Citizen Will

Tag: Government

  • Hazardous Consequences: A Report, a Rushed Decision, a Regrettable Day for Chapel Hill

    The Chapel Hill News’ ‘blog OrangeChat first alerted me to the Town’s completion of the Lot #5 negotiations with RAM Development (more to come in the N&O). The Town’s April 3rd news release celebrates what I believe will eventually be seen to be a rushed decision foisting a counter-productive, fiscally irresponsible obligation to construct expensive […]

  • A Matter of Process: Greenbridge and Council’s Devolving Standard of Public Review

    I haven’t been reticent in my criticism of the process Council used recently to manage the approvals for Greenbridge, the environmental uber-project and possible end of the traditional Northside neighborhood. Adopting a new zone, TC-3, developed and refined during the months bridging Thanksgiving to Christmas, within the context of Greenbridge’s approval ill-served our citizens. Claims, […]

  • Lot #5 Development: Two Pictures 1,000 Words Apart

    Looks like this will be the last Spring I watch these trees bloom… and the last year I’ll see Chapel Hill’s Downtown signature church steeple from the second floor roost of where I work. Cline Associates Concept Plan Drawing for Lot #5 Corner of Church St. and Frankin St., Chapel Hill, NC – Mar. 18th, […]

  • The HeraldSun Turns A Corner: Trouble on the horizon at lot 5

    The HeraldSun’s editorial stance on Chapel Hill’s Lot #5 project has always been somewhat “peppy”. Tom Jensen’s Chapel Hill Herald (CHH) columns have been singularly reflective of the papers ebullient attitude towards this troubled development. In spite of the narrowing scope – halving the size of the project – and escalating taxpayer commitments – keeping […]

  • Trash Talk: I Like Vinegar on My BBQ

    The old Southern saying goes “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” Then again, there’s nothing like a little vinegar or Tabasco to cut though the cloying fat of smoked BBQ. An open e:mail to the Orange County Board of Commissioners: On Tuesday evening, at the Orange County BOC meeting in Hillsborough […]

  • Lot #5 Downtown Development: Do you smell gas?

    As we know, There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things We do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don’t know we don’t know. — Donanld Rumsfeld, Feb. 12, 2002, […]

  • Municipal Networking: St. Cloud Soars Above Chapel Hill

    As longtime readers and local voters know, I’m a strong advocate for bringing community-owned information infrastructure to Chapel Hill. Simply, to create a truly free new Town Commons benefiting our citizenry. I’ve been working the issue now for over three years – banging the drum of strategic economic stimulus, social improvement – bridging the “digital […]

  • Easthom Update on Chapel Hill WiFi

    In case you don’t subscribe to Council member Laurin Easthom’s ‘blog The Easthom Page, she has an update on some possible forward motion on implementing a municipal network. Updated staff report on wireless with council discussion is tentative but hopeful for April 23. Such a report will be pretty inclusive and give us the staff’s […]

  • Chapel Hill’s Public Forum on Information Technology

    If you would like to see our Town use technology to more effectively address social issues, improve operational efficiencies and drive the cost of doing government business down, then make a date to attend the rescheduled Public Forum on Information Technology 7-9pm Mar. 21st, 2007. The event will be held in the Conference Room of […]

  • Trash Talk: Waste Not Methane, Want Not Energy

    One of the “planks” I ran on for Town Council involved inculcating a conservationist ethic within our local government. Besides practicing energy efficiency (Leather Seated SUVs), I suggested we could start using both energy recovery and decentralized energy production technologies to help make our Town’s operations more sustainable and economical. One such technology is methane […]

  • Trash Talk: Mar. 13th’s Board of Commissioners Review

    [UPDATE] I won’t be able to attend this evening. Good luck folks. In case you missed it, there’s a meeting on siting the new trash transfer station on Eubanks Rd. this evening. The discussion is item # 9b on the agenda. The BOCC meeting starts at 7:30 pm in the Battle Courtroom 106 E. Margaret […]

  • Trash Talk: If not Eubanks, where?

    Given the anticipated growth patterns in Orange County, siting the transfer station near a high capacity transit corridor would seem to be best. The BOCC has two additional sites located at just such a location – the Eno Economic Development District [EEDD] (as I noted in Orange County’s Garbage Center of Gravity). The EEDD is […]

  • Trash Talk: Media Steps Up to the Plate

    Who, what, where, when and why might provide the context for local issues but without relevant analysis the local media falls down on their obligation to the inform, as fully as possible, the citizenry. “Light and Liberty go together”, as Jefferson said. So does “light and good public policy”. The Chapel Hill News (of which […]

  • Trash Talk: SqueezeThePulp Led Online

    Though I’ve quoted many relevant comments from OrangePolitics, a watering-hole for local pols, the “other” local forum, SqueezeThePulp has been popping with online commentary for months. Here’s one of the more active threads Proposed Orange County Landfill Transfer Station Survey which led off with this David Richter open letter to the Orange County Board of […]

  • Trash Talk: Aarne Vesilind’s History

    I mentioned this before, but on the cusp of tonight’s meeting I’d like to remind folks of Aarne Vesilind excellent overview in the Chapel Hill News (Feb. 21, 2007) of some of the history of the Eubanks landfill. Before the early 1970s, Chapel Hill was using a small landfill owned by the university for the […]