State officials want Progress Energy to be crystal-clear with customers when it comes to one of the most sensitive topics in utility-customer relations: trees.

The Raleigh-based power company must spell out its policy on whether trees growing within 25 feet of a power line will be merely trimmed or entirely cut down, the N.C. Utilities Commission said today. Progress has issued conflicting information that is causing confusion and frustration among customers, the agency said.

The Utilities Commission directive stems from a recent case in which a Wilmington homeowner was irate over trees slated for elimination in his yard because they grew near a transmission line. The Commission said Progress had the right to cut down the trees in Thomas Hardin's yard in Wilmington, but the regulatory agency said the company's policies needed to be written more clearly so that other customers would have advance notice their lush landscapes were at risk of a buzz cut.

Chatham County is offering holiday programs to recycle trees, wrapping paper, cooking oil and even nonworking strings of lights.

Free tree-cycling will be offered at the Main Solid Waste & Recycling Facility at 720 County Landfill Road on the following dates:

Tiny houses do more than set standards for sustainable living – they challenge the way we live. One of these pocket projects – or what is being considered "micro architecture" – is the EDGE, or Experimental Dwelling for a Greener Environment. Read more about it here.
 

A threat of rain failed to keep more than 600 runners and walkers from
turning out for the 28th annual Run for the Oaks on Saturday in
downtown Raleigh.

The race is put on by the Raleigh
Parks and Recreation Department to raise money to plant oak trees in
the city known as the “City of Oaks.”

N.C. State junior Srini Iyer, 20, of Raleigh covered the 5K
route in 15:59, reported race organizer Jim Young of Young & Associates. Kimberly Bowler, 39, of Raleigh led the women with a 19:27 finish. 

Raleigh’s planning director, Mitch Silver, is one of the co-editors of a new version of a popular planning text book. The book, “Local Planning: Contemporary Principles and Practice,” may be of interest to Raleigh residents because it includes a critique of the city by Silver, who was hired to be the planning director in 2005. (Please don't confuse our Mitch with all those other authors named Mitch Silver.)

Silver said he wrote the piece about Raleigh in late 2006 or early 2007. It follows an approach he uses called “The Anatomy and Soul of a Place.” Silver describes the approach as being part detective, part evangelical and part doctor. He takes in the physical composition of a city, looks for clues like a detective to identify the invisible and spiritual aspect of a city and then makes a diagnosis.

So what was his view on Raleigh after about a year of living here?

“It’s part of the New South but it has roots in the traditional South,” Silver said of Raleigh.
He used the term “rural urbanism” to describe the city and its healthy tree canopy. He said Raleigh is a medium-sized city that still has the qualities of a small town. Most people give directions based on physical landmarks, not streets, for example.

Although Silver has used this approach in all his previous planning work, the text book was the first time he’d put it in writing.