Growth has proved a hot topic in the discussions in the local blogsphere recently. Participants have divided into two camps. One side believes that all growth is good and that new development of any kind will make money for the town and thus lower residential property taxes. The other side believes only nonresidential property is […]
All posts in category Lifestyle
Talk, hear, act
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 2, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/03/02/talk-hear-act/
We need a hero
It looks like the UNC Board of Governors may be celebrating Black History Month by closing down UNC’s Center for Poverty, Work and Opportunity. The 27% of blacks in North Carolina who live below the poverty line is more than twice the 12% of poverty-stricken whites in our state, which makes the timing of the […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 23, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/02/23/we-need-a-hero/
What does quality of life mean to you?
Terri Buckner writes: In 2013, a couple of European psychologists reviewed the literature in an attempt to define the term “quality of life.” Their conclusion was that it “turn[s] out to be an ambiguous and elusive concept.” In an editorial in the Chapel Hill News, Travis Crayton and Molly DeMarco claimed “Many of us might […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 28, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/01/28/what-does-quality-of-life-mean-to-you/
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/
The price of doing right
Art Pope tried to buy his way into the university and failed. So Pope, the Dick Cheney of the McCrory administration, took another tack: He pressed the N.C. General Assembly, which has appointed several Republican cronies to the UNC System Board of Governors, to push out the system president, a man revered for his integrity, […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 19, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/01/19/the-price-of-doing-right/
New Year’s resolutions
My family won’t let me forget the time I passed up a chance to go to the movies so I could observe a Planning Commission meeting instead. Truth be told, the board meeting held greater promise of drama. But I got the message, and one of my New Year’s resolutions is to not put town […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 5, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/01/05/new-years-resolutions/
Urban renewal
Don heard that a store in Burlington sold Cheerwine with real sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup, and always one to encourage a healthy lifestyle, I went with him to search. I’d never been to Burlington beyond the outlet stores that used to flourish off the interstate until Tanger Mall lured them away. As we drove […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 15, 2014
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/12/15/urban-renewal/
Bike wreck
My husband almost became a statistic last week in a bike accident eerily similar to the one that killed cyclist Pamela Lane the week before. He and I had come out of the Community Center end of the greenway and were riding on the sidewalk along Estes during the after-work rush-hour. We chose to ride […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 13, 2014
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/10/13/bike-wreck/
Downside of up-zoning
I give credit to Arctic explorer Robert Peary for words that have been guiding principles in my life: “Find a way, or make one,” and, more frequently, “Do it now.” So I share the impatience of many residents of Rogers Road who want water and sewer service extended to that area, like we promised we’d […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 29, 2014
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/09/29/downside-of-up-zoning/
Courtyards dissed
What do some members of Town Council have against the 20 percent of Chapel Hill residents who are at least 55 years old? Last Monday night, the developers of Courtyards at Homestead presented their proposal for an age-restricted community of 63 moderately priced one-level cottages clustered on 18 acres that back up to Carolina North […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 22, 2014
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/09/22/courtyards-dissed/