For all the talk about the rigorous approval process in Chapel Hill quashing development, the town sure has grown prodigiously in the past 20 years. Drawing on U.S. Census Bureau figures from 1990 and 2010, public policy strategist John Quinterno pointed out that the town’s population has increased by almost 50% and the number of […]
Not just a numbers game
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 27, 2015
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/07/27/not-just-a-numbers-game/
Cloud could brighten our economy
Thank you to Orange Politics for hosting a reception Friday evening for all the candidates in our rectangle of Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools to meet one another. Perhaps the gratitude comes most strongly from our family and friends who have listened, with eyes glazed, to us go on and […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 20, 2015
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/07/20/cloud-could-brighten-our-economy/
Eat local — downtown
After the Friends of Downtown meeting held last month at Greenbridge condos, I met a friend for lunch at Roots Bakery, Bistro and Bar that had opened recently on East Franklin Street. I had one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten since moving to Chapel Hill nearly 20 years ago. Yet during the hour-plus […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 6, 2015
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/07/06/eat-local-downtown/
Getting to No*
Town Council doesn’t have the option of remaining silent in uncomfortable situations. Sometimes saying “no” can be extraordinarily difficult, far harder than not saying “yes.” Saying “no” can be more difficult still when you have a relationship or connection with the other party. What are the expectations? The personal responsibility? The implied agreement? What are […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 29, 2015
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/06/29/getting-to-no/
Off the radar?
My daughter and I set up our beach chairs on the top of the Wallace Parking Deck last Thursday night, nervously, given the lightning that flashed all around us. Meg McGurk, director of the Downtown Partnership, assured all of us who had gathered to watch “Wall-E” that staff had been monitoring the storm cells on […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 22, 2015
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/06/22/off-the-radar/
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
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/06/15/we-havent-made-it-yet/
Just because they can
Last week a man carried a loaded assault rifle into the Atlanta airport while he dropped off his daughter for her flight. Georgia passed a law last year that allows permitted gun owners to carry loaded weapons in an airport, as long as they don’t go through the TSA security checkpoint. The man said he […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 8, 2015
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/06/08/just-because-they-can/
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
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/06/01/devil-in-the-details/
Aspiring to be what we’re not?
Krispy Kreme closed its Franklin Street shop earlier this month after less than 5 years. A few doors away, Cold Stone shut down two months earlier. Farther west along Franklin, GiGi’s Cupcakes left town at the end of last year. But locally owned Sugarland still plies its pastries and gelato after nigh on eight years. […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 25, 2015
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/05/25/aspiring-to-be-what-were-not/
The other 1 percent
“Lies and misinformation,” Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt responded to a Dogwood Acres resident who questioned whether and how much Obey Creek would cost taxpayers. I have heard what could be called lies and misinformation during the Obey Creek Development Agreement process, and it has come from the development team. A case in point: Affordable housing. Obey […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 18, 2015
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/05/18/the-other-1-percent/