Orange County

In fall 2010, more than 900,000 people voted prior to Election Day in North Carolina. Our state currently allows local counties to provide early voting sites for periods up to three weeks before Election Day. Here in Orange County, early voting is particularly popular. On the final days of early voting in 2010, the line at Morehead Planetarium snaked through the planetarium, down the stairs and across the quad as professors, residents and students lined up to vote.

A weekend discussion about various proposals to raise sales taxes, triggered by this email.

It's been a whirlwind week for Elaine Marshall's campaign for Senate with endorsements and momentum coming from every direction. In the last 72 hours, Elaine was endorsed by two of the state's biggest newspapers, the Charlotte Teamsters, and Pam Spaulding from Pam's House Blend.

This week got even better when a slew of Orange County elected officials announced their support for Elaine Marshall. I've posted a full list below, but this is another sign of Elaine's incredible momentum.

You are invited to attend one of the community discussions about housing for the Homeless: 3/31, 4/5, or 4/13 at So Human Services Center on Homestead Rd, CH. 7-9 pm.

The IFC will implement a special use permit process (SUP) with the Town of Chapel Hill formal SUP Community House application on June 8.

You can find more information about Community House, homelessness and other community challenges on our blog at http://marchonpoverty.blogspot.com/.

The Inter-Faith Council will host “community discussions” facilitated by Phil Boyle and F. Scottie Seawell of Leading and Governing Associates.

Not everyone is supporting the move from the Old Municipal Building to the proposed site at 1315 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. The IFC has sent invitations to about 1,500 neighbors near the MLK location so we can share the facts about our plans, learn more about opposing views and hear suggestions.

Come to the home of Len & Ann Gettes in Chapel Hill to help keep Rep. Alice Bordsen in the N.C. General Assembly.

I was at the Orange County Executive Committee meeting last night and my mind wandered, as it tends to do at these things when the "floor is open to discussion". There was discussion about the NCDP GOTV effort, about Obama GOTV effort, and about OCDP GOTV effort. There was a discussion about OCDP playing more of a role and how we could go about doing that. I was left wondering, how many people could we reach through BlueNC? So, I hate to take up front-page space with this, but I will, roll call.

You can tell as much or as little as you would like about yourself, but I'm wondering how many of you from the OC read BlueNC?

p.s. I am postdating this until tomorrow evening (3/27), so we'll see whether that works or not. : )

They're baaaack, realtor astroturf in Orange County:

This time it's Orange County.

Orange County residents have been on the receiving end of dubious push poll telephone calls recently, described by one recipient as:

...what may very well be the most egregious violation of research ethics I have ever experienced.

Why all the fuss? Tuesday evening, February 5th, at 7.30pm, the Orange County Board of Commissioners, at its regular meeting, will a public hearing regarding a Local Revenue Options Referendum. The purpose of the hearing is "to solicit opinion from voters regarding which, or both, of two local revenue options should be placed on a May 2008 referendum for voter consideration." In other words, they are trying to decide between a 1/4% sales tax or a 0.4% transfer tax increase, to pay for growth.