Citizen Will

Category: ChapelHill

  • Cognitive Dissonance? NC Legislature Bans Internet Sweepstakes

    WUNC’s Laura Leslie (a reporting treasure) has a great post (Mon.: Stop me if you’ve heard this one before) on tonight’s 47 to 1 NC Senate vote “to ban video gambling – again – in North Carolina”. Republican Tom Apodaca didn’t mince words in urging his fellow senators to ban video gambling. “This is something […]

  • 2010 Final Spring Meeting Chapel Hill Council

    Over the year’s I’ve seen some rather jam packed final spring term Council meetings. This one was about average in length, light on content but big in setting the stage for two broad initiatives – siting an emergency shelter and legally mandating affordable housing – to move forward. I left prior to Council’s revisiting Laurin […]

  • Downtown Development Framework: Compact, Connected, Anchored and Green

    Chapel Hill 2030? A quick update on yesterday’s report (“Radical Shift In Vision For Downtown”) about the Downtown Development Framework and Action Plan charrette. First, the Downtown Partnership has posted the DRAFT Downtown Development Framework Presentation here [PDF:14M]. The Town’s webserver had a little trouble downloading it so I’ve also put a copy here. The […]

  • Happy Birthday Ron!

    Happy Birthday to WCHL’s Ron Stutts! Ron, besides being the bedrock upon which WCHL’s success rests, is an all-around “nice guy” (hope that doesn’t mess with his street cred ;-)). I met Ron a longtime ago but didn’t really get to know him until I became more active in the local community. Ron seems to […]

  • Radical Shift in Vision For Downtown

    Just got back from another presentation/planning charrette covering the Town’s new Downtown Development Action Plan and Framework. The plan, created with input from UNC, the Downtown Partnership, Downtown businesses and local citizens, is supposed to look at economic, cultural and social development opportunities over the next 5 to 8 years and layout a fairly structured […]

  • Chapel Hill Library Funding: Orange County Commissioners Respond, Kind Of…

    Final bit of business from this evening’s Orange County Board of Commissioner’s meeting. A couple weeks ago, members of the Council, Commissioners, our Town and County managers, met to discuss increasing the County’s financial contribution to Chapel Hill’s Library. As of today, the County’s current yearly $250K contribution is out-of-line with out-of-town usage. In effect, […]

  • Can The Carolina North Process Apply To UNC’s Bingham Research Facility?

    Another issue on tonight’s Orange County Board of Commissioner’s (BOCC) agenda involved UNC’s Bingham Research Facility ( report on UNC’s response to environmental violations and plans for expanding the facility [PDF]). There’s been a number of recent (Chapel Hill News) stories (INDY) outlining the numerous environmental and policy missteps [PDF] made over the last few […]

  • Brother, can you spare a quarter percent?

    The Orange County Board of Commissioners (BOCC) opened up discussion this evening of putting a %0.25 increase in local sales tax before voters in November (Levy of a One-Quarter Cent (1/4¢) County Sales and Use Tax [PDF]). The tax, if approved, will bump our local sales tax to %8 with all the additional proceeds going […]

  • May 4th, 2010 Primary: On Your Marks, Get Ready…

    Been awhile, November 2006, since I scrambled around trying to cover all the precincts in Carrboro/Chapel Hill. Visited all 29 precincts, placed 45 new signs for Sheriff Candidate Clarence Birkhead, repositioned another 40+ so that most folks will have to pass at least 3 signs before voting. Started about 5pm in a light drizzle punctuated […]

  • Chapel Hill Library Funding: Orange County Commissioners & Council Committee Meet

    Went to this afternoon’s Council committee meeting to see how Orange County’s Commissioners would respond to Chapel Hill’s demands to increase Library operational funding NOW rather than later. A few general observations/comments before my notes. First, an apology to my loyal readers. I have spent much more time accumulating content than presenting it. For instance, […]

  • Sustainability Task Force: The Whole or The Sum of the Parts?

    As some readers might recall, I was appointed to serve on Chapel Hill’s Sustainable Community Visioning Task Force early last year. Before we got started there were a few issues to address involving recruitment of a diverse membership to reflect both the concerns of the business community and the community as a whole. After settling […]

  • Chapel Hill’s First Budget Meeting of 2010

    I want to quickly respond to Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt’s comments this evening. First, spending $8-12M on the Lot #5 project, building luxury condos and enriching a private developer, is not the same as “protecting our Town’s infrastructure”. The Lot #5 (West 140) project is discretionary – the push to keep it going is […]

  • WCHL Commentary: Library Expansion Next Year or Lot #5 Project, Not Both

    Ron Stutts and WCHL 1360 invited me to do a commentary on a Chapel Hill issue. I chose to speak out on the fiscally imprudent idea that we can “have our cake and eat it too”. Run this and the following four year’s budget numbers, look at anticipated impacts – funding Town retirees’ health-care, fixing […]

  • Chapel Hill 01/31/2010 Winter Conditions

    Quick update from the Town: WINTER STORM 5 p.m. Jan. 31 Notice Posted Date: 1/31/2010 Following the weekend snowstorm, normal operations for Town of Chapel Hill services are anticipated tomorrow (Monday, Feb. 1) with the exception of Monday trash collection, which has been rescheduled to Wednesday.

  • Chapel Hill 2010: Snow, Snow, Snow

    Chapel Hill has a new tool to track road conditions during adverse conditions, like today’s 3 to 6 inches snowfall. The GIS map showing roads salted, cleared and relevant services is here. Good to see this finally in place. The Tech Board discussed just such an application of the GIS system about 6 years ago. […]