February 2014
I already wish I had never heard the term "freezing fog." What is this fresh, freezing cold, hell?
I'm sitting in my home office looking out on Umstead Drive where the cars have been sitting still for at least the last 10 minutes. Have heard reports of at least two people who got stuck and are walking home miles in the snow.
Apparently, this is the stormaggeddon we've been waiting for. I can't wait until it freezes tonight!
How are y'all doing?
It's a quieter week in local government this week. In Carrboro, the Board of Aldermen will look at potential changes to towing regulations while the Town Council in Chapel Hill will open a public hearing on changes to the Land Use Management Ordinance and the County Commissioners will discuss whether to approve the Operations Agreement for the Rogers Road Community Center. Both school boards and the Hillsborough Town Board have the week off.
Primary elections were held Tuesday, May 6th, for the Orange County Board of Commissioners, the Orange County Sheriff, the Orange County School Board, the Orange County Register of Deeds and the Orange County of Clerk of Court as well as for a special election for the Carrboro Board of Aldermen! In this section of the site you can find impartial information about the candidates and the race.
Google just announced that it's inviting 34 cities to "explore what it would take to bring them Google Fiber." Carrboro and Chapel Hill are among those 34 cities as a part of the Raleigh-Durham metropolitan area. Other area cities invited as part of the metro area include Cary, Durham, Garner, Morrisville, and Raleigh.
Google Fiber is the next generation of Internet access — Internet that is up to 100 times faster that current basic broadband access.
From Google's official blog:
We aim to provide updates by the end of the year about which cities will be getting Google Fiber. Between now and then, we’ll work closely with each city’s leaders on a joint planning process that will not only map out a Google Fiber network in detail, but also assess what unique local challenges we might face. These are such big jobs that advance planning goes a long way toward helping us stick to schedules and minimize disruption for residents.
We’re going to work on a detailed study of local factors that could affect construction, like topography (e.g., hills, flood zones), housing density and the condition of local infrastructure. Meanwhile, cities will complete a checklist of items that will help them get ready for a project of this scale and speed. For example, they’ll provide us with maps of existing conduit, water, gas and electricity lines so that we can plan where to place fiber. They’ll also help us find ways to access existing infrastructure—like utility poles—so we don’t unnecessarily dig up streets or have to put up a new pole next to an existing one.
You can read more about what could potentially be coming to Carrboro and Chapel Hill at Google Fiber's website.
Sending our children to public schools should not be something that
causes a parent to get nervous. I have a child of my own in Orange
County public schools, so I know how it can feel. The fact that so many
fear for their child’s safety at school is unfortunate.
The good news is that there is something that we can do about it.
UNC students have launched a petition against the Town of Chapel Hill's housing ordinance prohibiting more than four unrelated people from living in the same house.
The petition is an initiative of outgoing student body president Christy Lambden. The Lambden Administration is circulating the following blurb to students concerning the petition:
As many of you know in the past year many students have been evicted from their homes for violating The Town of Chapel Hill’s Occupancy Ordinance. This Ordinance states that no more that four unrelated persons can co-inhabit the same single-dwelling residence. We in the Executive Branch of Student Government are asking for your support in signing our petition to The Town of Chapel Hill. We ask that you please circulate this to the members of your respective organizations. Stand with Student Government, fight for students and Don’t Shut the Door on Four.
http://bit.ly/M7O4sU
Also, if you have opinions or experiences with the Ordinance, please let us know at:
https://neighborland.com/ideas/chapel-hill-to-hear-people-s-experien.
Signing up is very easy and can be done through your Facebook account!
Thanks for your support,
The Lambden Administration
In the fall, there were reports about students being kicked out of their homes for violating the ordinance. This petition appears to be a response to those actions.
However, not all students are supportive of repealing the ordinance. A cursory glance at the Neighborland page emailed out (and seeing intense discussion on many of my friends' Facebook pages) indicates that this is a multidimensional issue that our community continues to struggle with, students fully included.
It appears that as far as I can see on the political scene that there is a civil war here in orange county between liberal democrats and conservative republicans. Where are the moderates of both parties. Which of the current candidates of either party declare that he or she is a moderate liberal democrat or moderate conservative republican . Perhaps I might declare I"M a moderate liberal republican. Gary Kahn
The GOP is in full blown meltdown right now. Four responses to the State of the Union? Yah ... these guys would like to relitigate the membership list in the union. The fact is, they're after birth control and would really like to revoke the right to vote for people who are brown or have breasts. I mean they are WORKING ON THIS.
Last year at this time, I wrote this missive which the local papers could not run as an OpEd due to its length. I share it here in the hopes that Ruby's masterful spider will help it find an audience.
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