Government
It’s another busy week across Orange County, with all of the county’s public bodies holding at least one meeting.
The Carrboro Alderfolks will talk “green” cemeteries while the Chapel Hill Town Council will have a special meeting on Obey Creek and host an initial public forum on how to use Community Development Block Grants. The county commissioners will discuss mandating that county’s contractors pay a living wage to get government business, while the Hillsborough Town Board will consider an economic development grant application.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board will hold its annual retreat, while its counterpart for the county will review the district’s 2013-14 report card.
Here’s the full summary:
CARRBORO BOARD OF ALDERPERSONS
After a pretty busy couple of weeks, this week will be a bit quieter for Orange County’s public bodies. The Carrboro Alderfolks will hold the second half of their public hearing on the proposed Carrboro Arts & Innovation Center, while the county commissioners will get a series of annual updates and discuss a strategic communications plan. The Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board will talk parental involvement and health education.
The Chapel Hill Town Council, Hillsborough Town Board and county school board are all break this week.
Be sure and stop by our monthly editors meeting at the Tiger Room, Sunday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Here’s the full summary:
CARRBORO BOARD OF ALDERPERSONS
At a work session earlier this month, the Chapel Hill Town Council received a report on the fiscal sustainability of Chapel Hill Transit. The report describes CHT's current situation as akin to “tale of two cities.” One the one hand the system has been enormously successful in attracting new ridership and on the other hand facing some fairly significant obstacles because of that sucess. The report identifies funding as the chief area of concern, noting that the urgent need for capital expenses mostly to help replace the agency's aging fleet.
In response to the meeting, a slew of stories appeared with headlines like "Chapel Hill Transit Could Start Charging For Bus Rides." That got me and a few of OrangePolitics' other editors thinking: what would happen if the system really were to start charging fares as a way to be more sustainable? After talking it over a bit, we came up with (at least) two potential issues:
Speaking to a sizeable crowd at Duke last Thursday night, Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogotá, shared his vision for and thoughts on “Democracy and the Quality of Urban Life.”
As mayor from 1998-2000, Peñalosa radically transformed the physical form of Bogotá. He worked to incorporate the city’s remote, illegally-constructed slums into the city by building new public spaces, parks, and pedestrian and bicycle connections. He implemented aggressive policies to limit car use by eliminating parking and creating dedicated bus lanes to improve public transit. He spoke at length during his talk about how the work he carried out as mayor was designed to make Bogotá a more inclusive, equal, and democratic city.
It’ll be another busy week from Orange County’s public bodies this week. Both the Chapel Hill Town Council and county Board of Commissioners will hold their annual retreats, and both will also hold other meetings where the Ephesus/Fordham Renewal District and associated public improvements will be up for discussion. The Hillsborough Board will get a status update on an invasive plant in the Eno River, while the Carrboro Alderfolks will consider the rural buffer. The county school board will discuss several school improvement plans.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board is off this week.
Here’s the full summary:
CARRBORO BOARD OF ALDERPERSONS
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