Citizen Will

Month: August 2006

  • Flaming Dell

    You know your brand is in trouble when tonight’s opening skit on David Letterman features your CEO running around on stage consumed by fire. Of course, Jeff Jarvis, the ‘blogging bullet that Dell shot itself in the foot with, can personally tell you how hot the flames of Dell hell burn. Luckily, as Jeff observes […]

  • ZeFrank: The Scale was Imaginable

    I posted this quick comment on BlueNC, a state-wide blog that appears to be hellbent on rehabilitating NC Democrats reputation. I usually keep it local and try not to echo the meme of the moment but I thought Ze Frank was dead on with yesterday’s analysis: The strategy of terrorism is to use isolated acts […]

  • This grass is not greener…

    From New Scientist A nondescript grass discovered in the Oregon countryside is hardly an alien invasion. Yet the plant – a genetically modified form of a grass commonly grown on golf courses – is worrying the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) enough that it is running its first full environmental impact assessment of a GM […]

  • Welcome to CitizenWill

    Over the last year, I’ve written about 300 posts now split between campaign.willraymond.org and blog.willraymond.org Covering my 2005 Town Council campaign, I started with WillRaymond.org, a hopefully memorable Internet location for the local electorate to find both my platform and analysis of relevant issues. November 2005, I rebranded the site as Concerned Citizen, shifted the […]

  • Help Welcome UNC Class of 2010

    Chapel Hill’s Downtown Partnership is looking for some folks to help welcome UNC students, especially the class of 2010, back to town. UNC Move-In Weekend will take place August 18-20th. Many downtown businesses offer discounts to students and their families during this weekend and throughout the year, and the Downtown Partnership would like to let […]

  • Robin Cutson Drops a Feather

    Robin Cutson, a fellow 2005 candidate for Chapel Hill Town Council and, more recently, a candidate for Orange County Board of Commissioners, has decided to spur local change outside of the “established system”. She say’s she’s frustrated with the inability of our local elected folk to solve problems in a common sensical fashion: …it appears […]

  • Avalon: Hercules awakens from Hera’s induced psychosis

    David Marshall, Mente Videbor author and 2005 Carrboro Board of Alderman candidate, presents a personal meditation on the recent Avalon tragedy. It’s this week’s Chapel Hill News’ My View.

  • What Price Downtown? Possibly more than you might think…

    To be clear, the $500K direct payment + $7.9 million lease “kickback” ($8.4 million) I ‘blogged on earlier, in spite of what the Mayor affirmed today, is not necessarily fixed in stone. As reported in July 15th, 2006’s Chapel Hill News article “Project Price Rising” Council members said they’re open to paying more, though doing […]

  • What Price Downtown? The Mayor Responds.

    Last week, the Chapel Hill News published a column I wrote (What Price Downtown) on the Chapel Hill’s downtown development project. Today, Mayor Foy responds in a column titled Town prodeeds cautiously on downtown redevelopment. Prodeeds, interesting typo ;-). Before commenting on his response, I’d like to highlight an error in my column that the […]

  • What Price Downtown

    The following is from my first column for the Chapel Hill News. In a strange inversion of most ‘bloggers trajectories, I’m moving, slightly, from electronic to paper media. First, a quick correction. In trying to trim my column to 750 words I made a mistake joining two sentences concerning the citizen’s financial outlays to-date. The […]

  • Avalon: Clear and Present Danger

    Following the fatal shooting of Kedrain Swann last Saturday (Jul 29th, 2006), and with the club’s license to operate under review, Chief Jarvies was asked to evaluate the danger Avalon poses to our local community. “The number and seriousness of the criminal incidents that have occurred at the Avalon nightclub…. present a grave safety risk […]

  • Hot Spot U.S.A: Apparently Boone, NC

    Following Mark K.’s lead in succumbing to some mid-Summer zaniness…. It appears Appalachian State University, located up in the North Carolina mountains [MAP], is also HOT! HOT! HOT! Click to watch. On a more serious note, what fearful impulse lead ASU to add a DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) link to the bottom of each […]

  • Hot Spot U.S.A: Corner of Church and Franklin

    Rolling back from lunch,1:45pm, I saw a cluster of police on the corner of Church and Franklin handing out blue flyers – and getting their pictures taken by some local media. “Great”, I thought, “they’re looking for witnesses to the the recent Avalon shooting.” Unfortunately, that’s not the case. The seven sweltering uniformed law enforcement […]

  • Hot Spot U.S.A.

    With tomorrow’s temperatures forecasted to be above 100 degrees, Chapel Hill is going to be one very hot spot. As if centrally scripted, local news folks, punching up the drama of the weather story, have been issuing dire warnings not of the “real” heat but of the “felt” heat. “Think it’s going to be hot […]