Category: Community

  • A Plaza for All? Looking for Chapel Hill’s Public Commons

    Last night I made a few remarks to Council before they codified a series of restrictions on the use of Peace and Justice Plaza Downtown by organized and disorganized activist. We renamed the small patch of ground outside the Downtown post office to Peace and Justice Plaza to honor its central place in Chapel Hill’s […]

  • Watershed Protection from the Kids’ Point of View

    The kids’ understand how important watershed protection is: Haw River Assembly Puppet Show, Creek Action Day, 2011

  • Northside Memories

    A couple excellent student driven articles on Northside appeared this week. Carrboro Commons’ Megan Gassaway published this article which reviews the history of the Northside community through long time resident Ms. Keith Edwards eyes. Too often local media focuses narrowly on the business of carving up the community rather than providing a broader context – […]

  • Snobarista

    I haven’t been a big coffee drinker since my days on the engineering mezzanine at Northern Telecom (I never met a bunch of folks that could guzzle joe like Northern’s engineers). The last decade, though, I easily go a month without drinking some form of coffee; a double bang cappuccino with extra foamy milk being […]

  • Whereas What’s The Best Use Of The Sales Tax Increase?

    I’ve had several folks ask me about my suggested and rejected changes to the recent Democratic Party resolution supporting the 1/4 cent sales tax increase (Orange County Dems: Thanks for the Consideration…). This is a terrible year to raise any tax yet the Orange County Board of Commissioners (BOCC) decided 4/5/2011 (VIDEO [my comments at […]

  • Orange County Dems: Thanks for the Consideration…

    Among the many other activities going on today was the Orange County Democratic Party all-precinct convention. Quite a turnout with many familiar faces. Local heavyweights US Rep. David Price, former State House Speaker Joe Hackney and House colleague Verla Insko along with State Senator Ellie Kinnaird (who changed a tire on the way to the […]

  • High Speed Internet: We’re on Our Own…

    Google has chosen Kansas City, Kansas as their partner in deploying 1 gigabyte/second network services to the community. Chapel Hill applied with some gusto several years ago for the “honor”. At the time I argued that while it would be nice to have the financial backing of Google, Google’s reticence in discussing privacy, security and […]

  • Clark/Bigelow: Fateful Due Process

    As Anita Badrock kept reminding us this evening, the Personnel Appeals Committee doesn’t operate like a court – loose evidentiary rules, committee questions and witnesses, multiple cross-examinations, commentary from both parties. If tonight’s hearing was cast as a made-for-television movie, the writers had a ready made character in Chapel Hill government’s own Voldemort. “He who […]

  • Personnel Appeals Hearing Kerry Bigelow: Evidence and Process

    It’s interesting to see the Librsary Meeting Room set up for tonight’s hearing on Clyde Clark’s personnel appeals hearing. There are 87 seats prepared for the public, four police cars in the front parking lot (one unmarked), six uniformed officers downstairs,me and fellow local activist Terri Buckner. Folks are trickling in – as of 6:40pm […]

  • Clark, Bigelow Out

    Following up on yesterday’s post(Chapel Hill Council: Union Busters?) the Chapel Hill News reports (Solid waste workers under investigation are fired) that Clark and Bigelow have been fired. They will have 14 days to appeal the decision. It appears Council was informed Wednesday night but, as per the Town’s rules, played no part in the […]

  • Chief Blue?

    Looks like only one of the five potential internal candidates for Police Chief expressed interest in the position: Chris Blue. Chris’ evaluation “will focus on the characteristics that have been identified that we need in a chief and the extent to which his behavior fulfills those characteristics. The basic characteristics we are looking for were […]

  • Our Next Police Chief

    [UPDATE:] I blew it! As Fred Black reminded me, the Chief is selected by the Town Manager. While the Council can talk about the parameters and criteria of selection, the choice is Roger Stancil’s. Just got home from tonight’s Council meeting. The meeting ended with a closed session to consider personnel matters so they shooed […]

  • Civilian Review Board: Process Lurches Forward

    I was unable to attend the latest Civilian Review Board meeting but according to the Indy’s Joe Schwartz, the process continues to lurch forward. One point that I thought needed answering, why wait for NC legislative approval, was dealt with. Sally Greene and Mark Kleinschmidt both seemed to endorse moving forward creating a board that […]

  • Annual Rogers Road Community Back-to-School Bash

    The next couple weeks are going to be quite busy with events and community meetings coming fast and furious. Our neighbors, the Rogers Road community, is having their annual back-to-school bash this Saturday (Aug. 14th) at the Faith Tabernacle Oasis Church from 11:30am to 6:30pm. Oasis is located at 8005 Rogers Road (MAP). The annual […]

  • A Special Request For A Special Cause

    Elaine and Lee are my next door neighbors. I’m usually hesitant to participate in these corporate campaigns but….the need is there and Elaine and Lee are working hard to address the growing demand for recreational opportunities for special needs folks in this community. That was enough to get me beyond my initial trepidation. Please consider […]