This is the second of two blog posts previewing our lead story in Sunday's Chapel Hill News. What do you think of Mayor Chilton's proposal? Tell us here or at editor@nando.com

If Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton gets the elected boards to reopen the transfer station debate, especially with keeping the landfill open longer, it will trigger intense debate.

The Orange County commissioners rejected building a transfer station in 2009 after residents near proposed sites on Millhouse Road and in Bingham Township vigorously opposed them. The commissioners voted last year to try to close the landfill by 2013, even though county staff said the landfill has enough room to stay open several years longer.

The vote was a hard-fought victory for the primarily black, working-class Rogers Road-Eubanks Road community, who have long put up with the smell, vermin and an estimated 45 illegal dumping sites associated with having the landfull next door. One of the items on the agenda for a Thursday meeting of Orange County's elected leaders is a plan to compensate the neighbors, including hooking households up with sewer service.   

But Chilton argues the county has shown a “shameful lack of leadership” on the trash issue.

Orange County candidates for office in Chapel Hill and Carrboro pledged to improve conditions for day laborers, expand affordable rental offerings and work with the county to mitigate the effects of the Rogers Road landfill and an alternative for the county’s garbage during the fall meeting of Justice United, a nonpartisan community advocacy group last week.

Candidates for the Chapel Hill Town Council and mayor, Carrboro Board of Aldermen, Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton and Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education participated in the event and responded to questions individually when asked about their commitment to resolving county issues like when to close the Rogers Road landfill and how to create more lower-income housing.

Here's a look at today's local headlines:

FOOD FOR FAMILIES: The PORCH program collected $18,500 in food and cash donations Monday as it kicked off a new fresh produce program for 100 families. Food for Families will work in addition to the monthly non-perishable food donations that help fill six local pantries. Read our story and learn how you can help  here.

DAY LABORERS SITE: Mayor Mark Chilton was among those filling bags of groceries at the PORCH food sort yesterday. He says there are still problems with the gathering site for day laborers in Carrboro. Read how Justice United is working with El Centro Hispano on a possible solution here.

BUS, RAIL TRANSIT PLAN BACKED: I don't know; these plans for sales tax increases still face an uphill battle. Will Orange County residents support a half-cent hike for bus improvements and a light rail line? Read Jim Wise and Bruce Siceloff's story here. 

Sushi chef Yuya Chiba is cooking for home. Robert Wallace misses his mother (eloquently). Tibetan monks are coming to Chapel Hill and readers chime in on the Tea Party, child immunizations (hey, what do you think of the city school's iPod giveaway for getting your shots contest?), lost keys and mulch, among other topics.

Lots more including ArtsWeek, Roses and Raspberries (well Roses anyway; Dave doesn't like to give raspberries) and Sports.

Thanks for reading,

Mark             

Justice United, a community organizing group affiliated with Durham CAN and the Chicago-based Industrial Areas Foundation, will hold a delegates assembly Sunday at Faith Tabernacle on Rogers Road.

The group, which works through churches to build coalitions, will reflect on recent accomplishments and outline its next agenda. Unlike a lot of groups that rail without seeming to get much done, Justice United and Durham CAN get results. They do this by engaging the politican instead of yelling at them, and as a result local pols tend to show up at these assemblies and promise to work on the groups' issues.

I met with Justice United organziers Tish Galu and Stephanie Perrry this week. They said members plan to celebrate lower sewer rates for the Efland area (where residents were once looking at a 300 percent increase and the highest rates in the state); a commitment by the town of Chapel Hil to re-evaluate its affordable housing strategy (600-square-foot units wasn't cutting it) and a start, at least, on addressing a host of issues associated with the day laborers who gather on Jones Ferry Road each morning.

The latter issue will carry over into the coming year as Justice United seeks a safer place for the men to wait for work. Other priority areas include immigration, homelessness, the needs of seniors, the environment and issues around forelcosure.

Look for a report on Sunday's delegates assembly in next Wednesday's Chapel Hill News.   

The community organizing group Orange County Justice United In Community Effort (Justice United) will hold a public meeting at 7 p.m. tonight at Binkley Baptist Church to seek neighborhood improvements, better sewer rates for Efland residents and attention to street day laborers' working conditions.

More than 300 black, white and Latino delegates  are expected to attend. The mayors of Carrboro and Chapel Hill, the Orange County  manager and several Chapel Hill Town Council and county commissioners are confirmed speakers.

Community leaders will seek public agreements from Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton, Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt, Durham Technical Community College Operation's Director for Orange County Carlo Robustelli and Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Aaron Nelson to work  with Justice United to address the issue of the street day laborers.

Chilton will be publicly invited to meet with residents of Abbey Court and discuss with residents neighborhood quality of life issues.

Justice United leaders will also continue discussions about sewer rates proposed for residents of the Efland community in northern Orange County. County Manager Frank Clifton Jr. and members of the Board of Commissioners will address Justice United's request that the county find alternative sources of funding, connect Efland to the Mebane sewer line and lay the needed infrastructure to ensure economic development in Efland.     

Members of Orange County Justice United and the Efland community will gather at the Hillsborough Commons Thursday to oppose increased sewer rates.

"If the changes by the County government enter into effect, by July 2012 the sewer rates for the Efland community will be the highest in North Carolina – a 300 percent increase – and double the rates of other systems," according to a press release from Justice United.

OrangeChat has not confirmed those statistics, but the four-year phase-in plan announced by Orange County last year did call for the price of 3,000 gallons to nearly quadruple from about $15 to $70.

"It is critical for us as leaders of the impacted community to be at the table with the county manager as he crafts a proposal that for sure will have an impact on our economic well being," said Joanne Mitchell, a leader from the Richmond Hills neighborhood.

Justice United will gather prior to the Board of County Commissioners' regular meeting at the Orange County Department of Social Services facility in the old Wal-Mart at 113 Mayo St. 

Read more at: 

http://www.newsobserver.com/2009/05/23/50956/efland-residents-fear-sewer-rate.html 

On Monday night, the activist group Justice United will petition the Town Council to revise the living-wage policy it passed last spring. That policy set an hourly minimum wage at $11.06. Justice United cites the National Low Income Housing Coalition's estimate that workers need to earn $15.31 per hour in a full-time job in order to afford to live in Chapel Hill. The town's position is that fare-free buses and generous benefits packages make up the difference.

Town Manager Roger Stancil is recommending that the council vote to annually maintain the minimum wage for town employees at 7.5 percent above the federal poverty line for a family of four, a level the town pegs at $11.40 an hour for this year. Justice United supports this sort of indexing to "keep the living wage floor from eroding over time due to cost-of-living increases." The activists point out that local governments in Durham already index their living-wage floors at 7.5 percent above the poverty line.