by Chris Blue, Assistant Chief of Police

Starting this weekend, the Chapel Hill Police Department plans to undertake a unique approach to hear about our community's expectations of us.  Beginning on February 6th, we will hold a series of community conversations to hear how we are doing as an organization.  Each session will last no more than two hours and will be managed by an outside facilitator.  The input will be used to develop a strategic plan aimed at improving the community-oriented policing program in Chapel Hill.

We're hoping that residents, merchants, students, and other community stakeholders will attend one of the sessions to help us think about the following questions:

From the ToCH web site:

The Chapel Hill Police Department is reaching out to residents to receive input on perceptions of its services and its overall presence in the community in a series titled Community Conversations about the Chapel Hill Police Department.

Working with the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Government and the Town of Chapel Hill Justice in Action Committee, the department has scheduled four sessions scheduled on weekday evenings and Saturday mornings.

- http://www.townofchapelhill.org/index.aspx?recordid=1455&page=22

I wonder if RSVPs are required?

There has been a lot going on and I can scarcely find a moment to blog about it. Maybe in 6 years when my son starts school and I don't have to work to pay for daycare so I can work so I can...  where was I? Oh yeah, so last night three important things happened in local government - we took 2 steps forward and one step back for social justice.

1. The Orange County Commissioners rejected both door number one (a new, expanded landfill) and door number two (a waste transfer station).  Instead they will be shipping our trash to Durham, an idea which I never years in literally years of debate about this issue.  In any case, this seems to be a huge victory for the historically African-American Rogers Road neighborhood, which has shouldered Orange County's landfill for nearly four decades and which is ready to move on the the next phase of their lives, that is: not being neighbors to any major waste handling facilities. 

For those of you who may have missed the  announcement in the local press:

Minister Robert  Campbell, long-time Chapel Hill activist for Social and Environmental Justice, has been invited to the White House on Friday, Nov. 20^th, to speak to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius about issues in the Rogers-Eubanks community related to clean energy and public health.

For ten years, discussions between the Inter-Faith Council, the Town of Chapel Hill, and the University of North Carolina have been underway to relocate the men’s shelter and community kitchen.  Many factors were considered during the deliberations, and with great generosity a site along Martin Luther King jr. Blvd. was donated by the University.  So an ideal site found but so was a new obstacle; fear.