Every time I see a long line of Chapel Hill residents queued up at Town Council meetings to give an impassioned speech about some project or issue dear to their hearts, I’m reminded of what an overall pretty good place Chapel Hill is to live. All of those people wouldn’t be spending their discretionary time […]
All posts for the month November, 2012
It’s wonderful — and tax deductible
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 28, 2012
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2012/11/28/its-wonderful-and-tax-deductible/
Preferred by whom?
After running roughshod over the preference of voters out in the county by voting for the transit tax, Chapel Hill residents got a taste at the Nov. 19 Town Council meeting of what it felt like to be dismissed. Rural and urban voters differed sharply on whether to approve a tax that the bulk of […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 26, 2012
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2012/11/26/preferred-by-whom/
Council rejuvenated
Council members showed their better selves at last Monday’s meeting. They asked questions that indicated they had read and understood the reams of material in their binders. They stood firm on what they thought was best for the town. They called out 123 West developer Cousins Properties about discrepancies in the number of parking spaces […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 19, 2012
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2012/11/19/council-rejuvenated/
Banking on buffers
Call me a cynic – as if that never occurred to you before – but I can’t help wondering whether there is a connection between Roger Perry telling Town Council last week that he might spread his buildings in Obey Creek over all of the buildable acres (even though the land is laced with a […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 14, 2012
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2012/11/14/banking-on-buffers/
Keep talking
A certain peevishness has settled over Jim Ward this term. He snaps at his colleagues and makes motions and calls for votes before discussion has barely begun. It may be a manifestation of what many of us felt upon turning 50 and realizing that after working for 30 years, we’re tired, and we still have […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 12, 2012
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2012/11/12/keep-talking/
What’s the rush?
Southern Area resident and CH2020 participant Jeanne Brown has this to say about the proposed Obey Creek development near Southern Village: As has become a common theme in the two-and-a-half-year-old Obey Creek discussion, area residents found that Monday night’s Town Council agenda included another Obey Creek twist: The resolution before Town Council combined discussion and […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 8, 2012
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2012/11/08/whats-the-rush/
Accidental free speech
Jim Ward admonished Chapel Hill: No talking on the bus. The issues to be decided by the six council members who made it to Monday night’s Town Council meeting were whether a Chapel Hill Transit bus is a public forum, and if not, what sorts of ads, if any, could be displayed. In June 2011, […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 7, 2012
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2012/11/07/accidental-free-speech/
Choose wisely
Some countries have mandatory military service for all its citizens. I wish the U.S. required every one of its citizens to do one week of census work among neighborhoods that make up the left side of the housing price bell curve. We would make better decisions in the voting booth if we had a sense […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 5, 2012
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2012/11/05/choose-wisely/