Blogs

Some folks who enjoy the public announcements of U bus driver Robert Moore were very unhappy to see him silenced after a recent complaint. So much so that they started a petition:

Dear Mayor Kevin Foy

For the duration of his ten years of employment with Chapel Hill Transit System, bus driver Robert Moore has consistently used the vehicle's intercom system to speak to the passengers on his various routes. These verbal exchanges involve Mr. Moore wishing riders well as they board the bus, exit the bus, and inspiring them with positive, self-affirming encouragement during the actual commute. Some of the addresses take on a call and response format between Mr. Moore and the passengers, for those who wish to participate. There is no coercion used on passengers who do not wish to speak, nor are there consequences of any kind for those who choose not to participate.

As published in the Chapel Hill Herald on Saturday, May 12th:

Carrboro Alderman Dan Coleman recently told me that his town is always looking for programs that combine a grassroots economy, community building and environmental stewardship.
The new Carrboro community garden, which will be at Martin Luther King Jr. Park for at least the next few years, certainly fits the bill. This project is a natural for a town that is already home to a cooperative grocery, a community radio station and a housing cooperative.

I recently chatted with Sammy Slade, April McGreger and Jay Hamm of the Carrboro Community Garden Coalition about their plans for this new town initiative.

Hamm told me that they plan to plant basic Southern vegetables, things like squash, tomatoes, okra, beans, peppers, melons and sweet potatoes. They're committed to making sure that nothing they grow goes to waste and will distribute their yield in a variety of ways, including distributing fresh fruits and vegetables to needy people in the community.

Ran into Bob Avery, the Town's IT Director, on Franklin St. today. Turns out he's surveying Downtown with an eye towards deploying a small pilot program of free Internet hot spots in the near future. The pilot would use Clearwire as the high-speed wireless backhaul. The only resources needed are power and location.

I cautioned Bob not to limit his planning to publicly owned infrastructure like the old Townhall. Over the last four years I've spoken with more than a few Downtown business and building owners willing to provide a small chunk of space and the minimal juice for access point deployments. BrianR and I have explored using solar-powered, weather-hardened rigs, strategically meshed to cover a wide area. If the Town used this environmentally sound and quite economical approach, the only remaining requirement is a decent position to throw signal.