Will Raymond mentioned at the Town Council public hearing Monday night that Google Fiber would bring benefits to Chapel Hill that we can’t see right now. He’s right about that. But he didn’t mention that those benefits will come at a cost in privacy and how much marketers and the government know about us. The […]

Taking the long-term view before making short-term fixes yields better decisions and reduces the chances of having to make expensive, time-consuming corrections. Some members of the town’s Sustainable Community Visioning Task Force have taken a stand for looking at the overall needs of the community and how action in one part of town affects the […]

If you had to decide between parking on a side street for free or paying $450 for a spot nearer the office, which would you choose? I know what my decision would be. And I believe it’s the same as a bunch of UNC workers who seem to have chosen to park on the streets […]

Having been a public servant, I know firsthand how some members of the public (oftentimes lawyers) view the “servant” part literally and treat us accordingly. So I should have been better prepared for town attorney Ralph Karpinos’ disingenuous response to my e-mail. Months ago, I sought an answer to a simple question: What would it […]

No tow truck operators showed up Monday night at the Town Council meeting. No vehicle owners with a burning desire to test their luck on private lots anywhere downtown. And no parking lot property owners. The council’s scheduled public hearing on the town’s changes two years ago to the fees that can be charged for […]

The Walgreens contingent of lawyers, designers and architects walked away from the Town Council meeting Monday night with broad smiles on their faces. Who could blame them? The drug-store project proposed for the corner of Estes Drive and East Franklin Street looks classy, definitely upgrades a piece of property that has seen better days and […]

By the end of June, Chapel Hill pedestrians can expect to make a trip to the islands — seven of them dotting main thoroughfares around town — and the federal government is footing most of the bill. Years ago, the Town Council approved the construction of crosswalks or pedestrian islands to aid people crossing busy […]

In the next week or two, every household in the U.S. should receive in the mail a 2010 census form — that’s the plan, at least. The standard census form has nine questions that pertain to how many people live in the household and who they are — name, age, gender, race and ethnicity — […]

A couple of days ago, we received a water bill in the amount of $186.01 covering the 13,000 gallons of water OWASA claimed we had run through in the past 32 days, far more than the 3,000 to 4,000 gallons we normally use. Immediately, we suspected Bill Strom. But first we called OWASA. We explained […]