Economy & Downtown
Chapel Hill's downtown has long benefited from its proximity to a captive audience of University students without cars. While downtowns around the country have been failing, ours has survived fairly well. However, we have seen an increase in the number of chain stores locating downtown, and instability in the Downtown Economic Development Corporation. In the near future, we will see new Town-directed development on two major parking lots have a big impact.
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Carrboro's downtown has also done better than many towns of comparable size, thanks largely to the presence of Weaver Street Market and progressive shoppers from the rest of the county. The Board of Aldermen has been addressing the evolution of the downtown, and have established a number of community resources in the downtown area including free wireless Internet access, and a low-power radio station.
Guest Post by Ian McDonald
Last week, USA Today published a report with this headline: "Income gap closes in rural suburbs, Census says." The data comes from the Census's American Community Survey for 2006, and ranks all 783 US counties with 65,000 people or more.
The article lists counties with the greatest and least income inequality, based on the Gini Index. Despite the headline and the trend it describes, Orange County NC ranks fifth-highest in the U.S. in this measure of income inequality. Only Manhattan NY, Orleans Parish LA, Fairfield County CT, and the District of Columbia surpass NC's Orange County.
Maybe the result is a statistical artifact of OC's college age population, but other counties dominated by big universities (e.g., Dane County, Wisconsin and Washtenaw County, Michigan) are far down the list. The data are available for public download from the Census web site.
Is OC's high national ranking for income inequality surprising? Is it troubling?
I was out of town for 9 days so I had trouble following this.
Final agreement on the last set of conditions on the proposed Alberta project was delayed Tuesday night after a lengthy discussion by the Carrboro Board of Aldermen.
After closing a public hearing at Town Hall on the four-story 46,340-square-foot project, board members focused on how it and other mixed-use developments would affect downtown.
Two major areas of negotiation have been how many affordable housing units to require at The Alberta and where to draw the line between public and private property.
Located at the corner of Roberson Street and Sweet Bay Place on the site of the old Farmers' Market, The Alberta would include 6,772 square feet of retail space on the ground floor along Roberson Street along with 23 residential units and 69 parking spaces. The condominiums include three one-bedroom units, 17 two-bedroom units and three three-bedroom units.
- The Carrboro Citizen - Board delays final vote on Alberta, 9/6/07
Welcome back students, and welcome back Daily Tar Heel. Today's city desk is jam-packed with updates about Carolina North, the Bolin Creek Greenway extension, the Town of Chapel Hill's wifi pilot and staffing issues, the location of early-voting sites, and Katrina Ryan's new restaurant in downtown Chapel Hill.
Wait, what?
A new bakery and gelato shop will create a sweet spot in downtown Chapel Hill where Julian's clothing store once stood.
The shop, called Sugarland, might open for the Oct. 6 football game against Miami, owner Katrina Ryan said.
Ryan is the pastry chef at La Residence and also a candidate for a spot on the Carrboro Board of Aldermen.
I admit, I'm not the biggest expert on Hillsborough issues, but this sure seems like a good thing.
The Hillsborough Board of Adjustment unanimously denied the application for a proposed asphalt plant at its meeting Tuesday night.
The vote against developer Doug Robins, owner of Durham-based Asphalt Experts, is based on four failed compliances with the town's ordinances, said Margaret Hauth, Hillsborough's planning director. The plant is proposed for 410 Valley Forge Road, off N.C. 86 between Interstate 85 and U.S. 70 Business.
The board ruled that Robins failed to a complete an air quality permit, obtain written approval from the fire marshal, obtain written approval from the director of utilities and did not meet Hillsborough's definition of permitted uses for the property.
- heraldsun.com: Plans for new asphalt plant voted down 8/8/07
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