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Velma Perry has lived at 308 Lindsay Street for 88 years.
With a variety of affordable housing proposals making their way through the Chapel Hill Town Council, people who work in town might become more likely to be able to live here, too.Four different organizations are making headway on several affordable housing options, most of which are serving niche groups of Chapel Hill’s working class — especially those associated with the University.“There’s a nationwide discussion that’s happening about workforce housing,” said Loryn Clark, the neighborhood and community services manager for the town’s planning department.“A variety of affordable housing opportunities and options is really good for our community,” she said.Alongside the Community Home Trust, an organization funded partially by the town that provides affordable homes in new developments, other organizations like The Arc of Orange County are also taking on the affordable housing challenge.The organization plans to apply for funding for an affordable housing community for the disabled in Meadowmont later this year.“The need is so great and the organizations are so small. You need all the hands you can get working on this problem,” said Robert Dowling, executive director of the Community Home Trust.The Home Trust presented its latest quarterly report to the Town Council last week, describing successful sales of affordable homes in the new East 54 condominiums and on Crest Street in Carrboro.Dowling is a firm believer that those who work in a community should be able to live in that community, and many of the Home Trust’s lower-income home buyers are employed by either the University or UNC Hospitals.“It’s absolutely essential that we don’t become a bedroom community where if you can’t afford a half-a-million-dollar home you can’t live here,” Dowling said.“We have teachers and UNC employees and hospital employees who don’t make a lot of money who are really vital to this town.”Orange County Habitat for Humanity has also been providing housing for University and hospital employees, although Habitat’s housing is aimed at the income group between 30 percent and 50 percent of the town’s median income.The Community Home Trust caters to those earning 80 percent or less of the median.In its newest project, Phoenix Place, off Purefoy Drive in the Rogers Road community, Habitat has recently accepted applications for 18 of the 50 homes in the environmentally friendly development, which is set to begin construction in January.“Fourteen out of the 18 were either University or UNC Health Care employees,” said Habitat Executive Director Susan Levy. “Most of them work in housekeeping or facilities services.”Another proposed development would provide affordable housing for not only University and hospital workers, but also town employees.The Pine Knolls Townhomes planning committee will propose its plan, aimed at serving the slightly higher income group of teachers, firefighters and police, this spring.“There’s need across the board, for sure,” Levy said, adding that each organization serves different but equal needs. “Nobody is more worthy than anyone else.”Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
Officials from both school districts in Orange County discussed Wednesday the economic and academic reasons that the two systems, often deemed unequal, are better off separate.The history of Orange County’s two school systems has been wrought with accusations of inequality and unsuccessful attempts at a merger.APPLES Service Learning Initiative held a panel discussion Wednesday to discuss the reasons behind the separate systems as students volunteer more in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools than in Orange County Schools.APPLES, which used to only send volunteers to CHCCS, began incorporating Orange County Schools in its 2009 program that introduces freshmen to local volunteer opportunities.“We went to Orange County Schools this year, and we decided not to leave it at that but continue to talk about why there are two systems,” said Nisha Verma, a member of the SLI committee which hosted the event.The districts are often considered unequal because CHCCS has an additional district tax that evens out to $1,593 more per pupil.But Orange County Schools spokesman Michael Gilbert said the district is catching up in closing the achievement gap while the Orange County Board of Commissioners is not leaving the system’s coffers empty.“The county commissioners are funding us at a rate that other counties are salivating at,” he said, adding that the graduation rate has increased 12 percent in the last few years with a focus on four-year colleges instead of vocational programs.Though the last discussion to merge the districts ended in December 2003, county commissioner Valerie Foushee said the equity gap between the two school systems has been closing.“Equity is not as big a conversation as it was four years ago,” she said.Jon Corcoran is a parent and teacher in Orange County Schools. He said the school system has served his children well and that a merger would take away an important sense of community inherent in the system. “It’s easy to view the situation as the haves and have-nots,” Corcoran said. “But Orange County Schools are thriving as a school system in ways that standardized tests do not reflect.”If the schools did merge, state law says that the smaller merging school system would have to adopt the per pupil cost of the larger merging school system, Foushee said.That would mean a 25 percent or more increase in taxes that Foushee said Orange County residents aren’t willing to pay.“You simply can’t absorb a 25 percent tax increase,” she said.Instead of merging, the two school systems decided to collaborate and share resources as much as possible. That includes UNC volunteers, which Gilbert said are always welcome.The schools often have joint teacher trainings, share strategies in English as a Second Language education and have a joint college fair for high school students.“Any time that we can work together,” Gilbert said, “we have.”Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
For the second time in seven years, the N.C. Department of Transportation is examining safety at the intersection of Jones Ferry Road and Davie Road in Carrboro.The intersection, which is busy with school children, a Chapel Hill Transit bus stop, a gas station and an unofficial day laborer pick-up site, features a crest in Jones Ferry Road that creates visibility problems for crossing pedestrians and for motorists turning left out of the Abbey Court Condominiums.“There’s a growing frustration that NCDOT is really neglecting their duty to provide us with a safe corner,” said Hugo Olaiz, a resident of Abbey Court.“I have been concerned for a long time.”After the state studied the intersection and rejected requests for a crosswalk in 2002, residents lobbied the Carrboro government to re-examine the issue.Carrboro officials met with Department of Transportation representatives Oct. 14 after a series of e-mails between citizens and Carrboro officials cited increasing frustration with the danger of the intersection and the process of requesting a study.Trish McGuire, planning administrator for the town of Carrboro, said the Department of Transportation agreed to study the corner at the meeting.Mike Mills, division engineer for NCDOT Division Seven, based in Greensboro, said the higher the number of accidents and the more severe the accidents, the more likely an intersection will be listed as needing what he called “spot safety” funds from the state.Carrboro’s Community and Economic Development Director James Harris joked at the most recent neighborhood meeting at Abbey Court that the best way to help get a signal installed was to get in an accident.Mills said that assessment isn’t very far from the truth.“Sometimes that does bring it to the forefront, if there’s a bunch of accidents out there,” Mills said.“Just one won’t mean you actually qualify for a signal.”UNC professor Judith Blau, who has been an activist for Abbey Court residents, complained in an e-mail to Harris of almost having an accident at that intersection.“I am sorry that you all missed my near collision yesterday. I just didn’t see the fast car barreling over the hill,” she wrote in an e-mail dated Oct. 7. “I would have taken a photograph, but I was sort of preoccupied.”Citizens first requested a safety study in April at a community meeting at Abbey Court, but a vacancy in the position of the Carrboro transportation planner put the matter off until September.Olaiz instigated the thread of e-mails between town officials that prompted a renewed effort to get a crosswalk or a signal installed at the intersection.He complained to Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton and Town Manager Steve Stewart, both of whom said they could do nothing without the department.“Residents have little or no say-so, but even local elected officials are virtually powerless in dealing with NCDOT,” Chilton wrote in an Oct. 7 e-mail to Olaiz.“I am not passing the buck. I am telling you the tragic truth.”Before a signal can be installed, be it a traffic signal or pedestrian crosswalk, the department has to conduct a lengthy study.While visiting the site with local government leaders, state officials were able to get an idea of the problems.“They spent a good amount of time looking at the intersection at Davie and one other intersection, talking about possibilities,” McGuire said.“While we were there, there were many pedestrians, as usual.”Mills said the study could take six to 10 weeks, starting mid-October.“We’re looking primarily on what we can do to help the pedestrians in that area,” he said.The department will examine traffic and pedestrian patterns and accident data before it decides whether to put the intersection on a list to receive a new safety feature, Mills said.Once on the list, it could take more than two years to get the funding to install whichever safety feature is likely to be the most effective.Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
Efforts to find an official location for day laborers to seek employment are gaining momentum.New stakeholders are trying to find a permanent station for day laborers — most of whom are Latino — in Carrboro that would provide basic amenities and separate the honest workers from the everyday loiterers.When Carrboro’s Board of Aldermen saw an unofficial gathering site at the intersection of Jones Ferry Road and Davie Road get out of hand with drinking, harassment and public urination during the last few years, they addressed the issue in 2007 with an ordinance to ban lingering after 11 a.m.But that ordinance has failed to completely eliminate problems.“I would like the day laborers to be elevated in people’s minds to working class people, and that’s tough to do if they’re standing out on the street hoping to be chosen for a job,” said Board of Aldermen member Randee Haven-O’Donnell.“Especially if they’re standing out there with people who may not be looking for a job.”Current site causes troubleCarrboro police identified the day laborers’ unofficial gathering as a problem as early as 2003, and Police Chief Carolyn Hutchison is a key figure in finding alternatives.Hutchison sees two issues: The honest workers need a safe place to await jobs while neighbors deserve an end to the loitering.“You’ve got the people that want to work and the people who want to socialize and drink,” she said.Although the ordinance requires people at the site to clear after 11 a.m. — when most people with the intent to work have been picked up — the site is still a serious public nuisance, Hutchison said.To avoid the ordinance, people disappear into the woods behind the Kangaroo station or onto the grounds of Abbey Court Condominiums, a majority-Latino housing complex on Jones Ferry Road.Hutchison said police will often chase loiterers from one location and find them at another.A new site in the worksMany people express concerns that the workers have no shelter or bathrooms at their waiting spot, that the crosswalk on Jones Ferry Road is dangerous and that the under-the-radar nature of the employment results in wage theft.Community members, police and town officials are all working to address these concerns. UNC sociology professor Judith Blau founded a human rights center to provide resources to Abbey Court families. She is leading conversations to find a safer location for workers.With the support of Elsa Ally Dena, new property manager, Abbey Court has hosted two community meetings where locals have worked to solve issues facing residents and neighbors, including the day laborer site.“In the best of possible worlds, there would be a day laborers’ center for employers to come and register, because there’s a lot of exploitation and wage theft,” Blau said.Last week, Blau met with Carrboro’s Community and Economic Development Director James Harris and officials at the UNC Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity to combine resources toward finding a solution.The poverty center is recruiting UNC law students to compile a report this semester on possible solutions.If Carrboro provided an official day laborer site, Hutchison said, it could include safety measures like a circular drive for employers and legitimate work contracts.The site would have to be reachable by foot and bus and near the highway so employers aren’t inconvenienced, Hutchison said.The current site cropped up in the first place because of its proximity to N.C. 54 and to low-income housing, Hutchison said.A hard-to-reach goalHaven-O’Donnell said that she’s been concerned about the day laborer site for years, but that a solution won’t come easily.She said even though the town is unanimously supportive of new solutions, Carrboro simply doesn’t have enough resources to quickly finalize a new location.“I wish it was resolved by now,” Haven-O’Donnell said. “We have to be creative.”Haven-O’Donnell’s hope is that the new site can start off as a shelter like a bus depot, which still wouldn’t solve the problems of wage theft or access to bathrooms and water.“I would hope that we would be able to create something more permanent, but between now and then you’d have to have something that is more or less tested out.”Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
A Carrboro condominium complex that has been the site of numerous arrests, noise complaints and reports of discrimination is fast becoming a community improvement project.With a new bilingual property manager and a security contract with the Carrboro Police Department, the majority-Latino Abbey Court Condominiums off of Jones Ferry Road is transforming into a place of cooperation rather than of controversy.Community members from the Carrboro town manager to the manager of the Carrboro Farmers’ Market met last week to find solutions to Abbey Court’s problems of crime control and a lack of access to resources.“We want the community to solve the problems, not the town of Carrboro,” said James Harris, director of economic and community development for the town, who hosted the meeting.The meeting was held in the offices of new property manager Elsa Ally Dena, hired by The Tar Heel Companies of North Carolina, which owns Abbey Court, in May.She replaced management that faced protests last year from residents who said their cars were wrongly towed and their apartments were not maintained.“This is the first manager in 25 years that has been receptive. The community has been screaming for it,” Carrboro Police Chief Carolyn Hutchison said at the meeting.New voices for Abbey CourtDena, who grew up with Spanish as her first language, supports and connects to a community of largely non-English speaking residents.She has lived in the area for more than 10 years and was working at a boutique when she came across the job offering at Abbey Court.Already aware of its controversial history, Dena said she felt compelled to take on the challenge.“I knew that there was a lot of stuff out here that needed to be changed and managed differently,” Dena said. “I was ready for it.”Jennifer Greene, senior vice president of human resources and marketing at The Tar Heel Companies, said the group always strived to be community-friendly.“I think it’s just now coming out,” she said, referring to recent controversies as a “black cloud” hanging over the company.She would not comment on the turnover in management.One of Dena’s first actions as manager was to fire a private security agency that checked on residents, Delta Company Police, and hire off-duty Carrboro police officers.Dena said residents had complained of discrimination by the security company.“I had lots of complaints from residents at the time that said they were being biased against them.”Alfonoso Hernadez, a 19-year-old Abbey Court resident who managed a Web site protesting the problems last year, said prior management had used the security company to tow cars just for having dents and scratches.“The only people that seem to be affected by this are Latinos,” Hernandez told The Daily Tar Heel last year.Maj. Dan Norman of the Delta Company Police denied any discrimination or towing calls by security officers.Norman said his company improved the situation.“When we came in a year and a half ago, it was really a mess. We were going from 10 to 15 calls of service a night to one or two every other night,” Norman said.An improved relationshipDena said residents have welcomed town police and feel safer.And police said the new partnership is a way to improve relationships in an area where they were already responding to calls.Hutchison said noise complaints, drinking in the parking lot and harassment and assault as the main issues, most of which were committed by non-residents, she said.“As chief, I see this as a very good opportunity for the department to focus some attention on all of the residents of Abbey Court,” Hutchison said of the new partnership.“We simply must acknowledge that many of them are Latino. It provides us a very good opportunity to reach that particular population.”Hernandez took his Web site down in the spirit of working with the new management.“This management now is caring and wants to work with everyone else,” Hernandez said. “I see them fixing everything. This is what everyone wants — unity.”She said she will use her background to mend the company’s relationship with residents. She hopes to respond to complaints in Spanish and bring English classes and health resources on site for residents.“I do understand the struggle and how they want to learn, and the stuff that they’re doing for the kids and everything,” Dena said. “They get married while they’re here, they have babies while they’re here. That’s their life — it’s not just an apartment, it’s where everyone has their home.”Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
Walking into Sutton’s Drug Store is like walking into the past.While the soda fountain takes you back to when cheeseburgers and pharmacies were a given combination, Sutton’s isn’t falling behind the times.The photographs of customers that plaster the walls of the dining booths are constantly being updated, and recent Carolina basketball jerseys are bound to be hanging from the ceiling.But later this year, Walgreens will be the new competition for this long-standing independent pharmacy and lunch counter that has been a fixture on Franklin Street since 1923.“There’s been Revco, Rite Aid, Kerr Drug — we’ve outlasted the three of them. Now we have to take on Walgreens,” said John Woodard, Sutton’s owner and head pharmacist since 1977.Woodard was in his usual place Tuesday behind the pharmacy counter, uncapping prescription bottles, counting pills and answering the phone with a polite, ‘Sorry to keep you waiting.’Then he stapled a prescription bag, came around the counter and personally handed it to a young man eating a cheeseburger.It was UNC freshman Alex Lang’s first time at Sutton’s. He needed his prescription filled around lunchtime and was surprised to find a lunch counter in the pharmacy.“I think it’s awesome. I’ve had nothing like this before,” Lang said. “I love it, though.”He later confirmed his cheeseburger was the best he’d ever had. Lang said even with Walgreens coming, he’ll keep filling his prescription at Sutton’s. But he doesn’t think others will feel the same.“I really like the atmosphere, but I don’t think (Sutton’s) could compete,” Lang said.But Lang is new to Chapel Hill, and for those who grew up here, Sutton’s is the kind of local institution that doesn’t disappear at the first sight of a challenge.“You always have to be concerned,” said manager Don Pinney, who has been at Sutton’s for 31 years.“We’ll adjust to what goes on, but I think our roots are deep enough.”Pinney said that the Chapel Hill community will continue to support Sutton’s, even if Walgreens provides greater variety.“Walgreens may help us, may hinder us. I don’t know,” Pinney said. “The Chapel Hill mentality is very good for us. A lot of people believe in supporting the local and the independent.”And local and independent is exactly what Sutton’s is.Chapel Hill resident and UNC alumnus Jim Neal, who ran for U.S. Senate in the Democratic primary last spring, is a regular at Sutton’s.“I would pay more to come here because of the quality of the service,” Neal said, as he stood in line at the pharmacy counter Tuesday. “Where else in the world can you forget to pick up a prescription on time and call John Woodard, and he’ll say, ‘I’ll leave it at the counter at Jack Sprat’s next door’? There are very few places like that.”Junior Stephanie Davis agreed.“When you think Franklin Street, you think Sutton’s. You’re not ever gonna be like, ‘Oh, Franklin Street — Walgreens.’ It’s not the same charm.”Walgreens had been scouting out property on Franklin Street since at least 2006. But as long as it doesn’t start serving lunch, Woodard isn’t too worried.“We don’t think they’ll … damage us to the point where we’ll have to close up,” Woodard said. “When you mention Sutton’s, the one thing they think about is cheeseburgers and hamburgers and milk shakes. So as long as Walgreens isn’t putting in a fountain, we’re OK.”Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
Instead of quietly observing her subjects from afar, sociology professor Judith Blau has rented an apartment in the middle of their community.After founding the Chapel Hill and Carrboro Human Rights Center in a majority Latino apartment complex, she’s working to make it a place immigrants will turn for community support.“I think it’s an example of radical hospitality,” said Hugo Olaiz, an Abbey Court Condominiums resident who works with Blau.“One thing is to go where the poor live and help them out. Another thing is to say, ‘This is my home, and I’m inviting people in,’ and this is what she’s doing,” he said.The center, in Abbey Court Condominiums on Jones Ferry Road, officially formed in February but is now launching its programs.Involving her students in the social and economic justice minor, Blau’s center hosts youth soccer programs, parent-teacher nights, computer classes and English classes, all with the goal of promoting human rights.“Human rights is not about legislation,” Olaiz said. “Human rights is about what happens to you after a long day of work, or what happens to your children while you’re working or what happens to you when you do not have a job.”Blau said it’s been a challenge to build trust and become a well-known part of the community.Many Abbey Court residents don’t know the center exists, often confusing it with El Centro Latino in downtown Carrboro.One man, Juan Allalo, said that his wife had been to the center a number of times.“She’s used it a few times to ask questions about various problems,” Allalo said in Spanish. “I am not surprised that few in Abbey Court know about us,” Blau stated in an e-mail. “The kids who have come to the center, and those who have come to our barbecue, and the men who have come to play dominoes and use the computer, probably do not have a sense of what the center is, as an entity.”Blau is hoping to connect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a United Nations document she teaches in her classes, to the everyday human rights of the immigrant community.“We’re located in the poorest immigrant community in the county,” Blau said, emphasizing the need that the center is serving.And with her students as collaborators, Blau is also creating a unique service-learning class.“The center is bridging that gap between largely middle class UNC students and extremely poor immigrants,” she said.Senior Vanice Dunn, who has taken Blau’s classes and helped develop the center, said she thinks it’s an opportunity for students to get involved in the community.“The University may be just a mile or so from Abbey Court, but the disconnect between students and the community often feels much farther than that,” she said.Dunn is working on a human rights survey on and off campus to get a better idea of what human rights means to community members.She is also helping Blau and the center with a Walk for Human Rights to be held Sept. 12.The center is beginning a partnership with Mary Scroggs Elementary School and is awaiting the donation of new computers from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School system.Despite the new possibilities the center presents, it still has a long way to go in letting people know about these opportunities, Blau said.
RALEIGH — One language isn’t spoken more than any other at La Fiesta del Pueblo.Spanish accents colored English phrases as the two languages blurred the conversation and two peoples came together to lend a hand and try to forge a deeper understanding.“Obviously, this gives the Americans a better point of view of who Hispanics are,” said Marcia Espínola, associate director of El Vínculo Hispano, or The Hispanic Liaison, an advocacy group in Chatham County.Hosted by El Pueblo Inc., a Latino advocacy group in Raleigh, La Fiesta is an annual celebration of Latin food, music and arts at the N.C. State Fairgrounds. Tens of thousands of people were expected to attend the weekend event.La Fiesta del Pueblo is 16 years old, and as more Latinos come to the Triangle, this festival of cultural awareness and advocacy has grown in terms of what it offers.The festival is designed to help the Latino community, many of whom are recent immigrants, take advantage of support and services that the Triangle offers but that can often be hard to find because of language barriers and difficulty accessing the Internet.Espínola stood at a booth in the Jim Graham Building where hundreds of tables hosted health and advocacy groups, including bilingual accountants and dance groups.El Vínculo Hispano boasted a youth group, classes on subjects from sexuality to painting, help with legal issues and even a food bank.But mostly, Espínola said, El Vínculo Hispano is — like La Fiesta — about creating a community.“Oftentimes, immigrants, we don’t feel part of the community. We can feel very lonely,” Espínola said, who emigrated from Chile eight years ago.La Fiesta is trying to assuage that loneliness, she said. But groups at La Fiesta weren’t limited to health and social services.The N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences was present, volunteers holding reptiles for children to exclaim about — all in the common language of squeals and giggles.“Fiesta is great because there are a lot of people that are new to this area, and it’s a great way to introduce them to the animals they might see in their backyard,” said museum curator Stephanie Bohr.The museum hosts bilingual wildlife classes and considers itself a free resource like any other.“It’s great to be able to reach out and give them the same quality education we would for people who speak English,” said Kevin Durso, an N.C. State University student who works at the museum.Other groups focused on providing equal opportunity in more obvious ways.At an official El Pueblo booth, one N.C. State student petitioned for immigration and health care reform.“El Pueblo is trying to make sure that reform is even an issue,” Lyly Galarza said. “I’ve seen a lot of families get taken apart because there isn’t an effective system in place. People just need to remember that there are a lot of people struggling.”Sixth graders from Rogers-Herr Middle School in Durham came with their social studies teacher to seek services for themselves and to find volunteer opportunities.“I feel like I want to help other people,” said sixth grader Evelyn Toro, originally from Mexico. “Sometimes I get sad when I see people in the streets. I just want to help somebody — do something.”The festival is also held for people to be able to experience Hispanic culture.“Obviously, this gives the Americans a better point of view of who Hispanics are,” Espínola said, referencing the music, dance and food that comes from across Central America, the Andean region and Mexico.Espínola also said La Fiesta is a compassionate event where people come to learn about all cultures.“Almost the majority of people think that everyone is Mexican, that I’m Mexican. But I’m not Mexican, I’m Chilean,” she laughed. “La Fiesta is mind opening.”Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
While other students attempt to absorb the lectures of their morning classes, would-be junior David Baron is likely to be digging waist-deep in a pile of mulch or hacking away at roots with a pickaxe.Baron chose to take a year off UNC to found an urban garden which socializes and transitions homeless people into the job market.“I’m enjoying seeing the progress. Looking back to see how far it’s come will be very rewarding,” Baron said.The community garden, called HOPE Garden, is part of the Campus Y Homeless Outreach and Poverty Eradication committee, which Baron joined his freshman year.“HOPE is an immediate cause,” he explained. “(You) work directly with the people you’re serving.”After spending the summer before his sophomore year working with farmers in Tanzania, Baron had the idea to employ Chapel Hill’s homeless in seed production for those farming communities.But when he entered professor Jim Johnson’s social ventures class in the Kenan-Flagler Business School, his idea turned into a community garden and transitional job opportunity for Chapel Hill’s homeless.“By focusing on something right in front of you, your service is more effective,” Baron said of his departure from the seed idea. “It’s a more sustainable process.”The process has been long. It took Baron a semester to acquire the 14 acres leased to HOPE by the town of Chapel Hill.Baron’s next step is to develop the land to include a vegetable and herb garden, 25 plots leased to community members, a fruit orchard and a flower meadow.“It’s important that the community accept it and see it as a place they want to come that’s aesthetic as well as productive,” he said.The 25 plots will be leased to community members for $100 a year, which will fund supplies and wages for the homeless participants.“They’re not getting paid at this point,” he said. “They’ve guided us through construction, and we’ve given them a safe haven to come during the day.”Baron said some at the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service, a homeless shelter in Carrboro, could have trouble moving on. The garden serves as a halfway point to move people back into employment.“When you’re worrying about where you’re going to get your next meal, a bed, it’s hard to think about work,” he said.Garrett, a homeless participant who wouldn’t give his last name for personal reasons, is a man of about 60 with an economics degree.Baron calls him ‘the agricultural guru’ because he has worked in agriculture in Latin America.“It keeps me from going crazy,” Garrett said of the garden. “In this economy, it’s pretty frustrating with my education and my experience. I can’t find a damn job.”Baron described the transitional employment process as an exchange of ideas between two societal groups that tend to be separated by stereotype.“We hope to bring in volunteers and socialize the homeless people, break down those barriers — encourage meaningful discussion on both sides to give people ideas on how to alleviate poverty,” he said.Eventually, the garden’s produce will be sold at farmers’ markets and on campus.Johnson, the professor who helped Baron solidify the garden’s plan, still remains supportive.“It’s an awesome project,” he said. “It’s consistent with the notion of creating a sustainable urban community. And he tied it to eradicating homelessness, which is even more impressive.”Johnson said he has watched many young entrepreneurs implement ideas like Baron’s.“These folks truly believe they can change the world.”Baron will eventually graduate and the grants will run out. But he said he hopes the leadership can be passed on to the community that inspired it.
The sun was blazing as about 40 boys positioned themselves to be tackled, the sweat hidden under heavy padding.As a whistle blew, they gathered around a 40-gallon water tank, waiting for their turns to use the attached hose to quench their thirst.The Carrboro High School football team will be even more serious about hydration and safety when a full-time athletic trainer joins its ranks in the coming weeks.Player safety came to the forefront last August, when a 17-year-old Chapel Hill High School football player, Atlas Fraley, died after returning from a scrimmage.“Coaches are very aware of the need to monitor student athletes during and after practice,” said Christoff Stutts, an assistant football coach for the Carrboro High Jaguars.Before his death, Fraley had been complaining of cramps and dehydration. He later called for help from his home, only to be found dead hours later.After searching for a year, Carrboro High is waiting for the school board to confirm a full-time athletic trainer who will be certified in exercise and sport science, bringing expertise to athletic health and safety.But Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools officials said the impetus to create an athletic trainer position at Carrboro High was not directly in response to Fraley’s death.“That’s a misrepresentation,” said Stephanie Willis, the district’s health coordinator.A N.C. High School Athletic Association bill that asked the N.C. General Assembly to fund a licensed athletic director at every school was a reaction to student deaths, but funding was not provided because of the state budget crunch.The position of athletic trainer was open all of last year, but was less attractive to applicants at the time.Willis explained that in the past, regular PE teachers had volunteered their time to stay after school for athletic events, or athletic trainers were paid a small stipend with no benefits.The new position will be full-time with benefits, and the trainer will be available to students between about 1 p.m. and the end of evening athletic events.The trainer’s salary, roughly $40,000, comes from funds saved from hiring freezes on positions such as third assistant coaches throughout the school system.“What this proposal does is create a job that’s more friendly to the employee,” district spokeswoman Stephanie Knott said.If the position works out, it could be duplicated throughout the system’s high schools.Stutts listed many benefits to having a certified athletic trainer on site, including the burden lifted from assistant coaches.“We’ll be able to have a professional diagnosis of kids’ injuries,” Stutts said. “Maybe a kid has something that doesn’t look very serious, and it is.”Willis also said the trainer would be able to provide workshops for student athletes on important topics like dehydration, nutrition and muscle massage.The trainer will be confirmed and his or her name released by the school board at its Sept. 3 meeting.Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
Before coming to UNC, Chris Martin, director of UNC Energy Management, spent 10 years in one of the harshest climates in the world: Antarctica.
UNC-system officials aren't waiting until July to prepare for the challenge of severe state budget cuts.Although some cuts are imminent UNC-system officials are trying to ensure that higher education won't be severely damaged.After the release of a worst-case scenario from UNC-Chapel Hill" UNC-system president Erskine Bowles is working to keep permanent budget cuts below 5 percent. ""The challenge starting July 2009 — if the legislature makes us make these cuts permanent — then those dollars will be taken out of the budget and lost and gone forever"" said Rob Nelson, UNC-system vice president for finance.The danger of permanenceCome July, legislators will have to consider the long-term effects of permanent cuts, which would slash funds from the UNC-system budget every year hereafter.Permanent cuts at 5 percent could mean a loss of 121 faculty members and 282 courses and larger classes.But at permanent cuts of 7 percent or more, enrollment would be restricted by about 3,400 students — a fate that Bowles and other officials refuse to allow.I think 7 percent is when you really start to see the number of faculty eroding to the point where we have to worry about the faculty-student ratio so much that we might … reconsider where we are with enrollment"" said UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp.Making the system's caseWhile Thorp and UNC Board of Trustees Chairman Roger Perry have confidence in Bowles' negotiations with the legislature, revenue loss might just be too extreme to accommodate the system's needs.They are faced with some difficult decisions" and I think they'll do the best they can for us Thorp said.But I think there's a lot that's unknown right now because the governor doesn't know what she's going to see after April 15" and we don't know what the federal relief is going to be. So those are two huge wild cards.""Perry" who said he doesn't expect the legislature to disagree with Bowles' aims" said he and other trustees are nevertheless ready to call legislators with whom they have relationships to discuss UNC's needs.""We trust the chancellor to figure out where to make those cuts. But we're going to be team players and participate in this discussion"" Perry said. But I have a lot of confidence in our legislators to make good decisions. I have a lot of trust in our new governor.""Competing state interestsN.C. Sen. Tony Rand" D-Cumberland sits on the appropriations committee with UNC close to his heart.But the state's mandate to balance the budget is top priority which will yield competing interests" he said.""It's a very difficult balance" Rand said. Each institution is very important to its constituency but North Carolina has for a long long time since 1789 valued higher education" and we'll continue to do that.""And while officials are wary of permanent cuts"" Rand said they won't be a long term problem.""It's not much trouble to spend more money" if you have the money. And the education budget usually gets first attention" Rand said.N.C. Rep. Verla Insko, D-Orange, is less optimistic that the state will replenish the budget even if revenue increases. If cuts of more than 5 percent are permanent, programs at system schools will simply disappear.It would be hard to put those back in the budget if they were removed completely. When we have more money those programs gear back up with a whole new application process" and it will take work to explain them" Insko said.Insko explained that with one-time cuts, the core of programs can survive until an economic upswing.But the argument could fall on some deaf ears.Most General Assembly members are very supportive of the University"" Insko said. But we all have our own priorities.""Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
The battle against undocumented immigrants in North Carolina was quieter in 2008 left up to law enforcement more than to politicians as other issues such as the economy took precedent.Meanwhile law enforcement has managed to continue and even increase deportation.A program that allows local law enforcement to act with the authority of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials called 287(g) has put more than 3100 N.C. undocumented immigrants through deportation proceedings since January 2007" according to The (Raleigh) News & Observer.""There's definitely a tangible sense of fear in the community right now with law enforcement" particularly because North Carolina has been one of the leaders in the 287(g) program" Irene Godinez, advocacy director for El Pueblo, a Raleigh-based Latino advocacy group, said in September.The 287(g) program, a pet project of outgoing U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., is also supported by her successor, N.C. Sen. Kay Hagan, D-Guilford.Yet the subject of illegal immigration, a controversial political issue in 2006, was barely on the radar of the 2008 elections.The economy has really pushed everything else to the back burner"" said Tom Jensen, communications director of Raleigh-based Public Policy Polling.If the election had been last year, immigration would have been a much larger issue, he said.When President-elect Barack Obama voiced support of illegal minors to attend N.C. community colleges during a Greensboro rally in late September, his remarks didn't create a lasting stir.The question surrounding undocumented immigrants' access to N.C. community colleges was one of the only immigrant-related issues to come up in this year's political campaigns.Governor-elect Bev Perdue, a Democrat, upset some of her more progressive supporters when she supported a ban on undocumented immigrants' admission to the N.C. Community College System at a board of trustees meeting in August, at least until a study of the issue was complete.Perdue later weakened her stance in one of the last gubernatorial debates of the election season, calling on immigration reform from the top down.If Congress can just tell us what the rules are" then we'll play by the rules" she said.One group of students is still concerned that when the N.C. General Assembly returns to session in January, the door to community colleges for undocumented immigrants will remain shut.The statewide Coalition for College Access met for the first time in September and is organizing groups on every UNC-system college campus to garner enough support to fight for college access for undocumented immigrants in the legislature.(Perdue) pushed to close this door"" said UNC journalism professor Paul Cuadros, who spoke at the group's first statewide meeting. She's not going to go back on her policy decision. Who's going to open these doors? The students.""But Mauricio Castro" an organizer for the N.C. Latino Coalition" said his organization hopes that new leadership both on the state and federal level will help further comprehensive immigration reform.""We want to deal in realities" not assumptions. We need to correct and clarify misconceptions" Castro said.My experience tells me we need to start with the very basics before we approach the big issues.""Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
Due to a reporting error in this article Phyllis Horns' title was incorrect. She is the interim vice chancellor for health sciences at East Carolina University. State health care officials say proposed budget increases aren't enough to alleviate the growing health care crisis.UNC-system medical schools say addressing both the shortage of professionals and the costs of patients' unpaid medical bills is necessary to fulfill a mandate of serving the state's low-income population.Health care officials requested more than two times the funds proposed by the UNC-system Board of Governors last week and they're bracing for the N.C. General Assembly to grant them even less.The 2009-11 budget increase approved by the board listed health care as its second-to-last funding priority out of 10. Campus safety was the number one priority and it's possible the health schools could receive no increases in funding.East Carolina University's Brody School of Medicine serves more than 20000 low-income patients a year. The school asked for $5 million" but the BOG cut it to $2 million.""I would certainly hope that the General Assembly look at the entire budget request and look at what is needed" particularly in the time of a financial shortfall" said Phyllis Horns, interim dean for the Brody School of Medicine.Maintaining the health of our citizenry — there's hardly anything more important.""Both UNC Health Care and the Brody School provide free health care to anyone in need. They're struggling to meet the needs of a growing number of low-income patients.""The volume of the care being provided is well beyond what was originally anticipated — beyond what this medical school can continue to do and still maintain its financial viability"" Horns said.Increasing access to health care for rural regions is one of the needs identified by the UNC Tomorrow Commission Report, released last year as a mandate for how the UNC system can better serve the state.That need might be put on the back burner for awhile.Karen McCall, a spokeswoman for UNC Health Care, said that UNC Physicians and Associates, a group that provides free health care, is preparing for less funding.We desperately need the program to be funded" but everybody is very realistic in looking at all the competing programs that we're submitting" McCall said. It's going to be a tough budget year.""At N.C. Central University" the department of nursing is trying to ease the shortage by allowing second-degree students to graduate in 16 months instead of two years.Lorna Harris chairwoman of the nursing department" said she hopes the program will get enough funding to start in January — they still need funds to fill the program's positions.""I believe that in (the legislature's) deliberation" providing additional health care providers will be a key factor for them" Harris said.Without the right funding, North Carolinians in need of health care could end up without it.We very much would not like to need to turn away any patients" Horns said.If we're not able to get support from the state to provide the care" I think we will have … to figure out how we take care of those who cannot afford to pay for medical care.""Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
The UNC-system Board of Governors convened Thursday for its monthly meeting.Following a policy discussion on partnerships between the UNC system and N.C. Community College System the board committees met. Below are the highlights from the day.Partnering with community colleges:N.C. Community College System President Scott Ralls had his first formal meeting with the full board Thursday.Both systems are making it a priority to improve collaboration between institutions" and UNC-system President Erskine Bowles pledged to fight for the community college system as much as for his own.The following are Ralls' top priorities:- Focus training on emerging and ""recession-proof"" industries such as aerospace and aviation" health care and technology;- Focus on college completion especially among low-income students;- Simplify educational transitions among high schools community colleges and universities by streamlining standards between high schools and community colleges and expanding transfer programs;- Pay community college instructors at the national average;- Improve communication between university and community college faculty.Report on medical graduates:Dr. Thomas Bacon program director of the Area Health Centers Education program gave a presentation to the Committee on Educational Planning Policies and Programs on the need for more graduates from N.C. medical schools to pursue primary care.- Only 10.9 of UNC-Chapel Hill's primary care physicians are in rural areas.- Only 30 percent of 2001 medical graduates from UNC-Chapel Hill were practicing in North Carolina as of 2006.- Bacon said schools should create tracks for under-served rural or primary care physicians.Accountability as a priority:The audit committee discussed an update on the Finance Transformation Project which aims to standardize the policies and processes of accountability and internal auditing at all system campuses.They also decided to attempt to amend the 2009-11 budget priorities to make accountability the No. 4 priority instead of No. 10.- The project will work mostly with financial aid and general accounting departments because they are most at risk for misappropriations.- New standards developed for contracts and grants are being tested.- The new policies will be required of campuses by April 2009 and the first reports from campuses will be due July 2009. Senior Writers Lindsey Naylor and Brendan Brown contributed reporting.Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
From the president all the way down to state legislators the N.C. Democratic and Republican parties are hoping to sweep today's election.Through voter turnout induced by the presidential election and straight ticket voting" the two parties are hoping that this election will bring lower-ballot races into a larger victory party.""The presidential race helps everyone" especially in turnout" said Kerra Bolton, spokeswoman for the N.C. Democratic Party. She added that a cohesive Democratic ticket could help just as much.This election is about the economy" and Democrats have a better plan for the economy Bolton said.But the other side of the aisle is touting the exact same advantage.I think that when our candidates share similar messages that helps said N.C. Republican Party spokesman Brent Woodcox.A lot of our candidates are stressing small business job creation" the economy — how we can get people back on the road to prosperity.""During most election cycles" candidates for lower offices are often ignored because voters don't know enough about them but the campaigns are making sure to coordinate efforts to get those uniform messages across to undecided voters.Since low-ballot races have fewer campaign volunteers" information on straight-ticket voting and party voter guides play an important role in ensuring a coattails effect.""Folks who are in charge of the field effort out there make sure that they're pushing … the importance of straight party ticket voting and down-ballot voting"" said Alina Johnson, campaign manager for Josh Stein, N.C. Senate Democratic candidate for Wake County.They've done a really good job with that at the presidential level.""Johnson said that the campaign for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama is making this year's election a little bit different when it comes to the state's political dynamics.""North Carolina traditionally votes Democrat (on the) state level down from presidential Republican. This year is different in that the presidential race has generated a lot of excitement among … newly registered Democrats"" she said.The dichotomy between state and federal party preferences in North Carolina is also affecting the strategy of the Republican party.With a Democrat-dominated N.C. General Assembly, the GOP is trying to bring in a wave of Republican legislators with a Republican governor or senator victory.When you have an anti-incumbent mood and a desire for new leadership" I think that helps our Republican candidates because they have been in the minority for several years" Woodcox said.He referenced Charlotte Mayor and Republican candidate for governor Pat McCrory, as someone who could bring lower-ballot Republicans into office on a campaign for change.In Forsyth County, U.S. Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., has held his seat for 16 years.However, Forsyth County Republicans are hoping that the voter turnout for Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain will help Watt's challenger Ty Cobb get elected.With the turnouts for McCain and the Republican Party … he does have a chance" said Forsyth County GOP Chairman Bill Miller.The state party has organized statewide with Victory '08 and McCain — both are working very closely together with not only the state party but all the way down the line to the local counties" he said.Only Election Day will tell whose coattails will have the greatest effect, but for Bolton, the answer is clear.We haven't seen the same kind of enthusiasm with the McCain ticket as we've seen with Obama" or the diversity of enthusiasm" she said.There's an enthusiasm gap.""Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
From the president all the way down to state legislators the N.C. Democratic and Republican parties are hoping to sweep today's election.Through voter turnout induced by the presidential election and straight ticket voting" the two parties are hoping that this election will bring lower-ballot races into a larger victory party.""The presidential race helps everyone" especially in turnout" said Kerra Bolton, spokeswoman for the N.C. Democratic Party. She added that a cohesive Democratic ticket could help just as much.This election is about the economy" and Democrats have a better plan for the economy Bolton said.But the other side of the aisle is touting the exact same advantage.I think that when our candidates share similar messages that helps said N.C. Republican Party spokesman Brent Woodcox.A lot of our candidates are stressing small business job creation" the economy — how we can get people back on the road to prosperity.""During most election cycles" candidates for lower offices are often ignored because voters don't know enough about them but the campaigns are making sure to coordinate efforts to get those uniform messages across to undecided voters.Since low-ballot races have fewer campaign volunteers" information on straight-ticket voting and party voter guides play an important role in ensuring a coattails effect.""Folks who are in charge of the field effort out there make sure that they're pushing … the importance of straight party ticket voting and down-ballot voting"" said Alina Johnson, campaign manager for Josh Stein, N.C. Senate Democratic candidate for Wake County.They've done a really good job with that at the presidential level.""Johnson said that the campaign for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama is making this year's election a little bit different when it comes to the state's political dynamics.""North Carolina traditionally votes Democrat (on the) state level down from presidential Republican. This year is different in that the presidential race has generated a lot of excitement among … newly registered Democrats"" she said.The dichotomy between state and federal party preferences in North Carolina is also affecting the strategy of the Republican party.With a Democrat-dominated N.C. General Assembly, the GOP is trying to bring in a wave of Republican legislators with a Republican governor or senator victory.When you have an anti-incumbent mood and a desire for new leadership" I think that helps our Republican candidates because they have been in the minority for several years" Woodcox said.He referenced Charlotte Mayor and Republican candidate for governor Pat McCrory, as someone who could bring lower-ballot Republicans into office on a campaign for change.In Forsyth County, U.S. Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., has held his seat for 16 years.However, Forsyth County Republicans are hoping that the voter turnout for Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain will help Watt's challenger Ty Cobb get elected.With the turnouts for McCain and the Republican Party … he does have a chance" said Forsyth County GOP Chairman Bill Miller.The state party has organized statewide with Victory '08 and McCain — both are working very closely together with not only the state party but all the way down the line to the local counties" he said.Only Election Day will tell whose coattails will have the greatest effect, but for Bolton, the answer is clear.We haven't seen the same kind of enthusiasm with the McCain ticket as we've seen with Obama" or the diversity of enthusiasm" she said.There's an enthusiasm gap.""Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
In Mama Dip's back room"" Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory made sure no one misunderstood his opponent.""(Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue) says one thing in Charlotte and another thing somewhere else"" he said about his Democratic opponent.I give the same message no matter where I am.""Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton introduced McCrory on Wednesday at a supporters' breakfast"" emphasizing that he is a Democrat endorsing a Republican.""I've been impressed by the way he's stood up for good government in North Carolina"" Chilton said.Chilton accused the state government of being corrupt and power-hungry, and pointed to McCrory as a leader who could change that.Democrats" Republicans and unaffiliateds agree on one thing: The government should not be run for somebody's personal property but for the taxpayers here in North Carolina" Chilton said.In the final days of a campaign that has been neck-and-neck — Perdue leads McCrory 47 to 44 in an Oct. 25 to 26 poll by Raleigh's Public Policy Polling — McCrory criticized the negative and distorted"" ads of the Perdue campaign.""These last few days I'm going to run a positive" grassroots campaign" he said, explaining that he doesn't have the corporate and party machine money to run negative television ads across the state the way Perdue has.He also accused Perdue of being a part of a party machine in Raleigh.The state government is run by a power elite behind closed doors. They never get out of the beltline in Raleigh"" McCrory said.Supporters of all ages, some proudly displaying I voted"" stickers"" shouted ""leadership"" as McCrory promised to lead an ethical government that would be proactive across party lines.""There's not a Republican or Democratic way to fill a pothole"" McCrory said. I've always found a bipartisan coalition to make things happen.""Charlotte residents have seen McCrory reach across the aisle as the Republican mayor of a city with a Democratic city council.""If you look at his record" he has just gotten things done. There are a whole lot more Democrats in Charlotte but in the midst of a Democratic-dominated city council there's been bipartisan support" said UNC Students for Pat McCrory member, first-year John Harris.Additionally, McCrory has clinched the endorsements of most of the major state newspapers, which typically endorse Democrats. The Daily Tar Heel also endorsed McCrory on Monday.McCrory said that his seven terms as mayor of a Democratic city and his commitment to government ethics have attracted liberal support for his candidacy.I've been courting Independents"" Republicans and Democrats since the beginning. That's how I've been elected mayor seven times.""Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.