Blogs

A few weeks ago I attended a meeting to hear the presentation of a group of consultants that have been working for the Town of Chapel Hill and the Downtown Partnership to create a "Downtown Development Framework and Action Plan." I didn't know much about this plan before showing up at the meeting, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that it includes some pretty radical ideas for downtown Chapel Hill and they do not include trying to emulate Southpoint Mall!

The draft plan can be downloaded as a PDF from the town web site.  Here's my brief analysis...

Carrboro (and West Franklin Street in Chapel Hill) are arguably the most mass transit friendly developments in the entire region, if not the entire state.  And yet direct bus and rail connections have yet to be established connecting these dense centers of work, entertainment, and population to the rest of the Triangle.  Furthermore, Carrboro rail and bus discussions have been markedly/noticeably absent from the most recent regional planning processes. 

Another bit of woolgathering speculation, this time prompted by headlines about the closing of the Chapel Hill Museum and letters linking it with the funding voted for library exansion as an either-or choice. 

In the town where I grew up, one room of the library was devoted to town history, a full gallery of maps, artifacts, letters, photos, etc.  In the process of visiting libraries for some academic research, I discovered that many town libraries house town-history collections of varying scope, often showcased around the building if not featured in a specific room.