The Fan Branch trail, at 1.6 miles long, isn’t the longest greenway in Chapel Hill, but it certainly has the most going along its path. Here is a quick inventory A community park An elementary school Several playgrounds Picnic benches and pocket parks 4 bridges A tunnel A spur trail to a middle school A […]
Posted inChapel Hill, CHALT, Housing
Who’s running an AirBnB out of the Harris Teeter parking lot?
The town’s most bizarre political marriage of convenience has risen again. In an email to Town Council Thursday, the Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill-Carrboro, joined by CHALT (!), heads of three hotel chains including the managing director of The Siena Hotel, and former mayor Rosemary Waldorf, begged the town to enforce the new short-term […]
Posted inNextDoor, CHALT
The fascism NextDoor
If you weren’t on NextDoor over the past week, you likely have a peaceful inner life and the mental fortitude necessary to handle anything life throws your way. And then there’s us. We waded into the armpit of Chapel Hill’s political milieu, hoping to find a few curious neighbors keen on discussing the history and […]
Posted inNextDoor
NextDoor, where paranoia and fear proliferate
We know NextDoor sucks — it’s like an entire room of preschoolers waking up with emergent delirium after getting routine ear tubes ?? — but it sucks slightly less if you keep the following in mind: Many of the people who pile into local housing threads coordinate their responses on a listserv together. Have you […]
Posted inBike and Walk, Bike Beat, Chapel Hill, From the archives, Things to do with kids, Transportation
Black History Month Community Bike Ride: A Recap
Earlier this week, I participated in the inaugural Black History Month Community Bike Ride. Hosted by Triangle Bike Works, the 5-mile ride was led by founder Kevin Hicks and assisted by Next Chapel Hill-Carrboro and local cycling advocacy groups, including RecycleRy, the Carrboro Bicycle Coalition and the Bicycle Alliance of Chapel Hill. Civil rights historian […]
Posted inHousing, Carrboro, Chapel Hill
Teardowns are coming, but what comes next?
One of the principal fears gripping the imaginations of opponents to Chapel Hill’s housing proposal is that it will unleash a wave of teardowns of existing homes, replacing them with more expensive duplexes and triplexes. As we’ve noted, this fear is overblown because it has occurred in literally none of the communities where new housing […]