Showing posts tagged “Chapel Hill”
Samiha Khanna ·
15 Mar 2010, 10:49 AM ·
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In a follow-up to our cover March 10 cover story, “Gaga for Google’s fiber,” we’d like to update metrics of the involvement of the Triangle’s top three participants.
Durham’s still ahead in Facebook presence, with 2,180 fans on its “Bring Google Fiber to Durham N.C.,” page, while 935 people have signed up for “Bring Google Fiber to Raleigh!”. The western part of the Triangle is not far behind: the Facebook group “Bring Google Fiber to Chapel Hill & Carrboro N.C.” boasts 906 members.
The towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, and UNC-Chapel Hill, will hold a public forum at 7 p.m. today at Chapel Hill Town Hall, 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., to receive public comment regarding community interest in the fiber optic trial and how residents would use an ultra-high speed Internet network.
On Thursday, Durhamites hope to make a splash by corralling thousands of locals into the Durham Bulls Athletic Park at 11 a.m. Thursday to spell out “We want Google” on the field, to pose for an aerial photograph. More here >>
Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Durham, Durham County, North Carolina, Raleigh, Wake County, business, media, national, news Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Durham, Google, Google Fiber, Internet, Raleigh, Triangle
Joe Schwartz ·
3 Mar 2010, 4:21 PM ·
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Topeka municipal leaders renamed the town Google, Kansas. Others across the country are forming Facebook groups and bringing tech gurus together hoping to be selected for Google’s high-speed Internet project.
Chapel Hill, Carrboro and UNC are forming a joint task force, holding a forum and inviting residents to complete a survey.
The group is geared toward becoming a pilot community for Google Fiber, a program announced last month that seeks to build and test Internet service that’s one gigabit per second — 100 times faster than what’s available today.
To qualify, towns of 50,000 to 500,000 people must apply by March 26 and demonstrate that they have adequate resources and infrastructure to make the partnership successful.
The forum is set for 7 p.m. March 15 at Chapel Hill Town Hall.
Read next week’s Independent for a story on what else local municipalities are doing to try to woo Google.
Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Orange County Add new tag, Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Durham, fiber, Google, UNC
Joe Schwartz ·
14 Jan 2010, 6:24 PM ·
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Almost half of the Chapel Hill’s standing committees and advisory boards served taxpayer-funded food at events from November 2008 to November 2009, receipts show.
We wrote about the Town Council’s meeting munchies expenditures in this week’s Indy. Unlike the council, most of the town’s other food-eating groups only order grub a few times a year.
The Library Board of Trustees spent the most with $345.67 purchased.
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Chapel Hill, business, food, politics Bicyle and Pedestrian Advisory Board, Board of Adjustment, Cemeteries Advisory Board, Chapel Hill, Community Design Commission, food expense, Greenways Commission, Historic District Commission, Housing Advisory Board, Human Services Advisory Board, Library Board of Trustees, Mayor's Youth for a Sustainable Future, Parks and Recreation Commission, Planning Board, Public Arts Commission, Stormwater Advisory Board, Sustainability Committee, town council
Joe Schwartz ·
14 Dec 2009, 4:49 PM ·
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An arts gallery will fill the vacant Kerr Drug space on the 100 block of Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, officials announced today.
The space will house a nonprofit group of 25 member artists dubbed Frank, with a lease agreement in place with building owner Michael Brader-Araje.
The artists hope to occupy the 3,400 square foot 109 E. Franklin Street building by early next year. The town along with the Downtown Partnership gave the green light on a $40,000 loan via its Small Art Business Loan Program to fund the project.
Barbara Rich will serve as the director of the gallery, which also plans to feature work from 50 regional and national artists.
The move had long been rumored, and is the latest effort to upgrade foott raffic and revitalize Franklin Street.
Chapel Hill, Orange County, arts, business Barbara Rich, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership, Frank, Franklin Street, Michael Brader-Araje
Joe Schwartz ·
13 Nov 2009, 4:50 PM ·
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Chapel Hill is one of the top 15 cities for people who hate driving and long commutes, according to the U.S. News and World Report. It’s the latest accolade for a town that was also recently dubbed the most livable city and one of the top places to start a business, among many other awards.
Cambridge, Mass., Pittsburgh, Boulder, Co., and Ann Arbor, Mich, were a few of the others recognized. Chapel Hill earned the honor for its public transportation options. The magazine found that 26.2 percent of residents travel without cars. You can find the full article here.
Chapel Hill, Orange County Chapel Hill, transit, U.S. News and World Report
Joe Schwartz ·
27 Oct 2009, 4:40 PM ·
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When I called Orange County Board of Elections Chairwoman Tracy Reams today I thanked her for her time. “You must be very busy these days, so I appreciate it,” I told her.
“Well, not as busy as we’d like to be,” she replied.
That might seem odd for a woman whose overseeing three early-voting sites, one per Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro, but Reams says the sites haven’t been used nearly as much as she expected.
At the close of Monday it was 11 days since early voting began in Hillsborough and a full week since Chapel Hill and Carrboro joined in. So, how many have turned out to the polls? In Chapel Hill, 454 came to the Morehead Planetarium. The Carrboro Town Hall has seen 310 voters. Hillsborough has had a scant 48 residents vote thus far at the Board of Elections office on King Street.
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Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Orange County 2009 municipal election, Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Orange County, Tracy Reams
Joe Schwartz ·
17 Oct 2009, 10:12 PM ·
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The Thorpe-Anderson Breakfast Club, a group of progressive NAACP supporters and members, is backing incumbents in races for Chapel Hill Town Council, Carrboro mayor and Board of Aldermen and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School Board. The group’s endorsements, always sought after by the candidates, were released today. They are as follows:
Chapel Hill Mayor - Mark Kleinschmidt
Chapel Hill Town Council - Lauren Easthom, Ed Harrison, Jim Merritt and Will Raymond
Carrboro Mayor - Mark Chilton
Carrboro Board of Aldermen - Randee Haven-O’Donnell, Jacquelyn Gist and Sammy Slade
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School Board - Greg McElveen, Michelle Brownstein and Joe Green
The breakfast club was formed in the 1970s by Hank Anderson, the South’s first black parks and recreation director. The late Bill Thorpe, a former councilmen who passed away while in office in 2008, served as the group’s leader after Anderson died. The group fights for racial justice and lobbied to town to rename Airport Road as Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
This is the first endorsement this season for Raymond. All the other Chapel Hill and Carrboro municipal candidates earned support from the Sierra Club and the Indy. The three school board hopefuls also earned the Indy’s support.
Early voting began Thursday. Election day is Nov. 3. Visit our elections page to read candidate questionnaires, get links to campaign pages and learn more about the candidates.
Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Orange County, politics Carrboro, Chapel Hill, CHCCS, Ed Harrison, endorsements, Greg McElveen, Jacquelyn Gist, Jim Merritt, Joe Green, Laurin Easthom, Mark Chilton, Mark Kleinschmidt, Michelle Brownstein, Randee Haven-O'Donnell, Sammy Slade, Thorpe-Anderson Breakfast Club, Will Raymond
Joe Schwartz ·
14 Oct 2009, 3:43 PM ·
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Matt Czajkowski has raised more than $21,000, triggering rescue funds for voter-owned candidate Mark Kleinschmidt. Czajkowski filed his 24-hour special report Friday, stating that he has accumulated $23,629.50 in private contributions. Among them are real estate leaders, developers and university professors.
Czajkowski’s sum means Kleinschmidt can claim an additional $4,000 in public financing on top of the $9,000 he’s earned already by gaining $4,505 from individuals and a political committee, according to his September report.
Competitor Augustus Cho’s latest report, filed Friday, shows only one private contribution for $200 from his treasurer. He’s loaned himself $547.50 for the campaign. Kevin Wolff’s most recent filing shows $10,210 raised including a $10,000 loan to himself.
Chapel Hill, politics Augustus Cho, Chapel Hill, Kevin Wolff, Mark Kleinschmidt, Matt Czajkowski, mayoral race
Joe Schwartz ·
30 Sep 2009, 3:00 PM ·
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Chapel Hill mayoral hopeful Kevin Wolff is calling on competitor Matt Czajkowski to drop out of the race in a half-page ad in today’s Chapel Hill News. Czajkowski isn’t budging, but declined to fire back.
The 5A advertisement is a letter addressed to voters and asks them to, “keep Matt where he’s at.” Czajkowski, the lone moderate voice on the council, still has two years left in his term.
Czajkowski did not want to respond to specific accusations.
“I’ve been saying from the very beginning of this campaign that as candidates, I at least believe that we have an obligation to focus on the challenges that we as Chapel Hill are facing,” he said. “I’m determined to make this an issue based campaign.”
The entire text of the ad can be found here at Wolff’s Web site, which was unveiled as part of the advertisement. Wolff was coy when asked about creating a Web site by the Indy for a story that hit stands today.
Wolff argues that Czajkowski has been ineffective in building allies and that citizens should elect him if they want to have two moderate voices working together.
The going rate for a half-page black-and-white political ad in The Chapel Hill News is $523.53
Chapel Hill, Orange County, politics 2009 Municipal Elections, Chapel Hill, Kevin Wolff, Matt Czajkowski
Joe Schwartz ·
2 Sep 2009, 12:27 PM ·
1 Comment
The Chapel Hill Town Council will hold a special closed meeting Friday to discuss acquiring a 70,000 square foot property along Weaver Dairy Road. There’s also the matter of filling the council seat vacated by Bill Strom.
The council wasn’t scheduled to meet until Sept. 14, and because Friday’s special meeting is the first since Strom resigned abruptly Aug 1., the mayor will make a formal announcement of the vacancy, setting the process in motion.
In a memo to the council, Foy proposes the following timeline:
September 4: vacancy announced and applications accepted
October 2: deadline for applications to be filed
October 12: Council Business Meeting to review applications and make nominations.
November 9: Applicants will have an opportunity to make brief remarks regarding their interests in serving on the Town Council and Council may make an appointment that evening.
There are still two-and-a-half years left in Strom’s term, and the issue of how to fill his seat is sticky given that the town is in the midst of an election cycle. Four seats, those of Laurin Easthom, Ed Harrison, Mark Kleinschimdt and Jim Merrittt are up for grabs. Harrison, Easthom and Merritt are vying for re-election while Kleinschmidt is running for mayor. Residents Jon Dehart, Gene Pease, Matt Pohlman, Will Raymond and Penny Rich are challenging for the seats.
The process outlined by the mayor seems to exclude the possibility of appointing a fifth place finisher to fill Strom’s term. Election Day is Nov. 3 and results won’t be certified until Nov. 16. That means the candidates would have to apply for the seat before the results are in, and many are reluctant to do so, worrying about what message it may send to voters.
Chapel Hill, Orange County, politics Chapel Hill, Kevin Foy, Strom
