Let me see whether I have this right – a developer can come into town, get town approval to build a project of high-end apartments and condos that displaces residents who have trouble affording living here, and we as taxpayers have to pay to make housing available to the displaced residents? That’s pretty much what […]
All posts in category Taxes
Joint Investment
Posted by Don Evans on March 19, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/03/19/joint-investment/
Our chance at the gold — gone
Chapel Hill should bid on hosting a Winter Olympics. Sure, we’d need to build a couple of ski slopes, one with fancy rails and jumps. We would have to retrofit the Dean Dome into an ice-skating rink. And we’d need to build a housing complex for the athletes, though we could repurpose it into affordable […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 19, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/02/19/our-chance-at-the-gold-gone/
Happier New Year
We started a new tradition this New Year’s Eve – we wrote all the bad things that happened in 2017 on little slips of paper, then tossed them into the fireplace. It was not as big of a bonfire as I expected, given the national politics and ripples into global and state affairs. And it […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 1, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/01/01/happier-new-year/
Park, Housing: Not an Either-Or
In 2003, as a taxpayer I voted against spending more than $16 million to expand and renovate the Chapel Hill Public Library. The town had a small but functional library, surrounded by the woods and trails of Pritchard Park, and while the demand would only grow as the town grew, it seemed to me we […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 4, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/12/04/park-housing-not-an-either-or/
Economics of affordability
A council member told of going to dinner at a new restaurant in town and having to wait a half-hour for a table. Initially, he took that as a good sign of how well the new business was faring. But once he was seated, he noticed that several tables had been removed since the last […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 9, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/10/09/economics-of-affordability/
Fighting back for DACA
Donald Trump seems to delight in causing chaos, regardless of the consequences. Like a toddler in the throes of a temper-tantrum, breaking everything he can get his little hands on, Trump gets attention through the disruption he creates. And Congress, the only authority figure that can put him in time out, instead stands to the […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 18, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/09/18/fighting-back-for-daca/
Conflicting Priorities
Bonnie Hauser, founder of Orange County Voice, shares her insight into factors that affect housing affordability: Last month the N.C. General Assembly (NCGA) took away Orange County’s authority to collect impact fees on new home construction. It was a low blow by Raleigh politicians but brings new insights into the important topic of affordability. Thirty […]
Posted by NancyDon on August 7, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/08/07/conflicting-priorities/
Light Rail at Our Own Risk
Alex Cabanes, the founder of SmartTransitFuture.org, has done in-depth analysis of the proposed Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit project and has explored its implications and transit alternatives. He shares his insight into the latest plot twist of the DOLRT saga. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) approved moving the 17.7-mile light-rail project into the engineering phase — […]
Posted by NancyDon on July 31, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/07/31/light-rail-at-our-own-risk/
Better planning for affordability
Last year, when Orange County commissioners proposed a $5 million bond to be used for affordable housing, I pushed for a plan. The county commissioners instead offered a slogan — 1,065 homes for $5 million — that was so unlikely to be achieved that it didn’t rise to the level of a goal. Trying to […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 26, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/06/26/better-planning-for-affordability/
Paying our bills, and extras
You can craft a budget by starting with the money you expect to have in the coming year and determining how to spend it. Or you can envision the lifestyle you want and figure out how to afford it. Chapel Hill’s budget for Fiscal Year 2018, which starts July 1 of this year, does a […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 12, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/06/12/paying-our-bills-and-extras/