The Town Council approves special use permits for local businesses, many of which belong to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce. The Town Council does not belong to the Chamber. Yet you’d never know that from the Chamber’s website. Scroll down through the C’s on the Chamber’s business directory, and there you’ll find a listing […]
Listing service
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 25, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/03/25/listing-service/
In defense of churches
In a snippet from Dr. Seuss’ “The Cat in the Hat Comes Back,” a mother surveys a mess and says, “… ‘somebody has to clean all this away. Somebody, somebody has to you see.’ Then she picked out to Somebodies. Sally and me.” Something we in Chapel Hill have to clean up is the problem […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 23, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/03/23/in-defense-of-churches/
IFC SUP, Part I
Fortunately, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament this past weekend provided excellent training for the hours of sitting on the couch in front of the TV that watching Monday night’s Town Council meeting required. The public hearing began for whether to approve a special use permit for the IFC shelter. And for all IFC director Chris […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 22, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/03/22/ifc-sup-part-i/
Working out the IFC SUP
Tonight Town Council begins the IFC shelter special use permit process, which council members Sally Greene and Donna Bell promise will be rigorous and thorough. One of the contentious issues that may come up is the fact that the siting of the shelter precludes housing any registered sex offenders, even on white flag nights. Some […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 21, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/03/21/working-out-the-ifc-sup/
Hecklers
Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt kicked two people out of Monday night’s Town Council meeting. It marked one of the rare occasions I agreed with him. Several people showed up at the meeting to protest town manager Roger Stancil’s decision to uphold the firing of sanitation workers Kerry Bigelow and Clyde Clark. For the most part, they […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 18, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/03/18/hecklers/
Receive, then what?
The flawed system exposed during the circus that billed itself as personnel appeals hearings for Kerry Bigelow and Clyde Clark has extended to The Chapel Hill News. In a story in Wednesday’s edition, cub reporter Katelyn Ferral misquoted Mayor Pro Tem Jim Ward as saying he thought the outcome of the hearings “wasn’t wrong.” What […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 17, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/03/17/receive-then-what/
Homeless and outcast
An article in Sunday’s News & Observer mentioned that the Triangle doesn’t have enough shelter beds to accommodate all the registered sex offenders who are homeless. Once the IFC men’s shelter moves to Homestead Road, Chapel Hill washes it hands of the problem. The proposed shelter site is too close to a preschool and public […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 10, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/03/10/homeless-and-outcast/
Fellowship of the ring
When a politician divorces, or he or she moves out of the marital home, or he or she is seen gallivanting about with someone not his or her spouse, that is newsworthy. Why should our mayor be treated differently? Obviously, readers of Chapel Hill Watch know much more about Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt’s domestic life than […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 3, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/03/03/fellowship-of-the-ring/
Food for thought
Tonight might be a good night to go to the Town Council meeting in person. Lex Alexander has petitioned the town to allow food trucks, specifically in the dead zone between where Alexander’s 3 Cups now sits and Whole Foods, the chain that bought Wellspring from him. Ginn & Co. bought the vacant property a […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 28, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/02/28/food-for-thought-2/
Roll call
It was a quiet night in Town Hall hearing room last Monday night. In part because Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt was “unable to be here,” according to Mayor Pro Tem Jim Ward, but also because council member Donna Bell was AWOL once again. She skipped the council meeting the previous week, too. She may well have […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 25, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/02/25/quiet-night/