Month: March 2011

  • No Green For Greenbridge

    Looks like the rumors I’ve been hearing for the last few months are true, the much touted Greenbridge project is in deep financial trouble. The high-density development (which has saved Downtown according to the local Chamber of Commerce director Aaron Nelson) hasn’t been able to sell units and pay its construction bills according to today’s […]

  • High Speed Internet: We’re on Our Own…

    Google has chosen Kansas City, Kansas as their partner in deploying 1 gigabyte/second network services to the community. Chapel Hill applied with some gusto several years ago for the “honor”. At the time I argued that while it would be nice to have the financial backing of Google, Google’s reticence in discussing privacy, security and […]

  • OWASA: Penalizing Conservation

    The Carrboro Citizen has another report on Carrboro’s BOA’s decision not to amend the inter-local agreement governing access to Lake Jordan water. I was bothered by this passage: Board member Joal Hall Broun said the issue was not the lake water, but freeing up OWASA in the event of emergencies and allowing the utility to […]

  • Carrboro: 100 Hundred Years Young

    Our neighbors across the tracks are celebrating their 100th birthday today. Carrboro, “the little community that could”, has still managed to keep itself, as local radio icon Ron Stutts likes to say, “one degree cooler than Chapel Hill”. Celebrations start this evening around 7:30pm at the Century Center across from Weaver St. Market. More information […]

  • Lift up your hearts, all will come right

    “…lift up your hearts, all will come right. Out of depths of sorrow and sacrifice will be born again the glory of mankind…” PRIME MINISTER WINSTON CHURCHILL’S SPEECH TO THE ALLIED DELEGATES St. James’s Place, London, June 12, 1941 I’ve been thinking about my Libyan friend Ish’s family the last couple weeks. Finally, a promise […]

  • Water, Water, Everywhere? Carrboro Holds The Line

    [UPDATE] WCHL’s newest reporter Freda Kahen-Kashi has the story – Mayor Mark Chilton Finds Faults With OWASA Plan. [UPDATE 2] Further information on the meeting from the Daily Tar Heel. They quote Gordon Merklein, OWASA Chair and UNC’s Director of Real Estate as saying “Jordan Lake is essential because the other water supplies cannot meet […]

  • Water, Water, Everywhere…

    After a very long day and a very long evening. I finally got a chance to ask Council to take a more measured approach to approving OWASA’s proposed modifications to the agreement controlling access Lake Jordan’s water. The proposal might have appeared technical in nature but, at the heart of it, had policy ramifications impacting […]