leestorrow's blog

Did you know that visitor spending in Chapel Hill and Orange County accounts for over $160 million in economic impact ever year? Tourism is a clean business that creates jobs and tax revenue that helps keep our county the amazing place it is. I was appointed to represent the Town Council on the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitor's Bureau at the start of this year, and am committed to increasing the economic impact from tourism over this year. 

To celebrate the great visitor and tourist attractions in Orange County, I'm headed on a stay-cation over Memorial Day weekend. I'll be packing my bag on Friday and won't return until Monday afternoon, but I'll never be more than 25 miles away from my home. I'm spending Friday night in Carrboro, will be visiting Hillsborough and Northern Orange on Saturday, and will be finishing up in the southern part of heaven on Sunday.

Over the two years, Chapel Hill has gone through an extensive process to restructure our advisory boards and commissions. The main focus of this work has been to simplify the development review process, and has led to the creation of four major boards that will review development proposals (Planning Commission, Transportation and Connectivity Advisory Board, Environmental Stewardship Advisory Board, and Housing Advisory Board). The town will be making appointments to these four boards this spring, and we need community members to step up and serve to help move our community forward. The town also has a number of vacancies on existing boards that may be filled this spring.

On Monday night, the Chapel Hill Town Council will discuss complying with new state laws passed by the General Assembly in 2013 that specify that cites and towns cannot bar concealed handguns in parks and greenways (House Bill 937, now Session Law 2013-369). We’ve received many e-mails from community members who are concerned about this new law, but unfortunately we have limited ability as a Town Council to react to these changes. Many cities and towns in North Carolina have struggled to figure out how to come into compliance with these new laws. In Asheville and Durham, their City Councils unanimously passed resolutions in opposition to these new laws. The town of Kernersville attempted to keep up their signs banning guns in parks, but recently chose to remove them after pressure from the group Grass Roots North Carolina, who threatened to sue the town if Kernersville did not change the signs. Discussions about gun violence and the second amendment have taken on a new intensity in our country in the last year. These issues at times can be polarizing, but the nuances are