Council update

[sally....@gmail.com]

Dear friends,

Here are some highlights from Monday night's council meeting and other
recent events.


Street lighting & call boxes

An effort of several years of UNC student government work--including
fundraising of an impressive $80,000!--resulted in our decision Monday
night to move forward with the installation of pedestrian-level street
lighting improvements and emergency call boxes at several locations
near campus. We passed the following resolution, with gratitude to the
student body.

http://townhall.townofchapelhill.org/agendas/2008/05/05/8/


Peace & Justice Plaza marker

Also on Monday night, we accepted the naming committee's
recommendation, on request of the local NAACP, to add the names of
four African Americans to the original four names that we have already
designated to be placed on the marker for Peace & Justice Plaza, the
name we have given to the area in front of the old Post Office
building on Franklin St. The four new names are Hubert Robinson, James
Brittain, Henry "Hank" Anderson III, and Gloria Williams, all of whom
spent much of their lives working for social and racial justice in
Chapel Hill. (The original designees were Joe and Lucy Straley,
Charlotte Adams, and Joe Herzenberg.) We also received a
recommendation to include Mildred Ringwalt, one of the founders of the
Inter-Faith Council. That recommendation will be considered by the
naming committee (which I am on), to which the council delegated the
decision. I hope we can look forward to the installation of the
marker--a granite paver, actually, in the ground in front of the
flagpole--in the early fall, an event that we will want to celebrate.


IFC men's shelter

On Monday morning, an exciting development was announced: at long
last, the identification of a new site for the men's homeless shelter.
UNC has plans to purchase a property owned by Duke Energy at the
corner of Homestead Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Of that
land, UNC will enter a long-term lease of 1.5 acres to the town, which
in turn will lease it to the IFC. The IFC's goal, which will depend on
the success of a fundraising campaign, is to be operational by 2011.
What they envision is more than just a shelter: a facility that offers
a much broader range of services and opportunities. Another key
partner in this effort is the United Church, which is a neighbor to
this property. As detailed in the news release, this will be the
renewal of an old partnership. Congratulations to all who made this
achievement possible, and please consider giving what you can to help
the IFC make this plan a reality.

http://www.townofchapelhill.org/index.asp?NID=1714


10-year plan report

At last night's meeting of the executive team of the county's
Partnership to End Homelessness, we heard our coordinator Carson
Dean's outline of what he hopes to accomplish in his first year
implementing our 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness. I encourage
you to take a look at the new and improved web site for the plan:

http://www.co.orange.nc.us/housing/endinghomelessness.asp

Many efforts (including, of course, the important work of the IFC) are
coming together to better serve our homeless population. Carson
accurately sees his job as very much involving the work of
coordinating these efforts, so that they reinforce each other, rather
than duplicate or get in the way of each other. A lot of this work is
being generated by UNC students. Maggie West of the Campus Y's HOPE
project was at the meeting to talk about how their "Box Out"
fundraiser during the campus poverty awareness week raised $2,000 that
is being donated to the 2008 Project Homeless Connect (for which the
plans are proceeding apace, thanks again to Jamie Rohe).

A particularly interesting initiative that Carson described is the
Community Voice Mail project. The IFC and OPC Area Program already are
making this service available, but through Carson's efforts Orange
County will now have 90 individual phone numbers available for
homeless people--an important tool for job hunting and staying in
touch with others.

http://www.cvm.org/

It's exciting to see the plan that we worked so hard to develop start
to come to life!

We are sad to lose Steve Allred from the executive team, but we wish
him all the best in his new position as provost of the University of
Richmond.


New public arts administrator

It's wonderful news that Jeffrey York has accepted the position of
public arts administrator for the town. He comes with stellar
qualifications, most recently as the director of public art and
community design for the North Carolina Arts Council. We will all
benefit from the depth and breadth of his experience. I look forward
to working with him.

http://www.townofchapelhill.org/index.asp?NID=1700


Voter-owned elections proposal

For a number of years, citizens have asked the council to consider
implementing a system of public financing of our local elections, as a
way to discourage the type of high-dollar council campaigns that can
be very discouraging to potential candidates. With Bill Strom, Mark
Kleinschmidt, and Jim Ward, I've been serving on the council committee
to explore this idea and to bring a draft ordinance for voter-owned
elections to the council and the public for consideration. We had the
generous support of the state Board of Elections, which is so
interested in the success of this pilot project (we would be the first
municipality in the state) that they have volunteered to administer
the program for us, should it be adopted. I also want to acknowledge
the hard work that our attorney Ralph Karpinos has put into developing
the proposed ordinance to this stage.

In our May 14 meeting, this item will be on the agenda for public
comment. I encourage you to take a look at it and offer your thoughts.

http://www.townofchapelhill.org/index.asp?nid=1696


Finally, I know you all join me in heartfelt condolences to Ralph
Karpinos and his family on the tragic loss of their beloved youngest
son, James.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Sally
http://sallygreene.org
http://greenespace.blogspot.com