I’ve started to split CitizenWill.org and WillRaymond.org apart.
The main reason? I’d like to comment on technology, web fads, the price of tea in China without distracting from my civic message.
Please bear with me as I make the transition.

I’ve been interested in the World War II Japanese Internment travesty since I learned of it as a near tot. Living in Chapel Hill I’ve had the chance to know some interesting folks, Eric Muller for one.
Eric, self-publisher and UNC Law professor is an internment expert. He often posts his research on that, [...]

Ouch! Obviously stung by Council member Jim Wards comment about “switch-n-baiting”, RAM Development’s VP Casey Cummings delivered a death blow to Council’s request for affordable condo fees for the affordable housing units and a commitment to energy efficiency.

[MOVIE]

Both requests seem quite reasonable.
What use is it for the Land Trust to “sell” [...]

Earlier this year, I asked the Carolina North Leadership Advisory committee to do an environmental assay of the highest caliber. It will be interesting to see this phase of Biohabitats’ research.
And kudos to UNC for scheduling two (2) sessions to accommodate the public. Yes, they’re both on the same day but progress [...]

We lost that argument when we passed parking lot#5 as designed.
One of the chief criticisms of the new Downtown Development Initiative (DDI) is that the Lot 5 building is setting a poor precedent for what is yet to come…

[MOVIE]

Councilmember Jim Ward tried to put the brakes on Council’s pellmell acceptance of “the new [...]

There’s been a small discussion over on SqueezeThePulp about the declining efficacy of local media outlets in covering our community. I suggested that new media outlets will soon move into this long fallow territory - intensively covering local events - to the possible detriment of traditional news outlets.
It appears that Carrboro is the center [...]

Got this interesting article today from Consumer’s Union:

…analysis of fresh, whole broilers bought nationwide revealed that 83 percent harbored campylobacter or salmonella, the leading bacterial causes of foodborne disease.
That’s a stunning increase from 2003, when we reported finding that 49 percent tested positive for one or both pathogens. Leading chicken producers have stabilized the incidence [...]

I went to this evening’s Council meeting fully expecting to be steamrolled.
Yes, the negotiation team has worked years on “a deal” but not “the deal”. Since Nov. 20th, no real new details have been forthcoming.
I’ll be posting the video of tonight’s action tomorrow, so I’ll reserve detailed critiques until then…

Just a few [...]

The Downtown Development Initiative is a steamroller (in more ways then one). Check out this summary of comments from Nov. 20th’s public hearing. A little light and less nuanced than the opposition comments I recall. Good thing there’s a video record on-line.
So why introduce the following bias?

Potential Advantages of the Project
-Mixed [...]

More questions about the Town’s and RAM’s Lot 5 development (DDI) plan?
Well, there’s been a dearth of specifics, so there should be a wealth of questions.
Add to the throng of “those who want to know” Council member Laurin Easthom.
With tonight’s pre-vote presentation on DDI looming (not a public forum)), Easthom weighs [...]

Lot #5 Downtown Development RAM building design based on Nov. 20th public hearing proposal . The model is in proportion and the proper height. It wasn’t until I laid out the model that I realized how large a beast we have here…

Looking North towards Lot 5 Dec2

(more…)

Making some progress on a GoogleEarth visualization of downtown.

Here’s some data if you want to either visualize Chapel Hill within GoogleEarth or want to start fresh with a re-import. Small caveat on the GoogleEarth import - don’t turn on the terrain as I still need to tweak the elevations to get the right output.
If anyone [...]

I believed the Town’s web site covering the Downtown Development Initiative would be updated after Nov. 20th’s public forum. After ten days, I finally sent in a formal request.
Here is Town Manager Stancil’s response:

Dear Mr. Raymond:
Thank you for our email message at 10:49 am on Dec. 1 to the Manager, Mayor [...]

This Monday (Dec. 4th), Council will take up the composition the Roger Road Area Task Force, I posted on earlier, and the possible future annexation of the eastern side of Rogers Rd.

If you’re interested in working with the Rogers Road community to correct these longstanding problems, Monday would be a great time to turn out [...]

This is still very raw, but I thought I’d put out this demo to stir some thought within the community. Visualization tools like GoogleEarth (GE) can help remove some of the difficulty in assessing the visual impact of new development.
Our town’s planning department has the raw data needed to create a GoogleEarth representation of [...]