At last week’s Town Council meeting, a council member likened Chapel Hill giving Wegmans an incentive to locate here as “being the first girl to put out.” Many in the community seem to agree. I see it as a risk-free way to show companies that Chapel Hill is serious about being open for business. One […]
Putting out
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 24, 2016
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/10/24/putting-out/
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
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/10/17/playing-it-safe/
A bond without a plan
When it comes to taking on the challenge of increasing the amount of affordable housing, Orange County commissioners would do well to heed the wise counsel of Yogi Berra: “When you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else.” County commissioners proposed two bond referenda for the November election: $120 million to repair […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 10, 2016
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/10/10/a-bond-without-a-plan/
Lessons from Boulder
If the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce aimed to scare travelers on its 2016 Inter-City Visit into thinking that height restrictions and no-build buffers would make real estate prices skyrocket, someone forgot to clue in the Boulder speakers. The chamber organized a trip for about 80 of us from Orange County – elected officials, business […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 3, 2016
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/10/03/lessons-from-boulder/
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
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/09/26/chapel-hills-arab-spring/
Powering through
Have we learned nothing? Last week a female student at UNC held a news conference to claim that a classmate, a member of the football team, raped her. She was pursuing misdemeanor charges against him because the campus police had refused to file charges, and the district attorney’s office declined as well (though after the […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 19, 2016
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/09/19/powering-through/
How much is that rent, really?
Trying to find an apartment in Chapel Hill affordable to your typical Chapel Hill worker takes diligence and a roommate. An apartment complex may advertise rent at one price, but by the time the management adds up all the additional mandatory fees — valet garbage pick-up, package delivery acceptance, weight room access, and Internet and […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 12, 2016
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/09/12/how-much-is-that-rent-really/
Don’t let Google be lonely
Google unveiled its new sign last week. The tasteful, illuminated logo on the Church Street side of 200 W. Franklin St. perhaps quelled fears that the town’s new sign ordinance would result in a wave of garishness overpowering our downtown’s charm. Chapel Hill has been Google’s home for the past decade, but few people knew […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 5, 2016
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/09/05/dont-let-google-be-lonely/
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
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/08/29/think-of-the-possibilities-then-plan/
Best practices, best officers
In North Carolina, a barber needs 1,000 hours of training to get licensed. A law enforcement officer receives 616 hours. As society and circumstances change — think the closing of mental health facilities at the turn of this century that left law enforcement officers to intervene when a mentally ill person posed harm to the […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 22, 2016
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/08/22/best-practices-best-officers/