I blame the lateness of the hour for someone on the council dais suggesting that a retaining wall designed to mitigate flooding include “breaks” to “engage the street.” The comment came during a concept plan we were asked to review that didn’t being on our overstuffed agenda until after 11:30 p.m. We were all tuckered […]
Kneecapping our best intentions
Chapel Hill residents take housing affordability seriously. Are we on Town Council poised to undermine progress we’ve made? The budget we passed last week included a property tax increase that would fund the $10 million bond voters approved last year to be spent on increasing the supply of affordable housing. Some years back, council approved […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 17, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/06/17/kneecapping-our-best-intentions/
If we build it …
Which came first — residents with a plethora of discretionary income? Or craft breweries, tapas bars and the availability of Starbucks’ White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino on every street corner? If we build it, they will come, goes the adage. Last Friday morning at the town’s Economic Sustainability Committee meeting, Alisa Duffey Rogers, project manager of […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 10, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/06/10/if-we-build-it/
Wealth gap
I say this every year at budget time. Call it my annual screed: A flat percentage salary increase across the whole pay scale widens the wealth gap. The rich get richer, and the poor end up with comparatively less buying power. This year, the town’s 3% across-the-board pay raise will put an extra $900 (before […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 3, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/06/03/wealth-gap/
Rogers Road victory
The historically black Rogers Road neighborhood crossed the finish line this past week on quality-of-life improvements years in the making. Town Council approved rezoning that would protect the neighborhood from the over-development expected once the sewer line extends into the area. The neighborhood, north of Homestead Road and east of Rogers Road, sits just south […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 27, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/05/27/rogers-road-victory/
The cost of appearances
There we go again. Dipping into our savings to pay for nonessentials. Living beyond our means. Our new town manager presented his recommended budget, a 3.7% increase over what we spent the prior year, which would require only a 1.6-cent property tax increase (per every $100 of property valuation). The hiring process for our town […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 20, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/05/20/the-cost-of-appearances/
The New Historic District
As the Town Council’s liaison to the Historic District Commission since the 2015 election, I’ve had a front-row seat to many redevelopment proposals by people who have no clue what value historic neighborhoods add to our community. The presentations follow a form so uniform that it appears to be an Internet download. The presentations apparently […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 13, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/05/13/the-new-historic-district/
Women helping women
I go to a lot of meetings, and some of them are productive. Some lay the groundwork for future success. Others are simply vehicles for egos to preen. To offset the waste of time of the latter, I occasionally volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. It is satisfying to see what can be accomplished by a […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 6, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/05/06/women-helping-women/
Cost of combating climate change
Town Council gets it: Climate change is real. At our April 17 meeting, we reviewed a draft action plan for reducing our carbon footprint. The plan called for requiring solar panels on 80% of the rooftop area on all development proposals that needed a rezoning to proceed. State law prohibits municipalities from requiring new construction […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 29, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/04/29/cost-of-combating-climate-change/
Our tenuous link to history
I haven’t been inside the Cathedral of Notre Dame since I went sightseeing after running the Paris Marathon some 30 years ago. Yet when I heard about the fire that destroyed the ceiling and spire of the 800-year-old church, it felt like a personal loss. In his book Why Old Places Matter, Tom May, the […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 22, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/04/22/our-tenuous-link-to-history/