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Last week The Carrboro Citizen reported on Orange County leaders congratulating themselves on making major technology improvements over the past two years. "“Today’s servers are tomorrow’s mainframes, and we do have to have that kind of continuous upgrade of systems,” board Vice Chair Steve Yuhasz said." He's right of course, but it sounds like many of the changes were to internal infrastructure, so it's hard for us average residents to tell the difference. I'm wondering what technology OP readers would like to see the County improve?
One improvement that I did notice was the update to the web-based GIS system. Mostly it caught my attention because the County's site was down and/or malfunctioning for a while following the upgrade. It is now easier to use than before, which I would characterize as a step up from requiring a graduate degree to use, to merely requiring a lot of patience and guesswork.
Dozens of people are commenting in public at rallies, in newspapers, and in Town Council meetings about how two men, Kerry Bigelow and Clyde Clark, were fired from the Chapel Hill Public Works department last fall. However, almost none of those people have access to the private details of the personnel decision that was made by the Town. How is it that these folks have a better understanding of the Manager's decisions than the Manager? Why don't the two fired workers make these details public? As Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt pointed out tonight, they and they alone can speak publicly about their ongoing appeal process with the Town.
I am increasingly alarmed at the confidence of statements I hear from people who seem to know almost nothing about the situation. No-one likes to see people lose their jobs, but I haven't heard any evidence that the Town has done anything wrong, and I'm not willing to condemn any staff members nor elected officials - who are legally obligated not to comment on the matter, especially while the appeal is ongoing.
Do you know the truth? If so, please spill the beans. If not...
The Executive Team of the Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness is interested in ideas for possible social enterprises in the county that could provide sustainable, living wage jobs for our homeless and low-income neighbors.
One possible model is being tried in Cleveland, Ohio, which though a much more urbanized area, could provide an example for us:
This is a spin off from the current thread on economic development. However, since I am addressing two specific items I thought new blog entry was warranted.
The useful life of a significant investment, be it an outlet mall or a residential/retail complex, has to range to at least 20-50 years for there to be an acceptable rate of return, particularly if governmental subsidies or tax incentives are included. Therefore, a large investment like Tanger Outlets (just over the county line) or 140 West Franklin represents a bet on the future. In the case of these two projects the bets on the future could not be more different.
The Tanger Outlet bet is that the future will be very much like the recent past in that low transporation costs will persist, allowing large volumes of goods to be transported long distances to a place where people get in their large personal vehicles and travel 10-100 miles to buy these goods. In aligning themselves with this bet on the future Alamance County is arranging its infrastructure, tax base, and utility services to allow for car travel to shopping destinations along the highway.
So the 2-3 inches of snow never materialized, but we got just enough ice to slow things to a halt and shut down the schools.
This isn't the kind of snow day where there's much fun to be had outside. What are y'all making of it?
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