Growth has proved a hot topic in the discussions in the local blogsphere recently. Participants have divided into two camps. One side believes that all growth is good and that new development of any kind will make money for the town and thus lower residential property taxes. The other side believes only nonresidential property is […]
All posts tagged Growth
Talk, hear, act
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 2, 2015
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/03/02/talk-hear-act/
Listen up!
What a blessing to all of us that I stayed home to watch the town’s affordable housing seminar on my computer instead of sitting in the audience at Town Hall. Had I been there in person, I might not have been able to contain myself after Robert Hickey from the Center for Housing Policy in […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 16, 2015
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/02/16/listen-up/
CHALT makes connections
After my children left home, my husband and I thought of downsizing to Hillsborough, where taxes are a little bit lower. But the historic homes were too big, the small homes in a gentrifying section of town needed too much work, and the new homes in the subdivisions north of town left us uninspired. Knowing […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 26, 2015
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/01/26/chalt-makes-connections/
The price of doing right
Art Pope tried to buy his way into the university and failed. So Pope, the Dick Cheney of the McCrory administration, took another tack: He pressed the N.C. General Assembly, which has appointed several Republican cronies to the UNC System Board of Governors, to push out the system president, a man revered for his integrity, […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 19, 2015
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/01/19/the-price-of-doing-right/
New Year’s resolutions
My family won’t let me forget the time I passed up a chance to go to the movies so I could observe a Planning Commission meeting instead. Truth be told, the board meeting held greater promise of drama. But I got the message, and one of my New Year’s resolutions is to not put town […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 5, 2015
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/01/05/new-years-resolutions/
Urban renewal
Don heard that a store in Burlington sold Cheerwine with real sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup, and always one to encourage a healthy lifestyle, I went with him to search. I’d never been to Burlington beyond the outlet stores that used to flourish off the interstate until Tanger Mall lured them away. As we drove […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 15, 2014
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/12/15/urban-renewal/
Breaking inauspicious
You know how you approached the start of every episode of “Breaking Bad” with the feeling that something was going to happen that you didn’t want to know about, but you watched it anyway? I get that feeling lately when I turn on the TV to watch a Town Council meeting. “Breaking Bad,” said to […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 16, 2014
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/06/16/breaking-inauspicious/
Snow day
“Work from home,” Gov. Pat McCrory told North Carolinians, in a well-meaning entreaty to keep people from traveling on icy roads last week. And the governor and I did work from home, and maybe you did, too. But what about the people who work at grocery stores or fast-food places or who rely on tips […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 17, 2014
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/02/17/snow-day/
6,200 and counting
Some town leaders have had it with this hick town and want to take Chapel Hill to the next level of cityhood. Town Council approved the redevelopment of Central West. Obey Creek is on track to sail through intact as the developer wants it. And council is poised to allow developers carte blanche in the […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 10, 2014
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/02/10/6200-and-counting/
A roster with ballast
“Fling … ends” read the headline in a local newspaper over a story about candidates running for office. And as I read through the profiles of the final candidates to file for Town Council – Loren Hintz, Jonathan Riehl, Amy Ryan and D.C. Swinton – and the school board – Andrew Davidson and Ignacio Tzoumas […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 22, 2013
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2013/07/22/a-roster-with-ballast/