Environment

During ECHHS's spring break, I went to New Orleans to do relief work with a delegation from The Community Church of Chapel Hill (Unitarian Universalist). The trip was great, we have a blog posted if you are interested in reading about it (http://c3huu.wordpress.com/). I worked a bit in the Lower Ninth Ward where I helped to reconstruct an old gutted house. I also helped by gardening in one of the neighborhoods. The projects are being run by a group call New Orleans Food and Farm Network. Here is their site:

http://www.noffn.org/

NOFFN is a prime example of grassroots networking. I was wondering if we have anything like it in Chapel Hill. If so, how can I get involved? If not, would it be possible to start something like it?

-P.L.M.

The other night District 2 County Commissioner candidate Steve Yuhasz said something to me that I found so incredible that I determined to do a little bit of research on the subject. Steve maintained that in 2006 there were only 3 farms in all of Orange County that claimed more than $20,000 farm income. He said that farming for a living was no longer viable. The implication was that if farming was not economically significant, then the county might as well be subdivided into more neighborhoods and strip malls. Steve said he got that info from something circulated by the Economic Devolpment subcomittee. How scary.

My first thought was how in the world would anybody get such information? Individual and corporate tax returns are considered so private that when the various gov't agencies that report on income sectors make their reports, they go to some lengths to make sure that nothing that could identify a specific person or farm can be gleaned from even a very careful reading of their summaries.