Town Council reached the end of its rope last Wednesday night when it came to the county’s unwillingness to make a larger contribution toward the town’s library budget. Laurin Easthom and Matt Czajkowski led the call to begin charging non-town residents a fee for a library card to check out books. (Everyone could still use […]
All posts for the month May, 2011
Charge for the card
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 30, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/05/30/charge-for-the-card/
Aydan Court encore
Through a happy confluence of timing, some lucky TV viewers were able to watch Scotty McCreery win American Idol and still tune into the continuation of the public hearing for Aydan Court. And just as some season finales stretch a one-hour show into two (or, if you’re Oprah, an entire week and cause the NBA […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 26, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/05/26/aydan-court-encor/
Library lotto
Finally, the county has put pen to paper about its contribution to the Chapel Hill Public Library. Unfortunately, the paper was not from a checkbook. Instead, the Orange County manager penned, with flourish and a year’s supply of “Whereas-es,” a document that spells out what it might contribute, under the right circumstances. The signature lines […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 25, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/05/25/library-lotto/
Northside moratorium
In 2004, the Northside neighborhood won Neighborhood Conservation District status. But developers soon learned how to work around the rules. By calling a bedroom a “den” or a “game room,” they could fool the town Inspections Department into allowing a six- to eight-bedroom house to be built in a neighborhood where town ordinance limits house […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 24, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/05/24/northside-moratorium/
Better with beer?
Penny Rich’s proposed ordinance change offers insight to the problem of underage drinking and binge drinking on campus and the ubiquity of alcohol-related offenses in the daily police blotter. Rich’s proposal, an item on the consent agenda for tonight’s Town Council meeting, recommends an ordinance to permit alcohol to be served at private events at […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 23, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/05/23/better-with-beer/
Train tracks
Imagine waking up one day to a train coming through your yard. That’s the specter that haunts property owners along the edge of Morgan Creek. The light rail system has been in the works for years, long enough that some of us won’t believe it until we see it. But the various options for its […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 18, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/05/18/train-tracks/
What he meant to not say
Sometimes what you don’t say says it all. Council members – minus Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt, Matt Czajkowski and Gene Pease, who were absent – got schooled in the art during a discussion of the Ephesus Church-Fordham Boulevard Small Area Plan at last night’s Town Council meeting. Jim Babb, managing director of real estate for Bluerock […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 17, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/05/17/what-he-meant-to-not-say/
Food trucks on the menu
I guess town staff spent so much time and effort supplying background information on food trucks, or MFUs (mobile food units), for those who like to speak the language, that they ran out of steam when it came to writing the executive summary for the budget recommendation. That cover sheet is blank. Anyone who would […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 16, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/05/16/food-trucks-on-the-menu/
IFC won’t leave
Three lawyers sat on the dais at last night’s Town Council meeting, but the only person who showed any knowledge of negotiating skills came from a retired businessman. On several occasions, council member Matt Czajkowski knifed through the rhetoric to ask pointed questions. The answers came back in the form of telling silence or obfuscating […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 10, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/05/10/ifc-wont-leave/
Power of compromise
In the 1950s, Pres. Dwight Eisenhower said the strength of the U.S. was in its ability to compromise. How far we’ve strayed. The public hearing on the IFC’s application for a special use permit to build the Community House men’s shelter on MLK Boulevard and Homestead Road continues tonight. The main sticking point of the […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 9, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/05/09/power-of-compromise/