The Town of Chapel Hill's new website appears to have gone live today.  It sure is a snazzy new look, but I haven't found much yet in the way of new features.  The menu navigation seems to be more intuitive than the old website, and it seems to be much easier to use from a casual visitor's perspective.  But I'm still not having an easy time finding archived material without a help from my dear friend Google.  Have you had a chance to check it out?  What do you think?

WCHL is reporting Bruce Stone's official announcement that he's closing the Varsity theater.   He provided them a written statement that's likely to appear shortly in the newspapers as well.

Some excerpts regarding the film industry and Stone's situation with the Varsity:  "This is a business decision, a bottom-line decision. . . . The Varsity especially has been struggling for over two years, with no prospect of an upturn any time soon. . .  with the summers being especially difficult... Our landlord has been understanding and supportive throughout our tenure."

Of particular note, however, are his comments about the downtown situation:

Hi, I'm new to this site (which I was pleased to discover via google), and I have some questions regarding Carr Mill Mall/Weaver Street Market's policies.

The Orange County Democratic Party is hosting an information forum on Chapel Hill's new system of Voter Owned Elections. The party invites all residents to learn how potential candidates for public office can use this publicly financed system to help finance the costs of running for office. Introductory remarks will be made by Gene Nichol, former Dean of the UNC Law School. There will be additional presentations by Common Cause, Democracy North Carolina and a panel discussion.

The forum will be held Tuesday evening, June 23rd, at the Chapel Hill Town Council Chambers at 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., and will begin at 7pm. This event will last about an hour.

Carrboro residents are encouraged to attend as well to learn how this system works.

I feel a little behind on the latest Carolina North stuff so I'm going to TRY to attend this session tonight. (Never make promises when responsible for an infant.) I can only stay until 8 and can't live-blog (but might tweet).  I hope too see some of y'all there.

Visioning Forums

The Town of Chapel Hill visioning project is designed to engage the Chapel Hill community through a range of outreach efforts to both inform and gather public comment on community values and future growth.

The information will assist the Sustainable Community Visioning Task Force, a group of volunteer citizens appointed by the Town Council to prepare recommendations on what growth should look like over the next 10 years.

The visioning forums are just one of a number of ways that the Sustainable Community Visioning Task Force will be obtaining information about the community over the next 7 months.

Weaver Street Market will change the way it rewards consumer owners. Starting at the end of June, consumer owners will receive a Patronage Dividend at the end of the year rather than a 5% discount on some products at the cash register. The co-op will also eliminate its 10% discount for senior citizens on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Like many businesses, Weaver Street Market is going through a difficult financial time; the change is expected to save the co-op $60,000 per month. “Changing from discounts to dividends, along with other changes that our staff is making, will put us back in the black,” said Dave Rizzo, Chair of the Board of Directors. The co-op is currently losing $65,000 a month primarily because sales are down 12% compared to last year in its Carrboro and Southern Village locations. The lower sales are due to the economy and increased competition.

Hey folks. Sorry for the interlude. I've been reading your comments, but between learning how to be a parent and starting to work again, I have not had much time to go to meetings or post on OP.

I can't help but notice on our calendar that the window for candidate filing is starting to sneak up. Any thoughts about who will be running for municipal and school board offices this year?