Gene Pease’s chair sat empty at last week’s Town Council meeting. We don’t know why. Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt didn’t say. When Pease missed the council’s season opener, the business meeting on Sept. 15, Kleinschmidt announced that Pease was out sick. So why didn’t the mayor tell us why Pease was absent last week? I’m not […]
Where’s Gene?
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 5, 2010
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2010/10/05/wheres-gene/
Tree rights
Having spent my formative years in the Midwest, I appreciate undulating fields of vegetation, broken only occasionally by a mitered stand of trees planted to protect a farmhouse. So the notion that the only way to have an eco-friendly community is to make sure 40 percent of it is covered by trees at least 20 […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 4, 2010
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2010/10/04/tree-rights/
Bicycle rack built for two?
While foraging for something for dinner one night last week, Don and I realized we were one ingredient short for anything we wanted to make. Not wanting to be so environmentally unfriendly as to drive to the grocery store for just one item, one of us got the idea of going by bike. After all, […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 1, 2010
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2010/10/01/bicycle-rack-built-for-two/
Take a walk on Graham
A skeptic by nature, I couldn’t believe that sidewalks in town are 5 feet wide. I paced off 5 feet on the living room rug, and was even more certain that the figure in the ordinance must be a typo. So I dug out the tape measure, and Don and I hiked to the nearest […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 29, 2010
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2010/09/29/take-a-walk-on-graham/
Talk the walk
To segue into it a council discussion on where to build sidewalks, Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt read a proclamation – would someone please buy the town’s video caption writer a dictionary? – supporting National Walk to School Day, which is Oct. 6, one day in National Walk to School Month. Beside him was a prototypical family […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 28, 2010
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2010/09/28/talk-the-walk/
Gay? Not so much
One of the more poignant moments at a Town Council business meeting came a week ago Wednesday at the council’s season premiere, as it were. When it came time for council members to make announcements, Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt talked about N.C. Pride Day, saying that he would be riding in the parade and had been […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 24, 2010
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2010/09/24/gay-not-so-much/
Golden years, platinum prices
At last Wednesday’s Town Council meeting, viewers received a tutorial on municipal bonds, tax-exempt vs. Build America Bonds. At last night’s meeting, we learned about continuing care communities. And for those who had not been heretofore aware, it was a real eye-opener to learn how much it can cost to live out one’s golden years. […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 21, 2010
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2010/09/21/golden-years-platinum-prices/
Who’s in your wallet?
Who do the executives at Lowe’s know that the executives at Altridge Group don’t? On the agenda for public hearing at the Town Council meeting tonight is the request by Lowe’s Home Care Center (what the rest of us would call a home improvement center, so as not to confuse it with a big-box nursing […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 20, 2010
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2010/09/20/whos-in-your-wallet/
PAC-ing heat
Save the date – Oct. 27. Town Council is set for a brawl, by the previews we saw at Wednesday’s council meeting. The agenda listed Adjustments to the Voter-Owned Election program among the discussion items for Wednesday’s meeting. The town enacted the VOE program two years ago to encourage people who have more drive than […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 17, 2010
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2010/09/17/pac-ing-heat/
BABs for moms
Give Jim Ward credit for asking the best question of the night. Davenport & Co. representatives made a surprise appearance at last night’s Town Council meeting to educate council members and the rest of us on the pros and cons of traditional tax-exempt municipal bonds compared to the Build America Bonds, a federal program that […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 16, 2010
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2010/09/16/babs-for-moms/