An understanding of finances drove our picks from among a field of strong candidates for Town Council. The economy shows no sign of improving, and the town is close to its debt ceiling. Decisions about raising revenue and spending will need to be made judiciously. We looked for experience, maturity and leadership. Here’s what we […]
All posts for the month October, 2011
Council picks
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 31, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/10/31/council-picks/
Shame of the NCAA
I agree with Tom Sorensen’s piece in the Oct. 27 News & Observer that college athletes should be paid. Paying student-athletes seems like the right thing to do. After all, how is a student-athlete’s work at his or her sport any different from that of a work-study student, except the work-study student gets paid? But […]
Posted by Don Evans on October 28, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/10/28/shame-of-the-ncaa/
A deal’s a deal
Last week’s council meeting set a record for speed, and last night’s meeting, with its short, noncontroversial agenda, had the makings of a two-peat. Then right before the Carolina North update, it was as if council members checked their tweets as one and learned that Game 6 of the World Series had been postponed a […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 27, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/10/27/a-deals-a-deal/
Free money
Never turn your back on free money. And half of the items on tonight’s consent agenda involve receiving money from the state or federal government (remember those ARRA funds?) or insurance payouts. Money to upgrade some police cars with idle-reduction technology; aide to meet federal mandates to inspect bridges; freeing up money from the bond […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 26, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/10/26/free-money/
Candidate buy in
In a New Yorker cartoon, a teenage boy is lifting weights in his room. His mother walks in and says, “Here, let me do that for you.” That cartoon came to mind as I looked over Town Council candidate Lee Storrow’s 35-day finance report that showed his mother making a $381 in-kind contribution (the legal […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 24, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/10/24/candidate-buy-in/
Trick or tweet
At Monday night’s Town Council meeting, when once again I heard the tremor in a grown man’s voice as he spoke at the podium in front of a ring of council members, a phalanx of staff, a smattering of people in the audience and a couple of TV cameras, it brought home to me how […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 20, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/10/20/trick-or-tweet/
Speed meeting
Last night’s Town Council meeting was one for the record books – three public hearings, completed in 1 hour and 18 minutes. But the agenda items – food trucks, expansion of a building and parking lots at Carol Woods, and a proposed amendment of stormwater management rules for new development – posed little controversy. All […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 18, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/10/18/speed-meeting/
Political signs: Refresher course
Nancy and I went out Wednesday to put up political signs for our preferred candidates. We also righted signs for other candidates we would not vote for that had fallen over. Putting up signs is always hard work, a lot of walking, dodging cars when crossing streets and making sure the signs we put up […]
Posted by Don Evans on October 15, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/10/15/political-signs-refresher-course/
Two-faced
The hypocrisy can pile up only so far before it starts impeding progress. Take this In-the-Pockets-of-Developers misdirection on Tuesday at the election forum co-sponsored by Neighbors for Responsible Growth: The moderator ominously asked Matt Czajkowski, Jon DeHart and Laney Dale whether they had taken campaign contributions from developers. As if this were the McCarthy hearings […]
Posted by Don Evans on October 14, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/10/14/two-faced/
$5 friends
You might measure your Facebook friends by the dozens and Twitter followers in the hundreds. But you won’t know who really has your back until you have to find 83 people registered to vote in Chapel Hill willing to pay you between $5 and $20 to see you qualify for free money from the Voter […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 13, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/10/13/5-friends/