Recently I asked the town manager for an organizational flow chart of town staff that would show who was in charge of what. I received 18 pages of charts in response, most of which broke out the hierarchy of positions in each department. The collection led off, however, with a master chart of management levels. […]
All posts in category Parking
The Deciders
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 9, 2016
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/08/09/the-deciders/
Loafability
How often do we hear the community — the people who live here or have businesses here or otherwise spend money here — tout the virtues of walkability? Some of us on council are pushing for creating a more walkable town by advocating for shorter block size (300 feet, tops) for new developments, more sidewalks […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 18, 2016
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/07/18/loafability/
Who’ll ride the rails?
Imagine pitching a project to potential investors and not knowing what your project will cost or how it will benefit stakeholders. Kind of like those anxiety dreams where you arrive at an important meeting without your pants on. GoTriangle lived that mortification at the March 7 Town Council meeting when a council member asked how […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 21, 2016
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/03/21/wholl-ride-the-rails/
Walking the talk
Every once in a while an insight emerges from those early-morning meetings that makes them worth getting up for. Take the Community Prosperity Committee meeting last Friday morning (8 a.m., first Friday of every month, in Room C at the library; public is welcome). We’ve been working on strategies to attract more commercial development to […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 7, 2016
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/03/07/walking-the-talk/
Winding down or unraveling?
I’ve heard tales of people, upon receiving an eviction notice, vandalizing the very place they call home. At the Nov. 16 meeting, we saw a bit of that behavior by some council members wrapping up their terms and others anxious about the change that newly elected officials might bring. The meeting opened with a developer […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 23, 2015
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/11/23/winding-down-or-unraveling/
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/
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/
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/
Is Southpoint our hero?
I write a business column for a print publication in which I report on new businesses coming to town and those that leave. For the most recent issue, I had to dance around a bit, because the only business news I could dig up was businesses that had closed downtown. Gigi’s Cupcakes; Caribou Coffee; Top […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 9, 2015
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/02/09/is-southpoint-our-hero/
We did what this year?
What a ride 2013 turned out to be. Yet despite the ups and downs, we moved forward. We began the year with Town Council members choosing Sally Greene over 10 other well-qualified and diverse candidates to fill the seat Penny Rich vacated a couple months before. In the November election this year, Greene was elected […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 30, 2013
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/12/30/we-did-what-this-year/