Smart as we all like to think we are, few of us could get into Harvard. So when someone with a degree from Harvard Business School says we need certain information in order to make an effective decision, we should listen. But council members Donna Bell and Penny Rich and IFC director Chris Moran think […]
Know the need
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 21, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/01/21/know-the-need/
Is everybody happy?
The process of creating a new worship facility could certainly be considered an act of faith by New Life Fellowship Church. According to information presented in the concept plan review at last night’s public hearing, the church began the planning and design process for a complex on a 3-acre parcel on Weaver Dairy Road, near […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 20, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/01/20/is-everybody-happy/
Library move
I half expect Town Council chambers to be packed tonight with Dillard’s employees wearing T-shirts emblazoned with “We’re Still Here.” Council members will receive reports from town staff exploring the feasibility of moving the library to the mall in the space now occupied by Dillard’s. The documents made public on the town’s website indicate that […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 18, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/01/18/library-move/
Black in Chapel Hill
A campus event at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill led students to realize that being black in Chapel Hill is like living in a bubble. On Wednesday, the Carolina Union Activities Board and Carolina Association of Black Journalists showed “Black In America,” a CNN series of documentaries about issues faced in black […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 13, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/01/13/black-in-chapel-hill/
Gimme shelter redux
With last night’s Town Council meeting cancelled due to adverse weather, my mind had time to wander and ponder other options for the location of the Community House, the proposed shelter for homeless men that the town would like to site on Homestead Road, where it would be clustered with other social service facilities. The […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 11, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/01/11/gimme-shelter-redux/
Order in the court
Last week the N.C. Court of Appeals vacated a child custody order issued by Chief District Court Judge Joe Buckner in 2007, on the grounds that Buckner’s order contained “patently false” information. The decision written by N.C. Appellate Court Judge Rick Elmore noted that Buckner entered the custody order without hearing any evidence. Elmore also […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 4, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/01/04/order-in-the-court/
Power and prejudice
We’d like to think that we washed our left-leaning village clean of racism decades ago, stuffed it with liberals and made sure we always had a person of color on our otherwise all-white and privileged town council. While hiring, especially at upper management levels, a diverse mix of races and ethnicities is a good first […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 30, 2010
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2010/12/30/power-and-prejudice/
Convenient communications
Fresh from receiving an award for good communications earlier this month, the Town of Chapel Hill has been sending out a frenzy of public relations news releases. During the Christmas snowfall, we received twice-daily e-mail updates of plowing activity. And we received each e-mail twice, perhaps as part of a snow-emergency back-up system for e-mail. […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 28, 2010
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2010/12/28/convenient-communications/
Ethics
Back when I was young, the man I was engaged to marry lived in a fabulous three-bedroom duplex on the top two floors of a high-rise on Roosevelt Island, a sliver of land in the East River, parallel to Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The panoramic view from his windows showed only the beautiful parts of […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 15, 2010
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2010/12/15/ethics-3/
Feed the parking need
Don and I met a friend downtown for lunch yesterday, and as we drove along West Franklin Street, we passed several open parking spaces, but the meters had bags over them, usually an indication of a broken meter. We didn’t realize that these spaces were part of the new parking pay stations being installed, so […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 9, 2010
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2010/12/09/feed-the-parking-need/