Category: Government

  • Orange County Voice Pushes Plan B

    Orange County Voice, another Orange County organization working on the trash transfer site issue along side Preserve Rural Orange, has picked up on the Plan B options I have posted on as recently as last Fall (Trash Talk:Commissioner Gordon “No Plan B”). Bonnie Hauser, Tony Blake, Susan Walser (recent editorial) and other members have done […]

  • Preserve Rural Orange: Greensboro Transfer Station Review

    Watching the folks who formed PRO – Preserve Rural Orange – in response to UNC’s foray into airport building and Orange County’s crazy siting of the trash transfer station on Hwy. 54 has been encouraging. From a small group of concerned citizens, they have developed an activist organization that puts the “pro” in PRO. These […]

  • Carolina North: Easthom – “Now is the time!”

    Council member Laurin Easthom says “Now is the time” for the community to get involved with the planning for Carolina North. Now is the time. Now is the time to comment on Carolina North, the largest development to ever hit the Town of Chapel Hill. The Town Council and UNC Trustees are meeting monthly to […]

  • A middle finger to Northside

    I wasn’t able to attend the spoken-word event concerning the corrosive effects of Greenbridge on Northside last evening, but according to the Daily Tar Heel, it stirred some sharp discussion. UNC junior Kane Smego, who performed slam poetry at the event, described the project as two towers, “one 10 stories, the other seven — like […]

  • Dec. 10th: The Density Discussion

    In my application for the Council seat, I called again for Council to sponsor a thorough, wide-ranging and comprehensive community discussion on development density. How high, how dense? Last Spring, Council decided to end their pursuit of high density development zones. We need to restart that discussion. We should take the recent work on twisting […]

  • Community Service: Horace-Williams Citizens Committee, What Did I Do?

    Someone sent me an email saying one local pundit doesn’t think my service on the Horace-Williams Citizens Committee deserves recognition. Three comments. First, while I was appointed in January, 2006 and the HWCC provided its final report May 22nd, 2006 (report here), I definitely hit the ground running. While I wasn’t a member of the […]

  • Raymond, Ready For Service: Formal Application

    Here is my formal application to fill Bill’s seat. I agree with recent Council comments that their new colleague must be “ready to hit the road running”. To do so, an applicant should be prepared, involved and experienced. Council already has a demanding workload. Over the next 7 months two major challenges – troubled finances […]

  • Raymond, Ready For Service: Where Would I Serve?

    I submitted my formal application to fill Bill’s seat (not his shoes) this afternoon. Along with my application, I provided some examples of my recent activism, a list of advisory boards I would like to represent Council on and some suggestions covering a few of the issues that Chapel Hill faces next year. I’ve served […]

  • Digital Television, Analog Waste

    Following up on tonight’s trash theme, another quick and quite thorough response, this time from Orange County’s Recycling Programs Manager Robert Taylor. Early June, with an eye on the impending approval of a new Orange County solid waste transfer facility, I was doing some research on e-waste (electronic waste) management. I already knew Orange County’s […]

  • Gearing of Garbage Trucks and Fuel Usage

    I’ve pushed for not only greater transparency in our governance but greater inclusiveness. Chapel Hill has an incredibly talented community well worth listening to, that is why I’ll be asking Council, again, to reconstitute the citizen budget advisory board to assist in identifying efficiencies and spending reductions to get us through next year. Listening to […]

  • Affordable Housing: I Can’t Live In Lieu

    The Chapel Hill News’ Jesse DeConto’s posts over on OrangeChat a discussion of tonight’s request by Orange Community Housing and Land Trust Executive Director Robert Dowling’s renewed request to take in lieu payments over affordable housing stock. I’ve been troubled by his and others calls to take money over square footage for some time. Whatever […]

  • Raymond: Ready for Service

    I’m formally applying for Bill Thorpe’s Council seat this week. As I said before (Filling Bill’s Seat, Not His Shoes), serving the community as a Council member is a responsibility I take quite seriously. It is an awesome privilege, an incredible honor, a humbling trust that promises personal satisfaction if one serves to improve the […]

  • Carolina North: Oct. 22nd Meeting Agenda

    The agenda just went online (a full 5 1/2 hours before the meeting 😉 ). The good news is that the various foundational studies are nearing completion. The Council and Trustees have concurred that the current Carolina North discussion should build upon rather than replicate this prior community, Town, and University work. The additional background […]

  • Carolina North: Oct. 15th Development Agreement Hearing

    Quick reminder that there is another joint meeting between Council and UNC’s BOT representatives tonight (Oct. 22nd) from 7 – 9:30 pm at the Chapel Hill Public Library (no agenda online – boo!). Tonight’s meeting continues to flesh out the policy surrounding use of a development agreement for Carolina North (previous posts here and here). […]

  • Private Drive for Public Airport

    One suspicion raised by the local organization Preserve Rural Orange is that the newly proposed UNC airport has more to do with private desire than the public good. UNC’s lead on the formation of an Airport Authority, Kevin Fitzgerald, was already hard-pressed to justify the recent fabulous (as in: “almost impossible to believe; incredible”) claims […]