October 2011
Homelessness in Chapel Hill is an issue that, unlike what happens in many communities, reaches headlines in our local media and often the agendas of our Town Council. However, as residents of Chapel Hill seek to safeguard business interests downtown, and as the worsening economic climate continues to find more and more in need, the topic has become increasingly contentious. In too many cases, our most needy citizens are seen as eyesores, barriers to business development and told to get out of town.
With local food pantries stretched to their limits and the current downtown shelter falling into decay, the Chapel Hill Town Council, after lengthy hearings and deliberations, approved the Inter-Faith Council (IFC) Men’s Community House Transitional Shelter Special Use Permit (SUP) in 2011 subject to the IFC satisfying several conditions, including the creation of a Good Neighbor Plan (GNP).
If you're not familiar with the recent or past history of Carr Mill Mall management's anti-Carrboro policies, catch up with us at http://orangepolitics.org/tags/carr-mill. I am so frustrated by the attitude that Carr Mill owes nothing to the community that has made them so successful.
A few days ago ago, Damon and I were looking for
a place to park in downtown Carrboro. We had a question and asked Hector (the security guard), he gave us a short answer and a slip of paper with the following printed on it (verbatim):
An announcement from the Carrboro Bicycle Coalition:
Did you know that Carrboro's town code for bicyclists is actually stricter than North Carolina state law?
Don't like what I'm writing on Chapel Hill 2020? Well there's good
news. The town recently launched a new blog, 2020 Buzz, which will keep you
abreast on all the changes in the process if you don't find my reporting
sufficient :) Here's the good news on the blog: it provides another avenue
to have your voice be heard. You can comment on virtually anything once you
navigate away from the main page and you don't have to been a fancy Wordpress
whiz to figure out how to do it. I think it can also be harnessed to be a
wonderful tool for disseminating information. I would encourage the town
to use a lot of multimedia if possible. People respond to images and videos in
ways that they don’t respond to text, and I know a lot of people out there
learn better through pictures and graphics than they do through words (myself included).
On Tuesday, August 30, 2011, the North Carolina
State Bar Ethics Committee issued the following opinion -
Opinion rules that a lawyer may not allow a
person who is not employed by or affiliated with the lawyer’s firm to use firm
letterhead.
An article in the Chapel Hill News on Sunday gave me pause on the candidates for the Chapel Hill town council. When asked to speak on town spending, all resorted immediately to either vague plans for reductions or, astonishingly, proposals to charge for transit, which is by far the most effective service Chapel Hill offers.
Instead of deciding which items to cut, the candidates for the council should commit to a pro-growth agenda. Rezone the entire downtown core as TC-3-C, and consider removing the height cap for downtown. Allow people to build along the planned light rail corridor to Durham. Expedite the review process so every proposal doesn't get dragged down in years of bickering.
I'm at the Orange County Board of County Commissioners meeting tonight to hear the latest on the landfill and Rogers Road mitigation. I'm spending a night outside the school district and talking about issues that won't help me get elected, so it must be important. The attachment (link below) has a county manager proposal that closes the landfill in 2013, and also addresses some of the mitigation items requested by the community. Looking forward to BoCC reaction -- are we going to finally do something for this community or push it further along the road?
On September 26, members of the Chapel Hill Town Council suggested that the Community House Good Neighbor Plan Advisory Committee expand its membership . Hence, the IFC is seeking applications for committee membership. See http://ifc-gnp.blogspot.com/ for more detail. The application form can be found at http://ifcweb.org/GNP-app.htm. Applications should be submitted to the IFC before October 14.
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