Month: April 2007

  • Two years later, Town hires Economic Development Officer

    Two years ago I made hiring an economic development officer a central theme of my 2005 campaign. I thought we needed a professional to help create and then steer Chapel Hill’s economic policy. From today’s N&O: The town has hired its first economic development officer. Dwight Bassett will relocate from Parkers Lake, Ky., to begin […]

  • No Comment: The Mayor Turns Away the Public

    For going on two years I’ve worked with the stalwart defenders of the Lincoln Arts Center. The long-time, self-supporting hands-on Chapel Hill ceramics arts program is poised to die. Decades spent by staff and students alike building a strong community. Fostering creativity in the young, old, rich, poor, infirm and not. Gone because more than […]

  • My Wish: Star Light, Star Bright

    How I miss seeing the Milky Way from within Chapel Hill! It’s kind of appropriate during National Dark Sky Week, a call to folks “in the United States are encouraged to turn out their unnecessary outdoor lights in order to temporarily reduce light pollution” that a recent comment by Craig O. on my post “Raleigh […]

  • Election 2007: Councilmember Laurin Easthom’s Thoughts…

    Laurin, you beat me to the punch! About a year ago, with some encouragement from RobertP (CountryCrats), I started a few posts on my experience running for Chapel Hill Town Council in 2005. I wanted to cover the mechanics – signs, fund-raising, forums, endorsements, election day management – of running for local office to touch […]

  • Kerplunk! Chapel Hill Herald R.I.P?

    Via Jon Ham at the infamous Locke Foundation’s Right Angles: I just heard a rumor that the Paxton Media folks are going to kill The Chapel Hill Herald. If that’s true, then I guess I can cancel my plans to attend the 20th anniversary of the starting of that paper. I was the first editor […]

  • The Power of Sorry: A Local Apology to Get the Ball Rolling

    Over the last six years, I’ve learned more than a tad about how our local political sausage is ground. The manufacturing of poor public policy for political gain adds a distinctively bitter taste to that meaty melange. Yes, at times, pettiness, spite, gamesmanship and ego overwhelm good sense and reasonable public policy. For a few […]

  • WCHL’s 2007 Babble-thon: Growing, Learning, and Living Together

    [UPDATE] I just called in to challenge the Chamber’s Aaron Nelson’s “triple bottom line” bull (the idea that the Town has greatly ignored economic development in deference to social and environmental justice) and to ask how we keep Chapel Hill affordable for existing residents. I’m afraid they’re not quite setup to take questions. I spoke […]

  • One Cat’s Slaughterhouse

    Kurt Vonnegut, the satirical novelist who captured the absurdity of war and questioned the advances of science in darkly humorous works such as “Slaughterhouse-Five” and “Cat’s Cradle,” died Wednesday. CNN Apr. 12th, 2007 A little off track for Citizen Will but I consumed more than my generation’s share of Vonnegut at quite an early age. […]

  • The Power of Sorry

    It’s been nearly a year since the General Assembly’s 1898 Wilmington Race Riot Commission released their 1898 Wilmington Race Riot Report. Tonight, NPR’s Laura Leslie, over on Isaac Hunter’s Tavern reports: State lawmakers made history today by unanimously (both chambers!) passing a resolution apologizing for their predecessors’ role in promulgating slavery in North Carolina. … […]

  • Hazardous Consequences: Mystery of the Vault Contest

    [CLARIFICATION] Everyone gets two (2) guesses – their “real” guess and an outlandish assessment (please, keep it clean. Yes, skeletons are welcomed). [UPDATE:] Over on SqueezeThePulp former (and soon to be?) Carrboro Board of Alderman candidate, Orange County Democrat Women President, local businessperson and activist Katrina Ryan has offered a delicious La Rez meal for […]

  • Hazardous Consequences: A Report, a Rushed Decision, a Regrettable Day for Chapel Hill

    The Chapel Hill News’ ‘blog OrangeChat first alerted me to the Town’s completion of the Lot #5 negotiations with RAM Development (more to come in the N&O). The Town’s April 3rd news release celebrates what I believe will eventually be seen to be a rushed decision foisting a counter-productive, fiscally irresponsible obligation to construct expensive […]