Erin Crouse's blog

UNC to Start (Inequitably) Charging for Evening Parking

Submitted by Erin Crouse on June 13, 2014 - 10:09am
According to the Daily Tar Heel, UNC is going to start charging for evening parking this fall. All students will shoulder this cost as an annual $10.40 charge to their student fees. Non-affliated visitors to UNC will pay $2/evening. Nighttime employees will pay an annual fee between $227 (for those with an income of less than $25K/year) to $390 (for those making over $100K/year), which is the same price as daytime permits.

In the article, UNC DPS spokesman Randy Young says: 

“The folks who are only working at night, their shift is basically the same as people who work during the day, except that traditionally, they’ve been receiving free parking,” he said. “So they would pay for their parking at night, for their nighttime work, the same way employees during the day have to. In the past, daytime parking permits have essentially subsidized those who park at night.” 

Central West, Density, and the Vocal Minority

Submitted by Erin Crouse on October 2, 2013 - 7:37pm

The Central West draft plan was presented to the Planning Board last night. Given the issues the Central West steering committee had coming to an agreement on a plan, and how the committee ended up costing much more than was expected, I had low expectations for the output of the steering committee. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the draft plan. The plan is mostly multifamily residential, and not particularly tall (3-4 stories, with one 5-8 story area that is completely separate from all the other areas on the map by open space). It makes ample use of trail connectors and other infrastructure to increase bike and pedestrian safety, which will be a welcome improvement to the area. I personally think the buildings at the corner of Estes and MLK could be a bit taller, but credit should be given to steering committee co-chairs Amy Ryan and Michael Parker for putting together a plan that tried to acknowledge and address the wide range of issues and viewpoints of  those that participated in the process.

LUMO rewrite announced (and other things you have missed in Chapel Hill government this summer)

Submitted by Erin Crouse on August 26, 2013 - 9:28pm
The Chapel Hill Town Council may still be on summer break, but staff and citizens have been busy!

Advisory board restructuring input sessions provide a new way to have your voice heard

Submitted by Erin Crouse on July 7, 2013 - 6:03pm

The Chapel Hill Town Council is moving forward with its advisory board restructuring process. As I described in an earlier post, the first stage of this process deals with creating a new advisory boards to oversee development review. Starting tomorrow (July 8) at 6:30PM, and continuing for the following five Mondays, there will be public input sessions at the Chapel Hill Public Library. The first session will describe what the input on this process will look like, and the next five meetings will focus on a specific board:

  • Transportation and Connectivity (July 15)

  • Community Design (July 22)

  • Environmental Stewardship (July 29)

  • Community Housing (August 5)

  • a restructured Planning Board (August 12)

Advisory Board Restructuring: Two Information Sessions This Week

Submitted by Erin Crouse on May 16, 2013 - 7:45am

Tonight is the first of two public information sessions regarding changes to Chapel Hill's advisory board structure. For the past several years, the Town of Chapel Hill has been in the process of reevaluating most of its operations. This includes changes in department organizational policies and procedures, employee compensation and classification, and Council guidelines for more efficient meetings. However, one area of the Town's operations that has not yet been restructured are its advisory boards. There has been a Council committee in place since 2010 (currently comprised of Council Members Gene Pease, Laurin Easthom, and Matt Czajkowski) to evaluate the advisory boards, and last Wednesday Council Member Pease presented their recommendations for board restructuring at a Council work session

Pages

 

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.

 

Content license

By contributing to OrangePolitics, you agree to license your contributions under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

Creative Commons License

 
Zircon - This is a contributing Drupal Theme
Design by WeebPal.