This Just In – Let’s start with a follow-up about growth, then a little bit about other stuff.
I got a few choice words sent in my direction last week when I cited some of the problems with our community’s rate of growth. The main complaint I received was that I didn’t take sides or carve out a proposed solution to the tension that comes from more people wanting to live here and the natural urge to preserve the quality of the community for those already here.
In my decades of volunteer service as an advocate for civil rights and fair housing, I have sought to expand the options and quality of affordable housing in Orange County. If there are “sides” in this issue, I’m on that side. Full stop. We need more affordable housing and we need it in various forms.
Deciding how to do that is a thing that the full community should engage in discussion about — university leaders, developers, citizens, elected officials. We should hold a conference on housing and hear everyone out.
Hardworking people who serve this community should be able to afford to live here. During my husband’s hospitalization last summer, I asked many of the wonderful nurses who took great care of him where they live. I don’t remember any of them saying they live in Chapel Hill.
They live in Snow Camp. They live in Holly Springs. They come to Chapel Hill three days a week to work 12 hour shifts (and save the lives of people like my husband). There are many reasons to make choices like this and I don’t claim to have scientific results, but this does bring me to a suggestion.
Maybe we should get some scientific results. I would be very interested in looking at some actual data that might answer some questions rather than speculating. Among the questions I’ve wondered about for a long time is that of the dormitory occupancy rate on UNC’s campus. With all the pressure on the rental market, it’s hard for me to believe it’s very high. If a big chunk of dormitory space is sitting empty, what’s to be done about that?
I’m going to be taking a break for a few weeks for some long-awaited rotator cuff surgery. While I’m resting up after that next week, I will delight in watching my Tar Heels tear up the basketball court and will have to tolerate the joy of my UConn-graduate husband cheering for his #1 team.
In other courts, I expect to see Defendant Trump facing a couple of massive civil lawsuit judgments (one from the State of NY for fraud and one from writer E. Jean Carroll for continuing defamation) that could total nearly a billion dollars. That should get his attention.
Likewise, at any moment we can see an appeals court decision denying his ridiculous claim of “absolute immunity” that will set the January 6th trial in Washington on its course. Efforts to extend that process will fail.
Finally, there’s the disqualification question (under the 14th Amendment) that will be heard by the Supreme Court. They will hear oral arguments on February 8th and it’s expected that the Court’s decision will come quickly.
If the Supreme Court has an ounce of integrity left (and that is very much in doubt) they will decide this unanimously and quickly. The text of the Constitution is plain. I expect them to find that Trump is disqualified. What I don’t have so much certainty about is what happens next.
While I’m enjoying my pain killers, court coverage and Netflix, I might just conjure up a way to make all of this work quite nicely. Freeing the mind of pain can be a very helpful thing. See you on the other side!
Jean Bolduc is a freelance writer and the host of the Weekend Watercooler on 97.9 The Hill. She is the author of “African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History” (History Press, 2016) and has served on Orange County’s Human Relations Commission, The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, the Orange County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Schools’ Equity Task Force. She was a featured columnist and reporter for the Chapel Hill Herald and the News & Observer.
Readers can reach Jean via email – jean@penandinc.com and via Twitter @JeanBolduc
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