Ruby Sinreich's blog

Rainy day notes

WCHL reports that education blogger David Warlick is conducting a "three-day workshop for teachers in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School System." This sounds like a much better reaction than some communities which have responded to the prospect of teenagers blogging with terror and tried in vain to stop it. David is a real blogger and hopefully will be able to impart some blog culture as well as technical training. I look forward to seeing some great new blogs blossom from this effort.

The N & O reports that recently-annexed Carrboro residents have a little more time to respond to the town's survey requesting input on collective priorities.

And also this has me skeptical:

The Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau will hold a public forum Thursday to discuss travel and tourism in Orange County and its towns and communities.

Lifestyles of the rich and famous

Just kidding! Thanks to Lance at BlueNC for posting a link to the "County Salaries in North Carolina 2006" report.

Sifting through it for Orange County information, I find:

Est. Pop'n 2005
Approx Valuation 2004-05 (millions)
Chair of Board of Commissioners
County Commissioner
County Manager

129,791
10,600
$15,407 + $3,300 travel
$111,807* + $2,700 travel
$148,633

* That BOC salary has to be a typo!

Board of elections Chair
Board of elections Member
Elections Director
Elections Specialist

$50 per meeting
$40 per meeting
$66,993
$37,364

 

County Clerk
Planning Director
IT Director
Social Services Director
Sheriff

$66,952
$86,323
$85,233
$97,726
$102,213

Thank you, Mr. Moeser

People keep e-mailing me about it, so I might as well blog it: on Friday the Chancellor of UNC wrote a letter to local elected officials pledging to not pursue the 17,000 parking spaces that were previously proposed for Carolina North, and to cooperate with the regional transit study in which UNC was already supposed to be a partner.

Coverage from WCHL (with audio clips, cool!), Chapel Hill Herald, and a mention in the News & Observer (scroll down).

I appreciate the Chancellor's affirmation that the community has some part to play in making Carolina North successful.

You might as well move back to Cary

More threats of bix box development looming on our borders:

When M. Travis Blake first pitched the idea of Williams Corners -- a 500,000-square-foot, mixed-use development off U.S. 15-501 and Lystra Road -- residents in adjoining neighborhoods helped him persuade the Chatham County Commissioners to give their approval.

Now Blake is saying a Target or a Kohl's might be among the tenants when the development opens in late 2007. In an e-mail sent this week to residents of Wilders Ridge, an adjacent subdivision, Blake described changes that could be submitted soon for county approval...

Jamie Nunnelly, who received the e-mail, said Thursday she thinks Blake might have engaged in a bait-and-switch maneuver to gain local support.

"One of the things he said to us was, 'Would you rather work with me or would you like to see a big box development?' " Nunnelly said. "He said that to us more than once."
- heraldsun.com: Chatham big box store plan surfaces, 6/9/06

Sounds like a threat as well - as a false choice - to me. The article continues:

Open mind, open thread

We haven't had an open thread in a while. What's on your mind?

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