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(03/30/10 4:12am)
A man who’s been in law enforcement since the civil rights era could lose his sheriff seat this year if a change-minded man gets enough support.Hillsborough police Chief Clarence Birkhead is challenging Lindy Pendergrass, a fellow Democrat and incumbent since 1982.The election, which is likely to be competitive, has caught the attention of many citizens, including the founder of the political blog OrangePolitics, Ruby Sinreich. She said she thinks Birkhead, who is black, will gain support from the minority community.
(03/05/10 4:53am)
With only two deer down and three shots taken, Governors Club deer hunters have a long way to go. They have until April 15 to kill no more than 65 antler-less deer. But community officials continue to hear disapproval from residents who want archers out of their yards.Governors Club is in the third week of its deer eradication program, which seeks to cull the area’s growing deer population by enlisting archers to hunt with bow and arrow throughout the property.“We’ve got a lot of rich people that love their gardens, and the deer come in and eat their plants,” said Paul Schwenke, an 11-year Governors Club resident.Officials of the gated community south of Chapel Hill ordered residents to remove unapproved “No Trespassing” signs intended to keep deer hunters out of their yards.Schwenke and other protesters received letters from the neighborhood’s property owners’ association informing them to remove the signs or face sanctions, including fines.Neighborhood regulation prohibits unapproved signs.The Governors Club community manager did not return phone calls for comment.The hunt has seen opposition since before it began on Feb. 15. According to a Feb. 14 press release by deer hunt opposers, the Governors Club association did not conduct background checks on hunters before their selection.“This lapse in judgment by the POA is totally inappropriate and indicative of the lack of attention paid to residents’ concerns,” said Governors Club resident Caroline Szymeczek in the release.A newsletter to residents by the association’s deer management committee states four of the 37 hunters were removed after a background check. Only misdemeanors and traffic violations were found.Schwenke said detractors believe the hunt presents a safety issue.“Kids like to go play in our common area to walk up the creek, and now that’s been designated a hunting area,” he said.Chatham County Commissioner Sally Kost said hunting in a neighborhood is potentially unsafe but is a state issue.“Everyone has concerns when you have a populated area with hunters in it,” she said. “We’ve got to make sure it’s being done in a safe way.”As town officials continue to debate adopting an urban archery program, they have said that safety is one of their main concerns.Council members have delayed voting on participating in the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission-sponsored urban archery season.Council member Laurin Easthom wrote in an e-mail that it seems deer hunting angers many.“I’m not sure we want to go down that road as we consider the matter in Chapel Hill,” she wrote.Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(02/16/10 5:18am)
Orange County might be coming up $5.7 million short next year.This proposed 2010-11 budget deficit could result in higher property taxes for residents. If not, jobs and community programs could be at stake.County Manager Frank Clifton said the projected budget, presented at Thursday night’s Orange County Board of Commissioners meeting, is still in its early developmental stages.He said expected increases in costs and the state’s financial situation are to blame for the gap.“I’d like to say that this is the worst-case scenario,” Clifton said.To combat the deficit, Clifton proposed the commissioners try to close the gap without raising taxes by assessing which departments can withstand curtailed funding.He said the board will decide where its funding priorities — like law enforcement and education — lie, while other departments will likely face greater cuts.Lori Taft, the director of the Orange County Parks and Recreation, said her department has been the victim of cuts in the past. She said although she hopes her funds won’t be decreased this time, a loss is likely.“Services that are not mandated by law are targeted for anything that has to be reduced,” she said.Taft’s department suffered a loss last year when two of the 20 staff members took an early retirement incentive.“These people were sort of the heart and soul of our department,” Taft said. “They had knowledge dating back over 20 years, and we don’t have that anymore.”Funding decreases are also responsible for programming cuts. Taft said the department had to cancel a jazz festival and community theater program because they weren’t able to cover the costs.Clifton said the easiest option commissioners have is to reduce the number of authorized positions in the county. Due to last year’s hiring freeze, 140 of the 915 county jobs are now open and could be eliminated.The board could also consider increasing property and sales taxes.But with a property tax rate of 0.858 that accounts for 74 percent of county revenue, Orange County already has the sixth highest rate in the state.The potential quarter-cent sales tax increase would require a citizen referendum vote. If passed, the increase wouldn’t take effect for three months, a reason Clifton said the measure would be more beneficial next year.Commissioner Barry Jacobs said he didn’t think either option will happen.“Almost all of the departments will face cuts, except public safety,” he said.The next budget discussion is March 4, by which time all department requests should be turned in.Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(02/11/10 6:24am)
Despite another loss Wednesday night, flocks of students displayed their UNC spirit on Franklin Street after the game.While crossing Columbia Street, groups of students decked out in their Tar Heel best and carrying Carolina blue balloons joined together in a heartfelt rendition of “Hark the Sound.”As students sang, town trucks filled with trash cans combed the streets in search of possible danger.Even with UNC’s less-than-stellar men’s basketball record, the town of Chapel Hill prepared to battle possible bonfire frenzies.Chapel Hill Fire Chief Dan Jones said the fire department plans for big events like Duke games regardless of UNC’s team status.“It’s sports, and you don’t know what the outcome might be,” he said.In collaboration with the Chapel Hill police department, Jones said the fire department planned to have staff and equipment out on Franklin Street after the game.“Particularly with the wind tonight, any fires that are started have the potential to spread to rooftops very easily,” he said.Adhering to her plans, Student Body President Jasmin Jones said there would have been 15 beach balls for students to play with on Franklin Street, but there was no DJ scheduled. She has maintained that bonfires pose a safety issue.Jones, who planned to attend Wednesday’s game and go to Franklin Street after, said she still doesn’t know whether students will like her plan.“We’ll just have to wait and see,” she said.But students downtown after the game said they were disappointed by the lack of bonfires.“We would not have complained about the cold if we had bonfires,” freshman Singer Crawford said.Still, students seemed to share one thing in common — a hatred for Duke.“I still say go to hell, Duke,” freshman Alex Munden said.Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(02/11/10 6:23am)
Despite another loss Wednesday night, flocks of students displayed their UNC spirit on Franklin Street after the game.While crossing Columbia Street, groups of students decked out in their Tar Heel best and carrying Carolina blue balloons joined together in a heartfelt rendition of “Hark the Sound.”As students sang, town trucks filled with trash cans combed the streets in search of possible danger.Even with UNC’s less-than-stellar men’s basketball record, the town of Chapel Hill prepared to battle possible bonfire frenzies.Chapel Hill Fire Chief Dan Jones said the fire department plans for big events like Duke games regardless of UNC’s team status.“It’s sports, and you don’t know what the outcome might be,” he said.In collaboration with the Chapel Hill police department, Jones said the fire department planned to have staff and equipment out on Franklin Street after the game.“Particularly with the wind tonight, any fires that are started have the potential to spread to rooftops very easily,” he said.Adhering to her plans, Student Body President Jasmin Jones said there would have been 15 beach balls for students to play with on Franklin Street, but there was no DJ scheduled. She has maintained that bonfires pose a safety issue.Jones, who planned to attend Wednesday’s game and go to Franklin Street after, said she still doesn’t know whether students will like her plan.“We’ll just have to wait and see,” she said.But students downtown after the game said they were disappointed by the lack of bonfires.“We would not have complained about the cold if we had bonfires,” freshman Singer Crawford said.Still, students seemed to share one thing in common — a hatred for Duke.“I still say go to hell, Duke,” freshman Alex Munden said.Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(02/09/10 6:46am)
Carolina North won’t function unless people can get to and from it safely and conveniently, according to a presentation given to town leaders Monday.At the current rate, analysts said half of the intersections will get “F” grades by 2030.The Transportation Impact Analysis presented at Tuesday’s Chapel Hill Town Council meeting concluded that much work remains to be completed on the future satellite campus.Routes to the site, which is two miles north of UNC, lack turn lanes, sidewalks and bike access to accommodate increased traffic on the roadways, the analysis found.According to a memorandum sent to town manager Roger Stancil on Monday, the analysis, which was funded by UNC, cost about $195,000.The memo explained that this cost included the consulting fee for the preparation of the analysis and the time town staff spent on the project. The results of this second study include a change in traffic patterns, a 4 percent increase in bus ridership and a change of the phase two deadline.The phase two horizon of the program was changed from 2025 to 2030 because the development agreement between the town and UNC called for a 20-year term, Carolina North’s executive director Jack Evans said.The fall 2009 analysis showed a more than 8 percent decrease in traffic volume from the first analysis from last spring, but Engineering Services Manager Kumar Neppalli said that this change won’t have a huge impact on the plan.Mitigation measures still include adding buses on some routes, pedestrian and bicycle lanes on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Estes Drive, and some roadway improvements for traffic calming, Neppalli said.Neppalli said the next analysis will not be compiled until 2015.Christopher Conklin, principal of the firm that helped prepare the study, further addressed the issue of traffic mitigation at the meeting when he said that by 2030, half of the intersections in the study area will receive an “F” grade.“This is not similar to a grading scale,” Conklin said. “It goes from basic Nirvana to slightly more than tolerable.”He said that an “F” is equivalent to an average delay at an intersection of 80 seconds or more.Councilman Ed Harrison was concerned with the addition of sidewalks to accommodate additional pedestrian traffic.“If there are no sidewalks, it’s really hard to think of getting better than an ‘F,’” he said.Evans also said the University is involved in active discussions with the contractor for the innovation center, the first stage of development, and the special use permit for the project has already been approved.“Our second project is a new building for the law school, but that depends on money from the legislature,” he said.Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(02/04/10 5:59am)
Gayle Wilson wants your cardboard boxes, your plastic bottles and your aluminum cans, too.
(02/02/10 4:18am)
North Carolina recorded nearly 44,000 incidents of violent crime in 2008, ranking it 10th out of all states.
(01/28/10 5:40am)
Bob Marotto has a dog, a cat, a horse and two goats.
(01/19/10 5:42am)
Robert Reda isn’t defending his roses or azaleas.
(01/12/10 5:31am)
It might be a little longer before the siege local deer are waging on Chapel Hill’s gardens finally ceases.
(11/20/09 6:07am)
Harold Scarborough has seen a lot of strange things during his 20 years as a refuse collector for the town. But the 11 toilets filled with rainwater stacked amid a pile of garbage Thursday was an oddity even for him.“If something besides rainwater comes out of this, I’m going to s--t a brick,” Scarborough said. He smirked as he tossed the toilets in his truck, guessing that the discarded toilets were the result of an apartment renovation project.As a refuse collector for Chapel Hill, Scarborough’s job entails many activities that aren’t for those with light stomachs.Part of his job is dead animal removal — which involves clearing possums, raccoons and sometimes pets — from roadways within town limits. He said on average he clears about seven bodies a week, and deer are by far the most common carcasses.Of the calls made to the Public Works Department to remove the animals, a majority are made by people who smelled the carcasses while exercising outside, he said.“The smell is the worst in the summer, but you learn to cut your nose off,” he said.Scarborough said that sometimes deer are too decomposed to lift by hand, so a knuckle boom truck picks them up in a manner he compared to a crane game at an arcade.“You don’t want to fight buzzards over a deer; it’s theirs,” he said.When he’s not keeping the streets clean of animal remains, Scarborough is responsible for collecting white goods — large products that do not fit into dumpsters, such as couches or refrigerators. After he hoists the objects into his truck and gets to the landfill, he sorts them into categories based on building materials.It’s hard work, but Scarborough said he doesn’t mind.“It’s easier if I do it alone because I know what I’m doing and I can work at my own pace,” he said.“I’m just glad to be working. It puts food on the table.”Scarborough, 47, who moved to Chapel Hill from Mississippi 30 years ago, lives with his wife on the outskirts of town. He also has a daughter in the Army who is stationed in Hawaii.He said he knows that some people appreciate his work, imitating a Scottish accent to recount a story of a pleasant Scottish woman who offered him a soda on a hot day.But not everyone is so kind, he said.“Some people will call to complain that one thing is left behind instead of to say thank you for everything we cleared away,” he said.As his first load of the day came closer to an end, a sweaty and tired Scarborough stood back to evaluate his work.“Will I drink to this later? Yes, I will.”Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(11/10/09 5:23am)
Sixth-grader Jason Satterfield’s favorite class is P.E., but he now has a reason to get more excited about book reports and homework.Satterfield went with his mother, father and brother to accept a free computer Monday through a local nonprofit.“This is a great extra resource for a family with three kids,” his mother, Rebecca Satterfield, said.To help lower-income students connect digitally, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Community Connection Program gave 60 local students free desktop computers Monday night with the help of the Kramden Institute Inc.The organization has also held computer award nights at Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill high schools. Any student, however, can be nominated and complete an application process.After a little more than a year in operation, the Community Connection program has equipped 275 district students with computers, and two computer labs have been established, program manager Renny Johnson said.“With around 1,100 students that do not have out-of-school Internet access, we still have some work to do,” Johnson said.Johnson said each computer costs about $65, so when transportation and refreshment costs are added in, the event cost more than $4,500.With 60 computers to hand out, the meeting ran on a tight schedule. Six families came in every 15 minutes. Upon arrival, they checked in and filled out paperwork before beginning tutorial sessions.Satterfield, who attends Phillips Middle School, said he was excited to use it for his school work and book projects.Patricia Reitz was in charge of checking the students and their families in and out and making sure that they also received flash drives before they left. She is a repeat volunteer with the Community Connection program.“Kids need computers at home to be successful these days,” she said.While some students lack funds to connect, the district has taken steps to be more technologically savvy. The school system has a program, called Connect 2 School, that allows students to connect to their school desktop portal from home.The Kramden Institute, established in 2003, has grown from a father-son basement operation to a program with more than 2,500 volunteers and donors.Alexandra Cordero, the director of events for the Kramden Institute, said the group has supplied almost 5,000 students with computers to date.The computers are collected from donors and then refurbished by volunteers at “Geek-A-Thons” for student use.The organization accepts nominations of eligible students from teachers and counselors on a rolling basis. Cordero said the program’s award dates are booked until next year.“We are working to effectively close the digital divide that exists,” Cordero said.Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(11/03/09 4:40am)
Even though Saturday’s Halloween celebration on Franklin Street was considerably larger than Chapel Hill town officials desired, they viewed the event as a success because of the relatively few mishaps.This year’s Halloween drew 15,000 more people than last year’s 35,000, despite town efforts to limit the celebration further.But town officials didn’t focus on just their crowd-size goal.The town considered several measures of success like tone of the crowd, alcohol-related incidents, confrontations with police officers and number of assaults, said spokeswoman Catherine Lazorko.There was only one arrest during the Franklin Street event for a stabbing outside a fraternity house, compared to five last year and 13 the year before, according to police.Town officials said they were not prepared to comment about stabbing, which came after Franklin Street was cleared.Lazorko said the town’s “Homegrown Halloween” program was effective because it notified partygoers of restrictions ahead of time.The planned midnight curfew officials decided upon was enforced, and police officers cleared the street by 12:20 a.m.But the early end to the merriment left some students dissatisfied.Junior Maggie Burns said the idea of being safer is nice, but trying to get so many people to leave at one time isn’t necessarily effective.“People don’t have anywhere to go except to make trouble,” she said.Burns said the stabbing incident could be an example of problems that arise from closing the street down so early.Lazorko said the town thought restrictions were fair.“People ought to appreciate that we’re trying to keep the tradition and still keep Halloween safe,” Lazorko said.Town Council member Matt Czajkowski said he saw this year’s Halloween celebration as a success.He said controlling Franklin Street isn’t an easy task and is a significant expense to the town, but the safety is worth the price tag.Czajkowski is a mayoral candidate along with Augustus Cho and Mark Kleinschmidt.Council member Laurin Easthom said she stayed at home with her kids on Halloween but thought the town did a good job of controlling Franklin Street. She’s running for the seat again along with Jon DeHart, Ed Harrison, Jim Merritt, Matt Pohlman, Gene Pease, Will Raymond and Penny Rich.“With Halloween being on a Saturday this year and the warm weather we had, I think it’s great that we only had 50,000 people,” she said. Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(10/27/09 4:32am)
As soon as they heard the Varsity Theatre was going to close, two Chapel Hill residents decided to add reopening the historic Franklin Street theater to their to-do list.Susan and Paul Shareshian are in the process of renovating the theater, which they plan to open to the public in late November.“The Varsity Theatre is just such a great piece of history that has always provided people with great experiences,” Susan Shareshian said.The couple, who has lived in Chapel Hill for four years, works full time. After they heard former Varsity owner Bruce Stone planned to close the Varsity, they began negotiations to get the space for themselves.She said when Paul attended negotiations for the space, there were other bidders, but they were the only ones who wanted the space to remain a theater.The Shareshians, who have three children, said they plan to make the Varsity a place where both families and students can have fun at a low cost. To do this, they said they will offer $3 seats for both new and classic movies. The prices are a lower cost alternative to other theaters where average ticket costs are about $7. The theater consists of two screening rooms. The smaller one will house classic pieces like “Gone with the Wind” and the larger room will play more recent films. “We really want to keep the community in mind and get their opinions, because ‘classic’ means different things to different people,” she said.To retain the romantic image of theater in its prime, the couple said they are renovating the building, adding intricate molding and deep red carpeting.They said they are seeking the help of UNC art majors to paint and refurbish the lobby so the theater can open as soon as possible.Susan Shareshian said the theater will have a soft launch, meaning it will open as a work in progress before the grand opening in late November.The grand opening will be for press and town officials only, she said. The next day will be the theater’s first full day of business.While no specific movie times have been set, the Shareshians said they will have two showings a night on each screen and full day of showings on the weekends.Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership Executive Director Jim Norton said he thinks the theater’s re-opening will benefit the downtown area.“The Varsity Theater has always had a very positive impact on the community,” he said.Representatives from the local Regal Entertainment Group, Timberlyne 6, said they aren’t worried about the Varsity’s affect on their business.“Their business never really affected us much before, so we’ll see how things pan out,” said a Timberlyne 6 manager who did not want to give his name.The new Varsity management said they are happy to offer alternatives to corporate media. Since their opening occurs around the December holiday season, Susan Shareshian said she plans to show Christmas classics.“Nobody gets to see ‘Home Alone’ or ‘Frosty the Snowman’ on the big screen anymore, and we want to change that,” she said.
(10/26/09 4:07am)
Gardeners and drivers have decided: It’s time to take revenge on the growing deer population.Residents could be shooting deer with bows and arrows after Chapel Hill officials finish researching a program that would allow residents to hunt deer in certain areas.The state urban archery program allows licensed archers in participating towns to hunt deer with bows and arrows during a season lasting from Jan. 9 to Feb. 13, 2010.Earlier this month, School of Government professor Jesse White Jr. asked Town Council to research the program for use in Chapel Hill. He presented the council with a petition signed by 27 residents of the Mt. Bolus neighborhood.“If I got 27 tree-hugging liberals to sign this petition in a week, it must mean something,” he said.White described the deer predicament in Chapel Hill as “fairly dreadful” — one of his neighbors has seen as many as 15 deer in his backyard at one time, he said.The program framework was established three years ago by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, but actual operations would rest with the town, wildlife biologist George Strader said.To participate, a town must send a letter of interest and a map of selected hunting locations to the commission before April 1 of the year preceding participation.The town is then considered a place for deer archery until town officials send a letter of withdrawal.Although police recommended the town take no action, Town Manager Roger Stancil is looking into urban archery and other population-reducing options, town spokeswoman Catherine Lazorko said. Stancil will report his findings in November.In the police memo, deer birth control and sterilization were mentioned as options not yet approved for North Carolina.Mt. Bolus resident Judy Bergmen signed the petition.“When we moved here in the ‘70s, we were thrilled by the occasional deer,” she said in an e-mail. “But now it’s frightening. I woke up every morning this summer to assess the damage of my once beautiful yard now filled with piles of poop.”She said she was so fed up trying to solve the problem that she started to research other options.Kannapolis police Chief Woody Chavis, whose town is one of the 16 urban archery participants, said the program might not be appropriate for the densely populated Chapel Hill.And Midland town clerk Nancy Boyden said though urban archery works in her town of 3,000, it may not be practical in Chapel Hill.“You don’t need people shooting arrows through other people’s windows,” she said.Boyden said Midland archers shot about 15 deer last season.Sally Greene is one of two Chapel Hill council members who have said they oppose the town’s researching archery.“Deer damage my garden, but I don’t need to hunt them with a bow and arrow,” she said.Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(10/12/09 3:04am)
After rejecting an expansion off Weaver Dairy Road, the town of Chapel Hill is still searching for additional space for the police, public works and parks and recreation departments.Even though there have been no leads since Dawson Hall, town officials said expansion is an urgent need, and they are hopeful.Chapel Hill Public Information Officer Catherine Lazorko said the town is not sure what specifications the future space must meet.The Chapel Hill Town Council will discuss the possibility of a new building purchase in November. Chapel Hill police Chief Brian Curran said that he looks forward to a new location because the current police station building is experiencing mold and plumbing problems along with space issues.“Dawson Hall’s malleable shell and lack of a pre-existing floor plan provided a unique opportunity, but it was a big gamble,” Curran said.Curran plans to keep an eye out for prospective spaces and said he would prefer an existing structure. Finding an open building will be easier than constructing one because there aren’t many undeveloped plots in Chapel Hill, he said.Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation Director Butch Kisiah said that he is looking for a space that would provide cultural arts programming for the community.He said that his department is currently housed in an old transit barn building on Plant Road.“It’s home sweet home, but I don’t know if anyone else would want to be here,” Kisiah said.He said he hopes the town can obtain a building with office space that can also be used for other purposes, such as a dance classroom and an arts and crafts room.The Dawson Hall property was rejected because the town would need to obtain a special use permit to ready the building for public use, a memorandum from Town Manager Roger Stancil stated.To get this permit, the town would have to engage in a six-month process consisting of submitting an application for review by the council, modifying it to meet town regulations and reviewing the application in both a planning board and a public hearing.The memorandum said this process and other factors such as location, financing and parking made the Dawson Hall site less appealing.
(10/01/09 4:21am)
Ursula Hlavacek never thought she would suffer a crime.But this spring she was the victim of thousands of gallons in water theft.Someone stole the water from her house at 104 Westside Drive sometime between May 15 and June 27, according to a Chapel Hill police report filed last week.The mysterious incident has left Hlavacek with expensive bills and few answers.Hlavacek, who works as a pension portfolio manager in Charlotte, said she purchased the Chapel Hill home for her son, William Hlavacek, to live in while he studied medicine at UNC.When he left the house in May, she put it up for sale.Then in June, she said she received a water bill for 13,000 gallons of water. Another bill arrived for 7,000 gallons the next month.“I was flabbergasted. That’s a lot of water use for an empty house,” she said. “I immediately called my real estate agent to figure out what was happening.”Following her agent’s advice, Hlavacek said she hired a plumber to check the house’s piping structure, but the plumber found no leaks.Hlavacek said she decided to install a lock on the house’s water tank. Since the lock was put on, she said she has not had any further problems.Since there was nothing wrong with the house’s pipes, Hlavacek said she then started to consider other reasons for suspicious water use.“I didn’t think the neighbors were taking it, because my son knew them, and they didn’t seem the type,” she said.Hlavacek said she believed that a water company with large tanks might be the culprit, but has no way to prove it. Hlavacek filed a report with the police in hopes of being reimbursed for the payments that this situation has caused her.She said she ended up paying more than $300 in water bills and more than $200 for the plumber.Chapel Hill police Officer Stephen Slagle, who was in charge of investigating the case, said that the report was quite uncommon.“I’ve heard of stolen pipes before but never stolen water,” he said.As of now, the case is closed because all leads have been exhausted, the report states.“Water theft is rare in our community,” Greg Feller, Orange Water and Sewer Authority spokesman, said in an e-mail. He said a typical residential customer uses 5,000 gallons in a month.Hlavacek said she would love to find out the truth about what happened but realizes how difficult that would be.“I guess it’s just another one of those crazy stories,” she said.Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu
(09/25/09 4:16am)
A group of Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce members is gearing up for a trip to China.The nine-day trip, which will cost $2,099 per person, is meant to be a chance to experience the country and its businesses.All those partaking in the trip are paying their own way, said Meg Branson, a two-year member of the Chamber of Commerce and representative for the China trip.A three-day trip the chamber took to Ann Arbor last year cost $1,130 for members.OrangePolitics blog founder Ruby Sinreich said the China trip could be a waste of the chamber’s resources. She went on the Ann Arbor trip and said she didn’t think it was valuable for the chamber.“I’m sure it will be a good time for those going, but I’m not clear if or how it advances the chamber’s goals,” Sinreich said.But Branson, who said she is hoping to participate in the trip to China, said she thinks that being exposed to such a different environment will give local businesses new ideas.“This trip can help to position the Chapel Hill area as a true business leader,” she said.Citslinc International Inc., a group that sets up trips to China, approached the chamber with the opportunity because both are connected with the American Chamber of Commerce Executives, Branson said.Citslinc’s experience with bringing tourists to the country enables the organization to set up special deals for groups.In April, the China trip participants will travel through cities including Beijing, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Shanghai.This trip includes round-trip airfare from John F. Kennedy International Airport, three full meals each day, lodging at four- and five-star hotels, English speaking tour guides and entrance fees for tourist attractions.Non-members can go on the trip for $100 more.Bill Crittenden, a three-year chamber member, has already signed up for the trip along with his wife. He said he believes that any kind of foreign travel is a beneficial educational experience.“My expectation is that this trip will open up new visual and thought vistas for the businesses in the Chapel Hill area,” Crittenden said.Todd Crenshaw, who represents DeWitt Law on the Chamber of Commerce, said that he is eager to see what’s going on in China in terms of development.“I want to see what exactly is giving China their reputation of being the next up-and-coming place,” he said.The trip has a maximum of 150 spots, but the Chamber of Commerce is aiming to have 40 participants, Branson said.As of now, Branson said there are only ten people signed up. She plans to discuss the trip with the Morrisville Chamber of Commerce to open the excursion to their members also.Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu
(09/14/09 4:55am)
Carrboro’s ReCYCLEry is being forced to move once again due to town development. After moving from rural Carrboro to East Main Street in March, they must vacate their space by the end of the year.Without a new home to move to, the ReCYCLEry, a volunteer-based organization that enables participants to fix up old bikes for free, doesn’t know its future.The organization is currently located on the site of a future development, slated to break ground in early 2010, which will include a hotel, parking deck, offices and restaurant space.Jim Spencer Architects is the firm leading the development of the East Main project. Jim Spencer, the company principal, said he wishes the ReCYCLEry didn’t have to move but is highly anticipating East Main Street’s new developments. “I look forward to having more things to do on this side of town, and I’m excited for the new Cat’s Cradle,” Spencer said.Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton said he is excited for Carrboro to have its first hotel and he believes the East Main project will have a positive influence on the town.But he’s also concerned for the future of the ReCYCLEry.“The move was inevitable,” Chilton said. “But we are continuing to work with them in finding a new location.”ReCYCLEry director Chris Richmond said he has not yet secured a permanent place for the group. With the lease on the lot ending in December and construction beginning shortly after, he is not left with much time to find a new location.“We had a lead, but it didn’t pan out,” he said.ReCYCLEry volunteer Robert “Rew” Wilson has been attending workshops regularly since the start of summer and said he will continue after the impending move.“Biking is something fun I can do with my kids, and the people here are a great bunch,” Wilson said. He plans to continue going no matter where the ReCYCLEry ends up.Samantha Overmyer is not so sure.She’s a volunteer who commutes from Pittsboro usually on her bike, her only mode of transportation. Overmyer, who participates in the ReCYCLEry’s Sunday workshops, said she is sad to see the organization move again because she does not know if it will be possible for her to travel to a different location.“Fixing bikes is something that takes a lot of patience, but this is a great place to learn and meet people,” said Overmyer. The pending relocation could cause some volunteers to hesitate about starting new projects, but Richmond said he has not seen a decline in participants.Richmond said he has always focused on creating a strong relationship with UNC and that a campus location would be prime.“I would love to explore future options with the school,” Richmond said.Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.