Blogs

Chapel Hill Manager: Town Has Been Enforcing Incorrect Transit Advertising Policy

If you weren't paying attention at the end of the Chapel Hill Town Council meeting tonight, you might have missed some pretty shocking information. The controversial bus ad policy, the one that allowed the now-famous "end military aid to Israel" ads, was in fact not the policy adopted by Council just last year!

Here is a memo from Transit Director Steve Spade to Roger Stancil detailing the error: 

When Transit needed a copy of the policy, I went to the June 13th meeting and used the policy that was included in the packet of materials rather than the policy provided in the supplemental materials that was approved by Council. As a result we have been using the draft policy rather than the one approved by the Council. In reviewing our communication since June 2011, we have consistently applied the draft policy rather than the one approved by the Council. 

There were several edits in the policy approved by the Council, most significantly were the addition of two items in section 2.01 that excluded religious and political and social issue advertising.

Primer on Transit Referendum and Associated Transit Plan

It turns out that many people are uninformed or misinformed about the specifics of the transit tax and the plan.  Foks don't even realize that there's a plan behind the tax referendum, and that a vote for the tax endorses it.    If the tax passes, the BoCC and TTA have the authority to levy the tax and proceed with the plan. .
Without debating the pros and cons of transit , I hope that readers take a few minutes to understand the plan. We sent the primer below to our mailing list. It includes links to the plan and the financial information.

Primer on Transit Plan, Taxes and Fees

Voters will decide a 1/2 cent tax increase for transit. Please take a few minutes to learn about this tax and the underlying plan before you vote.

The Most Important Endorsement

Early voting is off to a quick start. Here is OP's traditional special-rules post to learn about your own preferences on the ballot.

The rules: Only write who you're voting for (and why, if you like). You may also list the people you would vote for if you lived in their districts. Do not refer in any way to to any candidates you are not supporting. If you don't follow the rules, your comment will be removed. You're free to critique the candidates through comments on other posts or by posting your own blog entry. In fact, you're warmly invited to do so!

Final new voter total 15,213 pre-early vote

Final totals from the Orange County Board of Elections for new voter registration through the 10/12 cutoff show the following

D            6,208  40.81%

R           2,071    13.61%

U           6,783    44.59%

L              153     1.01%

TOTAL      15,213

of note -- I've been following this here since 1971, and 2012 is the first year that the Ds were not #1 in new voter registration, but also the 13% is a historic low for the Rs.

 Will have final totals by November 5 covering those registering during early voting

Chapel Hill Carrboro YMCA waits until no one is looking, signs 1-year management agreement with the YMCA of the Triangle

Back in March, the CHCYMCA Board of Directors stated during their board meeting that all plans to merge with the YMCA of the Triangle were on indefinite hold after a commuity outcry because of the discriminatory practices of the YMCA of the Triangle.  More on this story can be found in this OP post, this post, and this post.

However, members of the Chapel Hill Carrboro YMCA received this email from the interim CEO yesterday (Oct. 18th, 2012):

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