Yes, it's yet another urban development with no name! (Or more accurately: that steals it's name from it's location. See: East 54, The Franklin, McCorkle Place, etc.) It's hardly the most important thing about this development, but it still bugs me to no end. Doesn't anyone else think that we are losing character when we fail to properly NAME our places?

Anyway, I'm glad to see this is finally getting underway.  After years and years of participating in planning meetings that led to the creation and eventual approval of this plan, I will NOT be stopping by this information session tomorrow. And neither will the dozens of Chapel Hillians who will proceed to complain loudly about the project as soon as the first shovel hits the dirt. Sigh.

I know the purpose of this site is Orange County politics, but I want to know if others are bothered by the situation in Wake County schools. I went to the rally today and heard Rev. Barber and the other speakers make their case against the new direction of the Wake schools ("neighborhood schools" or resegregation depending on your point of view). It was a well organized and fairly well attended (~ 1000 people) event. We left before things got REALLY exciting and Rev. Barber and others were arrested at the Wake County school board meeting a few hours later, presumably for trespassing since they had been barred from attending.

After Attorney Betsy J. Wolfenden testified at her January 29, 2010 deposition regarding the dysfunction and corruption in Orange County District Court, the North Carolina State Bar unscussfully attempted to seal her deposition transcript from the public. 

In 2003, Emily, a young mother who was raised in the Mormon faith, was assaulted by her daughter’s father in Nevada. She fled with her infant son, Matthew, to the safety of her brother’s home in Orange County, North Carolina. When Emily decided to return home to Nevada a few weeks later, her brother encouraged her to leave her son with him in North Carolina until Emily determined it was safe to return to Nevada with Matthew.

The Southeast High-Speed Rail (SEHSR) project seeks to build a 110mph Acela-like passenger train system connecting DC to Charlotte (and beyond), via Richmond, Wake Forest, Raleigh, Durham and Hillsborough, using a straightened version of the current Amtrak route.  The environmental impact studies currently being developed for the Petersburg VA - Raleigh section includes a bike-ped inter-urban greenway.  Charlotte is independently working with consultants to develop a bike-ped urban corridor parallel to their portion of this rail line.  Carrboro's very successful Libba Cotton greenway closely parallels an active freight line that runs north through town past WSM and Horace Williams to join the current Amtrak (future SEHSR) line just southeast of Hillsborough.

Is there a difference in the landscaping of parking lots regulations between Chapel Hill and Carrboro? I noticed the new lot by the Open Eye Cafe doesn't have any space for trees and the old farmers market (now private carr mill employee parking) only has only one tree handing on. Of course the trees provide pleasant shade in the summer and most people with a car want to park it in the shade. I see some new bus shelters have been built. Is there any plan to plant trees near them?

Loren

A few weeks ago I attended a meeting to hear the presentation of a group of consultants that have been working for the Town of Chapel Hill and the Downtown Partnership to create a "Downtown Development Framework and Action Plan." I didn't know much about this plan before showing up at the meeting, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that it includes some pretty radical ideas for downtown Chapel Hill and they do not include trying to emulate Southpoint Mall!

The draft plan can be downloaded as a PDF from the town web site.  Here's my brief analysis...

Durham Technical Community College’s Orange County Campus is highlighting its new Sustainable Technology program on Saturday, July 10 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Area residents will have the opportunity to learn more about this new program. They can also view solar technology demonstrations and displays and talk to solar technology professionals.

Some highlights include:

 There was an interesting article on Orange County and the business atmosphere that I thought someone would have posted on or commented on by now.  

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/06/27/553635/businesses-flee-chapel-hil...