52 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(03/31/08 4:00am)
On Friday nights Marc Roth uses a 2,000-square-foot meeting space in his organization's 12,000-square-foot community center for what he calls "Friday Night Live," an evening of karaoke, Nintendo Wii, air hockey and more for the developmentally disabled and their families.
But on other days, some of those same developmentally disabled people are hard at work helping clean and set up for a variety of organizations that rent out the meeting space.
Roth, co-founder of local nonprofit Extraordinary Ventures Inc., is trying to turn the normal pattern of philanthropy on its head.
The Extraordinary Ventures mission is twofold, Roth said. He hopes to better the lives of the developmentally disabled but also help them find ways to give back to their community.
"What we're realizing is that people with developmental disabilities can provide incredible services to the community," he said. "This is unique, a nonprofit where the community is benefitting."
Extraordinary Ventures also leases office space in the community center to other nonprofits and service providers such as the music therapist who currently works there.
Joey Kessler, 23, is an employee of Extraordinary Ventures with a developmental disability.
Kessler said he enjoys basketball the most on Friday nights when he's not too busy with work to play. When the members leave at the end of the night, he will put equipment away and vacuum.
Tony Beauchaine is a Michigan native who came to Carrboro with his father when he was in his teens. Friday was Beauchine's first time at the recreational night.
"I'm just trying to fit in, enjoy myself," he said.
Christine Denny, a former special education teacher who works closely with Roth, said the recreational night provides members with an opportunity to relax and do whatever they enjoy most.
"We're allowing them to have a hangout place, a community base," she said. "I think that's the unique part of this, the independence that they experience."
Roth's goal is for the community center to sustain itself on the income generated by office and meeting space leases in the next three years.
The meeting space has been rented by a variety of groups, ranging from local boy scouts to churches to organizers of New Year's Eve parties.
"Everybody wants to rent space here because every dollar they spend here goes right back to serving people with disabilities," he said.
Roth said the meeting space generates $4,000 to $5,000 a month.
Extraordinary Ventures is closely integrated with its community. All of the equipment - the basketball hoops, the arts and crafts supplies - was donated by the community.
And students of engineering at Duke and UNC also are developing a golf club that can be used by people in wheelchairs.
"We're working with the creative forces," Roth said.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(03/24/08 4:00am)
For Mark Zimmerman, vice president of the Chapel Hill Board of Realtors, and other realtors at a Thursday forum on the land transfer tax referendum, the atmosphere was particularly hostile.
"We're facing a ruthless opposition," Orange County Commissioner Mike Nelson said, referring to those opposing the tax.
Zimmerman, dressed in his typical bow tie and blazer, said in his presentation that a land transfer tax is also a sales tax, albeit on property, that unfairly targets a specific proportion of the population.
The tax could place a 0.4 percent tax on eligible property transactions if it passes on the May 6 ballot.
Zimmerman said that according to his calculations, a sales tax would cost $5 a year per resident.
One audience member pointed out that a realtor's 6 percent commission is much higher than the 0.4 percent land transfer tax.
Seven Orange County Democratic precincts sponsored the event, which brought together Kara Millonzi, professor in the UNC School of Government, N.C. Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange, Nelson and Zimmerman.
Millonzi explained the technical aspects of the tax.
She said that although the commissioners passed a resolution of intent to spend funds generated by the tax on schools and parks, they have no power to bind future boards to do the same.
Kinnaird and Nelson encouraged residents to consider the county's need to improve and expand its educational system.
"We have great needs for schools, and that's why people have been urging us to try and find a solution for this," Kinnaird said. "A sales tax is a regressive tax. We need to be fair and equitable."
Many audience members shared a common concern. "I want my kids to have great schools," Orange County resident Desiree Goldman said.
If the referendum does not pass, Nelson said the board might have to find funds by raising property taxes.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(03/18/08 4:00am)
Thanks to seven 10- to 13-year-old boys, the Chapel Hill police department is taking steps to maximize its energy efficiency.
Maintenance staff now are implementing some of the boys' recommendations, made after a November audit.
Eleven-year-old Marlow Durbin was responsible for investigating the heating, ventilation and air conditioning of the Chapel Hill police station.
"The actual audit took around three hours, but the preparation lasted for weeks," he said.
"We wanted to pick a building that was doable, but we wanted it to be pretty significant, so the police station is a large building, but it's not huge."
Some of Marlow's recommendations are being put in place. According to his presentation, properly sealed duct work can reduce energy costs by 4 percent to 9 percent annually.
The boys examined lighting, the building's exterior, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, major appliances, electronic devices and alternative energy options.
The audit was part of a "Solving the Power Puzzle" competition sponsored by the FIRST Lego League, a collaboration between Lego Systems, Inc., and U.S. FIRST- the Foundation for the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.
The scope of suggested improvements varied from installing motion light sensors to installing a "green roof," which involves covering the roof with vegetation and soil.
Although some of the boys' recommendations, like the green roof, proved unfeasible, maintenance staff have implemented many others.
They replaced incandescent lighting with LED or compact fluorescent bulbs and are searching for leaks in the building's ventilation ducts.
The Chapel Hill Town Council received an update on improvements made to the police station March 3 from Public Works Director Lance Norris.
Norris wrote that many of the boys' recommendations are consistent with the town's current efforts to minimize its carbon footprint.
Although the boys did not win the competition, they received an innovative solution award, Marlow said.
"They certainly learned a lot about energy efficiency in buildings," said Michael Durbin, co-coach of the team and Marlow's father. "I think they also learned a sense of responsibility and civic involvement."
Marlow said he was also excited about how much he learned about energy efficiency in the process.
The competition wasn't all about work, however.
"It takes a lot of time, but it's also a lot of fun," he said.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(02/29/08 5:00am)
The Chapel Hill Public Arts Commission is kicking off its annual community art project with a design by environmental artist Bryant Holsenbeck.
In keeping with the year's theme of "elements," residents can help Holsenbeck construct a labyrinth exclusively from natural materials, such as invasive species removed from the Bolin Creek Greenway.
"It's a community project," said Andi Sobbe, the co-chairwoman of the community art project. "It belongs to the community and it will stay there for a while so that people can come and enjoy it."
Construction will take place Saturday at the Chapel Hill Community Center park at 120 S. Estes Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The labyrinth is not a maze in the traditional sense.
Steve Wright, the commission's public art coordinator, said Holsenbeck plans "to weave (the natural materials) together to make a really large drawing out of it."
"A labyrinth has only one path in and one path out," Sobbe said. "It's not intended to fool you. It's intended to allow you to clear your mind, to meditate, to be thoughtful."
This is the first time the commission has started its community art project, currently in it's fifth year, with a temporary public art piece.
For the rest of the project, the Public Arts Commission will accept art submissions from local residents based on their own interpretations of the "elements" theme.
"It could be anything - elements of a relationship, elements of truth, even the periodic table," Sobbe said.
Themes in the past have included dreams, being lost in sound and even the question, "Why?"
"The project also provides a really interesting look at the community as a whole. It's a way to tap into what everyone's thinking," Wright said.
Both Wright and Sobbe anticipate that a large number of submissions will concern the element of water, considering the long-standing drought in the area.
Wright said he expects between 300 and 400 submissions from people of all ages and abilities.
Sobbe, a potter, plans to reuse elements from her kiln for the project.
"We get paintings, collages, drawings, photographs. There's some very creative recycled objects incorporated into works too," she said.
The commission will accept submissions on April 4 and 5 between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the Chapel Hill Museum.
All works will be accepted and hung in one of eight locations around Chapel Hill and Carrboro until May 28. They require brief statements for the artists to explain the motivation and thought behind their works.
Submissions must be no larger than 24 inches wide and 36 inches tall and include a way to hang the work on the wall.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu
(02/22/08 5:00am)
Mary Scroggs Elementary School was full of yodels, Bollywood sound tracks and shouts of, "You look very German!" on Thursday.
On any other night this might have been cause for confusion, but at the school's fourth annual multicultural fair, it was nothing out of the ordinary.
"We invite families to come and share stories about their cultures," said Karen Jeremiah, the school's media coordinator and the organizer of the event. "It's a time for students to shine."
The school prides itself on its diversity. Principal Grace Repass estimates that 139 of the 680 students at Scroggs are from outside of the United States.
Throughout hallways organized by continent, tables were filled with food, flags and posters from 19 different countries by students' families from those countries.
Students received small paper passports when they entered the fair at a checkpoint that Jeremiah described as "a kind of simulated Ellis Island."
From there, they were free to wander.
There was a cricket bat and framed picture of Gandhi in India along with some sweet-smelling curry.
France had a few bottles of red wine, which remained corked--, chocolate crepes and baguettes.
For elementary student Lydia Middlesworth, the night was definitely about food.
"I like Korea. No, wait, Switzerland," she explained as a kimono-clad classmate rushed by.
Why? "They're giving out chocolate there. I like India too. They've got good food."
Then she was off to Japan to fold some origami.
Dong Woo Lee, a South Korean journalist who has been in North Carolina for six months, played a hacky sack-like game with visitors to his table.
"America is a melting pot," he said. "So the children have to know the whole world."
Other Korean families members distributed gimbap, a sushi-like dish, and kimchi, a type of fermented vegetable.
Over in Europe by the entrance, Ayse Belger dished out rice and Turkish delight from behind her table as her son raved about Hungary.
For her, the event was an opportunity to make foreign families more comfortable. "Everybody's homesick," she said.
She also noted the importance of exposing students to other cultures.
"We're always exposed to American culture," Belger said. "Some of these kids are never going to see these countries. This is their only way."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(02/20/08 5:00am)
The mill houses along Weaver Street in Carrboro might slip by unnoticed. So might the Baptist Church on North Greensboro Street.
But the more than 150 historic bungalows, churches, mill houses and commercial buildings that date from Carrboro's distant past could soon sport plaques as unique as the houses themselves.
The Carrboro Appearances Commission is holding a public competition for the design of the plaque, which will denote buildings of historical and cultural significance.
Thomas Wiltberger, a member of the commission, said the project's goal is to honor Carrboro's unique architecture and culture by identifying it.
Commission members said they hope to update the database of noteworthy buildings in the area, possibly making the information available online, and to eventually put together walking tours to highlight significant buildings.
But the project also provides local artists and residents with an opportunity to gain some notoriety.
"Anybody that lives, works or plays in Carrboro can submit a design," Wiltberger said. "We wanted to represent Carrboro's eclectic artistic community."
Plaques must be easily reproducible, legible from a few yards away and weatherproof.
The creator of the winning design will receive a $500 prize.
Individual owners of historic property will be responsible for pursuing recognition from the appearances commission.
If approved by a review committee, property owners will have the option to buy a plaque, which commission members hope will cost less than $200.
As Wiltberger notes, "the onus will be on the homeowner."
As of now, no specific qualifications for historic status have been released.
It's been 25 years since Carrboro's historic buildings were first identified in 1983.
The appearances commission at that time published "Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory," cataloging the 150 buildings.
The 1983 commission noted in the book's introduction that members hoped their work would be "a catalyst igniting further interest and work to preserve the best aspects of Carrboro's built environment."
Those interested in submitting designs for the plaques have until April 30.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(02/20/08 5:00am)
The location of Orange County's new waste-transfer station was at hand again Tuesday night at an Orange County Board of Commissioners work session.
This time the board heard public comment on preliminary exclusionary criteria for the transfer station's site, first presented in a Feb. 11 meeting, which specify requirements for site size and location.
Ed Shuffler of Olver Inc., the engineering and applied science consulting company that developed the criteria, presented his work and fielded comments from the public and the board.
The preliminary criteria suggest that the site be at least 25 acres, within 3 miles of several local highways and not in the endangered flora and fauna habitats.
Neloa Jones, co-chairwoman of the Rogers-Eubanks Coalition to End Environmental Racism, questioned why some sites would be excluded before the criteria were firmly in place.
"I'm very disturbed," she said. "Your consultant is talking about excluding sites before developing the criteria. He's setting up a bias."
Jones' complaint is that the community-specific criteria, which include considerations such as environmental justice and number of residents impacted, would not play a role until after a number of other possible sites have been excluded by the preliminary criteria.
Yonni Chapman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People suggested that the board add criteria that encompass the site's "impact on human beings."
Residents also questioned whether UNC involvement in the process was possible. Commissioner Alice Gordon asked Shuffler to consider approaching the University.
"This is all very hypothetical though," she said.
Board Chairman Barry Jacobs seemed to think that cooperation with UNC is far-fetched.
"They have a secret animal testing area on (N.C.) 54. Maybe we can piggyback on that."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(02/20/08 5:00am)
Despite substantial public comment in favor of a quarter-cent sales tax increase, the Orange County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to put a land-transfer tax increase on the May 6 ballot.
If approved by voters, the referendum would increase the tax owed by the seller of most land by 0.4 percent.
Board members spoke of the everyday burden a sales tax would place on residents and the benefit of being able to defer payment with a land-transfer tax until their property is sold.
"People are going to be paying the sales tax basically every time they go to the store," Commissioner Moses Carey Jr. said.
The commissioners said they plan to educate residents through local media about the land transfer tax.
The choice, however, was not simple for the commissioners.
"There's no way we can insulate everybody from this tax," Carey said.
Commissioner Alice Gordon leaned back in her chair and joked, "This is why we get paid so much."
The board faced a petition with more than 1,500 signatures calling for the sales tax, in addition to signs in the back of the meeting room that said, "Stop the home tax."
Many residents said they were concerned with the specific burden of a land-transfer tax on people selling their homes.
"A sales tax would be more or less invisible," one resident said. "But a person selling a $500,000 house would have to pay $3,000."
The land-transfer tax faced opposition from the local real estate industry.
"Our taxes on property are already too high," said Mark Zimmerman, president-elect of the Greater Chapel Hill Association of Realtors. "I find the attitude patronizing that if voters could just be educated they would support this tax."
He said the tax unnecessarily targets home sellers.
"We care about our clients and our customers. Half are buying; half are selling at any given time. That means half will have to pay this tax this year," he said.
Many residents at the meeting were opposed to any form of tax increase at all.
"Even my coffee is taxed," one said. "Underwear is taxed. Now we're taxing intangible things. Why not do the right thing and don't tax?"
Mark Hertzog, principal of Hertzog Research, whom the board hired to look into public opinion on the tax, presented the results of a survey of the county voters.
"It is statistically a tie," he said.
Hertzog reported that 48 percent of those surveyed said they would support a sales tax while 43 would support a land-transfer tax. The study has a 5 percent sampling error.
Those who preferred the land-transfer tax in the survey either cited that taxes are already too high or were concerned with the regressive burden a sales tax would have on lower-income families.
Hertzog told the board that those surveyed who preferred the sales tax stressed that sellers were being unduly burdened.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(02/19/08 5:00am)
The location of Orange County's new waste-transfer station was at hand again Tuesday night at an Orange County Board of Commissioners work session.This time the board heard public comment on preliminary exclusionary criteria for the transfer station's site first presented in a Feb. 11 meeting which specify requirements for site size and location.Ed Shuffler of Olver Inc. the engineering and applied science consulting company that developed the criteria presented his work and fielded comments from the public and the board.The preliminary criteria suggest that the site be at least 25 acres within 3 miles of several local highways and not in the endangered flora and fauna habitats.Neloa Jones co-chairwoman of the Rogers-Eubanks Coalition to End Environmental Racism" questioned why some sites would be excluded before the criteria were firmly in place.""I'm very disturbed"" she said. Your consultant is talking about excluding sites before developing the criteria. He's setting up a bias.""Jones' complaint is that the community-specific criteria" which include considerations such as environmental justice and number of residents impacted" would not play a role until after a number of other possible sites have been excluded by the preliminary criteria.Yonni Chapman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People suggested that the board add criteria that encompass the site's ""impact on human beings.""Residents also questioned whether UNC involvement in the process was possible. Commissioner Alice Gordon asked Shuffler to consider approaching the University.""This is all very hypothetical though"" she said.Board Chairman Barry Jacobs seemed to think that cooperation with UNC is far-fetched.They have a secret animal testing area on (N.C.) 54. Maybe we can piggyback on that.""Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(02/15/08 5:00am)
The Northside neighborhood already misses Mary Norwood Jones.
Friends speak of her outgoing personality. Acquaintances remember the neighborhood watch meetings she organized every month. Even strangers recall the woman who often ambled down their streets picking up scraps of litter.
After Jones, 75, died on Feb. 2, board members of Empowerment Inc., a local grass roots development organization, made plans to secure her place in the community indefinitely.
This May three Chapel Hill-Carrboro area high school students will be the first recipients of the Mary Norwood Jones Scholarship, which grants $500 toward further education.
"Our intent is to honor her with someone who understands her spirit and her work," said Delores Bailey, executive director at Empowerment.
Bailey stressed the work Jones did to help the Northside community.
"She single-handedly cleaned up this neighborhood," Bailey said. "She cared a lot about educating children, making sure they don't end up on the streets."
Mildred Council, owner of Mama Dip's restaurant, knew Mary Norwood Jones from early childhood.
"She was a real responsible character, real talkative, a community person," she said. "She would have said, 'I've done what I done because I saw the need, and I'd like to leave it at that.'"
Jones' sister, Martha Atwater Barbee, recalled her sister, mentioning a worn photograph of the pair as toddlers - "back when we were pretty."
She said she thinks the scholarship is a perfect way to remember Jones' community involvement.
"We all in our own way have contributed so much, but my sister did such a terrific job."
Bailey said the scholarship will go to students who are associated with the towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, in an ethnic minority, financially needy and avid community volunteers.
Bailey also noted that because many potential scholars have studied in substandard school environments, academic strength will not be a primary consideration.
The scholarship's mainly intended to continue Jones' legacy, she said.
"Our job is to pass along what she cared about."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(02/15/08 5:00am)
The Northside neighborhood already misses Mary Norwood Jones.Friends speak of her outgoing personality. Acquaintances remember the neighborhood watch meetings she organized every month. Even strangers recall the woman who often ambled down their streets picking up scraps of litter. After Jones75 died on Feb. 2 board members of Empowerment Inc. a local grass roots development organization made plans to secure her place in the community indefinitely. This May three Chapel Hill-Carrboro area high school students will be the first recipients of the Mary Norwood Jones Scholarship" which grants $500 toward further education.""Our intent is to honor her with someone who understands her spirit and her work"" said Delores Bailey, executive director at Empowerment. Bailey stressed the work Jones did to help the Northside community.She single-handedly cleaned up this neighborhood" Bailey said. She cared a lot about educating children" making sure they don't end up on the streets.""Mildred Council" owner of Mama Dip's restaurant" knew Mary Norwood Jones from early childhood. ""She was a real responsible character" real talkative a community person she said. She would have said 'I've done what I done because I saw the need" and I'd like to leave it at that.'""Jones' sister" Martha Atwater Barbee recalled her sister" mentioning a worn photograph of the pair as toddlers - ""back when we were pretty.""She said she thinks the scholarship is a perfect way to remember Jones' community involvement. ""We all in our own way have contributed so much"" but my sister did such a terrific job.""Bailey said the scholarship will go to students who are associated with the towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro" in an ethnic minority financially needy and avid community volunteers.Bailey also noted that because many potential scholars have studied in substandard school environments academic strength will not be a primary consideration.The scholarship's mainly intended to continue Jones' legacy" she said.""Our job is to pass along what she cared about.""Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(02/06/08 5:00am)
Tuesday's Orange County Board of Commissioners' regular meeting was unusually busy - in addition to the regular agenda the board heard five public hearings.After soliciting opinions on the N.C. Community Transportation Program and an update on the county Consolidated Housing Plan the board conducted a second hearing to receive public comment on the county manager's Capital Investment Plan which was first proposed Nov. 5. The CIP encompassed both funded and unfunded projects including additional office space for the county's Health Department and the Department of Social Services the creation of a new branch of the Hyconeechee Regional Library System and several unfunded needs identified by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.Steve Scroggs assistant superintendent for support services of the city schools and Lisa Stuckey vice chairwoman of the school board requested particular attention for the currently unfunded school projects.Scroggs also called for the completion of several unfinished sections in schools across the county such as Carrboro High and McDougal Elementary. Two other proposed projects Elementary School No. 11 and Middle School No. 5 are budgeted at $30.9 and $50.7 million respectively. Several residents also asked the board to incorporate other projects into the CIP.The Rev. Robert Seymour requested an expansion of the Robert and Pearl Seymour Senior Center opened last May to include more space for the wellness center located on the second floor. Seymour noted that Orange County will double its senior population by 2020. Exercise classes are currently held in the center's great hall where lunch is served as well.The board then solicited public comment on which revenue option either a 0.4 percent increase in land transfer tax or a quarter-percent increase in sales tax should be placed on the ballot in the May 6 primary for voter consideration.Several senior citizens spoke out against any increase in taxation and in particular an increase in land transfer tax asking that both be placed on the ballot. Some said they believed the land transfer tax would be an unreliable source of revenue while others spoke of their inability to cope with rising costs while on a fixed income. A younger resident focused on the burden a land transfer tax would place on lower-income families and the instability of current economic conditions. He first proposed not to increase means of taxation but the tax base itself. He also said CIP economic development projects that have the potential to increase the tax base should be given special attention.Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.