Former Council member, occasional OP poster and Director of Bill Drafting for the North Carolina General Assembly since 1981, Gerry Cohen has a new ‘blog, NC Bill Drafting: 30 Years on Jones St., capturing the tug-n-pull of NC’s legislative tides.
What a great niche subject covered by a key player. For instance, he notes in this interesting post that 2007 is a banner year for legislative proposals – up over %40 since 2005.
Here’s two other local legal ‘blogs that I like to read:
UNC Law prof Eric Muller’s Is That Legal – covering subjects as diverse as the WWII Japanese internment (which he’s an expert) to the near rescue of his great-Uncle Leopold from the Holocaust.
CreditSlips, which covers all things credit worthy. Their posts on payday lending, health-care related bankruptcy and credit in general are fascinating.
Both have educated me in areas I’d probably never stray to without the ‘blog-o-sphere.
PROM Night is coming up and we have had requests for help in getting prom dresses for some students who can not afford to buy a dress. We are asking anyone who has a dress or dresses that are collecting dust in the closet to donate them to our Second Annual Prom Dress Drive.
We hope you all will take a look in your closet and pick out a few of those old brides’ maid dresses or prom gowns as well as shoes and accessories and drop them off at Orange High School by March 2, 2007.
Dresses, shoes and accessories can be given to Laura Shenkman in The Adolescents In Need Office or April Johnson, school social worker. We can also come by your school and pick them up if needed. This is a great opportunity to spring clean and helps a few young women have a wonderful prom experience.
Our Prom Dress shop will be open to any student in need with a referral from a teacher, counselor or an administrator. Shop opens March 6th at Orange High School. Please send all referred students names ASAP.
April Johnson, 732-5240 ext: 2002
Laura Shenkman 732-6133 EXT: 20067
Avis Barnes, 245-4000 ext: 21067
As you might remember from my recent posts, the area is coming under closer scrutiny by Chapel Hill, which stands poised to annex the area.
Whether through deliberate environmental racism or just plain old callousness, the Rogers Road community, backing up to the Orange County landfill, has had to deal with the consequences of our garbage woes for decades while original promises, such as keeping the landfill north of Eubanks, fell to expediency in the mid-’90s.
Instead of treating this traditionally black community with the due courtesy and respect they deserve – deserve doubly for both dealing with the noxious detritus of our modern life and the many unfulfilled obligations our leaders made on our behalf – our community continues to give short shrift to our northern neighbors.
In December I attended the kickoff meeting for the Rogers Road Small Area Plan. That meeting cemented my concerns that, once again, the Rogers Road community would be getting the short end of the stick.
Why? Money, of course. From the Rogers Road corridor east towards Martin Luther King (Airport) Road is going to be prime development land. If Chapel Hill annexes the neighborhood before the landfill closes the tax valuations will race ahead of the land resale value. A developer, though, could pick up tracts for a song – sit on them waiting for the landfill to close up shop – and turn a pretty penny.
To avoid that our Council needs to promise to coordinate the annexation time table with the closing of the landfill. Let’s be fair.
Shorter term, the Rogers Road community faces the prospect of a garbage transfer station being sited on Eubanks.
Now, in many respects I’m proud of the strides our community has made in dealing responsibly with garbage.
Strategic operations by the Orange County Solid Waste Management Department, along with our community’s strong recycling efforts, have extended the life of the existing landfill while redirecting various waste streams into beneficial uses – mulching, composting, recycling, etc.
With the anticipated 2010 closure, transferring waste will become a necessity. Shipping it in or out of county entails another set of environmental consequences. Our community must take a leadership role in responsibly dealing with the 25,000 tons – 29% of the total waste – formerly going into the landfill.
Maybe the most effective site for the transfer center is the existing Eubanks road location. And maybe you can make it look “Greek or Roman temple”.
But if the Rogers Road community says “we’ve had enough” then we’re obligated to find an acceptable solution.
