Town of Chapel Hill

More racist attacks on Chapel Hill employee

I really can't understand the Town's seemingly mild response to racist graffiti discovered at the Town Operations Center.  Given that there have been no consequences for the previous incident, it's not surprising that the hateful vandal struck again last week.

Chapel Hill Police are investigating the first incident and have not charged anyone. Town Manager Roger Stancil has said the culprit could be fired.

- newsobserver.com:  Racist graffiti found in Chapel Hill offices, 7/10/08

How the hell does this happen? And what does the manager mean "the culprit could" be fired? Under what circumstances would you not fire an employee who publicly directs hate speech at another employee?

Public info meeting on lighting in downtown C.H.

Notice via the Downtown Partnership:

The Town of Chapel Hill will hold a public information meeting to discuss preliminary recommendations for emergency call boxes and pedestrian level street lighting in the downtown area of Chapel Hill.

Town staff will discuss and seek input from the public regarding preliminary recommendations for emergency call boxes and pedestrian level street lighting in the Northside neighborhood, Cameron-McCauley neighborhoods and Rosemary Street between Hillsborough and Boundary streets. For more information, contact Engineering Services Manager Kumar Neppalli at 969-5093 or e-mail publicaffairs@townofchapelhill.org.

Tuesday, April 8
7:00 pm
Chapel Hill Town Hall, 4
05 Martin Luther King Jr. BLVD

Date: 

Tuesday, April 8, 2008 - 3:00pm

Location: 

Chapel Hill Town Hall, 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd

NAACP's Youth Council proposal is a good thing

As printed in the Chapel Hill Herald on Saturday, April 14th:

My very first column last spring dealt with my concern about the lack of young black leadership in our community.

I'm still concerned but the good news is that help is on the way. Local NAACP leader Jesse Gibson has brought forward a great plan for a Youth Council that will help to engage teenagers of all races in serving their community. He and the rest of the organization's leadership have successfully seen the creation of such an organization through Chapel Hill's lengthy approval process, and it's now official.

Chapel Hill/Carrboro NAACP President Fred Battle, who has been a fierce advocate for young people as a long time activist and former school board member, says that frequently the reason they are reluctant to get involved in the community is that they don't feel adequate to the task. He sees a primary function of the Youth Council as helping these folks to build leadership and become confident in their abilities to help guide the community.

Credit where it's due

Chapel Hill Town Council Member Bill Thorpe is proposing an internship program as a way to get more students engaged in local government. Personally I have supported every proposal I've ever heard to get students involved locally, including reserving seats on town advisory boards to be filled by current students.

Thorpe takes a different approach, offering academic credit and plugging them in on the staff side instead of the leadership side. Still, it could help, or maybe even lead to other opportunities.

Thorpe hopes students will be able to earn college credit and be compensated for their experience.

"What I'm doing is asking the town to certify their internship program, hooking up with the University for the students to receive credit."

Currently, the town hires interns throughout the year and provides monetary compensation but not academic credit.

Thorpe envisions that interns would be able to work in any town department.

Home for the Homeless

Looks like the IFC is going to be homeless again. All the Chapel Hill News says is that they're having trouble finding a new place. Shock. Fortunately, the Chapel Hill Herald actually bothered to tell us what's going on.

Apparently the Town (who owns the building) is "temporarily" kicking out the IFC to do some renovations on the building. Considering that the Downtown Commission et al have been moaning about those unsightly beggars scaring the shoppers for years now, it seems quite possible to me that somehow the IFC won't get to move back in.

IFC has already had to relocate some of their services since the Town denied their request a few years ago to expand the facility at the corner of Rosemary and Columbia Streets. For example, they moved their women's shelter to Homestead Road - miles away from the walkability, the jobs, and the community downtown.

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