All posts for the month June, 2010

Another extension

We ask your forbearance. Don is immersed in a course on Chaucer, and he communicates only in Middle English these days. I’m refurbishing a house by day and shifting my full-time work to hours I would normally sleep. We will try to delve into all that happened at Monday’s Town Council meeting by early next […]

To be continued …

Last night’s council meeting was full and long, a good part of it devoted to the issue of shelter guidelines. Though the meeting ended before midnight (barely), today is a day of deadlines for us. Give us a day to unpack what went on. We’ll have a report tomorrow. — Don Evans and Nancy Oates

Pound foolish

If only Traci Davenport, executive director of the Chapel Hill Museum, had asked for $16 million instead of $49,000, the Town Council might have approved her funding request. Instead of asking for $34,250 for additional operating expenses plus an extra $15,000 to take care of some maintenance projects that had been deferred, perhaps Davenport should […]

Seeing economic sense

The Wake County school board may be on the wrong track with its neighborhood schools decision , but at least some of the board members can tell when is not a good time to ask taxpayers to allow them to borrow more money. On Wednesday, the board’s chairman, Ron Margiotta, told The News & Observer […]

Aydan Court

I stayed up late last night to see whether the planets had aligned, or at least be awake to see what would happen next after Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt and council member Matt Czajkowski appeared to be on the same side of a growth and development issue. Zinn Design Build presented a preliminary plan for Aydan […]

Check-out lane at library

If you’re going to double the size of the public library, you had better double the amount of parking, right? As I circled the parking lot at the public library Monday at 11:30 a.m., I wondered what was going on – all the library’s 110 spaces were taken, and there were several vehicles prowling for […]

The Courtyard

Much was made, when Walgreen proposed building a drugstore at one of Chapel Hill’s most prominent intersections, of preserving the charm of our fair village. And the Walgreen team did a beautiful job – two stories, skylights, green features, trees to hide the loading docks. So why, then, has The Courtyard renovation team gone to […]

Shifting gears on bike space

No sooner did we learn that Parking Lot #5 will continue to serve our automobile parking needs for at least another three months than the problem of bicycle parking appears on the Town Council agenda. At its upcoming business meeting Wednesday night, council members will discuss proposed changes to the number of bicycle parking spaces […]

Plot twist

The discussion at the Town Council business meeting last Monday night about the proposed homeless shelter revealed a plot twist worthy of a John Grisham novel. After many months of public comments from those who live closest to the proposed site airing their fears about the undesirable element that a shelter would draw, a couple […]

Thrills and chills

When I watch a horror movie, I can usually peg which characters will be picked off by the deranged villain or will succumb to whatever toxic element threatens the community. The good (and rare) horror movie is the one that has me guessing about the fate of each character. That’s why I was completely shocked […]