Citizen Will

Category: CitizenWill

  • Downtown Development: The LEEDs Trade-Off, AIA 2030 Up Next

    Sally Greene suggested trading formal LEEDs certification, which RAM’s VP Casey Cummings said cost $225K, for a required %20 energy reduction, as measured against ASHRAE standards. Cummings claimed that $14.5K of the $225K involved energy modeling and measurement – the rest involved paper shuffling. After reviewing the current proposal, it is still not clear that […]

  • Downtown Development Intiative: Thank you Sir, May I Have Another?

    I missed the exact vote but the Council has not only authorized the Lot #5 development but put it on a fast-track. Talk about compounding a mistake. What’s clear, especially after this evening, is the bulk of Council does not comprehend the consequences of their decision. From my understanding, the SUP (special use permit) gives […]

  • The Sad Story of Council’s Downtown Development Initiative

    They say, the story is buried in the details. After reviewing hundreds of pages of confidential documents and listening to hours of ridiculously poor audio recordings of confidential meetings, I can, sadly, stand by my public assertions that the private-public Lot #5 development Council will most probably be thrusting upon us this evening is a […]

  • Confidential Lot 5 Memorandum and Notes: Update I

    Confidential documentation of Downtown Development Initiative.

  • Confidential Lot 5 Memorandum and Notes

    In preparation for further comments, I’ve scanned in the “confidential” negotiating documents the Town provided Dec. 8th, 2006. Directory listing of current documents here. Table of Contents:

  • Downtown Development: RAM’s VP Cummings’ Smackdown

    Ouch! Obviously stung by Council member Jim Wards comment about “switch-n-baiting”, RAM Development’s VP Casey Cummings delivered a death blow to Council’s request for affordable condo fees for the affordable housing units and a commitment to energy efficiency. [MOVIE] Both requests seem quite reasonable. What use is it for the Land Trust to “sell” a […]

  • CarolinaNorth Community Meeting, December 13th: Ecological Assessment

    Earlier this year, I asked the Carolina North Leadership Advisory committee to do an environmental assay of the highest caliber. It will be interesting to see this phase of Biohabitats’ research. And kudos to UNC for scheduling two (2) sessions to accommodate the public. Yes, they’re both on the same day 😉 but progress all […]

  • Carrboro’s New Media Experiment

    There’s been a small discussion over on SqueezeThePulp about the declining efficacy of local media outlets in covering our community. I suggested that new media outlets will soon move into this long fallow territory – intensively covering local events – to the possible detriment of traditional news outlets. It appears that Carrboro is the center […]

  • Out-Foxed Chapel Hill Style

    The Downtown Development Initiative is a steamroller (in more ways then one). Check out this summary of comments from Nov. 20th’s public hearing. A little light and less nuanced than the opposition comments I recall. Good thing there’s a video record on-line. So why introduce the following bias? Potential Advantages of the Project -Mixed use […]

  • Downtown Development: Easthom’s questions, questions, questions…

    More questions about the Town’s and RAM’s Lot 5 development (DDI) plan? Well, there’s been a dearth of specifics, so there should be a wealth of questions. Add to the throng of “those who want to know” Council member Laurin Easthom. With tonight’s pre-vote presentation on DDI looming (not a public forum)), Easthom weighs in […]

  • Downtown Development Initiative: A Few New Perspectives

    Lot #5 Downtown Development RAM building design based on Nov. 20th public hearing proposal . The model is in proportion and the proper height. It wasn’t until I laid out the model that I realized how large a beast we have here… Looking North towards Lot 5 Dec2 Lot 5 Hovering above Baptist Church Steeple […]

  • Rogers Road: Mapping Out the Future

    This Monday (Dec. 4th), Council will take up the composition the Roger Road Area Task Force, I posted on earlier, and the possible future annexation of the eastern side of Rogers Rd. If you’re interested in working with the Rogers Road community to correct these longstanding problems, Monday would be a great time to turn […]

  • GoogleEarth Experiment: RAM Development Flybys

    This is still very raw, but I thought I’d put out this demo to stir some thought within the community. Visualization tools like GoogleEarth (GE) can help remove some of the difficulty in assessing the visual impact of new development. Our town’s planning department has the raw data needed to create a GoogleEarth representation of […]

  • Downtown Development Initiative: Where’s the beef?

    [UPDATE] How could the negotiations team done a better job informing the public throughout the process? Here’s two examples from Greensboro’s District 5 Council member Sandy Carmany covering their coliseum issues, this one from a year ago and this one from November. Sure, she wasn’t hampered by reporting on material potentially shielded under NC’s open […]

  • Chapel Hill Downtown Development Initiative: The Debate

    Posted these individual citizen comments from the Nov. 20th Public Hearing on the Downtown Development Scott Kovens Robert Dowling Gene Pease Roger Perry Lex Alexander David Godschalk David Hartzell Joyce Brown Janet Kagan Alan Rimer Barnes Burke Laurie Paolicelli Scott Radway Anita Badrock Tom Jensen Josh Gurlitz Liz Parham Philip Duchastel Bill Camp Raymond Bernadette […]