At last week’s Town Council meeting, a council member likened Chapel Hill giving Wegmans an incentive to locate here as “being the first girl to put out.” Many in the community seem to agree. I see it as a risk-free way to show companies that Chapel Hill is serious about being open for business. One […]
All posts in category Business
Putting out
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 24, 2016
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/10/24/putting-out/
Don’t let Google be lonely
Google unveiled its new sign last week. The tasteful, illuminated logo on the Church Street side of 200 W. Franklin St. perhaps quelled fears that the town’s new sign ordinance would result in a wave of garishness overpowering our downtown’s charm. Chapel Hill has been Google’s home for the past decade, but few people knew […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 5, 2016
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/09/05/dont-let-google-be-lonely/
Launched
You might expect a low turnout for an event scheduled at the end of a hot day, toward the end of a week of hundred-degree days, in a warehouse venue with only a hint of air-conditioning. But as Thomas Edison said, genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Last Thursday, the anteroom of TOPO Distillery […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 1, 2016
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/08/01/launched/
Fireworks at stadium, not council meeting
Viewers expecting fireworks at the last Town Council meeting of the 2015-16 season turned off their TVs and computers disappointed. Though we had reserved time on June 29 for a spillover meeting should we not finish our agenda before the hour grew too late, the June 27 meeting got over comparatively early, thanks in part […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 4, 2016
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/07/04/fireworks-at-stadium-not-council-meeting/
Walking the talk
Every once in a while an insight emerges from those early-morning meetings that makes them worth getting up for. Take the Community Prosperity Committee meeting last Friday morning (8 a.m., first Friday of every month, in Room C at the library; public is welcome). We’ve been working on strategies to attract more commercial development to […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 7, 2016
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/03/07/walking-the-talk/
What we do best
Decades ago, a running coach told me, “The only way to run faster is to run faster.” Pre-empting Nike’s “Just Do It” slogan by nearly a generation, the coach’s advice has proved useful in all sorts of situations in my life. Now it appears I can apply it to Town Council work. The town has […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 18, 2016
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/01/18/what-we-do-best/
Winding down or unraveling?
I’ve heard tales of people, upon receiving an eviction notice, vandalizing the very place they call home. At the Nov. 16 meeting, we saw a bit of that behavior by some council members wrapping up their terms and others anxious about the change that newly elected officials might bring. The meeting opened with a developer […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 23, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/11/23/winding-down-or-unraveling/
Ask, and get real answers
Someone needs to tell the town’s Planning Department staff that Chapel Hill already has an ordinance that governs bed-and-breakfasts. Oh, wait. Someone already has. Several someones, in fact — the former director of planning, the town attorney and multiple people in the community, including Chapel Hill Watch — going back more than 15 years. And […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 5, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/10/05/what-problem-is-solved/
Cloud could brighten our economy
Thank you to Orange Politics for hosting a reception Friday evening for all the candidates in our rectangle of Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools to meet one another. Perhaps the gratitude comes most strongly from our family and friends who have listened, with eyes glazed, to us go on and […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 20, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/07/20/cloud-could-brighten-our-economy/
Eat local — downtown
After the Friends of Downtown meeting held last month at Greenbridge condos, I met a friend for lunch at Roots Bakery, Bistro and Bar that had opened recently on East Franklin Street. I had one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten since moving to Chapel Hill nearly 20 years ago. Yet during the hour-plus […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 6, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/07/06/eat-local-downtown/