Mike Swaim's blog

Rural Orange: Talking Trash Survey

Haven't seen much buzz on this topic, and don't know who's behind Orange County Voice, but there's a group in rural Orange passing out information that Orange county is considering what could be some pretty radical changes in the way trash is handled for non-incorporated residents. If this is true, rural residents really need to voice their opinions and concerns.

Bus ridership up trianglewide: CH up 30%

Given the rising cost of gas, it's not surprising that riding the bus has become increasingly popular. Of interest is the idea that in wealthy CH bus riding has increased 30%, whereas in Durham bus riding has only increased just 9.5%.

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1073429.html

Is it a case of those who are most able to afford it taking advantage of CH's fare free system? Is it purely different demographics? Or is it  different levels of  service?

Tax proposals: Hillsborough up 8%, Carrboro up 4.9%

Hillsborough budget proposal calls for tax rate increase of nearly 8%

http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/1073114.html

Proposed $18.5 million budget would raise Carrboro tax rate 4.9%

http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/1073116.html

notable quotes:

"The economy has really made it difficult," said Peterson, who noted that Chapel Hill and Carrboro also are facing local property tax-rate increases.

 -- Hillsborough Town Manager Eric Peterson

"I don't recall, at least in recent history, a more dim outlook in terms of revenue projections," -- Carrboro Town Manager Steve Stewart.

Trash talk, budget busters and poseur politics

The elephant in the room that nobody is talking about... factoring rising fuel costs into the equation.

It's mindnumbing that an area that prides itself on sustainability would even be considering a program to export it's own waste. The very definition of sustainability is something that can be maintained into the indefinite future. Is paying to haul waste out of county sustainable in any sense of the word? Is increasing transportation miles at the end of a product's long transportation chain to get to the consumer even sane?

What percentage of trash in the current landfill comes from UNC? What percentage comes from Chapel Hill and Carrboro? What percentage comes from elsewhere in the county? Maybe each district should be required to sustainably deal with it's own waste.

Chapel Hill and Carrboro have sustainable community as their vision. Carolina North has as it's stated vision: "This and other progressive measures will help make Carolina North a model of sustainability — a campus that is socially, environmentally, and economically sound."

Importance of Farms in Orange County

The other night District 2 County Commissioner candidate Steve Yuhasz said something to me that I found so incredible that I determined to do a little bit of research on the subject. Steve maintained that in 2006 there were only 3 farms in all of Orange County that claimed more than $20,000 farm income. He said that farming for a living was no longer viable. The implication was that if farming was not economically significant, then the county might as well be subdivided into more neighborhoods and strip malls. Steve said he got that info from something circulated by the Economic Devolpment subcomittee. How scary.

My first thought was how in the world would anybody get such information? Individual and corporate tax returns are considered so private that when the various gov't agencies that report on income sectors make their reports, they go to some lengths to make sure that nothing that could identify a specific person or farm can be gleaned from even a very careful reading of their summaries.

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