Monthly Archives: May 2006

Government, LocalPolitics, Ruminations

Shell Game? Transfer Development Rights

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[UPDATE:] Some good coverage of the initial steps towards TDRs in today’s soon-to-be-paywalled HeraldSun.

6:30pm Tuesday, May 9th, Battle Courtroom on Margaret Lane, Hillsborough, NC

The county is starting a dialogue on a transfer of development rights program (TDR) for Orange County.

Last year, the county recruited local citizens to the TDR taskforce. The membership is comprised of a who’s who of folk interested in local development.

Overly touted by some, the program essentially trades your right to develop one piece of property (say your farm) for the right to (over?) develop another.

The real estate industry has prepared a summary that covers TDRs fairly well from their perspective.

Locally, Nick Tennyson,executive vice president for the Home Builders Association of Durham, Orange and Chatham Counties weighed in observing “TDR is a concept that in the abstract people find interesting, but when you really start working on where it’s going to apply, it has fizzled many times in the past.” (via today’s HeraldSun).

Though troubled a bit by the eminent domain issues around TDRs, I’m interested in the concept as a potentially valuable planning and zoning tool.

Tonight Orange County will present their first pass analysis of using TDRs – I look forward to seeing the proposal.

Government, LocalPolitics, Ruminations, Technology

NextBus – The Proposal

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I’ve been reading through the town’s Request for Proposal (RFP) for our new Real-Time Passenger Information System and Automatic Vehicle Location system for Chapel Hill Transit.

There’s some interesting goofs (missing section 3.B.6) and specifications (Microsoft ODBC) in a document which appears to be a cut-n-paste of Triangle Transit, Federal and local requirements.

From the RFP we see

The System shall undergo functional testing onsite in a test environment for a minimum of 2 weeks prior to May 1, 2006. Confidence testing shall occur during production use of the System between May 1, 2006 and June 15, 2006. Every route must be assigned an equipped vehicle and data collected for comparison to the actual. CHT will issue written Acceptance of the System within 15 days of establishing that the System meets all contract requirements and upon completion of the Confidence testing period.

I’ve yet to see the actual results of the functional testing, the results of evaluating the RFP’s stated criteria (including the ADA requirements) and whether we solicited bids from vendors known to use WiFi/WiMAX technologies but probably not be aware of our town’s interest in their RTIS/AVL systems.

Ellen, over on OrangePolitics, wonders if NextBus will deliver digital signs with audio alerts for “a person who is blind gets there and tries to access then and cant read it or a person who cant read but can hear and understand verbal communication”.

While the RFP mentions ADA 49CFR Part 37.167 and 49CFR Part 38.5 , both which require some kind of audio notifications, we won’t know for sure if those requirements were adhered to as part of the evaluation process until we see the results of the functional testing.

It’ll be a shame if, on top of a wasted $950,000 opportunity, the town has to kick in extra funds to be ADA compliant.

Continue reading NextBus – The Proposal →

CivilLiberties, Government, LocalPolitics, Ruminations

Lucky #21?

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As noted tonight by Council member Sally Greene, Chapel Hill Town Council

raised our collective fists in the air and said “We object.” We passed a resolution in support of impeaching the President

The impeachment resolution was proposed by Elders for Peace of Carol Woods.

I’m happy to note I was signature #21 on their petition.
Now, if we could only get this guy to sign on.

Government, LocalPolitics, Ruminations, Technology

NextBus Recap – The story so far…

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[UPDATE:] The proposal.

What would it take to build our own bus ETA notification and Internet hotspot system?

Twenty-four hours into blogging about the NextBus system, what have we learned? What’s the alternative? How large of an opportunity have we missed?

What have other folk said about NextBus?

Why is the town concerned about cellphone charges? What kind of deal did we make?

Alameda California’s ACTransit signed a deal with NextBus is January, 2006. Did we get as good a deal?

May 8th I had an opportunity to speak with one of the folk from ACTransit who negotiated their great deal.

ACTransit got for their $1M:

  • NEW: 54 signs, 125 vehicles, 13 routes
  • EXISTING: 46 signs, 74 vehicles, 12 routes
  • 7 years of support for their existing and new infrastructure.

Chapel Hill?

  • 14 signs, 83 vehicles, 26 routes, unknown warrantee.

What does the Daily Tar Heel have to say?

Why NextBus? What about the strange coincidence involving NextBus’ 2002 campaign contributions to Rep. Price?

[ UPDATE: ]

Bob Avery, the town’s IT director, came through this evening with additional documentation of the Real-Time Passenger Information System and Automatic Vehicle Location system for Chapel Hill Transit.

Government, LocalPolitics, Ruminations

Affordable Downtown Housing? Pfah!

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Just heard the local Chamber of Commerce’s executive director Aaron Nelson on WCHL 1360AM describe, in jubilant terms , how soon-to-open Rosemary Village is ” the impetus for a downtown renaissance”.

Aaron further proclaimed this development would give us “great downtown living we haven’t had in a long time.”

Really? I know folk living downtown that might disagree with that sentiment.

Further, while the Chamber’s Nelson has gone to bat on behalf of this project several times, this latest praise for:

Rosemary Village…38 luxury condominiums within a short walk of UNC’s campus…from $350s – $700,000

rings a bit discordant along-side Nelson’s recent observation on Habitat’s fight with local neighbors, Chandler Green:

“The character of our community is to build unaffordable homes,” said Nelson, who reported that the chamber board of directors unanimously endorsed the project. “[Habitat is] building affordable homes. That is out of character.”

Aaron’s right, our community tends towards expensive housing.

The lesson of Rosemary Village, I think, is that the planned downtown developments whether private or public, in spite of the best intentions, will follow that trend.

Ruminations

Dang gum!

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Wonder what those dark mystery splotches are downtown? Tired of dodging sticky detritus?

Good news:

…there’s nothing like a bit of cleaning to give downtown denizens a better feeling…

The crew from Gum Busters pulled into town in a white Dodge van full of equipment, intent on turning the splotches into ABC gum — Already Been Cleaned.

The town’s Public Works Department hired the Maryland-based company to remove the gum from high-traffic stretches of sidewalk along Franklin and Columbia streets at a cost of about $4,700. When the crew finishes in the next couple of days, Public Works will come back through to wash the sidewalks — kind of like a rinse after the soap cycle.

HeraldSun’s Rob Shapard

$4,700 seems quite reasonable. Now if we can just divert the $35-40K the Downtown Partner’s want to spend on holiday signs to downtown Wifi….

Ruminations

Unlucky %13

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Early primary day I read online reports of low turnout in Hillsborough, Efland, Carrboro and Chapel Hill.

Having done a bit of research on local elections, I realized that my vote, 222, that late in the day, at the Chapel Hill Library, home of Estes Hills precinct, a precinct which traditionally turns out heavily, was a harbinger of worse to come.

I speculated we’d end up with turnout somewhere between %12-14.

Actual turnout? %13.2.

Only 11,738 of 88944 registered voters, 9,450 Democrats (%20 of D’s), 1202 Republicans (%6 of R’s) and 1234 Independents (%5.5 of I’s) showed up.

Carol Woods, once again, led the pack: %81 of Democrats (262/323), %48 of Independents (29/60) and %0 (!!!) of Republicans (0/67) or %65 of all registered voters. My neighborhood at least, based on my count, did well by their civic duty.

Even the most pessimistic estimates put the last Iraqii election turnout at over %55.

Maybe the tide will turn in November.

Media, Ruminations, Technology

SxSW 2006 – ae represents!

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The ratings for the 2006 South By Southwest Interactive panels are out.

Local ‘blogger ae, of arsepoetica fame, led the blogHer sponsored panel Increasing Women’s Visibility on the Web: Whose Butt Should We Be Kicking?

Score? 5.0 of 5.0!

Local ‘blogger ruby, of OrangePolitics and LotusMedia fame, kicked some butt with a highly respectable 4.32.

Ruby got kudos for her performance, besting fellow presenters DailyKos’ Markos Moulitsas and RedState’s Mike Krempasky.

Endorsements, Government, LocalPolitics, Ruminations

May 2nd: Chatham? Baddour, Lucier, Vanderbeck, Thompson!

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[UPDATE:] Lucier, Vanderbeck and Thompson sweep the board! Baddour still in contention.

Chatham, the tidal wave of development is overwhelming county services, driving taxes sky high (and we haven’t seen the end yet) and leading to a brittle service economy built on shaky ground.

When you mark your ballot, take a moment to think about this ode to Briar Chapel’s sewage spray system. It’s a good metaphor of how Bunkey and company have treated the county, the environment and the community.

Want to restore sanity, honesty and integrity to the Board of Commissioners? Vote:

  • George Lucier – Commissioner, District 3
  • Tom Vanderbeck – Commissioner, District 4
  • Carl E. Thompson – Commissioner, District 5

More information at The Chatham Coalition.

  • Allen Baddour – Superior Court.

Allen, arguably, is even a better choice for Chatham than Orange county.

Campaign, Endorsements, Government, LocalPolitics, Ruminations

May 2nd: Don’t fear the reaper, get out and vote!

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Several months ago I went to Hillsborough for a demonstration of the ESS voting equipment. I saw the tried and true, paper ballot optical scan code machine and the fancy, complex and, I think, easy-to-tamper-with, touch screen unit. Wisely, the Board of Elections recommended the optical scan over the touch screen.

Continue reading May 2nd: Don’t fear the reaper, get out and vote! →