American Democracy is Worth the Wait

With the record-breaking number of absentee ballots sent in this year, counting every ballot will take time, and results will likely not be available on…

Historic District or Sewage Plant?

Historic District or Sewage Plant? By Christopher Brook June 10, 2009 Located in southwestern Wake County, the New Hill community provides a glimpse into life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Featuring more than 60 buildings, the New Hill Historic District has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2001. The towns of Cary, Apex, Morrisville, and Holly Springs now plan to open a sewage treatment facility in the middle of the New Hill Historic District. Unfortunately, its historical status was "not considered when the site selection process was undertaken," according to Cary Town Council Member Jennifer Robinson. A trip through New Hill reminds us of how business was conducted in earlier eras. The tracks of the former Raleigh & Augusta Railroad run through the southern part of the district; when chartered in 1855 they served as a quick means of transporting local crops to market. Gable-roofed farms, curing barns, and several pack houses still standing in the district signal the significance of tobacco in the turn-of-the-century North Carolina economy. Commercial buildings cluster at the crossroads of Old U.S. Highway 1 and New Hill-Holleman Road, showing the importance of a central location for area farmers to purchase necessities. Stores serving these needs included the C.J. Bright Store, one of the few frame store buildings dating back to the 1870s still standing in Wake County. The W.T. Roundy complex, built in 1928 and featuring a store, bungalow dwelling, stoker house, and five frame motel cottages, still marks this intersection. Babe Ruth stopped here on his way to spring training. The Roundy family hoped to revitalize the store and cottages, but the prospect of a sewage treatment plant so close by has caused them to put their plans on hold. The New Hill Historic District also features buildings that highlight how people lived from the late 1800s to early 1900s. Residences featuring Victorian, Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Greek Revival, Bungalow, and Queen Anne architecture dot New Hill. Also found in the district are two Gothic Revival Churches: New Hill Baptist Church, built in 1888; and New Hill First Baptist Church, built in 1910. These churches are two of only four turn-of-the-century frame church buildings still used by their congregations in western Wake County. The proposed sewage treatment plant would be directly across the street from New Hill Baptist Church and its cemetery. Despite the encroachment of suburban development on the nearby countryside, New Hill Historic District has retained its distinctive early- to mid-20th century appearance. However, this precious, well-preserved reminder of our past faces destruction should the proposed sewage treatment plant be sited in its midst. To help, please visit www.newhillca.org. There you will find a list of local political leaders to contact. Ask them to support moving the proposed sewage treatment plant out of the middle of the New Hill Historic District and to one of the other acceptable alternative sites in the same general vicinity.

Durham City Wide Study of The New Jim Crow

These are tumultuous times for the criminal justice system. Huffington Post reports that exonerations of wrongfully convicted people are at an all time high. Meanwhile,…

Anti-lingering ordinance rescinded in Carrboro

The Carrboro Board of Alderman voted unanimously to end the town’s anti-lingering ordinance Tuesday, ending a four-year old rule that restricting anyone from standing or sitting at the corner of Jones Ferry and Davie roads between 11 a.m. and 5 a.m. The ordinance, passed in 2007, applied to the corner where Latino day laborers congregate to seek work. Neighbors complained that men, most who were not day laborers, would hang out there, drink and create trash. Chris Brook, a staff attorney at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, who helped campaign to end the ordinance and challenge its legality, called it “a request for dignity” from day laborers. “Folks who were impacted by this ordinance had their voice heard,” he said. “Their representatives heard them and responded. It’s always exciting to see democracy work in the way it should.” Workers addressed the board directly and told them the ordinance made it even more challenging to find work in a down economy. “Many of them, if they are able to get a job three times a week, that will be a successful week,” said Rafael Gallegos, associate director at the Chapel Hill and Carrboro Human Rights Center, an advocate for workers who helped translate their speeches to the board. “Today we have the opportunity to provide much needed assistance to those who at the bottom of the economic and social ladder.” Alderman-elect Michelle Johnson, who said during the campaign that she opposed the ordinance, also implored the board to act. “For a community that’s focused on progressive thinking and action, we must do better,” she said. Aldermen who had supported the ordinance in 2007, mainly because of reports of women being sexually harassed as they walked by the corner, supported rescinding it on the condition that the town both consider funding a community resource person to help workers on the corner and that the town look at strengthening its anti-harassment speech rules and make lewd speech directed a women hate speech. They also want to find space for a day laborer center. “I’ve always felt that this ordinance was not a complete solution to the problem,” Mayor Mark Chilton said. “I think the best solution is going to be to have at some level a more formal day labor market. … This board is prepared at last to put some money into making that happen.” Carrboro resident Steve Dear, executive director of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, ate his lunch at the corner, in violation of the ordinance, for almost a month to highlight the injustice of the rule. No one came by to stop him, which he said showed that the ordinance was being unevenly enforced. “The lesson to take away from this experience is that good, nonviolent old-fashioned community organizing works wonders,” Dear said. “I’m just grateful that I was able to participate in the coalition of all these people.” Alderman Joal Hall Broun, who will complete her service next month, said end of the ordinance creates a new challenge. “Next year, about January 2013, I'm going to ask the question has the quality of life for the neighborhood adjacent to this corner improved or decreased, and I want everybody who is in this room, if they are living, to come back and respond to that,” she said.

First in Flight, Last in Youth Justice

North Carolina is the only state that automatically processes every 16 and 17 year-old through its adult criminal justice system without an opportunity for the…

Rally in Raleigh this Thursday against NC DOMA

The Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA), GetEQUAL NC and otehr groups fighting for LGBTQ rights are organizing a rally for this coming Thursday (June 2) against SB106 and HB777, the North Carolina counterpart to the Federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Read their press release below: Contacts: Jonathan Green President, Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA) Boone, NC Phone: 336-404-7147 Email: jsg47235@yahoo.com Angel Chandler North Carolina State Organizer, GetEQUAL Asheville, NC Phone: 828-337-1292 Email: angel@getequalnc.org Rally in Raleigh For Equality On June 2, 2011 from Noon - 2:00 PM North Carolina based groups Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA) and GetEQUAL NC unite with other groups and individuals to fight SB106 and HB777 (the North Carolina anti-gay super-DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) on June 2, 2011. We will gather at the Halifax Mall at 16 W. Jones Street in Raleigh at Noon. SB106 and HB777 must be stopped and it is up to LGBT groups, individuals, and allies to do so. The proposed legislation would not only put an anti-gay marriage amendment on the 2012 ballot, it would also prevent private businesses and municipalities in NC from offering domestic partnership insurance benefits and make null and void Domestic Partnership Registries in the three cities in NC that offer them (Chapel Hill, Asheville and Carrboro); basically, it would end all relationship recognition outside of heterosexual marriage. According to Jonathan Green, President of SAGA, "In this time of misunderstanding and struggle it is important that there are those who are beacons of light, truth, and understanding and I am standing as one of those beacons and want you to join me and allow the only sovereign to rule you to be reason so that truth can finally take hold and prevail over those who want us to remain unequal so that we can be recognized for what we are, human beings who want and need to be recognized as equal citizens across our wonderful state!" Angel Chandler, North Carolina State Organizer for GetEQUAL NC, stated "You've heard the saying 'If you are not outraged you're not paying attention', but outrage is easy, action is hard. We have to be willing to do more than sign a petition or send in an email to our representatives. We have to be willing to take action. On June 2cd we will take a stand to let our North Carolina lawmakers know that we refuse to be even further alienated from and discriminated by our government. We are all equal, and it is time our government started treating us as such." Our message to NC legislators: we are your neighbors, your doctors, your lawyers, your teachers, your child care providers, your mothers, your fathers, your sons, your daughters, your brothers, your sisters. We are your constituents. We are your fellow human beings. We deserve more and will no longer settle for less than equality. - ‘Rally in Raleigh’ speakers include: Rep. Susan Fisher (D-Buncombe) Rep. Patsy Keever (D-Buncombe) Chelsea Sayre, GetEQUAL NC Angel Chandler, GetEqual NC Jonathan Green, SAGA * More speakers to be announced * Rally in Raleigh For Equality! Thursday, June 2, 12:00 – 2:00 PM Halifax Mall 16 W. Jones Street Raleigh, NC