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As I have posted over the years, I love this town with the fervor of a convert. Prior to coming here 11 years ago we moved around, travelled, made new friends as we did and were generally unmoored. Now we are part of a community with whom we are completely and happily intertwined. When you meet people around the country and around the world and tell them you live in Chapel Hill, their faces light up with interest and a hint of envy. The question you get is, "how do you like it there?" My answer is always, "I love it, we'll never leave."
As one can see from the 2020 visioning project, there are diverse opinions about what makes the town special and how to keep it going. But whatever the individual opinions, the simple fact that so many people in our town will commit their time and energy to learning about and advocating for the issues that will shape our future, is part of the soul of this town that I love.
I would label last night’s meeting generally
successful, but reflecting back on what I observed and participated in. Before
I get into my reactions, a quick few notes on what actually happened. The
meeting took place entirely in small groups. As noted above, I participated in
the transportation group. The official title of the theme is:
Getting
Around: Transportation:
(transportation of all forms, regional assets, partnerships, potential for
shared success)
All of the groups basically followed the same
format, kicking off with an introduction by the group go-chairs and then moving
into the meat of the discussion, which was supposed to touch on four different
questions, all with a tilt toward the particular theme’s interest area.
You may have seen my earlier post that described what
theme groups are actually are and what they'll be doing. Tonight, theory
will become reality with the first of the four theme group working sessions at
Ephesus Elementary School. Here's what on the agenda:
- Review the process
- Clarify the roles and responsibilities
of all members and leaders of the group
- Identify the components for the
theme based on the community data collected at previous meetings
- Identify
areas in common with other
themes
- Identify resources for the group,
both in terms of staff and data
- Have discussion of decisions in
the theme group
So at this point there’s been much discussion as to what a theme
is, who will make up a theme working group, what these working group will do
and how they will do it. The town has answered these questions in series of
blog on the 2020 Buzz site, but
there’s a good deal of information to wade through, so I’ve tried to succinctly
summarize them below in a Q&A format:
What is a theme? The town calls the themes the building blocks of the plan.
They’re not necessarily value-laden; instead they’re areas that the plan will
focus on. Currently there are six themes. You can find a list of the current
themes here.
The Board of Elections has added early voting turnout numbers to its website. Click on our website http://www.co.orange.nc.us/elect/ and then click on Early Voting Totals in the box with 2011election information to access the daily report.
We were at 531 as of end of day Friday.
Jim White, BOE Chair
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