Some folks who live near the University have started an online petition. I don't know how effective these things are, but I guess it can't hurt, right? Here's what it says:
To: UNC-CH trustees, Chancellor Moeser, the UNC Board of Governors, the developers of Carolina North
We, the residents of the Towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, in recognition that the Towns benefit from the University and the University benefits from the Towns, ask for careful consideration of this petition.
The best faculty recruitment tool the University has are neither salary compensation, nor health benefits, but the Towns of Chapel Hill/Carrboro themselves, their natural resources and public facilities including the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.
In this spirit, to maintain the desirability of Chapel Hill/Carrboro as a place to live and enable the University to recruit the best faculty far into the future, we demand that any Carolina North plan for the Horace Williams Tract have a designated public school site before Trustee approval.
A fond farewell to Wallace Kuralt, propietor of the Intimate Bookshop, who went down fighting. His literary empire grew to eight stores, but eventually he had to close every location due to being unable to compete with the huge chains and online retailers who get sweetheart deals with book wholesalers. He took up the fight on behalf of all independent booksellers.
I didn't know him personally, but he had a profound impact on me. When I was in elementary school, my mother had a store downtown (where Pepper's is now). Along with the Varsity Theatre, the Intimate was my main afterschool program. I went there daily, took one of the many small chairs scatterred throughout the children's section, and read everything I could get my hands on. My favorite nook (a 2-foot wide space between two shelves) was dubbed "Ruby's corner" by the staff.
I just want to thank Mr. Kuralt for providing this opportunity for me and countless other Chapel Hillians to read to our hearts delight.
The Town of Chapel Hill's Horace Williams Citizens' Commitee will meet tomorrow (12/18/03, 5:30 pm, C.H. library) to respond to UNC's latest draft plans for Carolina North. This group was created to advise the Town Council on issues related to UNC's development of a satellite campus on Airport Road. I invite anyone who has been paying attention (as many of you have) to share your opinions with the committee and the Town Council.
(By the way, the Town Planning department has put up a great website with tons of resources on Horace Williams/Carolina North, check it out.)
I'll be out of town and have to miss this meeting, here's what I wrote to them:
OK people, you asked for coverage of the entire County. I warned you... we're not qualified. But we'll give it a shot. (It hasn't stopped me yet.)
So you tell us: what's going on north of I-85? Is Hillsborough still quaint? How many Wal*Marts are there now?
Orange County has been looking for a new landfill for many years. Our current space, just north of Chapel Hill city limits on Eubanks Road, is filling up. You won't be at all surprised to learn that none of our neighbors in this vast, friendly county have agreed to take a new landfill near their homes or their favorite recreational areas. There have been expansions near the current landfill, which to me seems to violate the County's 25-year-old agreement not to dump any more on the landfill neighbors (mostly black) on Rogers Road.
According to the News & Observer, we're now teaming up with other Triangle communities to seek some sucker, er I mean, some other helpful county to take our garbage and some money.
Will anyone go for this? Even so, it makes my skin crawl to think of selling our garbage to other communities who surely would rather get the money for their important government services, through nice property taxes or clean industry. Maybe they'd like a UNC satellite campus! We've got one to spare...
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