Yo Chapel Hill and Carrboro: there’s a LOT going on this week, civics-wise. Let’s take a look at what’s on the docket. Monday Parks, Greenways and Recreation Commissions special meeting Our parks and rec friends are holding a special meeting to discuss the Splash Pad and Inclusive Playground Feasbility Analysis and Report Project. We’re major …
Imagine your town council proposes a 20+ acre new park and also much needed missing middle housing for municipal workers in your community. Oh yeah, and also some shops like the ones they have next to that amazing downtown park in Blowing Rock, NC. And, get this, the new park will be within easy walking …
We’re getting a park on the American Legion land. Why are people fighting it? Read More »
We are dismayed that misinformation continues to spread about coal ash and the 828 MLK site in Chapel Hill. You can read our previous deep dive on this project if you’d like to know more about what’s happened so far, what the town has decided, and why the counterarguments circulating about the redevelopment don’t stand …
Update on coal ash: There’s a lot of misinformation circulating Read More »
It’s the start of the Town Council cycle for Chapel Hill and Carrboro, which means we’re once again planning to keep you informed about issues involving civic life in both of our towns. We also have opinions about what the Town Councils should tackle this term. Here are five ideas we plan to track: Connecting …
Five things we want to see Town Councils tackle this term Read More »
Yesterday, NEXT Chapel Hill-Carrboro launched a campaign to ask the Town of Chapel Hill to extend the Libba Cotten Bikeway, which runs along a rail line between Chapel Hill and Carrboro, to UNC’s campus along Cameron Avenue. (Full disclosure: I am a member of NEXT, and pitched the idea of focusing on this issue). More …
Three Reasons to Extend the Libba Cotten Bikeway to UNC (And Three Ways You Can Help) Read More »
It’s Town Council season again, which means our fact-checking fingers are limbering up for a workout. In a preview of things to come, Chapel Hill Town Council member Adam Searing sent out a Saturday night newsletter entitled “Controversial town topics on tap.” We’ve previously written about Searing’s claims that Chapel Hill was last in our …
Factchecking Adam Searing’s newsletter ‘Controversial town topics’ Read More »
They’re back! After a long summer off, Chapel Hill Town Council is back in session, so we’re going to resume our weekly report of local government meetings. In other exciting news, with the end of the governor’s COVID-19 meeting, the governing boards will be meeting in person, though there will still be an option to …
This week, Jennifer Keesmaat and her team come back to Chapel Hill for another discussion about complete communities. At the previous meeting in August, she discussed her solution to Chapel Hill’s problems—greenways!—and suggested that she was interested in crowdsourcing where Chapel Hill might expand its greenway network. Of course, this is Chapel Hill, which means …
Chapel Hill’s Greenways: What’s next and what could be Read More »
If there were a soap opera about Chapel Hill, it would be called As the World Burns and the lead villain would be the Community Design Commission (CDC). Soap opera villains tend to be rich and powerful and will take any steps to protect their oil wealth or media empire. The CDC may not have …
Ugly and Unacceptable: An Evening with the Chapel Hill Community Design Commission Read More »
Greenways. That’s the answer to Chapel Hill’s problems, according to Jennifer Keesmaat, who is heading the Complete Communities project for the Town of Chapel Hill. In a 45-minute (or so) presentation on Thursday, August 18, Keesmaat and her team, with Rod Steven pinch hitting during the Q&A, presented an update on the Complete Communities process …
Eat Pray Love Greenway: An update on the Complete Communities process Read More »
