Thursday, April 16, 2009
politics / Chapel Hill Students for a Democratic Society: This is what happened at the UNC protest
Posted by Lisa Sorg on Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 10:59 AM
The UNC chapter of Students for a Democratic Society issued a press release today with their account of what happened at the Tom Tancredo protest, including allegations that actions by campus police escalated the protest. 090415_pressrelease
national / Durham / business Southpoint Mall owner, General Growth Properties, declares bankruptcy
Posted by Lisa Sorg on Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 8:12 AM
The Chicago-based company that owns Southpoint Mall has declared bankruptcy, The New York Times reported early this morning.
According to the Times, under the bankruptcy filing, most of General Growth's malls will continue to operate, although the company will likely try to sell off some of its properties.
General Growth Properties had accumulated $25 billion in debt; mall vacancies are the highest in a decade, at more than 7 percent of the roughly 1,500 in the U.S.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
politics Ty Harrell jumps on anti-muni broadband wagon
Posted by Fiona Morgan on Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 11:25 AM
Update 4/16: A vote on the bill was postponed to next Wednesday, April 22.
N.C. Rep. Ty Harrell, who represents western Wake County in the General Assembly, last week introduced a House companion to a Senate bill that would effectively stop local governments from building their own broadband Internet and other telecommunications services if they compete with private industry.
Harrell is an otherwise progressive legislator. He's a co-sponsor of the comprehensive sex education bill, the Healthy Youth Act and the anti-bullying bill, the School Violence Prevention Act. He has twice received our endorsement. But by sponsoring HB 1252, Harrell has angered a wide grassroots base. Since introducing the bill, he says he's heard from many progressives who oppose it.
"I did not know there would be this type of response, to be honest with you," Harrell said in an interview.
He’s likely to hear more of that response this Wednesday, April 15, when the same coalition that fought the anti-muni broadband bill in 2007 plans to attend the House Science and Technology Committee meeting at 11 a.m. in Legislative Office Building room 425.
Harrell is chairman of that committee (though under House rules he won’t chair discussion of a bill he sponsors.) He says Time Warner Cable is based in his district and approached him about sponsoring the bill, which would require local governments to tack on to the fees they charge consumers the difference in the amount it would cost a private company to provide the service. Also under the bill, a city could not use government funds to “cross-subsidize” the launch or operation of a system, a practice common in private industry.
“You’ve got the municipalities who are more of less being subsidized by private industry in the sense that they don’t pay property tax, they don’t pay income tax, they receive rebates on their sales tax for these services and they have access to tax-free financing,” Harrell said, summarizing the industry’s argument. “I wanted to make sure that I look out for the businesses that are in my district. It was not an intent to rub out or punish municipalities that try to provide this service.”
But the bill’s opponents say that’s precisely the industry’s goal. They say these prohibitions artificially increase the cost of the municipal service and impose obligations that private industry does not have to meet. The cities of Wilson and Salisbury have already beaten a path to Harrell’s door, seeking to explain that building their own telecommunications infrastructure allows them to offer faster speeds and greater capacity than private industry is willing to build for their citizens.
The League of Municipalities, which lobbies for the interests of towns and cities across the state, is circulating a resolution to their members laying out the arguments against the bill (PDF).
Among the League’s concerns is the fact that North Carolina would be ineligible for $4.7 billion in federal stimulus grants set aside for local and state governments to provide broadband Internet service to unserved and underserved areas.
The timing of the bill is made worse by Time Warner Cable’s recent announcement that it would institute bandwidth caps for its customers in Greensboro and other cities nationwide. Customers who use more than their capped allotment (40 GB being the highest tier) will have to pay $1 per extra GB. Those customers are not happy and they're fighting back with help from national groups like Free Press.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Durham County / Orange County / Durham / environment / Chatham County Tonight: Jordan Lake showdown at Durham Commission
Posted by Matt Saldaña on Mon, Apr 13, 2009 at 5:51 PM
Update: For coverage of the commissioners' meeting, see our April 15 news story, "'First step to do what's right' for Jordan Lake."
The last time Durham County Commissioners took a public vote on the controversial, developer-funded survey of Jordan Lake, the year was 2008, and the board had two different members (both of whom supported the survey). Tonight at 7 p.m., a new board is set to vote on whether to approve watershed map changes, based on the survey, that would significantly re-draw the protected areas surrounding Jordan Lake.
For a full background on the story, read the Indy's coverage in the Dec. 3 and Dec. 24, 2008 print editions, and in our Triangulator blog posts.
All eyes will be on incoming commissioners Brenda Howerton and Joe Bowser. (Under the previous board, which was split 3-2 on the issue, Michael Page voted to endorse the developers' survey, while Ellen Reckhow and Becky Heron voted against it, favoring an independent survey of the lake.)
During her 2008 campaign, Howerton received $3,000 in contributions from partners behind a proposed mega-development that hinges on approval of the developer's survey, financed by a minority partner in the same company.
Bowser remained within the $3,000 threshhold and did not report any contributions; Page stayed within the threshhold for portions of the 2008 campaign, and reported no contributions from the developers; Reckhow and Heron, who voted to reject the developers' survey, received $500 and $200 from the project's partners, respectively.
politics / education / Chapel Hill / national Youth for Western Civilization brings Tom Tancredo to UNC
Posted by Matt Saldaña on Mon, Apr 13, 2009 at 5:17 PM
Tancredo, a fringe presidential candidate in 2008, boycotted a Spanish-language Republican debate during the campaign, saying the event "pandered" to Spanish speakers and encouraged the "balkanization" of the U.S.
His speech on Tuesday--to be held at 6:30 p.m. in Room 103 of Bingham Hall--is hosted by the UNC-Chapel Hill chapter of Youth for Western Civilization, a self-styled "right-wing youth movement" founded in 2008 to "create a subculture that will promote the survival of Western Civilization and pride in Western heritage" on college campuses
Read the Today's News story, and an interview with Youth for Western Civilization's UNC chapter president Riley Matheson, at indyweek.com.
Update: Also see Sam Wardle's coverage of the Tancredo speech, which was cut short by protesters.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
business / Raleigh / News When your nest egg is an omelette: Raleigh Forward protests banks
Posted by Lisa Sorg on Sun, Apr 12, 2009 at 9:44 AM
Yesterday's Nest Egg Hunt at Bicentennial Plaza in Raleigh drew more than 150 people who support the Obama administration's restructuring of the banking system and his economic plan.
The demonstration was part of a National Day of Action to call for transparency and accountability in the financial industries and, according to organizers, "to restore capitalism to serve ordinary people like you and me."
The local event was sponsored by Raleigh Forward, who also tweeted the event and shared their photos.
It's time to cue music for Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper's psycho-hillbilly song from the '80s, "I Hate Banks." Here's some of the lyrics:
By Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper
I hate banks...
I just can't stand 'em.
Gimme a shovel & man I'll plant 'em.
Six feet under thats where they belong...
I hate banks is the name of this song.
I think I'll rob myself one or two...
Yeah I hate banks, yeah, how 'bout you?
Well...lend me a nickel & lend me a dime,
repossess my house any old time.
Financial institutions think they're so high faluting...
Just a bunch of fruits in three piece suits,
trying to steal all my loot.
Things are smelling pretty rank,
We must be near a stinking bank.
Smells worse than Rockefeller's feet,
Wall Street can eat my meat
I hate banks is the name of this song.
I think I'll rob myself one or two...
Yeah I hate banks, yeah, how 'bout you?
Well...lend me a nickel & lend me a dime,
repossess my house any old time.
Financial institutions think they're so high faluting...
Just a bunch of fruits in three piece suits,
trying to steal all my loot.
Things are smelling pretty rank,
We must be near a stinking bank.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Durham / environment Durham: Your water may not have been safe (but it's OK now)
Posted by Matt Saldaña on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 7:05 PM
In a public notification sent out today, the City of Durham announced that its drinking water has surpassed the EPA limit for Total Haloacetic Acids (HAAs), a toxic byproduct that forms when disinfectants combine with organic matter in drinking-water supplies. According to the EPA, HAAs are carcinogenic when exposed to lab animals, and can have adverse effects on developmental and reproductive systems.
Durham's level of .064 milligrams per liter--above the required limit of .060 mg/L--is based on an "annual running average" of quarterly tests. The city's most recent quarterly test, in Feburary 2009, showed a significant decrease in HAAs. However, the City was in excess of the EPA limit for much of 2008.
Don Greeley, director of the city's Department of Water Quality, says in the release that Durham residents are "at minimal risk for harmful health effects."
To put this in perspective, you would have to drink two liters of water with this elevated level every day for 70 years to show any negative health effects. Second, my department has already been successful in significantly lowering this byproduct level in the water system.
In an interview, Department of Water Quality Deputy Director Vicki Westbrook said that high temperatures, and a reduced flow of water during the 2008 drought--factors that encourage the growth of organic material--"really did a number on us."
In the second quarter of 2008, the levels of HAAs increased by more than 1000%, from .007 mg/L to .084 mg/L, and remained above EPA required limits for the rest of the year.
In December 2008, Durham received approval from the state to change its disinfectant, from aluminum sulfate to ferric sulfate, but did not inform the public about the abnormally high levels of HAAs.
"What we’re doing is following the state guidance. Because the risk is the long-term exposure, that’s why the state gives us the guidance that they do," Westbrook said.
Westbrook added that, per state guidelines, the City gave 48-hour notice when it discovered abnormally high levels of disinfection byproducts such as HAAs at specific locations. In February 2008 alone, eight locations--including a City Hall water fountain--were in violation of the EPA limits.
View the City Q&A's on water safety here.
politics / Chapel Hill / economy / Orange County / News / Carrboro If they could turn back time...
Posted by Sam Wardle on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 9:31 AM
Orange County Library Director Lucinda Munger said last week that a $25 million county project, approved years ago, is forcing her to consider closing three smaller library branches.
Munger has been criticized in recent weeks for floating the closures of the Carrboro Cybrary, the Carrboro Branch Library and the Cedar Grove Branch Library as cost-saving measures. Munger suggested closing the branches in response to County Manager Laura Blackmon's request that all department managers make significant cuts to their 2009-2010 budgets.
But Munger said last week the opening of a new, larger Orange County main library is tying her hands.
"No closings really are savings, because we have to open a new main library," she said.
The new main library, set to open this fall, is part of the $25 million Orange County Campus, a development of county buildings approved by the Orange County Board of Commissioners several years ago. A county commissioner said the county made the decision to borrow a large amount of money and embark on a sizeable construction project with just a week of discussion and only one public hearing.
"I expressed serious reservations at the time," Commissioner Alice Gordon said. "The process on which it was brought forth did not have enough public input."
Commissioner Barry Jacobs said he presented the project to the board after a local developer, George Horton, approached him with a proposal. Horton offered to build the campus under the "construction manager at risk" approach, in which the developer pre-contracts to build for a certain price per square foot, and doesn't increase his fee even if the costs of raw materials go up. Jacobs said this was a particularly attractive proposal at the time; the housing market was booming and the cost of steel and concrete had driven two new schools' price tags well above what the county had budgeted for them.
Additionally, a number of county offices were housed in substandard buildings in disparate locations, and county officials felt it would benefit the public as well as employees to move them all into one central, modern office. Jacobs also said three library task forces had recommended building a new main library.
"People may second-guess the timing," Jacobs said. "We made the best decision we could with the available information."
Gordon agreed that the county needed new office space, but said that the current financial quandary the project has placed the county in is a result of the hasty decision-making process undertaken in its approval; in a year where the county is facing an $8.7 million budget shortfall, the added expenses of staffing and operating larger facilities are creating unforeseen hardships for departments like the library.
"When the board made the decision to move forward, it was well before we saw the bottom totally falling out," Orange County Budget Director Donna Coffey said. "It's almost like the perfect storm."
Coffey said the county is anticipating a $280,000 increase in "non-staff related" expenditures related to the new facility. And that's before the county has to start paying back the $25 million loan; a document from a March 2009 commissioners meeting shows that the county expects to pay $3.189 million on the loan in the 2010-2011 fiscal year.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Durham County / Orange County / Durham / environment / Morrisville / Chatham County Friends of Durham oppose 'wasteful, redundant' survey of Jordan Lake
Posted by Matt Saldaña on Wed, Apr 8, 2009 at 4:30 PM
In an letter delivered to the Durham County Board of Commissioners, Friends of Durham Political Action Committee Chairman David A. Smith argues that a private developer's survey of Jordan Lake should not face a public hearing, and the county should avoid a comprehensive, independent survey of the lake.
Smith writes:
While in general I agree with public hearings, this one seems to target a single property owner. Public hearings should be about gathering input so that the commissioners can make a policy decision, not about restricting an individual’s right to use his property as allowed by the current regulations.
That "single property owner" is real-estate developer Neal Hunter, who paid for a private survey of Jordan Lake in 2005. The revisions in Hunter's survey, which was recently approved by state regulators, would remove development restrictions on land that he later sold to Southern Durham Development. The company, which is planning the 164-acre project known as 751 Assemblage, claims Hunter as a minority shareholder.
Smith insists that Friends of Durham, though advocating on behalf of Hunter, has no connection to him.
"Mr. Hunter has never been associated with or contributed to the Friends of Durham," he writes.
While records support that claim, there is a connection between the 751 Assemblage and Friends of Durham. Campaign finance reports show that Patrick Byker--whose firm represents Southern Durham Development--has donated $700 to the Friends of Durham, including $100 in 2008. Bill Brian, another K&L Gates attorney representing Southern Durham Development, gave an additional $100 to the PAC in 2003.
Byker and Brian serve on the steering committee of the Friends of Durham, and they are both former chairmen of the PAC. When Byker ran for the City Council at-large seat in 1999, Friends of Durham donated $1,900 to his campaign, which it also loaned $1,600.
In an interview, Byker denied any connection between the Friends of Durham endorsement of Hunter's survey, and his own association with the PAC.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Durham City Council (sort of) slams the gate on Duke's street-closing proposal
Posted by Matt Saldaña on Tue, Apr 7, 2009 at 3:09 PM
Plans by Duke University to close off two public streets in order to accommodate a $50 million development project faced an icy reception among neighborhood groups and Durham officials at Monday night's City Council meeting. Duke officials want to convert Maxwell Avenue and Sumter Street, near East Campus, into private parking lots restricted to students and faculty. And a site plan mock-up, which was presented for the first time on Monday, called for several "security gates" that would block public access to the streets and building.
"We believe this is a reaching out to that community," said Duke Vice President for Campus Services Kemel Dawkins.
Dawkins argued that the project would bring 650 faculty and students "closer to Brightleaf," and would encourage them to "mingle freely during the day." However, from midnight until 6 a.m., a gate would prevent anyone from walking, or biking, through the area. And except for members of Duke, and neighbors who have applied for key cards, car traffic through the area would be closed 24 hours a day.
Duke "is perceived by citizens as a fortress, and we're trying to get ride of that fortress mentality in the U.S.," said Councilwoman Cora-Cole McFadden.
"Duke is as well," Dawkins said, to snickers in the gallery.
Dawkins claimed that the streets were "mostly used by members of Duke," and were "largely dirt and gravel roads" that would relieve the City of Durham from maintenance and utility work. However, several community members attested that they used the streets often--particularly in emergencies, and when trains block all other routes in the area.
"We live in a city, and that city needs to be meshed with Duke," said Duke graduate student Richard Twigg, who was opposed to the street closing.
North Carolina General Statute 160A-299 requires that closing a street, or alley, is "not contrary to the public interest."
When asked by council members if Duke would be willing to open the gates to vehicular traffic during the day, Dawkins said that would "compromise the safety of the parking lots."
"I can't buy that," said Councilman Eugene Brown said. "This is not the way Duke has done business."
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