Candidate filing for 2010 elections starts today at noon. Folks only have two and a half weeks (until February 26th) to declare their intent to run in the May primary (and presumably the November general election).  Information will be posted at the Orange County Board of Elections.

The offices that will be on the ballot this year are: County Commissioner (districts 1 & 2 and at-large), Clerk of Court, Register of Deeds, Sheriff, Orange County Board of Education, State Senate, State House, Soil Conservation District Supervisor (non-partisan, no primary).

Help me keep an eye on the BOE page, and let everyone know if anything interesting happens!

by Chris Blue, Assistant Chief of Police

Starting this weekend, the Chapel Hill Police Department plans to undertake a unique approach to hear about our community's expectations of us.  Beginning on February 6th, we will hold a series of community conversations to hear how we are doing as an organization.  Each session will last no more than two hours and will be managed by an outside facilitator.  The input will be used to develop a strategic plan aimed at improving the community-oriented policing program in Chapel Hill.

We're hoping that residents, merchants, students, and other community stakeholders will attend one of the sessions to help us think about the following questions:

I have reviewed a lot of letters sent to the Chapel Hill Town Council about whether or not the Town should move forward on expansion of our Library.  Letters fall on either side of the issue, but in letters against expansion, I see a theme.  Writers often want it known that they are a fan of books, but they don't want to pay more taxes toward making more available to Library users.

At last night's Chapel Hill Town Council meeting a decision was put off regarding the Town Manager's recommendation to move forward and issue the voter-approved bond for the Library expansion.  There were two major issues.  First, the anticipated operating expenses for the expanded Library would result in a tax rate increase of $0.0113.  This would add about $34 to the tax bill of a homeowner with an appraised house value of $300,000.  Second, several Council members were concerned about moving forward until Orange County commits to a more equitable funding of the Library since 40% of the users and 40% of the circulation is by Orange County, non-CH residents.

It's been interesting to see the increasing heat in the debate about the proposed Carrboro section of the Bolin Creek Greenway. It seems to have created a public rift in the group Friends of Bolin Creek, leading to the apparent self-demotion of one of it's co-chairs. Dave Otto was still a co-chair when he wrote "A case for a concrete greenway" in the Chapel Hill News on January 10th, but Julie McClintock was the sole leader by the time her response "The case for keeping Bolin Creek natural" was published on January 17th.

If they put half as much effort into the design, safety and impact of this development as they have put into the legal battle, perhaps we would not be so opposed to it.  Article from the good folks at the Carrboro Citizen:

Northwest Property Group, which wants to build a shopping center at the intersection of Jones Ferry Road and Barnes Street, has won an appeal in its case against the Town of Carrboro.

In September 2007, the developer sued after the town approved its development but limited access to Barnes Street to emergency vehicles due to concerns about safety at the intersection. In a suit heard in April 2009, Northwest argued that the town’s condition, which effectively killed the project, was not backed up by a finding of fact on the traffic and safety concerns.

Anyone who ever tries to get to and from businesses on the east side of Estes Dr. south of Franklin St. knows that it's a treacherous errand, no matter where you're coming from.  I've become better than a FedEx driver when it comes to planning right-turn-only routes. While I'm sorry to see Walker's BP station go and have mixed feelings about the possibility of a Walgreens there (esp. since Kerr has left the mall), this does present an opportunity to think hard about the miserable traffic patterns in the area. 

I'll be starting it as I always do for the last decade or two: with a rousing rally at the Chapel Hill Post Office Peace and Justice Plaza in an attempt to remember that Dr. King made an impact because he was ready to say unpleasant things and put his whole ife on the line for a vision of community that was fierce and just and a kind of love that was strong and scary. This year is my son's first MLK Day and he will be marching along Franklin Street with us.

It's great that people have started to see MLK Day as "a day on, not a day off," and there are also wonderful volunteer opportunities around the Triangle, some of which can be found at http://www.mlkday.gov.

So how are you spending your 2010 Martin Luther King Day?