Hillsborough is the next hip, cool, progressive town in Orange County. Carrboro “groovitude” is slipping away to Hillsborough as more and more refugees flee from the rampant development brought to Carrboro by its developer mayor, Mark Chilton.
Part of Hillsborough charm is that it can live free from its impact on the environment. In the words of Ms. Margaret Wood Cannell, executive director of the Hillsborough Area Chamber of Commerce (HACC), “Tourism is a major economic force in Hillsborough and Orange County.” A solid waste trash transfer station is not exactly what the HACC is looking for in a member, even if it is a “state of the art”, clean and friendly one touted by Commish Mike Nelson.
According to a recent HACC resolution, ”A waste transfer station, along with its associated heavy truck traffic, is not the impression, appearance or aroma desired to welcome people to Hillsborough's entrances… placement of the proposed waste transfer [station] at any of the identified locations would negatively impact that industry.”
Pulp readers remember that it took the CY 2007 filing of a US Department of Justice environmental injustice complaint to trash the Commishes into reopening the trash transfer station site process.
The top two transfer station sites recommended to the county by a consultant, based on technical criteria, are just outside the town limits near Interstate 40 and Old N.C. 86.
In response to their progressive trash-making constituents, the Hillsborough Town Board reacted to the revelation of proposed trash transfer station near Hillsborough by pulling one of the favorite weapons out of the municipal governance arsenal - annexation. Hillsborough is offering to accept these proposed Hillsborough sites into town limits under the rules of voluntary annexation. The annexation option means the sites then have to undergo town zoning approvals in order to site a trash transfer station. The only cost to the owners is doubling their taxes with no legal guarantee that a trash transfer station can't be put on one of the sites anyway.
Unfortunately, the Hillsborough governance board hasn’t read the many North Carolina court decisions that have recognized that municipalities sell the protection of annexation for bad public puropses. In most cases, the town voluntarily annexes land way out in the country that contains an unwanted business, such as an asphalt plant. In a progressive twist, Hillsborough proposes annexing distant land to exclude an undesirable industry that it needs rather than to include it.
Curiously, although the Commishes have been holding public meetings in Hillsborough regarding the site for the proposed trash transfer station at locations around the county, according to the Hillsborough governance board, Hillsborough residents have been denied participation in the process. Although the Commish process has been remarkably transparent and open, it’s not transparent enough to have excluded any sites in Hillsborough due to the importance of tourism over environmental justice.
See Herald Sun Hillsborough Hypocrisy Story.
Pulp readers are aware of both the increase in seroius crime activity in southern Orange County and the denial of local public officials that crime is a problem, as robbery occurs openly on the UNC campus (as reported by the N & O}.
In the latest Opiate move (not in response to increased local crimes, but merely to remove unwarranted fear of local crime) the municipal governments of Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough have banded together under a new public safety initiative called “Community Safety Partnership”. The program enrolls government employees to report suspicious activities or violations while performing their non-criminal enforcement roles. Even the water police, OWASA, are joining in, throwing in their fleet of meter readers.
On 9 September 2008 by Mayor Kevin Foy of Chapel Hill, Mayor Mark Chilton of Carrboro and Mayor Tom Stevens of Hillsborough announced the public safety program. Government employees are being charged notifying law enforcement if they come upon anything of a suspicious nature, an accident, or perhaps a citizen in trouble or need. Community Safety Partnership troops are undergoing training to report ”motor vehicle accidents, reckless/impaired drivers, crimes in progress, audible alarms, overcrowding of bars or restaurants, blocked or obstructed fire hydrants, damage to firefighting equipment, parking in fire lanes, illegal burning, environmental issues, other hazardous conditions and water main breaks.”
Stressing that there is no link between crime rates and the new program, Mayor Foy said in a town media release, “Our communities are safe places to live, and our crime levels are low; nevertheless, there is much we can do to create an environment free from crime and the fear of crime. Public servants who regularly work outside in the community in various capacities already are a great a resource and have potential to be even more helpful to residents.”
No word on when cameras will be installed outside every home to increase safety and the reporting of municipal violations by town citizens.
