Town Council Process for Development of Carolina North

On Thursday evening September 25th, at 7 PM, the Chapel Hill Town Council held a special meeting at the Friday Center.  In addition to all of the Council members (except Councilman Bill Thorpe who is absent due to medical issues) the Council Members were joined by UNC representatives Roger Perry (Chair, Board of Trustees), Bob Winston (trustee, Chair of the Building Committee) and Jack Evans, who is is chair of the Carolina North project for the University.

One of the important points that was made early by Roger Perry was that he and Bob Winston speak for the trustees and he gave assurances that anything that they agreed to in principle would be supported by the Trustees.  Another important issue was that of timing.  Roger pointed out that in July there will be 6 new trustees (out of 13) and that these new trustees would come in with little or no background.  Thus he urged the Council to consider a timetable that would complete by the Council's summer recess the necessary steps (e.g., rezoning, development agreement?) to allow Carolina North to go forward.

OP's 5th birthday

It's today!  Happy anniversary to all of you who make this community kick ass!

I've been too busy to organize a party, but you are are owed one. How does Wednesday, October 15th sound?

I'm also going to kick off another annual fund raising drive. This one is for 1 year's worth of hosting costs. Last fall you all raised $1,000 to help move the site from WordPress to Drupal. I think it was definitely worthwhile, as we are now reaping the benefits of a more powerful community platform. The new software uses a new host and that costs me $35 each month. 

Who's filling the Gap

My favorite absentee landlord, Joe Riddle, has found a tenant for the vacant Gap/Carolina Theater space* at the corner of Franklin and Columbia Streets. However, he's being very tight-lipped about what is going in there. This makes me hopeful, but also nervous. This should be an improvement over the other vacant Franklin Street storefronts and lots that Riddle owns, but then again he doesn't exactly have a record of being terribly concerned about the well-being of our downtown.

The Daily Tar Heel reports that Riddle has signed a lease and begun demolition inside, but hasn't applied for any permits that might offer a clue as to at least what type of use this will be nor who the tenant is. Anyone want to guess?

Joint Policy Meeting Regarding Carolina North

This is interesting. I may have missed the announcement of this high-level negotiating process between UNC Trustees and the Chapel Hill Town Council. It's not clear to me whether it's open to the public, or if we just get to watch the highlights later.

Report from Joint Policy Meeting Regarding Carolina North: An update was given on the process to plan a future joint meeting of the Town Council and University Trustees to develop a process for considering Carolina North. A special meeting of the Council will take place at 7 p.m. Sept. 25 at the UNC-Chapel Hill Friday Center. The meeting will include Roger Perry, chair of the University Board of Trustees; Bob Winston, chair of the University's Buildings and Properties Committee; and Chancellor Holden Thorp. Information will be posted on the Town website for the public. The meeting will be videotaped to be played later on Chapel Hill Government TV 18 and by streaming video on the Town website at www.townofchapelhill.org.

- Chapel Hill eNews

I wonder if they will take the bus there, in honor of TryTransit week.

Date: 

Thursday, September 25, 2008 - 3:00pm

Location: 

Friday Center, Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill News down to a skeleton crew

Fiona Morgan at the Independent reports that a number of newsroom staff have accepted the buyout offers that the McClatchy-owned News & Observer offered last month.

Among them is Samiha Khanna, who covers Durham County and its school system; Matt Dees, a former Durham city reporter who was recently transferred to the Orange County bureau; and Cheryl Johnston Sadgrove, who covers Orange County government. Until the newsroom is reorganized to adjust for these losses, that leaves one Orange County and four Durham reporters.

- Triangulator: N&O loses more reporters, 9/22/08

I still can't understand the business model that has them eliminating the one uniquely valuable thing that the paper has. No-one's going to buy the paper just to pick up wire reports and local classifieds. Or as McClatchy's CEO said:

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