Month: March 2007

  • Hazardous Consequences: No Official Word, Yet, On Lot #5’s Hazardous Waste Issue

    [UPDATE] As of April 3rd, the Town has provided part of what I asked for in the following petition, the environmental report [PDF]. In the Town’s announcement of a conclusion to negotiations, the figure of $232,000 for a remediation was thrown out. This figure, of which I haven’t found a full justification, would supposedly include […]

  • Dad

  • March 28th: A Self-Advocate Path to Being Well, Feeling Fit

    Carrboro’s self-advocate leader Ellen Perry told me that March 28th’s “Be Well! Feel Fit!” meeting would be a great introduction for those folks interested in positive, self-directed change. Ellen is part of the “Self-Advocate Leadership Network”, a project under the auspices of the Human Services Research Institute (HSRI.org): The Self-Advocate Leadership Network (SALN) is a […]

  • Lot #5’s Silver Lining

    View of Bank of America building viewed from west Rosemary Street. At least I won’t have to see that anymore… Local resident and business-owner not happy with the size and cost of the Lot #5 development but pleased what’s commonly considered the ugliest building downtown, the Bank of America plaza, will be blocked from view.

  • A Matter of Process: Greenbridge and Council’s Devolving Standard of Public Review

    I haven’t been reticent in my criticism of the process Council used recently to manage the approvals for Greenbridge, the environmental uber-project and possible end of the traditional Northside neighborhood. Adopting a new zone, TC-3, developed and refined during the months bridging Thanksgiving to Christmas, within the context of Greenbridge’s approval ill-served our citizens. Claims, […]

  • CarrboroCitizen: Better Late

    I bumped into the new CarrboroCitizen’s Taylor Sisk and Kirk Ross this morning at Carrboro’s Weaver St. Market. “Where’s the paper?”, I asked. Kirk said that more than 20 folks had already called him asking the same question “Where’s my paper?” Well, they had a few bumps on the road to their premier issue. All’s […]

  • Raleigh LEDs the Way

    Comparison in life, I guess, is inevitable. Hey, even if there’s a tiny bit of vanity bragging about Chapel Hill – “look how smart I am to live in the Southern slice of Heaven” – I probably indulge in it as much as anyone else. Folks brag about how progressive, sensitive to civil liberties, environmentally […]

  • Raleigh’s Carlton Place: A Downtown Affordable Housing Commitment Worth Emulating

    I’ve followed the ins-and-outs of Raleigh’s Carlton Place before the Wallace Deck/Lot #5 developments took flight. 64 of the 80 units – ranging in size from 800 to 1200 sq./ft. – are priced so those making %60 of Wake County’s median income can afford one. Market rates aren’t too shabby either (market/affordable): 1 BR/1 BA […]

  • CarrboroCitizen: T-Minus 6 Minutes And Counting

    I walked over to the offices of the Carrboro Citizen this afternoon to see if Kirk and company would make their Mar. 21st D-Day. Fingers were flying as the staff wrestled multiple streams of content onto the Triangle’s newest newspaper. Bubba told me that they had to have all the magic bottled by 10PM, just […]

  • The Carrboro Channel: Streaming Video Tonight

    Carrboro continues to beat lead Chapel Hill in innovation – whether it is Downtown music festivals, freely available Internet access or commitment to hands-on arts. In spite of the long effort by Chapel Hill’s now defunct Technology Board to bring video of public Council, Planning Board, forum, etc. meetings to the accessibility inhibited website, the […]

  • Lot #5 Development: “…up through the ground come a bubbling crude…”

    Well, not quite “black gold” or “Texas tea” but it appears that more “refined trouble” is brewing under Lot #5 (MAP). Chapel Hill’s taxpayers will have to wait for next week’s official lab confirmation but, as of today (Mar. 20th, 2007), initial field tests of some of the nearly 30 core samples show “interesting” signs […]

  • Lot #5 Development: Two Pictures 1,000 Words Apart

    Looks like this will be the last Spring I watch these trees bloom… and the last year I’ll see Chapel Hill’s Downtown signature church steeple from the second floor roost of where I work. Cline Associates Concept Plan Drawing for Lot #5 Corner of Church St. and Frankin St., Chapel Hill, NC – Mar. 18th, […]

  • The HeraldSun Turns A Corner: Trouble on the horizon at lot 5

    The HeraldSun’s editorial stance on Chapel Hill’s Lot #5 project has always been somewhat “peppy”. Tom Jensen’s Chapel Hill Herald (CHH) columns have been singularly reflective of the papers ebullient attitude towards this troubled development. In spite of the narrowing scope – halving the size of the project – and escalating taxpayer commitments – keeping […]

  • Lincoln Arts Center: The Clock is Ticking

    Nice summary of Chapel Hill’s Lincoln Arts Center’s problem locating a new home by Jesse James DeConto in today’s Chapel Hill News. Sooner or later, the popular pottery program is going to have to leave its home at the Lincoln Center, the administrative office complex of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools on Merritt Mill Road. […]

  • Trash Talk: I Like Vinegar on My BBQ

    The old Southern saying goes “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” Then again, there’s nothing like a little vinegar or Tabasco to cut though the cloying fat of smoked BBQ. An open e:mail to the Orange County Board of Commissioners: On Tuesday evening, at the Orange County BOC meeting in Hillsborough […]