“Work from home,” Gov. Pat McCrory told North Carolinians, in a well-meaning entreaty to keep people from traveling on icy roads last week. And the governor and I did work from home, and maybe you did, too. But what about the people who work at grocery stores or fast-food places or who rely on tips […]
All posts in category Lifestyle
6,200 and counting
Some town leaders have had it with this hick town and want to take Chapel Hill to the next level of cityhood. Town Council approved the redevelopment of Central West. Obey Creek is on track to sail through intact as the developer wants it. And council is poised to allow developers carte blanche in the […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 10, 2014
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/02/10/6200-and-counting/
Annual lights tour
I never got around to putting up our Christmas lights this year, save for a lighted tree that opens like an umbrella. You know the kind – the Who’s in Whoville have them. This year I had time to either decorate the house or shop for presents, and I believe my family will appreciate that […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 23, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/12/23/annual-lights-tour/
Free market
Developers and property owners who rant about their “right” to make the maximum profit regardless of how it affects the quality of life for the rest of the community should spend a couple hours at the end of a Saturday afternoon at the Orange County Solid Waste Convenience Center on Eubanks Road. There they could […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 23, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/09/23/free-market/
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/
Putting the priority in budgeting
My husband has wanted a new couch for years. And I agree we could use one. But something always elbows ahead of it on our priority list. An immediate emergency – the washing machine breaks and the estimate for the repair equals the cost of a new one. A capital improvement – our very expensive […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 27, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/05/27/putting-the-priority-in-budgeting/
The bleaching of Chapel Hill
Last week I walked along MLK Jr. Boulevard to go from my house off Piney Mountain Road to Harrington Bank. Schools had a delayed opening that day, and I passed several groups of high school students waiting along MLK for the school bus. Presumably they lived in the modest rentals and mobile homes in the […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 6, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/05/06/the-bleaching-of-chapel-hill/
It’s only a slice
Don and I live simply. Because we are so focused on paying our high property taxes (purportedly the highest in the state), we rarely go out to dinner. But once in a while, we’ll pick up a pizza to go. Last night, Don called Tedesco’s, our favorite Italian joint, to place an order, but the […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 22, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/04/22/its-only-a-slice/
A new day
This morning, RAM Development announced it planned to convert all 140 condominums at 140 West into workforce housing. RAM chairman Peter Cummings said the idea came to him like an epiphany as he was driving along West Rosemary Street one afternoon. “I saw this bright light,” he said. “Maybe it was a sign from Heaven, […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 1, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/04/01/a-new-day/
Unintended consequences
We’ll give Jim Ward the benefit of the doubt that his heart was in the right place when he directed Loryn Clark to focus affordable housing funds on the people who make 30 percent of the Area Median Income. At the March 18 Town Council meeting, Clark, the Planning Department’s neighborhood and community services manager, […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 25, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/03/25/unintended-consequences/