DCRP News, continued:

---

Senate backs expanding offshore drilling
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

The Senate passed an offshore drilling bill Tuesday that differs
significantly from an earlier House version, ensuring another political
battle over the nation's energy policy.


... "Because of the beaches and coastal ecosystem, I think North
Carolina is more liable to serious negative impacts if things go wrong
or are not managed properly," said David Godschalk, professor of city
and regional planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.


"I don't think it's a good idea, and the potential for serious damage is too great of a tradeoff."  Not only would the state's
$14 billion tourism industry be affected by unsightly oil rigs looming off the 300-mile-long Tar Heel coast, Godschalk said,
but there is also a major safety threat because of possible damage from hurricanes.

"Oil spills or damage debris would affect the beaches, which are in constant transition, foul delicate coastal plants and
kill wildlife and fishing areas," he said.

http://www.heraldsun.com/nationworld/14-757674.html

---

Cabarrus' reach for water is delayed
After 4 years, state wants more local input
By David Mildenberg
Charlotte Business Journal

State officials are pushing back the decision on Cabarrus County's
controversial effort to pull water from the Catawba River.  For more than five
years Concord and Kannapolis have been angling for the right to draw more
than 35 million gallons of water a day from the river.  Leaders say it's their
biggest economic-development issue because the Rocky River and Coddle
Creek can't sustain the fast-growing county's long-term needs.

...During the Environmental Management Commission's meeting this week,
Chairman David Moreau urged the state Division of Water Resources staff to
take a broad view of the impact of transfers from the Catawba.  Moreau is a
UNC Chapel Hill professor who specializes in water-resource issues.

---

Units choose Bragg site
The Fayetteville Observer

The Army has agreed on to locate the U.S. Army Forces and Reserve
commands headquarters in Fort Bragg, North Carolina... the dramatic
unit expansion will greatly effect area resources.  Dr. Spencer M. Cowan
(Ph.D. 2002), CURS senior research associate, delivered the Preliminary
Community Impact Assessment study to the BRAC Regional Task Force
at the Fort Bragg Officers’ Club.

“Harnett County, Hoke County, Cumberland County are going to have schools issues,” Cowan said after the
meeting.  “They are also going to attract civilian jobs.”   Most of the net gain will occur this year and in 2007,
Cowan said.  About 80 percent of people arriving will be junior enlisted soldiers and junior officers whose children
will be mostly in elementary school.

http://www.fayettevillenc.com/article?id=235386

---

       On Friday, May 12th. the Department of City and Regional Planning proudly celebrated the graduation of the
       Class of 2006.  The ceremony was held in the Trillium Room at the William and Ida Friday Continuing Education
       Center and was followed by a reception.  The keynote speech was delivered by DCRP alumnus, Roger Waldon!

      We would like to thank Roger for his inspirational speech and best wishes to our departing students!
      To read the complete address and see event pictures... (click here)

---

DCRP Students recognized by the Graduate School
Making a difference, having an impact on North Carolina

From the mountains to the coast, Carolina graduate students’
research benefits North Carolina communities.  To encourage
this contribution, the Graduate School Impact Award was
created to recognize and foster students’ research that is
making a difference to North Carolina.  This year DCRP students
Rachel Fleming and Katherine Henderson received Recognition
Awards from the Graduate School.

Rachel Fleming explored the challenges faced by Chatham County, North Carolina in its attempts to create and implement
arts-based economic development strategies.  In recent years, economic development practitioners and planners in North
Carolina have begun to recognized the role that the arts play in regional economies and the arts’ usefulness in downtown
revitalization and other aspects of economic sustainability.  To better understand theses challenges, Rachel (MRP '05)
researched the interaction between economic development practitioners, artists and intermediary organization in their
attempts to created arts-based economic development strategies.  She focused her work on Chatham County, a growing
rural county with an active artist population.  Rachel identified a number of barriers to creating arts-based projects, including
unclear roles for arts support organizations and government subsidies and confusion concerning costs and benefits.

Katherine Henderson studied the relationship between open spaces and property values in Wake County, North Carolina
to emphasize the importance of open spaces to the local economy.  The results of this study are important as many North
Carolina counties are facing the rapid loss of open space due to urbanization.  While urbanization does have economic
advantages, open space provides important benefits, including the protection of drinking water supplies, provision of wildlife
habitat and human health and recreation benefits.  Katherine researched the relationship between open spaces and property
values in Wake County and found that homes located closer to open spaces have higher property values.  Her research
indicated that larger open spaces have a greater impact on property values, and public open spaces are especially valuable
in dense areas where homes have small yards.  These higher property values provide the local government with extra tax
income, which can help offset costs associated with acquiring and maintaining open spaces.


Additional DCRP students also recognized at the Graduate Student Recognition Ceremony:

Christine Boyle - NSF Young Scientist Summer Grant to conduct Research at IIASA,
                           NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes for US Graduate Students
Aurelie Brunie -  Public Entity Risk Institute and the Natural Hazards Center PERIship Fellowship
Anna Osland -     EPA-STAR (Science to Achieve Results) Fellowship, Ford Foundation Diversity Predoctoral Fellowship,
                           Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship
Laura Sandt -     Helene M. Overly Scholarship for Women in Transportation
Janelle Santos - APA Economic Development Division Scholarship
Re Rin Um -        Ambassadorial Scholar, Rotary International Foundation

 

---

Longtime residents fear loss of affordable homes
City's last mobile home park closing
By Julie Howle
www.greenvilleonline.com

The last mobile home park in the city of Greenville is shutting down,
leaving residents like 77-year-old Kathryn Heninger seeking a place
to live.  "It was nice and quiet," Heninger said of Pine Oak Mobile
Home Park off Wade Hampton Boulevard, where she paid $120 a
month to rent one of the 35 lots.


...Developers nationwide are attracted to the affordable land under mobile home parks, said Mai Nguyen, assistant
professor in the city and regional planning department at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

At the same time, cities are dealing with the issues of maintaining affordable housing, she said.  "If you don't have
affordable housing in and around the area that you have jobs, it influences sprawl," Nguyen said.  "Those who work
in our service sectors, those who work in lower-paying jobs, will tend to live farther and farther out because that's
where the cheap housing is."

Some cities are trying creative ways to ensure affordable housing, Nguyen said, like offering homeownership help,
relaxing zoning regulations to allow residents such options as renting out rooms above their garages and giving
developers incentives to create affordable options.

To read the complete article, visit: http://www.greenvilleonline.com...

---

He leads charge against unfair lending practices
Frank Norton
The News & Observer  (Raleigh)

...Skillern (MRP '91) makes a living sticking up for low-income borrowers
and chasing unscrupulous lenders out of poor neighborhoods. Under his
leadership, the Community Reinvestment Association fights what he
sees as unfair practices among banks, predatory mortgage lenders
and payday lenders -- those who make high-interest short-term loans
to people between paychecks.

His targets have included major banks such as Citigroup, Bank of America and Wachovia Bank, and he was
among those instrumental in getting payday lending banished from North Carolina this year.  "There are
tremendous imbalances in the financial field between consumers with money and people without," Skillern says.
"And we are all called on to be social witnesses."  Now that North Carolina is one of a dozen states that have
outlawed payday lenders, Skillern says he will lobby federal regulators for reform nationally.

To read the complete article, visit: http://www.newsobserver.com/166/story/422207.html

---

Alumnus awarded fellowship designed to improve political leadership
DCRP alumnus Conaway Haskins (MRP '02) has been named a 2006 Fellow of the
Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia. 

Since 2004, Conaway has been Program Officer with the Cameron Foundation,
a nonprofit regional grantmaker in the southern Virginia.  The Foundation supports
nonprofit and municipal agencies in the fields of health care, human services, education,
community & economic development, cultural enrichment, civic affairs, and historic
preservation and conservation.  To date, the Foundation has invested over $700,000 in
community & economic development projects.


The Thomas C. Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership seeks to improve political leadership in Virginia, by
preparing emerging leaders for public service as candidates for office, government officials and citizen activists.
The Institute accomplishes these goals through educational programs designed around ethics, public policy,
and practical politics.

Conaway also publishes a weblog on state and local politics called "South of the James".  "South of the James" is
an independent, nonpartisan web-journal offering a decidedly different perspective on culture & politics in Metro
Richmond, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and occasionally, the world beyond.

Prior to working at the Cameron Foundation, Conaway was a Research Associate with the Aspen Institute Economic
Opportunities Program in Washington, DC, where he worked for DCRP alumna Maureen Conway (MRP '91).

---

'Black, White, Brown, and Green':  An in-depth look at the
role race plays in environmental justice.
Wednesday, October 4 from 7-8:30pm in Murphey 116

Landfills in African American and Hispanic communities?  Power plants
on Indian Reservations?  Top conservation activists in the state discuss
the correlation between ethnicity and environmental quality.

The Panelists:
Marge Anders Limbert (DCRP - MRP ’05), Land for Tomorrow (via The Nature Conservancy)
Abdul Rasheed (NC Community Development Initiative, CEO)
Cynthia Brown (grassroots community organizer)
Monica McCann (The Conservation Fund)
Dannette Sharpley (Black Family Land Trust)

This event is being co-sponsored with CESA (Carolina Environmental Student Alliance) and Environmental Affairs
Committee of Student Government.

---

2006-07 Robertson Program Seminar on Energy
September 6th

David Greene, corporate fellow of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will deliver the
first 2006-07 Robertson Program Seminar on Energy at the Johnston Center in
Graham Memorial Hall on Sept. 6 from 5:45 to 7 p.m.  The title of the seminar is
“Transportation and America’s ‘Oil Addiction’: Is there a Fix?”

Free and open to the public, this event is a collaboration among Duke University’s
program in energy and environment, the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy
Solutions at Duke, and the Carolina Transportation Program.

---

Is the Triangle square?
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Ned Barnett

Raleigh's newly opened Fayetteville Street is a fine public space that adds
an interesting focal point to the Triangle, but it is a surprisingly lonely public
accomplishment for an otherwise dynamic region.



Given the growth of the past 15 years, the influx of hundreds of thousands of people and the construction of homes
to accommodate them, malls to serve them and an Outer Loop to move them, shouldn't there be more landmark
buildings, more public art, more adventurous public undertakings -- a mass transit system, a regional government,
perhaps?

... Pleasant is a wonderful quality in a region, but does the Triangle aspire only to be Pleasantville? It is a successful
place, but is it also, well, dull?  "I wouldn't say we are dull," said Bill Rohe, director of Center For Urban and Regional
Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. "I would say we could be more exciting."  Don't expect anything dramatic in that direction,
Rohe said. The Triangle is becoming more of a suburban culture, not less so.  "Once a place has a reputation for being
liberal or conservative or quiet or wild, that reputation takes on a life of its own and starts attracting people who fit those
images," he said.  "Perceptions become very important and end up determining reality."

Rohe's colleague at Chapel Hill, Emil Malizia, chairman of the city and regional planning department, also sees the
Triangle as an insular place that has neglected its public life.  Fayetteville Street may be "North Carolina's Main Street,"
but he said the Triangle's Main Street remains Interstate 40.  "We have a pretty isolated existence," Malizia said,
"The only real public realms are highways.  We interact with our neighbors through our windshields."

http://www.newsobserver.com/266/story/470302.html

---

Urban Sprawl Could Contribute To Obesity
Some Residents Of Spread-Out Suburbs Walk Less
WNCN-TV (NBC, Raleigh)

Some local researchers said that urban sprawl is another
reason more people are becoming obese.  The typical
American suburb is comprised of new homes on large lots
of land with no banks, markets or shops anywhere in sight.
Dr. Daniel Rodríguez, of the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, has been studying urban planning for more than
a decade and said that urban sprawl is part of America's
growing obesity problem.


..."If you think about how we live our lives, we wake up, we microwave our food, we get in our cars, we reach our
destinations, we type on our computers, we get in our cars, we go back home, microwave our food again and
we entertain looking at the television," Rodríguez said.  http://www.nbc17.com/news/7831704/detail.html


To learn more about Dr. Rodríguez research, visit Planning and Physical Activity -Testing associations
between physical activity and the urban built environment

---

"Not Planned On: What I Wish I Had Known Before Planning"
A panel discussion on planning practice

Planners from a variety of fields recently met with DCRP students to reflect and discuss their professional
experience.  Panel members discussed their work responsibilities, what they enjoy about their job, and
how they found mentors.  "It was a very high-quality and engaging panel," says Zachary Shahan, 2007 MRP
Candidate.  "It was also just really useful to see varieties in style, while also seeing key points reinforced by
several of the panelists. In general, it's always really useful to get practitioners' perspectives on what we need
to do and be aware of in order to be prepared for a profession in planning."

Reoccurring themes were: don't be afraid to think outside-of-the-box, understand your community, and continually
educate yourself.  The panel discussion offered mentoring advice to students, discussed different career paths, and
various approaches to planning.

Speakers included:
Alysia Davis, Transportation Planner, City of Charlotte
John Hodges-Copple, Planning Director, Triangle J COG
Leigh Anne McDonald, Associate, Clarion Associates
Michelle Nance, AICP, Planner, City of Gastonia,& NCAPA President
Nancy Ross, Planning & GIS Specialist III, City of Gastonia
Mitch Silver, AICP Planning Director, City of Raleigh
Roger Waldon, FAICP, Senior Associate, Clarion Associates

The event was sponsored by the NC-APA

---

Personal Finance: Owning a home is good for you—and society
U.S. News & World Report

Owning a home is the classic American dream, and the economic benefits
of homeownership are immense.  Instead of paying rent to the man, you
are buying something of your own that, like fine wine, may appreciate in
value over the years.  But there's more to owning a home than just your
personal profit.

...there is some evidence that homeowners report higher self-esteem and
happiness than renters and even better physical health.  "Homeowners
tend to stay put longer, so they create more friendships and associations
in the local neighborhood," says William Rohe, professor of city and
regional planning at the University of North Carolina.  "People have more
extensive social support systems, and that has a potential positive impact
on health."


http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/articles/060224/24homeowners_realestate.htm

---

Market still keen on Hillsborough
Residents still want a Weaver Street location downtown
Lisa Hoppenjans
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

Sitting among lime green "I [heart] My Co-op" balloons, Hillsborough
residents sent up a cheer to reassurances that the Weaver Street Market
grocery cooperative still planned to open a store in Hillsborough, despite
the Board of Adjustment's recent denial of plans that would bring the
market to Churton Street.



 ...Tom Campanella, a member of the town's planning board and an assistant professor in city and regional planning
at UNC-Chapel Hill, said a market in Hillsborough "would be the crown jewel of downtown revival."   "If there's anything
we teach our students, it's the importance of sustaining our historic downtowns," Campanella said as he signed a credit
card receipt for a $100 founding share.  ...The co-op estimates it will cost $3.3 million to open in Hillsborough. It wants to
raise $700,000 from community members, with about $600,000 of that coming from interest-bearing loans.  The remaining
$100,000 will be raised through recruiting 500 new owners, who pay a refundable fee of $75 to $175 and receive a 5 percent
discount on most items.

http://www.newsobserver.com/664/story/401188.html

---

Green high-rise deemed golden
Matt Dees
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

Chapel Hill residents often come to Town Hall to bury development
proposals, not to praise them.  The reverse was true Monday as
speakers at a public hearing heaped hurrahs on Greenbridge, a
condominium and retail high-rise slated for downtown.

...David Brower, a city and regional planning professor at UNC-
Chapel Hill, said he's been waiting 36 years for a project like this.
"And it's finally coming," he said with glee.  "If they can do two-thirds
of what they're talking about, it's going to be really exciting, even
monumental."

http://www.newsobserver.com/114/story/409894.html

---

Hi-tech red lights to smooth traffic
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

Traffic in Durham could be flowing more smoothly by August if a new traffic synchronization
system lives up to its promise.  The system, which will be commanded from City Hall, is
being installed at 320 intersections throughout the Bull City.  It's safe to say that thousands
of road weary motorists can hardly wait.  


...An added benefit to signal synchronization is a reduction in vehicle emissions linked to asthma.  Although
synchronization doesn't reduce miles traveled, it does reduce emissions by allowing drivers to maintain speed,
says Asad Khattak, director of the Carolina Transportation Program at UNC Chapel Hill.

---

Moreau appointed to the Committee on New Orleans
Regional Hurricane Protection Projects

Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding of much of the New
Orleans metro area prompted many questions about the performance
of the city’s hurricane protection system.  To help provide credible
scientific and engineering answers regarding the performance of this
system, the Committee on New Orleans Regional Hurricane Protection
Projects has been convened to review data gathered by the U.S Army
Corps of Engineers and the American Society of Civil Engineers.

As a committee member, Dr. Moreau will focus his investigation on three primary topics: a) design capacity of
the hurricane protection system, b) forces exerted against the system and system response, and c) factors
that resulted in overtopping, breaching, or failure of levees and floodwalls.

Factors under review by the committee are: data collection and management (perishable, systems data, and
information management), interior drainage systems models, numerical models of the Hurricane Katrina surge
and wave environment, storm surge and wave physical modeling of hydrodynamic forces and centrifuge
breaching, geodetic vertical survey assessment, and the analysis of floodwall and levee performance.  The
committee will issue a comprehensive report (due in September 2006) that summarizes the structural
performance of New Orleans’ hurricane protection system.  

Dr. Moreau has research interests in the analysis, planning, financing, and evaluation of water and related
environmental programs.  His publications include work in systems analysis, planning and management of
urban water systems, management of water supplies during droughts, and planning and evaluation of
watershed management programs.

Learn more about Dr. Moreau’s research

 

---

DCRP welcomes a new faculty member

Mai Nguyen joined DCRP in January 2006 as an assistant professor with
a specialty in housing and community development.  Her core research
interests also include urban growth, race/ethnicity, and inequality.

Dr. Nguyen’s current research involves understanding whether growth
management ballot measures have exclusionary consequences.  More
specifically, do cities that adopt growth management initiatives and referenda
have lower rates of growth in minority and low-income populations?  Mai is
also examining the travel behavior of residents who live in mixed-use
developments compared to residents who live elsewhere.  

Dr. Nguyen is also working on a study that looks at why minority Section 8
voucher recipients who move residences do not move to better neighborhoods
as compared to their white counterparts.  Through the use of qualitative methods,
Mai seeks to better understand whether the decision to live in a specific
neighborhood among minority Section 8 voucher recipients is due to individual
residential preferences or structural barriers.

Developing a new course in diversity and inequality and teaching planning theory are important contributions Dr. Nguyen
will make in the department.  Learn more about Dr. Nguyen’s teaching and research

---

DCRP discusses Katrina

In the aftermath of the Katrina Hurricane, we all had questions
about the disaster that touched so many aspects of planning.  
The daunting process of recovery in the face of such destruction
is made even more difficult amid the continued vulnerability of
New Orleans’ location, rampant social injustices and the
apparent ineffectiveness of public services.  (read more)

---

The next one could be worse
Hurricane Floyd killed 52 people and wrecked 17,000 homes in North Carolina.
But what if a monster like Katrina came to call?

Endeavors
by Angela Spivey
Winter 2006



Does North Carolina have vulnerabilities on the scale of the weaknesses in the New Orleans levee system?  
…”The Outer Banks are just sitting there,” says David Moreau, professor of city and regional planning and director
of North Carolina’s Water Resources Research Institute.  “There’s nothing there to protect them from a Category
Five storm.  Until you move those properties out of that floodplain, you’re going to get flood damage.”

Philip Berke, professor of city and regional planning and faculty fellow at the Center for Urban and Regional Studies,
says that preparing for hurricanes means increasing the local commitment to disaster planning.  Speaking at a forum
on Hurricane Katrina sponsored by UNC-Chapel Hill’s General Alumni Association, he says, “We need to provide
stronger incentives for disaster planning.  Communities have few incentives to spend on looking ahead and avoiding
harm.”  …Berke also points out that the federal government has a long history of subsidizing development in flood
hazard areas through flood insurance, tax write-offs for uninsured losses, beach renourishment programs, and paying
for most of the rebuilding of public infrastructure after a disaster.  Berke says that this type of risk-sharing creates
an attitude of, “We get these disasters, we pay for them with the help of the federal government, so why worry?”
Much of the United States’ flood-control policy has focused on building structures such as floodwalls, dams, and
levees, Berke says.  “These structural approaches create a false sense of security,” he says.  “They make us think,
‘I can build here now; it’s safe.’”

…"There’s just so much protection that you can put out there,” Moreau says.  “Nature’s going to have its way.
So get out of its path.”

Read the complete article online at endeavors.unc.edu

---

Osceola is next frontier, experts say
Orlando Sentinel (Fla.)
The future growth of Metro Orlando's economy will depend largely
on Osceola County's ability to build 200,000 or more new homes
over the next 25 years and wisely manage that staggering growth,
a panel of land-use experts said Friday.

..."You don't just have to respond to development proposals," said
David Godschalk, a professor of city planning at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  "You can set the framework -- where
the major roads are going to be, what the timing of the schools and
the utility extensions are going to be -- and then developers can
respond to your framework."


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-growth2806jan28,0,7302848.story?coll=orl-home-headlines

---

UNC, towns have a good opportunity
(Letter to the editor)
The Chapel Hill News

DCRP alumnus, Patrick McDonough (MRP '04) writes:
The Village Project wishes to congratulate UNC on its recent
announcement to begin anew the planning effort for Carolina North.
By starting over with a collaborative process, UNC has opened the
door to fuller community participation in the development and design
of Carolina North, and consequently, has presented an opportunity
to forge a greater consensus about how the Horace Williams tract
can be developed for the benefit of both the university and the towns...

http://www.chapelhillnews.com/opinion

Learn more about Carolina North

---

Regional battle lines drawn over Catawba
The Charlotte Business Journal

A battle over rights to Catawba River water may soon split the region's
business community, just as it is dividing area political leaders.
David Moreau, chairman of the 19-member N.C. Environmental
Management Commission, says science and facts rather than politics
and emotion will decide the case.  

..."I'm not in a position to say whether the (transfer) impact would be
minor or major," says Moreau, a DCRP professor.  "It's not going to
be an easy decision."   http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10873896/

---

Names & Faces: Ben Hitchings, Morrisville planning director
Carynews.com
By Adam Arnold, Staff Writer

Ben Hitchings' bedtime reading might have him dreaming about work. Next to
his bed, the Morrisville planning director has "The North Carolina Railroad 1847-
1871 and the Modernization of North Carolina."   The reason it's there is because
his employer's namesake, Jeremiah Morris, donated three acres for a train depot.  
Learning more about the circumstances leading to that gift gives Hitchings more
context about where he does his work.

"Morrisville has always been at a crossroads," Hitchings said.  "It's probably one
of the prime locations in the state."  Hitchings (MRP '97) moved into the slot in
October after more than eight years as a planner with the Triangle J Council of
Governments.   (read more)

---

At 150 Edgars Lane, Changing the Idea of Home
The New York Times

The handsome Tudor-style home at 150 Edgars Lane, built for
less than $10,000 in 1925 on a hillside in this Hudson River town,
never seemed to change much through all of its previous owners.
Each family updated the house, but in modest ways until Tom and
Julie Hirschfeld came along. ..."Community is still very important,"
said William M. Rohe, director of the Center for Urban and Regional
Studies (CURS) at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
"But homeowners today pay greater attention to the house itself as
an expression of themselves and as a haven for family life."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/02/business/02house.html...

---

Mitigate, mitigate, mitigate
Planning  
November 2005

That's what Katrina teaches us, says disaster planning expert
David Godschalk, FAICP. Godschalk is emeritus professor of city
and regional planning at the University of North Carolina and a
member of the National Institute of Building Sciences’ Multihazard
Mitigation Council.

Somehow in the press of events like 9/11 and the war in Iraq, we
forgot a basic truth: Acting beforehand to mitigate the impact of a
natural hazard is far more effective than picking up the pieces
afterwards.  Hurricane Katrina helped us to remember that simple
but irrefutable lesson.



Mitigation has had a checkered history in U.S. disaster policy.  It initially took a back seat to response
and recovery.  The original 1988 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act provided
incentives to undertake mitigation only following a presidentially declared disaster.  (read more)

©Copyright 2005 American Planning Association All Rights Reserved

---

DCRP diversity
Planning for diverse communities

In response to student requests, DCRP
sponsored a professional development workshop
this fall to understand the important role that
diversity plays in creating community.  Our students
recognize the increasing diversity of the communities
in which they will work as well as the necessity for
planners to be responsive to the needs of diverse
populations.  (read more)

---

Another track, another time
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

If you needed to go somewhere in Raleigh in 1886, chances are
you walked.  ...David Godschalk, an emeritus professor of city
planning at UNC-Chapel Hill, said the new rail system has the
potential to create a new pattern of denser urban living.  Residents
could live, shop and play near the stations, and use the train to
commute.  http://www.newsobserver.com/695/story/376843.html

---

DCRP alumnus receives U.S. Presidential Award

Sarajevo, November 2005 – The U.S. Government, through
the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is
pleased to announce that Dr. Howard Sumka (Ph.D. ’76)
has received the Presidential Meritorious Rank Award.

Dr. Sumka has been recognized for his work as USAID
Mission Director in Albania and in BiH.  He was director in
Albania during the Kosovo refugee emergency and, among
other things, led the US assistance effort to rehabilitate
communities that hosted nearly half a million refugees. 
For the past three years he has been director of the USAID
Mission to BiH.  Over the course of his career, Dr. Sumka
has managed programs in such areas as urban development
and infrastructure, rule of law, and local governance.


Dr. Sumka joined USAID in 1985 after having worked for several years in the Department of Housing and Urban
Development. He holds an undergraduate degree in engineering and a Ph.D. from DCRP (1976).  Since 2002,
Dr. Sumka has overseen USAID’s programs in BiH, which focus on economic development, democratic reform,
minority returns and reconstruction.

Each year, the U.S. President honors a small group of career Senior Executives with the President's Rank Award
for exceptional long-term accomplishments.  Winners of this prestigious award are chosen through a rigorous
selection process that recognizes strong leaders who achieve results and consistently demonstrate strength,
integrity, industry, and a relentless commitment to excellence in public service.  They are nominated by their
agency heads, evaluated by boards of private citizens, and approved by the President.

---

DCRP alumna honored with 2005 Community Service Award
University Gazette

The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce and its Foundation
for a Sustainable Community has honored Linda Convissor (MRP ’81),
director of local relations, with the Town and Gown Award.

The Town and Gown Award is presented to an individual for fostering
a mutually beneficial relationship between the community and the
University.  Candidates should have a commitment to civic affairs,
be involved in community organizations and should demonstrate
leadership qualities in bridging the gaps among faculty, students,
administration, government, citizenry and business, the chamber notes.

In presenting the award, Mark Zimmerman, chamber board chair, said,
“Linda plays an integral role in communicating information between the
University and the community.  Linda served as the project manager
for the campus master planning process from 1998 to 2001.


Since 2001, Linda has worked at UNC’s University Relations office where she shares information and points
of view among the University, towns, chamber, neighborhoods and community groups.”

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Tower may point way of city's growth
The News & Observer
By Jack Hagel and Josh Shaffer, Staff Writers

RALEIGH - When it is built, Raleigh's tallest building will offer a sky-high
view of Crabtree Valley Mall's rooftops and possibly a view of its skyscraping
downtown cousins.  Critics of the 42-story Glen-Tree tower say the City
Council's approval of the project last week also gives a clear view of Raleigh's
future: worse traffic, towering office buildings and suburban sprawl along the
lines of Houston and Atlanta.

... "I was surprised by it, because a lot of the new stuff coming out from
downtown has been low-rise, nothing this dramatic," said David Godschalk,
a professor of city and regional planning at UNC-Chapel Hill.  "I don't think
there's going to be a rash of these kinds of buildings.  They're so specialized,
and it's certainly not in the character of Raleigh."

The News & Observer Archive

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Carolina Transportation Program adds new research director

Dr. Sonia Yeh has been named as the new research director of DCRP’s
Carolina Transportation Program.  As the program’s research director,
Dr. Yeh will help identify and promote interdisciplinary collaborations
within UNC, other area universities and continue the program’s
partnerships with various local/state government and non-profit
organizations.

Dr. Sonia Yeh's research interests focus on energy and environmental
aspect of the transportation research, especially the role of technological
change, economic, and social changes on future energy demand, air
emissions, and environmental outcomes.  Much of her work has involved
with applying tools such as risk analysis, decision analysis, and uncertainty
analysis to policy issues that intersect with energy, transportation,
environment, and public health.

As an interdisciplinary education and research program, the Carolina Transportation Program supports students in
planning, public administration, civil engineering and economics.  The goal of the program is to expose students to
the latest transportation methodology, support current faculty transportation research, and to have students interact
with Carolina Transportation Program alumni.  Dr. Asad Khattak is the Carolin Transportation Program director.

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Project creates several red flags
Opinions: Dave Godschalk (guest columnist)
Daily Tarheel
October 26, 2005


The biggest development on the agenda for the Chapel Hill
Town Council in the coming year is not Carolina North, but
the public-private downtown project being submitted by
Ram Development Co. of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.


…On paper, this project sounds almost too good to be true.  The sagging Chapel Hill downtown gets revitalized with
233 new housing units and 30,000 square feet of new retail space in green buildings, along with a new public plaza
and some 227 new parking spaces on lot 5 in addition to the 173 spaces there now. …But as a planner who wants
to see the downtown turn around, I have some major questions about this proposal.    (Read the entire column)

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Williamsburg residents consider new way of living
A group looking to start a cohousing development
dailypress.com
Carol Scott

WILLIAMSBURG -- Dennis O'Brien wants to know who his neighbors are.  
"I don't know anybody else in my condominium," he said.   "They're not here
to get to know each other. They're just kind of all living in a building."  He's one
of the leaders of a group interested in starting a cohousing development in the
Williamsburg area - a development where people own their own homes but can
share common buildings or neighborhood duties.  

Unlike a commune, where there is little or no personal property, "cohousing is much less unconventional," O'Brien said.
 ...Local developments that mix housing, shops and offices - Port Warwick in Newport News, New Town in James City
County and the planned High Street in Williamsburg - are marketed as "walking villages" where residents can find community
because they live and work nearby.   But taking that to the next level with cohousing is likely to remain a niche market, said
Roberto Quercia, associate professor at the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina.  
"I think in general, people prefer the traditional form of ownership," without shared facilities or community chores, he said.
"My feeling about cohousing is that it's a situation or an option for people who want something different."

http://www.dailypress.com

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Furniture industry future hard to gauge in face of foreign imports
Citizen-Times.com
By Mark Barrett

ASHEVILLE - A few years ago, says UNC Chapel Hill professor Meenu Tewari,
many people thought the North American Free Trade Agreement and cheap
Mexican imports would hit the North Carolina furniture industry hard.

Right concept, wrong country.


...Mexico seemed a logical place for furniture production to migrate to after NAFTA dropped barriers to the country's
imports when it took effect in 1994, said Tewari, an assistant professor in UNC's Department of City and Regional
Planning who has studied the furniture industry.  However, Tewari says, "it was difficult ... to get good quality at a
good price from Mexico."   China went through "a period of training that happened in the early '90s," Tewari said,
and dramatically increased production late in the '90s and in this decade, aided in part by investment from Taiwan.
Changes in the shipping industry also made it easier to get furniture from Asia to the United States, Tewari said.

http://www.citizen-times.com

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Katrina's harsh land-use lesson
Neal Peirce / Syndicated columnist
The Seattle Times  (Editorial column)

Comprehensive plans at the county or municipal level.
Yawn. Why bother? Isn't this a "free" country, anyway?


Well, we've been yawning too long.  A significant chunk
of the $200-billion-plus bill from the Katrina-Rita hurricanes
might have been avoided if there'd been tough, realistic
plans to deter development in exposed coastal areas
through buffer zones, wetlands protection, tough building
codes and relocating settlements to higher land. 



...At a minimum, suggests Raymond Burby, a University of North Carolina-based analyst of natural-disaster
planning efforts, state governments should enact meaningful building codes and oblige local governments to
draw up comprehensive plans.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002579477_peirce24.html

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Despite storms, coasts grow
USA Today

Coastal counties from Texas to New England are growing
by about 1,300 people every day despite a decade-long
surge of hurricanes that has peaked this year with the most
in one season since 1969.

...The cost extends beyond the buyers, says Philip Berke,
DCRP professor .  "Even if they have insurance, the rest of
the country will have to pay higher insurance rates."


http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-10-20-coastal-populations_x.htm?csp=14

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DCRP Alumna recognized at NC-APA Awards Program

Leigh Ann McDonald (MRP ‘05) was awarded the 2005 North Carolina
Marvin Collins Planning Award. The award is given to one outstanding
student each branch of the state university system, which offers a planning
degree (ASU, ECU, UNC-CH), for exceptional academic studies and
initiative in planning.  Leigh Ann received her award at the North Carolina
Chapter of the American Planning Association's 27th Annual Awards
Program in Fayetteville, NC on October 7th.



This award recognizes individuals and agencies who have completed outstanding plans, programs, and projects,
or have made notable contributions to the planning profession.  Leigh Ann currently works with Roger Waldon
(MRP ‘76) at Clarion Associates LLC of Chapel Hill.

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Many big visions for new big easy
The Christian Science Monitor

Even as the US Army Corps of Engineers claimed victory Tuesday
in pumping out the last of more than 224 billion gallons of floodwater,
some in New Orleans were looking forward to the chance to rebuild
and, perhaps, reshape one of America's major cities. ...Successful
rebuilding "is going to take tackling the socioeconomic problems
that bedeviled the city long before Katrina," says Thomas Campanella,
an urban planning professor at the University of North Carolina and
co-editor of "The Resilient City."  "There's going to be billions and billions
of dollars thrown at this, and it should be spent to fix the preexisting
conditions that led to this massive underclass being in such a
bad condition."


http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1012/p01s01-ussc.html

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In Pensacola, Nature, Cash Form a Cycle
The Washington Post

The last thing Buck Lee expected after Hurricane Ivan
gutted this narrow sliver of paradise in 2004 was a land
rush. ..."There are very large incentives to develop in
hazardous areas," said Ray J. Burby, DCRP professor
of land use and environmental planning.   "We have federally
subsidized flood control and hurricane protection works.  
We subsidize flood insurance.  We have tax write-offs for
disaster losses.  All of this massive federal relief makes
people whole.  The federal message is 'Go ahead and
develop these areas.' "


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/10/AR2005101001412.html

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Named to Planetizen's 2005 Top 10 Booklist

Recovering New Orleans Thomas J. Campanella Planetizen Op-Ed In the September 21st. Planetizen Op-Ed column, Thomas Campanella, co-author of The Resilient City: How Modern Cities Recover From Disaster, contemplates the case of New Orleans.  Very few cities actually die, but could New Orleans be one of them?  What will it take to ensure its survival?   And even if it survives, will the city ever be able to regain its original character? Please visit www.planetizen.com to read the full article

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Americans moving into harm's way
The Chicago Tribune

A scientific debate remains about whether the Gulf and Atlantic
Coasts are being pummeled by hurricanes of greater intensity than in
the past, but there is no question that more Americans are moving
directly into the path of the storms.   

..."There's a saying that there are no such things as natural disasters,"
said David Godschalk, DCRP Stephen Baxter Professor Emeritus who
studies disaster mitigation.   "They only become disasters when you
put people in the wrong places."

http://www.chicagotribune.com

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Three projects before Hillsborough boards
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

Three Hillsborough projects underwent scrutiny in a joint town
board and planning board public hearing Thursday night. ...
DCRP assistant professor, Tom Campanella, criticized the
automobile-centered planning.  "There are the sidewalks, but
they are really just loose spaghetti floating around the site,"
Campanella said.  "Overall, I would say that this is a good
example of ... the kind of creeping urban sprawl that we
really need to fight against in this town."



http://www.newsobserver.com

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UNC to host discussion on recovery,
rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina

CHAPEL HILL — As the nation recovers from the devastating effects
of Hurricane, a public forum at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill on Thursday (Sept. 22) will address readiness and challenges
arising from natural disasters.

"Katrina: Preparing for and Responding to Natural Disasters" will bring
together prominent experts in public health, city and regional planning,
philosophy and ethics, social work, history and community service to
discuss their views and those of the audience on the implications of
Katrina and other natural disasters. The forum is sponsored by the
UNC General Alumni Association.

The forum is part of the "Think Fast" series, which the General Alumni Association conducts to provide timely
forums on breaking news stories that dominate the public conscience.  Free to the public, the forum will be on
campus in the George Watts Hill Alumni Center from 7 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.

"It’s important that Carolina alumni and the community have access to campus experts who can share their
insights about this important event in our lives," said Doug Dibbert, General Alumni Association president.  
"We hope alumni and friends attending will take part in framing the discussion."

Each panelist will give opening remarks, after which the forum will open to audience questions.  The panel will
include the following UNC faculty and staff with topic area of expertise noted:

• Dr. Philip R. Berke, professor of city and regional planning and faculty fellow at UNC’s Center for Urban and
  Regional Studies (CURS), who will focus on "After the Disaster: Do Cities Thrive and Recover?"
• Dr. Edward I. Baker, director of the N.C. Institute for Public Health, who will address the "UNC School of Public
  Health Response to Hurricane Katrina."
• Dr. Douglas MacLean, professor of philosophy and director of UNC’s Parr Center for Ethics, who will focus on
  "Race, Class and Rescue: What Does Katrina Tell Us about American Values?"
• Joe Glatthaar, Alan Stephenson Professor of Civil War History, who will address "The Role of the Military."
• Joanne Caye, assistant clinical professor in the School of Social Work, whose topic is titled "Helping Families
  and Children Manage."
• Dr. Lynn Blanchard, director of the Carolina Center for Public Service, who will focus on "Coordinating the
  University’s Relief Efforts in Response to Natural Disasters."

UNC Hurricane Relief site: http://www.unc.edu/cps/katrina.html

 

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David Moreau returns as WRRI Director
David Moreau has been named director of the Water Resources
Research Institute (WRRI).  WRRI is a unit of The University of
North Carolina system established in 1965 and is authorized by
the Water Resources Research Act of 1964 to administer and
promote federal/state partnerships on water-related issues.

WRRI identifies and supports research needed to help solve water
quality and water resources problems in North Carolina and the
region.  Dr. Moreau also served as WRRI director from 1983 to 1995.


Learn more about Dr. Moreau's research

Learn more about the Water Resources Research Institute

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DCRP alumna spends summer helping to build community pride
Located in Asheville, N.C., the Design Corps Summer Studio is an independent training center for community
service that promotes and practices designing and building to meet local needs.  The studio provides the benefits
of quality design to communities through inspired built form while training future architects in the methods of
community visioning, organizing, and leadership.

During the eight week summer course, students worked closely with the residents of a low-income community
called Shiloh using a participatory design process to design (and build) a bus shelter.  Students gained experience
using innovative materials such as, sanded Lexan (stronger than plexiglass and glass) and Alucabond (a silicon
sandwiched between two pieces of aluminum).  The columns and all connection hardware were fabricated out of
steel and welded by the students.

More importantly, students gained experience working with the community. “It's more than just a place to get out
of the rain,” says project T.A. Kelly Lowry (MRP ’04), “ideally it will stand as a symbol of community pride and
identity. The residents of Shiloh have been great to work with and they seem very excited about the project.”

Learn more about Design Corps

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New East exterior masonry and stucco restoration
UNC has received funding from the State’s Renovation
and Repair Appropriations to restore the exterior stucco
finish of New East and repair or replace any rotten trim
members on the building.  Repairs will mimic New East’s
existing appearance, restoring it to the current 1923
period of significance.

The scope of the work does not interfere with DCRP’s day
to day activities, and both building entrances will remain
open and protected as specified by OSHA Standards.


Learn more about New East’s historic past

 

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FEMA grant will help disadvantaged communities prepare for disasters
DCRP alumnus teams with CURS to protect communities

With the 2005 hurricane season quickly in full effect, MDC Inc. and the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have received a $1.5 million grant from the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help disadvantaged communities in
six states and the District of Columbia prepare for disasters.



The Emergency Preparedness Demonstration Program will be conducted through a partnership between MDC,
an independent nonprofit research organization based in Chapel Hill, and the Center for Urban and Regional
Studies (CURS) in UNC's College of Arts and Sciences.  MDC will be the lead partner for the two-year program,
which will alert residents to the hazards of natural, technological and manmade disasters and communicate
what they can do to be better prepared. 

 "FEMA wanted to engage the community in this process, which is a strength of MDC," said Dr. John Cooper,
who received his doctorate from DCRP in 2004.  Cooper, who worked for the state Division of Emergency
Management for two years, will be the project manager and lead researcher at MDC.  "We'll be looking at how
better equipped communities are after the demonstration projects to not only take on emergency preparedness
and response, but other issues as well.  Have we created new leaders?  Is there an organization in place that
has taken on the role of community awareness?"

"We'll be looking at why the message about emergency preparedness is not getting through to these disadvantaged
communities," said lead UNC researcher Dr. Philip R. Berke, DCRP professor and faculty fellow at CURS.   "We
want to use communities' knowledge and leadership to build their capacity to take self-directed, disaster-reduction
initiatives.  The action plans developed by the communities will focus on reducing the harm of future disasters."

Read more...

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An industry trying to land on its feet
How North Carolina textiles can survive the import flood.
by Neil Caudle
endeavors
Spring 2005

Small companies such as DeFeet, which makes bicycle socks
in Hildebran, North Carolina, are finding niche markets where
know-how and flexibility mean more than large-scale production.

But no matter how successful companies might be at exploiting
those niches, no one expects the textiles and apparel industries
to replace tens of thousands of jobs.  Meenu Tewari, assistant
professor at DCRP, has studied workforce changes in traditional
industries in North Carolina.  She finds some hope in organizations
such as Bionetwork, an effort of the N.C. Community College System.  “Bionetwork saw a way to recruit and retrain workers
displaced from North Carolina’s traditional sectors — textiles, apparel, and furniture — workers who were solidly embedded
in the ethic of shop-floor manufacturing,” Tewari says.  “With short training courses, from a few months to a year in length,
they found that they could channel some traditional-sector workers who’d earned thirty thousand dollars-plus into good jobs
paying forty-five to fifty thousand a year.”

But many thousands of displaced workers probably will never have access to such jobs, Tewari says.  Workers who are older,
poorer, and less educated are being left out of the high-tech job market, especially in isolated rural areas.  So rural towns
once dependent on textiles, apparel, or furniture are pursuing other options, she says, including a multitude of businesses
associated with the growing health-care industry.

Read the complete article online at endeavors.unc.edu

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Endowed professorship awarded to William M. Rohe
William M. Rohe, DCRP professor & director of the Center for
Urban and Regional Studies, has been awarded the title of Boshamer
Professor.  Professorships are permanent funds, invested to produce
income that can be awarded to the named professor as a salary
supplement.  Carolina has more than 200 different professorships,
supporting almost 300 faculty members in all areas of the University.
The Boshamer professorship acknowledges in a tangible way the
extraordinary teaching, service and research that Dr. Rohe has
contributed to UNC and the field of planning.



Dr. Rohe’s research focuses on understanding the social processes involved in neighborhood hood change
and revitalization and the impacts of homeownership on self-perceptions and social behavior.  He has taught
at UNC since 1978 and teaches courses focusing on community development planning and neighborhood
revitalization.  Last year Dr. Rohe was awarded a postdoctoral Fulbright grant to conduct research in
Barcelona, Spain.  In Spain he was affiliated with the Department of Urbanism and Regional Planning at the
Technical University of Catalonia in Barcelona. He spent the spring semester of 2004 studying Barcelona’s
very successful urban revitalization program.

The Cary C. Boshamer Professorships were established in 1969 by Cary Carlisle Boshamer, a member of the
Class of 1917 and an aggressive tackle on the football team. Boshamer was a native of North Carolina in the
1920s and engaged in a series of successful business ventures, primarily in the textile industry.  Boshamer
served as a trustee of the UNC system from 1969 until 1972 and was a trustee of the University the following year.

Learn more about Dr. Rohe's research

Visit the Center for Urban and Regional Studies Web site

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LandDesign promotes senior planner to partner
LandDesign, an urban planning, civil engineering and landscape architecture
company, has promoted a senior planner, Meg Nealon (MRP '98) to partner
in its Charlotte office.

“Meg Nealon has contributed greatly to our success,” said Brad Davis, Land
Design partner in Charlotte.  “She has grown with us and, along the way, she’s
helped us grow, as well.  Rewarding her dedication and effectiveness is only
natural.  We hope it shows others that there is plenty of opportunity here for
those with merit.”

As a senior planner, who has worked for LandDesign for 12 years, Nealon
focuses on regional planning with an emphasis on balancing competing objectives
of economic development and natural resource conservation.  Though most of her
work is outside Charlotte, her recent projects include the Strategic Regional Open
Space Framework for the Charlotte region.


A native of West Palm Beach, FL, Nealon joined LandDesign in Charlotte in 1991 after earning her bachelor’s degree in
Landscape Architecture from the University of Georgia.  She left the company in 1996 to pursue a master’s degree in
Regional Planning from DCRP.  Shortly after, she returned to LandDesign.

Nealon, who lives in Charlotte, is a member of the Urban Land Institute and the American Planning Association.  She holds
an at-large seat on the Charlotte Historic District Commission, and gives presentations on land planning issues to local civic
groups and volunteers for environmentally-oriented initiatives.

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