Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger spoke with 97.9 The Hill’s Andrew Stuckey on Thursday, August 25th. She discussed the Rosemary St. parking deck construction, back to school, taking up pickleball, and more. This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity. You can listen to the full interview here.
Andrew Stuckey: It is time to visit with Chapel Hill mayor, Pam Heminger, Pam, how are you today?
Pam Hemminger: I’m doing well today. It’s a busy week and I have spent a lot of time going out and about around town, getting ourselves ready for things to come this fall. We had a great walk about downtown as we are putting out more planters. We are talking about making it more interesting and helpful visually as people are coming into our community to look for where to park, where to walk, what they can do, and more outside dining opportunities. It has been interesting working with The Downtown Together, which is the downtown partnership between UNC and the town to make things more vibrant downtown. We are getting ready to have music play every weekend for the entire fall, especially on Saturday for the big game day. Our businesses are putting out their Carolina blue to cheer on the Tar Heels for this first home game.
Stuckey: Yes, there is a lot going on around town. I really am feeling that transition to fall, even if it is still 90 degrees. The events around town are telling us that it’s going to be fall.
Hemminger: I did want to share with you that we have been getting a lot of information on social media about this social host ordinance that is being proposed. I want people to know that this is a proposal from The Coalition, not from the town. That is coming forward as a petition on September 14th, to help us gauge whether we need to enact stronger noise ordinance rules for late-night parties and unruly behavior. This is a program modeled after the Boulder, Colorado model that has been very successful. The coalition is a huge partnership with the Jackson center, UNC, UNC students, and different groups and agencies. We will look forward to having that petition, but the town just did not dive into this. It is always interesting to see where things get to on social media. I just want to reassure people that we will have a complete, public process about this, and this is coming in as a petition.
Stuckey: So that’s something that is still a couple of weeks off before it even comes up in front of the council?
Hemminger: Yeah, we are having our first public meeting on September 14th. We have a closed session on the 31st and we have the council committee on economic sustainability on September 9th. Those are our first meetings coming back, and then I wanted to share with you that I got an e-bike. I haven’t been a big bike rider for many years because I have a very bad knee. This e-bike has given me the opportunity to go around town where it is a little bit more hilly and check out places. I have already contacted a couple of businesses. They did not have bike racks for me to park my bike when I got there. I am exploring different safety issues and just seeing the town from a different perspective. It has given me a lot of insight into the future. Actually, I think more and more people are going to be on these e-bikes and out and about moving around without their cars. I think we need to make sure that we have clear and safe pathways for people to do this. It has been a lot of fun. I am getting better at it. I’m not quite ready to take on the main roads yet. I’m sticking to bikeways and Greenways at this point in time, but I’m having a lot of fun with that.
Stuckey: The first time I got on one of those, I was skeptical before I got on. It is within seconds that you get the entire appeal of it. It is really, really fun. It is easy to do it without having to expend a lot of energy.
Hemminger: Well not only that, people are like “oh, does it pedal for you?” No, you have to pedal it. It’s not like a moped. You have to pedal and it gives you that extra boost. Going uphill feels about the same as peddling on a flat surface or a slight hill versus a steep hill. My knee doesn’t hurt at all when I get off, so that’s a lot of fun. I’m going to share something else that I think is a lot of fun that I’m trying out, and that is pickleball. I know my husband has been very involved, but I want to just assure folks that it is a fun sport. It is one of the sports that you can pick up easily, but also you don’t have to really plan ahead. They have beginners classes and beginners are very welcome on Thursday nights over at Ephesus. People will train you. You don’t even have to have a paddle. People will loan you a paddle and they are very welcoming. If you have a schedule like mine, you are not really sure how much time you are going to have to do something. I am a tennis player and trying to find three other people to play with is sometimes difficult. I can just drop over there and hang out for an hour or so, get a couple of games in and have a ball. Again, I’m learning. I’m getting better. I am still at the beginner level, but everyone has been so welcoming and it is a lot of fun. You don’t have to have any prior experience with anything. You can just come out. They like people to come to watch, too. If you just want to come to watch, it is a lot of fun. Every Thursday starting at 6:00 PM until as late as people want to play is out there. Again, it is free and accessible and I love the diversity of ages and people and all kinds of things. It’s a lot of fun.
Stuckey: I have no data to back this up, but pickleball has to be one of the fastest-growing sports in the country.
Hemminger: It is. There are now professional pickleball players who are sponsored and doing tournaments and hosting clinics. It is hilarious because it is a short game. I mean a game is about 15 minutes or so. It moves fast, but you don’t have to move so fast because it is a shorter court. Seniors can play easily, as well as children and everyone in between. I think that is another reason that it has been so popular.
Stuckey: We’re visiting Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Heminger who is trying a bunch of new stuff this fall.
Hemminger: I’m trying to be healthier, and move my energy around a little bit more. Sounds good to hear that the K-12 school system will start back next week. We are excited about that. We want people to slow down a little bit in their cars and keep an eye out for kids. The Chamber is holding the State of the Community next week on September 1st. Tomorrow I am going over to speak at the UNC People’s Academy. We have always been doing a People’s Academy for the town, but UNC is holding its first academy to help students and people at UNC learn more about ways to participate in the town. It’s pretty cool.
Stuckey: And when is that?
Hemminger: The People’s Academy is tomorrow at UNC. I am sure they have posted it because this is the last day of it. That will be tomorrow. Right now I’m running to speak at The Chamber’s Leadership Academy, which is a wonderful activity for people to learn more about leadership skills and to be more involved and engaged in their own community.
Stuckey: I wanted to ask you about a couple of other things that are related to fall. Could I get an update on the downtown parking deck over on Rosemary? I feel like the original plan was to have that done in the fall.
Hemminger: It was, but as supply chain issues became an issue for everyone, it did for us as well. Currently, the thinking is next April or May. We had to go through the local government commission approval process as well. It got backlogged just a bit but we are still on target for hoping to be open next May.
Stuckey: Will that delay any of the other construction in that area?
Hemminger: Yes, the wet lab building can’t start until after that is finished. I was over in the construction area today. As I said, we are looking at the ways people come into our community and what they see first, and if they can find their way and we have realized that Varsity Alley is kind of blocked off visually. We need to do a better job over there for people to get to and from. So the construction will slow that down. A couple of other projects are moving along. The hotel should start pretty soon which was approved on the opposite corner over there behind the old town hall. That should get underway pretty soon as well. Again, supply chain issues and interest rates have kind of got everybody just a little hesitant to get started on things.
Stuckey: We will keep track of that project. It isn’t a very visible location.
Hemminger: Right now it’s a huge hole in the ground.
Stuckey: Yes, it is. It has been a hole in the ground since I got here.
Hemminger: There is a lot of prep work that has to go before you can start building up, especially when you’re building something as heavy as a parking garage. There were a lot of utility things that had to be moved around, so that takes some time, and then once it starts going up, it will go up pretty quickly.
Stuckey: This weekend is the first home football game and I know that can become quite an event for the town. I wonder if you could address that a little bit.
Hemminger: We are always excited. It is a big event. It is predicted over 50,000 to 75,000 people come to the community for these home football games. We have a lot of traffic things to deal with and we do a lot of park and ride opportunities as well. I don’t know if you noticed the variable signs that went up around town so that we don’t have to drag the old ones out anymore. They are already there and programmed to go to help people with directions and finding parking for the places they are trying to go. We try to make sure intersections are open and ready. We have extra forces on duty along with UNC as well to help people find the places they are trying to go. Businesses get all excited and prepped and ready for it because we get a lot of restaurant activity in the whole area, mostly downtown. The excitement builds and it is usually a very positive crowd and people are having a good time. We are going to be doing a lot more events with music and activities surrounding home football games to get more people to want to come be part of the celebration.
Stuckey: Is there anything that you would like to touch on that we haven’t talked about yet?
Hemminger: Just that people need to sign up for the E-news. You want to hear what’s going on and things that are going on around town. The downtown partnership also has a newsletter they send out once a week electronically. You can sign up, and they just come once a week. You can find out more things that are going on. It is just a great way to find out updates on the status of projects, things like that. You can find out more information. We have a couple of public information meetings coming up and in September we’ll be doing some public outreach concerning the BRT line and transit-oriented development. The best way to find out is to hear it from you guys on the radio or chapelboro.com, but to also sign up for these newsletters.
Stuckey: Pam, it’s always a pleasure. I look forward to talking again next week.
Hemminger: Okay. Take care. Thank you.
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