Sour & Seedy -- The Musings, Sayings, and Antics of Kevin Foy

Whereas, a rose by any other name shall smell as sweet, can the same be said of the homeless? Chapelboro is proud to open its arms to illegal immigrants (as long as they live in the Carrboro barrio). Who doesn’t welcome low cost, low skill talents to sweep one’s floors, groom one’s garden and clean one’s bidets?

So, it’s just a little embarrassing when that same warm and fuzzy embrace doesn’t extend to Chapel Hill’s homeless, the more permanent of whom combine low cost and low skill with the extra advantage of low productivity.

Outgoing mayor Kevin Foy and Councilor Laurin Easthom were not happy when Chapel Hill citizens dared to make it “personal” when discussing housing 52 homeless people in a shelter to be built at the corner of Homestead Road and MLK Boulevard.

A video of the too personal festivities can be seen at the town website.

According to long-time Chapel Hill homeless resident Mr. Michael Davis, ”Someone needs to come in and take it from them and redistribute it. You may not want us in downtown Chapel Hill, but we need to be somewhere so that we can access the services we need.”

Dr. Bhupendra Sen was not impressed. He believes that homeless men loitering around Homestead Park would compromise safety for retirees and young families nearby. ”Many of them are criminals, including rapists. There are also drug addicts and alcoholics.”

Mr. Ken Brown seemed to be troubled by having grown men hanging around children. ”That is asking for double the trouble. Loitering by grown men in a public park and near preschool and after-school programs … is not a good idea, whether you're talking about homeless men or not.”

Perhaps if the Chapel Hill town council referred to the “homeless” as “illegal [domestic] immigrants”, then the cumbayah circle can close and the tingling can begin.

No word on when Ms. Easthom will invite some of the homeless to join her in her hirsute pursuits.

US Senate races are expensive. In defeating Ms. Elizabeth Dole, Ms. Kay Hagan spent over $8,500,000 in 2008. Unless you are Mr. John Edwards, that money comes from contributions. What better way for Senate hopeful, and current Chapel Hill Mayor, Kevin Foy to start the contributions running than to bail out a group of big pocket Chapel Hill real estate investors.

Lame duck Mayor Foy held a special closed meeting to buy a white elephant that’s draining the coffers of Developer Dream Team member D.R. Bryan, developer of Southern Village. This company is filled with campaign contributors who dutifully give local campaign contributions in response to their favored real estate development treatment, people such as the former mayor of Chapel Hill, Ms. Rosemary Waldorf. (It's all perfectly legal mind you.)

Hopeful Foy Senate campaign contributors have been sucking air on an unoccupied, spanking new 70,000-square-foot office building for sale off Weaver Dairy Road in the Vilcom Center area. Over 18 months of interest payments on a commercial loan and no occupants in sight (until now), another example of the commercial and retail real estate bubble collapsing around you.

To the rescue comes Mayor Foy, who just happens to need oodles of boodle if his dream of a US Senate run is to come to pass. Foy and his fellow Councilors approved negotiations between The Town Council, in a closed meeting, directing Town Manager Roger Stancil to continue negotiating with Red Wing Land, a D.R. Bryan affiliate. It's marketing “Dawson Hall” as separate office condos for about $150 per square foot, a steal at only $10,000,000!

Why should Chapel Hill buy a building convenient to nowhere after having just spent $25,000,000 on a new town operations center? The excuse given is that the town needs a temporary home for the library while the old one is being rebuilt and needs a permanent home for the police department on the northernmost edge of the town.

Which begs the question, why was the Chapel Hill library built not to be expanded while maintaining current operations? Which begs the question why can't the police department facility be expanded in place? Which begs the question is any municipal act done competently in southern Orange?

That’s right, Mayor Foy appears to be unaware of the concept of leasing temporary space. Pulpsters, needn’t ask why the police need a new permanent home on the northernmost edge of the town when they already have one centrally located on Airport Drive (MLK Boulevard) that could be expanded.

Mayor Foy pulled the old “we don’t have to time to think” ploy for his fellow Councilors. After months of sitting vacant, the keen negotitor Mayor Foy believes that listing agent Gary Hill with Grubb & Ellis/Thomas really is negotiating with two real future tenants and a real condo buyer for parts of Dawson Hall. What timing!

In an apparent attempt at humor, town manager Roger Stancil said, ”Any decisions have to be made in public. The town always operates with a lot of transparency.” (See N&O Campaign Contribution Story.)

Now you don’t see gangs. Now you do.

Pulp readers are familiar with the past inability of Chapel Hill politicians and officials to recognize publicly the presence of gangs and gang members in southern Orange. (See Gangs in Southern Orange Stories.) “Facts optional” behavior is acceptable in southern Orange governance, particularly if it's in furtherance of local business interests. Gang presence has not been wanted… until now. Thus, gangs have not been present, despite warnings from outside southern Orange.

Gang presence now serves a governance purpose as a Halloween “devil inside the party” threatening public safety. Thus, gang members in Chapel Hill (at least as Halloween party visitors) now can be acknowledged.

Mayor Foy created the need for a scary bogeyman by declaring in August 2008. “I think the first thing is to make it clear to people that they're not invited. It's a local party. The trend is toward larger and larger crowds; the trend is toward longer and longer nights, and that's a trend that we need to reverse. We want Halloween to be an event that students and people in Chapel Hill can continue to enjoy, but we want to stop it from being regional or statewide.” See Pulp Foy Halloween Story.

In response, Police Chief Brian Curran and Recreation Director Butch Kisiah deliver the gang bogeyman on schedule. ”As the years have gone by we have observed fewer people in costume and more people who come for the sheer spectacle of the crowd. Many people come from out of town. Binge drinking prior to arriving on Franklin Street is common. Included in this crowd, unfortunately, are those who would look to take advantage of this situation in a mean, violent or criminal manner. We have observed over the past several years the addition of criminal street gang members mingling through the crowd.” See Herald Sun Halloween Story.

Town expenditures of $221,000 to subsidize a UNC student street party are complemented by a survey of local businesses indicating that money is lost by businesses during the Halloween event.

No word on whether or not the sighted gang members are just wearing gangster Halloween costumes.

In most communities in North Carolina, elected officials stay on top of critical municipal needs, such as having enough space to dispose of solid waste. However, as Pulpsters know, Orange County isn’t like most of North Carolina.

At way past midnight on the trash transfer station timeline, Chapel Hill mayor Kevin Foy suddenly has a thought about a site for the trash transfer station. How about putting it next to the Chapel Town Operations Center?

The reaction of the local media and other local politicians is as informative as it is entertaining. (See Chapel Hill Herald Epiphany Site Story.)

Rip Van Winkle's Hollow

On Friday, 8 May 2009, Mayor Foy led a select entourage around the 32 acre site off Millhouse Road. In his decisive and immortal words, “The question isn't whether we should put a transfer station there. The question is, is this something worth talking about?” Talk, it's the fragrant and somnambulant lingua orange of Pulpville.

None other than Commish Mike Nelson opines that “It can't be a shock to anyone that a waste transfer station in that location would be very strongly opposed by residents of northern Chapel Hill. It will take an inordinate amount of political will — in a town election year no less — to site the waste transfer station there.”

Dr. Rick Kennedy, a Nelson supporter, a family practice physician, a rural buffer resident, and a critic of those criticizing local government finally found something that he didn’t like about local government. Seems the issue only has to be at his doorstep (he lives within less than ¼ mile from the site) in order for him to “see the light”. In his words, ““People ought to share the things in the community that nobody really wants. Why doesn't that resonate here like it does on Rogers Road?”

“Physician heal thyself” has taken on new meaning. Perhaps Dr. Kennedy hasn’t yet attained the enlightment that comes from a constant flow of smelly trash trucks, the piquant essence of rotten garbage, and the sights of soaring flocks of buzzards.

What’s missing from the local media story of Mayor Foy's epiphany about locating the trash transfer station?

Even Commish Valerie Foushee, the Sphinx of the Orange County board recognizes something is amiss. In her words, the county asked the towns “months ago… and probably more than once” about a transfer station site. “Nothing was forthcoming.”

So what happened? Never fear. The Pulp will reveal a most southern of pastimes is to blame for the sudden awakening of Mayor Foy. He read the local obituary section. Lo and behold, the answer was revealed to him from an end of April 2009 item.

“Mrs. Julia Blackwood, 88, died Easter weekend at her home in Chapel Hill. Julia was born in Clinton, NC to Herman Stewart and Jenny B. Merritt. She came to Chapel Hill as the young bride of Eugene M. Blackwood. Soon after, she went to work as a secretary at the American Tobacco Company in Durham. (See Carrboro Citizen Blackwood Obit.

What does Ms. Blackwood have to do with a trash transfer station? Well kick back and follow how “bidness get dun” in Orange County.

The Blackwood family has owned property around Millhouse Road since 1752, before Chapel Hill was founded. They came under assault from the town in 1996.

After the firestorm surrounding then Chapel Hill Mayor Howard Lee forcing a landfill on to the Rogers Road community in 1972, Chapel Hill went looking for an alternative site for solid waste. It, the county, and Carrboro all thought they had the new site, Ms. Blackwood’s property on Millhouse Road.

The past is prologue in Orange County. As in the present trash crisis, the answer is revealed not at the beginning of the process, but in a surprise move at the end. In 1996, the politicians had a citizen group working diligently on site selection for over a year. Sixteen sites were considered. Then, magically, at the end, a 17th site (OC-17) was added, the Blackwood – Duke Forest site.

None other than Mr. Gayle Wilson denied hanky-panky in the latecomer OC-17 becoming the odds-on favorite back in 1996. Yes, it's the same Gayle Wilson who is surprised in 2009 by Mayor Foy’s magical announcement about the town operations center space, which just happens to be next to – you guessed it – the property of the now deceased Ms. Blackwood. Back in 1996, Mr. Wilson was the town of Chapel Hill’s solid waste administrator. In 2009, he's Orange County's solid waste administrator. (Any wonder the new county solid waste facility has just been built on Eubanks Road?)

Recycling is not left simply to bureaucrats in Orange County. Politicians and pundits are recycled too.

Guess who voted for the OC-17 landfill site? None other than then Chapel Hill Councilman, now Carrboro mayor Mark Chilton. As reported in the N&O in 1996, although Mr. Chilton was a “favorite of the local Sierra Club”, he voted for the OC-17 without any debate by the local enviromentalists. So did Carrboro Alderman Jacquie Gist, So did then Carrboro mayor, now county commish Mike Nelson.

Guess who was in opposition to the county picking any landfill site? None other than then Green Party member, now Democratic Party member and Carrboro Alderman Dan Coleman. In his words, ”the people in the Blackwood Mountain area come across as NIMBYs. I’m particularly troubled by sone of their suggestions that we should ship our waste somewhere else. Why should we take advantage of another community’s poverty?” Strong words for someone with no visible means of occupation, then or now.

Then as now, technical arguments didn’t matter. Who cares if the site was too rocky and had a slave graveyard? What really mattered was raw political power. The county’s mistake was in going after some Duke Forest land. The Commishes can steamroll working African-Americans and land grant farmers. But, they are revealed as eunuchs where it comes to facing up to the Duke power block.

So let’s go back to the present.

Ms. Blackwood dies. Mr. Foy reads the obits. Shazam! We have a new spot for the trash transfer station.

The local media doesn’t ask the searchlight questions.

“So Mr. Foy, where have you been for the past three years in the trash transfer station debate?”

“When did you first think about the town operations spot next to Ms. Blackwood’s property?”

“Did you really wait until she died to screw up the courage to announce the site, while her grave is still fresh?”

Yes, local progressive profiles in courage abound.

Amidst an economic slide into a depression, Mayor Kevin Foy has used his recent “State of the Town” address to call among the faithful for supporting yet another local tax. This time it’s a local transportation tax. Calling for “bold steps”, Mr. Foy said, “The reason I bring it up is because there is doubt in the General Assembly as to whether this region is willing to impose a tax on itself.” Mr. Foy’s proposed tax wouldn't pay for the transit system. In a call for faith from Orange Progressives, Mr. Foy believes that you should tax yourself in support of an undefined rail transit system in order to “prove commitment”. Again, in his words, ”So it's a good deal.” (See Chapel Hill Herald Rail Tax Story.)

Überplanning “growth is good” bureaucrats, forced residential densification, and profits for politically connected pals are the holy trinity behind faith-based, municipally imposed, non-bus-based public transportation systems sweeping the country. Portland has one. Charlotte has one. Why not the Raleigh metro area, including Chapelboro?

Mr. Foy wants a light rail system no matter what. It’s part of the “smart growth” catechism. He's not concerned with making your life better. He wants to make it economically feasible for intense residential development to occur at “transportation nodes” (aka neighborhoods) that are linked by light rail. He needs it to repopulate the historic business district, supproting the UNC agenda. Mr. Foy shows his faith by not needing any detailed plan in order to call for a tithe (aka local tax) on the faithful. Just believe in light rail and smart growth will happen.

Although catastrophic climate change is the religious banner under which überplanners crusade, will a light rail system really be better for you than a bus-based system?

Cracks are beginning to show in the light rail crusade. Even Vancouver “sustainability” high priest Mr. Patrick Condon is calling for using electric streetcars over light rail systems to promote urban redevelopment. (Pulpsters should note in reading the Condon paper that the city of Portland, Oregon gave away $665,000,000 in taxpayer subsidies to developers along its first new streetcar line, in addition to the $15,000,000 per track mile and $2,000,000 per vehicle transit capital costs. They also should note that major false assumptions are made regarding vehicular use in the USA. Cars average 1.6 people per trip (not 1.0) and public transit averages 16% occupancy (not 50%).)

According to one überplanning critic ( Mr. Randall O’Toole of the Cato Institute) most rail transit systems (emphasis on the word “system”) use more energy per passenger mile, and many generate more greenhouse gases, than the average passenger automobile. By “system”, Mr. O’Toole includes the total energy consumption, including that of the bus feeder lines that support a light rail system.

Mr. O’Toole proposes the following heretical alternatives to a light rail transit system. 1) Power buses with hybrid-electric motors, biofuels, and nonfossil fuel sourced electricity. 2) Concentrate bus service on heavily used routes and use smaller buses during offpeak periods and in areas with low demand. 3) Build new roads, using variable toll systems, and coordinating traffic signals to relieve highway congestion that wastes nearly 3 billion gallons of fuel each year. 4) Encourage people to purchase more fuel-efficient cars. Getting 1% of commuters to switch to hybrid-electric cars will cost less and do more to save energy than getting 1% to switch to public transit.

No word on whether or not Mr. O'Toole will be invited to address the Chapel Hill Town Council any time soon.

No word on whether or not the Chapelboro light rail system will stop at the unemployment office.

Almost one year after Mr. Kevin Foy, Chapel Hill mayor, made an official statement at the 10 March 2008 town meeting regarding the senseless killing of Ms. Eve Carson, a student at UNC-Chapel Hill, prior to the arrest of the above-pictured alleged killer(s), a federal grand jury indictment has been amended to include a special finding of fact. Ms. Carson’s senseless murder involved “torture and serious physical abuse” and was carried out in “an especially heinous, cruel, and depraved manner.” These special findings are needed in order to seek the death penalty.

As the Pulp noted almost a year ago, Mr. Foy has made no public mention of a key element of closure necessary in any senseless killing – that of society seeking justice. The question remains, will town officials support the seeking of the most severe penalty against any person convicted of Ms. Carson’s murder? This question takes on increased importance as the federal indictment now enables the invoking of the death penalty if a conviction is made against one of those indicted.

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 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 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 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 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 Herald Sun Straining Staff Story.)

Hammered earlier this year in announcement of an 11% tax increase (see Pulp Chapel Hill Tax Increase Story), Chapel Hill Mayor Foy asks faithful to approve issuing library expansion bonds without telling how much your taxes will rise.

Library supporters want to expand the town library (separate from the county library system) from 45,000 square feet to 65,000. The cost will be $16,000,000 in capital bonds and $1,000,000 more per year in operational costs.

Showing faith based governance, Mayor Foy supports the 2003 voter approved library expansion bonds and is asking town residents whether they're still willing to pay more for a larger library. To assist citizens in proving their faith in OPie governance, neither he nor the town staff has issued any estimate of how taxes would increase in response to issuing the bonds.

See N&O Library Story.

No word on when a unified, county-wide library system will be considered over redundant, Balkanized town and county library systems.

Now you don’t see gangs. Now you do.

Pulp readers are familiar with the past inability of Chapel Hill politicians and officials to recognize publicly the presence of gangs and gang members in southern Orange. (See Gangs in Southern Orange Stories.) “Facts optional” behavior is acceptable in southern Orange governance, particularly if it's in furtherance of local business interests. Gang presence has not been wanted… until now. Thus, gangs have not been present, despite warnings from outside southern Orange.

Gang presence now serves a governance purpose as a Halloween “devil inside the party” threatening public safety. Thus, gang members in Chapel Hill (at least as Halloween party visitors) now can be acknowledged.

Mayor Foy created the need for a scary bogeyman by declaring in August 2008. “I think the first thing is to make it clear to people that they're not invited. It's a local party. The trend is toward larger and larger crowds; the trend is toward longer and longer nights, and that's a trend that we need to reverse. We want Halloween to be an event that students and people in Chapel Hill can continue to enjoy, but we want to stop it from being regional or statewide.” See Pulp Foy Halloween Story.

In response, Police Chief Brian Curran and Recreation Director Butch Kisiah deliver the gang bogeyman on schedule. ”As the years have gone by we have observed fewer people in costume and more people who come for the sheer spectacle of the crowd. Many people come from out of town. Binge drinking prior to arriving on Franklin Street is common. Included in this crowd, unfortunately, are those who would look to take advantage of this situation in a mean, violent or criminal manner. We have observed over the past several years the addition of criminal street gang members mingling through the crowd.” See Herald Sun Halloween Story.

Town expenditures of $221,000 to subsidize a UNC student street party are complemented by a survey of local businesses indicating that money is lost by businesses during the Halloween event.

No word on whether or not the sighted gang members are just wearing gangster Halloween costumes.

Orange County offers continuing health benefit coverage to former elected officials. Although these elected positions are part time positions supposedly performed as a public duty, local elected officials have deemed their sacrifices so great that they should receive lifetime benefits that even part time municipal employees that have worked for decades don’t get. Such is the nature of progressivism in southern Orange where many work in a bubble of health care benefits not shared by those on the lower side of median income levels. (See Opies.)

The feeling of entitlement is best described by Mayor Kevin Foy. He tried in the summer of 2008 to get such benefits for Chapel Hill elected officials. (See Pulp Chapel Hill Health Benefits Story.) According to Mr. Foy, town council work is demanding and limits some members to part-time jobs without health insurance. Raising the “pre-existing condition” concern that affects every Chapel Hill citizen and not just Councilors, Mr. Foy says, “Then what do we do [if they get a pre-existing condition]? Have a bake sale?”

Now the N and O reports that, according to a UNC-Chapel Hill School of Government professor and the Mecklenburg County attorney, such benefits may not be legal. (See N&O Health Care Benefit Story.)

Mr. David Lawrence, UNC SOG professor, says that state law allows employees or officers covered by a retirement benefits system can also receive health insurance after retiring. However, town and county board members aren't eligible under the law for membership in the retirement plans.

Elected officials are waking up to the conditions most citizens face in obtaining health care insurance. Individuals and small businesses have to pay much more in health insurance if they or their personnel have developed medical conditions. Local elected officials don't want to share such pain. They feel entitled only to gain.

In Orange County, one former commissioner gets health benefits from the county, with Commish Moses Carey becoming eligible at the end of the year.

No word from any municipal attorney on Mr. Lawrence’s opinion.

No word from any local municipal elected official on why they shouldn’t receive instead a “gold card” to the local UNC emergency room, where they can wait for hours to receive medical attention amongst the flood of ciudad del santuario residents clogging the system.

The town of Chapel Hill is finally looking at the financial costs of creative class events such as the Halloween Night party on Franklin Street that attracts 80,000 attendees. Town costs are about $200,000 for one night of wretched excess.

When asked about people from outside Chapel Hill attending the gala festivities, Chapel Hill Mayor Foy aka (“Mr. Diversity”) says, “I think the first thing is to make it clear to people that they're not invited. It's a local party. The trend is toward larger and larger crowds; the trend is toward longer and longer nights, and that's a trend that we need to reverse. We want Halloween to be an event that students and people in Chapel Hill can continue to enjoy, but we want to stop it from being regional or statewide.”

When questioned on the financial savings to the town if the event is reduced in size, Mayor Foy unabashedly with a straight face replied, ”What people need to understand right now is we're working on making Halloween a smaller and safer event. We're not trying to save money. We're trying to make sure we have a safe environment for people.”

Daily Tar Heel Halloween Story

No word on how much UNC is offering in funds to compensate the town for a student party event.

With all the furor over Chapel Hill Councilors voting to give themselves (since rescinded) health benefits most citizens don’t have and, even more amazingly, benefits even town part-time employees don’t have (see Pulp Healthcare Benefits Recission Story and Pulp Healthcare Benefits Heavy Lifting Story ), Councilor Laurin Easthom has sleuthed around and found the source of discontent. It’s the vaunted and powerful Chapel Hill Republican lobby which has the enviable record of having no registered Republican holding a local office at least since Reconstruction, if then.

In a guest editorial in the local real estate advertiser, Ms. Easthom showed true Orange Progressive leadership. She didn’t explain why she thought she was owed free health care. She didn’t explain why she thought using the consent agenda process to stop public debate was okay. (All she had to do was ask Mayor Kevin Foy to remove the healthcare item off the consent agenda before the vote and there would have been discussion.) She didn’t explain why holding office in Chapel Hill has been shape-shifted from public service into public gain.

Ms. Easthom believes that the healthcare item “has been completely overblown”. She goes further, “Some of those who have been the most outspoken, and continue to criticize and continue to threaten to put out petitions on items other than health care, are Republicans.” For Ms. Easthom, “[t]he fire was indeed started, but I think it is continuing to be fueled by a group of individuals who would love nothing more than to “stick it” to the council and pave the way for their candidates next year to run. It just makes me want to run more.”

Unfortunately, Ms. Easthom failed to note that Chapel Hill elections are non-partisan.

Showing the true nature of progressive leadership, the Chapel Hill Councilors voted on 9 June 2008 to give themselves health benefits most citizens don’t have and, even more amazingly, benefits even town part-time employees don’t have.

All you have to do is serve eight years on the Chapel Hill Town Council, and you have 75 percent of your healthcare benefits paid for by Chapel Hill after you leave office, period.

The caring and sharing nature of second termer Mayor Kevin Foy can be seen in the town’s “fair and progressive” process. The healthcare benefits decision was placed on the consent agenda, thereby depriving public input before a vote. Councilors took their vote BEFORE citizens could comment. One speaker after the fact said in a “disgruntled” tone, ”Does it matter what I have to say if you already voted to approve it?” To which Mayor Foy glibly responded, ”We can change it.” No changes were made despite Mr. Foy admitting the unpredictable nature of the cost of the healthcare benefits he will be eligble for at the end of his present term.

Once again Councilor Matt Czajkowski proved his “unreliable” progressive nature. He pointed out that town taxpayers could pay for decades if a young candidate completes two terms in a part-time job. (See Pulp Czajkowski Off Medications Story.) Not understanding how Orange Progressives ignore financial cycles relying on the non-local university economic engine, Mr. Czajkowski said, ”This is not the time for the council to be voting to spend money on itself” .

Mr. Kryder also ignored the true spirit of Orange Progressivism, offending the sensibilities of all Councilors, save Mr. Czajkowski, saying, ”I don't want a young person coming up here, serving eight years and then having me pay 75 percent of their health care, I think that's atrocious.”

See Herald Sun Healthcare Benefits Story.

UNC is set to buy about 13 acres from Duke Energy at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Homestead Road, adjacent to the United Church of Chapel Hill.

UNC has selected about 1.5 acres as the site for a new homeless shelter to be leased at $1.00 per year. In turn Chapel Hill will make the site available to the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service (IFC) for the construction and operation of a new homeless shelter.

”Chapel Hill has a long history of caring about the homeless and supporting the Inter-Faith Council,” said Mayor Kevin Foy. ”This in-kind contribution has been a public-private partnership that enables the IFC to help countless numbers of homeless people to get back on their feet.”

No word from Mayor Foy on what UNC plans are for the remaining 10 plus acres of prime real estate.

On 26 March 2008, during the annual Chapelboro school spring break when the citizenry isn't paying attention, Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy started a public forum by announcing that Chapel Hill town taxes would be increasing for the FY 2008-2009 budget. Keeping up the local political mantra that ”quality of life has associated costs”, Mr. Foy mentioned the new Town Operations Center and the coming Aquatics Center, monuments that have doubled the town debt to $70,000,000 and significantly increased recurring operational costs. Mr. Foy neglected to mention the $500,000 spent on art for the remote Municipal Operations Center (not to be confused with Town Hall). That remote art spending equals ten annual tax increase payments ($100) on 500 affordable $200,000 homes.

For Pulpsters with a for-profit financial bent, service (aka yearly payments) on Chapel Hill's outstanding debt has increased from $2.4 million in 2004 to more than $6 million now. Without raising the tax rate, the budget would face a deficit of $2,800,000.

New town financial director, Mr. Kenneth Pennoyer, (See Hot Orange Finance Director Story) sugarcoated the proposed tax increase, calling it a 4.9 cent increase (based on the official tax rate being calculated on a per $100 of assessed value). Neither Mr Pennoyer nor the ever-vigilant local media noted that a 4.9 cent increase is about a 10% increase in the town tax rate. A nickel sounds substantially better than 10%. (For those keeping track, a nickel tax rate increase on a $300,000 house translates into $150 more in taxes over the current $1566. Remember, that's just town taxes. You pay an additional $3460 for Chapelboro schools and county taxes, for a pre-increase Chapel Hill municipal tax total of about $5026 on a $300,000 house.)

For-profit financial readers should note that the “nickel tax increase” also includes consuming an existing town fund balance of $2,700,000. Without that fund being available, the increase would have been “another nickel”, i.e., an almost 20% increase.

The Town Council should adopt the budget on June 9.

No word on whether or not the Town Council will connect decreasing housing affordability to the difference in the increase in town taxes (about 10%) versus the last UNC wage increase (about 3%).

No word on why a financial impact statement showing the effect on town taxes wasn’t prepared and discussed when the decisions to build these monuments were being discussed

No word on whether or not cumulative town residential property values have declined during the bursting of the nationwide housing bubble, thereby necessitating a further tax rate increase.

No word yet on how the town of Carrboro will fare with its FY 2008-2009 town tax rate that’s currently 25% greater than that of Chapel Hill (65.37 cents versus 52.20 cents).

See Chapel Hill Herald Budget Story.

Kevin Foy, Chapel Hill mayor, made an official statement at the 10 March 2008 town meeting regarding the senseless killing of Eve Carson, a student at UNC-Chapel Hill, prior to the arrest of the above-pictured alleged killer(s). (See statement below.)

Mayor Foy waxed eloquently on the sense of loss in the community, a loss shared by Pulpsters, no matter where they live.

Noticeably absent from Mr. Foy’s statement is any mention of a key element of closure necessary in any senseless killing. He makes no mention of bringing to the courts in a judicious fashion the killer(s) of Eve Carson on the strongest criminal charges possible. He makes no mention of seeking and assisting in getting the strongest penalties possible under the law for a brutal, violent, and deliberate senseless killing. He makes no mention of delivering justice.

Already rumblings of the killers being cast in the role of society’s victim(s) are starting to surface in local southern Orange political blogs.

No word on whether or not Mr. Foy, a lawyer, will speak up about justice as passionately and directly as he did loss.

Statement by Mayor Kevin Foy on behalf of the Chapel Hill Town Council:
“We begin this evening's meeting by acknowledging the grief and pain that we are suffering at the loss of our colleague and friend, Eve Carson.

Eve was the president of Carolina's student body, which is how many of us came to know her. But the more we got to know her, the more we understood what an extraordinary person she was, and how broadly and deeply she touched the lives of people in Chapel Hill and beyond.

Eve's death represents for us a terrible, incomprehensible loss. She was a person who embodied what is beautiful in this world, and it was a joy to know her. Her having been taken from us rips from us our greatest hopes and our greatest dreams and our greatest aspirations for what the world might become someday.

We are diminished by the loss of Eve, and we know it.

We mourn this day, but we will carry on. We will soldier on. We have Eve's memory and spirit to help us carry on. But we will always remember Eve; we will always cherish Eve; and Eve will always be with us in Chapel Hill, to challenge us with her beauty and grace, her intelligence and charm, her compassion and idealism.

Eve's spirit will challenge us to be a place where youth can flourish and hope can endure and evil will be forever banished. And although we cannot replace Eve, we do know that she was a person who mattered in this world by the work she did, and she was destined to do great things. Rather than have those things remain undone, each of us can look to pick up a piece of the work that Eve did, and to do the work she would have done, the way she would have done it.

My colleagues on the council and I have been a part of the sorrow of our community, and we have reached out to Eve's family and to our colleagues on campus and beyond. We have extended to Chancellor Moeser our deepest sympathy to the campus community, and we have sought to comfort everyone in our town. Each of us has suffered, individually and collectively, a harm that is deep and piercing.

Yesterday, my wife Nancy and I attended Eve's memorial service at her hometown in Athens, Georgia. We had the opportunity to meet Eve's mother, Teresa, her father, Bob, and her brother, Andrew. We told them how much Chapel Hill valued Eve and how heartsick all of us are.

Eve's family was very gracious, and even under the burden of such surpassing grief thanked us, and all of you for your thoughts and your support.

Athens and Chapel Hill are now forever bound. We are bound by the thread of the life of a lovely young woman who touched us as she graced this world.

Please join me in a moment of silence to remember Eve; but I hope that this moment will resonate around the world, and that our moment will awaken this world with our cry of grief at this senseless death.

I would also like to call attention this evening to the assistance that is available to everyone in our community who is coping with this tragedy and who needs assistance. Our town has a crisis unit, housed in our police department, that is ready to help, and I ask you please to call them to seek that help if you need it. Contact information is available on the town website or by calling Town Hall.

In addition, the university has counseling available and people ready to assist members of the campus community during this difficult time.”

In a strategic planning aka cumbaya (see Phictionary) session, Chapel Hill Councilman Matt Czajkowski spoke up about the social engineering aspects of the craze for developer profits in pushing mixed use developments. Mr. Czajkowski had the audacity to challenge if families prefer to live in high rise, multi-family, mixed use developments. ”Guys, you're making a massive assumption that families want to move into high density development.”

Mr. Czajkowski’s remarks were in response to Mayor Kevin Foy’s comment that ”We assume that mixed-use development is the best development, and on top of that, we assume that people want to live in dense development.”

In an Orange Progressive put-down, executive director of yet another local tax-exempt organization, on-again, off-again political power couple paramour, and fellow Town Councilman Mark Kleinschmidt accused Mr. Czajkowski of “harboring a 1950s perspective”. Readers should note that Mr. Kleinschmidt wasn’t born until the late 1960s and is not a practicing breeder (see Phictionary).

Town councilman Jim Ward piled on indicating that he didn’t care what ordinary families wanted. He doesn’t care if people want to live in high density developments. He assumes that it's the best way to grow Chapel Hill. “And you're making the assumption that they will or will not [live in whatever the council wants them to live in],”

No word on why any social engineering councilman thinks that growing Chapel Hill’s population is desirable.

No word of any discussion of carrying capacity occurring to the social engineers of the cumbayah circle.

See Chapel Hill Herald Cumbayah Story.

University Mall over off Estes Drive down by Fordham and the Rams Gate Plaza were sold last month for a stated $53,500,000. Speaking for the town of Chapel Hill, Mayor Kevin Foy said the town seeks a mix of residential, office and retail space at the University Mall site, the densest development allowed.

The University Mall site is located in a flood plain and resource conservation district.

(Originally reported in the Chapel Hill News - 2 Jan 2008)