Cell phones

I wonder how many cell phones are owned by the Town of Chapel Hill and how much we taxpayers pay each year for them and their use?

"The Herald-Sun - Google leaders detail N C economic impact"

The Chapel Hill Mayor's comments are especially interesting. He loves the idea of a company in California handling the advertising, and promoting the sales, for small businesses in Chapel Hill. What is the difference between a company in California making UNC t-shirts and a company in California doing the advertising and promoting? Hmmm, I need to think about that; the answer is not readily apparent. If he likes one, why not the other? Why t-shirts over advertising and promotion? Is the latter beyond the capability of t-shirt printers in Chapel Hill, in the Mayor's view?

"Wood-Powered 'Biomass' Plants Have Critics Barking" - NPR

Where, exactly, do we stand on biomass in Chapelboroham?

"Charter Schools Are Scrutinized in N.Y. Expansion Debate" - NYTimes.com

I wonder how much we know about the charter schools in Chapelboroham? My first question is how many are there here?

"The Associated Press: Govt: About 45 million Americans don't buckle up"

I wonder if we have more or less than our fair share of these scofflaws in Chapelboroham?

Breaking News Videos from CNN.com - "Newspaper survives when others fail"

"Debating Whether It’s a Crime to Rest on San Francisco’s Sidewalks" - NYTimes.com

And in Chapelboroham?

"Patient Money - Grown-Up Cyclists Need Helmets, Too" - NYTimes.com

How are we doing in Chapelboroham with helmets on bicycle riders? My sense is that almost everyone follows this good guidance, but it would be interesting to see if that really is the case. I wonder if anyone has been injured in part as a result of not wearing a helmet? I hope not, but it would be good to know.

"Brooklyn College to Pave Over a Community Garden" - NYTimes.com

How many community gardens do we have in Chapelboroham?

"Chapel Hill and Orange County Visitors Bureau"

I wonder why the people who do this site think that one site is better than many, depending on what interests someone has......?

Chapelboroham

I wonder if anyone has seriously advanced the idea of creating some sort of union among Orange, Chatham and Durham counties. It seems to me that Chapelboroham could be an extraordinary force in so many ways.

Trees

I was curious to know how we are doing in NC with our trees. Do we have more trees than we used to have, or are we losing them? I spoke with knowledgeable state experts on this and learned several things. One, they do not measure ALL of the trees in NC, but cover what they think is about 95% of the total. We probably have more trees here today than we did in the 20s when more of the state was in farmland. In recent years, we may be losing some to development.
The total number of trees in NC is about 15 billion! To make it easy, assume the population of NC to be 10 million. That means we have about 1,500 trees for every person in the state. That strikes me as a real good floor on which we should insist on standing, no?
I wonder how we are doing in Chapelboroham on that point? It would be real interesting to know.

Police incidents

I am now on the list to get an e-mail every day with the Chapel Hill police incident reports for the previous day or weekend. Among other interesting observations are these two: Something approaching a majority of the items occur at addresses on our main thoroughfares in Chapel Hill and....almost every day, the number of incidents is just about the same.

Chapel Hill - "In the Region - New Jersey - In Newark, Housing for Artists and Others" - NYTimes.com

Chapel Hill has a reputation for great eating, excellent restaurants and many choices. How many people work in all of those places? How many live near where they work? Wouldn't it make a lot of sense to be looking at ways that we could bring that into better alignment? How about a place that focuses on housing for people who work in that field, somewhere along Franklin Street? Instead of some of the other odd initiatives that don't seem to be doing very well. What we know is that we have many, many food workers and they need a place to live. How about we focus on connecting those two dots?

"Boulder, Colo., a Magnet for High-Tech Start-Ups" - NYTimes.com

We spend a lot of time and money trying to attract new businesses to Chapelboroham. Witnees today's meeting in Chatham with yet another new plan to do just that.
I wonder if we lack focus in doing this.
Would it be better to think about where the proverbial hockey puck is headed, pick an "anchor" of sorts and really pursue it hard. If successful, then work to attract other people and businesses here who could feed off that first one in a logical manner. In other words, use the principles of the web's interconnectivity to try to achieve something similar on the ground.
Consider a field like the "news". Who could we attract here that could turn this into a media center in the way several countries in the Middle East have attempted to do? Maybe news gets expanded to media.
Consider medical information. Who could we attract that would make this the global center for digital medical information?
Surely, there is a long list of others. We need, it seems to me, to set up a priority list and then start with choice number one - go after that organization - and if successful, then flesh it out with other. If not successful, move down the list.
Who and what do we most want to attract here? What do we want Chapelboroham to be known for around the world?

Greenways Inc

I'd love to see one of these pedestrian plans for ALL of Chapelboroham.

"Pittsboro Parks Blog"

Obesity

I wonder where one turns to see statistics and trends for obese and overweight people of all ages in Chapelboroham. This seems like an important enough subject that we all should be able to follow those statistics on a regular basis -- and know all that is being done to reduce them either faster or at all. That includes all of our schools, from day care/pre-K through university. See this for Orange County.

"List of countries that ban cellphone use while driving"

We sure are behind the rest of the world in Chapelboroham. WRAL reports tonight that Wake County has cited only two people since the law took effect banning texting while driving.

Chapel Hill Town Council

I occasionally will watch some of the Chapel Hill Town Council meetings on cable television. It's not great theater, but it is helpful to see the Council members in action, or at least staying awake!
What has struck me is how empty - as in one or two people only - is the meeting room other than the Council and staff.
What are the statistics on public attendance at Town Council meetings over the years?
What do we know about how many people are watching some or all of the meetings on cable?

"Breathalyzer Tests for Pedestrians?" - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com

I suspect we have this problem now and again in Chapelboroham, no?

"The State Unveils a Cancer Map" - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com

Let's see one of these for Chapelboroham, too!

"A ‘Solar Map’ of New York City" - Green Blog - NYTimes.com

Do we have a solar map of Chapelboroham?

Wi-Fi use?

I noted the other day that the Town was promoting the free Wi-Fi service in various places downtown. I think I saw this on the Town's cable channel.
What statistics are available to show actual use of that capability?

"UNC-Chapel Hill Continuing Education: What's the Big Idea?"

I was planning to attend a couple of these programs, as they looked really interesting. Alas, that will not be possible as the entire program has been canceled due to lack of participation (which I learned from the Friday Center staff person responsible for this program).
Something is wrong with this picture, I think, given the importance of this subject to all of us in North Carolina. Why would this slip so far down the priority lists of so many potential participants?

"Education - Uruguay's Plan Ceibal: What Happens When *all* Students and Teachers Have Their Own Laptops"

What's the gap between the number of students in Chapelboroham and the number who have ample access to an internet-connected computer?

The Nature Conservancy in North Carolina - North Carolina Home Page

Some comments that I passed on to the Nature Conservancy this week about their website:

"For what it’s worth, I took a look at your website again just now. Here’s a suggestion --- I think it would benefit immensely from a short item of 3-500 words on the first page for the NC chapter that sums up who you are, what you do, and why it’s important. 300 words would be better than 500, but what the site lacks for me as a visitor is a first stop that pulls together the various pieces scattered about from the menu choices on the left. Without overdoing the suggestion, I’d also make sure that someone there was in charge of those words and that they include text that could be updated with new developments so that the piece does not look like something someone wrote years ago and then forgot about it."

Sidewalks

When I went to the Carrboro Farmers' Market on Saturday, I parked on the opposite side of the firehouse and walked back to the Market. A sidewalk is being built along the street more or less on the western side of the firehouse.

Normally, I would say just bravo!

But look at it, and ask yourself who came first and who should have priority - people or cars? I defy anyone to predict that people will actually walk this serpentine route.

Imagine if the sidewalk were put in place first, and the cars and parking had to work their way around it! That's where I think the priority ought to be!