After the U.S. Department of the Interior retweeted a pair of aerial photos comparing the size of the crowd at President Obama’s inauguration in 2009 with the much sparser attendance at Donald Trump’s ceremony, Trump ordered the department’s Twitter accounts to be shut down. Soon after, all pages on Whitehouse.gov that made reference to civil […]
All posts in category Politics
We the people
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 23, 2017
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/01/23/we-the-people/
Playing it safe
It was a dark and stormy night for affordable housing last Monday. At the Oct. 10 Town Council meeting, we had two opportunities to take meaningful steps to increase the supply of affordable housing, and a majority on council squandered them both. Early on in the meeting, a council member put forth a resolution urging […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 17, 2016
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/10/17/playing-it-safe/
Chapel Hill’s Arab Spring?
More than five years ago, a few weeks after the Tunisian Revolution that launched the Arab Spring, Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad told The Wall Street Journal: “When there is divergence between your policy and the people’s beliefs and interests, you will have this vacuum that creates disturbance.” I hope we won’t someday look back on […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 26, 2016
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/09/26/chapel-hills-arab-spring/
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/
The Deciders
Recently I asked the town manager for an organizational flow chart of town staff that would show who was in charge of what. I received 18 pages of charts in response, most of which broke out the hierarchy of positions in each department. The collection led off, however, with a master chart of management levels. […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 9, 2016
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/08/09/the-deciders/
Ask the experts
Lead, follow, or get out of the way. When it comes to working on the problem of not enough affordable housing, town and county elected officials would do well to choose Door #3. At the joint board meeting of county commissioners and Town Council members on June 2, county commissioner Bernadette Pelissier suggested forming a […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 20, 2016
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/06/20/ask-the-experts/
Add to pre-vacation to-do list: Vote
Your vote in the June 7 primary for N.C. Supreme Court candidates matters more than you might think. The seven-judge panel at present has four Republicans and three Democrats, and their votes on civil rights and quality-of-life issues have followed party lines. The top-two vote-getters in the June 7 primary will vie for the seat […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 30, 2016
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/05/30/add-to-pre-vacation-to-do-list-vote/
The Woman Card
It didn’t take long, after Donald Trump accused Hillary Clinton of gaining an advantage in the presidential race by playing the Woman Card, for an editorial to circulate on the Internet delineating the advantages of having a Woman Card — like receiving a 25% discount on your salary and paying 10% more for personal care […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 9, 2016
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/05/09/the-woman-card/
Horsetrading at the Council Corral
Two weeks ago, Chapel Hill hired a new planning director, Ben Hitchings, who came to the April 11 Town Council meeting. Much to my surprise, he did not resign immediately; in fact, he participated in our work session two days later. That says he’s a man undaunted by challenges. In a nutshell — we embarrassed […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 18, 2016
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/04/18/horsetrading-at-the-council-corral/
#WeAreNotThisEither
Years ago, Chapel Hill adopted a campaign contribution policy to encourage voter-owned elections and make it harder for donors to “buy” elections. Individual campaign donations were limited to $336, a sharp contrast to the $5,100 limit for county commissioner, U.S. president and other partisan elections. Given the recent news about campaign finances of council member […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 4, 2016
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/04/04/wearenotthiseither/