
{"id":722,"date":"2007-08-09T07:17:35","date_gmt":"2007-08-09T15:17:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2007\/08\/09\/for-the-record-80907\/"},"modified":"2007-08-09T07:17:35","modified_gmt":"2007-08-09T15:17:35","slug":"for-the-record-80907","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2007\/08\/09\/for-the-record-80907\/","title":{"rendered":"For the Record: 8\/09\/07"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Why not every night?<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nProgress is slow, but there is progress.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve any recollection of what things were like when they were at their worst, then a walk through Northside today will make that evident.<\/p>\n<p>Houses have been reclaimed, refurbished and the whole place has a tidier feel. But the ghosts of the past still haunt the place in pockets, and late in the evening you can see the drug trade and its casualties creep back to life.<\/p>\n<p>The houses that were once the haven of the trade have been taken back, but the night, well, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a different story. Some nights, yes, but most nights, no \u00e2\u20ac\u201d not entirely.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because the battle against crime is only half of the battle. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the fight against indifference and against fear. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the constant tussle over resources.<\/p>\n<p>And then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the struggle to provide not just guidance for the young people who might be otherwise steered toward those ghosts, but a community that shows the value of a different path.<\/p>\n<p>This is a long battle, getting longer. There is no choice, though, but to press on. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already seen what will happen should we lose.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A really, really bad idea<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nA bit of praise here for the judgment of police chief Carolyn Hutchison for not being confrontational with the folks at the Really Really Free Market over their insistence that they serve food at the market\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s last installment.<\/p>\n<p>During June\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s budget discussions, when the Board of Aldermen wrestled over fees for the Town Commons, the board was pretty clear that serving food was right out, since the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s insurance policy wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t cover the liability. And while undoubtedly the food served up at the Town Commons the first Saturday of the month is wholesome and prepared with love of community, if it makes someone sick they can sue the pants off the town.<\/p>\n<p>So the board asked the Really Really Free Market folks to cool it with the food. They didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, and, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re told, were rather defiant about it last Saturday when the chief and town officials took a look-see.<\/p>\n<p>So between now and next month, the matter is rightly back in the hands of the aldermen who need to make it clearer what exactly they intend to do \u00e2\u20ac\u201d or, more accurately, what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like the chief and others to do \u00e2\u20ac\u201d about this.<\/p>\n<p>And the responsibility for the continuance of the market is rightly back where it belongs \u00e2\u20ac\u201d in the hands of its participants.<\/p>\n<p>If they wish to sacrifice the event they so eloquently praised in order to make a point, then so be it.<\/p>\n<p>The Really Really Free Market is a very good idea and, yes, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re proud to hear that in other places it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s catching on and that Carrboro is getting props for it.<\/p>\n<p>So, in that spirit, here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s some free advice:<\/p>\n<p>Have a potluck somewhere else and don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let a really, really swell event go down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why not every night? Progress is slow, but there is progress. If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve any recollection of what things were like when they were at their worst, then a walk through Northside today will make that evident. Houses have been reclaimed, refurbished and the whole place has a tidier feel. But the ghosts of the past&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}