My sister in Chicago periodically sends me articles about the shenanigans of Chicago politicians: ex-convicts who have served time for bribery, tax fraud and corruption running against one another; and a “visionary leader/advocate” filing to run again now that he’s out of prison for getting $40,000 of home renovations done in exchange for zoning changes […]
All posts in category Politics
Chapel Hill politics, Chicago style
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 2, 2014
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/06/02/chapel-hill-politics-chicago-style/
Keeping pace with community
Ed Harrison understands that you can’t be a leader without followers. And if you get too far ahead of your followers, your nothing more than a guy on a road by himself shouting, “This way, really, I know what I’m doing.” At Town Council’s May 12 meeting, Harrison was one of three council members to […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 19, 2014
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/05/19/keeping-pace-with-followers/
Vote Tuesday, May 6
What are the chances that a lottery ticket you buy might change your life? Not good odds. But here’s something you can do that likely could change your life and everyone’s around you. Go to the polls and vote. Tuesday, May 6, is primary day in Orange County. The candidates we elect will make decisions […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 5, 2014
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/05/05/vote-tuesday-may-6/
To our health
At the Feb. 24 Town Council meeting, a community member asked council members to pass a resolution urging Gov. Pat McCrory and the General Assembly to accept the opportunity to expand Medicaid, an option made available by the Affordable Care Act. The cost would be paid for by federal taxpayers, 100% for the first three […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 3, 2014
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/03/03/to-our-health-2/
Know the numbers
Orange County’s annual budget for 2014 is around $220 million. Chapel Hill’s is about $95 million. Owasa’s is another $43.5 million. Add those up – $358.5 million, even without Carrboro and Hillsborough – and divide by 365 (the number of days in a year), and you come up with the startling fact that our local […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 3, 2014
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/02/03/know-the-numbers/
Who’s the boss?
A while back, someone I know made a disparaging comment to a Town Council member about town manager Roger Stancil. The council member responded sharply, “Don’t talk about my boss that way.” Pause while you think about what’s wrong with that statement. Not long ago, I gossiped to another council member about the other council […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 13, 2014
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/01/13/whos-the-boss/
We did what this year?
What a ride 2013 turned out to be. Yet despite the ups and downs, we moved forward. We began the year with Town Council members choosing Sally Greene over 10 other well-qualified and diverse candidates to fill the seat Penny Rich vacated a couple months before. In the November election this year, Greene was elected […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 30, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/12/30/we-did-what-this-year/
Limits on listening
I never thought I’d say this, but I miss those all-nighter council meetings. Town Council had a rich agenda for its Oct. 21 public hearing – a discussion of whether to add large swaths of land north of Chapel Hill, which included the Historic Rogers Road neighborhood, to the ETJ; Central West’s controversial proposal; and […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 28, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/10/28/limits-on-listening/
Buybacks
Tell me I’m not the only person to have donated something to the PTA Thrift Shop, then a month later bought it back. Town Council members know the feeling. They are asked to give away affordable housing as they vote to approve redevelopment projects, then scrounge for town resources to buy affordable housing somewhere else […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 21, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/10/21/buybacks/
Seeing red
About 200 taxpayers turned out for the open house last Tuesday night that showed off the four plans for Central West Focus Area that we got for the nearly quarter of a million dollars we paid to Rhodeside & Harwell. Or as Jim Ward framed it in an email on the Central West listserv: a […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 16, 2013
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/09/16/seeing-red/