Blogs

Wanted to start a space where everyone could report their voting experiences. I was voter #19 at Rams Head this afternoon (10/18, first day of early voting) at about 12:08, and while it wasn't crazy busy, there was a steady flow of voters. The woman who voted after me asked me to take her picture as she filed her ballot because it was her first time voting — thought that was very cool. 

In a fairly crowded business meeting tonight, the Chapel Hill Town Council member heard from more than 30 members of the public on Chapel Hill Transit's current bus advertising policy. Contraversy around the ad was sparked by the placement of an ad by the Church of the Reconciliation urging the end of U.S. military aid to Israel. Speakers included several members of the Church of the Reconciliation, the director of the N.C. ACLU and local Jewish leaders among others.

The central question on the issue was whether the transit system consitituted a "public forum." This is important because under Supreme Court precedent regulations on speech in public forums are subject to greater scrutiny than regulations on speech in non-public forums.

In a February work session of the county commissioners, Chapel Hill mayor Mark Kleinschmidt took the podium to present a sweeping overview of the past 25 years of his town's approach to land use planning. Speaking with the didactic urgency we now expect from Kleinschmidt when he's both prepared and fired up, the mayor encouraged the commissioners to maintain their commitment to long-term planning for public transportation by adopting the Orange County transit plan.