Carrboro now has a competitive alderman election. Four candidates (at least) for three seats. The following accompanied Randee Haven-O'Donnell's announcement:
Today I filed for a seat on the Carrboro Board of Aldermen. As you know,
the November election will bring change to the longstanding leadership in
Carrboro. My experiences as a long time Carrboro resident, a teacher, and
community advocate have prepared me to be an effective voice for the
community.In the last five years, I have served on the Town of Carrboro Planning
Board, Recreation and Parks Department Master Plan Work Group, Chapel Hill
Horace Williams Advisory Committee, Landscape/Tree Review Subcommittee,
and the Carrboro Day Planning Committee. I worked to organize community
events such as Carrboro's La Fiesta Del Pueblo Road Race. Currently, I
serve on the Orange County Human Relations Commission and the Friends of
Bolin Creek Steering Committee. I also serve on the Executive Board of
Leadership Triangle, which educates citizens in the Triangle area by
building leadership capacity and fostering regional awareness and
cooperation.As an educator for the past 27 years in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City
Schools and Durham Academy, my goal has been to teach young people about
social responsibility, citizenship and environmental stewardship.These broad community experiences give me a resource-rich background and
knowledge base to apply to the Carrboro Board. I would bring a strong
commitment to Carrboro and high-energy to elected office. I will be a
good listener and advocate for citizen concerns. I support the approach of
the Carrboro town manger and his commitment to avoid or to limit
residential tax increases.My priorities will include working for:
-A vibrant downtown. I want to build on the work of the present board
while safeguarding town character.
-Enhanced public safety. I support community policing programs and will
advocate for creating a resource officer to address increasing citizen
safety issues.
-Improving public transport/bus service. I will work to increase
frequency and routes to reduce traffic and improve the environment.
-Make Carrboro a model steward of the environment. I will advocate that
our Board work with other jurisdictions, including UNC, to establish a
comprehensive plan to protect and preserve Bolin Creek and act as stewards
of open space.
Issues:
Comments
Now this is a great
Now this is a great candidate with a great platform! Good luck Randee!
Strange article in HS today:
Strange article in HS today: http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-627019.html
Fairfield Court carries a Chapel Hill address? Am I missing something, or is this an error?
Mary--there are a lot of
Mary--there are a lot of Carrboro neighborhoods that have Chapel Hill addresses. The address refers to Chapel Hill township rather than city. I've been wondering if the addresses in the annexation areas will change from Chapel Hill to Carrboro. Do you know?
Hi Terri, I think we'll be
Hi Terri, I think we'll be keeping our Chapel Hill address, but personally, I hate this confusing practice.
Hey, all (slow moment here
Hey, all (slow moment here at the ArtsCenter),
The bizarre and confusing construction resulting in a large number of Chapel Hill addresses in Carrboro is an artifact of the Postal Service's zone system: Namely, the address is determined by the location of the Post Office serving those addresses. In this case, a fairly substantial number of addresses are served by the Timberlyne office (which is in---don't answer all at once, please---Chapel Hill, and a location, therein, which is several miles from the areas served). In short, the way the P.O. works is that one could theoretically have one's home in New Jersey, and be served by a P.O. in Timbuktu---and hence, your address would be in Timbuktu. So, in short, the actual town in which one is located bears no necessary relationship to one's mailing address, and consequently, unless the P.O. unilaterally decides differently (which is always possible, and about as sensible as the rest of this), addresses in the newest Carrboro neighborhoods will remain as-is. Why this operationally makes sense, given that the Carrboro P.O. is literally within a stone's throw of many of these citiless addresses, escapes me.
There is a remedy for this situation which is (surprise, surprise) exceedingly cumbersome: It is a petition-driven process where one defines the area requesting the change, and then a super-majority of residents must join the request---the 75% number comes to mind, but my recall may be faulty in this regard. This was tried back in the mid '90s and was unsuccessful for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the general bureaucratic pain in the tail that an address change entails these days.
Personally, I think it'd be worth another try, but would have the greatest chance of success if the effort were neighborhood-generated. On the last go-round, I seem to recall some tension between neighborhoods who differed on the issue.
Cheers,
Alex
Alex, I find you comments
Alex, I find you comments interesting from the stanpoint that they in no way represent the geography of Northern Carrboro. All of the Homstead Road neighborhoods are much closer to Timberline than they are to Carrboro Plaza, a fact that was brought up ad infinitum during the annexation hearings. For example, The corner of High School Road and Homestead is 6.2 miles from Weaver street ( so about 5 from from Carrboro Plaza) and 2.7 miles from Timberline. To switch our Post office would not only innconveniece the entire area, but create an increase in vehicle use, since the area is not served by public transportation.
Why don't you come out and I'll show you around so you can represent your new constituents.
Katrina, Perhaps I did not
Katrina,
Perhaps I did not draw enough of a distinction between those neighborhoods who were involved in the discussions on the first go-round with the Post Office(Fair Oaks, Cates Farm/Wexford et.al and N. Greensboro St) and those further North and East. I was merely relating that others have been frustrated by the situation, and the events trying to address it in response to Terri and Mary's comments.
More to the point, Don't worry, nobody's interested in trying to get anybody to switch P.O.'s who doesn't wish to---Hence my comment that whatever effort is undertaken in this regard should be neighborhood-generated.
I am curious, however as to how you arrived at your distances: Homestead/High School is 6.2 miles from Weaver Street?:
From the corner of High School/Homestead, I've clocked the following:
To Weaver St:
3.4 mi---via Seawell to Estes
4.6 mi---via Calvander (old Fayeteville) to N. Greensboro.
The only way I could approach your figure was to go all the way down Homestead to MLK Parkway (stopping at the Mini Mart for a hot dog and more gas), follow that into downtown Chapel Hill, go past Rosemary (just for good measure), hang a Right on Franklin, go through both downtowns and pull in at Weaver Street, and dang it, I only had 5.1 mi. on the clock. Where's that other 1.1 mi.?
More germaine, your figure of 2.7 to Timberlyne via Weaver Dairy extension is close(I clocked 2.8, but, hey).
But,
To Carrboro P.O.:
---3.1 mi. via James/Cates Farm/Stratford (slightly greater, but not as dramatic as implicit in your illustration)
---3.6 mi. via N. Greensboro/Old Fayettevile(calvander)/Homestead.
(Instrument of measurement: 2001 Ford ZX2 Trip Odometer, Sinatra on the CD)
My point here, is that if one is going to use quantitative distance measurements to illustrate a point, it is probably best not to stop at Pluto on the way to the Moon.
In any case, you may be surprised to know that in some respects, I am a close neighbor: My family home through most of the '80s was a few hundred yards from the Highlands on Seawell. It was lost to fire in '86, and my family owns the land still---I check it's condition frequently. I would be delighted to take you up on your invitation, and in fact, have been having some discussions about how we can all get to know one another better. I'm happy to meet with anyone, anytime.
Cheers,
Alex
Sending area code 27516 from
Sending area code 27516 from Timberlyne PO is a fairly new model -- the first break in the original concept. When zips were first established, the Chapel Hill corporate limits at that moment were set in concrete as 27514 and those of Carrboro as 27510 while all surrounding areas north, east, south, west [which probably wouldn't grow much anyway] were given 27516. The BOCC, led by me, gave a huge push -- only one of many over the years -- to make approriate changes when we changed the old rural route addresses to a grid of street addresses. Maybe the Supreme Court could force the PO if an aggrieved soul brought a suit. Shirley Marshall
hi Shirl, actually 27516 was
hi Shirl,
actually 27516 was added maybe 15 years ago? when zips were established in 1963, 27514 was the only Chapel Hill zip and stretched way into Chatham County, and even a little bit into Durham County. 27510 was pretty much Carrboro city limits. The UNC added 27599.
-Gerry