Watching Parks & Rec director Butch Kisiah and various paid consultants and volunteer committee chairs present the master plans for Parks & Rec and Greenways, I learned that I’m not the only one with Lexus tastes on a Civic budget. The plans looked great: adding 10 miles of greenway trails to the town’s existing 13 […]
All posts in category Lifestyle
What’s another $50 million?
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 19, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/02/19/whats-another-50-million/
Our box of chocolates
Don and I sometimes think about retiring to a rural town where our retirement dollars will go further. But when it comes time to act, we stay put. What keeps us in Chapel Hill is not the public art, the state-of-the-art transportation center or even the lovely indoor swimming pools and library (the limited hours […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 18, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/02/18/our-box-of-chocolates/
Driving us crazy
Terri Buckner works, walks and drives in Chapel Hill. Here’s her take on Chapel Hill drivers learning the rules of the road: At last week’s Chapel Hill Town Council meeting, a resident petitioned the town to remove 3-way stops on Umstead Drive. His request launched a discussion about how many drivers don’t know what to […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 23, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/01/23/driving-us-crazy/
A sense of place
Bonnie Hauser, president of the grassroots organization Orange County Voice, sends this holiday greeting from New England: This year, and every year, I spend Christmas in western Massachusetts (“the Berkshires seem dreamlike on account of their frosting…”). A few inches of snow, a little sun, and a brisk 30 degrees – warm for the area, […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 1, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/01/01/a-sense-of-place/
Partyless
Good thing I got my very own set of Bananagram tiles for Christmas this year. Looks like that’s what I’ll be doing New Year’s Eve, unless I want to leave Chapel Hill to celebrate. Perhaps befitting a college town, Chapel Hill has no New Year’s Eve events other than going to a bar. Ever since […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 31, 2012
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2012/12/31/partyless/
Accidental free speech
Jim Ward admonished Chapel Hill: No talking on the bus. The issues to be decided by the six council members who made it to Monday night’s Town Council meeting were whether a Chapel Hill Transit bus is a public forum, and if not, what sorts of ads, if any, could be displayed. In June 2011, […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 7, 2012
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2012/11/07/accidental-free-speech/
Choose wisely
Some countries have mandatory military service for all its citizens. I wish the U.S. required every one of its citizens to do one week of census work among neighborhoods that make up the left side of the housing price bell curve. We would make better decisions in the voting booth if we had a sense […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 5, 2012
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2012/11/05/choose-wisely/
Policy goes; bus ads stay
At 11:20 last night, Town Council voted to suspend Chapel Hill’s bus ad policy. In a memo slipped to council members during the evening, town manager Roger Stancil explained that the bus ad policy the town approved in June 2011 prohibited any transit advertising of a religious or political nature. Thus, once transit work crews […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 25, 2012
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2012/10/25/policy-goes-bus-ads-stay/
No vacancy?
Town Council holds its season opener this Wednesday, Sept. 12, and I can’t seem to rally the excitement I usually have for local politics. It’s not that the decisions council makes aren’t important – in fact, council members are set to vote once again on Charterwood, and the outcome could tip council’s hand for what […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 10, 2012
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2012/09/10/no-vacancy/
See the world
Come see the world with me, and all it will cost is a couple of gallons of gas. Granted, with the supply chain disruptions in the Midwest – a ruptured pipeline in Wisconsin and equipment problems that shut down refineries in Indiana and Illinois – that’s nearly the cost of a couple of lattes a […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 13, 2012
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2012/08/13/see-the-world/