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(04/25/08 4:00am)
Chapel Hill residents have lost several longtime businesses this year as new ones pop up to replace them.
But the new businesses might be moving in a different direction than residents are used to.
Toots and Magoo, an antiques and paper goods store, opened Tuesday at 142 E. Franklin St. It's scheduled a grand opening May 5.
The Crunkleton, a bar, furniture showroom and art gallery, is slated to open at 320 W. Franklin St. at the beginning of May.
Buns, a hamburger restaurant, will open in the next five weeks.
And Noodles & Co., a "global noodles shop," will open in the middle of July.
"The growth patterns for downtown are going to be centered around arts, education, culture and entertainment," said Liz Parham, executive director Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership.
She said that the downtown is moving toward a niche market and that there isn't as much of a need for an all-purpose downtown anymore.
"If you look at East Franklin from 20 to 30 years ago, it definitely had traditional businesses like hardware and clothing stores," Parham said.
But she said malls and chain stores have taken away the need for independent stores of that type in a downtown.
The Crunkleton owner Gary Crunkleton said he hopes to attract graduate students, young professionals and neighborhood locals.
"We're hoping it will be the place where Harry met Sally," he said.
But some say chain restaurants such as Cluck U Chicken and Noodles & Co. change the face of Franklin Street.
Noodles & Co. regional marketing manager Patrick Noone said the Raleigh-Durham area is a "no-brainer" market for his company.
"We opened our first East Coast market six or seven years ago in D.C., so it was only a matter of time," he said.
He said Noodles & Co., which has locations in 16 states, is an active member of each community.
But Carrboro resident and former Chapel Hill business owner Musa Firat said chain businesses are bad for Chapel Hill and the country in general.
"Big companies are putting small businesses out of business," he said. "It will monopolize power in the hands of a few people."
Firat, who sold Aladdin's Bar last year, said it is hard for small businesses to survive because of the high rent and the unhelpful business environment of Chapel Hill.
He said one big problem is the lack of parking on Franklin Street.
But Parham said businesses that closed in downtown Chapel Hill all closed for different reasons.
"Schoolkids (Records) closed because the industry has shifted and changed," she said. "People rarely buy CDs anymore."
She said The Rathskeller, although it was comparable to Top of the Hill in its heyday, suffered from competition with the 85 restaurants now downtown.
"Downtown's not stagnant either," she said.
"A downtown is an ever-evolving environment that always wants to have new businesses opening up."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(04/25/08 4:00am)
The rain didn't miss just Chapel Hill and Carrboro last fall.
In response to an ongoing drought, towns across the state have had to evaluate and implement water conservation measures to control what is ultimately decided by nature: water availability.
Durham Water Management Deputy Director Vicki Westbrook said the city has struggled to make water restrictions clear.
"Because we're in such a media market, we have bleed-over from Raleigh and Cary," she said. "Even when we all say hand-held watering is allowed, what we mean may be different from place to place."
Westbrook said Durham will work with other utilities to develop a common language for conservation.
The city of Durham has 358 days of water left, and according to the U.S. Drought monitor of North Carolina, is still in a severe drought.
At its lowest point in December, the city had only 39 days of easily accessible water left.
Chatham County has more than 400 days of water left even if it doesn't rain again, said David Hughes, Chatham County's public works director. But the drought monitor shows that it, too, is in a severe drought.
Chatham is now in year-round conservation, the least severe level of water restriction.
"It would be almost impossible for Chatham to run out of water," Hughes said. "Right now we're averaging about 1.5 million gallons a year."
Jordan Lake, Chatham's water source, was never less than 90 percent full, he said.
"If you look at the whole of it, Jordan Lake was in significantly better condition, so we were never in any real risk of running out of water," he said.
Durham uses about 22.6 million gallons per day and is still in Stage 3 water restrictions.
But Chatham's restrictions weren't always so lax. The county was in Stage 3 restrictions from September to January, Hughes said.
Although the situation was never as dire as it was in Durham, Hughes said Chatham was proactive in its conservation.
Chatham was one of the first counties to enact water restrictions, starting conservation measures in April 2007, he said.
Under a water conservation ordinance, Durham is always in Stage 1 restrictions, which is a suggestion of "best practices."
But the city didn't move up to Stage 2 voluntary restrictions until August.
Durham has learned from this drought, Westbrook said.
"We have established specific triggers regarding lake capacities and days of supply to move from stage to stage," she said.
Westbrook said that despite some confusion about Raleigh's specific rules, customer conservation was terrific.
"Reduction after restriction was 30 to 35 percent, which was really good," she said.
She also said that there was a 20 percent decrease in usage from April 2007 to April 2008.
According to the U.S. seasonal drought outlook, the N.C. drought won't end soon, but it will become less severe.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(04/21/08 4:00am)
Fifty years ago, the biography section of the Chapel Hill Public Library was in someone's bathroom.
The town's first public library opened in 1958 at 115 W. Franklin St., on the ground floor of a white house. The tenants lived upstairs.
Jane Dyer, who started volunteering at the library in 1959 as an eighth-grader, remembered marking the biographies with a metal stylus - an old-fashioned device used to label books.
"I don't know if any of the biographies here now are still labeled by me," she said.
Five Chapel Hill residents with close ties to the library told stories about it at a 50th anniversary panel discussion Sunday.
The town's library has been constantly evolving since its start. Before the library existed, adults were served by UNC's libraries and children had the Mary Bayley Pratt Children's Library, which was established in the Chapel of the Cross church on Franklin Street in 1929.
The Chapel Hill Public Library was formed at the recommendation of the Community Council, a group of more than 60 local organizations concerned about the town's lack of a library.
In 1967 the library moved to 523 E. Franklin St. In 1994, it moved to 100 Library Drive, where it is now.
Audience and board members fondly remembered the Bookmobile, a vehicle that came by neighborhoods at scheduled times so that kids could check out books without going to the library.
"The man who ran it had such an outgoing personality," said Fred Black, former chairman of the library's board of trustees.
"He was sort of like a Pied Piper for the kids."
Black said the Bookmobile eventually had too few customers and was too expensive to continue operating.
When on Franklin Street, the library was a downtown favorite for kids and adults.
"I have the fondest memories of the little white house," said Anne Scott, who's lived in Chapel Hill since 1958.
"My kid finally told Betty Geer (the library's second librarian), 'I've read every book in the library, Mrs. Geer, you've gotta get some more!'"
Molly Cameron, who began working at the library in 1967, said adults would come into the first library building, thrilled to find children's books that they'd read in their youths.
Board members reminisced about the transition from the East Franklin Street building to the library's new location, remembering the $3 million proposal referendum that was voted down in 1990.
Ken Broun, Chapel Hill mayor from 1991 to 1995, said his anger over the failed bond was what got him interested in running for mayor. He was chairman of the bond committee when the referendum failed.
Broun helped dedicate the new library.
"I seem to remember trumpets," he said. "I remember being impressed - I told the town manager, 'Cal (Horton), let's open all the Town Council meetings this way!'"
The library is under transition even now. In 2003, Chapel Hill voters approved a $16.3 million dollar bond for improvements to the library.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(04/16/08 4:00am)
It's not that there are no parking spaces in downtown Carrboro; it's just that drivers aren't looking hard enough.
That was one part of the parking study findings by graduate students at the UNC Department of City and Regional Planning, which was presented to the Carrboro Board of Aldermen on Tuesday.
The students found that at peak hours in the most crowded part of Carrboro, while some parking lots were full to capacity, there were often open spots a three-minute walk away.
(03/28/08 4:00am)
Customers will still have to pay high water rates, despite rising reservoir levels.
The Orange Water and Sewer Authority Board of Directors decided Thursday to defer a decision to lower water rates until they have billing information for Stage 3.
The board wants to know how severely the increased rates affect customers before lessening restrictions.
At its Feb. 28 meeting when the board implemented Stage 3 water restrictions, OWASA staff recommended the board consider moving back to Stage 2 if reservoir levels reached 60 percent by April 1.
Since then, reservoirs have gained 700 million gallons of water and are near 60 percent full, said OWASA Planning Director Ed Holland.
Conservation also has increased.
"We've actually exceeded the conservation goal for March, which is unprecedented," he said.
"People are doing a commendable and responsive job of using less water."
Still, the area isn't out of danger yet.
"This is good news, but the bad news is that reservoirs are lower today than they've ever been at this time in previous years," he said.
Stage 3 restrictions have financially affected businesses and could affect athlete safety, officials said.
"I would urge the board to ease the water restrictions from Stage 3 to Stage 2," said Doug Chapman, co-chairman of the N.C. Green Industry Council's legislative committee.
Chapman said many small gardening businesses earn most of their annual revenue between March 1 and June 15.
Carolyn Elfland, UNC's associate vice chancellor for Campus Services, recommended the board seriously look into using Jordan Lake as a water source. She also asked the board to allow UNC to import water from neighboring towns to irrigate athletic fields.
"The fields have to be watered at specific intervals, or they literally get as hard as concrete and pose a real danger for the athletes," she said.
OWASA will consider moving to Stage 2 restrictions if reservoir levels are at 65 percent by May 1.
The board agreed to reconvene as soon as it had more telling information on the impact of Stage 3.
Contact the City Desk Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(03/26/08 4:00am)
Some residents are worried a zoning change will disrupt the character and history of the area they live in.
A lot at 102 Center St. could be the first area in the town to be classified as an area of conditional zoning if approved in May.
Currently conditional zoning does not exist. But comments from Board of Aldermen and Carrboro residents at a public hearing Tuesday made it clear that a medium between commercial and residential zoning needed to be created.
Residential zoning for 102 Center St. doesn't meet the financial needs of the owners, and unlimited commercial zoning would not work in a residential neighborhood, they said.
So conditional zoning is a middle ground, allowing business but limiting it.
The problem arose from a rezoning request from the owners of 102 Center St. for B-2 zoning, which is "fringe commercial."
B-2 zoning is for areas that were formerly residential but now might be more desirable for commercial use because of high traffic and proximity to other commercial areas.
102 Center St. is currently zoned as completely residential.
Jane Hamborsky, who owns the property with five other people, said her main concern was that the house not get torn down. But she said she could not afford the mortgage without allowing commercial use.
"All of us kind of feel that this is one step - looking at a new zoning to make it compatible," she said. "B-2 allows it to happen."
Their request for business zoning was rejected because the aldermen were worried about setting a precedent.
But Hamborsky said that under conditional zoning, they're thinking of adding a hair salon called Curl Up and Dye, or a photography studio.
Jeff Herrick, who lives at 109 Center St., said he and his wife worried that allowing 102 Center St. to be rezoned as B-2 may affect the rest of the street.
"What B-2 allows is to have a restaurant or a bar that's open late or outdoor seating," he said. "Once you have that domino effect on Center Street, what's going to happen in four or five years?"
Michelle Rivest lives at 100 Oak St., one street west of Center Street, and she agreed with Herrick that B-2 zoning would not work for the area.
She said homes on her street have been lost to commercial use because of a lack of protection.
"We've got a lot of valuable historic residential homes," she said. "Once you lose them, once you go commercial, you can't get this back."
Carrboro Alderman Jacquie Gist said that B-2 was too broad in its possible uses.
"I like the planning board's idea of finding a way to very much limit what this can be used for," she said.
The Board considered several options, including putting a moratorium on B-2 development while they reworked the zoning to make it more specific. But they ultimately decided to proceed with conditional zoning.
Under conditional zoning, an area can be rezoned without applying for a conditional use permit.
But Carrboro's zoning ordinance will have to be amended so that it allows for conditional zoning.
"We've never done this before, so I don't know how long it would take," Carrboro town attorney Michael Brough said.
The board requested staff submit a proposal to amend the ordinance to include conditional zoning.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(03/24/08 4:00am)
Along with school assignments, some Chapel Hill and Carrboro children can now carry home food in their backpacks.
Volunteers with Table, a new nonprofit organization in Carrboro, give children backpacks - not plastic bags, which lack privacy - filled with food to take home with them Thursday, and the children return the backpacks Monday.
"Teachers talk about kids coming in from the weekend, not having had much to eat," said Kathy Herington, a UNC junior who is on the board of directors.
"By targeting children, we're actually giving them the tools they need to work to improve their future."
Table had its first distribution Feb. 29. The organization gave backpacks to seven children at El Centro Latino, another nonprofit in Carrboro, as part of an eight-week pilot program.
Table Executive Director Joy MacVane said the organization grew out of a relationship between her and the UNC students who walk by her house daily.
MacVane lives in downtown Chapel Hill and said she used to put out cookies or hot chocolate for students who walked by her house on their way to campus. One day she put out a sign inviting anyone to help her bake a cake for a local homeless shelter.
Herington was one of the 11 students who came. She helped form Table last semester.
MacVane said that when she began to talk with UNC students about Table, some said there are already plenty of food resources within the community.
But she realized that children don't have control over whether their parents take advantage of available resources.
"A program that targets children really benefits the whole family," Herington said.
Chris Moran, executive director of the Inter-Faith Council for Social Services, said Table also benefits the student volunteers.
"This particular program is very different from most nonprofits because it's focusing on how to help students focus on areas of service that they might want to consider," he said.
The organization has 25 active volunteers.
"More and more, I'm seeing Table as a community organization that has student volunteers but also students focusing as leaders of the organization," MacVane said.
Table had its first fundraiser, a bar night at The Library, on Tuesday.
Junior Katie Lefevre, who planned the event, heard about Table through the Campus Y listserv.
"I've been looking for ways to help out because there's so much poverty and need right outside of our area, and I like kids," she said.
"It seemed like the perfect way to combine my interests."
Table is gearing up for a much larger food distribution in the fall. MacVane said one of its goals is to find other ways to provide food for children.
"It reinforces for me my sense that food is more than just a source of nutrition; it can also be a source of connection between people," she said.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(03/19/08 4:00am)
The Carrboro Board of Aldermen heard plans outlining far-reaching water conservation goals at Tuesday's meeting.
Carrboro Environmental Planner Randy Dodd spoke on behalf of an inter-local work group formed in August 2006 to develop a consensus on water conservation practices and presented an overview of the group's recommendations.
The group suggested that the Orange Water and Sewer Authority consider financial incentives, such as rebates and discounts, to encourage water conservation practices.
"We see conservation as the cornerstone of our sustainable water management strategy of the future," Pat Davis, OWASA utility manager generalist, said during the presentation.
The group also recommended that OWASA adopt water efficiency standards and requirements as a condition of OWASA service for residences or businesses. The group also suggested that homes be retrofitted to require the installation of state-of-the-art water saving fixtures before sale.
Alderman Joal Hall Broun said she was concerned that a retrofit would penalize the wrong people.
"I'm not interested in making my neighbor conserve if my other neighbor is irrigating his lawn," she said.
Alderman Jacquie Gist suggested that new developments should be responsible for enforcing Stage 3 water restrictions on their residents.
"Water is a public good that is owned and needed by all of us, and it comes under pressure as we experience growth," she said.
The board also heard from community and University representatives who spoke out against pork producer Smithfield Foods.
The matter was not on the agenda for Tuesday's meeting, but residents asked the board to sign a resolution condemning Smithfield's practices.
"Smithfield is on record as a lawbreaker for using threats and intimidation to prevent workers from organizing," said Libby Manly, the campaign's community organizer.
Smithfield Foods, which has a factory in Tar Heel, North Carolina, is the largest pork producer in the world.
Resident Anna Blackshaw listed several accidents which led to the injuries and deaths of Smithfield employees, and instances of verbal and physical abuse.
UNC sophomore Jordan Treakle and senior Joseph Marra listed some of the environmental crimes the company has committed.
"Smithfield has used so much water that a depression has formed under its Tar Heel factory," Marra said.
Alderman Dan Coleman asked the representatives to give the board time to "make the resolution its own," but noted that Smithfield's "heinous" practices were nothing new. He also suggested the board refrain from consuming Smithfield products.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(03/17/08 4:00am)
Increased water rates go into effect today, despite second thoughts after recent rain raised area reservoir levels from 40 percent to 57 percent.
"The rain is very welcome, but you have to understand that having our lakes 57 percent full at this time of year is unprecedented," said Greg Feller, spokesman for the Orange Water and Sewer Authority. "Normally in early spring, our lakes are full."
OWASA customers could see as much as a 25 percent increase in their water bills this month, but local businesses already are feeling the effects of restrictions put on water use.
(02/29/08 5:00am)
CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, the cutline with the photo for Friday's front-page story "Water rates increasing," had an incorrect date. Carrboro's University Lake was pictured in January in the photo. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for error.
Chapel Hill and Carrboro residents can say goodbye to swimming pools, car washes and sprinklers.
Stage 3 water shortage restrictions will go into effect Saturday, and corresponding water rate increases will start March 17.
(02/28/08 5:00am)
The Orange Water and Sewer Authority's decision tonight regarding Stage 3 water restrictions tonight could significantly increase the water bills residents and businesses receive.
Under Stage 3, non-individually metered OWASA customers, mostly businesses, would have to pay a peak seasonal rate for water, plus 25 percent of their specific usage.
(02/25/08 5:00am)
Chapel Hill resident Bob Buysse and his wife stopped irrigating their lawn last fall. They wanted to avoid their neighbors' ire.
"Your neighbors will shame you if they see your green lawn," Buysse said. "We don't want to have our neighbors looking cross-eyed at us."
Even though conservation tactics still haven't caught everyone's attention, authorities have yet to turn off anyone's water, the most severe punishment for violations.
Police and the Orange Water and Sewer Authority said first-time violators still are given the benefit of the doubt.
OWASA Sustainability Administrator Paula Thomas said that police are usually successful in communicating the restrictions to violators and that OWASA doesn't contact the violators if the police have already talked to them.
"More times than not, the police force are very successful at getting compliance," Thomas said.
Water violations can be reported to police, but the vast majority are reported directly to OWASA. More than 300 violations have been reported to OWASA since stage 2 restrictions went into effect Nov. 1.
Since May 2007, the Chapel Hill Police Department has responded to about six reported incidences of water-use violations, including at East Chapel Hill High School and a hotel on Erwin Road, police spokesman Lt. Kevin Gunter said.
"In both cases, there were sprinklers just left on," Gunter said.
Carrboro police Capt. Joel Booker said he doesn't think the Carrboro police have responded to any violations.
When violations are reported, police tell offenders about the rules they have broken.
"Generally what we do is try to educate the violator," Booker said. "We're not trying to catch people in violation so much as trying to make sure everybody knows the limited resources we have."
Repeat offenders are warned by the town. On the third offense, OWASA can turn off their water, which Thomas said has not yet happened during this drought.
If OWASA decides Thursday to implement stage 3 restrictions, Thomas said that enforcement tactics might change and increase but that she doesn't think OWASA would change its punishment for first-time violators.
"As the drought continues, it will be more and more important to conserve," she said. "Our move is going to be much more vigilant with enforcement."
The situation is different in neighboring areas. The fine for first-time violations in Raleigh is $1,000.
The response this year also differs from enforcement during the 2002 drought, when first-time violators faced a $25 fine, Booker said.
While police help with enforcement, it's often a challenge, Booker said, because officers aren't as familiar with water violation enforcement as they are with more common violations.
"It's kind of new territory for us," he said. "It's not the kind of thing we do daily like we do for traffic law."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(02/21/08 5:00am)
A week from today, the Orange Water and Sewer Authority Board of Directors will meet to decide whether to implement Stage 3 water shortage restrictions in response to severe drought.
Although OWASA has encouraged conservation and residents of Chapel Hill and Carrboro have somewhat responded, conservation efforts have not yet met the Stage 2 goal of a 15 percent reduction in water usage. Stage 3 aims to reduce usage by 20 percent.
OWASA has encouraged conservation since long before the drought, said Greg Feller, the authority's public affairs representative.
He said seasonal water conservation rates went into effect for all OWASA customers in 2002. Those rates discourage water consumption by increasing water prices during the peak usage time between May and September.
In October, OWASA adopted increasing block rates for individually metered homes, a more severe conservation measure in which water rates go up as usage increases year-round.
"We inverted the price structure so that the more water you buy, the more expensive it becomes," Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy said. "Our conservation is not just a response to the drought."
Foy said Chapel Hill took a proactive approach after 2002, when Cane Creek Reservoir water levels fell below full for the first spring since it was filled in 1989.
But the conservation efforts may not be enough without more drastic restrictions.
In a presentation to the Community Leadership Council, Sydney Miller, Triangle J Council of Governments water resources planning manager, predicted the drought won't end soon.
"If, over the next three-month period, we had 13 to 16 inches of rain, it would not end the drought, but it would ameliorate it," Miller said, adding there is only a 15 to 20 percent chance of that happening.
OWASA Executive Director Ed Kerwin said Cane Creek Reservoir, OWASA's primary water source, got 28.22 inches of rainfall in 2007. Since 1991, it's received 43.51 inches per year on average.
"It's typical that reservoirs are drawn down in summer and fall, and they fill up in winter," Kerwin said. "What's alarming is that they aren't refilling."
Foy said conservation efforts will probably increase as the drought continues.
"It takes a while for a community to become aware of something as insidious as a drought," he said.
Kerwin said water usage, while lower in December, increased in January before decreasing as of Feb. 1.
Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton said Carrboro residents are doing what they can to conserve.
"I think people understand it's a serious situation we're facing, and lots of people in Carrboro are trying to implement conservation measures in their homes, which I think is really good," Chilton said.
But he said that OWASA is most effective at enforcing conservation and that they should vote to move into Stage 3 restrictions.
He said the reservoirs aren't filling up at a rate that allows for optimism, and more serious conservation should start now rather than later.
"I think Stage 3 is what needs to happen - it's not raining nearly enough."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(02/20/08 5:00am)
The Community Leadership Council announced dates to visit Ann Arbor, Mich., on Tuesday.
The trip, part of the CLC's Inter-City Visit initiative, is meant to compare Chapel Hill and Carrboro to another college town.
About 100 people will visit Ann Arbor, where the University of Michigan is located, Sept. 14-16 to examine social services and homelessness in the town, as well as other common issues college towns face.
The CLC made a similar trip in 2006 to Madison, Wisc., to visit the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
"The Chamber of Commerce (in Ann Arbor) is about as excited as anyone I've ever talked to on the phone," said Aaron Nelson, president and CEO of Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce.
"He's already talking about coming to visit us in 2009."
Nelson and several other CLC members, including Downtown Partnership Executive Director Liz Parham, will make an advance trip to Ann Arbor in March.
No price has been set for the trip yet.
Nelson invited CLC members to join the trip planning committee and said the Council is looking into "greening sponsors" to offset the carbon emission of the trip.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(02/13/08 5:00am)
The Carrboro downtown parking study is well underway.
Members of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen discussed downtown parking and the Northern Study Area Plan at a work session Tuesday night.
Adena Messinger, Carrboro's transportation planner, told the board members that supply counts for downtown parking may be complete, and students are continuing work on the demand counts.
The students divided downtown Carrboro into different zones for the demand counts and tried to figure out what the peak hours were for the parking lots available.
"It seems to be going pretty smoothly," Messinger said.
Board member Jacquie Gist said she has received e-mails from downtown business owners proposing that the students incorporate proposed and new developments into the study.
Mayor Mark Chilton said most of the parking in Carrboro needs to remain free, but Alderman Dan Coleman said he disagrees.
"We have fairly limited on-street parking, and if we were able to have on-street parking with meters, I don't know that it would not be a good part of a mix that would include longer free parking," he said.
Chilton said he hoped the board would continue to focus not only on downtown parking but on public transit availability and walking and biking routes to get into town.
"I hope that we will continue to focus not merely on parking but multimodal strategy that we'd develop as a community," he said.
Alderman Randee Haven-O'Donnell suggested surveying downtown business employers about the possibility of a van pool from a location like Carrboro Plaza.
The board also discussed the recommendation from the Northern Study Area Plan Implementation Review Committee. The committee, which formed March 6, 2007, held two public forums before formulating their recommendations for the undeveloped part of Carrboro on Dec. 11.
Planning administrator Trish McGuire presented an overview of the 13 recommendations, which included rezoning for new commercial or mixed-village use, recommending a form-based code for zoning and reviewing the current plan every three years.
Members of the board expressed concern about the possibility of over-developing the northern region of Carrboro.
Chilton suggested setting aside a portion of land of the Northern Study Area not to be zoned for a period of years.
"Ten to 15 years from now, the folks on the board will be able to say, 'Hey, there's still some land,'" he said.
Alderman Joal Hall Broun said she was concerned about the accessibility of the possible developments with other areas of Carrboro.
"There seems to me to be no particular indication of connectivity as to neighborhoods with existing neighborhoods," she said.
Members of the board agreed to discuss three aspects of the recommendations in separate meetings within the next six months: zoning, environmental concerns and transportation and connectivity.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu
(02/11/08 5:00am)
Some small children sang clearly, others had wobbly voices, and some just stood on the stage, looking for their parents in the audience.
The 4-year-olds sang in the Spring Festival Performance at Chapel Hill High School on Saturday. Members of the local Chinese community came together to celebrate the year of the Rat with singing, dancing, music and a Chinese-language jeopardy game.
Conghe Song's daughter, Victoria Song, performed in an umbrella dance.
"Chinese New Year is a part of our culture," he said. "We are first-generation immigrants, so the culture is deeply rooted. We feel that she should know about where she comes from."
The performance was presented by the Chinese School at Chapel Hill, which started in 1993. More than 300 students are enrolled in the Saturday classes.
Outreach Specialist Weihua Xie said Chapel Hill has a 12-percent-Asian population, mostly Chinese, but Chinese language courses are not offered in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School district past middle school.
"We try to let them have a chance to study language, culture, heritage," Xie said. "It's an opportunity to perform what they've learned all year."
The day was clearly about community. Parents stood on stage to fix hair, wipe away smudged makeup and make sure the youngest children didn't get lost. During every performance, dads kneeled at the foot of the stage, recording their children's performances with video and digital cameras.
The 7- to 8-year-olds danced to a Chinese folk song about the New Year. With grace and control, they moved as one to the slow music.
Claire Yin, a third-grader at Glenwood Elementary School who performed in the fan dance, has been dancing for three years.
"I like to dance because you feel really free, and you just dance everywhere," she said.
Laura Zhou, a sophomore in high school and master of ceremonies, has been going to Chinese school since she was five.
"My favorite part of the New Year is getting together with friends and then eating a lot of good food," Zhou said. "It's a really good cultural experience. We shouldn't forget our heritage."
On New Year's Eve, parents and grandparents in China leave hong bao, which means red envelope, with money under the pillows of the children. Xie said teachers gave students hong bao with $2 dollars inside at Chinese school Feb. 2.
Event after about 20 performances, audience members and the performers were still energetic and cheerful.
"It's a chance for people to get together and be playful and a chance for the kids to perform," Song said. "It's a community event."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(01/25/08 5:00am)
Orange County lost a colorful man Monday.
Frank Taylor Wright, a Durham resident and integral part of Chapel Hill, died of breathing complications at UNC Hospitals Monday evening. He was 90 years old.
Wright was known for his bright and impeccably coordinated suits, which he showed off six days a week on Franklin Street.
"That was his profession," said Larry Edwards Jr., Wright's grandson.
Wright lived with Edwards and his wife for the past 13 years. "I'm 50, and for as long as I remember, he's been dressing up."
Edwards said that every day except Sunday, Wright woke up at 5 a.m., dressed in a suit with a matching hat, shirt and umbrella, and went to catch the 7 a.m. bus to Chapel Hill, returning at about 3 p.m.
He often caught a ride with Laura Moran, his next-door neighbor of seven years.
"I'll miss him ringing my doorbell four times a day to catch a ride to the bus stop," Moran said.
Wright was born in Orange County in 1917 and spent most of his life between Chapel Hill and Hillsborough. He worked in Lenoir Dining Hall and 20 years for the town of Fayetteville.
"He always dressed up, but he didn't know that people noticed," Edwards said.
Local artist Artie Dixon did a photo essay on Wright in 2000.
She said Wright told her, "I have to believe people were born for something, and I was born to dress."
Wright was very popular in Chapel Hill.
"He would get rides home from Chapel Hill all the time," Lisa Moran, Laura Moran's sister, said. "People loved to help him."
Edwards said that Wright loved having his picture taken and that he had an effect on the young people of Chapel Hill.
"They would sit there and talk to him and they were amazed at how much he knew about Chapel Hill and about life in general," he said.
"They were also amazed that at 90 years old, he would dress up every day."
"He really enjoyed struttin' his stuff," said Sheri Edwards, Wright's daughter-in-law. "He said that if he didn't get up and dress up every day, no matter how he felt, he would probably die."
Larry Edwards estimated Wright owned 150 suits.
"About two months ago, I told him, 'If you buy one more suit, I'll put you out,'" he said.
Sherril Koroluk, who works for the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill, remembered the first time she saw Wright.
"It was Valentine's Day 1999," she said. "He was walking down Highway 54, wearing all black with a red tie, red boots and a red umbrella, and I just thought he looked so cool."
Wright's funeral will be Sunday at 10 a.m. at Jones Funeral Home.
Edwards said he'll bury his grandfather in a red suit, black shirt, red hat and a red umbrella.
"He just had a ball - that's what kept him living."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(01/23/08 5:00am)
Students looking for work experience that doesn't involve waiting tables can look to the town of Chapel Hill.
For the second year, the town will hire college interns to work in the fire, information technology and inspections departments. The internship pays $8.33 per hour, and applications are due Friday.
Chapel Hill Town Council member Bill Thorpe proposed the idea for internships after he was elected in 2005. He said employers ask students if they have work experience and a lack of that is a mark against them. While the town had internships before this, they were unpaid.
The bulk of interns have been UNC students, but Thorpe said there has been at least one from N.C. Central University.
Town council member Mark Kleinschmidt said it's important for students to reach out beyond the University. Kleinschmidt graduated from UNC as an undergraduate in 1992 and from the UNC School of Law in 2000 before being elected to the Town Council in 2001.
"Education at a university like UNC or Duke or Central is supposed to prepare for a career," Kleinschmidt said.
"Seeing how government works can give you real-world application to the kind of things you're doing in school and provide a model for the kinds of things you would be interested in in the future."
Susanna Williams, the fire department's administrative captain, was an education major in college. She said the internship exposes students to careers they hadn't considered.
"It might open up another job experience that they weren't thinking about," Williams said. "This is a long way off from being a teacher."
Each of the departments that employs interns usually hires one per semester. Since the fire department didn't have interns in the fall, it will accept two this semester.
Kleinschmidt said that the internship is unique because people interested in local issues often don't have an opportunity to work for a town.
"That's the goal of this internship, to provide students with an opportunity to work in municipal work," Kleinschmidt said.
He added that the work for interns varies greatly.
"The functions of a town government are extremely diverse," Kleinschmidt said. "It really depends upon the interests of students who are applying and where they want to fit in."
The deadline for applicants is this Friday. Aside from general personal, educational and work-related information, the application requires two references. For more information or to download an application, visit www.townofchapelhill.org.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(01/16/08 5:00am)
In an homage to one of the most famous American debates, two political figures argued impeachment Tuesday night at the Carrboro Century Center.
In the style and format of the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, Democrat Michael Tomasky and Republican Bruce Fein debated the possibility of impeaching President George W. Bush.
To a packed auditorium, Tomasky, a progressive journalist, argued against impeachment, while Fein, Ron Paul's counsel in his 2008 presidential campaign, supported impeachment.
"Tonight's debates are, in one sense, counterintuitive," moderator and UNC professor of leadership and public policy Hodding Carter III said in the introduction.
Tomasky and Fein each had 12 minutes to argue their points, 15 minutes for rebuttal and two minutes for closing arguments.
Tomasky said impeachment would be seen as revenge for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.
"What happens to our civic culture once we have three or four impeachments under our belts?" he said.
Fein said Bush should be impeached because of his manipulation on fear to claim emergency power.
Fein stressed the importance of impeaching the president so that future presidents wouldn't make the same mistakes.
"This impeachment is about preventing precedence lying around like a loaded weapon threatening to pulverize our liberty," Fein said.
The debate was sponsored by the Coalition for the Constitution.
Maggi Gilson, a British resident visiting relatives in Chapel Hill, said both sides made convincing arguments.
"What I'm looking for is a third way," she said. "Is there any way we could bring together the absolute necessity to bring this government to accountability and the implicit hopelessness of an impeachment?"
Fein particularly cited the Bush administration's use of Guantanamo Bay to hold political prisoners without charges.
"These cowboy tactics are making us less safe because we're reducing international cooperation," Fein said.
While Tomasky said he agreed with "every single word" of what Fein said about the issue, he said that with a weak Democratic majority and an aggressive Republican minority in Congress, an impeachment would inevitably fail.
"I say this without glee - politically, it's impossible right now," he said.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(11/13/07 5:00am)
Starting Friday, students and residents of Chapel Hill will be able to affect communities worldwide by shopping at the Ten Thousand Villages fair-trade store on Franklin Street in Eastgate Shopping Center.
The store, which has locations across North Carolina and the country, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to selling home decor and personal accessories made by artisans around the world at fair prices.
Ten Thousand Villages was founded in 1946 and is one of the oldest fair-trade organization in the world.
"We work with artisans who would otherwise be unemployed or under-employed," said Lisa Stratton, marketing director of Ten Thousand Villages.
Stratton said their employees agree with the artisans on a fair price, which covers materials and labor and also takes into account how much an American consumer would be willing to pay for a product.
"We have four buyers and each buyer is responsible for a region of the world," she said. "They are responsible for visiting artisan groups at least once every two years, traveling two to three months every year."
Because Ten Thousand Villages is a nonprofit organization, it relies heavily on volunteers to help run its stores.
"Each store has a manager, assistant manager and a few paid staff members, but everyone else is volunteers," Stratton said.
At Ten Thousand Villages in Austin, Texas, students contribute to the store's welfare.
"I would say 10 percent of our volunteers are college students," said Polly Monear, volunteer coordinator of Austin's store.
She named several colleges, including the University of Texas at Austin and Concordia College, that supply a student customer base.
"I think as people are going through college and learning more about the world, fair trade comes into their consciousness more," Monear said. "They become more aware of fair-trade issues and realize that the choices they make affect people around the world, and they want to make choices that really fit with their values."
Store locations in the state include Greensboro, Charlotte and Asheville.
One World Market in Durham is a wholesale customer of Ten Thousand Villages, meaning that the store buys its products but does not operate under the same name.
"I hope that it will raise awareness about fair trade and make people more conscious about their buying decisions," said Laura Wendell, executive director of One World Market.
Freshman Elizabeth Monier said she would shop and volunteer at the store. "I think college students are more aware or should be more aware of fair trade practices, and the location is strategic because they'll have lots of volunteers from the college campus."
The store's grand opening is from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.