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Coming in tomorrow's Chapel Hill News
Submitted by mschultz on 09/30/2008 - 18:21
Here is a look at some of the stories in Wednesday's paper
AIRPORT STUDY: A UNC consultant's study projects a new general aviation airport in Orange County could pump $40 million to $53 million a year into the local economy, four times what Horace Williams generates. Good news, right? So why is Orange County Commissioner Barry Jacobs not happy?
THORPE: Bill Thorpe was a character. At one of his last meetings this spring, he turned to the Town Hall television camera, looked into the lens and ended his remarks with "And this is Bill Thorpe!" The veteran Town Council member pursued his politics with passion. Read what friends and colleagues are saying in staff writer Matt Dees' story. Â
PRINCESSES AND PIRATES: And assassins, shipwrecks and exotic locales are just some of what you'll find in PlayMakers' season opener, "Pericles." Producing artistic director Joseph Haj says it's all about man's place in the universe -- and how little control we have over it. Hmmm...
We have much more, including a guest column by UNC's Holden Thorp and Bill Roper (they don't have an airport site), correspondent Debbie Meyer's Brush Strokes arts column (gives new meaning to the term basket case), and another look at last week's reunion of early NASCAR drivers at the Orange County Speedway (the original one).
Thanks for reading,
MarkÂ
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Mark Schultz
Mark Schultz is the Orange-Chatham editor for The N&O and the editor of The Chapel Hill News.
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Comments
I've requested a copy of the report...
Tue, 09/30/2008 - 19:11 — CitizenWillUNC is sending me the 2008 Talbert/Bright report on economic impact of a new general aviation facility but from the few bits that have been disclosed I fully believe it will be as flawed as the 2005 study. One point raised several times during Sunday's White Cross meeting was "Why is UNC doing Orange County's economic development plans?" Of course, in order to get Federal largesse to underwrite a general aviation facility the FAA wants the project to be for the "public good". Economic development is one key justification. Of course, calculating the ROI for a facility costing $35-50 million in direct development costs and many millions of dollars in secondary infrastructure enhancements - primarily paid for by the local community - will be difficult at best. Starting out with some rather questionable prognostications, like Rep. Faison's claim of $40 million per year returns, brings in to question the current process. Is this report, as the 2005 report was, the tail wagging the dog - an attempt to justify the end result by claiming undeliverable community value?