One theory has it that if we just make traffic bad enough, people will take the bus. Perhaps that was the rationale behind an item on the Town Council consent agenda coming up this week that would have prohibited turning right at red lights in 16 high-traffic intersections. A former council member proposed the right-turn-on-red […]
All posts tagged traffic
Right on red
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 9, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/09/09/right-turn-on-red/
Traffic
Last week I arrived at a meeting after it had started because I had seriously underestimated how long it would take me to drive there. Now that students and professors are back and families have returned from vacations in time for the start of school, some 20,000 to 40,000 additional cars are on the street […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 2, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/09/02/traffic/
Next party will be better
Give us another chance. We had to make a comparatively last-minute change of venue for the fireworks that for years had been at Kenan Stadium on July 4th, and we faced a steep learning curve. When Mack Brown returned to UNC as its football coach at the end of last year, he insisted on swapping […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 8, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/07/08/next-party-will-be-better/
Quintessential Chapel Hill Fan
When friends and I would go to baseball games at Yankee Stadium, we always scanned the crowd for nominees to our Quintessential Yankee Fan Hall of Fame. Yankee fans were quite different from Mets fans, I noticed on my very rare trips to Shea Stadium. Perusing crowds became a habit, and when I’m out and […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 23, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/07/23/quintessential-chapel-hill-fan/
Autopsy of a vote
After my colleagues on Town Council blew off applying for a quarter million dollars of free money toward the purchase of the American Legion property at the April 18 meeting, I was so disheartened I went out and got #NeverAgain tattooed on my chest. (Just kidding, Mom.) So when I walked into the April 25 […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 30, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/04/30/autopsy-of-a-vote/
The flip side of success
Town Council approved plans for a Wegmans to be built on the site now home to Performance Automall. While most residents of Chapel Hill and beyond welcomed the news, dozens of households had mixed reactions. If Wegmans is successful, it will bring in $336,000 in gross property tax receipts and as much as $1.5 million […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 30, 2017
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/10/30/the-flip-side-of-success/
No right-on-red is wrong
Once in a while, an unpleasant experience turns out to be a gift. Such was an evening rush hour recently when I sat in traffic on Estes Drive, heading west from Franklin Street to turn right on MLK Jr. Boulevard. Traffic had backed up almost to the library, giving me time not only to come […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 29, 2016
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/02/29/no-right-on-red-is-wrong/
We have to talk
Jim Ward set the bar high during the Dec. 2 organizational meeting when it came to thanking his family for their support during the 16 years he served on Town Council. It was pointed out to me, archly, that I did not single out any family members in my generic thanks. So, here’s what I […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 14, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/12/14/we-have-to-talk/
We haven’t made it yet
As I waited for the traffic light to change at the corner of Columbia and Franklin streets on Friday afternoon, a school bus pulled up beside me. A little kid stuck his head out the window and yelled, “Yay! We made it to summer!” Council members undoubtedly are looking ahead a couple weeks to the […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 15, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/06/15/we-havent-made-it-yet/
Devil in the details
If you build it, they will come; and when they come, they will bring traffic and public transit needs with them. And we will have to come up with solutions. The proposed version of Obey Creek has more square feet of built space than Streets of Southpoint mall. The Obey Creek plan has only two […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 1, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/06/01/devil-in-the-details/