Dan Coleman's blog

Chapel Hill Herald, Saturday May 21, 2005

Like the three-headed dog of Greek mythology, town, gown and scrubs have put their heads together to move forward on a common initiative. Last week, Mayor Foy, Chancellor Moeser and UNC Healthcare CEO Roper all signed a letter to the N.C. Department of Transportation conveying their "agreement on a solution acceptable to all parties" on the long-delayed improvements to Chapel Hill's South Columbia Street.

Perhaps now, the turn lanes, bike lanes and sidewalks agreed to by the town and Chancellor Michael Hooker in 1998 will at last be built.

This was quite a turnaround from recent weeks when it was learned that the improvements were held up by the DOT and questions were raised as to the university's involvement.

Those who follow the issue are well aware that not long after Moeser's arrival, the university reneged on Hooker's agreement and the planned improvements were stalled.

Regular readers of my part-time employer, the Chapel Hill Herald, will surely have noticed its editorialists' unflagging support for UNC's growth plans. In a Wednesday editorial titled "Carolina North is coming closer", they wrote that Carolina North is "getting ready to splash across the front pages." They went on to discuss a "new, revised plan" that they said would be presented to the trustees.

This prompted Vice Chancellor Tony Waldrop to write a letter, appearing in today's paper, correcting the editorial and pointing out that what will be presented is only an update and information on a study of potential airport sites.

The irony for me is that I have written repeatedly urging people not to overstate or over-react to events surrounding the proposed Carolina North. Now the university is doing the same!

The encouraging bit in the Herald editorial was their concluding hope that the university has heard concerns already expressed on Carolina North. Given the paper's often disdainful attitude toward those concerned with the impact of UNC's plans, this could be a very positive development.

adapted from Chapel Hill Herald, Saturday May 07, 2005

The great success of last Saturday's first annual Carrboro Book Fair led me to some reflection on the event's organizer, Internationalist Books and Community Center ("Ibooks").

Although the book fair was the brainchild of Ibooks volunteer and board member Ethan Clauset, sponsoring a high-profile event like this is reflective of the growth and organizational maturity of Internationalist over the past decade. A few years ago, Ibooks became an official nonprofit, increasing its options for fundraising. The nonprofit status dovetailed nicely with its member-controlled, volunteer-run collective organization.

Among Ibooks' recent accomplishments is its development of a Radical Lending Library for its members. The store also helped local activists attend anti-war rallies in Washington and Fayetteville, free trade protests in Miami and the March for Women's Lives in Washington.