"Whole Planet Foundation - Get Involved - Whole Foods Market Annual Campaign 2009"

This appears to have started a week ago. Note how low the number is for Chapel Hill compared to Durham. Go Durham! Another month to go.....

"Triangle leaders explore region's future" - News & Observer

As interesting as this sounds, it sure would be helpful to see the results of all the different table efforts mentioned here. Is that not going to get shared with the rest of us?

"Partnership, town to fund new art business" - Daily Tar Heel

I think there are far more productive ways in which to utilize these resources, as much as I believe in art. This is responding to the demands of a small niche that may or may not make a significant contribution to the longterm economic sustainability of downtown.

For example, how about a website that shows all of the businesses along the route of each bus line so that someone living near a bus stop is fully apprised of all of the commercial acitivities easily accessible by bus from that location....and reminding those who do not take a bus regularly how well the Chapel Hill Transit program - for example - works in telling us when the next bus will arrive before we leave our home or office...or, with the right equipment, wherever we may be.

I think that should be a far higher priority, just for example.....

"UNC working to focus on new environmental research" - Daily Tar Heel

How about a community-wide briefing on these projects?

"Retired faculty offer to teach for free next year" - Daily Tar Heel

Are there other versions of this covering people willing to contribute in specific areas? I think there is an Orange County program and there is the new site of the Triangle Community Foundation, but I don't see any requests coming from the Town of Chapel Hill, for example, for volunteers to contribute time based on their professional capabilities.

"Rethinking alerts" - Daily Tar Heel

Why is this not generally available to anyone who lives here?

Pedestrian injuries

We should have a Chapelboroham map like this one, constantly updated and available for all of us to see online. Why don't we have it?

"Project gives Town Council pause" - chapelhillnews.com

What concerns me most about this project is the realization of how noisy the traffic is on 54. If one stands on any of the sidewalks, or in the parking lot at Glen Lennox, for example, it is a near constant roar.

Meadowmont is set back far enough to keep this to a minimum, but from a sheer livability standpoint, this is like living next to an Interstate highway unless one wants to live in a sound-insulated cubicle in one of those large buildings.

Surely, a smart designer could have made much better use of the land, but it probably would not have generated the return that this project may return, if ultimately successful.

They claim more than 50% of their units have been sold? I find it curious that they have run full page ads, as I recall, promoting their "success" and yet this number is not included in the story.

"Listening to History" - WUNC

More of what could be in a writing program in Chapelboroham.....along the lines of the one done back in the 30s.

"Writers' Project Searched For American Stories" - NPR

Why don't we launch something like this in Chapelboroham with local funds?

Imagine all of the fascinating stories we could collect and share, offering anyone who chooses to accept payment, say, $50/contribution?

All fed into a giant wiki for Chapelboroham.....

"The Carrboro Citizen wins six NC press awards"

The Chapel Hill News won 5. The Independent won 8. The Daily Tar Heel won 2. The Herald-Sun won 1. The News & Observer won 15.

"Valentine's Cupcakes From Nigella Lawson" - NPR

We certainly seem to be in serious cup cake expansion here in Chapelboroham!

How networked are we?

At a time when networks of people we know or to whom we can reach become more and more important, here's a simple question.....how well networked are we in Chapelboroham? Sure, we can reach the people we know or use Facebook et al to reach somewhat beyond that. But suppose you just want to reach out to someone you see in a shop, or even down the street, or in the news. How easy is it to find and attempt to connect with that person? Pretty hard, from my experience.

What if we created a directory of masked (to avoid spam) e-mail addresses for the whole area so anyone could send a note to anyone else? Real names but no e-mail addresses visible - it really works!

"Who Runs Gov" - Government directory

We should have one of these for Chapelboroham.

"Project aims to focus on Northside’s history" - Daily Tar Heel