Blogs
Orange County has pressing local needs including education, infrastructure, social services, health, and small business support - just to name a few. We continually are forced to wrangle over restricted budgets which pit important local needs against one another. Meanwhile about $2600 per county citizen leaves Orange County annually for the national military budget. That's a total of about $351million.
Our current annual county budget is about $178 million. Imagine what we could accomplish for the citizens of Orange County if just 10% of our military contribution was retained at home for local needs? Another $35 million annually would make a world of difference for us.
Make no mistake, U.S. military spending - the U.S.
When I first learned about the proposed framework for downtown, I was amazed to see such big, new ideas being proposed by the consultant hired by the Town of Chapel Hill and the Downtown Partnership. This proposal presents an opportunity for Chapel Hill to do something visionary and to once again have a thriving urban center that is the envy of other communities. But.
The only way that this Big Idea will evolve into a Good Idea is if Chapel Hill can make this vision our own. Not only that, but I also think this plan might have trouble being approved in Chapel Hill without generating significant community investment in its approach. Or, as I said in June:
J. Al Baldwin had an interesting letter in the CH News yesterday -- http://www.chapelhillnews.com/2010/09/12/59402/move-to-cary.html
However, I think he has a couple of points very wrong (and the N&O doesn't allow comments on CHNews stories, so you get my thoughts here. Sorry).
1) We're not going back to the "village" that CH was 30 years ago. While I remember that as a lovely place, the growth of the University and the quality of the schools has caused growth. The question now is how we change to handle that growth, not how do we stay the same as we were 30 years ago (actually, 33 for me).
The regional transit workshops are continuing to happen and it's more important than ever that folks who care about the future of regional transit attend these workshops. You can stop by at any point during the event and talk to someone. No need to stat for the whole event.
This time, the workshop is being held in Carrboro at the Century Center! Emphasis will be placed on the technical analysis of the different corridor options displayed at the first meeting (back when they met at Chapel Hill town hall last month). How does Carrboro fit in? How will Carrboro benefit? Now is a really crucial time for folks who want to see West Chapel Hill and Carrboro included in a light rail plant, so stop by between 4 and 7PM on Sept. 16, 2010.
http://www.orangepolitics.org/events/public-workshop-on-regional-transit
Pages
About Us
OrangePolitics is a not-for-profit website for discussing progressive perspectives on politics, planning, and public policy in Orange County, NC. Opinions are those of their authors. Learn more.
Community Guidelines
By using this site, you agree to our community guidelines. Inappropriate or disruptive behavior will result in moderation or eviction.
Zircon - This is a contributing Drupal Theme
Design by
WeebPal.
