deadline for film entries is coming up September 30th. consider entering this festival if you have a film laying around or are finishing one up. Full details are at www.carrborofilmfestival.com .
Festival Date: Sunday, November 19, 2006, 2 – 7 pm
Festival Location: Carrboro Century Center
Festival Mission: To support & promote Orange County film & video artists.
We welcome all films and videos under 30 minutes total running time (including titles and end credits).
All filmmakers should live, work, study or play in Orange County, NC, USA.
Click here to download the full submission guidelines (PDF).
The Herald has a story today about Orange County forming a committee to educate the voters about the proposed County Commissioners districting plan. Orange County voters will get to vote on the matter this November. The plan would work like this:
THE PROPOSED PLAN
Orange County will be divided into two districts. The districts will roughly follow the school district lines.
District 1 will include Chapel Hill, Carrboro and some nearby suburban and rural buffer areas. District 1 will have 3 seats on the board. The voters of District 1 will choose their party nominees in May, but voters from both districts will choose the winners in November.
District 2 will be the whole rest of the county including Hillsborough, White Cross, Efland and points north. District 2 will have 2 seats on the board. As with District 1, the primaries will be open only to District 2 voters, but all voters will participate in the general election.
As published in the Chapel Hill Herald on September 16th, 2006:
Carrboro saw some pretty major changes in its political leadership in the aftermath of last fall's election.
For the first time in 10 years its mayor is not Mike Nelson, as he chose not to run for re-election and was replaced by two-year Alderman Mark Chilton. Another veteran of the Board of Aldermen, Diana McDuffee, also retired after a decade of distinguished service to the town. Longtime Carrboro activist and popular teacher Randee Haven-O'Donnell was elected to take her place.
Most prominently, Chilton's ascension during the middle of the four-year term he was elected to in 2003 led to the need to fill his vacated seat. There was no clear procedure for doing so and after nearly three months of controversy, long-time local activist Dan Coleman was appointed by a divided board.
We're now nine months into Chilton's first term, and the full Board of Aldermen has now been seated for more than seven months. So how are the new guys doing?
Chris Richmond, Executive Director of the ReCYCLEry, and I have launched ReCYCLEry.info to publicize the ReCYCLEry and its partners' community programs such as the newly launched Blue Urban Bike program and Carrboro Greenspace.We have tentatively decided to keep the contributors limited, and leave the conversation to more comprehensive forums such as OrangePolitics. Theoretically, we may limit return traffic to the site, but this will leave us more time for real world activism, and keep the site a resource for pure information, media and community links.So we pose these questions: Should we attempt to encourage more online activism by creating a new forum? or Do we still manage to fully engage our objectives by leaving debate and editorial content elsewhere?
I was investigating what was happening about the connecting of the existing bike paths on Estes with Carrboro by using the new Action Line and I got my question answered in one day! My first answer was from David Poythress, Street Superintendent, who explained some of the barriers to the project; Carrboro town limits end at the railroad, only 35' roadway as it connects with N. Greensboro, leaving only 5' for each side which isn't enough room, and it is a DOT road. He suggested I contact Dale Mckeel, Transportation Planner.
Dale got right back with me and told me he had a plan he was taking to the DOT for connecting the bike paths from Seawell School Road to Hillcrest and Williams using the city owned sewer easement that is already in place, basically cutting through to Williams close to Wilson Park.
What are you doing to observe it?
Personally, I already work from home (no commute) and although I often run errands by foot or bike, I need some stuff from Earth Fare (WSM is out of my cat food again) so I will try to take to bus down there.
In addition to Chapel Hill Transit which is free every day, all of the buses in the Triangle will be fare-free today, so it's a great time to try out some regional routes.
The new Town Manager of Chapel Hill will be taking the bus to work. How about you?
Sorry for the site being down so much of yesterday. It was particularly bad timing as several things came up that I wanted to post about including Madison and NextBus. Look for a few new items showing up this weekend and feel free to suggest better web hosting services...
I have received no reply to my private and public offers to help set-up a blog or other tools to help the participants document the Inter-City Visit and Leadership Conference which starts tonight in Madison, Wisconsin. But I still believe that if this trip is informative to the diverse and illustrious group of community leaders who are attending, then learning about their experiences and insights will also be helpful for anyone else in the community.
So please consider this post an open thread to discuss the trip - especially if you are on it. It should be easy if you bring a laptop, the hotel where you are staying provides complimentary high-speed wireless Internet. And if you forgot to pack your laptop - don't worry. I will personally reimburse any cost associated with getting online for any Madison participants who post here on this page during the 2-day trip (or posts pictures of the trip on Flickr.com). This offer stands for reporters as well.
The News&Observer has a story today about the Carrboro Greenspace effort.
A group is trying to raise the down payment on $1.4 million it needs to save a green hillside near downtown from buildings, cars and pollution.
The Carrboro Greenspace Collective is trying to preserve about 10.5 acres off of Old Pittsboro Road, where the "Old Sparrow Pool," a community swimming spot, used to be....
The collective is giving tours of the property at 2 p.m. Sundays. Meet at 116 Old Pittsboro Road.
The community garden group works in the garden at the corner of Daffodil Lane and Old Pittsboro Road at 10:30 a.m. Saturdays.
- N&O: Group aims to buy plot, keep it green, 9/27/06
For more information, call Sammy Slade at 225-3433 or send e-mail to carrborogreenways@riseup.net.
Orange County is taking a little longer than Chapel Hill did to select and hire a new Manager. Slow and steady wins the race...
The Orange County Board of Commissioners cordially invites the public to attend a Reception to Meet the Finalists for County Manager on Tuesday, October 3, 2006 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in the Jury Room at the New Courthouse, 106 East Margaret Lane, Hillsborough, N.C. (prior to the BOCC meeting at 7:00 p.m. in the F. Gordon Battle Courtroom in Hillsborough). Each finalist will be given a chance to make a presentation between 7:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. in the Battle courtroom.
Other than this press release (whose link I suspect will not work when the page changes), I can't find any other info on their web site about the manager search. Anyone know who the candidates are?
As published in the Chapel Hill Herald on September 23rd, 2006
In recent years there has been no proposed development in Chapel Hill that I have more mixed feelings about than the Residences at Grove Park, which would replace the current Town House Apartments on Hillsborough Street with a number of relatively up-scale condos.
On one hand this kind of development fits in perfectly with the direction Chapel Hill's downtown needs to go in. We want more people living near the city's core. This certainly accomplishes that goal.
Beyond that, the Town House Apartments are not particularly nice. This would be a step forward in terms of aesthetics.
On the other hand, this poses a major problem in the sense that it will remove a large amount of student housing near campus. Already the local housing supply is having trouble keeping up with the university's expansion and causing students to choose places to live further and further away from Chapel Hill.
I really enjoyed this recent letter to the editor in the Chapel Hill News:
What a shame to foretell "gloom and doom" during hurricane season, but I must add my 2-cents worth to the intention of Laurie Paolicelli, executive director of the Chapel Hill-Orange County Visitors Bureau, and Daniel Wallace, gifted novelist, to put Carrboro on the national map via feature articles and testimonials in national publications. What could these people be thinking of?
Remember what Money magazine and other national coverage (that rated the best places to live in the United States) did for Chapel Hill? Did this type of coverage entice visitors? No. Droves of people moved here to live fore the duration. They were not tourists. And now we have four-lane highways where we used to have two-lane roads. And schools? No matter how many new schools are built, there are never enough to go around for long. And let's not do more than mention the deforestation.
So what makes the bureau think its publicity will attract only its stated audience-tourists?
Today marks the third birthday of OrangePolitics. What might our fourth year hold for us? I have been considering some improvements in how things are run, but they will require more time and energy from more people to make it work.
Our blogging software, WordPress 1.5, is being stretched a little beyond its capacity. I'd like to consider moving to a more powerful platform, such as CivicSpace, which would make it easier for all readers to have their own blogs on the site, and add many other useful tools. (See BlueNC for an example of a typical CivicSpace community site.)
As was mentioned on the tourism thread, comedian Lewis Black is buying a home in downtown Chapel Hill.
Black, a Daily Show and HBO favorite famous for his jittery gesticulations and splenetic sputterings on President Bush, clueless Americans and corporate greed, has purchased a two-bedroom unit at Chapel Hill's Condominiums at McCorkle Place, 213 E. Franklin St., a 69-year-old brick building sandwiched between the University Presbyterian Church and the Kappa Delta sorority house.
"This is the first place I've ever bought," said Black, who lives in Hell's Kitchen in New York City. "I've been broke most of my life."
- The Independent: News
The people who frequent this blog need no further encouragement to vote on November 7.
However, if you know someone who doesn't really know who's running in Orange County's elections, or can't distinguish between Mark Martin the Supreme Court candidate and Mark Martin the NASCAR driver, please consider directing them to a new web site, www.yallvote.com.
The site contains a comprehensive list of web sites for candidates running for North Carolina state and local offices. For example, the Orange County page has candidate links for competitive races for County Commission, Sheriff, Superior Court, House District 54, and Senate District 23. Other features include links to voter registration forms, a blog to debate voter turnout issues, an "Election Alarm Clock" reminder, and other links to relevant sites.
www.yallvote.com is non-partisan, non-commercial (i.e., we accept no advertising and collect no revenue) and does not support a particular candidate or ideology.
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.
