The local steno pool has rallied behind the Commishes, extolling them in Republican iconographic terms as being “tough on taxes”. Four of five Orange County commissioners ”unequivocally oppose” increasing the tax rate beyond the $1 per $100 valuation threshold, as opposed to the staff recommendation of $1.038. Thus, the Commishes will accept a 5% tax increase (of the recommended 8.8 cent increase).

Commish Mike Nelson who doubled Carrboro taxes in ten years, is showing newfound fiscal trepidation, saying he's ”not comfortable going to a dollar. My inclination is to not support adding any new positions, because I don't see how we get the tax rate down if we add new positions.”

Rabid local transfer tax and former earnest, on-and-off again, schools and parks supporter Commish Moses Carey (who has overseen a rise in county taxes that is many multiples of the inflation rate over the past two decades )says ”If we're going to take some tough hits, then everybody's going to take some tough hits. I'm not exempting anybody – that includes the educational system. This is a tough year.”

The Commishes discussed saving money by the following dramatic cuts. First eliminate the Gospel Festival - $2000. Second discontinue local artist grants - $23,000.

The Commishes studiously avoided any discussion of increasing impact fees to recover the true capital costs of residential growth that have put the county into the fiscal mess it currently enjoys.

See Herald Sun County Budget Story.

No word on when the stenographers will explain to locals how the current financial mess came to be under the leadership of the sitting Commishes, some of whom have been in power for decades.

No word from any Commishes as to why this tough year wasn’t on the budgetary radar until days after the May 6th local transfer tax vote with every Commish in “strong“ support of schools and parks.

No word on why there was more discussion of the Gospel Festival than approving the brand spanking new $25,000,000 county office complex.

Almost two years ago Orange County Commishes were told by Mr. Gayle Wilson (Orange County Solid Waste) that the county landfill was running out of space by 2010. (See the Carrboro Citizen Trash Transfer Series.) Time had run out. A decision had to be made “RIGHT NOW”, said Commishes Moses Carey and Mike Nelson. With much public hand-wringing they voted unanimously to place a county trash transfer station on Eubanks Road.

Only a few stood up against the Commishes. Neither the Chapel Hill nor the Carrboro town governance boards stood up against a Eubanks Road trash transfer station. They showed their political courage by remaining mute, even though Commish Moses Carey asked them in writing for their opinion. Grassroots anti-ANY-trash transfer station groups didn’t exist. As long as the same old working class African-American Rogers Road community was being dumped on, the local media remained mute.

Then the trash hit the fan.

A formal complaint of environmental racism was filed against Orange County with the US Department of Justice by Rogers Road residents. The Commishes hadn’t followed federal government guidelines for locating the proposed transfer station. How rude. It was hard to keep the environmental racism garbage from clinging.

Public shame was followed by political challengers having the nerve to run in local elections. They actually attempted to make the trash transfer station process an issue.

The local media responded to these charges of environmental racism by waiting until AFTER those elections to pound their chest. Ensuring that only the “right people”” are elected takes progressive precedence over outing local environmental racism.

The local chapter of the Sierra Club remained mute as well. One Carrboro municipal challenger walked out on their political forum to dramatize the failure of the local chapter to get involved. The chapter president declared “foul” because Rogers Road environmental racism was ”one of their issues”. The reward for these faux environmentalists making like a herd of ostriches was support by the local Orange Progressive political groups behind their chapter president Ms. Bernadette Pelissier. She was handily elected to a county commish spot in 2008 without once speaking out against the environmental racism practiced by local government. (Bootlicking remains the favored mode of progressing politically in Orange County.)

Fast forward two years and consider the new found distaste of local Orange Progressives for employing what two years ago was proclaimed to be state-of-the-art, clean, attractive technology, a distaste that wasn't expressed at that meeting in 2007. Once alternative trash transfer station sites were considered, alternatives that aren’t not located near an African-American working class community, the shine came off the trash transfer station ”shinola”.

The town of Hillsborough was considered as a site. The mayor said, “thanks, but no thanks”.

Grassroots groups (such as the “not-near-my-farmette” Orange County Voice) sprung up to protest the use of a solid waste trash transfer station once it was to be moved off of Eubanks Road.

Finally, on 22 January 2009, with about one year to go to closure and the political heat on, a miracle happened. The dump wouldn’t close at least for another year, not until 2011, said Mr. Wilson. Although two years ago, the Commishes “had to vote now” and build that station, miraculously the Commishes could now vote to “examine alternatives to building a solid waste transfer station”.

In the words of Commish and nearby Hillsborough resident Barry Jacobs,”The basic assumption that a transfer station is the best alternative may be too narrow… There's no reason to not get a good answer to a question if you have time. After a certain point, you're out of options. We're not out of time and we're not out of options.” (See Chapel Hill News Landfill Miracle Story.)

Now that a non-African American working class community isn’t involved there’s time for the Commishes and local Orange Progressives to be thoughtful. Time they didn’t have two years ago. Time they have now.

In more words of caring from Commish Jacobs, ”We want to satisfy that we've looked at all reasonable alternatives. We want to be sure that we're taking an approach that is thoughtful and, within the realm of solid waste management, progressive. Within the philosophy of trying to reduce waste, are we making the best choices in how to dispose of waste? Those are the questions.” (See Herald Sun Plenty Of Time Story.)

No word on when the Vatican will send representatives to visit the landfill to witness the site of the miracle.

On 21 April 2008, the Orange County Commishes had their annual legislative breakfast with local state representatives to talk about issues of interest. One of the big topics was economic development, or rather the record of a lack of economic development by the commishes over the past two decades. State Senate candidate, retired tax-exempt publicly funded organization executive, real estate investor, solid waste site expert, school merger advocate, and Commish Moses Carey is quoted as saying, ” ”People seem to think we don't want the money that [economic development] brings in”. Commish Carey apparently doesn’t understand how this “misperception” came about.

The commishes have looked into the political looking glass and don’t see themselves and their record of underachievement and imbalanced growth as the source of the “misperception”. Rather, they look forward as to how they can spin a new “reality”. In the words of Commish Valerie Foushee, ”The new message needs to be that [being against economic development]] is not what we should be characterized as”.

Again in the words of Commish Carey, the taxpayer subsidized Buckhorn Village project is all he wants to talk about, ”People like the Buckhorn idea”. Of course, he doesn’t seem eager to talk about the role of county officials in forcing the Buckhorn Village deal on a landowner and the property into the hands of a selected developer Dream Team. (See Hot Orange Buckhorn Village Story.)

While chowing down, the commishes didn’t miss the opportunity to propagandize about the local home equity/land transfer tax. Ignoring the neutral position of education required by law, Commish Foushee says, ”It's important for us to get the message from our side out there. I'm not sure that the message is balanced at this point.”

Commish Alice Gordon feels that the woefully under-informing commish campaign that cost you $100,000 is a neutral campaign that ”erase[s] the confusion”. Ms. Gordon doesn’t see any reason to mention facts that would persuade you not to support the tax. (See Hot Orange Chilton Transfer Tax Story.)

See Daily Tar Heel Commish Story.

Only in southern Orange County can you tell a news story about a church moving and completely miss the underlying story of much greater import. As reported in the N&O, the ostensible story is that the St. Paul AME Church of Chapel Hill (St. Paul’s) is moving from its central location off Rosemary Street to distant Rogers Road area, home of the Orange County landfill and the once-declared spot for the trash transfer station once the landfill is full. See N&O St. Paul’s Story.

St. Paul’s move involves, as many politically connected real estate moves do in southern Orange, public largesse. In this case, St. Paul’s move is reported to involve improvements to publically-owned land available from the local Orange Progressive political triumvirs (the town of Chapel Hill, the town of Carrboro, and Orange County). In particular, the private St. Paul’s church may be getting water & sewer courtesy of the Chapelboro school board.

How? A new elementary school may be placed on a tract of publically owned land south of the Eubanks Road landfill, an area known as the “Greene Tract”. (This landfill area is ground zero for the environment injustice actions of the Orange County commishes.) But the local media reports only a feel good story of a coming church community center, an athletic field, and affordable homes.

Luckily, Pulpsters know that if you squeeze the pulp in Orange County, there’s so much more to tell, so long as you’re not a stenographer.

First, one should know who’s a most important parishioner of St. Paul’s, someone in a political position to help it receive a flow of blessings. That person is none other than Orange County Commish and State Senate candidate Moses Carey.

Second, an astute observer should ask the question, why is St. Paul’s moving in the first place? The reported reason is that it’s landlocked. That’s an odd statement considering all local politicians are favoring greater density and more urban design, moves that will landlock and overburden many existing churches. More importantly, St. Paul’s is right next door to the new high rise and high priced, grass roof development “Greenbridge”. So St. Paul’s current Merrit Mill Road land is worth a lot more now than just two years ago. It’s ground zero for a profitable sell-out for development of ”Greenbridge II”, as opposed to home to an affordable housing complex for St. Paul’s parishioners.

Third, one should look at what St. Paul’s and its friends have been doing. What hasn’t been reported by the N&O? What’s not part of the pre-arranged press release?

Part of the answer is that a friend of Commish Carey has been buying up parcels at the intersection of Purefoy Road and Rogers Road since 2003, some 20 acres all told. The map above shows where “X” marks the treasure spot.

The red parcels are the recent St. Paul’s purchases for its proposed “campus”. (See county GIS PINs 9870540416, 9870543735, 9870544583, 9870459243, and 9870545947. See Orange County GIS map system.) St. Paul’s purchased these five parcels, totaling about 20 acres, for about $650,000 in August 2007 (or about $32,000 per acre). That’s not a bad deal considering a similar parcel on Homestead Road, about a quarter of mile away, sold for $60,000 per acre two years earlier (2005). But the seller to St. Paul’s, Mr. Thomas C. Tucker didn’t do so badly either.

Mr. Tucker purchased 14 of those acres just four years earlier (2003) for about $300,000, or about $22,000 per acre. That’s a 50% profit in four years. He purchased the other two properties, about 6 acres, about two years later (2005) for about $25,000 per acre. That’s a 50% profit in two years! Such profit-taking is not unheard of in southern Orange, witness the 50% within months profit made off the optioned selling of what is now known as MLK Park to the town of Carrboro, a deal involving an employee/partner of now Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton.

The blue parcels represent land purchased by Habitat for Humanity of Orange County (HFH), yet another Orange County tax exempt organization. In December 2005, HFH purchased these 17 parcels (about 21 acres) for a total of about $420,000, parcels with there own environmental constraints being pushed through the system in an odd way. That’s a purchase about the same time as Mr. Tucker, a purchase at about $20,000 per acre. But then, these HFH parcels aren’t on the corner of Rogers Road like St. Paul’s purchases.

The green parcel represents the 104 acre, publicly owned Greene Tract (not 164 acres as reported by the N&O). Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County jointly own the Greene Tract. In the past, the Chapel Hill Town Council said in a 2002 concept plan that it wanted to build affordable housing on 18 acres and keep the rest undeveloped. But public memory is essentially absent in transitory Chapelboro, where the local media rarely calls forth the detailed history of any subject, a role for which the Pulp is glad to fill in.

The yellow parcels represent the publically owned Orange County Solid Waste properties, which include the Eubanks Road landfill. While the red parcels and blue parcels were changing hands, Commish Carey lead the decision to place the new Orange County trash transfer station on Eubanks Road, in the yellow parcels. Already depressed by the landfill next door, also in the yellow parcels, the trash transfer station site kept land prices on Purefoy Road below the market elsewhere in Chapel Hill, even though the landfill was due to close soon.

In Mr. Carey’s words, “All roads lead to Eubanks.” When his church (St. Paul’s) collected Rogers & Purefoy Road corner from Mr. Tucker, the trash transfer station decision was final. It was going on Eubanks. Since the St. Paul’s purchase, a new search has been opened. Now it may not go there.

Fast forward from August 2007 to March 2008. After quietly purchasing the about 20 acre campus at the corner of Rogers & Purefoy in August 2007, St. Paul’s wants to build a “campus”. Under preliminary plans submitted, a 51,000-square-foot main building would hold a 600-seat sanctuary, a fellowship hall, classrooms, offices and a day-care center in the west wing. The east wing would house a community center with a gym, locker rooms, a teen center and senior center. On the rest of the campus, the church would build a four-story senior housing center with 50 units, about 30 affordable homes, an athletic field, basketball and tennis courts, and a cemetery. About 175 parking spaces will be built around the main building and serve the church, community center and senior housing building, because the new site is miles from existing parishioners. (So much for walkability.)

Chapel Hill town councilman and Task Force co-chair Bill Strom is typically reserved about the proposed campus. ”Personally, I was impressed with the broad range of programs that the master plan lays out, from traditional worship to the community center, day care, senior housing and lots of active recreation. It seemed to me like they were taking a really thoughtful approach to some of the environmental constraints on the site.” There are no details on the environmental constraints on the campus at the corner of Rogers and Purefoy.

For those who doubt that St. Paul’s campus announcement is part of yet another well orchestrated southern Orange political deal worked out well in advance of you finding out, you should ignore that at the same Task Force meeting Chapelboro school board members announced that they want to build the district's 11th elementary school on the environmentally sensitive Greene tract. It’s 2008 and they want to open a school there in 2010, yet they are just announcing the location in time for the May primary.

So what’s the rush? The Rogers Road Task Force has been trying to mollify the people along Rogers Road for ten years from the joy of living near their toxic neighbor, the Orange County landfill. Why the dual private/public announcements now?

Commish Carey needs to counter charges of environmental injustice leveled at him by the Coalition to End Environmental Racism (CEER). (See Hot Orange Environmental Injustice Story.) The filed USDOJ complaint of environmental injustice stands out on his resume like an ink stain on a white shirt. He’s running against Ellie Kinnaird for a state senate seat in a primary on May 6th. He needs cover. Besides, the legal use of public lands and public money to enhance his friends and his church would shore up his political base. Yes, the gagging smell of trash on Purefoy Road has been replaced by the smell of cash. All roads, including Dorothy’s yellow brick road, truly do lead to Eubanks, just as candidate and Commish Carey has been saying for over a year.

NOTE: Pulpsters should note that the above referenced N&O story is irredeemably garbled. Task Force attendees confirm that St. Paul’s isn’t talking about using the Greene Tract at all. It’s the Chapelboro school board that’s talking about using 14 of the 18 buildable acres of the Greene Tract to build an elementary school on a school site (ES#11) with extremely poor road connectivity, as can be seen from the map above, but with extremely high political connectivity.

Even gangstas know, sooner or later you have to pay the piper.

First the commishes (aka county commissioners) pulled back on school maintenance for existing school buildings in order to pay for new sewer lines for developer friends. Next, they pulled back on soccer fields where people live to pay for fields in the middle of nowhere, but nearby where their developer friends want people to live. Now, after pimping out new county office digs with friendly landlords and home-grown bling, the commishes have got to reach deeper into your pockets.

The trouble is the commishes don’t want to admit that their financial generosity has led to an increase in your county property (ad valorem) tax rate. And the state legislature isn’t playing along. If the commishes want to impose a local county sales tax rate increase and/or a brand-spankin’ new local county transfer tax, they have to get your permission in a referendum.

So the commishes “commished” a telephone poll to feel out voter sentiment (see Survey Says…), a poll conducted, at least in part, before the commishes met this week. The preliminary data mining of the poll results mustn’t have been good, because the commishes issued a “gangsta warning” in their 12 February 2008 meeting – they will raise property taxes or stop county construction projects if they don’t get those taxes from you.

State Senate candidate, retired, tax-exempt publicly funded organization executive, real estate investor, solid waste site expert, school merger advocate, and county commissioner Moses Carey is quoted as saying ”People understand 'Pay me now or pay me later' ”. Mr. Carey maintains Sphinx-like silence in informing you that the proposed county taxes are a financial band-aid. He neglects to tell you that the county land development system transfers part of municipal service costs from new residential construction onto existing residents through increased property taxes. The system allows local developers to escape the true cost of the demand for municipal services created by their profiteering.

In a move to get the new tax gold, former travel agent, former pool supply salesman, former state lobbyist, former Carrboro mayor, former school merger advocate, current county/city school “equity” advocate, false rhetoric expert, swastika art connoisseur, and county commissioner Mike Nelson shows a tremulous bravado saying ”I think we need to say we're going to spend it on the schools”. Mr. Nelson’s turnabout is quite remarkable in view of his often stated position that city schools get too much money in Orange County, the foundation for his continuing efforts over many years to merge the two county school systems.

An accomplished political straddler and self-proclaimed savior of Carrboro’s Adams tract as a nature park (completely ignoring his duplicitous role in trying to turn it into a public works facility), Mr. Nelson has made a career of spending other people’s money, showing little ability to make money in a for-profit business environment.

Mr. Nelson is pondering delaying the tax referendum from May 2008 until November 2008 to give the county more time to “educate voters”, using your money, of course, to educate you. Please note that these selfless county actions will not be “advocacy” (an illegal activity), but merely “education”. Demonstrating keen political probity, Mr. Nelson wishes to educate you, the voter. You should allow him to collect more tax money from you. He will then subsidize more net county revenue negative local development. End result – he gets to dig himself deeper into a hole.

No word from local political analysts if the voters will react in a Pavlovian fashion to commish “promises” to spend the new taxes on schools.

No word from the commishes on why the school capital and operating costs haven’t been fully funded by them as budgeted and approved by the two school boards in the county for over six years.

No word from the commishes on any developer related county project that will stop if the taxes aren’t approved by the voters.

See N&O BOCC Gangsta Warning Story.

Showing the famous political dance steps that make local progressivism a moral force majeure, Orange County Solid Waste (OCSW) bulked up its land needs at a BOCC meeting conveniently held for citizens at 5:30 PM on 29 January 2008. County commissioners didn’t say “yes” and didn’t say ”no” to OCSW’s request for a larger “dance floor”. Just as they wouldn’t take the Eubanks Road site off the OCSW search table, failing to mirror the smooth moves of the city of Greensboro in responding to its environmental injustice solid waste concerns.

Less than six months ago, the BOCC had to find only 10 to 15 acres for a trash transfer station when they decided to dump on the Eubanks Road community again. Fed up, local residents decided to file a complaint for environmental injustice with the EPA against the Orange County, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro governments. Now, the commissioners’ staff needs a whole lot more land, including 5 to 10 acres for a materials recovery facility, 60 to 100 acres for a permanent storm debris, organics, and land clearing operation, and 3 to 5 acres for a parking/crew facility. That means that OCSW needs about 80 to 130 acres, or about as much land as may be available around the present county lands at Eubanks.

Despite requests from attending Coalition to End Environmental Racism (CEER) members, the BOCC indicated by its actions that Rogers Road environmental injustice concerns are just like any other community specific criteria, a less than sympathetic or conciliatory response to CEER’s formal charges of environmentally unjust conduct by all southern Orange governments.

The BOCC further showed its collective opinion as to the environmental injustice complaint by doing its own dirty dancing. Any decision to pull Eubanks off the table (if it’s entertained at all) will not be until May 20th, a date falling serendipitously two weeks after the May 6th Democratic party primary election for county commissioners, the de facto election for commissioners in Orange County.

The intrepid Ms. Neloa Jones, CEER co-chair, delivered the following remarks to the solid waste shuffle:

“My name is Neloa Barbee Jones, and I am speaking on behalf of the Rogers-Eubanks Community and as Co-Chair of the Coalition to End Environmental Racism (CEER). My comments relate specifically to the site search criteria established thus far.

In mid-November, when CEER presented to you, we pointed to TWO points of especial importance:

1) Establishing a site search advisory panel (or committee)

As recommended by BOTH the National Environmental Justice Advisory Committee (NEJAC) and the EPA in their Waste Transfer Stations: A Manual for Decision-Making, establishing a site search advisory panel is absolutely essential to ensuring meaningful participation from the residents of Orange County and residents of the Rogers-Eubanks Community.

Furthermore, this panel should be comprised of not just local and state elected officials, but also representatives from environmental justice organizations from relevant civic groups, from adjacent neighborhoods, and from concerned community groups; from businesses and solid waste industries, and from academic institutions AS WELL AS technical consultants such as the Olver firm, who advised you in the first flawed site search.

According to BOTH NEJAC and the EPA, this diverse panel is FIRST educated on site search issues and it is THIS panel that develops the initial set of site search criteria. Already evidenced by the materials thus far developed, having Olver alone, a technical consultant who lacks expertise to serve in diverse capacities, the present site search criteria thus presented is clearly and already flawed again.

2) Meaningful participation of the public and the application of community-specific criteria

For some inexplicable reason, the process outlined in your flow chart does not include public input OR apply community-specific criteria until very late in the site search process. Public input should begin immediately after the above site search advisory panel develops the initial set of criteria. Community specific criteria should be applied much earlier in the process. The flow chart shows that community specific criteria is not applied until after four (4) sites have been finalized. Developing site search criteria for a waste transfer station site in this manner violates EPA recommendations. For these reasons, we view this current process as already and clearly flawed again.

The NEJAC EPA site search steps listed in Figure 1, Exhibit 1 (below) merely represent a COMPRESSED version of the process and were intended merely as an outline. We assumed that you along with a site search advisory panel would do the work that each step demands. We are disappointed that this has not been done because what this means is that the process once again will at best yield flawed results. So at this point, we implore this board to establish an appropriate advisory panel to begin developing legitimate criteria as soon as possible.

Figure 1 Exhibit 1: Steps in Implementing an Area-wide Facility Selection Process”

For a more BOCC friendly view, see N&O Trash Story.