I’ve been wracking my brain all afternoon trying to find a way to make “Searing” and “no drama” rhyme. But that sort of whimsey wouldn’t impress Adam Searing, and that touches on what’s so quietly impressive about the man. Searing’s fact-based, pragmatic approach to solving problems is only one of many reasons I’m voting for […]
All posts in category Elections
Endorsements 2023
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 25, 2023
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2023/10/25/endorsements-2023/
Council vacancy
At its Feb. 19 meeting, Town Council officially announced the vacant seat on council and agreed to accept applications through 5 p.m. on March 27. Any town resident who is registered to vote in Chapel Hill elections and will be 21 by the date he or she is to take office may apply. Here is […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 9, 2020
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2020/03/09/council-vacancy/
Speak for the trees
When development proposals came before Town Council, Jim Ward, council member from 1999 to 2015, could be relied upon to speak for the trees. When I joined council and he did not get re-elected, I took on that mantle. Now I’m leaving council, and no one has emerged to protect our environment in this fundamental […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 2, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/12/02/speak-for-the-trees/
VOTE!
Over the past few weeks that I’ve walked through neighborhoods, canvassing voters, I’ve seen some truly lovely homes. Places that are sanctuaries from the problems and corrosive encounters with the world at large. Beautiful views; lush greenery; maybe a bubbling fountain to calm and rejuvenate one’s spirit. When the going gets tough, these folks have […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 4, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/11/04/vote/
Look before you vote
I flat out enjoy canvassing. When else can I knock on a stranger’s door and start a conversation? After weeks of traipsing through neighborhoods all over town, I feel confident about giving directions to any Amazon Prime driver. Regardless of what part of town I’m in, someone on whose door I’ve knocked will ask me, […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 28, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/10/28/look-before-you-vote/
Endorsements
When I sat in the audience, mining Town Council meetings for material for my Chapel Hill Watch blog, solutions to the problems council members wrestled with seemed so obvious. Once I was elected and shifted my seat to the dais, the answers weren’t so black-and-white. The job requires more nuance, discernment, balance and patience than […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 14, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/10/14/endorsements/
Too simple to understand?
Solutions to town problems seemed so much simpler when I sat in the audience at Town Hall covering Town Council meetings for my Chapel Hill Watch blog. After I was elected and moved to the dais, I learned there are no easy answers. Running for re-election this year, I was disheartened to receive questionnaires from […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 26, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/08/26/too-simple-to-understand/
Civil discourse
A bit of unpleasantness broke out at a nonprofit board meeting recently. An elected official (no Chapel Hill Town Council member or candidate), clearly frustrated by the discussion, behaved unprofessionally, using what in our family we call a “swear word.” I blame Trump. Politics at the national level has become a free-for-all, and the incivility […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 19, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/08/19/civil-discourse/
Why I’m running
Last week we held one of the oddest council meetings I have seen in the decade I have been keeping tabs on council business. Odd that we called a special meeting in the summer to revote on something we had voted on five months earlier. Odder still the number of politicians and political advocates lobbying […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 22, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/07/22/why-im-running/
Parents aim to teach board a lesson
To celebrate National Professional Social Work Month this month, a large metropolitan hospital showed its appreciation for its overworked social workers by inviting them to participate in a blood drive organized in their honor. Rather than treating them to lunch or even a cake, one social worker noted, the hospital “asked us to give our […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 11, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/03/11/parents-aim-to-teach-school-board-a-lesson/