Supposedly the $8.5 million tax dollars (so far) and land worth $5-8 million ($13.5-16.5 million) will help increase Downtown’s minuscule population to the point crime will plummet as folks living in those million dollar condos observe the street scene from high above. Those couple hundred of new folks will energize Franklin Street and help convert it into a 24/7 hub of profitable commercial activity.

Eyes on the street, the justification for this out-of-control project.

What about “jobs on the street”?

In 2005, I called on the Town and its Downtown Partnership to focus on a strategy to build an employment ladder and increase the number of well-paying jobs Downtown.

Why? Because I know that folks that work Downtown, spend Downtown. I do. My colleagues do. The owners and employees of many Downtown businesses do, funneling their dollars back into the micro-economy they subsist on.

And they do it without millions of dollars of public outlay. Their commercial activities represent a net gain for both Downtown and the larger taxpaying community.

Why didn’t Council pursue jobs growth Downtown? The high-priced condo scheme has been a distraction but, beyond that, I believe they didn’t understand the basic value proposition – that those who work Downtown, spend Downtown.

My objective, increasing Downtown’s employment profile, languished two years until recently when the new economic development officer (a position, by the way, I lobbied for) resurrected it as part of his greater economic development strategy.

How much does the Downtown workforce contribute to Downtown’s commerce?

I took a look at my spending habits, reviewed my credit receipts and came up with the following incomplete list of Franklin Street businesses within the Town’s Downtown economic zone (as defined by the Downtown Partnership) that I (or my family) have recently frequented.

While broad, you might notice a bias towards restaurants. My wife is a fabulous cook – but that doesn’t stop me from eating out at our wonderful Downtown smorgasboard.

Finally, Downtown already has “eyes on the street”. 5,000 based on the Town’s analysis. 15,000 based on State and Federal criteria. Eyes on Rosemary St. hasn’t stopped the drug dealing. Eyes on the street didn’t stop the recent Visions nightclub shooting. Eyes on the street, alone, is no panacea.

Where I spent my hard-earned dollars:

3 CUPS
431 West Franklin Street, Suite 15 (Courtyard)
Phone: (919) 968-8993
Fax: (919) 968-8994
Hours: Monday – Saturday 7:30am-6:30pm
www.3cups.net

35 Chinese Restaurant
143 West Franklin Street (Univeristy Square)
Phone: (919) 968-3488
Fax: (919) 968-0268
Hours: Monday – Sunday 11:00am-9:30pm
www.35citysearch.com

411 West
411 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 967-2782
Fax: (919) 969-7450
Hours: Sunday – Monday 5:00pm-9:30pm / Tuesday – Thursday 11:30am-2:30pm, 5:00pm-10:00pm / Friday – Saturday 11:30am-2:30pm, 5:00pm-10:30pm
www.411west.com

Aladdin’s Café
153 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 929-1290
Fax: (919) 929-1292
Hours: Tuesday – Friday 11:00am-2:00am / Saturday 5:00pm-2:00am

Amelia Pastry & Coffee Shop
143 West Franklin Street (University Square)
Phone: (919) 969-0064
Hours: Monday – Saturday 8:00am-9:30pm / Sunday 9:30am-6:30pm
www.ameliacafe.us

Asia Café
118 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 929-0168
Fax: (919) 929-9761
Hours: Monday – Saturday 11:00am-10:00pm / Sunday 12:00pm-8:00pm

Bandido’s Mexican Café
159 1/2 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 967-5048
Fax: (919) 967-5809
Hours: Monday – Thursday 11:00am-2:30pm, 5:00pm-9:30pm / Friday 11:00am-2:30pm, 5:00pm-10:00pm / Saturday 12:00pm-10:00pm
www.zspotlight.com/bandidos

Ben & Jerry’s Homemade
102 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 967-9068
Fax: (919) 967-0680
Hours: Monday – Sunday 12:00pm-11:00pm
www.benjerry.com

Bon’s Home Cookin (My favorite BBQ/home-cooking joint)
133 West Franklin Street (University Square, rear)
Phone: (919) 960-7630
Fax: (919) 960-5991
Hours: Monday – Thursday 8:00am-9:00pm / Friday 8:00am-9:30pm / Saturday 7:30am-9:30pm / Sunday 8:00am-3:00pm
www.bonshomecookin.com

Breadmen’s Restaurant (80’s onward!)
324 West Rosemary Street
Phone: (919) 967-7110
Fax: (919) 933-0834
Hours: Monday-Sunday 7:00am-9:00pm
www.breadmens.com

Bruegger’s Bagel Bakery
104 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 967-5248
Fax: (919) 967-1900
Hours: Monday – Saturday 6:30am-8:00pm / Sunday 8:00am-6:00pm
www.brueggers.com

Caribou Coffee Company
110 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 933-5404
Hours: Monday – Thursday 6:30am-11:00pm / Friday 6:30am-12:00am / Saturday 8:00am-12:00am / Sunday 8:00am-11:00pm
www.caribou-coffee.com

Carolina Brewery
460 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 942-1800
Fax: (919) 942-1809
Hours: Monday – Thursday, 11:30am-12am / Friday – Saturday 11:30am-1am / Sunday 11:30am-11pm
www.carolinabrewery.com

Carolina Coffee Shop
138 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 942-6875
Fax: (919) 929-4191
Hours: Monday 9:00am-4:00pm / Tuesday – Sunday 9:00am-2:00am

Carolina Cross Roads
211 Pittsboro Street
Phone: (919) 933-2001
Fax: (919) 962-3400
www.carolinainn.com/dining.htm

Cold Stone Creamery
131 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 933-2323
Fax: (919) 933-3213
Hours: Monday – Thursday 12:00pm-10:00pm / Friday – Saturday 12:00pm-11:00pm / Sunday 12:00pm-10:00pm
www.coldstonecreamery.com

Cosmic Cantina
128 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 960-3955
Fax: (919) 416-9575

Crook’s Corner
610 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 929-7643
Hours: Tuesday – Sunday open at 5:30pm / Sunday 10:30am-2:00pm
www.crookscorner.com

Elaine’s on Franklin
454 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 960-2770
Fax: (919) 960-7780
Hours: Tuesday – Thursday 5:30pm-9:30pm / Friday – Saturday 5:30pm-10:00pm
www.elainesonfranklin.com

Firehouse Subs
157 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 969-4212
Fax: (919) 969-4213
Hours: Monday – Sunday 10:30am-10:00pm
www.firehousesubs.com

Franklin Street Pizza & Pasta
163 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 933-5277
Fax: (919) 968-0753
Hours: Monday – Saturday 10:30am-11:30pm / Sunday 11:30am-11:00pm
www.franklinstpizza.com

Fuse
403 West Rosemary Street
Phone: (919) 942-9242
Hours: Monday – Saturday 6:00pm-2:00am / Sunday 9:00pm-2:00am
www.f-use.com

Ham’s of Chapel Hill
310 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 933-3767
Fax: (919) 933-3791
Hours: Monday – Saturday 11:00am-2:00am / Sunday 11:00am-12:00am
www.hamsrestaurants.com

Hector’s (Since Galifinakis’ egg rolls and Greek grilled cheese)
108 Henderson Street
Phone: (919) 942-9420

India Palace
508-A West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 942-8201
Hours: Monday – Sunday 11:30am-2:30pm, 5:00pm-10:30pm

Italian Pizzeria III (25+ years)
508 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 968-4671
Hours: Monday – Thursday 10:30am-11:00pm / Friday 10:30am-11:30pm / Saturday 10:30am-11:00pm / Sunday 10:30am-10:00pm

Jack Sprat Cafe and Bar
161 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 933-3575
Hours: Monday – Thursday 8:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m. Friday – Saturday 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 a.m.
www.jackspratcafe.com

Jimmy John’s Sandwich Shop
306 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 968-7827
Fax: (919) 968-0332
Hours: Monday – Sunday 11:00am-3:00am
www.jimmyjohns.com

Kurama Sushi and Noodle Express
105 North Columbia Street
Phone: (919) 968-4747
Fax: (919) 968-4702
Hours: Monday – Sunday 11:30am-10:00pm
www.kuramarestaurants.com

La Residence Restaurant and Bar (Café La Rez)
202 West Rosemary Street
Phone: (919) 967-2506
Fax: (919) 967-2504
Hours: Monday -Sunday 6:00pm-2:00am
www.laresidencedining.com

Lantern Restaurant
423 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 969-8846
Hours: Monday – Saturday 5:30pm-2:00am
www.lanternrestaurant.com

Lime and Basil Vietnamese
200 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 967-5055
Fax: (919) 967-5868
Hours: Monday – Friday (Lunch) 11:00am-2:30pm / Monday – Saturday (Dinner) 5:00pm-9:30pm

Locopops
431 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 286-3500

Los Potrillos
220 West Rosemary Street
Phone: (919) 932-4301
Fax: (919) 932-4779
Hours: Sunday – Thursday 11:00am-10:00pm / Friday – Saturday 11:00am-11:00pm

Mama Dip’s Kitchen
408 West Rosemary Street
Phone: (919) 942-5837
Fax: (919) 942-1469
Hours: Monday – Saturday 8:00am-10:00pm / Sunday 8:00am-9:00pm
www.mamadips.com

McAlister’s Deli
205 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 969-1102
Fax: (919) 969-1105
Hours: Monday – Sunday 10:30am-10:00pm
www.mcalistersdeli.com

McDonald’s
409 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 967-5788
www.mcdonalds.com

Mediterranean Deli & Catering
410 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 967-2666
Hours: Monday – Saturday 11:00am-10:00pm / Sunday 11:00am-9:00pm
www.mediterraneandeli.com

Oriental Garden Chinese and Thai
503 West Rosemary Street
Phone: (919) 967-8818
Hours: Tuesday – Sunday 11:30am-2:00pm / Tuesday – Thursday 5:00pm-9:30pm / Friday – Saturday 5:00pm-10:30pm / Sunday 5:00pm-9:30pm
www.thaicuisine.com/r/3401.html

Panera Bread Company
213 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 929-9189
Hours: Monday – Thursday 6:30am-9:00pm / Friday 6:30am-10:00pm / Saturday 7:30am-10:00pm / Sunday 7:30am-9:00pm
www.panerabread.com

Pantana Bob’s Restaurant and Bar
300 West Rosemary Street
Phone: (919) 942-7575
Hours: Monday – Friday 4:00pm-2:00am / Saturday – Sunday 11:00am-2:00am

Papa John’s Pizza
607 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 932-7575
Fax: (919) 942-7470
Hours: Monday – Thursday 11:00am-1:00am / Friday – Saturday 11:00am-2:00am / Sunday 12:00pm-12:00am
www.papajohns.com

Patio Loco
407 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 967-9060
Hours: Monday – Thursday 11:30am-2:30pm, 5:30pm-9:30pm / Friday 11:30am-2:30pm, 5:30pm-10:30pm / Saturday 11:30am-2:30pm, 5:30pm-10:30pm

Penang Malaysian & Thai
431 West Franklin Street (Courtyard)
Phone: (919) 933-2288
Fax: (919) 933-3133
Hours: Monday – Sunday 11:00am-10:30pm
www.penangnc.com

Pepper’s Pizza
127 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 967-7766
Hours: Monday – Saturday 11:00am-12:00am / Sunday 4:00pm-10:00pm

Pita Pit
115 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 933-4456
Fax: (919) 933-7673
Hours: Monday, Wednesday 11:00am-11:00pm / Tuesday, Thursday – Saturday 11:00am-3:00am / Sunday 12:00pm-11:00pm
www.tarheelpita.com

Qdoba Mexican Grill
100 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 929-8998
Fax: (919) 929-8357
Hours: Sunday – Wednesday 11:00am-11:00pm / Thursday – Saturday 11:00am-3:00am
www.qdoba.com

Quizno’s Subs
169 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 929-2395
Fax: (919) 929-4348
Hours: Monday – Saturday 11:00am-9:00pm / Sunday 12:00pm-8:00pm
www.quiznos.com

Ram’s Head Rathskeller
157 1/2 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 942-5158
Hours: Monday – Saturday 11:00am-11:00pm / Sunday 11:00am-10:00pm

Sakura Express
110 North Columbia Street
Phone: (919) 960-0440
Fax: (919) 960-0440
Hours: Sunday – Thursday 11:00am-9:00pm / Friday – Saturday 11:00am-9:30pm

SandwHich
431 West Franklin Street, Suite 16 (The Courtyard)
Phone: (919) 929-2114
Hours: Monday – Saturday 11:00am-5:00pm
www.sandwhich.biz

Shorty’s Bar and Grill
504 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 932-9941
Fax: (919) 932-9715

Skylight Exchange and Bookstore
405 1/2 West Rosemary Street
Phone: (919) 933-5550
Hours: Sunday – Thursday 11:00am-11:00pm / Friday – Saturday 11:00am-12:00am

Spanky’s Restaurant and Bar
101 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 967-2678
Fax: (919) 928-9335
Hours: Monday 11:00am-2:30pm, 5:00pm-9:00pm / Tuesday – Wednesday 11:00am-2:30pm, 5:00pm-9:30pm / Thursday 11:00am-2:30pm, 5:00pm-10:00pm / Friday – Saturday 11:00am-3:30pm, 5:00pm-10:30pm / Sunday 11:30am-4:00pm
www.spankysrestaurant.com

Subway Sandwiches
132 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 967-5400
www.subway.com

Sutton’s Drug Store
159 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 942-5161
Fax: (919) 967-0185
Hours: Monday – Saturday 7:00am-6:00pm / Sunday 9:00am-5:00pm

Talulla’s Mezze Lounge & Bar
456 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 933-1177
Fax: (919) 933-9322
Hours: Tuesday – Sunday 11:30am-2:30pm and 5:30pm-2:00am Saturday and Sunday 11:00am-2:30pm
www.talullas.com

Top of the Hill Restaurant
100 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 929-8676
Fax: (919) 968-9505
Hours: Monday – Saturday 11:00am-2:00am / Sunday 12:00pm-2:00am
www.topofthehillrestaurant.com

Trilussa La Trattoria
401 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 967-0057
Hours: Monday – Thursday 5:00pm-9:30pm / Friday – Saturday 5:00pm-10:30pm

Vespa Cibobuono
306 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 969-6600
Fax: (919) 969-6610
Hours: Monday – Sunday 11:30am-11:00pm
www.chapel.hill.vespasta.com

WB Yeats Irish Pub
306-G West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 960-8335

Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe
173 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 929-9192
Hours: Monday – Saturday 7:00am-2:00pm / Sunday 8:00am-2:00pm

Yogurt Pump
106 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 942-7867
Hours: Monday – Saturday 11:30am-11:30pm / Sunday 12:00pm-11:30pm
www.yogurtpump.com

Cave, The
452 1/2 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 968-9308
Hours: Monday – Sunday 2:30pm-2:30am
www.caverntavern.com

Goodfellow’s
149 1/2 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 960-8688

He’s Not Here (Blue cup specials back in the ’80s, pinball now).
112 1/2 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 942-7939
Hours: Monday – Sunday 1:00pm-2:00am

Hell
157 1/2 East Rosemary Street
Phone: (919) 929-9666
Hours: Monday – Friday 5:00pm-2:00am / Saturday – Sunday 9:00pm-2:00am
www.chapelhell.com

Local 506
506 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 942-5506
Hours: Monday – Sunday 9:00pm-2:00am
www.local506.com

West End Wine Bar
450 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 967-7599
Fax: (919) 968-0599
Hours: Monday – Sunday 5:00pm-2:00am
www.westendwinebar.com

Ackland Art Museum
101 South Columbia Street
Phone: (919) 966-5736
Hours: Wednesday – Saturday 10:00am-5:00pm / Sunday 1:00pm-5:00pm
www.ackland.org

Ackland Art Museum Gift Shop
101 South Columbia Street
Phone: (919) 966-5736
Hours: Wednesday – Friday 10:00am-5:00pm / Sunday 1:00pm-5:00pm
www.ackland.org

Aveda Institute Chapel Hill
200 West Franklin Street, Suite 110
Phone: (919) 960-4769
Fax: (919) 969-8390
Hours: Sunday 11:00am-5:00pm / Monday – Friday 9:00am-6:00pm / Saturday 8:00am-6:00pm
www.avedachapelhill.com

Back Door CDs Records and Tapes
136 East Rosemary Street (Bank of America, rear)
Phone: (919) 933-0019
Fax: (919) 949-5169

Bicycle Chain (formerly Franklin St. Cycles)
210 West Fraknlin Street
Phone: (919) 933-2775
Fax: (919) 932-6201
Hours: Monday-Saturday 10:00am-7:00pm / Sunday 12:00pm-5:00pm
www.thebicyclechain.com

Bookshop, The
400 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 942-5178
Fax: (919) 942-1837
Hours: Monday – Friday 11:00am-9:00pm / Saturday 11:00am-6:00pm / Sunday 1:00pm-5:00pm
www.bookshopinc.com

Browns Paint and Hardware (Knight Campbell)
420 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 968-3751
Hours: Monday – Friday 8:00am-5:00pm / Saturday 9:00am-1:00pm

CD Alley
405C West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 960-9272
Fax: (919) 942-1847
www.cdalleychapelhill.com

Chapel Hill Comics
412 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 967-4439
Hours: Monday – Saturday 10:00am-9:00pm / Sunday 12:00pm-6:00pm
www.chapelhillcomics.com

Chapel Hill Florist
200 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 929-2903
Fax: (919) 918-1003
Hours: Monday – Friday 9:30am-6:00pm / Saturday 9:30am-2:00pm
www.chapelhillfloristltd.com

Chapel Hill Rare Books
143 West Franklin Street, Suite 310
Phone: (919) 929-8351
Fax: (919) 967-2532
www.chapelhillrarebooks.com

Chapel Hill Tire Co
502 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 967-7092
www.chapelhilltire.com

Creative Metalsmiths (They designed my wife’s wedding ring)
117 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 967-2037
Fax: (919) 967-6651
Hours: Monday – Friday 11:00am-6:00pm / Saturday 10:00am-5:00pm / Sunday 12:00pm-5:00pm
www.creativemetalsmiths.com

d.b.Sutton & co.
406 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 968-4247
Fax: (919) 968-4277
Hours: Monday – Friday 9:00am-8:00pm / Saturday 9:00am-6:00pm
www.dbsutton.com

Eastern Market (Great selection. Nice owner!).
505 West Rosemary Street
Phone: (919) 968-1703

Hazmat
405 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 967-7540
Fax: (919) 967-7541
Hours: Monday – Saturday 11:00am-10:00pm / Sunday 12:00pm-7:00pm

Hill Country Woodworks
318 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 929-2075
Fax: (919) 929-1996
Hours: Monday – Thursday 10:00am-6:00pm / Friday 10:00am-9:00pm / Saturday 10:00am-6:00pm
www.hillcountrywoodworks.com

Internationalist Books and Community Center
405 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 942-1740
Fax: (919) 932-7911
Hours: Monday – Saturday 11:00am-8:00pm / Sunday 12:00pm-6:00pm
www.internationalistbooks.org

Jiffy Lube Service Center #1552
607A West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 929-3937
Hours: Monday – Friday 8:00am-7:00pm / Saturday 7:00am-6:00pm / Sunday 9:00am-5:00pm
www.jiffylube.com

Ken’s Quickie Mart
133 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919)929-4788
Hours: Monday – Friday 8:30am-12:00am / Saturday 9:00am-2:00pm / Sunday 12:00pm-11:00pm

Key Food Mart
325 West Rosemary Street
Phone: (919) 942-1385
Fax: (919) 942-1385

Light Years
121 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 942-9265
Hours: Monday – Saturday 10:00am-7:00pm / Sunday 12:00pm-7:00pm

Modern Times
402 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 929-8119
Fax: (919) 967-9878
Hours: Monday – Friday 11:00am-7:00pm / Saturday 10:30am-7:00pm / Sunday 1:00pm-6:00pm
www.moderntimesclothing.net

Morehead Planetarium and Science Center Gift Shop
250 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 962-1236
Fax: (919) 962-1238
Hours: Monday – Friday 10:00am-5:00pm / Friday – Saturday 6:30pm-9:00pm / Sunday 12:00pm-5:00pm
www.moreheadplanetarium.org

Paint the Earth Ceramic Studio
316 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 968-0400
Fax: (919) 933-4815
Hours: Tuesday – Thursday 12:00pm-9:00pm / Friday 12:00pm-10:00pm / Saturday 11:00am-10:00pm / Sunday 1:00pm-7:00pm
www.painttheearth.com

Ragtime Vintage Clothing
128 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 967-7331

Ram Book & Supply
306 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 969-8398
Fax: (919) 969-8996
Hours: Monday – Friday 9:00am-6:00pm / Saturday 12:00pm-5:00pm
www.rambookstore.com

Schoolkids Records
144 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 929-7766
Fax: (919) 942-7766
Hours: Monday – Saturday 10:00am-10:00pm / Sunday 12:00pm-8:00pm
www.schoolkidsrecords.com

Skylight Exchange and Bookstore
405 1/2 West Rosemary Street
Phone: (919) 933-5550
Hours: Sunday – Thursday 11:00am-11:00pm / Friday – Saturday 11:00am-12:00am

Studio Supply
421 West Franklin Street
Phone: 929-5637
Fax: 929-7289
Hours: Monday – Friday 10:00am-7:00pm / Saturday 11:00am-7:00pm
www.studio-supply.com

Sutton’s Drug Store
159 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 942-5161
Fax: (919) 967-0185
Hours: Monday – Saturday 7:00am-6:00pm / Sunday 9:00am-5:00pm

Syd’s Hair Shop
108 West Rosemary Street
Phone: (919) 942-7606
Fax: (919) 942-7646
Hours: Monday – Friday 10:00am-8:00pm / Saturday 10:00am-4:00pm
www.sydshairshop.com

Tarheel Bookstore
119 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 960-6021
Fax: (919) 933-5827
Hours: Monday – Friday 9:00am-7:00pm / Saturday 10:00am-6:00pm / Sunday 11:00am-5:00pm
www.tarheel.com

Tienda Hispana La Potosina
407 West Rosemary Street
Phone:

Time After Time Vintage Thrift Shop
414 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 942-2304
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 11:30am-5:30pm

TJ’s Campus Beverage
108 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 933-2007
Fax: (919) 967-2466
Hours: Monday 10:00am-12:00am / Tuesday – Saturday 10:00am-2:00am / Sunday 10:00am-1:00am

Trail Shop of Chapel Hill
133 West Franklin Street (University Square, rear)
Phone: (919) 929-7626
Fax: (919) 942-1468
Hours: Monday – Saturday 10:00am-7:00pm / Sunday 12:00pm-6:00pm
www.thetrailshop.com

University Florist and Gift Shop
124 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 929-1119
Fax: (919) 967-6086
Hours: Monday – Saturday 9:00am-6:00pm
www.universityflorist.com

Varsity Theatre
123 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 967-8665
www.movies.raleighlist.org/Varsity-Theatre.htm

Bank of America
137 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 918-4200
www.bankofamerica.com

Chapel Hill News/News &Observer
505 West Franklin Street
Phone: 932-2000
Fax: 932-2027
www.chapelhillnews.com

FedEx Kinkos
114 West Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 967-0790
Fax: (919) 967-9243
www.fedexkinkos.com

Horace Williams House
610 East Rosemary Street
Phone: 942-7818
Fax: 942-7845
www.chapelhillpreservation.com/horace.html

Kidzu Children’s Museum
105 East Franklin Street
Phone: 919-933-1455
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
www.kidzuchildrensmuseum.org

Morehead Planetarium and Science Center
250 East Franklin Street
Phone: 919-962-1236
Fax: 919-962-1238
Hours: Monday – Friday 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Thursday – Saturday 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m., Sunday 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
www.moreheadplanetarium.org

NC Chiropractic
212 West Rosemary Street
Phone: (919)929-3552
Hours: Tuesday, 12noon-7p/Wednesday, 8a-5p/Thursday, 12noon-7p, Friday 8a-5p

Optometric Eye Care Center
143 West Franklin Street (University Square)
Phone: (919)968-3937
Fax: (919)932-3290

Preservation Society of Chapel Hill
610 East Rosemary Street
Phone: (919) 942-7818
Fax: (919) 942-7845
www.chapelhillpreservation.com

Stitch in Time Alterations
133 1/2 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 929-4826

Sun Magazine (GREAT MAGAZINE!)
107 North Roberson Street
Phone: (919) 942-5282
Fax: (919) 932-3101
www.thesunmagazine.org

The Carolina Inn
211 Pittsboro Street
Phone: 919-933-2001
Fax: 919-962-3400
www.carolinainn.com

The Chapel Hill Herald
106 Mallette St.
Phone: (919) 419-6500
Fax: (919) 918-1055
Hours: Monday – Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/

TIBCO Software, Inc. (Where I work!)
200 West Franklin Street, Suite 250
Phone: (919) 969-6500
Fax: (919) 960-2572
Hours: Monday – Friday 8:00am-6:00pm
www.tibco.com

Wachovia
165 East Franklin Street
Phone: (919) 929-0311
Fax: (919) 929-1489
Hours: Monday – Thursday 9:00am-5:00pm / Friday 9:00am-6:00pm
www.wachovia.com

POLITICAL PARTY AND EXPERIENCE:

• 2005 Candidate for Town Council
• Town Advisory Boards: Horace-William’s Citizen Comm., Downtown Parking Task Force, Technology Board
• Other: Community Independent Expansion Comm. , Friends of Lincoln Arts Center

While I’ve collaborated with the Orange County Democratic Party for many years on GOTV efforts, been a poll sitter,
literature distributor and have supported local Democrats, usually with sweat equity, in their runs, I am an
independent voter.

Until the party realistically deals with state mandated torture, the two on-going wars, the shredding of the Constitution and begins to address key domestic issues such as health care and the increasing split between segments of our citizenry, I will remain unaffiliated.

CIVIC ACTIVITIES AND OTHER AFFILIATIONS:

- Member of Electronic Frontier Foundation

WHY SHOULD YOU BE ELECTED?

Chapel Hill is at a crossroads.

Do we want a diverse community that honors the contributions of our eldest residents, where young couples and working folks can get their foot in the door or is Chapel Hill reserved for those buying publicly underwritten million-dollar condos?

Good intentions have to be backed by sound fiscal policy and real public accountability.

Borrowing millions from the rainy day fund, engaging in a risky Downtown project whose cost has escalated $500,000 to $8.5 million, when our debt payment is tripling is not responsible.

I will work to return Chapel Hill’s sound foundation so all of us can flourish.

1) Please describe your vision for downtown Chapel Hill and assess the council’s current approach to revitalization.

We need to build on the uniqueness of our Downtown by preserving and improving its human-scale charm.

Let’s invest in simple, cost effective, traditional amenities over risky, costly investments with poorly understood and unmeasured returns.

Let’s start with a family friendly pocket park, decent bathrooms, a water fountain and repaired sidewalks. Simple “you are here” directories to assist visitors in finding public and commercial services would make Downtown more inviting.

Let’s take up the low and no-cost Downtown parking improvements the Downtown Parking Task force suggested instead of raising parking rates as Hill and Foy argued for.

The current revitalization effort is open-ended, too expensive – rising from $500K to $8.5M in one year with no end in sight – and puts all our development “eggs” in one basket. The incumbents have resisted efforts to set measurable goals and make timely reports of successes or failures.

If possible, we need to restart the process using measurable goals, an appropriate and fiscally sound commitment of public resources and an approach that doesn’t risk all for an unknown return.

2) Please describe your vision for Carolina North, noting any disagreements with the university’s announced plans.

For many years I have called on UNC to use its incredible research savvy to build a world-class campus pioneering the best in “green” technologies.

To conform to that vision, UNC had to design a campus that was transit-oriented, partially housed its workforce and worked within some serious self-imposed constraints – few parking spaces, a defined energy budget, minimum footprint, cohesive infrastructure, monitored off-site noise, water, air, light impacts.

To achieve these goals, UNC must build within an established master plan.

Further, building upon the successes of the University’s Carolina North Leadership Advisory Committee (LAC), I suggested we work to create a new, sustained framework for further dialog and negotiation. That framework should incorporate the diverse interests of our community within an open, transparent process to work through the next 15 years of issues.

Doing incremental build-outs, like the recently proposed Innovation Center, without a master plan or a framework for further discussion is untenable.

3) How would you respond to persistent complaints about panhandling?

As the only candidate who works Downtown, I’ve experienced the problems first-hand.

I’ve also seen a troubling shift in our community’s attitude – troublemakers all, seems one current perception. Worse, for a few citizens, the face of that population is always a minority one.

My observation? Aggressive panhandling has taken a backseat to the loutish, aggressive behavior. Concrete steps – focusing on those bad behaviors, policing the worst offenders – should come first. Structural changes – moving benches, increasing police presence in a few places, better lighting – should reduce this sometimes frightening Downtown backdrop.

Practical approaches like “Real Change from Spare Change”, will soon shift the economics of begging – reducing panhandlers’ revenue – while bolstering our other efforts to help the homeless.

Finally, the majority of the folks hanging out Downtown are not causing problems. Some are odd but harmless. Our Downtown policy must be focused, goals-oriented – not broadly punitive if we are to succeed.

In its Comprehensive Plan, Chapel Hill is committed both to denser urban development and to protection of existing neighborhoods. Do you see any conflict between these goals and what do you feel is the best way to achieve them?

There are trade-offs, thus conflicts between the goals of high density and neighborhood protection.

To start, in any discussion of density we need to establish the limits of growth. I’ve been using the concept of “carrying capacity” as a guide.

Carrying capacity is a multi-dimensional evaluation of an ecosystems ability to maintain a particular population. In biology, this usually means water, food and habitat. In Town, we need to add, for instance, the ability for to maintain a diverse and healthy socio-economic balance within our community. We all can’t live in million dollar condos or pay an extra couple hundred bucks in taxes each year.

We don’t currently assess density to that level of detail. I believe we should at least start thinking within those terms as it will help us create a more sustainable outcome.

Another general problem with our comprehensive plan is that our process for upgrading our goals as our understanding improves is broken.

We need to implement a continuous review process, as suggested by the former chair of the Planning Board, to review our goals in light of achievements to-date, successes and failures. Not only do we need to be more nimble in managing our Town’s comprehensive plan, we need to be much more inclusive in drawing upon our community’s expertise.

Three recent omissions in our planning process provide examples of where we need to improve.

I’m not %100 sold on all the elements of the Northern Area Task force but believe it set an excellent framework for further work. One hole in that plan was the real gap between Estes and Downtown. We need to treat the MLK, Jr. corridor from I-40 to Downtown as a whole. Squeeze on one part of that corridor and the excess development will spread into other neighborhoods. We need a balanced approach that incorporates all the moving parts.

Our Town, until recently, has not done a very good job promoting dense development in some of the most appropriate locales in Town. One incumbent recently claimed “all roads lead to Downtown” but the truth is all the highest traffic bearing and transit-friendly corridors lead to Eastgate, Rams Plaza and University Mall.

These commercialized sectors already have sufficient living infrastructure – grocery stores, etc. – to support much higher levels of development.

These areas are accessible but somewhat isolated from the more traditional neighborhoods like Coker Hills. That isolation favors taller, denser developments removed a sufficient distance from our current residential areas so as not to adversely affect those traditional neighborhoods quality of life.

The call for density, I’m concerned, has blinded our current policy makers to other opportunities.
Finally, we cannot “dense” grow ourselves out of our troubles. I’ve been quite concerned by some of the incumbents relentless rhetoric on “dense is good”. Dense, especially beyond our community’s carrying capacity, could rob our community of its charm.

Worse, dense, inappropriately sited, can have wide ranging impacts on remote neighborhoods.

I believe the TC-3 zone, supposedly created for Greenbridge but really created to support the Council’s Lot #5 boondoggle, is a case in point. TC-3 raised allowable Downtown building heights to 120’ (from 90’) and doubled the density.

Contrary to what one of the incumbents claimed, once Council opened the door to taller, denser development for these two projects, they opened the door to similar development all along Rosemary St.

Besides diminishing the charm of Downtown, a string of dense development stretching from the Carrboro border to Columbia will create intense pressure on the Northside neighborhood. From what long time residents of those neighborhoods have told me, the neighborhood conservation district (NCD) was probably too late to save this traditionally blue collar neighborhood. These same folks see the blooming of dense Downtown development as the final straw.

A gentrified Northside, fronted on Rosemary St. by dense development, might be a nice place to live for the new folks but displacing existing folks – many who have lived their whole life in that neighborhood – is a steep price to pay.

Please describe at least three ways you feel the Town could do a better job protecting creeks and other environmentally sensitive habitats.

In the last year, we have had opportunities to show – by doing – a real concern for tree conservation, fuel reduction and energy efficiency. In each case, either the opportunity was missed or an expedient course charted. As Jim Ward pointed out this spring, our Town undercuts its environmental credibility when it practices “do as I say, not as I do”.

While we’ve done a fairly good job identifying broad areas of environmental concern, we should go the next step and survey champion species and unique habitats within our community.

Twenty-seven years of tromping the back ways of Chapel Hill has developed my appreciation for what a varied habitat our community encloses. Unfortunately, we’ve lost some pristine areas. Others, like Umstead Park, have diminished greatly but others – more secluded – remain.

My family loves Battle Park and has explored some of its less traveled avenues.

Fortunately, the Botanical Garden and local neighborhood has taken a leadership role in identifying that tracts unique attributes. As with Battle Park, there are some incredible natural specimens and habitats we need to recognize and protect in the out of the way areas of our Town.

Why worry about singular species or habitats? They are the harbingers of the whole ecosystems health. Their success or failure reflects our greater success or failure in protecting our environment.

Next, we need to identify all the remaining potential open space acquisitions within our boundaries and assess each ones environmental and conservation merits.

My family is blessed with a 10+ acre tract between Burlage and Mt. Bolus. This tract joins a flood plain and wetlands that protects one of the key sources of Bolin Creek. Draining the area bounded by South of Estes and East of MLK, Jr. the three creeks are still relatively pristine. Old cypress and mammoth red oaks dot the flat land. Laurel grows from some of the steepest banks and ravines in Town.

Maybe I’m a bit more sensitive to its preservation than other natural corridors within our community because I live on its margins but I believe that protecting this space – which doesn’t appear in our Town’s current acquisition plans – should be a priority.

To make sure we’re not missing other, similar, opportunities we need a continuous process of evaluation and a funding mechanism that will allow the Town to move quickly when spaces become available.

My third suggestion, which mirrors my more general call for a results-oriented approach to policy, is to improve our overall monitoring of our environment.

Like many issues, if you don’t look, you don’t see.

With Carolina North, I have asked UNC to consider off-site impacts air, water, noise and light pollution. I suggested that the Town, through the now defunct Horace-William’s Citizens Committee, set some goals and discuss some methodologies for evaluating success.

One example I liked to use was the impact of cars traversing the corridor from Carolina North to Main Campus on Bolin Creek. With the addition of 10,000-50,000 car trips per day on MLK, Jr. – adding to the long line of idling traffic we already see each work day afternoon – what is the impact on Bolin Creek at Hillsborough St.?

We don’t currently monitor water quality at that intersection with a frequency or to a quality that would help us set appropriate policy – and we should.

Our Town is being asked to take Lake Jordan’s protection to the next level. One element of that plan is to monitor nutrient and other flows from Town into that watershed. We resisted committing to this monitoring because it is not clear how effectively we can do so or what actions we would take if we discover a problem.

This, to me, is a defeatist proposition. First, we have an incredibly talented pool of professionals that live and work within Chapel Hill. I’m confident we could find a protocol that will help monitor our community’s contributions to Lake Jordan’s woes.

Beyond that, while I understand that currently environmental practices might not be able to help our community mediate the damage, it makes no sense, at least to me, not to try to assess our culpability.

Practice what we preach. We can’t close our eyes to the consequences of our growth decisions.

What suggestions do you have for better ways for the local governments in the Orange County area to work together?

Having reviewed the on-going discussions between the Town, the County, the staffs and leadership of each, I believe we’re overdue for a comprehensive survey of our common interests.

For instance, how do our parks and recreation plans align? What are our mutual goals on reducing homelessness, improving mental health services, managing our rural and urban zones? Where do we agree on waste management and our community’s commitment to environmental stewardship? How do we assess the inter-relationships between these issues?

And, most importantly, how do our independent actions create a shared success?

We’re addressing many of these issues within different “silos” of activity. As a citizen trying to tease out the details, it is not always obvious how particular activities within one silo are contributing to the success (or failure) in reaching the goals in another.

Where, then, do are common interest lie?

While our Town’s leadership and the staff and leadership meet somewhat frequently within various committees, joint working meetings by both are too rare. When called for, we need to take the time to thresh out the relevant issues – tete-a-tete – and get beyond divisive political rhetoric.

Take the Rogers Road mess. We should dedicate a joint meeting hashing out our mutual obligations to that community, sketch out a plan of action (with measurable goals – sorry to be a broken record on that) and then follow up – jointly – to make sure adequate progress is being made.

There are other improvements we could make but I’ll note only one more general issue: communication – specifically, managing the agendas and minutes between both groups.

Just as I’ve asked the Town to produce a complete agenda seven days prior to any substantive discussion, I would encourage the County to do the same.

Usually items under joint consideration are not so noted on each government’s web site. As with the agendas, relevant supporting documents are also not linked.

For common issues, it would be nice if the relevant materials – minutes, reports, etc. – were coordinated so that we can – jointly – be sure that we’re negotiating within the same context.

Finally, both could improve communication with the wider community on these joint issues.

4. All UNC actions up to now indicate the submission of a comprehensive Master Plan for the Horace Williams tract. How do you recommend that the Council deal with single application requests for that property?

The Innovation Center being developed on Horace-William’s tract is within a zone requiring a special use permit (SUP). Withholding approval of a SUP on grounds outside of those specified by law is problematic and should be avoided – especially in a situation where we want to build a framework for an honest, sustained, 15 year long, negotiation on Carolina North.

The University has said, for this one project, the business imperative requires an expedited process. I understand and sympathize with the pressure they must be feeling.

Even though the University considers this building as an adjunct to the Carolina North campus, I believe they should wait until three elements are completed:

First, the completion of a comprehensive master plan detailing, to some extent, the location of transit corridors, primary infrastructure, support services, open space, parking, buildings and permanently protected ecologies.

Second, the completion of the key transit, fiscal equity and environmental studies that will guide further negotiations on Carolina North.

I know the University is chafing at the delay inherent in finishing these studies but we need to establish some baseline expectations. These reports set the foundation for the creation of specific environmental, fiscal and transit goals.

As a sign of good faith, we must, with no further delay, be clear with the University on how we plan to use these reports to inform our further actions. How, specifically, do we plan to take these studies and move forward? What, specifically, are we trying to achieve? How, specifically, will we measure progress?

Third, the establishment of a new framework for sustained negotiations with our community. Having reviewed the last 25 years of Town-n-Gown relations, having been involved “up close and personal” for many years now, I’m convinced that for too long we’ve gone without an established framework for serious dialog.

Throughout the years, we generally treat each request individually instead as just another point within a continuum. As the University evolved, we had separate negotiations on the Horace-William’s Airport, main campus’ explosive growth (and the creation of the OI-4 zone), UNC Healthcare’s incredible spillover, South Columbia’s woes, etc.

Many of the same folks have been involved in each discrete effort yet, at least it appears to me, that some of the hard lessons hammered out in each phase – for various reasons, many times University-related – were not carried forward.

Our community is facing at least 15 years of continuous building at Carolina North. We need a flexible, adaptable, transparent and open framework for honest negotiations with the University. A framework where we build upon our successes, work to our mutual advantages and overcome the gaps created by the sometimes mutually exclusive charters.

Back to the Innovation Center, the University says their business partner is set to bolt. How do we get the University to “hold their horses” – to wait until these necessary elements are completed?

How, in this one particular situation, can the Town reduce the risk of the University losing out on what they think is an exceptional opportunity?

By, I believe, committing to a planning process with specific, performance-based, checkpoints and goals. We need to develop a plan of action that creates a predictable outcome for the University and its partner.

In other words, we need to layout what we expect and then follow through as the University jumps through each hoop.

I believe the University, and their new partner, will wait when they see we’re making a serious attempt to accommodate both our charters.

The Club declined to provide a copy of the Carrboro forum. If a Carrboro candidate requests one, I’ll be happy to push it up on the ‘net.

UNC, with Carolina North, started off as they had with many of their main campus projects – discounting our community’s concerns and dispensing with residents input.

I knew there had to be a better way to work towards a satisfactory conclusion for both our University and our community. So, in 2005, I renewed my call to UNC and the Town to create a more stable framework for dealing both with our common concerns and our disagreements.

I’m not sure how much my encouragement helped but UNC, by late 2005, did create a new kind of community effort. UNC’s Leadership Advisory Committee – the LAC – was created to try to find common ground among all the participants in the Carolina North process.

I threw my support behind the process, seeing the LAC as a good first start at building a more stable framework for Town and Gown relations. Both Council members, now incumbents running for office, showed little confidence in the process from the start.

Even though I supported UNC’s new effort – praising their success where appropriate – critical when they backslid into old habits – I also kept a close eye towards the eventual product – a master plan for Carolina North.

There were some initial missteps I thought needed some quick attention. One, inattention to the public input. Two, a missing commitment to measure the environmental baseline of Carolina North.

As you can see from this Aug. 24th, 2006 video, as a citizen I appeared before UNC’s LAC calling for a real environmental assay of Carolina North and making substantive improvements in their community outreach.

Finding champion species would help identify critical areas to preserve. Doing a thorough flora and fauna survey would help us establish a baseline to determine if conditions improve or diminish 10, 20 or 50 years out. Committing to measuring off-site air, noise and light pollution impacts could help build confidence in UNC’s commitment to maintaining the neighboring environment throughout our community.

What is different from UNC’s past performance is they actually integrated that criticism into their process and improved upon the overall plan.

I do know that the Sierra Club, in 2005, thought I was a candidate well-suited for addressing our Town’s environmental issues.

Will Raymond has been one of the most outspoken and effective citizen activists in Chapel Hill in recent years. We look forward to him using his talents to advocate for the environment as a member of Town Council. In particular we are excited about his initiatives to promote energy efficiency in town buildings. He will also work to protect lesser known creeks in the Chapel Hill area and to minimize the number of single occupancy vehicles causing air pollution and traffic congestion at Carolina North.

We strongly encourage Sierra Club members and any residents of Chapel Hill who care about the environment to support these four candidates in the November 8th election. They are the best hope for a Town Council that will always make reducing environmental impact a top priority as Chapel Hill grows bigger.

With two years of additional activism – on Carolina North, energy efficiency, open space and environmental protections, Roger Road, environmental standards – by the very measure the Club used in 2005, one might expect a 2007 endorsement.

Over the last two years, I knew I had built a solid reputation for putting our environment front and center. I brought to the table a number of established innovative solutions for reducing environmental impacts, promoting sustainable alternatives and reusing/recycling wasted resources.

Above all, I kept it simple: “Walk the talk.”

As recently as this Spring, when our Council wavered on eco-friendly standards for their Downtown development, I was there making the case for measurable goals. Three of the incumbents, Hill, Strom and Greene, voted for their public-private project even though the developer refused to be held to a goal of %20 energy reduction as measured by acceptable standards.

On the same project, I was there first on the hazardous waste remediation – sizing our obligation, funding the effort accordingly. The same three incumbents downplayed the costs to our Town’s open-ended obligation to clean up that environmental mess.

I’ve supported mandating ASHRAE and AIA 2030 environmental standards for energy efficient buildings, well beyond what some of the incumbents have called for.Beyond that, over the last two years I’ve lobbied (and successfully got) the Town to purchase bio-fuels for its fleet, though I’ve yet to get the majority to agree to targeted reductions in fuel use.

I’ve called for a stronger emphasis on reducing noise and light pollution, including adopting the precepts of the Dark Skies Initiative

As part of the Horace-William’s Citizens Committee (HWCC), I brought metrics to the environmental assay process – setting goals, discussing methodologies for measuring achievement of those goals.

Unfortunately, that necessary additional work was canceled when the Mayor pulled the plug on the HWCC. Fortunately, UNC’s Leadership Advisory Committee on Carolina North did listen and made a serious environmental assay of the Horace-William’s property a key requirement for moving forward.

On other issues, preserving open space, using the wasted landfill gas (LFG) for Town operations, teaming with the County on bio-fuels production, I have been at the forefront – calling for specific measures that would not only improve our local ecology but recycle/reuse wasted resources (two bangs for the same buck).

Whether it was right-sizing our Town’s vehicle fleet (still not done after a commitment to do so over 4 years ago), calling for the Town to get Duke Energy to use much more efficient light fixtures in our street lights (6 years now without action by Council), using technology to reduce car trips to the new Town Operations Center (ignored, and no longer championed by the dissolved Technology Board) – my efforts have been backed by solid, detailed, research and marked by a pragmatic, practical approach to solving problems.

Throughout, I’ve called on our Town to “walk the talk.”

Where was the concern for tree protection, for instance, when Southern Park was clear cut? Where was the commitment to carbon reduction (CRED) by reducing our Town’s fuel use or replanting appropriately at the new Town Operations center?

Lots of talk, but very poor follow through. Deeds, in the case of our incumbents, don’t always follow the words.

But it hasn’t just been about the environment. What about social justice?

Strangely ignored by our local Sierra Club, the environmental consequences of siting the landfill, and, now, the trash transfer station in the Rogers Road community have been well known for years. I remember two of the neighborhoods representatives, Fred Battle and Rev. Campbell, asking for relief at a Council meeting nearly eight years ago (and many times since).

They were asking Chapel Hill to make good on promises made a decade prior – to show some basic, decent, human concern.

The burden has only increased over the years but our elected folks have just not responded adequately to our neighbors just concerns. Many of their concerns – slowing down traffic, picking up spilled litter, improving the safety along Rogers Road – could be addressed by low cost means. Our Town, which has dumped trash in their backyards, could certainly allocate some funds to deal with the sewer and water problems.

Yet, two of our incumbents, Jim Ward and Bill Strom, over eight years, have moved slowly, if at all, to address this case of obvious environmental injustice. In spite of escalating requests, over the last four years, Cam Hill and Sally Greene joined Bill and Jim in mostly ignoring the pleas of our neighbors.

Yes, there was murmured concern but when it came to making measurable progress – the results were anemic – and quite unsatisfying to the Rogers Road community.

Not only have I spoken out on behalf of our neighbors, I’ve documented their case and have made specific proposals for addressing some of their concerns.

Why the Sierra Club refuses to address this environmental injustice in their own backyard I don’t know.

I do know that when I asked their political committee why I wasn’t asked about this glaring issue during my interview, two of the members told me that they thought it wasn’t part of the Club’s or Chapel Hill’s docket. I pointed out that the next Council will definitely be ruling on the County’s solid-waste plans and Rogers Road – even if we dispense with common neighborly courtesy – is squarely our Town’s concern.

In the recent League forum you can compare my response to those of the incumbents (40 minutes in).

Once you review the footage, I’d ask, “Who would you want standing in your corner?”

In 2005, the Sierra Club said I was a candidate well-suited for addressing our Town’s environmental issues:

Will Raymond has been one of the most outspoken and effective citizen activists in Chapel Hill in recent years. We look forward to him using his talents to advocate for the environment as a member of Town Council. In particular we are excited about his initiatives to promote energy efficiency in town buildings. He will also work to protect lesser known creeks in the Chapel Hill area and to minimize the number of single occupancy vehicles causing air pollution and traffic congestion at Carolina North.

Yes, these last two years, I built upon that activism – on Carolina North, energy efficiency, open space and environmental protection – the Sierra Club endorsed.

But I knew this year, because of Sierra Club politics at the State level, and because of my repeated calls to the Sierra Club’s leadership to take a principled stand on a number of environmental issues, I had very little chance to secure an endorsement. I had some small hope that the Club would surmount the politics and select the candidates that have shown the courage to “do” over those that have had the opportunity to “do more” and haven’t.

So, a small hope but little expectation. Given the Club’s assurance that they would carefully review my record, I did expect they would get my name right:

Dear Ray,
One great thing about Chapel Hill is that fact we have so many candidates with positive ideas about the environment and who have contributed to the community. Based upon the interviews, forum, voting records and other information we made our recomendation to the state Sierra Club. I’m glad to hear about your concerns about carrying capicity for Chapel Hill and hope you will continute to pursue them, however we decided to endorse other
candidates who had more experience. Thank you for spending time with us to share your ideas and thoughts and of
course, please keep on talking them up.
I was unable to post the forum. I am having copies made. If you contact me after Tuesday I can lend you a copy of the DVD.

Sincerely,
Loren Hintz

Voting records? I’ll have to wait for that opportunity. On every other 2005 Club expectation, I delivered.

As far as sharing my ideas and “talking them up” to promote a sustainable community that lives within the limits of its “carrying capacity” Loren, you can count on that.

Sincerely.

Unlike the Sierra Club forum, the environmental and social justice issues surrounding our neighbors out on Rogers Road (of which I have spoken about numerous times) got a fairly decent airing. The $8 million Downtown Development boondoggle merited one round.

The forum’s format, a round of answers with some opportunity for give-and-take, suited tonight’s questions. I hope the public and the local media take some time to mull over our responses.

There were a few surprises from the non-incumbents: Kevin Wolff bringing up voter-owned elections, Penny Rich suggesting punishing Downtown landlords who wouldn’t fill their storefronts, Matt Czajkowski’s excellent point that Chapel Hill has become introverted.

Of course, the incumbents tried to take credit for all the successes over the last four years while trying to dodge any responsibility or account for any of the mistakes.

Some of the successes – hiring an economic development officer, developing a strategic economic development plan, the Town’s new fiber network – were issues I brought forward first.

As far as surprises from the incumbents, I appreciated Mayor Foy’s complementary observation that I have an eye for efficiency.

Jim Ward’s bit of criticism (Incumbency Is Not Enough or Nineteen Seconds Is Too Long) about the 19 seconds I went over my time on one response provided some humor.

And Cam Hill, one of the negotiators on Lot #5, quoting a citizen outlay about $1 million short of the actual figure (CHN). I’ve been up since 6am and can understand a fumble -
hope fatigue explains his sloppy accounting.

The League graciously allowed me to assist them in posting tonight’s video on the web.

I’m preparing for upload now and expect the full video to be available by tomorrow evening (I’ll post a new article when it’s done).

Oh, and the Sierra Club has since declined my offer to post their forum on the Internet. They plan to do it themselves. I’ll keep an eye on their progress and will announce its availability.

Last Sunday, Chairman Bernadette Pelissier, Political Chair Loren Hintz and member Matthew Scheer interviewed me on behalf of the Sierra Club to determine if I qualified for an endorsement.

Questions spanned local zoning policy, a discussion of good and bad infill, personal commitment to environmental protection and Carolina North.

Folks that read CitizenWill already have a good idea about where I stand on many of these issues. Surprisingly some issues, like local waste management, the trash transfer station and Rogers Road community’s complaints, our storm water utility policy or in-town open space preservation didn’t make the list. Of course, you can only fit so much into a 45 minute interview.

I appreciate these members taking the time to review my thoughts on Carolina North, zoning policy, pragmatic carbon reduction strategies, transit, etc. (I tried to cram way too much into my answers and digressions).

The Chapel Hill forum takes place next Tuesday, September 25th, 7-9pm at the Chapel Hill Town Hall. The event will be broadcast on our local public access channel.

In 2005,  I did secure the local club’s enthusiastic endorsement. Here’s what they said two years ago:

Will Raymond has been one of the most outspoken and effective citizen activists in Chapel Hill in recent years. We look forward to him using his talents to advocate for the environment as a member of Town Council. In particular we are excited about his initiatives to promote energy efficiency in town buildings. He will also work to protect lesser known creeks in the Chapel Hill area and to minimize the number of single occupancy vehicles causing air pollution and traffic congestion at Carolina North.

We strongly encourage Sierra Club members and any residents of Chapel Hill who care about the environment to support these four candidates in the November 8th election. They are the best hope for a Town Council that will always make reducing environmental impact a top priority as Chapel Hill grows bigger.

We’ll know by mid-October if the work I’ve done since – on Carolina North, as a member of the Horace-William’s Citizen Committee sub-committee on environment, tracking and publicizing the landfill/transfer site problems on Rogers Road – will secure an endorsement in 2007.

The questions are broad, open to interpretation and, on occasion, leading. How would you answer the Chamber’s questions?

In case the Director omits my business background, as he did in 2005, I worked for Northern Telecom for many years, winning a couple President’s Awards and a Chairman’s Award for Innovation (the first IT person to do so). I have been a CIO/CTO of a couple successful startups, including Reged.com which sold to FiServ for multi-millions of dollars. As an entrepreneur I was part of the crew that shepherded those companies to multi-million dollar revenues. I currently work for Tibco, an enterprise application integration company, specializing in XML technology and distributed Java application architectures.

Here is the questionnaire and my extended answers. You’ll note I wasn’t unsure at all:

4. Is increasing the commercial tax base in Chapel Hill an important priority for you?

YES

Even before my run for office in 2005 I was agitating for a Economic Development Officer to help develop strategic and tactical approaches to increasing our commercial tax base. Council finally hired an officer, now we need leadership with business acumen to make the best use of his services.

First, we need to make sure we look for economic development opportunities within the whole of Chapel Hill.

Downtown is important but some of the most exciting areas for growth continue to exist within the Eastgate/Conner Dr./University Mall/Chapel Hill North commercial centers.

Second, we need policies that embrace and plan for the future.

Carolina North is going to spur development along Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Our Town has suggested various zones for higher density development with that corridor. But the game plan the Town is using doesn’t adequately anticipate a world with $4 gallon gasoline, higher use of communications technology, the proliferation of cottage industry or micro-manufacturing.

In addition, we’re not positioned to leverage the incredibly attractive amenity the Town’s municipal network will offer within that corridor or the other %85 of Town within its easy reach.

We need to rework our vision of Chapel Hill ten, twenty, thirty years out.

Third, economic development cannot be limited to commercial development but needs to incorporate improvements in our job opportunities and mix.

We need an employment ladder within Chapel Hill. Current policy is fueling the stratification of our workforce – service workers, governmental staff separated by tens of rungs from the professional class. A healthy community is one that promotes variegated opportunities and a “way up”.

Fourth, we have to be prepared to seize opportunities as they become available and facilitate appropriate commercial growth with policies that protects Chapel Hill’s values without sacrificing the charm that makes Chapel Hill unique and attractive.

Some specifics?

Advertising the unique strengths – the striking demographics – of Chapel Hill would be a good start.

Working within those strengths, we need to make starting, maintaining and growing a business easier. That could start with a clear guide to doing business in Chapel Hill.

Some folks like to say doing business in Chapel Hill is Hell. Statistically, business in Chapel Hill continues to grow – look at the excitement over Trader Joes – yet the perception is that Chapel Hill doesn’t care if a Mom-n-Pop can’t get their foot in the door.

I understand. Over the years I’ve observed some very miserable outcomes that would explain a poor perception.

“Feel good” ordinances, like the recent call to force landlords to rent their Downtown properties within some time period, will not only fail but exacerbate the perception that Chapel Hill unfriendly.

Instead, impediments, like the privilege tax, need to be removed.

Fifth, we need to model our economic environment, create policy to improve opportunities, set goals and regularly measure progress. The market, to a great extent, needs to guide our hand in setting our strategies.

Finally, our policy must be “ evergreen”. Measurable goals and timely monitoring must be built into whatever new policies we adopt. We should retrofit existing policy so that our approach remains flexible and adaptable.

5. Do you support shortening the time it takes to have a project approved or denied in Chapel Hill if the quality of the development and level of citizen input remained high?

NO

Again, the Chamber is asking a rather broad question that demands a nuanced answer. Do I think we could improve our current planning process? Absolutely.

But reducing the regulatory time limits gives me pause.

Recent history informs my concern. Buried in the Greenbridge zoning hearings was the approval for a new Downtown commercial zone – TC-3 – which doubled the allowable density and increase heights %33 from 90’ to 120’. The bulk of the TC-3 approval process occurred late Fall and I’m not confident that our citizenry was well-informed.

After the fact, a number of citizens have contacted me because I was one of the lone dissenting voices. How did this happen? Where was the public discussion? A rapid process was no friend to our wider community.

Worse, accelerating the current arguably broken and over-taxed planning process will serve neither the developers nor our community well.

The best course of action is to correct our current process and put PREDICTABILITY back into it. The most common complaint I’ve heard about our current process is that the outcome is not PREDICTABLE.

If a project can’t be approved because it cannot be reworked to satisfy our community’s standards we should quickly and decisively tell a developer so.

6. Would you support creating a set of criteria for desirable development projects and then expediting the approval process for projects that meet those established objectives?

YES

It will take some time to create a predictable process that incorporates enough specifics that the Council can be confident that a developer has met the community’s expectations.

We are way behind in creating this predictable process. Once implemented, we need to continue Town Manager Roger Stancil’s work on improving the reporting process so that folks dealing with our Town’s approval procedures can easily track their progress end-to-end.

7. Will you vote to set a lease expiration date or a deadline for the Homeless Shelter to vacate the old municipal building downtown?

NO

Forcing the issue by pulling the lease is not an appropriate solution. Moving the homeless shelter has illuminated problems with high level communications and cooperation between our County and our Town. We need to meet often and more effectively so that issues like the homeless shelter can be equitably resolved.

8. Do you support land use regulations and regulatory practices that promote the construction of office, retail and workforce housing along transportation corridors?

YES

I’m not averse to development within our transit corridors but I am concerned that the corridors will become over-saturated, especially as transit policy and funding struggles to keep up. Further, there is a limit to growth, no matter what corridors we develop along. The measure of our community’s “carrying capacity” is an issue that should dominate our near term discussions on sustainability.

9. Do you generally support the concept of developing the Horace Williams Tract into a mixed use research park (Carolina North)?

YES

If by mixed-use the Chamber is describing development along the lines of that discussed with UNC’s Leadership Advisory Council – guided by the principles set for by the Horace-Williams Citizens Committee (of which I’m a former member) – and built to master concept plan within a zoning and development agreement process that allows our Town and the University to chart a winning course, yes.

An incremental buildout will not serve our University, our community or our State well.

I believe Carolina North could be the spur for incredible improvement within our community.

10. Do you think a healthy growing economy is an equally important component of community sustainability as environmental protection and social equity?

NO

What is more important, your left hand or your right foot? A healthy economy, which I don’t think is necessarily a rapidly growing economy, impacts our ability to work effectively on social equity and environmental issues.

What is a “healthy” economy though? Is it a local economy based on local businesses supporting the local community or is it a simple game of escalating sums?

Of course, the Chamber is trying to measure apples to oranges.

Would policies that ignore racist or sexist conditions – create or exacerbate societal iniquities – be acceptable as long as they promote a “healthy” economy?

Do we shave well-crafted regulations governing resource conservation and creek protection to encourage a big bucks out-of-Town retailer to relocate?

Is it acceptable to radically grow the mound of trash we plop down in the backyards of the Rogers Road community because a businesses profit profile will benefit highly?

I want to modify policy that acts as to dissuade business growth but I’m not willing to sacrifice the charm (soul?) of Chapel Hill to reap a whirlwind of a supposed economic windfall.

One last comment on “healthy”.

Chapel Hill is NOT an oasis. No matter how rich our community grows (current Council policy is definitely growing that demographic), macro-economic events are catching up with us.

The current Council’s spending is predicated on a growing property tax base. Forward projections are based on churn in the market that has rapidly diminished. Revenue inflows will not meet our Town’s inflating expenditures and the Council cannot continue to borrow from the reserves to keep our tax rate down.

We’ve waited way to long making structural changes in the way our Town spends it our money. Our Town has to learn to live within its means.

So, back to a healthy economy, we need policy to promote a sustainable local economy built and maintained by local folks that produce and buy within the community.

The modest, but sustained, healthy growth encouraged by those policies will keep Chapel Hill afloat, our community diverse and creative, during these already evolving nationally troubling economic times.

11. Will you vote to implement the additional recommendations made by the Chapel Hill Parking Committee within the first six months of your term?

YES

As a member of the Parking Task Force I will invert the Council’s current approach and work to implement the low/no cost practical and pragmatic recommendations made in their report.

Beyond that, I will continue to work to make parking cheap and attractive to both our citizens and visitors.

Increasing the cost – even by “two units” as one current Council member suggested – makes no sense especially when dozens of other recommendations languish.

I’m quite disappointed in the way this Task Force’s efforts were used by Council. The Task Force was quite clear on the suggested order of tasks – the consensus was that increasing costs was to be avoided yet that is not what one of our Council member liaison advertised.

Finally, though it was not incorporated in the Task Force recommendations, I will be bringing forward – as I did within the Task Force – the issue of predatory towing practices.

From what I’ve seen and heard, the windfall from towing folks – whether they’re visiting or not – has become so attractive that towing has become a booming business. I imagine not many folks will want to return to a community that tacitly supports $150 shakedowns.

12. Will you make economic development and redevelopment efforts a priority for you during your term in office?

YES

In 2005, on a similar Chamber survey, I said

As Chapel Hill transitions from Town to City we need to cultivate economic activity throughout Town. That starts with a creating a new EDC, doing a real survey of all business activity and creating a strategic plan for economic development that looks 5,10,20 years out.

We need to get creative and realize we can support innovative economic activity by supporting a municipally-sponsored broadband service. Besides advertising Chapel Hill as a Town on the (technology) rise, it attracts low impact businesses that employ our next generation of consumers.

Finally, we need to revisit some traditional amenities that have all but disappeared in Chapel Hill. Drinking fountains and attractive public restrooms are a good start. And to make Downtown family friendlier, I’m calling for a state-of-the-art, world-class, “mom, do we have to leave” play structure in a prominent Downtown location.

We have hired an Economic Development Officer who is busy creating an economic profile for our Town. He has suggested we invest in a true survey, conducted by specialists in local and regional economies, to get a better read on our Town’s prospects. I will support that effort and ask our staff to co-ordinate with University on both the assay and policy proposals.
The Town has ear-marked some monies to tag-along with the NC-DOT fiber networking project. This was the culmination of nearly 5 years of banging the drum to secure this investment in our Town’s future. I will press to create a community-based effort to plan for the economic, educational and social utilization of what has become a competitive asset for local municipalities.

Unfortunately, my proposal for “pocket parks” Downtown and throughout our community has languished. I will once again take up this issue and press to make our commercial sectors, whether Downtown or elsewhere, more family friendly.

13. Do you believe the town should provide incentives for its employees not to drive to work?

YES

More than incentives, the Town should continue its efforts to help employees car pool or take public transit.

Beyond that, we need to set measurable goals for Town-related trip miles and fuel usage. For the last few years, including making it a plank of my 2005 run for Council platform, I have asked our Council to set targets for miles and fuel usage. I’ve suggested using various incentives to promote staff innovation to wring the most from our fleet use. Instead the Town is still stuck at the platitude stage – CRED (carbon reduction) is good – not, let’s reduce fuel usage this year by %5.

Finally, we need to think strategically when approaching environmental sustainability issues like transit. The day of $4 a gallon gasoline is on the horizon, why have we not planned for this completely anticipatable event?

14. Do you support modifying the Town’s panhandling ordinance to be more restrictive of the locations where people may panhandle in the downtown?

NO

Punitory measures alone will not solve either the panhandling or the abusive loitering problems Downtown. Community-based policing, outreach and other practical measures should help reduce the problem.

This question, I imagine, is another Madison-like approach to a Chapel Hill issue. Madison’s “Reach Out” approach is attractive, helping to focus directly on the problem, using an appropriate toolset to address the multi-dimensional problems of a diverse Downtown population.

Adopting a 50’ limit around ATMs, though, is not appropriate. As others have noted, enforcing “aggressive panhandling” ordinances involves a subjective analysis. Blocking off hundreds of feet of Downtown’s sidewalks to activity that might or might not be actionable, even trying to determine the radius of actionable offenses, is problematic.

We need to police specific behaviors. The unruliness that goes on in-front of Ben & Jerry’s, for instance, rises to the level where policing seems appropriate.

Moving the bench, though, would better serve the end goal, reducing nuisance, than creating another ordinance which would be difficult to enforce equitably and, even if adequately enforceable, would just send folks through the County jail’s revolving door to end up back on our doorstep.

15. Do you think the Town needs to do more to make sure its committees and taskforces include more representation from the business community where there is currently very little?

YES

Both the Town and the Council need to make serving attractive. I have met citizens who wish to contribute to shaping policy and practice within our community who are dissuaded by the steep learning curve, the family unfriendly meeting times, difficulty in determining the charter and scope of our advisory boards. And then there is the reasonable concern, given recent history, that contributing dissenting opinions is a waste of time.

We need to mediate or remove some of the practical impediments to service. We need to use modern tools – email, web services, etc. – to broaden participation.

As I called for 5 years ago – worked for on the now defunct Technology Advisory Board – eventually approved of but not implemented by this current Council, the use of these tools can facilitate participation, increase transparency, capture the historical debate and welcome broader interaction with very little cost or effort on behalf of the Town.

And, as a Council member I will encourage dissent. We must know when our policy is creating problems.

16. List up to three specific things you would do to make Chapel Hill a better place to do business? (Please limit your response to 50 words or less. Responses over 50 words will not be published.)

• Remove structural impediments – like the privilege tax – while improving the process, especially leveraging the Internet, for starting and maintaining a business within our community.
• Make licensing and developing commercial opportunities predictable, manageable and appropriate.
• Use a market-based approach in developing a new, measurable, goal-based strategy for economic development.

This year the Chamber acknowledged the difficulty

We understand it is difficult to answer questions in a “yes, no, or unsure” format, however this method is useful in conveying your general policy perspectives to our members. The candidate interviews will allow you an opportunity to provide a more nuanced response. Please answer the survey questions as “Yes, No, or Unsure”.

Answers other than this will not be published.[emp:mine]

though, the real difficulty, I think, is in believing that it is “useful” to their constituency to get curtailed answers to some difficult questions.

Asked in 2005 what I would do if elected, I answered (beyond the 50 word limit):

As Chapel Hill transitions from Town to City we need to cultivate economic activity throughout Town. That starts with a creating a new EDC, doing a real survey of all business activity and creating a strategic plan for economic development that looks 5,10,20 years out.

We need to get creative and realize we can support innovative economic activity by supporting a municipally-sponsored broadband service. Besides advertising Chapel Hill as a Town on the (technology) rise, it attracts low impact businesses that employ our next generation of consumers.

Finally, we need to revisit some traditional amenities that have all but disappeared in Chapel Hill. Drinking fountains and attractive public restrooms are a good start. And to make Downtown family friendlier, I’m calling for a state-of-the-art, world-class, “mom, do we have to leave” play structure in a prominent Downtown location.

How did I do?

We have, finally, an economic development officer. The Council did, finally, set aside monies to tag-along with the NC-DOT on the municipal fiber network. But my call for pocket parks, Downtown and elsewhere, and restoration of traditional, welcoming amenities remains unheeded. That’s OK, I’ll add it to the stack of issues I’ll address when elected.