Ruby Sinreich's blog
A few weeks ago I attended a meeting to hear the presentation of a group of consultants that have been working for the Town of Chapel Hill and the Downtown Partnership to create a "Downtown Development Framework and Action Plan." I didn't know much about this plan before showing up at the meeting, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that it includes some pretty radical ideas for downtown Chapel Hill and they do not include trying to emulate Southpoint Mall!
The draft plan can be downloaded as a PDF from the town web site. Here's my brief analysis...
So there's an election again on Tuesday, in which Democrats get to select whether Elaine Marshall or Cal Cunnigham will run against US Senator Richard Burr in the fall. (I'm partial to Elaine, but I really don't care which one wins as long as he or she beats Burr.) Voters in the northern and western* part of Orange County will also be settling a near-tie for fourth place in the nonpartisan Orange County Board of Education race. By all accounts (http://www.orangepolitics.org/2010/05/whats-at-issue-in-the-school-board-runoff), your choices seem to be dumb and dumber, so good luck with that!
I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't realize there would be one-stop early voting for this run off until it started a couple of weeks ago. You can only do it at the Board of Elections office in Hillsborough and it ends Saturday afternoon. Get the info at http://www.co.orange.nc.us/elect/onestop.asp or just vote on Tuesday at your own poll site like you would on any other election day.
With so little to draw people out, I wonder if this will be one of the state's lowest turnout elections ever?
* Corrected 6/21/10.
Part of the latest Weaver Street Market newsletter states that Weaver Street Market has sold their property at the corner of Greensboro and Main Streets to Mark Pantlin of Raleigh. (This was the former location of WCOM and Community Realty.) Apparently they had high hopes for this high-profile property in the center of Carrboro, but finally resigned themselves to just taking the money and avoiding the hassle of a new venture and new development. I keep hearing the word "Walgreens" come up in discussions of this corner, so this makes me nervous.
A friend and I did a little research to see if we could find out more about this developer. Pantlin lives in Cary, and on a LinkedIn profile he says he is President of Pantlin Development. (But he only has one connection on LinkedIn, and the NC Dept of State says Pantlin Development was dissolved in 2009.) I found him on this neat CorporationWiki network map (at left), which also lists some other companies to which he may be related. It also looks like he donated to the Republican National Committee in 2001 and to George Bush in 1999.
Of more concern is the possibility of a national chain not just locating, but developing a lot (or multiple lots, probably) in the heart of Carrboro. Since it would be right across the street from an existing chain drug store, you can't even really argue that it's meeting some community need.
This weekend, Chapel Hill lost one of the best human beings I've ever met. Ashley Osment was a civil rights lawyer, a mother, a musician, and a friend to many. She was always an inspiration to me as a woman who didn't just balance community activism with parenthood but truly integrated the two, and succeeded at both fantastically. She was so brave that after her ovarian cancer returned (with a vengeance), she responded in part writing a column in the Chapel Hill News about her experience. She knew she was dying.
A truly wonderful obituary (by Ashley's husband Al McSurely) is posted at the blog of Curmilus Dancy. I excerpt some of it below. I also recommend the profile of her published in The Carrboro Citizen in March. The public is invited to a memorial service for Ashley on Wednesday at 11:00 am at Chapel Hill Bible Church.
As you probably know by now, Laura Nicholson has requested a runoff against current School Board Chair Anne Medenblik. The special runoff election will be held on June 22nd - the same day as the U.S. Senatorial showdown between Democrats Elaine Marshall and Cal Cunningham.
Under the rules for the non-partisan school board race, a candidate may request a runoff if one or more top vote getters fails to win more votes than the total number of votes cast divided by the number of candidates running.
In the school board race, the threshold was 2,636 votes. Medenblik, who finished fourth in the race for four seats, won 2,565 votes; Nicholson won 2,500 votes
- N&O: Runoff ahead in Orange County, 5/13/10
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.
Zircon - This is a contributing Drupal Theme
Design by
WeebPal.
