A new student housing development is not what Homestead Road needs or  what the students at UNC want.

That was largely the message of the council and residents Monday night, after  developers unveiled plans for a new student housing development at 2801 Homestead Road.

Landmark Properties, based in Atlanta, presented their concept plan for the Retreat, a student housing complex with 180 town homes and single family houses, and 809 parking spaces on 39.5 acres on Homestead Road, adjacent to Homestead Villiage and north of Carolina North.

The Raleigh Police Department has a written policy in how it will work with reporters in the field. "As needed, media representatives will be informed about accessible areas, about areas that have been secured and restricted such as crime scenes, and about any particular restrictions that might apply," part of the policy says. "In some instances, to ensure that safety and necessary order are maintained, a media assembly area will be created to provide a designated location for media representatives and for the dissemination of information."

Roger Stancil, Chapel Hill town manager, said his police department does not have a written policy but is interested in developing one. In an e-mail to me, he asked if we would be interested in discussing a proposed policy with him and his staff. I said yes. For the latest on Chapel Hill's internal review of the Nov. 13 raid at what had been a vacant building, click here for today's story. 

During that raid, Katelyn Ferral, a reporter for The N&O and Chapel Hill News who was covering the news, was cuffed with a zip-tie and detained by police. A written policy could have prevented that. We appreciate the invitation by Stancil to join the discussion and hope we can find a solution that lets police and reporters do their jobs.

--John Drescher

Carrboro Alderman Dan Coleman has sent a letter to Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt offering his insight into the Chapel Hill-Carrboro anarchist community, and his willingness to  be a liason between the group and local officials.

In an e-mail Thursday, Coleman says he has worked with the anarchist group who sponsors the Really Really Free Market in Carrboro and provide weekly coffee for day laborers, in the past and has found them, "congenial and idealistic, giving considerable thought to how social structures might allow for a more just and democratic society."

"Nonetheless, nothing that I know of in their history or demeanor suggests that they would initiate any violence against any person and I want to stress that I have found these individuals to be quite approachable," Coleman writes.

Read the full e-mail below.

A registered dietitian takes issue with the Chapel Hill and Durham mayors' no-soda pledge we reported on last week in The Chapel Hill News (and running this coming Sunday in The Durham News).

Organizer of the No Fizz Charlotte campaign are signing up mayors across the state to kick soda for the month of January to raise awareness that soda is the No.1 source of calories in the American diet and a major cause of obesity and its related health problems. 

"As a Registered Dietitian, I applaud Mayors Mark Kleinschmidt and Bill Bell for considering healthy beverage choices for the New Year, and water is a great option.  However, I don't understand the benefit of "No Fizz," writes Melissa Herrmann Dierks of Huntersville.

In the article by staff writer Katelyn Ferral, Bell says at a recent Duke game he chose lemonade over soda in order to keep the pledge. But Dierks says the carbohydrate and calorie content of lemonade is similar to soda, "so if the goal was to limit calories, his usual diet soda would have been a better choice."

"'Fizz' is not the enemy,' she continues. "Healthy eating is about the "total diet," not individual foods and beverages. A better approach with be to choose various beverages, while monitoring portion size. Eating healthy is about variety and moderation when making food and beverage choices."