The Town of Chapel Hill and the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership are planning the process for the future of downtown Chapel Hill. The Downtown Public Forum is Thursday, April 8, at 8:30 a.m. and again at 4:30 p.m. The event will be held in the second floor Great Room at the Top of the Hill Restaurant. If you can't make either forum please open OP on your browser and tune into my coverage of the event. I will be in attendance at the morning forum.  

Anyone who ever tries to get to and from businesses on the east side of Estes Dr. south of Franklin St. knows that it's a treacherous errand, no matter where you're coming from.  I've become better than a FedEx driver when it comes to planning right-turn-only routes. While I'm sorry to see Walker's BP station go and have mixed feelings about the possibility of a Walgreens there (esp. since Kerr has left the mall), this does present an opportunity to think hard about the miserable traffic patterns in the area. 

"This is a local event,” Mayor Kevin Foy said in an official Town video. “If you can walk to Halloween, you’re invited. If you can’t, don’t come.”

Wow. Watch the Youtube clip. Lame.

(3 min 15 sec) CUE CREEPY MUSIC and Watch Mayor KEVIN FOY DISAPPEAR INTO A MISTY FOG CLOUD. REALLY? Really Chapel Hill? You can't make this Homegrown Halloween initiative "cool" with special effects or rationalization. Limiting the growth of events like Halloween hurts the "Brand" of our Town and ultimately has a negative effect on our Local Economy.

Hey there.  My name is Andrew Neal, and I'm the owner of Chapel Hill Comics on West Franklin Street.  I've had orangepolitics.org in my RSS reader for a long time, but can't remember if I've ever posted anything here despite the fact that I have an account.

As a downtown business owner, I'm primarily interested in orangepolitics for the discussions in the Economy & Downtown category.  With recent posts about the lack of recent posts here, I thought I'd throw something into the mix and see if you're interested in discussing it.

Last week, the Independent ran the following article by Joe Schwartz

WCHL is reporting Bruce Stone's official announcement that he's closing the Varsity theater.   He provided them a written statement that's likely to appear shortly in the newspapers as well.

Some excerpts regarding the film industry and Stone's situation with the Varsity:  "This is a business decision, a bottom-line decision. . . . The Varsity especially has been struggling for over two years, with no prospect of an upturn any time soon. . .  with the summers being especially difficult... Our landlord has been understanding and supportive throughout our tenure."

Of particular note, however, are his comments about the downtown situation:

If you are interested in the Downtown "Riddle," you must read the May/June edition of the Chapel Hill Magazine.  On page 56, there is an interview with Fayetteville's own Joe Riddle, the well-known owner of some of our empty Franklin St. property.

In the "Letter from the publisher," Dan Shannon says the interview is "a lively mixture of raw honesty, combativeness, disingenuousness and skepticism."  The wary Riddle doesn't treat reporter Lisa Rossi with much respect and obviously doesn't believe that any interview will do him justice.

The Town of Chapel Hill Parks & Recreation Department is proud to sponsor our Annual Festifall Arts and Crafts Street Fair in downtown Chapel Hill, Sunday, October 4, 2009 from 1:00 to 6:00 p.m. Quality arts and crafts by some of the most talented artists in NC will be shown at this event. Bring your holiday shopping list and some home décor ideas for purchasing original art. Everything from live music and original arts and crafts to the ultimate Kids Zone will be displayed at this premier fall spectacular.

The sights, sounds and brisk fall air will be accented by thousands of fair goers. The Annual Festifall Street Fair is a beautiful fall event with a home-town, community touch, designed with family, friends and newcomers in mind.

We invite arts & craft exhibitors and entertainers to apply by the July 17, 2009 deadline. Limited space is available.

In speaking to the Friends of Pat Evans, err, I mean Friends of Downtown, Meadowmont developer and Board of Trustees Chair Roger Perry identified the same problems that I have been talking about in regards to Chapel Hill's downtown.

"You have to treat downtown with deference," Perry said. "You've got to put more money into downtown than into outlying areas." That means more and better lighting and, in the case of one particular area, sidewalks.

"That we don't have sidewalks along Rosemary all the way is nuts," he said. "We're tying an arm behind our backs." [...]

Perry saved his most critical words for the "irresponsible ownership" of some downtown buildings. Without mentioning specific names, he riffed on "absentee owners" who don't act as good stewards of the town or their properties, allowing buildings to slip below fire code standards and otherwise exhibiting no sense of urgency in filling vacancies in prime retail locations.

"I think if we got the right price, we'd be interested in talking with somebody," John Drescher, The N&O's executive editor, said in an interview.