THE WOLFF CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE FLYER (A WCHL Commentary)

Every time I think I can’t be surprised or shocked by something in a political campaign I’m proven wrong. When I first read the flyer attributed to the Wolff for Mayor campaign committee that warns parents that their kids will be assaulted, molested, kidnapped or killed in the park if the IFC facility is built near Homestead Park, I was first disappointed, than angered that anyone running for office would choose hate, fear and scare tactics like in that flyer to get a few votes.

Citizens in Chapel Hill would not fall for this I thought, then someone told me the other night that plenty of people agree with the flyer’s sentiment. Let’s hope not and let’s hope that people don’t believe that electing one person can reverse town policies. This kind of campaigning is just wrong and unnecessary.

Reflecting on this caused me to remember a bit of Native American wisdom.

A Grandfather was talking to his grandson about how he felt. He said, "I feel as if I have two wolves fighting in my heart.
One wolf is the vengeful, jealous, angry, violent one.
The other wolf is the loving, compassionate one."
The grandson asked him, "Which wolf will win the fight in your heart?"
The grandfather answered, "The one I feed."

I just don’t believe people in Chapel Hill are confused about what’s right for this community and we will not support hate and fear. Please vote and encourage others to vote too.

FESTIFALL (A WCHL Commentary)

Wow!  Sunday we celebrated Festifall on Franklin Street and what an amazing event it was!  Big thanks to all of the Parks and Rec staffers, other town staff members, volunteers, the entertainers, and all of the folks who operated booths.  The weather was beautiful, the booths offered all sorts of arts and information, ant there were events for kids of all ages.  The entertainment was varied and appealed to a variety of tastes.   

The four hours we spent walking around and talking to friends and neighbors was just plain fun.  It was good to see some of the Franklin Street businesses open and they seemed to be attracting customers.  I have two observations though that I want to throw out.  First, it didn’t seem that the street was as crowded as it has been in prior years.  I don’t know if there is attendance data available that can confirm or refute my observation, but it would be good to find out.  Second, there just didn’t seem to be as many Chapel Hill citizens participating as I would have hoped.  Nothing scientific about this observation either.   

It’s great that visitors come to support our event, but where were the people of Chapel Hill?  It just seems to me that since we only have one street event a year, we would support it.  I would hope people would come to a downtown event that they pay for and I hope they harbor no negative impressions of our downtown.  I don’t know if that’s relevant in this case, but it would be great if we supported the Town, the staff and volunteers through our participation.  Festifall was a ball!

I'M READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL! (A WCHL Commentary)

Of all of the thoughts that I might have today, doing away with Division I athletics at UNC is not one of them. I will let others build their arguments to support their desire to throw in the towel to excise what they consider an evil so awful that the only solution is expunging it all together. Sure, there are problems from time to time in an intercollegiate sport, but the solution is not to quit. When faced with a challenge, the solution is to use our collective brainpower to solve the problem.

Quitting is contagious and habit forming. Once you learn to quit it is so much easier to do it when you face the next challenge. Therefore, I’ll be in Kenan Stadium on Saturday cheering on the Tar Heels. I will applaud those men who are out on the field representing our university, as they learn about life and living, lessons that reinforce what they learn in the classroom and lessons that enhance their character development, personal growth, and mental toughness. Quit the ranks of Division I Football? Not a chance.

I hope our community rallies around our team, this program, and our University leadership as we begin this new season, and let’s not forget about being great hosts to the fans that will pour in to our community and be a major component of our economic well-being. Being active fans and supporters does not mean that we ignore what needs to be fixed to make us better or that we condone bad behaviors; it means that we won’t quit in the face of challenge.

A Way to Serve

I heard a news report the other day that Orange County wanted people to know that there were vacancies on some of their boards and commissions and they wanted people to apply. With over 40 different boards and commissions that provide opportunities to serve, citizens have an opportunity to bring their skills, knowledge, abilities, and common sense to a wide range of issues and make recommendations to the County Commissioners.

As of early August, the county was looking for almost 80 people to serve. Chapel Hill also relies heavily on citizen volunteers to serve on the over 20 boards and commissions that they appoint people to. As of July, they had almost 30 appointments they needed to make. Carrboro lists 29 boards and commissions and they too are looking for a few good citizens. Each of the governments provides information on the positions and have their applications online.

I think service in this way is meaningful and really does contribute to our towns and county. Making recommendations as a board or commission doesn’t mean that the elected officials will accept that recommendation but it does mean that you and your fellow members provided input.

Let’s hope that enough citizens will volunteer and fill all the vacancies and continue this significant tradition of public service. And let’s also hope that our elected leaders will appoint the right people for the right reasons.

Fireworks! (A WCHL Commentary)

One of the wonderful things that the Internet allows us to do is to keep up with things while you are traveling. While away, I read that the Chapel Hill News gave the Town “Raspberries” for what they called a “shortsighted decision to do away with the July 4 celebration and fireworks show this year.”

We happened to be in Indianapolis, Indiana for the 4th and we had the pleasure of viewing two firework displays. The first followed a great minor league baseball game and it was a delightful display of good old time 4th of July fireworks. About the time that show ended, another one began in the downtown area. This display was the end of a series of events held downtown to celebrate the 4th, and the fireworks launched from the roof of the Regions Bank building were truly spectacular.

A local resident told us that the year before the celebration was close to being cancelled because of funding, but Regions Bank and others in the business community stepped up and made it happen.

When I read about the “Raspberries” given to the Town, I wondered why we seem to think that only the Town is responsible for the fireworks display. Maybe the Chapel Hill News could sponsor the display, or bring other civic-minded businesses together to sponsor our fireworks. Other communities seem to make this happen as we witnessed in Indianapolis, so why not here. I think a new sponsorship model could make this an even bigger and more popular community event!

THE FIELD IS SET! (A WCHL Commentary)

Now that the period to file for the 2011 election has ended, we know who will be on the November ballot. In Carrboro, the mayor is un-opposed and four people, including two incumbents are running for three aldermen seats. In the school board election, seven people, including three incumbents are running for the four, four-year seats and one person is running for the two-year seat. Now in the Chapel Hill election, we have three running for mayor, including the incumbent and nine running for the four Council seats, including three incumbents. I think back in 2001 we had 10 running for the Council and 12 in 2003, so this might be as interesting as those elections were.

These are important times at all levels of government, and clearly, elections matter. Just because we also know that the campaign time can easily be referred to as “silly season,” that’s no reason for us to tune out. Thus, I really perked up the other day when I heard the “What You’re Saying on the Street” segment. People were asked if they followed the news surrounding local elections and if they were interested in local politics. Some answered affirmatively and explained why they follow local politics while some of our citizens indicated that they were just too busy, just not interested or elections just didn’t affect them that much.

Well, now is the time to get interested, so learn about the issues and the candidates, and register if you aren’t already. You have to be a citizen who votes. So come on people, elections do affect each one of us, so get informed and act as if our future depends on who is elected, because our future does.

OUR FUTURE (A WCHL Commentary)

This is a time of celebration and happiness for parents, family, and friends of our newest local high school graduates. From all indications, the Class of 2011 has done very well and many have been accepted to attend colleges in North Carolina and elsewhere. We should all be proud of their accomplishments. But we must also realize that every member of the Class of 2011 will not be attending a college or university. Some will be looking for gainful employment right here in Orange County. When they can’t find it, they will venture out elsewhere to find that elusive job.

Why should our high school educated children be our county’s largest export? We need jobs that will keep our children here and jobs that will allow those who obtain other degrees to come back home and work and live. That’s why it’s so important that we get busy with economic development. Like everything else, it costs money and there not a lot of it readily available right now.

To help fund economic development, we will have a quarter cent sales tax increase on the ballot in November. It failed by a narrow margin last time it was on the ballot, so now is the time to learn about the proposal and get folks behind it. Some of the money will also help with capital projects in the two school systems. Both of these endeavors are truly a case of we pay now or we will pay a lot more later, so we really should do this.

Do we really want to keep exporting our educated kids?