Citizen Will

Tag: OrangeCounty

  • Trash Talk: Systematic is the New Watchword

    The commissioners asked county staff to do a more exhaustive search of sites, citing solid waste management director Gayle Wilson’s statement that the process of looking for a transfer station site hadn’t been as “systematic” as previous searches for landfill space. From today’s N&O report on last night’s (Mar. 13th) BOCC meeting. After reviewing the […]

  • 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: Do you have a Minute? How about 17 years worth?

    I appreciate folks dropping by and sampling my blather. While I write CitizenWill from a Will-perspective, I also try to be somewhat objective in my analysis. Not just say, for instance, that Greenbridge is too tall but to actually measure and model its footprint in GoogleEarth. I also like to link to my source materials […]

  • 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 […]

  • Trash Talk: Promises Unmet

    [UPDATE:] Dan Coleman posted this nice summary over on OrangePolitics of the ’97 minutes: Thanks, Mark. Your four points are absolutely correct. As well as reviewing the 1997 agreements, the Commissioner’s ought to take a close look at the landfill neighbors’ current “Hope List”: 1) Cover open bed trucks going to landfill (agreed to in […]

  • Trash Talk: The Ticking Clock

    For a problem 35 years in the making, the push to finalize the site of the transfer station seems precipitous. To echo Mark Chilton’s letter, until a county-wide assessment is made, setting a timetable now is not prudent. Here’s the draft timetable from tonight’s agenda item: It would be nice to see a concurrent push […]

  • Trash Talk: Mayor Chilton’s Letter

    I’ve got a slew of garbage transfer station posts that have been piling up in anticipation of tonight’s (Mar. 13th’s) Orange County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting [ agenda ] and agenda item [PDF]. To lead off, here’s one of the newer developments, a letter from Carrboro’s Mayor Mark Chilton speaking not from his […]

  • Mark Zimmerman: Give Them a Home

    A nice follow up to Terri’s homeless census post is Mark Zimmerman’s My View column in the recent Chapel Hill News How do you solve the homeless problem? Give them a home. That almost sounds like a bad joke, doesn’t it? But it’s what the Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness Steering Committee is about […]

  • They Count: 2007 Point in Time Orange County Homeless Census

    Cross-posted from Terri Buckner’s (TerriB’s) ‘blog LocalEcology Orange County Homelessness Fact SheetFebruary 2007 Total Number of Homeless People Counted in January 2007: 224 Homeless people staying in temporary shelter: 199 Homeless people without shelter (i.e. on the streets): 25 Homeless families: 23 Homeless people in families (including children): 60 Homeless children: 35 Homeless individuals (not […]

  • 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 […]

  • Chapel Hill 2035

    [UPDATE] The Chapel Hill News’ OrangeChat noted the growth Mar. 5th. The Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan Socio-Economic projections are in and, as Sally notes, they forecast a whopping increase in population. Table 1: Draft 2035 Plan Socio-Economic Projections Jurisdiction Population Employment 2005 2035 % inc. 2005 2035 % inc. […]