Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger spoke with 97.9 The Hill’s Andrew Stuckey on Thursday, July 21st. This is an edited transcript of their discussion of what she learned at the Chautauqua Institute, a COVID update, and the repaving and construction projects around town. The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity. You can listen to the full interview here.
Andrew Stuckey: It is time for our visit with Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger. Pam, how are you this Thursday?
Pam Hemminger: I’m great. This heat advisory and thunderstorm warning at the same time has got us all a little concerned and we’re making sure everyone’s taking precautions as it’s going to be really hot this weekend. So make sure that people stay hydrated and in shade as much as possible, or indoors. And try to visit places that have air conditioning if you don’t have air conditioning at home.
Stuckey: Yeah. It’s pretty wild out there right now. So you recently spent a whole lot of time up in upstate New York at the Chautauqua Institute. I understand you just got back. Is there anything to share or an update on things that you learned there?
Hemminger: Yeah, it’s fascinating talking about all the climate action that needs to happen worldwide and how we’re going to have to make some big changes in our culture. Britain’s got this amazing heat wave that’s just been broken. Western Europe and Britain have done more for climate action with solar and wind and all that, yet they’re paying the price. So we’ve all got to start stepping in. And then we talked a lot about water quality, and I love my water geek stuff, so it was fascinating. And then I tended a bird lecture that was a lot of fun. It was about the migratory patterns of birds and the decline in bird activity due to the destruction of habitat or because of heat waves. Different kinds of climate things are happening and birds are shifting and that’s causing repercussions in other ways. So everything’s linked together and we learned a lot about how this can affect overall life on the planet. So we’ve got to start making some of those changes.
Stuckey: What was the most surprising thing that you came away with from there?
Hemminger: There are about a hundred million refugees. I know we talked a little bit about this before, but it’s a global situation that we have to figure out. India’s population is now going to be surpassing China’s. We’ve got a lot of work to do together, but it’s only going to happen if we work all together. When you put it all together and you think bigger than your own community, you realize how urgent some of these situations are and the quality of life for so many millions of people needs improvement.
Stuckey: Now we keep seeing COVID numbers going up and I’m wondering if there are any updates from the mayor’s regular check-ins on COVID.
Hemminger: So we check in and we talk about what steps need to be taken and we’re urging caution. That’s what we’ve been requested to do from the national level. People still want to get on with their lives, but they need to use a little more caution. Maybe that means wearing a mask or reducing those indoor activities, which is hard to do during the heat when it’s so hot outside. But hospitalizations aren’t going up for individuals who are experiencing severe COVID reactions, they are up because of people who are in the hospital for other reasons and are testing positive for COVID. It’s a very interesting dynamic right now. This strain doesn’t seem to be causing as much severity as others, but it seems to be spreading even faster. And so we really try to encourage people to stop shaking hands as well. I know that seems hard, but this virus does spread very easily. And so I see workplaces going remote again for a bit. We want to make sure that we’re planning for the future and learning how to work with knowing the viruses versus shutting down again. And we’re not looking at another mask mandate. We want people to use their own caution and their own judgment at this point.
Stuckey: Along the same lines, we’re very close to the return of students to UNC for the fall semester. Move-in starts 20 days from now. There hasn’t actually been much communicated from the university as far as reentry COVID protocols for students. Are you concerned at all about this or are you in communication with the university?
Hemminger: We are in communication. They’re planning on a full-fledged semester. Again, they’re urging caution. They’ll be putting those statements out. They want people to get boosted if they can get boosted. And then they want people to still be able to test if they feel like they have been exposed to COVID. Contact tracing will be more of the protocol than testing at this point unless things shift and numbers rise even higher. We do work with the university as far as trying to make sure that we help people move in so there aren’t any incidents or backups or long lines. DOT is resurfacing West Franklin and they’re supposed to start tonight. We want that project finished up before move-in starts.
And then the same with the parking deck project on Rosemary Street. We want to make sure that there’s plenty of parking for people who aren’t as familiar with our town and don’t know how to get from place to place. So we do a lot of things to get prepared for the students to come back. We do a lot of cleaning up and making sure things are apparent. We have new parking signs out that look great for public parking to help direct people. And then we continue the conversations about what it looks like. Where are the pinch points of the concerns about COVID and how do we make sure that we stay communicating on what those protocols are going to be?
Stuckey: What we’ve been hearing all summer is that the intent is to have the [West Franklin] project wrapped up before students return. Is that still something that seems feasible?
Hemminger: Yes, it does. They’ve been pretty much on schedule. The prep work takes most of the time and they’ve done a really good job. They started in Carrboro and worked their way this way towards Columbia Street. But the prep work takes the most time. And then the repaving itself doesn’t take as much time and they can do it at night pretty efficiently. So we’re still on schedule to be finished up before move-in starts.
Stuckey: I know that that project is being done by state DOT contractors, but I’m curious about like the expanded sidewalks and the planters and all that. That’ll be a separate thing that the town does at the end of this repaving, correct?
Hemminger: Correct. We will petition DOT when the repaving is finished to take over the street, and it can take up to a year to get permission. We hope it won’t take that long. Then the town can move forward with the plans it has for downtown. Some of the planters that are going to be on the sidewalks will go in over the next weeks. We’re excited about this opportunity and we’re going to go back to having more outside dining and better walk- and bike-ability in our downtown.
Stuckey: Excellent. I love dining alfresco downtown.
Hemminger: Oh, it’s so nice. I was down there for lunch today and it was just great. There were people all about, even though it was hot, and it just makes it such a better atmosphere.
Stuckey: Absolutely. Pam, is there anything that we haven’t touched on yet that you wanted to mention?
Hemminger: Yeah, we still need volunteers for Wednesday’s food bank distribution. So if anyone’s willing to spend an hour or an hour and a half on a Wednesday, we would love to have you. You can find out more about it on our website. And I want to give a shoutout to our stormwater department. They provided a touch-a-truck experience for students this summer. They said from ages one to 87, people were all over the trucks! Then our library staff and book ambassadors have been at the sites to help our kids who are part of the Food for the Summer or Food for Students program. So it’s going well in Chapel Hill this summer. Also, look for Coffee With a Cop every Thursday night for the next few weeks and a public information meeting on the 2217 Homestead Road project. So lots of things going on. Always check the website and we will keep doing the things we do for the summer.
Stuckey: I’m glad you brought up the 2217 Homestead site. Do we have any updates on that?
Hemminger: It’s proposed for 103 townhouse units over there. It’s quite close to the aquatic center and diagonally across the street from the senior center. We’ve been really pressing and asking developers to bring us proposals for middle-income housing, so we will take a look at this when it moves forward. It’s just in the first phases now. They’ll meet with the community first and get information and feedback, and then they’ll bring it to the council as a concept plan.
Stuckey: Pam, it’s always a pleasure. Thank you so much for joining us.
Hemminger: Take care and stay out of the heat!
Listen to ‘News on The Hill each week to hear the latest Conversations with the Mayors! The elected leaders of the Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough and Orange County governments join 97.9 The Hill to discuss the latest stories from around town and our community. Listen to all episodes here!
Conversations with the Mayors is presented by The Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill-Carrboro.
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our biweekly newsletter.
