Citizen Will

Tag: environment

  • 2035 Orange County’s Garbage Center of Gravity?

    I was struck by a conjunction between the following image from the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan Socio-Economic projections I mentioned earlier and the debate currently raging over siting a trash transfer station on Eubanks Road. 35 years ago the Orange County landfill currently blighting the Rogers Road community was […]

  • Parking Downtown: Water, Water Everywhere, Nary a Drop to Drink

    I served on Chapel Hill’s Downtown Parking Taskforce, which wrapped up its business two weeks ago and which will be presenting its findings formally on Feb. 26th [AGENDA]. I meant to comment more frequently on our work but circumstances and some cautionary notes from staff intervened. It’s an interesting issue – how much of the […]

  • Rogers Road, Trashed Again? Carrboro Board of Alderman Weigh In

    [UPDATE II:] Excellent write-up covering the history of the landfill by Aarne Vesilind in today’s Chapel Hill News. [UPDATE:] It appears some of the videos have synch issues introduced by the youTube post processor. They’re watchable. I’ll be reloading them once I’ve identified the problem. I was planning to speak at the Feb. 20th, 2007 […]

  • University Station: “Absurd” and “Absolutely Ridiculous”

    The University Station project – a development hugging the South-side of I-40 on Chapel Hill’s North perimeter – is up for review tonight (Feb. 19th). Local resident John Doyle called Townhall to comment that the proposal was “absurd”, “absolutely ridiculous” and emphasizes that he’ll “make sure” any Council members approving the plan will not serve […]

  • Trashing the Rogers Road Community, Again

    [UPDATE: Response to davepr from Orange County BOCC member Moses Carey. The Rogers Road (MAP) community has long suffered from promises unkept. [UPDATE:] Embedded video: At Feb. 12th’s Chapel Hill Town Council meeting Sharon Cook and Jeanie Stroud defend their Rogers Road community. As you might remember from my recent posts, the area is coming […]

  • 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 […]

  • Godzilla vs. Bambi::RAM Development and Chapel Hill

    If I worked for RAM Development, I’d be dancing quite a jig this evening. Not only have they negotiated the sweetest of deals – their own publicly underwritten Downtown tower of wealth – they’ve gotten the friendliest of non-reviews by the majority of Council. Maybe folks will like “rah rah” growth RAM Development style. If […]

  • RAM’s VP Casey Cummings – The Sixth Beatle?

    Is RAM Development’s Casey Cummings the sixth Beatle? I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get some video snippets (wish the Town was streaming video!) to get direct confirmation but it sure seemed like he was comfortable jumping up to the podium sans a request of Council. I’m not quite sure the propriety of his […]

  • 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 […]

  • Downtown Development Intiative: Easthom, Ward on Hazardous Waste Liability

    Live ‘blogged from hearing: Laurin Easthom picked up on a point that I didn’t have time to speak to this round: hazardous material remediation. It’s incredible that a hazardous waste assay hasn’t been done on a piece a property that is known to have had oil and gasoline exposures. Back in the ’80s I used […]

  • 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.

  • 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 […]

  • The Chickens Have Roosted: Council’s Environmental Credibility Gap

    We lost that argument when we passed parking lot#5 as designed. One of the chief criticisms of the new Downtown Development Initiative (DDI) is that the Lot 5 building is setting a poor precedent for what is yet to come… [MOVIE] Councilmember Jim Ward tried to put the brakes on Council’s pellmell acceptance of “the […]

  • Downtown Development Initiative: Search for Wholesome Goodness Continues…

    I believed the Town’s web site covering the Downtown Development Initiative would be updated after Nov. 20th’s public forum. After ten days, I finally sent in a formal request. Here is Town Manager Stancil’s response: Dear Mr. Raymond: Thank you for our email message at 10:49 am on Dec. 1 to the Manager, Mayor and […]