Categories
Sports

Hokie Pokey

Update: Damn. Thought we might be able to pull it out.
Virgina Tech and the Tar Heels, 3:30 p.m. in Blacksburg on ABC.
The official preview on Tar Heel Blue.

More skinny on the Heels and other ACC reporting from Barry Jacobs. Links on the game via Tar Heel Daily.

Categories
Miscellany

Study: Bilingualism delays onset of dementia

If you need another eason to keep plugging away at your Spanish/English/Maori take a look at this Reuters article:

OTTAWA (Reuters) – People who are fully bilingual and speak both languages every day for most of their lives can delay the onset of dementia by up to four years compared with those who only know one language, Canadian scientists said on Friday.

Researchers said the extra effort involved in using more than one language appeared to boost blood supply to the brain and ensure nerve connections remained healthy — two factors thought to help fight off dementia.

Categories
Arts & Music

Nice weather for an ArtWalk

2ndFriday ArtWalk is this evening from 6-9 p.m.

List of galleries here. PDF map and brochure here.

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From Paintings and Sculptures by Chapel Hill artist Ruth Ann Allen Harden at N.C. Crafts Gallery. (Reception during the ArtWalk)

Categories
Miscellany

Cheese Pork

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You know that delicious crunchy thing that happens when you fry cheese? Well think about a tender pork steak coated in that fried in Madeira. That’s a clumsy description of my new favorite winter meal: Cheese Pork!! at Crook’s Corner.

Sides were mashed rutabagas (very buttery) and sautéed leeks and cabbage (sublime).

I’ll try to get a fuller rundown from Bill Smith sometime soon.

Next morning test: Everything held up nicely even after a night in the fridge, including, suprisingly, the leeks and cabbage.

(Hat tip to T. for the suggestion)

Categories
Miscellany

Rally against the war tonight

Via OP:

Emergency Rally to Stop Escalation in Iraq
Where: Across the from the Franklin Street Post Office
When: Thursday, Jan 11 2007, 5:30 PM

If you missed Keith on the Prez, here’s the Crooks & Liars link.

Categories
Miscellany

Jan. 9 public hearing on new school

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(Sorry about the delay on this. Big doings in Captial City—see previous post.)

Let’s go to the tape.

 Watch and Hear Board Meeting (4hrs 17min; in 225kbps RealPlayer â„¢ format)
 Download and Listen to Board Meeting

The video is available for Tuesday’s Board of Alderman public hearing and if you’re interested in discussion on the new elementary school visit the links above (or click on the pic) and scroll your viewer ahead to the 23:30 mark to hear the opening presentation on the design of the school and some of the concerns raised. Lighting around the proposed roundabout is one issue that had the board asking questions. District DOT officials want the roundabout well lit to reduce accidents.

At the 50:30 mark, officials from Chapel Hill Carboro City Schools begin their presentation. With an excellent explanation of the school capacity realities and how they relate to the implementation of the Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance.

Members of the Carrboro and Orange County planning departments weigh in starting at the 1 hour 20 minute mark.

James Carnahan, speaking for the town Planning Board said there are deep misgivings about the site chosen for the school. The board, he said, feels that the school is too far away from the neighborhoods that will use the facilty. Major infrastructure should be closer to the population. The Planning Board also wants the town to cover the cost of full-sized gym.

Orange County Planning Board chair Jay Bryan said there are concerns about how other roads in the area will be used. He asked the town to make sure local residental roads don’t become cut-throughs and called for a reduction in speed limits on Old N.C. 86 and Eubanks Road. He also asked for the sewer line to be moved from the west side of Jones Creek to the east side to preserve natural areas on the west side.

At the 1:38:00, neighbors of the school get their say, most with concerns about how traffic will flow and the configuation of the parking lots, access roads and kiss-and-go-lanes. They also asked the board to keep the lighting around the school to a reasonable level. Northern Transition Area board member Brian Decker, who lives near the project, said the lighting plan in the proposal doesn’t provide enough information.

Board discussion and followup questions around the 1:48:15 mark.

The unanimous vote comes at roughly 3:38:00.

  1. Conditional Use Permit for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools’ Elementary School #10
Categories
Miscellany

Hackney nominated for Speaker

Orange County’s Joe Hackney, a Chapel Hill attorney who grew up near Silk Hope in Chatham County, was nominated for Speaker by House Democrats in a meeting at the legislature.
“We stand here united and ready to go to work,” Hackney said after being elected on the fourth ballot.
Hugh Holliman of Lexington was named to Hackney’s old post of Majority Leader and William Wainwright of Havelock, co-chair of the House Finance Committee was named Speaker Pro Tem.
In his position as Majority Leader, Hackney often delivered the summary for Democrats in floor debates. Here’s his speech at the end of the debate on the budget last year. Call it the straining-at-gnats speech and it has a funny moment with Paul Stam.

Audio: Floor Speech on the 2006 budget by Joe Hackney

Via N&O,

RALEIGH – Democratic members of the state House nominated Rep. Joe Hackney of Orange County tonight to be the next House speaker.

If elected by the full House when it convenes Jan. 24, Hackney would serve a two-year term as speaker. One of the most powerful people in state government, the speaker chooses chairmen for House committees, referees disputes among House members and leads negotiations with the Senate and with Gov. Mike Easley.

Will build this post as things roll in.

Fuller story, but nothing new yet, on the Char-O site.

AP:

Hackney, 61, a lawyer, joined the General Assembly in 1981 and often has been viewed as the chief spokesman for the party’s liberal wing, pushing for a moratorium on the death penalty and public financing of political campaigns.

But Hackey has said his past four years leading Democrats as the party’s leader show he can govern from the middle and push a centrist agenda focusing on education, health care and economic incentives.

Categories
Miscellany

Noonlike report

Good afternoon.

The focus is on Orange County’s Joe Hackney this morning—in a good way. It’s looking more and more like the Chatham native is in line for the Speakership.
AP: Tolson pulls out of Speaker race, backs Hackney.

Also Raleigh related: Been listening (albeit through a glitchy audio connection) to hearings at the legislature this morning on aging issues and school construction—the needs of the young and not-so-young.

In the aging hearings, legislators took some time to make sure that state health officials are looking into the problems with housing younger, mentally ill patients in nursing homes alongside the elderly. NC Policy Watch’s Chris Fitzsimon has a good essay on the issue.
Revisions in the state’s guardianship laws and new nursing home regulations were also in the discussion at this morning’s hearings.

On school construction, the state is considering a package of local option growth controls and revenue measures. From this morning’s Exile on Jones Street:

A legislative committee looking at school construction needs heard proposed legislation this morning that would set up an new array of potential revenue streams for school construction including a real estate transfer tax. The legislation would also and increase regulatory authority, allowing counties to set up adequate public facility ordinances.
Each county would have to hold a referendum on whether to opt in to the new system. Counties that already have local option real estate transfer taxes and and special impact fee arrangements would have to choose either the new system or their current one.

Counties would also have the option of creating Adequate Public Facilities Ordinances.
Orange County is likely one of those counties that will have to take a look at how the changes in state law mesh with the existing local bills that allowed the OC to set up SAPFO. It’s all preliminary legislation and is sure to undergo some, ahem, changes.
Look for a battle royale with the Homebuilders’ Association.

In other news, the Board of Aldermen are meeting tonight and school construction is one item on the agenda. But we’ll have to see if the board is ready to open the public hearing on the proposed Elementary School Number Ten. There are still a few reviews of the project coming in.

Full agenda follows:

  1. CONSENT AGENDA
    1. Appointment to Carolina North Fiscal Impact Analysis Monitoring Committee
    2. Decision on Draft Ordinance Amending the Carrboro Land Use Ordinance Provisions Dealing with Flood Damage Prevention
  2. OTHER MATTERS
    1. Presentation of the Audit Report for Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2006
  3. PUBLIC HEARING
    1. Conditional Use Permit for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools’ Elementary School #10
  4. WORKSESSION
    1. Courtesy Review of the Greenbridge Project
    2. Appointment to the Orange County Library Services Task Force
Categories
Miscellany

Public hearing on elementary school 10

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The Board of Aldermen is being advised to open the public hearing Tuesday on Elementary School No. 10 (which we can only hope has a new name someday soon). According to the agenda items, the design of the school and the site plan have not gotten rave reviews from the town’s Transportation Advisory Board and the Environmental Advisory Board at their recent meetings.
In addition, the Planning Board is asking the town to kick in for a full-size gym as Chapel Hill did with Rashkis Elementary, which is the protype for the new school. The Planning Board also suggests future high density development within a quarter mile of the site.

(Links to these items and the school’s application are on the Jan.9 , 2007 agenda.)

Following are the recommendations from the town planning staff:

REVIEW OF CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT FOR THE CHAPEL HILL – CARRBORO CITY SCHOOL’S ELEMENTARY SCHOOL #10

PURPOSE STATEMENT
Chapel Hill – Carrboro City Schools has submitted an application for construction of a 89,800 sf (30 classroom) elementary school on the parcel located at 215 Eubanks Road (Attachment C&D). The Conditional Use Permit, if approved, would allow the construction of the school, along with associated recreational facilities and infrastructure.

Site Design Summary
The school will be accessed by a new segment of collector road which proceeds north to intersect with Eubanks road by way of a roundabout (Attachment B). School buses, commuter traffic, service and utility vehicles will rely mainly on Eubanks Road to access the facility. Once on the site, the plan provides a circulation system designed to segregate drop-off traffic from bus and commuter traffic.

INFORMATION
The subject property is zoned RR, Rural Residential, contains 19.035 acres (829,164.6 sf) and is listed on the Orange County Tax Map as numbers 7.23.C.1. The existing site is vacant and wooded sloping predominantly to the south where two intermittent streams combine and drain into Jones Creek. (Attachment B). The proposed school building itself is a unified, single story, building with an attached gymnasium. A playfield, outdoor basketball court and, a play structure, are located south of the building. Parking is divided into two lots to the northeast of the building. The large footprint of these facilities and their supporting infrastructure requires substantial site grading.

RECOMMENDATION
Town staff recommends that the Board of Aldermen open the Elementary School #10 Conditional Use Permit public hearing. However, at the time of this report deadline, the stormwater engineering has not yet been approved by the Town Engineer. For this reason, staff cannot consider the project “complete” and therefore cannot recommend approval of the project.
However, if Sungate approval is obtained by the time of the public hearing, Town staff recommends approval of the project. If this is the case, the Board is directed to first complete the attached conditional use permit worksheet (Attachment M). Upon completing the worksheet, staff recommends that the Board consider the Conditional Use Permit for the CHCCS Elementary School #10, located off of Eubanks Road, subject to the conditions below:

1. That prior to construction plan approval the applicant provide a copy of an issued
NCDENR land disturbing activity permit and formally invite Orange County Erosion Control to voluntarily inspect the site during construction via a letter that is copied to the NC Land Quality Section Regional Engineer, Raleigh Regional Office;
2. That the applicant adjust the planting plan as requested by the Town Engineer and Environmental Planner prior to construction plan approval to ensure compliance with the stormwater and vehicle accommodation area shading requirements of the LUO;
3. That prior to construction plan approval, the applicant receive a driveway permit from NCDOT in accordance with any conditions imposed by such agency including but not limited to encroachment / maintenance agreements for lighting and sidewalks;
4. That subject to NCDOT approval, the applicant shall provide 6-feet of extra pavement on both sides of Eubanks Road where improvements are required. The 6-foot sections shall serve as bike lanes;
5. That, prior to construction plan approval, the bike lane arrangements in the vicinity of the roundabout and within the proposed collector street shall be designed to comply with their related specifications as identified in the Federal Highway Administration’s Roundabouts: An Informational Guide, and the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices;
(20 more recommendations after the break)

Categories
Miscellany

January 9, 2007 Board of Aldermen Agenda

  1. CONSENT AGENDA
    1. Appointment to Carolina North Fiscal Impact Analysis Monitoring Committee
    2. Decision on Draft Ordinance Amending the Carrboro Land Use Ordinance Provisions Dealing with Flood Damage Prevention
  2. OTHER MATTERS
    1. Presentation of the Audit Report for Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2006
  3. PUBLIC HEARING
    1. Conditional Use Permit for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools’ Elementary School #10
  4. WORKSESSION
    1. Courtesy Review of the Greenbridge Project
    2. Appointment to the Orange County Library Services Task Force
Categories
Sports

The ACC starts up tonight

For the Heels the ACC starts up with Florida State. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Smith Center.

Links from around the wires via Tar Heel Daily
The official word on what to watch out for from Roy via Tar Heel Blue:

“We’ve got the worst matchups this weekend we could ever have. Uche (Echefu) and (Al) Thornton, they’re basically perimeter players and that’s their four-and-five men. That’s a huge matchup problem for us, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to play five perimeter guys because that’s not the matchups in the world for them in the world on the other end, either.”