Chapel Hill’s bubble has been both boasted about and blasted, depending on the politics of the critic. We have a reputation of being a haven for bleeding-heart liberals, a sanctuary city in sentiment and practice, albeit not codified. But a sneak peek at the proposed Trump administration budget indicates that our bubble is about to […]
All posts in category Environment
Funding Our Bubble
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 20, 2017
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/03/20/funding-our-bubble/
Bargaining Power
People love to feel special. Sales agents make a living by understanding the power of “just for you”: “I don’t usually do this, but just for you, I’ll …” It closes the deal and mitigates buyer’s remorse. But “just for you” would lose its value if there were no standards or rules to push back […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 13, 2017
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/03/13/bargaining-power/
Dry reading worth wading into
Have you read the Lower Booker Creek Subwatershed Study Report? The tome is the type of reading you do only when the roads are iced over and you can’t leave your house for three days. But it contains critically important information that could save our town from washing away downstream. Stormwater management experts give this […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 30, 2017
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/01/30/dry-reading-worth-wading-into/
To a Healthy New Year
My husband and I gave each other matching colds for Christmas this year, not the gifts we had intended, but a result of getting out and into the community more than I have in years past. When it comes to germs, especially in the holiday season, I’ve tried not to give back. And that means […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 2, 2017
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/01/02/to-a-healthy-new-year/
Parking — It’s not just for cars anymore
Chapel Hill’s parking problem extends beyond where to put your car when you go downtown. A truly vibrant downtown needs spots for pedestrians to park their bodies when they are fatigued or simply want to people watch or absorb the ambience. Last Tuesday, University of Kentucky Professor Ned Crankshaw came to town and shared some […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 5, 2016
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/12/05/parking-its-not-just-for-cars-anymore/
Think of the possibilities, then plan
How many times have we heard, usually from people who make money by developing or selling real estate, that affordable housing is not possible in Chapel Hill? That we might as well admit defeat and build only luxury apartments in town, thus forcing out the modestly paid and the middle class? Yet towns similar to […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 29, 2016
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/08/29/think-of-the-possibilities-then-plan/
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/
Just because they can
Last week a man carried a loaded assault rifle into the Atlanta airport while he dropped off his daughter for her flight. Georgia passed a law last year that allows permitted gun owners to carry loaded weapons in an airport, as long as they don’t go through the TSA security checkpoint. The man said he […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 8, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/06/08/just-because-they-can/
CHALT makes connections
After my children left home, my husband and I thought of downsizing to Hillsborough, where taxes are a little bit lower. But the historic homes were too big, the small homes in a gentrifying section of town needed too much work, and the new homes in the subdivisions north of town left us uninspired. Knowing […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 26, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/01/26/chalt-makes-connections/
Hit the gas
It’s not that no news happens while Chapel Hill public information officer Catherine Lazorko is away, it’s just that no one finds out about it until she returns. In the wee hours of Friday morning, gasoline spilled from a tank at the BP Family Fare in the 1200 block of MLK Jr. Boulevard that had […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 5, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/08/05/hit-the-gas/