====== Hot Orange News & Analysis - January 2009 ====== === For Providing Your Feedback to Hot Orange Squeezes, Log In and Go to the Page Bottom ⇓ === ===== UNC Innovation Center Permitted – Blurring the Public/Private Line With Private Capital & Private Gain For Public Purposes ===== ==== Press The Image To Hear The Deal Explained ==== [[http://squeezethepulp.com/w/_media/{{:ho:failure_communicate.mp3|{{:ho:blurred_innovation.jpg?350x350}}]] \\ \\ __Yes Sir Boss!__\\ The Chapel Hill Town Councilors approved a special use permit (SUP) for the building of the UNC Innovation Center, first building to rise on the UNC research park known as [[ps:cn|Carolina North]]. But the building apparently won’t be owned or built by UNC. Private capital will build the UNC Innovation Center. Private capital will profit from the UNC Innovation Center in an opaque financial process. At a time when banks are crumbling from a lack of financial transparency in junk mortgage portfolios, UNC has responded with its own opaque deal – the UNC Innovation Center. The town approved a permit to build to a three-story, 80,745 square foot building on eight acres at Carolina North. The building is slated for the site formerly occupied by the Town's public works and transit operations. (See [[http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/orange/10-1081299.cfm| Chapel Hill Herald Story]].)\\ \\ __Permitted But Not Being Bid__\\ Curiously, the permit has been issued in the face of an announcement that the building won’t be built any time soon. [[http://www.labspce.com| Alexandria Real Estate Equities]] (stock ticker ARE) told UNC’s Carolina North bosses in December 2008 that it’s suspending work on the project. On 3 November 2008 ARE CEO Joel Marcus told ARE investors that ARE would halt work on all projects in its development pipeline that had not already broken ground. In the words of Carolina North spokeswoman Susan Houston “//Alexandria continues to express interest in the Innovation Center project, but it is not clear when the project will proceed.//” (See [[http://www.genomeweb.com/bioregionnews/credit-crunch-delays-unc-chapel-hill%E2%80%99s-research-campus-alexandria-halts-work| BRN Carolina North Story]].) __The Opaque Deal__\\ But who pays for the building? Who owns it at the end of the lease? Who receives rents? Who pays rents? According to Mr. Marcus, ARE and UNC-CH have agreed that UNC will contribute land to the venture. ARE would lease at the land for $1 a year for 40 years. ARE is indicating that it must find other private partners to fund the building. (According to Mr. Mark Crowell, UNC associate vice chancellor for economic development and technology transfer, the Innovation Center will cost about $20,000,000 million to build.) Even though ARE will buld the physical Innovation Center and apparently own the building for now, ARE didn't have to be involved AT ALL in the permitting process with the Town. No word on who will pay what taxes to the town of Chapel Hill? __Why ARE?__\\ Unreported in the local media is the factor of whose inevitable local pal is involved in the Innovation Center deal. In this case, the UNC pal is none other than Mr. John L. Atkins, III, an ARE director since 2007. Besides profiting from other deals made by ARE, Mr. Atkins is also chairman and CEO of O'Brien/Atkins Associates, PA, a multidisciplinary architectural design services firm that he co-founded in Research Triangle Park in 1975. He is also director, executive committee member and treasurer of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. He is also director of the North Carolina Railroad Company. He is also director of the Kenan Center of Engineering, Science and Technology at North Carolina State University. __Obedient Town Staff__\\ The town appears happy to issue permits for a building with no timeline for being built. According to town manager [[ss:rs|Mr. Roger Stancil]] prior to the Councilors decision, “//It’s a matter of Alexandria and the university deciding what they’re going to do. We, meaning the town, don’t know what will happen. In all likelihood, the deferral of the project would cause the innovation center, the Alexandria project, to just become part of the development agreement for all of Carolina North. It wouldn’t be treated separately, like it is now.//” __Carolina North Sketch __\\ Since June 2007 Carolina North continues to grow on paper. According to UNC’s original 2007 Carolina North Plan, the first two phases have added the following: 125,000 square feet of “corporate partner space”; 50,000 square feet of “centers and institutes space”; and 30,000 square feet of research space. At a combined 3,000,000 square feet, Carolina North Phase 1 and Phase 2 are 21% denser. Here’s the latest Carolina North configuration (subject to change without notice, no implied or express warranties). ^Carolina North Phase 1^ ^ ^ Use ^ Size ^ | Research building | 200,000 sf | | School of Public Health | 155,000 sf | | Interdisciplinary Research Center | 150,000 sf | | Unidentified "Center" | 122,000 sf | | Unidentified "Institute" | 93,000 sf | | Housing | 200,000 sf | | Corporate Partners | 170,000 sf | | UNC Facility Services |75,000 sf | | Retail/commercial | 50,000 sf | ^ Carolina North Phase 2^ ^ ^ Use ^ Size ^ | Corporate partners | 480,000 sf | | Third "Center" | 150,000 sf | | Office & classrooms | 200,000 sf | | UNC-CH Health Care | 200,000 sf | | Housing | 450,000 sf | | Retail/commercial | 20,000 sf | ^ Carolina North Phase 3 ^ ^ ^ Use ^ Size ^ | Unspecified uses | 5,000,000 sf | \\ \\ ===== Miracle At The Dump! Closure Date Extends As Non-African-American Community Sites Require "Thoughtfulness" ===== ==== Press The Image To Hear Solid Waste Faith ==== [[http://squeezethepulp.com/w/_media/{{:ho:miracles.mp3|{{:ho:miracle_at_dump.jpg?350x350}}]] \\ \\ Almost two years ago [[ps:start#commish|Orange County Commishes]] were told by Mr. Gayle Wilson (Orange County Solid Waste) that the county landfill was running out of space by 2010. (See the [[http://www.carrborocitizen.com/main/2007/03/29/commissioners-approve-transfer-station-for-solid-waste-at-eubanks-road-site/|Carrboro Citizen Trash Transfer Series]].) Time had run out. A decision had to be made “RIGHT NOW”, said Commishes [[ss:mc|Moses Carey]] and [[ss:mn|Mike Nelson]]. With much public hand-wringing they voted unanimously to place a county trash transfer station on Eubanks Road. Only a few stood up against the Commishes. Neither the Chapel Hill nor the Carrboro town governance boards stood up against a Eubanks Road trash transfer station. They showed their political courage by remaining mute, even though Commish Moses Carey asked them in writing for their opinion. Grassroots anti-ANY-trash transfer station groups didn’t exist. As long as the same old working class African-American Rogers Road community was being dumped on, the local media remained mute. Then the trash hit the fan. A formal complaint of environmental racism was filed against Orange County with the US Department of Justice by Rogers Road residents. The Commishes hadn’t followed federal government guidelines for locating the proposed transfer station. How rude. It was hard to keep the environmental racism garbage from clinging. Public shame was followed by political challengers having the nerve to run in local elections. They actually attempted to make the trash transfer station process an issue. The local media responded to these charges of environmental racism by waiting until AFTER those elections to pound their chest. Ensuring that only the “right people”” are elected takes progressive precedence over outing local environmental racism. The local chapter of the Sierra Club remained mute as well. One Carrboro municipal challenger walked out on their political forum to dramatize the failure of the local chapter to get involved. The chapter president declared "foul" because Rogers Road environmental racism was "//one of their issues//". The reward for these //faux// environmentalists making like a herd of ostriches was support by the local Orange Progressive political groups behind their chapter president [[ss:bp|Ms. Bernadette Pelissier]]. She was handily elected to a county commish spot in 2008 without once speaking out against the environmental racism practiced by local government. (Bootlicking remains the favored mode of progressing politically in Orange County.) Fast forward two years and consider the new found distaste of local Orange Progressives for employing what two years ago was proclaimed to be state-of-the-art, clean, attractive technology, a distaste that wasn't expressed at that meeting in 2007. Once alternative trash transfer station sites were considered, alternatives that aren’t not located near an African-American working class community, the shine came off the trash transfer station "//shinola”//. The town of Hillsborough was considered as a site. The mayor said, [[http://squeezethepulp.com/w/ps:er#state_of_the_art_solid_waste_trash_transfer_station_not_welcome_in_progressive_hillsborough_tourism_trumps_environmental_justice | “thanks, but no thanks”]]. Grassroots groups (such as the "not-near-my-farmette" [[http://www.orangecountyvoice.org/|Orange County Voice]]) sprung up to protest the use of a solid waste trash transfer station once it was to be moved off of Eubanks Road. Finally, on 22 January 2009, with about one year to go to closure and the political heat on, a miracle happened. The dump wouldn’t close at least for another year, not until 2011, said Mr. Wilson. Although two years ago, the Commishes “had to vote now” and build that station, miraculously the Commishes could now vote to “//examine alternatives to building a solid waste transfer station//". In the words of [[ss:bj|Commish and nearby Hillsborough resident Barry Jacobs]],"//The basic assumption that a transfer station is the best alternative may be too narrow… There's no reason to not get a good answer to a question if you have time. After a certain point, you're out of options. We're not out of time and we're not out of options.//" (See [[http://www.chapelhillnews.com/front/story/38356.html| Chapel Hill News Landfill Miracle Story]].) Now that a non-African American working class community isn’t involved there’s time for the Commishes and local Orange Progressives to be thoughtful. Time they didn’t have two years ago. Time they have now. In more words of caring from Commish Jacobs, "//We want to satisfy that we've looked at all reasonable alternatives. We want to be sure that we're taking an approach that is thoughtful and, within the realm of solid waste management, progressive. Within the philosophy of trying to reduce waste, are we making the best choices in how to dispose of waste? Those are the questions.//" (See [[http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/orange/10-1081173.cfm|Herald Sun Plenty Of Time Story.]]) No word on when the Vatican will send representatives to visit the landfill to witness the site of the miracle. \\ \\ ===== Carrboro Parking Deficit Solved By Selective BOA Reading of UNC Student Parking Study ===== ==== Press The Image To Hear Mayor Chilton On Parking Hysteria ==== [[http://squeezethepulp.com/w/_media/{{:ho:daffy_nerve_misery.mp3|{{:ho:boa_towing.jpg?350x350}}]] \\ \\ In the world of southern Orange County, the easiest way to solve a problem is to “study” the problem and then, as a result of that study, declare it not to be a problem. The Carrboro [[ph:start#boa| BOA]] maintains that high standard of problem solving in its latest pronouncement that parking is not really a problem, just one of perception. According to the BOA, demand does not exceed 85% of capacity in Carrboro. Thus, the merchant complaints are unfounded. Thus, the BOA can continue to strip parking from downtown infill projects. Thus, the town doesn’t need to build a parking garage. Thus, the endless minutes you spend circling the blocks in Carrboro’s business district are your problem, not theirs. As reported in the [[ http://www.chapelhillnews.com/front/story/37593.html| the Chapel Hill News]], [[ss:jhb|Alderman Joal Hall Broun]] declared that the town should not encourage parking everywhere. "//We should ask ourselves how much do we want to encourage parking and how much of it do we not want to encourage.//" Well said for someone who drives to every town meeting and has plenty of parking at town hall for her to do so. However, [[ss:mkc|Mayor Mark Chilton]] warned that the town may have to spend some money on parking. That’s not a problem for him as the town subsidizes UNC for a major part of the [[http://www.townofchapelhill.org/index.asp?NID=72| Chapel Hill Transit bus system]]. In fact, Carrboro pays far more per capita for that system than the town of Chapel Hill. Curiously absent from the local media coverage is the mention of who actually conducted the study. The study was not conducted by a traffic engineering firm. The study was conducted by a UNC student group as part of a class exercise. The non-certified engineers found that if you include the entire downtown area, then current parking demand does not exceed the ideal of 85% occupancy. However, they also found that current parking demand does exceed ideal occupancy in certain “subzones”, at specific times of day. They also found that demand is projected to increase with future developments. As pointed out repeatedly by the Pulp, the students found there will be a parking shortage in the sub-zone around the five story condo/hotel 300 E Main property after it’s developed. Cherry-picking only the supportive findings from student project reports, that’s the sound progressive basis for making parking planning decisions in Carrboro. \\ \\ ===== Developer Dream Team Hubris... After Public Objects to First Southern Village Hotel Plan, Team Comes Back With An Even Bigger Plan ===== ==== Press The Image To Hear The Sound Of Rezoning Music ==== [[http://squeezethepulp.com/w/_media/{{:ho:julie_andrews_goat.mp3|{{:ho:sv_hotel_overhead.jpg?350x350}}]] \\ \\ [[ho:september_2008#dense_is_as_dense_does_politically_connected_developers_continue_profits_over_people_development| As posted in the Pulp]] last September 2008, [[ph:start#developer_dream_team|Developer Dream Team]] members D. R. Bryan, John Fugo, and [[ss:rw|Rosemary Waldorf]] proposed a six-story building in the middle of the village center. Back in September Developer Dream Team member, local political incumbent campaign contributor, and former Chapel Hill mayor Rosemary Waldorf,said ”//[a] hotel or new residential condominium building could be a third 'anchor' in the Village Center, along with Weaver Street and the Lumina Theatre.//” Ms. Waldrop and associates D.R. Bryan and John Fugo are all members of the team that won approval for a 1,000,000 square foot project at [[ps:ldp|Buckhorn Village]] from the [[ph:start#commish|Orange County commishes]]. Local citizen response was overall less than enthusiastic to the plans for a 90,000 hotel with 58,000 sq feet of parking. Less than six months later, the Southern Village developers show their concern and respect for those citizens by revealing a plan that’s 33% bigger, one that encompasses over 120,000 square feet. Here’s a table showing hotel project differences introduced since September's showing: ^ ^ September 24, 2008 ^ January 21, 2009 ^ ^ ^ Community Design ^ Council Concept Plan ^ ^ ^ Commission Concept Plan ^ ^ ^Number of Floors| 6 |4 | ^Floor Area | 90,476 SF | 120,000 SF | ^Parking | 147 | 100-125 hotel / 30-38 multi-family | ^No. of Hotel Rooms | 90 | 101 | ^No. of Condominium Units | 60 | 50-75 | ^Parking Space Layout (garage) | Not shown | 90 degrees. 18 ft. long; aisle 24 ft. wide | ^Building Width | Outside street right-of-way | Encroaches into public street right-of-way | ^Aberdeen St. | Street right-of-way remains open | Aberdeen Street right-of-way closed for plaza | Lost recreational credits from the original zoning approval in paving over the open space and parking have not been discussed by the developers or town staff, an oversight of substance. Showing just how clueless Southern Village residents are, Ms. Haleigh Cole told the Chapel Hill town planners that she doesn't want density in her community. "//Southern Village's appeal is in its small, suburban community environment," she wrote. "However, over time that community is being invaded by unecessarily huge, city-like buildings. It's destroying our airspace. If this hotel is built ... we'd be living in the shadow of city-like consumerism.//" No word on when the local media will inform its public that Chapelboro is engaged in small town urbanism, not small town suburbanism. \\ \\ ===== UNC Airport Site Takes Off From Horace Williams, Circles, & With Aid of Local Progressive Dupes Lands Perfectly… Back At Carolina North ===== ==== Press The Image To Hear UNC Praise For Mr. Marcoplos ==== [[http://squeezethepulp.com/w/_media/{{:ho:foghorn_more_noise.mp3|{{:ho:airport_shell_game.jpg?350x350}}]] \\ \\ While a US Airways commercial aviation pilot masterfully glides an engineless jet into the frigid Hudson River with no fatalities, UNC aviation experts glide the AHEC airport home to Carolina North from a “flight to nowhere”, with no fatalities other than the hubris of those claiming a “great victory” over UNC. For months Orange Progressives made much ado about the “relocation” of the UNC airport from its present Carolina North research park site that it has occupied for decades as the Horace Williams airport. The spark for the airy Pavlovian tinder of Carolina North development was the introduction of an [[http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2007/Bills/House/PDF/H2725v1.pdf|airport authority bill]] into the North Carolina General Assembly by Orange County Representative Verla Insko //et alia//. The bill allowed the UNC system to create airport governance boards to finance, build, or operate new airports that would “//support the missions of The University of North Carolina, its constituent institutions, or the University of North Carolina Health Care System”//. Such an airport authority would be a political subdivision of the State. Orange County Representative Bill Faison later amended the bill to allow such a UNC system airport to be built in just one county. Pulp readers should note what the bill actually does say and does not say. It does not require the closure of the Horace Williams airport. It does not require the building of any airport. It allows any number of new airports to be built ANYWHERE in the state. It does allow the Horace Williams airport to stay where it is and not fall within this new airport authority. Local progressives immediately went into an entirely predictable Pavlovian, Chicken Little "sky-is-falling" response. Although the bill was not simply a “Horace Williams relocation” bill, local progressives immediately dredged up a [[http://research.unc.edu/cn/concept/Talbert_Bright_files/frame.htm#slide0|2005 report]] by the airport engineering firm Talbert & Bright. Instead of seeing a number of potential sites for potentially relocating the Horace Williams airport, local progressives saw only one site, one near the hamlet of White Cross, just west of Carrboro. Reading that one of the recommended sites for a relocated Horace Williams airport was in White Cross, former OWASA director, former real estate advertiser columnist, OWASA profiteer (aka local builder), and nearby White Cross resident [[ss:mm|Mr. Mark Marcoplos]] predictably went into full conspiracy mode. In the local media he labeled the “airport relocation” process as [[http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/opinion/columnists/guests_ch/110-1047405.cfm| reckless]] and claimed the current economic downturn is due to that process. In the local media he blamed UNC's [[http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/orange/10-1023383.cfm|"clumsy machinations"]] for reassessment appeals by people claiming they will be near an airport when no such airport site has been selected. Just google “marcoplos UNC airport” and one can see the profundity of impressive progressive observations by Mr. Marcoplos offered up at will. Unfortunately, all of those observations are based on an assumption that UNC will relocate the airport to White Cross. While a possibility, there’s a low probability to that event happening, a factor totally ignored by Mr. Marcoplos. What Mr. Marcoplos failed to say (if he absorbed it at all from reading the Talbert & Bright report) is that while building a new airport would cost around $50,000,000, improving the existing Horace Williams airport as the defining centerpiece of the Carolina North research park would cost only around $6,000,000. Why is this fact important? Because UNC alumni power brokers have all along indicated a preference for keeping the airport where it is. Mr. Marcoplos likes to believe that Chapelboro isn’t a company town, controlled by UNC. (To an Orange Progressive, if you feel that something isn’t true, then it isn’t true.) Pulp readers who want to have an understanding of how the Horace Williams airport drama might play out should take the long view on the Carolina North research park development process. (Be sure to focus on the research park aspect of this process.)\\ First, UNC identified the salutary benefits of wrapping a hegemonic satellite campus extension around the concept of an economic development potential of a university research park (such as [[http://centennial.ncsu.edu/|North Carolina State’s Centennial Campus]]).\\ Second, UNC identified the Horace Williams airport site as a potential site for that UNC research park, which became known as [[ps:cn|Carolina North]].\\ Third, UNC announced the Carolina North site for a research park.\\ Fourth, UNC conducted extensive on-site visitations and consultations of other publically owned, bio-medical university research parks such as those at the University of Virginia, and University of Maryland at Baltimore, //et alia//.\\ Fifth, UNC announced the potential moving of the Horace Williams airport to the Raleigh area commercial aviation airport (RDU).\\ Sixth, UNC hired Talbert & Bright to prepare an engineering report that shows the options available.\\ Seventh, UNC concluded that an RDU move would not serve the needs of the [[http://www.med.unc.edu/ahec/|UNC AHEC system]] in Chapel Hill.\\ Eighth, UNC legislative supporters (a phrase which includes Representative Insko, a darling of local Orange Progressives) introduced an airport authority bill.\\ Ninth, local Orange Progressives provide predictable negative response.\\ Tenth, UNC announces that a modified airport relocation process will ensue taking into account the no White Cross location Orange Progressive feelings. With the relocation tinder in place and the Pavlovian sparker ready to blather and rail against anything UNC would do to ruin his backyard, the firestorm against locating a new airport was lit and blazed to the skies. Lots of noise was published by the local media. Predictably, the local Orange Progressives declared a “great victory” over UNC. The local media even proclaimed how they [[http://www.chapelhillnews.com/opinion/story/36396.html| “made a difference”]] in changing the process. They certainly did. They helped UNC get exactly what it wants. What’s that? What does UNC want? It wants what its important backers have always wanted, to keep the airport where it is and to upgrade it as the crown jewel in the Carolina North research park. Curiously, the local media has never bothered to find out what UNC found out when it talked to the heads of other university research parks. Other university officials associated with such research parks were amazed to find out that UNC would abandon having a limited use, private, general aviation airport in the middle of a research park. They would love to have such a distinguishing feature available for their research park. What an incredible recruitment tool! Yet, UNC was just giving it away. So while the Pulp doesn’t have the "smoking turboprop trail" of a filed airport relocation flight plan from Horace Williams to Carolina North, it does have the ability to connect the dots. The Pulp does respect the marionette ability of UNC officials to manipulate the strings of local Orange Progressives so as to set the airport relocation glidepath firmly down at Carolina North. It's conjecture until the shell is lifted from the table to reveal the location of the pea, but educated prognostication is what life requires to excel. Who better to declare that there is no other site outside Chapelboro for the AHEC airport than those shouting the loudest to close the AHEC airport down? (Remember, RDU is not an option, no matter how much greenhouse gases are emitted by local Orange Progressives.) If there are no Orange County options outside the present location, well that leaves the present location. Game, set, match. \\ \\ ===== Councilor Czjakowski “Panhandles” Fellow Councilors To Control Public Obscenity and Lewdness, As Councilor Greene “Solicits” For Right To Solicit ===== ==== Press The Image To Hear A Street Solicitor In Action ==== [[http://squeezethepulp.com/w/_media/{{:ho:trading_places_panhandler.mp3|{{:ho:alcohol_research_franklin.jpg?350x350}}]] \\ \\ In the continuing saga which is the //battle royale// between the right for people to be free from abusive public behavior of others versus the right for beggars to ask for free money from others (an ability most highly developed in local politicians), the town of Chapel Hill is coming firmly down in the corner of panhandlers. Despite the efforts of that loveable, but wayward thinker, [[ss:mcz|Councilor Matt Czjakowski]], the right to beg for money is too precious to the social well-being of Chapel Hill society to restrict any further. Mr. Czjakowski made the silly mistake of believing that he could look to town governments like Burlington, Vermont, //i.e.//, towns with socialist leaning public policy, to find panhandling control laws that would meet the acceptable rigors required by Orange Progressives. He was wrong. On 14 January 2009, Mr. Czjakowski proposed adopting the Burlington ordinances which would have increased panhandling free zones around bus stops from six feet to fifteen feet and increased fines from a maximum of $50 to a maximum of $500. In his words, “//"The reason that I petitioned for this, obviously, is that there is sentiment within Chapel Hill and amongst other people who are familiar with Chapel Hill that Franklin Street is not a place necessarily that you always want to go. Not just because of panhandling, but because of loitering and aggressive behavior, use of loud obscenities and things of that nature.//" A fifteen foot beggar-free zone is just too much for solicitous Chapel Hill Councilors. [[ss:sg |Councilor Sally Greene]], “friend of her backyard” neighborhood conservation district advocate, crack Lot 5 town negotiator, and a member of the Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness executive board, said Mr. Czajkowski is “//asking the wrong question. I think the right question is the right balance for our community given some competing interests, and one interest that our citizens have is the right to panhandling and the right to be on the street as long as they're not being aggressive. I think we have an ordinance that goes far enough. I don't think we need to look into making the ordinance stricter than it is. I think we can look at enforcement and think about whether our existing ordinances are being enforced enough.//" [[ss:mk| Councilor Mark Kleinschmidt]] joined in on the “Mad Matt” bashing by saying the town has done a good job of responding to specific issues. Demonstrating his keen grasp of human dynamics, Mr. Kleinschmidt apparently believes that his private warnings to the Chapel Hill Police Department last year to back off panhandling law enforcement solved the panhandling problem. (In Orange Progressive logic, if you declare a problem not to exist, it does not exist.) Mr. Kleinschmidt is silent about the embarrassment caused by “Mad Matt’s” persistent public elevation of the non-enforcement of local panhandling laws. (To an Orange Progressive, if you remain silent about an embarassing situation, then the embarassment never occurred.) (See the [[http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/orange/10-1069949.cfm| Herald Sun Soliciting Story]].) \\ \\ ===== Political Anarchist and Media Darling Sinreich Calls Domestication Of Animals "Whacky", As Chapel Hill Herds Cats Indoors ===== ==== Press The Image To Hear Chapelboro Cat Herders At Work ==== [[http://squeezethepulp.com/w/_media/{{:ho:herding_cats.mp3|{{:ho:ruby_cat_leash.jpg?350x350}}]] \\ \\ In most American towns the guerrilla warfare between cats and birds is a part of nature’s landscape. Not so in southern Orange, where pet owners must control every action of their pets, denying them fulfillment of their natural instincts. Recently the town of Chapel Hill received a petition from a resident (Ms. Anne Johnson) to change the town’s existing dog leash ordinance to include cats. (Surprisingly, the town of Cary, North Carolina is ahead of Chapel Hill in having a cat leash ordinance.) The Chapel Hill Town Council chose to reject a cat leash ordinance at this time. However, the town staff reminded everyone that under existing Chapel Hill town ordinances, a cat owner must contain their cat to their own property, which amounts to a //de facto// cat leash ordinance. In response to the town’s actions, anarchist and local media political analyst [[ss:rs|Ms. Ruby Sinreich]], who says she “//swore off pets 20 years ago//", declares that “//[b]y domesticating animals, humans have thrown things out of whack.//” Admitting that she still has cats as pets, she further opines,”// I guess I will just have to live with the guilt because I can't give up my cats or their happiness. Add it to the list of compromises we make to live in this society.//” Local Orange Progressives eagerly awaited the next delphic pronouncement from Ms. Sinreich after her call last year for the [[ss:rs#ruby_sinreich_elevated_by_chapel_hill_news_to_local_political_analyst_position_sinreich_responds_by_calling_for_eradication_of_capitalism|eradication of capitalism]]. After pronouncing domesticated animals to be environmentally "whacky", one can only guess what the [[ph:start#bourgeoise_rentier|Oracle of Bourgeoise Rentiers]] will say next. (See [[http://www.dailytarheel.com/news/city/council_split_on_issue_of_panhandling_downtown| Daily Tar Heel Cat Herding Story]].) \\ \\ ===== A Decade Of Advancing Cosmetic Student Diversity Bears Fruit ===== ==== Press The Image To Hear The Celebration ==== [[http://squeezethepulp.com/w/_media/{{:ho:miranda_tutti_fruitti_clip.mp3|{{:ho:rainbow_fruit.jpg?350x350}}]] \\ \\ As a result of much heralded municipal “open sanctuary” policies for the towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, the “Chapelboro” city school district has undergone dramatic demographic changes in its student population. As shown in the table below, Chapelboro schools are close to realizing the vaunted goal of reaching minority Euro-Caucasian status. ^ Chapelboro Student ^Demographics ^^^ ^ Ethnicity ^ 1995 ^ 2007 ^ % change ^ ^ Euro-Caucasian |73% | 58% | -21% | ^ African –American |19% | 14% | -26%| ^ Asian |~ |13% |+300% | ^ Amero-Hispanic |~ | 10% | +200% | ^ Other |8% | 5% | NA | According to the [[http://www2.chccs.k12.nc.us/education/sctemp/5693543e44ab288a791888201f0bb377/1231950378/CHCCSAnnualReport_07_08.pdf|Chapelboro schools]], “//98 Korean students enrolled in the district. These students were, for the most part, from families of refugees who had been relocated to our community by a local church or immigration service. Chapel Hill was identified as a community that would be supportive of the needs of these families because of the availability of many services, including free public transportation.//” The school system embraces increasing the cosmetic diversity of the student population as a sign of a better educational experience, at least so long as “diversity” means eliminating a majority Euro-Caucasian student population. \\ \\ ===== Chapel Hill Not Pushing Hard Enough, Says Mayor Foy, As Pro Bono Planning Collective Fails To Relieve Straining Staff ===== ==== Press The Image To Hear Chapel Hill Strain ==== [[http://squeezethepulp.com/w/_media/{{:ho:salt_pepa_push_it_clip.mp3|{{:ho:push_housing_real_good.jpg?350x350}}]] \\ \\ Imagine having to meet a deadline for introducing a new product to consumers. Imagine that your product development and commercialization staff is already overloaded with a big “must-do” product introduction. What would you do? Would you employ an outside, collective of //pro bono// (read “free”) people to get the job done? Or would you contract for for-profit professionals that must perform or lose future business? If you’re the town of Chapel Hill, and your product is high denisty infill approval for your developer pals, then you opt for the //pro bono// non-profit people. Fortunately, when the job doesn’t get done, you shrug your shoulders and act chagrined. Even better, you use //pro bono// people with ties to the client (UNC) that’s got the rest of your town staff tied up. Failure is an option. Over a year ago [[ss:kf|Mayor Foy]] sought to divert public concern over relentless dense infilling by creating a committee to rubberstamp the densification policy, the Strategic Planning Committee” (SPC). Unfortunately, Mr. Foy starts this year off by announcing on 7 January 2009 that the SPC can’t find a plan to move forward with its planning. In Mr. Foy’s words, town leader "//have not been successful//". Mr. Foy offered up the Durham Area Designers (DAD) as the sacrificial lamb. DAD didn’t facilitate the strategic planning process for the SPC in the Fall of 2008. Who is DAD? DAD is a //pro bono// collective of planners centered about the UNC sphere of influence. They have done work not only for Chapel Hill (guidance on the Rogers Road Small Area Plan), but also work for the city of Durham. While a laudable collective, it’s not an operating enterprise with accountable staff and deliverable capacities. With Mr. Foy being "//concerned that we've got Carolina North jamming us up//", the obvious question is, why then did you engage DAD, a non-accountable enterprise? If Chapel Hill and UNC are negotiating at long-term development of the university's [[ps:cn|Carolina North]] research campus, the next obvious question is, why did you engage DAD, a UNC-centered collective? After piddling away a year, Chapel Hill town manager [[ss:rs| Roger Stancil]] offers the brilliant idea of hiring an outside, high density, planning professional to manage the project, at no cost to UNC of course. The [[ph:start#developer_service_department|town planning staff]] is "//really strained//" from the combination of normal town business and the tight Carolina North timeline. Is Mr. Stancil concerned about ordinary Chapel Hill citizens and what they want for their future? Not really. Mr. Stancil is concerned over the frustration of developers in interpreting the town’s drive for densification. According to Mr. Stancil, some developers interpret density as four-story buildings while others think it's 10 floors. Citizen concern over densification is planned to be strategically overlooked. (See [[http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/orange/10-1064815.cfm| Herald Sun Straining Staff Story]].)