Ruby Sinreich's blog

By now I have come to expect dissent from our newest Town Council member Matt Czajkowski. Whether it's defending power companies against the community's conservation efforts or resisting smart urban growth, Matt can be counted on for almost knee-jerk opposition to his colleagues' progressive ideas.

But he has now taken to personally attacking hardworking, knowledgeable, volunteers like George Cianciolo (aka George C here on OP). I served on the Planning Board alongside George, who also spent 6 years on the Chapel Hill Transportation Board, and has also represented us on UNC's Leadership Advisory Council and the regional Special Transit Advisory Committee. George is the kind of guy who probably spends more time in meetings than most people spend watching TV every week - and that's not even counting the research and preparation for doing the community's work.

The Chapel Hill Planning Board voted 6-1 to recommend the project to the council, and it was during board chair George Cianciolo's presentation that differences of opinion concerning the future needs of the town became apparent again.

The Town of Chapel Hill is proposing a system to provide public financing to candidates that can demonstrate a base level of community support. This can be a great way to help candidates focus more on talking to voters and less time on raising money.

The Council discussed this at their meeting tonight. Did anyone else watch this? If so, can you explain Kevin Wolff's comments, because I didn't find him especially coherent. He kept calling himself "viable" and claimed that incumbents running for re-election was hypocritical.

Chapel Hill is the first municipality in North Carolina to receive legislative authorization to provide a locally funded public campaign financing program. Session Law 2007-222 provides the following key requirements.

As far as I know, tonight's Chamber of Commerce/EmPOWERment/League of Women Voters event at Chapel Hill Town Hall is the only chance to see Senator Ellie Kinnaird and her challenger Commissioner Moses Carey in a direct dialog before their primary contest. I'd like to tell you more about the event, but only the LWV web site even lists it on their calendar, and they offer less info than the Chamber's press release (which is posted here).

Apparently it will also be broadcast on WCHL 1360 AM (live?) so if you can't make it tune in there and watch this space for updates from yours truly, who is bringing her laptop.

(PS: This and other items from our calendar are now listed under Upcoming events at the bottom of every page on OP.)

Corrected at 5:05pm 4/9/08.