6
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2005
Carrboro solicits
outside consulting
BY KATHY CHO
STAFF WRITER
The town of Carrboro will be
getting a second opinion on how
to beef up downtown commerce.
The Carrboro Board of Aldermen
voted unanimously Tuesday to
receive proposals from firms inter
ested in helping the town refine its
economic development strategy.
“Downtown is a particularly
complex issue,” Mayor Mike Nelson
said after the meeting.
“If you make a mistake in your
downtown area, you screw a lot of
things up.”
The town hopes to double its
commercial tax base and lessen
the burden on residential property
owners, said James Harris, direc
tor of community and economic
development, in an interview prior
to the meeting.
Carrboro’s commercial sector
accounts for less than 12 percent of
the overall tax base, according to the
request for proposals submitted to
the aldermen by the town staff.
The consultant’s role would be
to assess existing land use regula
tions, propose an inclusive process
for setting policy goals and help the
town devise a specific action plan.
The town will set aside $50,000
to hire the consultant. Harris said the
money will come from the Carrboro
Revolving Loan Fund, a financing
source for economic development.
Nelson said that hiring outside
help will not change the town’s
vision of the downtown sector.
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Y'USjET J Student Union 2511
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Student Union 3503
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“We’re asking the consultant
to help us flesh out that vision, to
paint the picture to go inside the
frame,” he said.
The selected firm will observe
the town’s sustainability principles,
which include protecting the envi
ronment and creating jobs that
provide livable wages, Harris said.
The last time Carrboro sought
a consultant’s help for economic
development was in 1983, Harris
said, describing it as “a very posi
tive experience.”
The consultant from 1983,
Hammer, Siler, George Associates,
had suggested that the town pro
mote its downtown as an enter
tainment and restaurant district.
That policy was deemed a suc
cess in the Downtown Carrboro
Market Analysis of 2003, a report
produced by UNC’s Kenan Institute
of Private Enterprise.
Aldermen will proceed to appoint
a selection committee to review the
submitted responses. The nine
member committee will include
aldermen, members of advisory
boards and town administrators. At
the meeting, Aldermen Alex Zaflron
and Jacquelyn Gist expressed inter
est in serving on the committee.
The deadline for submitting
a proposal has yet to be decided,
but town staff would like to finish
the hiring process by the end of
October, Harris said.
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
MENINGITIS
FROM PAGE 3
a good idea for everyone, but par
ticularly for incoming students.
“We just certainly highly recom
mend that all first-time students
to Carolina consider this recom
mended vaccine,” she said.
Shoko Satoh, a freshman history
major, said her dad, who is a doc
tor, warned her that meningitis is
prevalent in colleges. However, she
said she is not worried about get
ting the disease and doesn’t think
many others are either. “That’s part
of the problem. Kids don’t think
they can get sick.”
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edu.
SUDAN
FROM PAGE 3
active members expressed inter
est in continuing their efforts
with SUDAN this year, Rao said.
So the sharp increase pleased
her.
With the recent repercussions
of Hurricane Katrina, group offi
cials said, it is important for stu
dents also to stay informed about
victims in America.
“We’re just saying that what’s
happening (in Sudan) is impor
tant, but that doesn’t mean we
don’t care about what’s happen
ing here,” said Hudson Vaughan,
a member of the SUDAN planning
committee.
“We’re proponents of both.
We’re not competing.”
SUDAN is not holding any
major events this week so students
can focus their efforts on aiding
those affected by Katrina.
But the critical nature of the sit
uation in Darfur should be under
scored, Vaughan said.
“The goal (of SUDAN) is to
spread awareness at the school and
ROSEMARY
FROM PAGE 3
downtown’s west end, which some
say are two of the town’s untapped
resources, could be seeing large ben
efits from the Village.
‘We’re looking at development all
along Rosemary Street,” he said, cit
ing the multimillion-dollar develop
ments slated for parking lots 2 and
5 as examples of the vertical down
town that planners envision.
Nelson said he expects the cen
trally located development will draw
downtown together. “I think it will
help bridge the gap between the
Get everything for your dorm room at Walmart.com and still afford tuition.
News
Meningitis symptoms
Student Health Service held a meningitis vaccine drive Tuesday to raise
meningitis awareness and to encourage first year students to get the vaccine.
Common symptoms
• Fever
• Severe and persistent
headache
• Stiff and painful neck,
especially when trying
to touch the chin to the
chest
• Vomiting
• Confusion and
decreased level of
conciousness
• Seizures
SOURCE: HTTPV/WWW.WEBMD.COM
in the community,” he said. “That’s
what w'e’re here for to help sup
port the refugees and try to help
stop the genocide that’s going on
right now.”
Since SUDAN’S inception, its
student leaders have been active
planning events on campus.
Last year, members displayed
pictures of Sudan genocide vic
tims in Polk Place and encour
aged students to call state sena
tors to express their support for
the Darfur Accountability Act.
Group leaders also held weekly
vigils and built mock refugee
camps.
The weekly vigils will continue
this year on Mondays from 6:30
p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Pit, and
SUDAN members plan on spon
soring more mock refugee camps.
Ongoing fundraisers includ
ing the sale of bracelets and soon
the sale of T-shirts will continue
as well.
For more information about the
groups efforts, visit its Web site at
www.unc.edu/sudan.
SUDAN leaders said they are
eager to get students motivated
west end and the east end.”
Build Ex co-ow'ner Chris
Ehrenfeld said the project has run
smoothly thus far.
“It’s coming along quite well,” he
said. “The exterior will be virtually
complete in a few weeks.”
San Francisco-based architect
Donald MacDonald oversaw' the
complex’s design.
Residences at the complex are
between 900 and 1,300 square feet
and many feature rooftop terraces
—a trait MacDonald used to give
units a sense of privacy and boost
the three-dimensional quality,
Ehrenfeld said.
All furnishings pictured are from Wal-Mart.
High risk factors
• Crowded living conditions
(college dorms)
• Not being immunized
against the mumps,
Haemophilus influenzae,
and the pneumococcal
vaccine
• Travel to areas where
meningitis is prevalent
• Sharing drinks, cigarettes,
food, and other forms of
mouth-to-mouth contact
Treatments
•See a doctor
•Antibiotics
• Take measures to reduce
fever, such as Tylenol,
fluids, and good room
ventilation
• Use a cooling pad on
your bed
• To prevent seizures, keep
surroundings quiet and
calm
• Drink lots of fluids
• Get all the necessary
immunizations
this year.
There will be a meeting at
8:30 p.m. today at the bottom of
the Student Union to discuss the
Darfur Fast, which will take place
Oct. 6.
Leaders at N.C. Hillel also are
working to raise money and aware
ness. Dimes for Darfur, a Hillel
project, is part of a national initia
tive that aims to collect 1.5 million
dimes 5150,000 across 10
college campuses.
The money, which w'ill be
donated to help Sudanese children
affected by genocide, will be col
lected in memory of the 1.5 million
children who lost their lives in the
Holocaust.
Genocide is a global issue that
people must face and work to stop,
SUDAN leaders said.
“This goes way beyond UNC,”
said Joanna Zelman, a community
liaison for SUDAN. “We’re trying
to get as many people involved
as possible. The more people
involved, the better.”
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edu.
To meet the town’s affordable
housing code, about 15 percent of
the Village is low-cost housing.
Brisk unit sales all but nine of
the condos have tenants, and the
5,000 feet of retail space is already
contracted out might give a
boost to Rosemary Street.
“You’re now going to have at
least 38 residents, and some of the
units may have two or three (occu
pants),” Ehrenfeld said. “They’re
obviously going to be frequenting
downtown.”
But the condos likely will not
house students units sell for
between $300,000 and $600,000.
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ARCHITECTURE
FROM PAGE 3
The recently established plans
for Carolina North also were con
structed with keeping UNC’s archi
tectural history intact, as a decision
was made not to try to expand on
the main campus.
“We can’t urbanize our cen
tral campus,” Kapp says. “We
don’t want to become N.C. State
(University).”
Despite these new develop
ments, it is clear planners are try
ing to preserve the school’s rich his
tory, which can be observed every
day in its layout and architecture.
“Walking on this campus is like
walking on archaeology,” Kapp
says.
University Desk Editor Brian
Hudson contributed to this article.
Contact the Features Editor
at features @ unc.edu.
DTH/BOBBY SWEATT
SYSTEM
FROM PAGE 3
program, or Title TV, established by
the Higher Education Act of 1965.
These guidelines shape federal Pell
Grants and work-study programs.
UNC-system finance officials
discussed those guidelines Tuesday
to make sure each school was clear
about how to implement them,
Kanoy said.
Atkins said the UNC system is
working with federal officials to
determine how financial aid will
be transferred from the students’
home schools to system schools.
“They’re going to make a deci
sion one semester at a time,” Kanoy
said of the system officials.
Senior Writer
Megan McSwain
contributed to this article.
Contact the State & National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
Business owners have pointed out
that the move to house non-students
will benefit Franklin Street stores in
the quiet summer months.
Immediate commercial presence
at the Village will include a dessert
shop and a day spa, and Ehrenfeld
added that professional offices or a
coffee shop could be possibilities.
“The success of this project will
breed more,” Ehrenfeld said. “Not
too many years down the road,
Rosemary (Street) will be very dif
ferent than what we’re used to.”
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
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