====== HOT ORANGE™ News & Analysis du Jour... or What's New in the World of Orange County, North Carolina, Home to Progressive Poseurs and Facts Optional Public Policy ======
^ //Ignoscere Divinum Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Sollus//^|
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===== For the juiciest information of what's happening (or been happening) chronologically in Orange County, please go to the Hot Orange Sidebar to the right.⇒ Just click on the year and then the month... if you are feeling lucky. =====


^A Squeeze the Pulp Special -- //2010 Year In Review// ^|
^The fruit is in the harvest.  And another bountiful harvest for Squeeze the Pulp!  The economic downturn continues to reveal the widening institutional flaws and cracks in the Orange County power structure. ^|
^Squeeze the Pulp was created to provide a public space for residents of Orange County to broadcast or discover the full flavor of the Orange zest in which we live.  STP has lived up to that goal this year.  That’s why the New Year will be rung in with a 2010 Year In Review post.\\ \\ Hypocrisy still abounds here. After all, Chapelboro is a “progressive” political community that not only elected a town official (Alderman Dan Coleman) who committed violence against a woman and then openly lied about it, but had every major political Chapelboro figure backing that candidacy?\\ \\ Compare this special below with the local media coverage of the year's "big events".\\ \\   Bon appétit. ^|

===== The Zany Orange County Year 2010 In Review =====
==== Press The Image To Hear How Far We Have Come ====
[[http://squeezethepulp.com/w/_media/{{:ho:afraidofgovernments.mp3|{{:irresponsibility350.jpg|}}]]
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==== The Great Recession Grips Chapelboro! ====

Even with the cutting edge news and analysis of Squeeze the Pulp, it’s easy for those having a real life to lose track of the swirl of political and socio-economic events in Orange County. What may seem to be a string of inconsequential or unrelated incidents may actually reveal something more when looked at over time, Like repetitive rains carving erosion gullies in lovely Orange County red clay, after a while incompetence, inefficiencies, and unintended consequences can change the landscape in which you live. 

In 2010, Orange Progressive politicians had to face the ugly “fiscal responsibility” monster, no matter how hard they tried to keep their heads in the ground.  The number one issue had become the crush of the Great Recession on ordinary citizens.  No longer could Progressive politicians continue to outspend the income generation of their constituents at will.  But it went deeper.  The ordinary citizen was under assault from a lack of earning power increases, a decrease in saved assets, and a decrease in their home values.  Yet they watched Progressive politicians spend more to support municipal employee structures that are more in tune to the 1950s than to the 2010s.

Perhaps a guest editorial in a local Progressive stenography house best captured the “disconnect” between the governed and the governors with regards to the economy.

Imagine state employees being asked to pay the healthcare premiums that ordinary citizens pay.  It’s like having member of the U.S. Congress having the same healthcare plan as you.  It’s like having occasional “public service” elected officials in Carrboro or Chapel Hill pay for their own healthcare.

Yes, a Progressive state employee suggested that state employees should not experience what the average private sector taxpayer struggling with rising healthcare costs and deflationary living standards, experiences.  They shouldn’t have to co-pay for healthcare as you in the private employment sector do.  They shouldn’t have to think twice about their healthcare decisions, as you in the private employment sector do.

The editorial ignored the fact that the average state employee makes substantially more in wages than those in the private sector. That “more” doesn’t include benefits like healthcare without having to pay private employment co-pays.  That “more” also doesn’t include benefits like retirement pensions that far exceed what the average private employee can afford.

The editorial did correctly note the deflationary pressures on the bottom 90% of Americans in the last three decades.  However, that stagnation of wages was after reaching a golden age plateau.  Moreover, it conveniently forgets to say that within that bottom 90%, state (and local municipal) employees have fared substantially better than their private employment counterparts.  That’s right.  During those years, municipal employees have comparatively moved up within the bottom 90%.

Moreover, deflationary wage pressures have nothing to do with state (or local municipal) employees living like private economy employees. The American economy experienced an abnormal golden age after World War II until 1979.  In essence, we were the only modern industrial economy left untouched by the ravages of war.  Working class Americans no longer competed against their counterparts in Asia and Europe.  
Unfortunately, those days are long gone.  American workers are now expected to compete not only against European and Japanese workers, but also against an even greater number of Chinese workers.  Add excess worker pressure from uncontrolled borders, and the prospects for more deflationary wage pressure looks inevitable.

According to the editorial, government employees swimming in the same compensation waters as private sector employees are being “penalized” and being made part of a “socio-economic blight”.  Is it any wonder, that Progressive politicians have their Progressive municipal employees join them in their ivory towers? 
Don’t worry Pulpsters, as overshadowing as the remarkably poor state of the economy was in 2010, the usual Progressive folly mix of socially engineered affordable housing, flaccid economic development through retail snobbery, Ponzi scheme dense “smart growth”, carbon footprints, deals for government pals, and a failed local media continued to shine on. Keeping a brave face, local Orange Progressive officials spent beyond the sustainable capacity of the local economy.  

Once again, not one local Progressive pundit or local media Progressive stenographer assigned any blame to any incumbent elected official. The hallmark of progressivism in Orange County continued to be “failure is an option”. Here, no Progressive official has ever been held responsible for failure or mismanagement. 

====  State of Economic Distress ====

The year started out poorly on the economic front and didn’t improve much throughout.  

In February, the [[ho:february_2010#is_chapelboro_metro_unemployment_really_17%|real Chapelboro Metro Unemployment rate]] stood at 17%, while the official December 2009 unemployment rate stood at 7.7%.  Unfortunately, the official rate didn’t capture real world unemployment - the unemployed from larger private employers, the unemployed from smaller businesses, and the unemployed self-employed. The official rate also left out forced part-time workers and so-called “discouraged” workers. 

In March, the State of North Carolina became one of 37 states that achieved [[ho:march_2010#north_carolina_achieves_unemployment_insurance_insolvency|unemployment insurance insolvency]], according to the FY 2009 Financial Report of the United States Government. That was the good news. During 2009, North Carolina was out of money in its UTF account, one of 20 states in a similar condition. It started borrowing funds from the Federal Unemployment Account (FUA) to make benefit payments. However, the FUA balances were depleted during FY2009. In turn, the FUA borrowed from the Treasury General Fund. 

Not only were state unemployment benefits in trouble, but [[ho:april_2010#at_1-In-7_on_food_stamps_north_carolina_17th_out_of_50|food stamp usage]] was soaring.  In North Carolina, about one in seven people used food stamps from the government to eat as of April 2010. That placed the state as having the seventeenth highest percentage of the state's population using food stamp users. The good news was that North Carolina was not as bad off as Mississippi or Tennessee where one in five are using food stamps. The bad news was that SNAP participants increased in North Carolina by 20.5% from January 2009 to January 2010. 

Finally, in November, a study from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities revealed that the 50 American states faced a combined $112,300,000,000 revenue gap in CY 2011. North Carolina stood [[ho:november_2010#estimated_north_carolina_budget_shortfall_over_15%_13th_in_nation|13th on the hit parade]], with an expected gap of $3,000,000,000 or ~15.4% of the budget.  The good news was that North Carolina wasn’t in the position of the State of Illinois - $15,000,000,000 in the hole or ~ 46.2% of its budget. 

====  Big Box Phobia ====

The decades-long history of failure to attract private, for-profit businesses to Orange County at a rate commensurate with the population growth was secure again in 2010.  Nothing happened to overturn that record.  In fact, it appeared even a horrible economy couldn’t deter hard core Progressives from their ideology

The Pulp assumed that the state of the Great Recession was behind local [[ss:ek|State Senator Ellie Kinnaird’s]] conversion to advocating for a national retailer chain, big box to come to Carrboro.  Revealing a moment of lucidity, Ms. Kinnaird declared that “[Costco is] very well suited to the county. Bringing a big-box store like Costco would have created jobs for low-income community members.” In a capricious moment, Ms. Kinnaird showed concern for building the commercial tax base in a town comparatively devoid of competitive commercial businesses that aren't tied into local government. 

Previously, Ms. Kinnaird had been part of the Progressive Carrboro blockaders that abhorred such operations.  However, since the Great Recession started, she publicly anointed Costco as a big box retailer suitable for Carrboro.  That heresy wouldn’t do for the true Progressive believers in Chapelboro.
By February 2010, Senator Kinnaird admitted defeat.  The competition-strangling Carrboro governance board (BOA) had asphyxiated her dream.  In her words, “I’m giving up. It’s a lost cause.” 

[[ss:jg|Alderman Jacquie Gist]], armed with two decades of blathering experience, but zero years of business experience, declared that Costco would hurt the small businesses in Carrboro. According to Ms. Gist, big box retailers like Costco “only have loyalty to themselves”. Ms. Gist failed to explain how Costco is different from local retailer Weaver Street Market (WSM). 

Apparently, the abandonment of Carrboro for administrative and production facilities in Hillsborough are the acts of a more loyal local business to Ms. Gist. But then Ms. Gist during the fall elections used big box retailer Staples for some of her campaign supplies, a dreaded big box retailer not located in Carrboro, but conveniently located for Carrboro hypocrites. 

Ms. Gist further demonstrated her financial perspicacity by saying that Carrboro is doing better financially than many places that have a Costco. The reason? “Big corporations are a part of the reason the economy is the way it is”. 
Not to be left out of any bad decision, vehicular assault expert Alderman Dan Coleman publicly told Ms. Kinnaird to ”take her ideas about Costco to Chapel Hill”, as Ms. Kinnaird moved to Chapel Hill. Such respect for the woman who launched Mr. Coleman's political career in Carrboro was to be expected from Carrboro's most infamous misogynist. 

Ms. Gist was backed up in her peculiar wisdom of government-business nepotism by one of her pals. Mr. Jason Baker, WSM owner services and events coordinator, argued that Costco, with a far greater logistics efficiency than WSM, somehow leaves a larger carbon footprint per delivered good than WSM. Ever the visionary, albeit one freed from empirical confirmation, Mr. Baker said that money from local businesses is better for the community as a whole. 

It all boils down to controlling people’s behavior. In Mr. Baker’s words, [[ho:february_2010#carrboro_rejects_pursuing_costco_–_a_temptation_of_bad_choices|“We don’t need to tempt people with bad choices”]].  

Mr. Baker, a UNC political science major and erstwhile political pollster, neglected to explain how Costco is a “bad choice”, considering that WSM employees don’t receive the same suite of benefits as Costco employees. The average WSM employee doesn’t receive:1) a solid health care plan; 2) a dental care plan; 3) a pharmacy program; 4) a vision program; 5) a 401(k) plan; 6) a dependent care assistance plan; 7) a personal/family/work care program; 8) a voluntary short-term disability program; 9) a life insurance plan; 10) an employee stock purchase plan; 11) a health care reimbursement account; 12) a long term care insurance; and 13) a long term disability program. The average Costco employee does receive each of these benefits. 
Mr. Baker also forgot to mention that Costco pays a higher average wage than WSM,.

But Mr. Baker didn’t stop there in his “geniousity”.  In an local media guest column in August, Mr. Baker described five reasons that big box retailers are bad:
1) Big retailers result in a net outflow of money from the region.
2) Marketing, merchandising, IT, finance, human resources, and other business support and executive jobs would largely be somewhere else.
3) Locally owned business provide the full gamut of job opportunities to bring just as many high-skilled as low-skilled positions to the area.
4) Locally-owned retailers struggle and go out of business because of competition from national retailers.
5) The progressive nature of Chapelboro should support local businesses because of their unique character, the jobs they bring to our community, the preference for high-quality and locally produced products over cheaply made and morally questionable foreign imports.

Unfortunately, the truth lay elsewhere.
1) Local retailers also result quite often in a net outflow of money from the region. The goods they offer are made elsewhere.
2) Marketing, merchandising, IT, finance, human resources, and other business support and executive jobs are jobs not dependent upon any particular geographic site. Costco IT jobs can be performed in Chapelboro, assuming that the smalll business was competitive in quality service and pricing.
3) Locally owned businesses do not necessarily use local high paying wage service providers. There are no studies showing this assertion. Is using a Raleigh based law firm considered progressive?
4) Small business failure occurs for many reasons. Seven out of ten new employer firms last at least two years, and about half survive five years. 

Progressives didn’t talk about creating successful businesses that create net inflows of money into Chapelboro by selling goods and services desired outside Chapelboro. If unique business character was a societal value to be prized, then successful Chapelboro small businesses that penetrate other non-Chapelboro markets were not to be prized. In essence, Progressives advocated for a late 19th century economic model.

The most interesting fact ignored by Progressives was what a good job local municipal governments have done building a regulatory maze for big box retailers. According to Chapel Hill’s ED specialist, Mr. Dwight Bassett, the Chapelboro roadblock takes about four years to navigate before a store can open its doors. Of course, the reaction by business is “thanks, but no thanks”. Thankfully, being a Progressive community, no one is to blame for the detour. 

====  Flaccid ED ====

Tthe Great Recession couldn’t shake local Progressives off message regarding other forms of economic development (ED) either.

In June, Orange County residents learned that an 80-store, 317,000-square-foot Tanger Outlet Center was being built along the I-40/I-85 corridor near Mebane.  It opened just in time for Christmas shopping. Tanger was built almost on the line between Orange County and Alamance County. You guessed it. It was built on the Alamance County side. (If it was on the Orange County side of the line, then it would be called “holiday” shopping.) Yes, it was [[ho:june_2010#tangerine_not_orange_another_ed_success|another ED success story for the local Progressives]]. It was close, but Progressive elected officials just managed to keep those nasty chain stores out of the county. The local living economy may be anemic, but at least it’s safe from chain store contamination and the$7,200,000 a year in property and sales tax revenue generated by Tanger,. 

In July, the News & Observer published an article bemoaning businesses that could have located and stayed in Chapelboro, but chose to leave Orange County. The reporting came decades late, but at least the problem was reported by them. Why? It was so bad, even Progressive cheerleaders couldn’t hide the truth any more. 

But you could [[ho:july_2010#local_media_bemoans_loss_of_potential_businesses_never_fear_nobody_s_to_Blame|sugarcoat it]]. According to the N&O reporting, the problem in Orange County was that UNC is tax exempt. “Low sales tax revenues force the county and its town governments to rely on property taxes to fund services, and with few high-priced commercial properties to tax, the burden falls to homeowners. As a result, 87 percent of Orange County property tax revenue comes from homes, pushing up an already high cost-of-living driven by high quality-of-life, anti-sprawl development rules and high-performing, well-funded public schools. Wake County, by comparison, collects 72 percent of its property taxes from residential property owners.” 

What? What as the connection between sales taxes and the tax exempt status of UNC? Wasn’t the problem that Orange County Progressive retail snobbery sent all of the retail centers first into Durham County and now also into Alamance County? What did that have to do with UNC? 
Moreover, doesn’t UNC function as a giant economic pump siphoning money from 99 other North Carolina counties into Orange County? Doesn’t that non-local economic base then provide jobs for those living in Orange County? Shouldn’t those jobs support retail purchasing in Orange County that should be not the equal of Durham County, but greater than Durham County? The answer to all of the above questions is yes, unless you’re trying to sell the Progressive agenda. 

So what was solution put forward by the N&O? The article cited the ever compliant Mr. Bassett,  It was about misperceptions regarding available space for businesses to locate. ”We have space available. It's the first time that we've ever had this much available office space in our history.” 
Really? Space? What about the perception that Chapelboro and Orange County are not friendly to for-profit businesses? News flash for Mr. Bassett, other counties have space too. Business executives aren’t primarily driven by available space. Which executive in their right mind would pick Orange County over its neighboring counties given a choice? Witness the Tanger Outlet Center. 

Mr. Bassett was closer to the mark when he said, ”Chapel Hill has an image of being business-unfriendly. We accept that's our baseline. We have to begin telling success stories of how we're working to change that.” How? What precisely were, Mr. Bassett, the town manager, and the town council doing, other than blathering on about the problem they created? When an interview of 16 small-business owners in 2007 found they had ”few, if any, positive things to say about the town government's role in private efforts to open and operate a business in Chapel Hill”, what was the governmental response these past three years? What had they done? 

Thankfully (for him), Carrboro’s ED guru, [[ss:#jaha|Mr. James Harris]] won’t have to answer these questions.  With his announced retirement, he never did have to produce an actual accounting that shows how much money was given over the past decade by his office to create exactly how much in additional tax revenue for the town. 

What’s the solution for Orange County Commishes? You guessed it. (You’re so good.) “Taxes! Let’s increase taxes!” They wanted a referendum on a new 1/4% local sales tax. Why nt rely on the people who rode the pony until it was lame to rehabilitate the pony? 

====  Dropping Home Values Don’t Create Affordable Housing ====

“Affordable housing” remained a bedrock epistle of the Progressive faith.  Even as home values dropped strongly, Progressive leaders bemoaned a lack of affordable housing. 

In March at a Carrboro governance meeting, the Boa again demonstrated its [[ho:march_2010#boa_coils_over_thousands_of_cheap_rental_apartments_yet_laments_affordable_housing|keen failure to grasp]] the physical realities of Carrboro. Mayor Mark Chilton said, “We have a lot of people who are hurting at a lot lower income levels than we’re currently reaching. Our current system doesn’t ever encourage anybody to create affordable rental housing for people who live on social security/disability income.” Mayor Chilton conveniently ignored the thousands of rental apartments that start at $600 per bedroom a month. Apparently, these apartments were not to be considered affordable housing. 

Alderman Jacquie Gist supported Mr. Chilton, saying, “We’re doing great at reaching graduate students and not that great at reaching truly, truly poor people and we got to turn that around. The Orange County partnership on homelessness is slowly working on that, but I’m tired of putting money towards grad students.” (A few years ago Ms. Gist suggested welcoming the homeless into Carrboro with wine and cheese accompanied in the background with sonorous string music.)
Mr. Chilton didn’t reserve all of his concern for the working poor. According to Mr. Chilton, the town should be worried about those making as much as $60,000 a year. “At a hundred percent of area median, you’re really stuck. You don’t qualify for any subsidy. You don’t qualify for any help.” As someone living on a trust fund, Mr. Chilton understood the pain of living within one’s means. 

Representing the not-visibly-employed in Carrboro, Alderman Sammy Slade offered his wisdom. “There’s also a way of seeing how we compare to other places, and how we are a place that doesn’t allow for people…with more means to be in this community.” Did Mr. Slade really run on a platform of increasing tenement housing for the not-visibly-employed? 

Neither Mayor Chilton or Aldermen Gist or Slade asked UNC to pay a living wage so workers could afford the existing apartment base.

====  Palocracy Reigns ====

Nor could the Great Recession stop [[ho:january_2010#stylish_marriage_boa_pals_get_$1,800,000_country_bike_lane_dowry|Progressive politicians from helping out their pals]].  Carrboro Mayor and realtor Mark Chilton started the New Year by bestowing a wonderful gift onto a residential real estate development he is selling.

At the request of the Carrboro town government, the North Carolina Department of Transportation installed bike lanes and sidewalks along old Fayetteville Road in Carrboro (SR 1107) from NC 54 up to the McDougle two school campus at Strowd Lane (SR 1106). The less than half mile stretch of road had only about 50 residences, including the connecting block on Carol Street.

Why spend $1,800,000 on a half mile bike lane on a road with so few residences? As always, the answer in Carrboro can be found by looking at pals of the Boa. Turns out that favored Boa developers Mr. Trip Overholt and Mr. Giles Blunden were busy evicting affordable home households in a trailer park off Old Fayetteville Road and replacing them with expensive, dense “smart growth” communalists in a development called “Veridia”,located along the stretch of road to receive the NCDOT upgrades. 

Imagine that? Of all the half mile sections of road in Carrboro that don’t have bike lanes (the far more densely traveled and populated Estes Drive between Greensboro Street and Seawell School Road comes to mind), the Boa picked the stretch that helps their pals. Sort of reminds astute Pulpsters of the $50,000 gift turned $500,000 sidewalk/street widening charade the Boa gave Mr. Blunden for developing 46 truly odd units in the just about eight acre, Carrboro coal camp vernacular development, Pacifica.

Along with gifts for your business pals, one shouldn’t forget gifts for your pundit pals as well.  Mayor Chilton also said “Yesh” to a [[ho:january_2010#carrboro_says_yesh_to_another_partially_secured_loan|partially secured loan]] to Yesh Thirty Seven LLC dba Carrboro Coworking.  Yes, another paritally secured loan despite the failure of such a loan to the town just last year.  This business was owned by a married couple. Mr. Brian Russell is one partner. Ms. Ruby Sinreich is the other. Yes, it was the same Ms. Sinreich who is a longtime friend of Mayor Chilton. 

Pulpsters will remember that as a college-educated, private secondary school educated, single female she received a low–interest loan from Empowerment, Inc. courtesy of Mr. Chilton. Ms. Sinreich denied that the loan was in return for her supporting Mr. Chilton in his run for Carrboro office. Ms. Sinreich also operates the local censored political blog known as Orange Politics. Despite, Ms. Sinreich never having lived in Carrboro, she's avidly supports Mr. Chilton in all of his developer/mayor schemes. 

Not to be outdone, the other Progressive Mayor Mark, Mark Kleinschmidt of Chapel Hill was busy [[ho:march_2010#time_is_not_of_the_essence_chapel_hill_slides_140_west_franklin_developer_timelines|shoring up past bad deals]] that were being threatened by the Great Recession.

Time is of the essence for every purely private commercial real estate or mixed use real estate development. Time is the enemy. Time means cash outflow (interest and capital payments) long before cash inflow (rents and sales revenues). Hence the important contractual phrase “time is of the essence”. In plain English, it means that meeting timelines is of the very essence of the contractual obligations. 

A curious thing happens when a public entity is brought into the mix, particularly where that public entity owns the land to be developed, is an investor in the development with cash, is a financial stakeholder in the outcome, and is the regulatory authority controlling the development. Such is the case with the tortuous development of 140 West Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, otherwise known in an earlier life as “Lot 5”. 

In March, the Chapel Hill Watch watchdog site asked the question, can the Town of Chapel Hill back out of its development agreement with Ram Development on 140 West Franklin? That question arose, in part, from the patience of Job wearing thin, waiting for something, anything, to rise out of the ground at 140 West Franklin. 

Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt had no problem in nine years elapsing from the first project announcement, four years elasing since Ram was selected as the pal developer, and still no digging. Under its contract, the Town did NOT have to let Ram off the hook for completing the building by January 2011. What did the Town get for this three year extension of a non-regulatory, purely contractual, “time is of the essence” contractual obligation on the part of Ram? Nothing.  Absolutely nothing. 

Nothing brought home the naivete' of local Progressive leadership when it comes to for-profit business dealings more than Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt.  “The town can’t back out. It’s not a matter of money; once the town agrees to a development deal, it can’t simply change its mind.” 

Did Ram management share Mr. Kleinschmidt’s [[ho:march_2010#mayor_kleinschmidt_sticks_to_deal_but_ram_partner_butts_tampa_temple_terrace_aside|dogged devotion to deals]]? In October 2006, about one year after getting into bed with Chapel Hill on 140 West Franklin, Ram was courting the city council of Tampa, Florida. The prize? How about 38 acres of land in downtown Tampa. 

The blighted area was called Temple Terrace, located roughly at the intersection of North 56th Street and Bullard Parkway. Ram. in association with Pinnacle Realty Advisors of Tampa and Cooper Carry of Atlanta. told the Tampa council that if the city forked over money ($6,700,000) for city-financed parks mixed in with privately-funded retail and residential components, everything would work out fine. The Ram group got picked by the Tampa council for the $45,000,000 mixed use revitalization of a depressed urban site. 

Sound familiar? Fast forward to October 2008, Ram and its Pinnacle Group partner backed out of the Tampa Temple Terrace project. 

====  Dense Politicians Bring Dense Future ====

Even as the Great Recession ground development in Chapelboro to a crawl, it didn’t slow down the dogged devotion to urbanizing a university town.
In most of North Carolina, environmentalists seeking to keep a watershed protected from urban growth would fight vociferously against real estate development interests seeking to place the heaviest urban development smack up against the streams running through that watershed. 

However, in Progressive Chapelboro, perversity truly reigns. Self-proclaimed progressive, environmentalist elected officials led the charge to develop the Bolin Creek watershed with the heaviest urban densities. Self-proclaimed environmentalist groups such as the Orange Chatham Group of the Sierra Club and the Friends of Bolin Creek applauded town leadership for “smart growth” land development, ignoring the watershed destruction when it’s their friends seeking the approval of a mixed use development such as Winmore. 

Why? Because first [[ho:march_2010#became_necessary_to_destroy_a_watershed_to_save_it|you must destroy a watershed]], in order to pat yourself on the back for caring enough to restore a watershed. You must allow your friends to profit from destroying a watershed, so as to seek taxpayer supported government grants to restore the watershed. 
Keep the problem from arising in the first place? Then what would we do for work?  

But let’s not stop at a destroying and rebuilding a watershed.  Progressives need to pack more people into less space.  In the Fall 2009 local elections, a handful of challenger candidates asked about the official growth forecasts for the conjoined towns of Chapelboro. No numbers were forthcoming. Incumbent Carrboro mayoral candidate Mark Chilton even pontificated as to how a candidate could think to ask for such numbers, as there were no forecast numbers. 

Turns out, Mr. Chilton was wrong, again. Turns out, there was an official forecast for Chapelboro growth from 2005 to 2035. Turns out, in order to stuff an überexpensive regional rail plan connecting Chapelboro, local smart growth social engineers produced such a forecast. 

Here’s what Chapelboro will look like by 2035, according to a 2007 regional transportation report.  The primary and secondary [[ho:january_2010#dense_future_revealed_chapelboro_2035_-_student_population_growth|student population]] will rise by 15%, an annual growth rate of 0.8%.  The university student population will grow by 29% to 12,543 households.  The [[ho:january_2010#dense_future_revealed_chapelboro_2035_–_overall_population_growth|overall population]] will grow by 9% in Carrboro, from 20,858 in 2005 to 28,269 in 2035.  The overall population will grow by 8% in unincorporated Orange County, from 44,904 in 2005 to 57,649 in 2035.  The overall population will grow by 13% in Chapel Hill, from 53,963 in 2005 to 74,222 in 2035.

You may not want to live in a town of 200,000, but what you want doesn’t matter. Sadly,  Chapelboro is hooked on the unsustainable policy of growth for growth's sakes, no matter how much they call the policy “Progressive”. 

==== Pandering Punditry ====

In April, Pulpsters had another demonstration of how little Progressive pundits care for open government when it comes to [[ho:april_2010#local_fascist_blog_attempts_to_silence_proponent_for_transparent_chapel_hill_government|questioning Progressive rule]].
None other than anarchist, censored-blog fascista, Ms. Ruby Sinreich, spoke out against those trying to disinfect the Chapel Hill government with sunshine. Ms. Sinreich singled out local school activist Mr. Mark Peters for daring to ask the Chapel Hill government for all emails relating to the homeless men’s shelter siting. 

Pulpsters would think that local Progressives wouldn't want a repeat of the closed, back door, unfair process used by the Commishes to propose siting the trash transfer station on Eubanks Road. You would think that local Progressives would be in the forefront of questioning the closed, back door, unfair process used by the Chapel Hill Town Council to site the IFC men's shelter. You would be wrong.

==== OWASA Avoids Financial Drought ====

Apparently, none of the Progressive municipal governance boards bothered to tell OWASA that a Great Recession is wracking the national and state economies. On 27 May 2010, OWASA’s Board of Directors held a public hearing [[ho:may_2010#golden_waters,_owasa_drinks_in_9.25%_rate_increase|approving a 9.25% increase in monthly rates]]. This almost double digit increase was on top of last year’s increase of 9.75%. That meant an average basic annual increase for a typical residential bill of about $170 in just the last two years. 

Why was OWASA water so expensive? According to OWASA, the primary reasons for the proposed rate increase were lower drinking water sales, reduced connection fee revenues from new development, and the need to renew and replace aging infrastructure. 
OWASA didn’t emphasize the 8% increase in healthcare costs that was being placed onto you bill. Apparently, no effort was made to align OWASA employee healthcare contributions with those in small business. OWASA also didn’t emphasize the 30% increase in OWASA contributions to OWASA employee pension benefits. 
Finally, OWASA didn’t emphasize OWASA employee merit salary increases of 2.5% of OWASA payroll.  

The May OWASA increase prompted the Pulp in July to look into what had happened to your [[ho:july_2010#average_residential_owasa_water_rates_rose_about_93%_from_2001_to_2010_while_median_household_income_rose_about_25%_progressive_sustainability_in_action|OWASA rates in the past decade]]. Here was the answer.
From 2000 to 2009, median household incomes rose in Orange County, North Carolina from about $53,184 to about $66,500. The increase was about 25%.
From 2001 until October 2010, the OWASA “average” residential water and sewer bill for a family using 5000 gallons a month of OWASA water increased from about $42.40 a month to $81.85 a month. The OWASA increase was be about 93%. In the words of OWASA, “Our rates are on the high side compared to other water utilities in our region.” Talk about the proverbial understatement. 

Only locals with a Progressive mindset, one based on what sounds good and feels good, no matter what the cost, could you accept these two sets of increases, side by side, as being “sustainable”. Incomes rose about 25% while utility bills rose about 93%.  By the way, a 93% rate increase hadn’t even allowed OWASA to keep up with the long term system maintenance requirements. 

Not to be outdone, OWASA management again astounded the Pulp when in November, it announced that it was [[ho:november_2010#owasa_flushes_reservoir_conservation_farm_onto_market_at_50%_loss|flushing a reservoir conservation farm]] onto the market at a 50% loss.
In 2006 OWASA purchased the Ray Farm (400 Jones Ferry Road, at the corner of Old Greensboro Highway). Although listed as 76+ acres, for tax purposes it’s listed as 73+ acres. The Ray farm backs up to OWASA owned land surrounding the University Lake reservoir, part of the OWASA system. In 2006, the OWASA board decided that owning more buffer land within the University Lake watershed was a “good idea”, good enough to spend $2,200,000 on the purchase. The farm came with a conservancy easement limiting the development 

Four years later, OWASA had another “good idea”. Sell the Ray Farm for estate residential development. The property could be subdivided into four estates, some with University Lake views. 

What was the asking price? $1,100,000, half the 2006 OWASA purchase price, less than the $1,286,064 2010 assessed value. 
Why was OWASA selling close, in-town farmland with lake views for half what it paid four years ago? Don’t worry your OWASA water rates can continue to rise faster than your income to make up the difference. 

==== Taxes??? There’s Plenty More From Where That Came ====

As you can imagine, the Great Recession threw a spotlight on the spending ways of the local Progressives.  With home values falling, many wondered, why couldn’t local governments pull in their financial belts as well as the ordinary citizen?

Showing his great appreciation for the economic stress of the county, In February, Carrboro Mayor Chilton asked for a $2,700,000 [[ho:february_2010#mayor_mark_poor_mouths_other_mayor_mark_while_asking_county_for $2,700,000_carrboro_library|sole purpose library facility]].
When asked why Carrboro residents couldn’t use the neighboring Chapel Hill library with payment of a user fee, Chilton said he doesn't like being asked to pay for services used by his residents. When asked about meeting with Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt, Mr. Chilton said, “I suppose we have to, although I do not look forward to it. I am no way – no how – never going to vote to put Carrboro into the same dysfunctional relationsip with either the County or Chapel Hill that the two of them already have with each other.” Mayor Chilton, an expert in dysfunctional relationships, preferred to create his own. 

The County obliged in November by [[ho:november_2010#county_purchases_land_for_obsolete_and_redundant_carrboro _library_facility|purchasing land]] for such a facility. Despite having a $5,700,000 budget hole announced in May.  This library site is only about a mile from the existing county Carrboro library facility located in the McDougle School complex off Old Fayetteville Road.  The Chapel Hill town library is only a little over one mile from this new library. They are connected by Chapel Hill Transit. No Progressive politician explained the need for the freestanding Carrboro library (as opposed to the McDougle co-school library), other than an emotional want? 

On top of which, the Commishes had just sold a building in front of the Lake Hogan Farms development with plenty of parking on Homestead Road in North Carrboro that could have been renovated into a library. It would have been cheaper for the  Commishes simply to hand out $25.00 annual passes for Carrboro library patrons to use the UNC Chapel Hill libraries, all served by bus lines.

But then Mayor Chilton wouldn’t have a nice library to walk to, just a few blocks from his home.

As North Carolina dealt with record unemployment, it was easy to see evidence of the economic cocoon that is southern Orange County.  Fed by tax receipts mainly mined from the 99 other counties in the state, the “local economy” was sheltered from the reality of double digit unemployment seen across the rest of the Piedmont. 

In March, Mayor Chilton felt that a decision not to have an across the board pay increase for public employees was [[ho:march_2010#no_pay_increase_seen_by_mayor_chilton_as_partnering_with_unemployed| “partnering”]] with the unfortunate unemployed town residents.  The thought of slashing municipal employee positions was to be considered in the same vein as slashing the fat pensions of those employees. Just don't even think about it.  (By “unemployed”, the Pulp refers to those taxpayers not wishing to be unemployed, as opposed to the large body of willingly unemployed living in Carrboro.) 

Not to be outdone in creating the illusion of being fiscal conservatives, the Chapel Hill Town Manager declared in May that [[ho:may_2010#chapel_hill_has_low_taxes_no_Sex_lotta_lies_&_no_videotape|Chapel Hill has low taxes]], all the while presenting in May a budget that, (you guessed it) increased spending by 5.6%.  Apparently, there is no economic environment that can stop spending increases for local Progressives.

Chapel Hill announced there would be no “salary increases”.  However, there would be e “salary adjustments”, about $453,204 worth.  In an effort to put a good face on a bad financial situation, Town Manager Roger Stancil crowed about Chapel Hill having a tax rate in the lowest third of comparable cities in North Carolina. He talked about having tax rates ”lower than High Point, Burlington, Carrboro, Rocky Mount, Durham, Gastonia, Greenville and Wilson”. Unfortunately, a Pulp analysis of the property taxes per capita showed Chapel Hill to be the highest, almost twice as much as Gastonia.

You would think that a Progressive town manager would use a phrase like “hold the line” to talk about steady tax burdens on residents during the Great Recession and not use the smoke and mirrors of tax rates to hide spending increases. You would think that an increase of 29.1% in town staff salaries and wages since 2004 would not be considered by Progressives to be ”holding the line”. You would think that a Progressive town governance board and staff wouldn't hide behind the state's “revenue neutral” reassessment laws that allow a town to increase your property taxes and declare them “revenue neutral”. You would be wrong. 

Also in May, Carrboro town manager Steve Stewart used [[ho:may_2010#holding_the_line_on_taxes_carrboro_increases_per_capita_property_tax_burden_25.5%_since_2004|more powerful smoke and mirrors]] than his Chapel Hill counterpart.  He was positively beaming when he said, Carrboro “has held the line on property taxes” for five out of the last eight years. 

The reality was different.  Carrboro property tax revenues increased from 2004 to 2009 by 38.9%. (Tax revenues are NOT tax rates, they are the booty the town extracts from you.) Not for one year did the Carrboro tax revenues hold the line. On a per capita basis, property taxes increased 25.5%. Carrboro’s spending on town employee salaries and wages increased 29.1% from 2004 to 2009. On a per capita basis they increased 16.4%. Carrboro debt service increased 27.7% from 2004 to 2009. On a per capita basis it increased 14.1%. 

In 2009, Carrboro residents paid 36.3% more in property taxes on a per capita basis than the group average. From 2004 to 2009 Carrboro property taxes on a per capita basis increased 47.9% more compared to the group average increase. In 2009, Carrboro residents paid 10.7% more in for town staff salaries and wages on a per capita basis than the group average. From 2004 to 2009 Carrboro salaries and wages on a per capita basis increased 54.8 % more compared to the group average increase. 

According to Alderman Coleman, town staff is doing “a good job”. According to Alderman Gist, Pulpsters should look at Carrboro “with more respect and not for comic relief”. 

More respect for ”holding the line” with a 38.9% property tax revenues increase, a 27.7% debt service increase, and a 6.8% sales tax revenue increase that was actually lower on a per capita basis? More respect for hiding property tax rate increases behind the property reassessment “revenue neutral” laws? Just as soon as you stop laughing! 

In February, the signs were everywhere. Orange County sales tax revenues, down. County building permits, down. County economic development, down, but then when in the past decade has it been really up? Did the County Progressive politicians do any better than Chapel Hill or Carrboro in holding their spending?  No, the Commishes spent every penny of the FY 2009-2010 budget. 

The progressive mantra in Orange County has been not to worry about living within one’s means, but to live within one’s feelings. If a county program promotes social justice, then fund it. Don’t worry about how household county tax burdens have more than doubled compared to the rate of inflation. Don’t worry about how a high tax burden dissuades private businesses from settling in Orange County. Don’t worry about spiraling pension funding costs and how the average county employee makes over 50% more than the average county privately paid employee, if one includes all benefits. 

Only now the foul price tag for the spending spree by progressive Commishes for the past decade has come home to roost. Anyone who hadn’t visited Hillsborough 
lately hadn’t seen where their tax dollars have been poured into the ground. There was a new government center costing $25,000,000. Too bad it wasn’t competitively bid. Too bad commish pals walked away with substantial profits from this deal. There’s a new library costing $8,000,000. Too bad the Commishes didn’t resolve a countywide library system with all county towns BEFORE building a book palace in Hillsborough. There’s a new justice center costing… well, you get the picture. 

Orange County had a $5,700,000 [[ho:february_2010#chickens_come_home_to_roost_in_$5,700,000_county_budget_hole|budget shortfall]] heading into FY 2010-11. That amount represented 3.77 cents per $100 of assessed value on the county property tax rate, or about $113.10 on a $300,000 house. 
Despite this budget hole, in September, the Commishes [[ho:september_2010#county_spends_millions_more_on_buckhorn_broken_field_of_dreams|kept digging]]. Having spent $2,000,000 installing public water and sewer lines to serve Gravelly Hill Middle School and the Eurosport Soccer Complex, these financial geniuses plan to spend another $2,300,000 expanding that infrastructure to the north side of I-85.  They spent despite Developer Dream Team member Roger Perry having delivered the requiem for Buckhorn Village. “[T]he Buckhorn Village project is dead, and no major retail center is likely to replace it along Buckhorn Road at Interstates 85 and 40.” Admitting defeat to the obvious, Mr. Perry noted that the Tanger Outlet Center opening just to the west across the Alamance County line rendered Buckhorn Village a moot point.

”Any activity with [the town of] Mebane will probably offer some economic development opportunity for the county. They're more geared toward it.” Such is the genius of Commish Barry Jacobs, This is the same person who said in April 2008 that Buckhorn Village would create living wages. This is the same person who for two decades has overseen the looming ED disaster in Orange County. Of course, neither he nor any of the other Commishes have any responsibility for the problem. They simply offer more Progressive platitudes. 

If you build it in the middle of the Great Recession, they will come. Everybody loves a good wake. 

In February, a [[ho:february_2010#crop_mobbing_carrboro_alderman_slade_s_tax_evasion_answer_to_a_collapsing_economy|most ingenious answer]] to the municipal revenue problem came from Carrboro Alderman Slade- crop mobbing.

What’s that? According to the crop mobbers, it’s “a group of young, landless, and wannabe farmers who come together to build and empower communities by working side by side. Crop mob is also a group of experienced farmers and gardeners willing to share their knowledge with their peers and the next generation of agrarians. The membership is dynamic, changing and growing with each new mob event.” 

The latest socialistic anarchistic fad, crop mobbers lament the passing of endless hours of backbreaking, menial work on farms that virtually enslaved small farmers to the soil. They believe that farmers were not independent producers. They believe that farming was a community-wide activity in which families rotated working for their neighbors for free. They obviously have not studied the famous literary works of rural American writers from a century ago. Crop mobbers also believe that because no money changes hands that they are exempt from state and federal law regarding employment and the taxation of labor services. They are wrong. 

Mr. Slade, a self-described carpenter with no visible business, didn’t explain how the failure to pay taxes on the crop mobbing labor will help the state in its current economic crisis. Neither does “the Obama of Carrboro” explain why he supported tax evasion practices. 
Despite the economic downturn of the Great Recession, local Progressive government was unrelenting in its pursuit of “unexcellence”. Who cares if your taxes doubled in the past decade? 

==== Government Out Of Focus ====

Zany is as zany does. 2010 year may not had the defense by local politicians of a man twirling bricks in a public place endangering children, or the election of a man who tried to run over a woman in a public park who lied to the police about it (Alderman Coleman), but it did have its bright spots. 

In April, a very keen insight into the Progressive mindset of control was demonstrated at the 2010 legislative breakfast between the Carrboro governance board and the Orange County General Assembly delegation. The Boa [[ho:april_2010#alderman_coleman_wants_home_rule_let_socialist_anarchist_squeezing_begin|wanted “home rule”]].

Home rule for Carrboro portends local income taxes (wanted by Alderman Lavelle), carbon reduction taxes or controls (wanted by Alderman Slade), local sales taxes (wanted by the whole board), restrictions on cars so as to drive you onto public transit (wanted by Aldermen Coleman and Gist), and a freedom to concentrate greater power to those imbued with the desire to issue resolutions on French fries and overseas military engagements while destroying their local economy. 

If you thought that local Progressives can interfere and make your life miserable now, then just wait until they get home rule. 

Not to be outdone the Chapel Hill governance board was busy in January making sure that a men’s homeless shelter [[ho:january_2010#if_homeless_shelter_site,_council_says_trust_us|wouldn’t be in their members’neighborhoods]].
In the words of Ms. Nancy Oates, of [[http://chapelhillwatch.org|Chapel Hill Watch]], “Many members of this council seem bent on making Homestead Road Chapel Hill’s equivalent of New York’s Bowery. By grouping all social services together, we can keep all the undesirables in one small area, which coincidentally is away from where Town Council members live.

By segregating and ghettoizing some members of our community — and, like it or not, the homeless are part of our community — Kleinschmidt works against the climate of diversity he used as a defense when he voted against seating the fifth-place finisher for the vacant council seat. Kleinschmidt forgets that more people voted against him than for him. Ironic that to create his fantasy of Chapel Hill as a liberal, inclusive town, he adopts an I-know-best-for-the-people attitude, a style used by Iranian ayatollahs.” 

Meanwhile in March, Carrboro’s Boa was again boldly going where only fools have gone before. It added architectural aesthetics to the [[ho:march_2010#boa_adds_architecture_to_crown_of_incompetence|list of skills they can foil]]. Under newly imposed rules.  The Boa must be presented with building aesthetics before approving any special use permit (SUP) or conditional use permit (CUP) project. 

In its finest Progressive traditions, the Boa continues to neuter the already “eunuch” experience of a private citizen trying to provide public service by sitting on a town advisory board. The Carrboro Appearance Commission (CAC), a citizen volunteer board, already looks at any project that doesn’t meet town “design standards” for exterior appearance. Apparently, the CAC review isn’t good enough for the Boa. 

According to Alderman Coleman, not an architect, (let’s be frank, not even gainfully employed through any visible occupation) the recent large development at 300 East Main Street needed more review than what mere CAC volunteers could provide. “The design of the building is one of the things that gets the most public attention. That’s why we felt, on projects of a certain scale, that we need to have the ability to respond to concerns raised by citizens.” 

In 2009, not only did Alderman Coleman successfully eliminated the Carrboro tradition of the advisory board members interviewing and giving recommendations on advisory board applicants, but he also successfully implemented term limits on free volunteers serving on an advisory board. (Of course, no term limits for Mr. Coleman and the rest of the Boa.) 

Of course, by June, the Boa demonstrated that while it wants home rule, it also wants to [[ho:june_2010#carrboro_boa_snakes_into_efland_s_business_hypocrisy_on_parade|stick its nose]] in other town’s business.  The Carrboro Boa meddled in the water and sewer boundaries in the unincorporated community of Efland, North Carolina, miles and miles away from Carrboro. 
Mayor Chilton said he would not be in favor of approving a plan to allow for mixed-use development in the area because of its alleged historical significance. Somehow allowing Efland redidents to have more water and sewer would destroy historical sites that are so historical, no one has bothered to mark them, much less preserve them. 

Not to be outdone in folly, Alderman Coleman felt that giving water & sewer to people who have failing septic fields and have lived in Orange County for longer than Mr. Coleman has been alive aren’t entitled to these municipal services. Why? According to the Eco-Marxist, county ED policy is skewed toward recruiting national chain retailers and not in shoring up the local economy. Apparently, Mr. Coleman has never visited Efland and is not aware that Efland essentially has no significant local retail economy to shore up. 

Imagine if Efland residents came down to Carrboro town hall to discuss the development of the northern transition area in Carrboro. Only delusional Progressives could fail to appreciate the icy reception Messrs. Chilton and Coleman would give them. 

By July, the irrepressible, flaccid ED “geniousity” that is Alderman Coleman comes to the fore [[ho:july_2010#advertising_genius_alderdan_coleman_causes_carrboro_merchants_association_president_resignation|yet again]]. Mr. Jesse Kalisher, President of the Carrboro Merchants Association (CMA), resigned in response. Mr. Kalisher founded the CMA in 2008 to promote the historic Carrboro business district. 

By December, Alderman Coleman had [[ho:december_2010#alderdan_coleman_calls_columnist_a_liar_while_favoring_makework_projects_for_carrboro_town_staff|fallen off the anger management wagon]] again. He charged Chapel Hill News columnist Mark Zimmerman with spreading falsehoods. In simpler terms, Alderdan displayed his political sense of propriety by calling Mr. Zimmerman a “liar”. In AlderDan's words, ”It is no service to the community when Chapel Hill News columnists twist the facts to make political points (in Zimmerman's case a hackneyed screed on property rights as personal freedom).” 

The full truth was that the Boa has had multiple meetings on this flag lot issue, starting back in May when the phrase “flag lot” wasn’t even mentioned, They met again in June and September on this issue, as well as in October. Here was how the town staff put it. 
Town staffer McGuire made it perfectly clear that the Board of Adjustment or the BOA could reject any new flag lot based on a number of findings either could make. Translation, Mr. Zimmerman was correct. The proposed ordinance was about more than just review, as AlderDan well knew. 

If you're not a friend and pal to AlderDan you may not get your flag lot. It's at his whim and discretion. Why tell the full truth when AlderDan can extend Progressive authority over your life? 

====  What Gang Activity? City School Officials Remain In State Of Bliss ====

On 16 April 2010, around 10:45 a.m., a gunshot rang out on a Chapel Hill High School bus. Within hours of the arrest, the non-Progressive, regional broadcast media reported that the arrrested culprit was bringing a gun to school to get revenge for a lost fight with an “ABP” gang member. Friends of the arrested student said, ”The suspect had kind of lost the fight. So he came back to school with his own weapon and decided to get revenge and shoot back at the student. We didn't know when he was going to do it, but he said he was going to do it…That he was going to get revenge.” (See TV11 Broadcast.) 

Gang member? What gangs were infiltrating city school? According to a Progressive city school spokeperson, [[ho:april_2010#what_gang_activity_city_school_officials_remain_in_state_of_bliss|they weren't aware of any gang members]] operating in their schools. Ignorance is bliss.

====  Good Little Media Doggie!====

Nowhere can the continued loss of vibrant and independent journalism be more readily seen than in Orange County in 2010. 

Local media outlets suffered from self-inflicted wounds. Serving political pablum to their customers, the customers increasingly turned to other outlets for more savory fare. The local media has become real estate advertisers, and even that income fell with the increasing grip of the Great Recession. 

Once again, that party on, party hard, party guide (The Indy) proved that whatever its editorial staff knew about journalistic ethics has been lost in a haze of psychoactive smoke, alcohol, and mirrors, proving one gets what one pays for. (The Indy was distributed for free.) 

Back in 2006, there was the famous “dancing with bricks” incident on the Carr Mill Mall Lawn in Carrboro. Mr. Bruce Thomas frequented the lawn in lieu of holding a full time job. He twirled like a whirling dervish on the lawn, while sometimes grasping a brick in each hand. Mr. Thomas' conduct was reported to Mr. Nathan Millian, the property manager, by an anonymous source. Mr. Millian told Mr. Thomas to stop dancing on the lawn. Then all hell broke loose. 
Mr. Thomas happened to be African-American. Thus, the zany Carrboro governance board (including Mayor Chilton and Aldermen Coleman and Randee Haven O'Donnell) caterwauled that stopping Mr. Thomas was all about racial oppression. 

Pulpsters will remember the big dance-in. Town officials openly trespassed on the Carr Mill Lawn, violating the rules of use established for a piece of private property, replete with smiles and constructively raised middle digits. 

Fast forward to March 2010. The Indy editor, Ms. Lisa Sorg, wrote a [[ho:march_2010#saint_thomas_abricus_indy_party_guide_hatchets_truth_&_invokes_racism|puff piece beatifying Mr. Thomas]]. Guess what happened to the pesky bricks that would have offered a non-racial explanation? They must have been made from transcendental clay, for they have vanished. Ms. Sorg doesn't speak of them, therefore they never existed. Instead, Ms. Sorg dragged out that sorry dance-in drum of racism to explain the un-saintly incident. “There are several theories as to why the an unknown complainant was bothered by Bruce, but a popular one is that a well-toned African-American man, wrapped in tie-dyed scarves and dancing in public, could be bad for business, although there is no evidence he drove anyone away.” 

Gee, maybe someone was just scared of being accidentally smashed in the jaw if a brick broke free from Mr. Thomas’ hands? Naw, it was better for Ms. Sorg to filter the facts and to attack anyone who doesn’t have partying as their occupation. As Ms. Sorg said when talking about the media, ”A lot of people don't realize the machinations that are going on and the puppeteering that takes place in the mainstream media before information gets to the consumer. I think people still need to know a lot more about who owns what, and who's controlling their information, and what the agenda is.” The pot calling the kettle “black”. 

One of the mantras of Modern Progressivism is that transparency in government is good. The more an ordinary citizen knows about their elected officials and their reasons for decisions, the quality of the decisions will be better. However, here in Orange County, transparency is clear as the Eno River after a red clay gullywasher. The lack of a probing and independent news media lies at the heart of the problem.

No better example can be found than in Carrboro, home of palocracy and good political deals for good political friends. The $1,800,000 Veridia bike lane mentioned above benefitted more than an elected official, Mayor Chilton. It also benefitted the spouse of a former Carrboro official is now in business with Mr. Chilton. Yes, Ms. Bronwyn Merritt Dorosin, wife of former Carrboro Alderman Mark Dorosin, former owner of the bar “Hell”, had become now a “broker in charge” at Community Realty, Mr. Chilton’s real estate sales business. 

Mr. Dorosin voted to approve the eight acre, Carrboro coal camp vernacular 46 unit development, Pacifica. The Boa (including Mr. Dorosin) turned a $50,000 town sidewalk gift into a $500,000 Hanna sidewalk/street widening charade for Pacifica developers. Of course, that vote helped not only Mr. Dorosin, but also former Carrboro Alderman John Herrera. How? Both Mr. Herrera and Mr. Dorosin were employees of the Self Help Credit Union (SHCU) of Durham, North Carolina. This organization did the financing for Pacifica. 

As reported by the Pulp in February, the Pacifica developers included not only Mr. Chilton’s “employee”, Mr. Thomas Whisnant, but also Mr. Giles Blunden. In turn, Mr. Blunden also happens to be involved in the Veridia development.  

The Pulp couldn’t tell you ALL of the financially interested parties in either the Pacifica development or the Veridia development. Why? Carrboro government [[ho:february_2010#progressive_carrboro_home_to_financial_opaqueness|does not require financial transparency]] in real estate development approvals. That’s right. Only the conscience of those involved is the regulator for disclosure. Instead of requiring ALL parties getting benefit from a development to be listed (including all owners of business entities), Carrboro allows opaque, throwaway development corporations and limited liability companies to file applications without disclosing all who benefit. So much for the progressive beacon of Carrboro government. 

Can you imagine why Progressive Boa members don’t require complete financial transparency on real estate developments that they oversee? Perhaps they don't want you to know that Community Realty, Mr. Chilton's firm, is the premier listing company for Veridia. 
Say, where is the local media on the financial transparency issue? That is when some of them aren't reviewing their loan from the town officials they are ostensibly watching. Anyone? Anyone? 

==== Progressive Folly on Parade ====

Let’s face it, watching the Progressive Folly can be fun.  Just learn to relax and accept that just when you think things can’t get zanier, they will.  2010 was a banner year for folly, as the Great Recession constricted the Progressive purse strings.  (Sadly, local Progressives couldn’t print their own funny money.)  There’s no order to the folly, so let’s look at it chronologically.

=== January ===

Who better to start off the New Year than Carrboro Alderman Coleman.  When it comes to [[ho:january_2010#aldermen_dan_coleman_troubled_by_criminal_behavior_will 
_carrboro _ban_mirrors|hypocrisy]], no one has the art form honed finer than AlderDan. He sent an email to his colleagues on the Boa questioning the “criminality” of national and regional sponsors of a local chamber of commerce event. 

Mr. Coleman said he would like to attend with local business owners as opposed to having to sit with those nasty regional and national sponsors. In his words, ”I am very troubled by some of the sponsors of this event. To whit: SunTrust, Wachovia, BB&T: to varying degrees culpable in the financial crisis of 2008 and the executive pay scandal. Duke Energy: aggressively pursuing coal power despite global warming concerns; was complicit in the California energy crisis of the early part of the decade. AT&T: participated in illegal domestic surveillance scandal under the Bush Administration.” 

Curious words indeed. Mr. Coleman committed a vehicular assault on a woman volunteer at a local school athletic event in Anderson Park in 2007. He followed that assault by lying to the Carrboro police, accusing his victim of having jumped on his car, as he innocently drove his son to Tee-ball practice. Of course, Orange Progressives elected him to office within a few months. The assault and the falsehoods were local events, as opposed to regional or national events, and thus, totally permissible for a local elected Orange Progressive. 

No word on whether or not Mr. Coleman intends to introduce an ordinance in Carrboro to ban mirrors, thereby continuing to enable him from having to look scandal in the face since 2007. 

Meanwhile, over in Chapel Hill, the hypocrisy continued with Progressive environmentalists wanting a restoration of forest ecosystems but not wanting to correct the [[ho:january_2010#bambi_s_revenge_do_n_t_shoot_urban_deer|deer population]] imbalance by allowing controlled bow hunting. In the world of local Progressive politics, science is the handmaiden of “feel good” environmental public policy, not the other way around. 

Back in the real world, Dr. Emile DeVito, a conservation ecologist and Manager of Science and Stewardship for the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, stated we are facing an ecological disaster from the deer overbrowsing. “Land managers are aware of the catastrophic impact of super-abundant deer on tree regeneration and the loss of biodiversity in the metropolitan New York region’s herbaceous forest wildflowers. Now another phenomenon, the loss of the woody shrub layer, has reached a critical stage across most of the region (outside the New Jersey Pine Barrens).” 

How overcrowded were local woods with deer? According to Duke University professor Norm Christensen, there wasn't a deer in sight 38 years ago when he began a long career studying the ecosystem of Duke Forest. Now, deer are so abundant they've inserted themselves into his research. (North Carolina's deer population has increased from about 670,000 in 1984 to more than 1.25 million in 2007, according to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.) 
In the 7000 acre Duke Forest just north of Chapelboro, it was estimated in 2009 that about 900 “Deermowers” munch their way through the understory. Duke held a hunt to remove about 100 deer. However, even at 800 deer, that equates to about 70 deer per square mile, 14 times the optimal goal of 5 for restoring an ecosystem, as advocated by Dr. DeVito. 

Local “Bambicologists” decried even these modest attempts. According to Ms. Jane Norton, a sustainability educator, who moved to be near Duke Forest 22 years ago, there aren’t too many deer. ”I care about all of nature and think it's imperative…to live in harmony with the natural world. I think our purpose on this earth is to learn from nature. I don't believe in playing God.” 

Bambi and his kind needn’t worry about destroying Orange County ecosystems as long as they remain cute and don't bite. Public policy will be bent towards feelings over facts. Oh, they should also keep a Democratic Party affiliation. 

=== March ===

Hardly a year goes by without the racism card being played.  Sadly, the more progressive the community, the more once-dynamic non-governmental organizations of yore appear to be in danger of becoming increasingly irrelevant. 

Witness the local chapter of the NAACP in Chapelboro. The local NAACP sat silent on the Eubanks Road trash transfer siting debacle for years. Although a predominately (though not entirely) working class African-American community was involved, the local NAACP chapter sat silent. It wasn’t until political challengers started asking embarrassing questions, such as “where’s the NAACP?”, that the local chapter became active. 
The local Chapelboro NAACP chapter [[ho:march_2010#local_naacp_fails_honors_class_honesty_isn't_end_to_racism_the_prize|played the race card]] in addressing the “achievement gap” between African-American students in the city school system and all other ethnicities, excluding lower socio-economic Hispanic pupils. According to the NAACP, the local school system is laden with racist bias, even though the school board has an overrepresentation of African-American school board members with respect to the population. It’s laden with racist bias, even though the city school system has poured millions of dollars and dozens of administrators into the morass of the gap, but it hasn’t been filled. 

In the words of Ms. Michelle Cotton Laws, president of the Chapel Hill Carrboro NAACP, and yet NOT a registered voter in either Durham County or Orange County, “The decision to expand the honors courses at the high school with no clear plan on how to hold teachers accountable for ensuring that bias selection into honors and AP courses isn't occurring, and implementing best teaching practices that prepare all children to compete at a high level is injudicious and regressive education policies. The actions and responses of the teachers, therefore, create a self-fulfilling prophecy for many students; if they are treated as if they can't perform at high levels, then guess what, many of them give up trying.” 

There was only one problem for Ms. Laws. Nothing kept an African-American student from enrolling in an honors course whether recommended by a teacher or not. Ms. Laws also completely overlooked the many conscientious adult school volunteers spending their own time in the Blue Mentor and other programs so as to benefit struggling minority students.

=== May ===

What would a Progressive year be without a [[ho:may_2010#coal_free_unc_mind_pollution_par_excellence|Progressive bone]] thrown at the religious cult of Adverse Climate Changers?  On Tuesday 4 May 2010, UNC Chancellor Thorp demonstrated the smart way to handle Progressive agitators crying for no more coal burning at UNC Chapel Hill. Give them what they want. Just use technological sleight of hand to replace what you were doing with something just as bad. 

The UNC cogeneration facility announced it would test co-firing coal with biomass in the form of dried wood pellets later this spring and torrefied wood – basically charcoal that grinds like coal. 

Campus Progressives beamed. After all, they had forced UNC to behave the way they wanted. Mr. Stewart Boss, coordinator for the Coal-Free UNC Campaign and co-chair for the UNC chapter of the Sierra Student Coalition said “We have been fortunate to work with a university that has been responsive, open-minded and willing to hear our story. Our universities should be at the forefront of developing clean energy technologies and preparing students to be clean energy leaders. I hope other universities will soon follow UNC’s lead in moving beyond coal.” 

Campus Progressives ignored the sad truths. Coal does contain trace amounts of dangerous heavy metals such as mercury and arsenic. Coal does produce greenhouse gases when burned. But so does UNC’s biomass replacement fuel substituting for coal. That’s right. Coal was formed from heated compression of biomass. Charcoal, as in char-coal, (as well as other forms of biomass) contains trace amounts of mercury and arsenic. Charcoal produces the same greenhouse gases (GHG). Charcoal (or torrefied wood) produces about the same quantity of GHG per ton as coal. 

What? So how will UNC going “Coal Free” help the environment? It won’t. The new biomass fuel is as carbonaceous as the old fossil fuel. It will just cost UNC more money because the biomass fuel costs more per BTU produced. Who cares? It sure does feel good to get up in front of unquestioning news media and say that you’re going “Coal Free”. 

=== July ===

If there’s one thing in abundance in Chapelboro, it’s Progressive hubris. Yes, over 300 days a year a high smug alert can be issued for the Chapelboro environs, as local Progressives exhibit their [[ho:july_2010#chapelboro_unc_progressives_arrested_for_attempting_to_shut_down_wake_county_school_board_meeting|higher sense of social justice]] laced with copious amounts of hypocrisy. 

The latest smug warnings can be seen in the arrest of 19 people for attempting to shut down a Wake County School Board (WCSB) meeting. They were arrested after screaming and creating a disruptive disturbance during a public comment period of the meeting. (This act is what is known as “dialogue” to local Progressives, shouting down your opponents.) The protesters held hands, locked arms, chanted against resegregation, and refused to leave the podium. More than a dozen officers intervened and took the protesters to a Division of Prisons inmate transfer bus. 

Three of the Progressive arrestees were from Chapelboro. All are/have been UNC students. Chapelboro? What are people from Chapelboro doing at a WCSB Meeting? The answer is simple, exhibiting their “highmightiness” and smugness. 

The issue at hand was neighborhood schools. The vast majority of parents of all ethnicities want their children to go to neighborhood schools close by their homes. 

For local Progressives, the concept of a neighborhood school had only one interpretation – “racism”. It appears beyond their comprehension that people might be more interested in the cohesion of a local school supplemented by local parent volunteers, the time/distance impact on pupil participation in after school events, and the concern/safety/hassle factor related to a pupil’s medical/dental needs. No, to local Progressives, “racism” is the only correct interpretation. 

=== November ===

The NAACP decided to finish the year with [[ho:november_2010#naacp_backs_use_of_intimidation_and_insubordination_by_municipal_employees|another playing of the race card]]. Just how far the NAACP has fallen from the days of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. can be found in the sad, reflexive acts of a North Carolina NAACP leader to the firing of two Chapel Hill sanitation workers. On 15 November 2010, Reverend William Barber, leader of the North Carolina NAACP, demanded that two fired Chapel Hill sanitation workers be rehired before Thanksgiving. 

Messrs. Kerry Bigelow and Clyde Clark were fired by the town of Chapel Hill on October 29th, following more than a month of paid suspension and an internal investigation. The town had received complaints that rose ”to the level of serious incident,” according to a September letter from Lance Norris, Chapel Hill's public works director. 

As Pulpsters can imagine, in order for Chapelboro Progressives to fire two people of color, something really bad must have happened, something way over the line and not even a close call. While town officials can’t reveal the details due to legal appeals by the two former workers, it has been revealed that the town contracted with Capitol Associates Industries (CAI), a Raleigh based human resources organization, to investigate the behavior of the former workers. 
What behavior? According to Mr. Norris, Mr. Clark had received five written warnings and a suspension since 2000. The town also had received complaints from town residents who were ”afraid to leave their homes when solid waste was collected”. Mr. Bigelow had “engaged in several confrontational encounters with your supervisors, including assigned crew leaders over the past two years “Apparently, both Bigelow and Clark had been ”demonstrating hostility” towards residents and their neighbors for several months. 

However, those who like to play the race card don’t let facts get in the way.  Reverend Barber said, ”This is wrong what the Town of Chapel Hill has done … What was done to these two men shows unilateral disrespect. It's wrong, it's egregious … We can't stand for it.” Apparently seeking independent review of allegations of misbehavior was showing disrespect. Making people afraid to leave their homes wasn’t showing disrespect. 
December

=== December ===

Progressives capped the year by making the [[ho:december_2010#chapelboro_mayors_to_use_police_to_ensure_dayworkers_get_paid_state_getting_paid_income_taxes_from_dayworkers_not_an_issue|nonpayment of wages a police matter]], at least, that is, if a dayworker is involved. A steady supply of dirt cheap labor for cleaning toilets and grounds maintenance is essential to Progressive residents. Now that's social justice. 

Of course such zaniness requires the intervention of a Progressive tax-exempt organization. In this case, it’s Justice United.  On 9 December 2010, Mayors Mark Kleinschmidt (Chapel Hill) and Mark Chilton (Carrboro) promised the Justice United organizers that Chapelboro would do all it could to help the overwhelmingly Hispanic and illegal alien dayworkers of Chapelboro not to get stiffed on pay. 

How many people are getting stiffed? No one knows. Even Mr. Mauricio Castro, a Justice United organizer, admitted the same. No problem, Progressives don't need facts to know that government intervention is necessary. 

Why isn’t Justice United educating dayworkers’ about their legal recourse with the North Carolina Department of Labor (NCDOL)? An NCDOL representative states that employers pay the wages after the bureau intervenes in more than half of the cases. If employers still withhold wages, then workers have two options. They can either represent themselves in small claims court, as long as the amount in question is $5,000 or less, or they can ask labor officials to forward the case to the North Carolina Attorney General's staff to litigate. Oh, the NCDOL doesn't inquire into your immigration status in handling a case. 

Uh oh, there’s the rub. You may not want to go this route if you are breaking the law by being in this country. According to Mr. Castro, ”No individual, whether they are here legally nor not, should work without pay. If someone doesn't pay you it's a work issue. It should not have anything to do with your legal status or not. You still did the work they asked you to do.” Translation, it’s all right to break some laws (federal immigration laws), but not to break other laws (state labor laws). 

Such relativistic thinking fits in well with the sanctuary town mentality of Chapelboro. It’s all right to break non-Chapelboro laws, just don’t break any Chapelboro laws. Don’t even file your federal income tax return, much less pay your taxes? That’s all right. Just pay your town taxes. 
Mayor Chilton offered giving dayworkers pencils and notebooks, training them to write down license plate numbers and other identifying information to help document who is withholding pay.  Mayor Chilton did not offer town training to make sure the dayworkers pay any income taxes owed on these wages. Neither mayor promised to get the workers a safe place out of the elements to meet up with those requiring day labor services. 

==== 2010 – Progressively Worse ====

Clearly there is little hope for any substantive change in a badly flawed Orange Progressive form of government. While nationally Progressives suffered a devastating reversal of political fortunes in the November 2010 elections, local Progressive administrations remained faultless.   

In the zany world of Orange County there’s is little hope for any change in local government in the foreseeable future. Any society like Orange County, one based on ignoring the cause of real problems, that shoots the messenger for pointing out the problems, is doomed to muddle through. But for the economic largesse of UNC, Orange County would have financially imploded a long time ago. 

Finally, this year saw a continuation of the mythical falsehood about Orange County seeking a self-sufficient existence. With UNC as THE economic engine, Orange County, in general, and Chapelboro, in particular, plainly and clearly sucks the fiscal marrow from the bones of 99 other counties in North Carolina. Locavores and rural buffers don’t change that fact. 

So bring on 2011! 
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