Thank you folks for sticking with CitizenWill through thick and thin (including a major outage May 15th, 2007).
A little history. January 31st, 2006 I relaunched my 2005 Town Council campaign website (Concerned Citizen) claiming I’d
be posting some articles on last year’s election – including an analysis of campaign finances, my ideas on what to do to bootstrap Chapel Hill’s municipal networking initiative, comments on my new appointment to the Town’s Horace-William’s Citizen’s committee and other issues I’m concerned about…
More than year later, with 412 published posts under the Concerned Citizen/CitizenWill banner, I still haven’t gotten around to a full debrief on election 2005 😉
I have managed to cover a few other issues, Carolina North, RAM Development’s conquest of Downtown, election reform and more than a few odds-n-ends.
I’ve also started, then left as drafts, about 100 other posts. What to do with them?
Like a diary, part of the reason I have a ‘blog is to jog the old memory – to remind myself of how and why our Town, University, local organizations, citizens have arrived at our current destination.
Another part, to make my research available for others – local or remote, now or many years hence – to build-on, deconstruct, dispute, debate, etc. As I’ve posted on before, I’m creating a long tail documenting the issues before my local community in the small hope that others will find a kernel of benefit.
I never expected hundreds of folks to check in daily and, I imagine, my digressive style easily reflects that expectation…
Long windup. Just wanted to provide some context on the tumult I’m about to inflict on you, my readership.
Do I think every word I dribble out is a gem worth preserving? Hell no.
These bits do represent, to some extent, a distributed memory store for me (and possibly others) to lean on. So, rather than discard all those partially constructed pieces, I going to clean house, polish my notes/video/audio off as best as possible and publish the morass – out of order, sometimes out-of-context – labeled [SPRING CLEANING].
I won’t be publishing all the drafts. I won’t be posting many in their entirety. And I will certainly try to do a better job of keeping up from now on ;-)!
So, to use a phrase I’m seeing posted more and more along Franklin St.: “Please excuse the mess….”
[SPRING CLEANING]
I asked Town Manager Roger Stancil May 17th how the CCTV (closed-circuit TV) packaged in the Town’s first steps towards municipal networking (Municipal Networking:Could We Have a Little Less Big Brother?).
Roger and Kumar Neppalli, our Town’s traffic (and now streetlight) point person, both clarified the bullet item. The CCTVs will be used strictly for monitoring traffic flows.
Roger apologizes for taking 3 days to respond – which might seem strange if you dealt with Townhall before – but Roger has set a goal of improving the flow of information into the community, a refreshing change.
Thank you Roger and Kumar for a quick turnaround (now, if we can just get a 7 day warning on those Council agendas).
From: Roger Stancil
Sent: Mon 5/21/2007 4:27 PM
Subject: RE: Clarification on CCTV usage
I apologize for the delay in responding to you. The cameras are generally for monitoring intersections for traffic management purposes. I am sure it will be done in accordance with this community’s concern for privacy and policies that ensure privacy is not invaded. Thank you for your questions. By copy of this email, I will ask Kumar if he has additional information.
Roger
Roger L. Stancil
Town Manager
Town Manager’s Office
Town of Chapel Hill
405 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd
Chapel Hill, NC 27514-5705
Phone: (919) 968-2743
Fax: (919) 969-2063
Note: Mail sent to or received from the Town Manager is subject to publication under the provisions of the North Carolina public records law.
—-
Mr. Raymond,
Mr. Stancil is correct and the cameras are used strictly for the purpose of monitoring traffic and provide guidance to motorists using variable message signs. These cameras are similar to the traffic monitoring cameras on I-40. Privacy of the motorists and passengers are protected and the cameras will not be used for enforcement of traffic regulations such as speeding, signal violations.
I will find the State Policy for use of these cameras and will e-mail you. Thanks.
Kumar Neppalli
Engineering Services Manager
Ph: (919)969-5093
—–Original Message—–
Subject: Clarification on CCTV usage
Roger,
I notice that the use of CCTV was mentioned in this resolution: http://townhall.townofchapelhill.org/agendas/2007/05/21/4f/
Could you clarify where and for what use closed-circuit surveillance will be deployed in Chapel Hill?
I’m thrilled we’re making a smart tactical move to improve our information infrastructure. I’m
hoping that deployment and usage of CCTV, for whatever purpose, will be guided by a policy grounded in transparency and informed by a strong commitment to preserve our residents
privacy.
Thank you,
Will
