Blogs
...for now at least. The Orange County Commissioners opted not to take action on the school merger idea while they wait for the results of some studies and create another task force.
[Commissioner Moses] Carey proposed merger more than a year ago because of the disparity between the two school districts created by Chapel Hill-Carrboro's district tax, which nets that system as much as $12.5 million more than the Orange County schools receive.
But Carey abandoned his position that the commissioners take an immediate vote on merger or on a merger referendum. He said that discussions with his fellow commissioners and the community led him to believe that neither proposal was currently feasible.
However, Carey said he is not giving up on the idea of merging the school systems and added that he will reintroduce the issue.
- News & Observer, 2/13/04
So the National Weather Service is forecasting an inch overnight and then two to four inches Thursday.
I know most people don't think of me as very Southern, but
- I have lived in North Carolina for 22 of my 32 years, and
- I HATE snow!
When will this madness end?
Guest post by John Allore
Some recent local news items have got me chewing bile.
The Chapel Hill News, never afraid to address the tough issues (who can forget the three year saga of what is to become of the Orange County Animal Protection Society), has hit us again with another barn-burner:
Newsflash!...
The first annual Rock Paper Scissors Tournament took place over the weekend at the Cave in Chapel Hill. In case you missed the excitment, the News has devoted 31 paragraphs and front page status to the inaugural event.
Meanwhile...
On Monday evening two women were the victims of sexual assaults at two Carrboro apartment complexes. In both incidents men broke into the victims homes. In one of the assaults, the victim was molested at knife point; in the other, the woman - who struggled - was tied up and raped. Currently both suspects (or one?) are at-large.
I was inspired to start a thread about economic issues by the Carrboro Board of Aldermen's meeting last night. Dr. James Johnson gave a presentation looking at what a "sustainable community" is and how that factors into and helps create a sustainable economy in a given city. Chapel Hill and Carrboro have many of the qualities of a sustainable community: respect for diversity (ok, that can be argued, but let's not focus on that), good schools, high quality of life. And yet, outside of the university, most folks commute to RTP and Durham and Raleigh for work. As an environmentalist who is concenred with sprawl and pollution, this concerns me.
Is there a chance our future holds more jobs locally? What are Chapel Hill and Carrboro doing right to create more opportunities for citizens to work in town? What are they doing wrong? Is there a focus on a particular type of business that the towns are trying to attract?
Will this be a further step in the mall-i-fication of Franklin Street, or a big boost to the west end?
The Fayetteville developer who constructed the Top of the Hill retail and office building in the heart of downtown is negotiating to buy another key tract of land on Franklin Street... "I plan to build a building that looks similar or better than Top of the Hill," Riddle said...
The renewed interest in Chapel Hill's downtown commercial district is good news to some.
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