We haven’t had to think about what we want in a county sheriff for a long time – 32 years, to be exact, because that’s how long Lindy Pendergrass has held that vaunted role. After eight terms in office, the 80-year-old is ready to retire. Six men are campaigning for the position: Charles Blackwood, David […]
All posts in category Elections
Vote for sheriff
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 28, 2014
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/04/28/vote-for-sheriff/
Know the numbers
Orange County’s annual budget for 2014 is around $220 million. Chapel Hill’s is about $95 million. Owasa’s is another $43.5 million. Add those up – $358.5 million, even without Carrboro and Hillsborough – and divide by 365 (the number of days in a year), and you come up with the startling fact that our local […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 3, 2014
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/02/03/know-the-numbers/
We did what this year?
What a ride 2013 turned out to be. Yet despite the ups and downs, we moved forward. We began the year with Town Council members choosing Sally Greene over 10 other well-qualified and diverse candidates to fill the seat Penny Rich vacated a couple months before. In the November election this year, Greene was elected […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 30, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/12/30/we-did-what-this-year/
Vote to be heard
In 2011, any candidate that broke 4,000 votes got a seat on Town Council. This year, it may take even fewer. Even though we are a town of about 50,000 people. As in 2011, nine candidates are battling, albeit quietly, for four seats on council. This year I’ve heard some voters talk about writing in […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 4, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/11/04/vote-to-be-heard/
Lotsa lux
Remember Bicycle Apartments? Trinitas Ventures doesn’t, evidently. The Indiana-based developer of student apartment complexes has opened a rental office in the arcade on East Franklin Street for its project formerly known as Bicycle and now called Lux at Central Park. Gone are the images of healthy, clean-living students bicycling to campus and back, keeping reasonable […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 9, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/09/09/lotsa-lux/
Elected or selected?
Bill Strom started it, then Penny Rich took advantage, too; then Lydia Lavelle and now Ellie Kinnaird. All left office between elections, leaving a small group of politicians to select their successors. And if Valerie Foushee is appointed to Kinnaird’s seat, a small group of politicians will decide who takes her seat as District 50 […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 26, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/08/26/elected-or-selected/
A roster with ballast
“Fling … ends” read the headline in a local newspaper over a story about candidates running for office. And as I read through the profiles of the final candidates to file for Town Council – Loren Hintz, Jonathan Riehl, Amy Ryan and D.C. Swinton – and the school board – Andrew Davidson and Ignacio Tzoumas […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 22, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/07/22/a-roster-with-ballast/
To be rather than to seem
Elections in Chapel Hill are when the esse meets the videri. The election filing period opened in Orange County last Friday, and residents have until next Friday to register their intent to run for public office. Chapel Hill will elect four Town Council members and a mayor in November. Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt has filed for […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 8, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/07/08/to-be-rather-than-to-seem/
Greene-lash
Laurin Easthom announced last night that she will not run for re-election in the fall. Oddly, she used her announcement as a twisted rationale for voting against a new voice on council. Her logic: A new voice on council would be good, just not now, and not until you’ve gone through the hazing process of […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 24, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/01/24/greene-lash/
Outgoing to be incoming?
Must you be an extrovert to lead? Experts at Kenan-Flagler Business School I’ve buttonholed say no. Some leaders excel at relationship building and charisma. Others lead with their analytical abilities and strategic thinking. Still others attract a following through their insights, innovation and entrepreneurship. You’ll find introverts in all three groups. Politicians, on the other […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 21, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/01/21/outgoing-to-be-incoming/