Chris Richmond, director of The ReCYCLEry, rolls out one of the newly tuned up Blue Urban Bikes. Photo by Kirk Ross

By Jack Carley
Staff Writer

The ReCYCLEry, Carrboro’s nonprofit community bike workshop, is working to bring more bicycles to Carrboro roads. By expanding their bike loan program, called Blue Urban Bikes, or BUB, they hope to get people pushing bike pedals instead of gas pedals.

The Blue Urban Bikes program is the ReCYCLEry’s biggest push to promote bikes on Carrboro and Chapel Hill roads. For the annual price of ten dollars or two hours of volunteer work, anyone can become a BUB member and borrow the refurbished blue bikes for a day at a time, complete with two cargo baskets, lights, a lock and a helmet.

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By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

A flurry of interest just before the filing deadline has heightened the competition  on the ballot in Orange County.

With the exception of the Hillsborough mayor’s race, where incumbent Tom Stevens drew no challenger, every race will feature more candidates than seats available.

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Cindy Sheehan leads a short march to Panzenella. Photo by Kirk Ross

Word spread quickly last week that Cindy Sheehan would be swinging through town on her impeachment push. Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq, has called for both President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to be impeached for war crimes.

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READY TO TASTE — The crowd lines up at the annual Carrboro Farmers’ Market tomato tasting. Little Cherokee proved to be the top slicing tomato and Sungold the best of the cherry tomatos according to the results from 276 ballots cast. More than 350 tomato fanciers lined up Saturday morning at the Carrboro Town Commons for the event, which reviewed 55 varieties for flavor, texture and juiciness. Volunteer slicers and dicers carved up more than 500 tomatoes for the event. Photo courtesy of Jackie Helvey

By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

Now that filing season has closed, candidates for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education are gearing up for a tight race.

Six candidates are running for four seats on the board. Board members Jamezetta Bedford, Mike Kelley and Annetta Streater seek reelection. Newcomers Mia Burroughs, Mehar Safvi and Gary Wallach have thrown their hats into the race as well.

While it’s still early in election season, the candidates have started crafting their platforms and developing campaign strategies.

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The star indicates a proposed alternative location for the university’s 80,000 square foot Innovations Center, which originally was planned for a site south of Estes Drive Extension. If approved, the new site would be the first for the Carolina North project. Citizen Graphic by Michelle Langston

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Board of Trustees reviews concept plans this week for 15-year and 50-year build outs for Carolina North.

In its initial phase, the plans call for a cluster of buildings adjacent to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Municipal Drive along with a co-generation plant, transit stations and other infrastructure to be built over a 15-year span. The 15-year plan includes an estimated 4,700-5,000 parking spaces and roughly 2.5 million square feet of facilities including research centers, the possible move of the UNC Law School and other academic activities, patient care clinics and offices for UNC Health Care and housing.

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By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education voted 4-2 last week to approve the 2007-08 operating budget, including about $400,000 in additional reductions in order to fund school security improvements and other items.

Board members Mike Kelley and Jean Hamilton voted against the proposed budget. Several board members voted in favor of the proposed budget but did so only after citing serious concerns regarding the annual budget process.

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Workshop offered on floodplain maps
Chapel Hill Stormwater Management will offer a free workshop on floodplain maps on Tuesday from 8:30-9:30 a.m. at the Chapel Hill Public Library.

Workshop participants will learn how to access Chapel Hill flood insurance rate map information online. New floodplain maps became effective in Chapel Hill on Feb. 2.

Space is limited. To register, contact Chapel Hill Stormwater Management at 969-RAIN or wwsmith@townofchapelhill.org.

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Carolina Performing Arts tickets on sale
Single-event tickets for all performances in the 2007-08 Carolina Performing Arts season are now on sale. Highlights will include the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Yo-Yo Ma, Nritygram Dance Ensemble of India, STOMP and many more. All performances are in Memorial Hall on the UNC campus.

The season will open Sept. 13 with a concert by Al Green and special guest Lizz Wright and end on May 6 with classical pianist Mitsuko Uchida. Also included in the season are concerts by the UNC music department and the North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra.

For tickets and information, visit www.carolinaperformingarts.org, call 843-3333 or visit the Memorial Hall Box Office on Cameron Avenue, open from noon to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays during the summer. Tickets are $10 for Carolina students.

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Wine-paired dinners
The Fearrington House at Fearrington Village will hold a series of wine-pairing dinners, beginning on August 7 at 7 p.m.

The first dinner will feature wines from the Grgich Hills Estate in Napa Valley. The family-owned winery organically and biodynamically farms 366 acres and was founded in 1977.

The dinner will be hosted by Violet Grgich and costs $150 per person.
For more information, visit www.fearrington.com.

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Editor’s Note: Chris Fitzsimon, director of N.C. Policy Watch and a supporter of allowing counties to vote on a land transfer tax, has found himself the subject of radio ads by those opposed to the tax. Here’s his response:

New levels of distortion

The realtors and homebuilders continue their attacks in the now desperate effort to deny people the right to vote on how to build schools in their own communities.

The latest attack comes as a radio commercial against this columnist, by name, trying to use my past opposition to a statewide referendum on the lottery to somehow prove that my support for letting local communities vote on a transfer tax is inconsistent.

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By Kirk Ross

Not a stalemate, but not exactly a sprint to the finish either.

The state budget is close to done, but with a few major items — mostly on the revenue side — yet to be ironed out. So, how long before the deal is struck?

The president pro tem of the Senate says it could be a good be a long discussion. The governor says get on with it. And the speaker of the NC House says predictions are pretty useless.

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By Shana Becker

Before buying our first house and locking into a 30-year mortgage, my husband and I consulted every expert we could think of – real estate agents, appraisers, inspectors, surveyors, mortgage dealers and lawyers. We are first-time homebuyers, and if all goes well, we will close on our house in two weeks.

While financing a house involves a lot of money, it is a cup of water compared to the ocean of costs for nuclear and coal construction. Yet, a well-settled law on utilities’ financing faces total revision without the benefit of research, the scrutiny of experts or factual basis. If the state Senate’s “Promote Renewable Energy/Baseload Generation” bill passes in the House, consumers could be forced to sign a blank check for financing nuclear and coal “construction works in progress” (CWIP).

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UNC News Services

The good news:  More women in North Carolina are being screened for cancer and infectious diseases, fewer women are dying from heart disease and stroke, and the number of women who smoke has dropped substantially.

The bad news: Barriers to health care are worsening for poor and minority women. About 16 percent of all N.C. women and more than 60 percent of Hispanic women lack health insurance. Close to half of black women are obese and among Hispanic women high cholesterol has increased 117 percent.

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Sally Miller Johnston died July 20, of heart failure, at her home in Chapel Hill. She was 64.

She was born and raised in Hartford, Connecticut, and graduated and received a Masters Degree from Brown University. She loved to travel, and visited 66 countries and almost all corners of the U.S. After working with several international development groups, and living in Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria, she and her husband moved to Chapel Hill in 1977.

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