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Coffee with Council

Durham City Council periodically hosts these open-house style events. Each would be a great opportunity to share your thoughts on pot holes, bike lanes, tree pruning, digital billboards, and other potential obstacles to Council’s re-election, er, opportunities to enhance our quality of life in Durham.

Monday, March 9, 2009, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Durham Public School Resource Center, 2107 Hillandale Road.

Thursday, March 12, 2009, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Council Committee Room, Second Floor of City Hall, 101 City Hall Plaza.

Saturday, March 14, 2009, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Community Family Life and Recreation Center at Lyon Park, 1309 Halley St.

From an announcement:

Durham City Council is hosting a series of Coffee with Council meetings where residents can have an opportunity to provide input to council members on the upcoming 2009-2010 fiscal year budget.

In addition, for the first time this year will be a Citizen Engagement Workshop on the budget. The workshop is set for Monday, February 23, 2009, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Community Family Life and Recreation Center at Lyon Park, 1309 Halley St. The workshop is intended to engage citizens in conversation about City government’s budget priorities during these tight fiscal times.

This workshop is in addition to the Coffees with Council and will be more interactive. Space will be limited to the first 100 residents and reservations are required. Reserve a spot by contacting Mildred Rogers at mildred.rogers@durhamnc.gov or call (919) 560-4111, ext. 284.

Tree City USA

Maybe we should rethink our commitment to urban forestry. I’m not exactly feeling the full benefits.

More here and here.

Edit: By request, here’s the poster image in pdf to download, print, and/or share with your favorite City Council members.

New passenger rail welcome in North Carolina

With Durham’s new Amtrak station set to be on line this summer* and its new bus station opening next week, timing couldn’t be better for local governments to engage in a little self-reflection focused on our urban transit systems.

PBS takes a look at the politics and success of Charlotte’s new light rail line (see below). Through self-puffery, McCrory comes off sounding like he doesn’t think other cities can do something as successful as Charlotte’s Lynx Blue Line, but the fact of the matter is there is a lot of money designated for mass transit in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The video includes an interview with one of my favorite NC transportation “experts,” David Hartgen.

This may be North Carolina’s — and the Triange’s — best chance in years to move out of the fossil age and into the 21st century. Hopefully the Southeast High Speed Rail corridor, the Macon-Atlanta-Greenville-Charlotte Rail Corridor, and the Western North Carolina Rail project, as well as municipal/interlocal light rail systems will all get a boost from the stimulus package.

This is not a time to think small, and in the coming year we’ll see just how broad thinking our local leadership really is.

*Note: Durham once had a great train station; let’s see if we can keep this one.

confirming what I already know

Following The Archer Pelican’s suggestion, I took one of those “which philosopher are you/which philosophy best describes your own” quizzes. Does that fact that such a quiz returns unsurprising results add further support to my own self-assessment? Does it mean that the quiz was designed well? I guess the question really is, does this quiz (or the perception of accuracy in its results) produce new knowledge or evidence to support pre-existing beliefs? Or is it just a coincidence that it returned results that I have pre-existing reasons to accept? Your mileage may vary.

In the late 90s, when I was between colleges, I worked in an office of lawyers who represented individuals on South Carolina’s death row in their appeals claims. I was just a lowly paid intern at first but proved my mettle through investigation in a certain conservative county’s courthouse. As a token reward for my work, a colleague designed for me a nameplate. Everyone else in the office had nameplates outside their offices or on their desks, so this became mine. It was a touching gesture, the kind you can appreciate only if you work in the non-profit world. And I thought the job title she gave me spoke volumes about the things people pick up on through casual conversation. It’s not like I came to work dressed in a Kafka T-shirt and beret (at least not every day).

Bike/ped opportunities in the economic stimulus bill

Make sure Transportation Enhancement funding is in the final bill.

This week there will be a conference committee where several members of the House and several members of the Senate will work together to reconcile the two bills. Conferees need to hear that Transportation Enhancements are important to stimulating the economy, creating green jobs, and moving us towards a sustainable future.

Make three calls or send three emails today:

1. Senator Kay Hagan
(202) 224-6342 (Washington, DC office)
(919) 856-4630 (Raleigh office)
Senator_Hagan@hagan.senate.gov

2. Senator Richard Burr
(202) 224-3154 (Washington, DC office)
(800) 685-8916 (Winston-Salem office)
(252) 977-9522 (Rocky Mount office)
(828) 350-2437 (Asheville office)
(704) 833-0854 (Gastonia office)
(888) 848-1833 (Wilmington office)
Write to Senator Burr using this link: http://burr.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm

3. Call your representative
Find your representative here – http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml#nc

…and ask each of them to tell the Conferees to support Transportation Enhancements in the Economic Recovery bill.

Tell them:

• Bicycle and pedestrian projects create jobs at the same or better rate than highway projects.
• These smaller projects can move quickly to hire local businesses and help local economies.
• Providing safe and convenient bicycle and pedestrian access gives families healthier and cheaper transportation options.
• Improving sidewalks and bike lanes can make a downtown a destination, further helping the local economy.
• Better biking and walking options also help ensure greater energy independence, less pollution, and a healthier United States!

Please share this alert with all bicyclists (and pedestrians) you can, and encourage them to join you in supporting biking and walking today!

Adapted for from email action alerts published by MassBike and Durham for Obama.

Critical Mass, tomorrow

Just a reminder; Durham Critical Mass is tomorrow.

pedal junkie

Noticed months ago that my right pedal was loose; I probably should have taken care of it before today.