There we go again. Dipping into our savings to pay for nonessentials. Living beyond our means. Our new town manager presented his recommended budget, a 3.7% increase over what we spent the prior year, which would require only a 1.6-cent property tax increase (per every $100 of property valuation). The hiring process for our town […]
All posts in category Town staff
The cost of appearances
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 20, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/05/20/the-cost-of-appearances/
Whose opportunity?
Trump has come to Chapel Hill. The federal Tax Cuts & Jobs Act, signed into law in December 2017, created an investment vehicle to allow the very wealthy to avoid paying taxes. The idea was presented to the public as a way to attract new development to high-poverty areas. A thousand such areas were identified […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 8, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/04/08/whose-opportunity/
Generous to a fault
Someone needs to cut up Town Council’s credit card. In recent weeks, our new town manager has been educating council on various aspects of the budget. In our work sessions, he has set the expectation that we will need to authorize a tax increase to cover the cost of all the things we want to […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 18, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/03/18/generous-to-a-fault/
Words matter
For our rehearsal dinner, my husband-to-be and I wanted to serve a carrot cake from a restaurant that was special to us. The restaurant owner gave our contact information to the woman who baked the cakes. The next day her husband called and explained that his wife was an opera singer and baked the cakes […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 4, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/03/04/words-matter/
Ask the neighbors
The road to redevelopment is paved with community meetings, as residents in the Rogers Road area found out, and residents on the southern edge of the Greene Tract wished they’d found out. At last week’s Town Council meeting, we received an update on staff’s plans to create a zoning overlay for several parcels of land […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 25, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/02/25/ask-the-neighbors/
Operating at a loss
The old joke goes that a naïve business owner admitted he lost money on each product sale, but said, “I make up for it in volume.” Chapel Hill town staff are familiar with that business model, and after the Town Council retreat this past weekend, we are, too. We learned that for the past couple […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 28, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/01/28/operating-at-a-loss/
Flooding and the FLUM
At our Jan. 9 work session, Town Council took up the topic of the Future Land Use Map. Council must approve the FLUM before the Land Use Management Ordinance can be rewritten. Toward the end of the evening, Alisa Duffey Rogers, hired by the town to lead the LUMO rewrite, cajoled us into a game. […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 14, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/01/14/flooding-and-the-flum/
Plunge Into the New Year
For the first time in my life, I live in a neighborhood with a swimming pool. To celebrate the New Year, some of my neighbors and I took a polar bear plunge. That the weather was a mild 66 degrees helped, but not as much as you’d think. The water felt every bit the liquid […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 7, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/01/07/plunge-into-the-new-year/
Resiliency
Do weather events seem more severe in recent years? The Triangle Regional Resilience Partnership checked our perceptions against the data and found that, yes, flooding of greater intensity happens more frequently, and droughts last longer. The trajectory is unlikely to reverse itself anytime soon, despite our efforts to take the bus more frequently or adjust […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 12, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/11/12/resiliency/
How old is too old?
Age discrimination reared its ugly head at last week’s Town Council meeting. And this time, because we were talking about edifices, the youngster took the hit. Staff made two proposals — the first to donate town-owned land to be used to relocate nearly century-old tiny houses to be used for affordable housing; and the second, […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 15, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/10/15/how-old-is-too-old/