Sometimes the velvet glove slips off the iron fist of local government. That happened at the Carrboro Planning Board on 4 June 2009.
The Carrboro Planning Board is a group of citizen volunteers that advises the Carrboro governance board (BOA) on town land development issues. Supposedly, the input from the planning board guides the BOA on how citizens feel about changes in the town’s land use.
As an example of “open and direct“ democracy, the planning board model is flawed. The weakness of the model is that it requires the BOA appoint a cross-section of views representing all diverse views held by residents in the town, and not just its pals. The planning board is loaded with citizens of a land use ideology that matches the BOA and not the citizenry of the town. In Carrboro the minority view is not legitimate, and thus, needn’t be considered, much less discussed.
However, even partisan planning board members were surprised by the fascismo move of the BOA. Over one week before the June 4th meeting, the agenda for the planning board meeting was circulated. A discussion of “farm issues” including a discussion of a text amendment proposal for accessory farm apartments was on the agenda.
At the opening of the June 4th meeting, a call was made as to any changes to the agenda. All were silent. Then much later, towards the end of the meeting, with citizens in attendance who came specifically to discuss the text amendment with the planning board, Ms. Patricia J. McGuire (town planner, member of the town's PZI “police squad”, and “open government expert”) announced that the planning board couldn’t talk about the text amendment.
Couldn’t talk about a scheduled agenda item? In an open government town? In a meeting of citizen volunteers? Yes, smiled Ms. McGuire. The BOA forbade it by legislative fiat.
How did a gag rule come into being with no one watching? Turns out, the deed was done at the very end of the 19 May 2009 meeting, After 10:30PM, in the last five minutes, after a long (over three hours) public hearing on Colleton Crossing, Alderman Dan Coleman brought up the text amendment issue, conveniently waiting for the audience to have cleared the room. Even the media had cleared the room to meet deadlines. Alderman Coleman didn't explain why he didn't raise the issue earlier in front of a town hall filled with citizens.
Mr. Coleman announced that he just happened to talk to the planning board head, Mr. Matthew Barton, prior to the May 19th BOA meeting. Peevishly, Mr. Coleman reported that Mr. Barton had the audacity to attend a meeting of farmers who had concerns of Carrboro town regulations without a BOA member in attendance.
To shut down further democracy in action, Mr. Coleman made a motion for the BOA to direct the planning board not to address farmer’s concerns until the BOA did. His reasons? First, BOA members should hear citizen comments and decide whether or not if the planning board should listen to citizens. The second reason is that Ms. Kille is “involved” with town planning board discussions. In other words, the planning board isn’t supposed to do any real work.
Alderman Joel Hall Broun was “uneasy” about Mr. Coleman's motion, but voted for it in her hurry to exit the meeting. Alderman Randee Haven O’Donnell thought that farmers going to the planning board before the BOA is “a circuitous route”. All normal land use matters go through the planning board before going to the BOA, so no explanation was given as to why this issue should not follow normal procedure. Alderman Lydia Lavelle displayed her trademark “level-headedness”, by ignoring the citizen volunteers.
In a cumbayah move, Alderman Coleman disparaged Ms. Kille as “an unreliable source”, despite the town having lost documents, conducted a kangaroo court trial at a BOA meeting, and generally revealing their penchant for iron-fisted control. Strange words coming from someone who wrote a book extolling the virtues of direct citizen democracy. But then the gag rule is more than just suppressing contrary views.
Politics is rearing its ugly head. With the Carrboro town election in November, it wouldn't do to have planning board members appear to be more responsive to town issues than incumbent aldermen. Questions would be raised. Why did the town spend so much money on attorneys? Why did Mayor Chilton kill even the consideration of a text amendment? Why did it take an “outsider” to propose a text amendment to the planning board?
Citizens are perplexed.
As quoted in the Chapel Hill Herald, Ms. Sharon Cook, planning board member and activist volunteer who introduced the text amendment that needed gagging, says, “It’s just very unusual in a government where we talk about openness and transparency to tell a board that you can’t talk about something.”
Those feelings are matched by town native Ms. Jennifer Ellis saying, “It sounds like they’re trying to hide something by not allowing the [planning] board to discuss something that’s one of the unique cultures of Carrboro.”
Town resident Ms. Meredith Carter adds, “It’s not even that uncomfortable of an issue. I can see it getting out of control easily by the aldermen becoming even more despotic in shutting down discussion on political issues with which they disagree.”
No word on when Alderman Coleman will introduce his latest book on direct democracy, ”GagPolitics”, as a companion to his bestseller, ”EcoPolitics”.
As posted in the
Pulp in June 2008, Alderman John Hererra got mad when he stepped in dog turds on his lawn. Rather than talk to his neighbor, he decided to get a town ordinance passed so that the Carrboro police could talk to his neighbor instead.
Always willing to tell others how to live, the Boa responded by passing a civil pooperscooper ordinance on 7 October 2008. In the words of federal anarchist Mr. Herrera, “Most laws in this country are broken and that’s what they are made for.” Mr. Hererra is an expert on lawbreaking, as he advocates people break federal immigration law at will.
Speaking as a “town leader”, Mr. Hererra stated that he should “set the tone as to what’s rights and what’s wrong” as to acceptable public behavior in Carrboro.
Speaking with scatalogical certitude, Alderman Randee Haven O'Donnell wants the Boa to look next at ordinances to control cat feces in toddler sandboxes.
No word on whether the Boa will enforce federal pooperscooper laws.
In related business news, stock in Sparky’s Polishes went up sharply in early trading.
Residential taxpayers find no shelter from the relentless Carrboro Boa facilitation of developers’ profits in “Keep It Weird” Carrboro. Local media “watchdogs” snore on.
Parking has been a mess in “Chapelboro” for years (See Poet Lariat - You Look for Parking All Night Long.) So why, all of the sudden, is the Boa anxious to get its coils around the “parking problem”? Supposedly this problem didn’t exist in the 2007 Carrboro municipal election, at least for every Carrboro candidate that won election. Why is parking in “walkable” Carrboro suddenly an emerging value? From whence does the groundswell come?
For answers, it’s like Watergate, just follow the money trail. Developer Boa friends are getting ready to break ground for the 300 Main Street project and the Alberta project. Cheek-to-jowl parking in Carrboro will become bunghole parking with the loss of spaces during construction of these projects. What’s more, the Boa has decreased, not increased, the number and the size of parking spaces (particularly publicly accessible spaces) that these projects must provide at the expense of the developer, on their sites.
In a more hum-drum town, the governance board might require a developer in a prime urban location, one in the heart of the commercial district, to provide adequate parking (private and public) in order to get a project approved. You make the demand. You service the demand. These not-so-cool governance boards might even require such a developer to purchase and to build parking off site from their project if there weren’t enough on-site parking spaces.
However, governance doesn’t work that way in Carrboro, where your tax money keeps Boa friends smiling. In Carrboro, it appears that a developer can even get the town to line them up a staging area for their construction project. There is no visible plan for construction staging for the substantial multi-story 300 Main Street project. Where will the project construction workers park? Where will materials be dropped off? Where will structural steel reside pending erection?
To the rescue comes Carrboro “Developer Service Department” co-manager and “anemic economic development” director, Mr. James Harris. He has told the Boa at its 12 February 2008 work session about “a potential new parking lot behind the Kentucky Fried Chicken where Rosemary and East Main streets meet”. The Boa eyes have been transfixed at the glowing image of 26 more diminutive parking spaces for their developer friends, at no cost to their friends. (That’s 26 newly downsized parking spaces thanks to Boa code changes reducing the area of a parking space.)
In keeping with the Carrboro town staff tradition of under-informing the public, Mr. Harris has said that these spaces would cost you about $100,000 to $200,000. However, that’s just for stormwater management. He adds that the site is in such bad condition that it can't be used as a parking lot now. Mr. Harris fails to give you the full bill for turning this “bad lot” into a real parking lot, albeit one hidden behind a fast food restaurant.
Veteran taxpayers feel the Boa squeeze coming. They remember the Hanna Street sidewalk.
When the Boa approved the Pacifica project submitted by their local developer friends, and in some cases, by their employees, the Hanna Street sidewalk improvements required by that project were only supposed to cost about $100,000, with half that cost ($50,000) being borne by the Pacifica developers. But in Carrboro, there are estimates for media consumption, estimates for Boa approval, and there is reality. The twain rarely meet.
The town manager (Mr. Steve Stewart) never has reported the entire final cost of the Hanna sidewalk (over at least $250,000) to the public. That butcher’s bill probably won’t include the time value of Carrboro Public Works personnel working on the project in addition to the payments to a private contractor. Moreover, Mr. Stewart hasn’t reported publicly whether or not that the Pacifica developers (one of who is an employee of dense developer, bourgeoisie mill house rentier, and Carrboro mayor, Mark Chilton) have actually presented the town with a check for half of the entire cost (now much more than $50,000), as promised and provided in the original Boa approvals for Pacifica.
This Harris proposed, just off Main Street town parking lot will be purchased at your expense with your tax dollars. But the lot isn’t ready for use by you now. Serendipitously, it just happens to sit across the street from the 300 Main Street project. So it stands ready to be used in the interim by the 300 Main Street developers as a staging area for their construction. It will stand ready after completion, through your tax subsidies, to serve the owners of 300 Main Street.
It’s only natural. To the Boa, it’s only logical to let Boa friendly developer use an otherwise idle piece of land. Friends helping friends. Your taxes at work in Carrboro.
Speaking ambilingually (out of both sides of his mouth), Mayor Chilton wants the 300 Main Street and Alberta projects to collaborate with the town for free parking, without acknowledging that the Boa has reduced the parking spaces in town while approving these projects.
Mayor Chilton will take money from you to invest in more downtown parking spaces for his developer friends. He expects you to pick up part of the burden for parking in the historic business district. He doesn’t expect his developer friends to shoulder the entire burden, although they get the entire profit. He will not be handing you a return on your investment in the foreseeable future. A tax-exempt business expert, Mayor Chilton is quoted as saying that ”[Taxpayer subsidized parking for business and commercial/retail property owners] is about economic vitality as well as how [Boa developer friends will] bring in more businesses.”
Speaking in political tongues, Mayor Chilton is reported to say that Carrboro shouldn’t have as much free parking as Chapel Hill's downtown ”because that helps Carrboro stay competitive in terms of downtowns.”
Private school teacher, “friend of her back yard”, intuitive for-profit business expert, and Carrboro alderman, Randee Haven-O'Donnell revealed her deep concern for the lifestyle stresses of Carrboro’s struggling low wage employees by suggesting that they shouldn’t be able to park a car near their place of employment. If you work in Carrboro (and aren’t an owner or Boa friend), then you should ride in a van pool from park-and-ride lots to the six short-block long Carrboro “downtown”.
No word on the timing for transitioning the “developing” off Main Street town parking lot from a developer construction staging area into a town parking lot for the 300 Main Street owners.
No word on whether or not Alderman Haven O’Donnell will start riding in a van pool either to Boa meetings or to her employment.
No word from any alderman as to why business and property owners in the historic business district, those who reap the profits from that district, aren’t taxed with a business district tax to provide the solution to the parking problems they create.
See N&O Parking Discussion.
