I landed in London as the British were waking up to Boris Johnson’s landslide victory. Over the course of the ensuing few days, I chatted with people I met about what they thought of the election outcome. Their responses lead me to predict four more years of Donald Trump. Johnson’s wide margin of victory surprised […]
All posts tagged affordability
Rising above
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 23, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/12/23/rising-above/
Hospitality
Staff at the Durham Performing Arts Center have that hospitality thing down pat. Even if your ticket is for a seat in the very last row of the upper balcony, DPAC staff welcome you as if they are delighted that you’ve accepted their invitation to their soiree. Yet, statistically, a certain percentage of them have […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 9, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/12/09/hospitality/
Two views of affordable housing
I attended two events over the weekend that showed the complicated issue of boosting the amount of affordable housing, from the perspective of the investor and the end-user. Each left me somewhat disheartened. Community Empowerment Fund’s “Affordable Housing: The Musical” poked fun at council members, developers and others in the community while sharing the experiences […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 25, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/11/25/2852/
Community Home Trust’s next chapter
When Robert Dowling accepted the offer Joe Cook and two colleagues extended in 1997 to head what would become Community Home Trust, Cook had one and only one directive. He shook hands with Dowling and said, “Don’t screw up.” And 22 years later, we can testify that Dowling heeded that advice. Having launched the nonprofit […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 18, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/11/18/community-home-trusts-next-chapter/
Why I’m running
Last week we held one of the oddest council meetings I have seen in the decade I have been keeping tabs on council business. Odd that we called a special meeting in the summer to revote on something we had voted on five months earlier. Odder still the number of politicians and political advocates lobbying […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 22, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/07/22/why-im-running/
The flummox of FLUM
The gavel came down on our final meeting of the 2019 fiscal year at 11:34 p.m. last Wednesday night. Community members packed the auditorium at Town Hall at the beginning of the meeting for various last-minute petitions, and many town residents stayed almost all the way to the end to weigh in on the Future […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 1, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/07/01/the-flummox-of-flum/
Kneecapping our best intentions
Chapel Hill residents take housing affordability seriously. Are we on Town Council poised to undermine progress we’ve made? The budget we passed last week included a property tax increase that would fund the $10 million bond voters approved last year to be spent on increasing the supply of affordable housing. Some years back, council approved […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 17, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/06/17/kneecapping-our-best-intentions/
If we build it …
Which came first — residents with a plethora of discretionary income? Or craft breweries, tapas bars and the availability of Starbucks’ White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino on every street corner? If we build it, they will come, goes the adage. Last Friday morning at the town’s Economic Sustainability Committee meeting, Alisa Duffey Rogers, project manager of […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 10, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/06/10/if-we-build-it/
Rogers Road victory
The historically black Rogers Road neighborhood crossed the finish line this past week on quality-of-life improvements years in the making. Town Council approved rezoning that would protect the neighborhood from the over-development expected once the sewer line extends into the area. The neighborhood, north of Homestead Road and east of Rogers Road, sits just south […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 27, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/05/27/rogers-road-victory/
The cost of appearances
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 […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 20, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/05/20/the-cost-of-appearances/