I had forgotten how many, many stars abide in the sky until this past week when I went to a place dark enough to see them. Light pollution wipes them from visibility. When I lived in Manhattan, I never saw a star outside of the planetarium. Over time, light pollution has crept into Chapel Hill, […]
All posts in category Economic development
Managing growth
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 12, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/08/12/managing-growth/
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
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/06/10/if-we-build-it/
Sanctuary city
A couple of years ago, after Donald Trump had taken office and begun threatening punishments to sanctuary cities, a member of the Justice in Action Committee proposed that Chapel Hill take a stand and declare itself a sanctuary city. After all, the committee member pointed out, we behave like one. My response at the time […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 15, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/04/15/sanctuary-city/
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
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/04/08/whose-opportunity/
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
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/03/04/words-matter/
Mortgaging Our Transit Future
By Bonnie Hauser I’m fascinated by the enthusiastic support that many of our elected officials have for Durham Orange Light Rail (DOLRT). County leaders have already committed nearly $2 billion of local sales taxes and fees to the $3.3 billion project and are preparing to commit more. Do they understand the growing risks and concerns […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 4, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/02/04/mortgaging-our-transit-future/
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
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/01/28/operating-at-a-loss/
Goodbye, 2018
Everyone wants progress; no one wants change. – Soren Kierkegaard We should unfurl that wisdom on a banner over the dais in Town Council chambers, because that sums up the theme of nearly every council meeting. Development proposals dominate our weekly agendas. Every new development brings with it troublesome side effects. In order to be […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 31, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/12/31/goodbye-2018/
People + Places = Community
I spent last Saturday morning in a workshop sponsored by the Historic District Commission that emphasized the importance of community to our quality of life. I spent the afternoon talking with low-income seniors and people with disabilities about how the town could be more livable for them. The issues they brought up had at their […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 3, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/12/03/people-places-community/
What happens in Lawrence …
At the very last session on our intercity visit to Lawrence, Kan., participants stood up, Quaker meeting style, to say thank you to someone or to commit to something. It had been a jam-packed, eye-opening, exhausting three days, and we were trying to synthesize all we had learned before climbing back aboard the bus and […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 1, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/10/01/what-happens-in-lawrence/