Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger has calendared the Greene Tract resolution for a vote at town council’s Nov. 17 meeting — after the election, so that voters can’t hear candidates’ views on development of one of the last remaining natural areas in Chapel Hill, but before new council members who might be more committed to […]
All posts in category Ethics
How to be inclusive
We can’t legislate kindness. If we could, that would have been my answer to a question posed at the candidates forum hosted by WCHL last week. Chapelboro on-air personality Aaron Keck, who moderated the forum, asked candidates: What’s the most important thing Chapel Hill can do to make itself a more welcoming and inclusive community? […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 21, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/10/21/how-to-be-inclusive/
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/
When helping hinders
In a recent episode of the TV show The Good Doctor, the main character, an autistic surgeon, wants to minister to his friend who is undergoing chemo. The surgeon tries reading a novel aloud, pushing electrolyte juice, taking his friend’s vitals. The friend, sick and exhausted, tells the surgeon to leave. The rebuffed surgeon shouts, […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 18, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/02/18/when-helping-hinders/
Repairing the breach
Did you read the Rev. William J. Barber II’s recent editorial in The Washington Post? If not, take time to read it now — https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-ralph-northam-and-others-can-repent-of-americas-original-sin/2019/02/07/9aef18ec-2b0f-11e9-b011-d8500644dc98_story.html — and you can skip the rest of my blog post. I will simply add underscoring and exclamation points to some of the main points in Barber’s eloquent piece. Barber […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 11, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/02/11/repairing-the-breach/
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/
Act Now
If Chancellor Carol Folt needed a swan song, she got it Sunday night at the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Dinner. Folt, who had long spoken up about her desire to relocate Silent Sam but early on had been tentative about acting on it, had recently come into her own, right before our eyes. Last […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 21, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/01/21/act-now-2/
Where’s that hatchet?
During the inter-city visit to Lawrence, Kan., last month, some of us went to a hatchet bar. (No taxpayer dollars were spent there.) It’s like darts, only with a hatchet thrown into a thick, wooden wall, instead of a pin in a corkboard. It’s harder than it looks, and very few in our group were […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 8, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/10/08/wheres-that-hatchet/
The cost of crime
In the U.S. 1 in 4 of us has a criminal record; 4 in 4 of us have a criminal history. Ever driven over the speed limit? Had a drink while underage? Inhaled? Three out of 4 of us are the lucky ones, to have had the luxury of not getting caught. Last Thursday, the […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 24, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/09/24/the-cost-of-crime/