Tuesday, August 31, 2010

"Trinity Partners, LLC"

I think this firm is developing - in some way - the space previously occupied by Citrus. Trinity seems to be an office space firm so that may be what it becomes. Nice office for someone!

Soccer fields

It was nice to see the Southern Community Park soccer fields full of people over the weekend. Yesterday, it was a ghost field. But while it was animated on Saturday and Sunday, it was great!

What struck me about the scene most was what great soccer players we have among the youth of the area. They were really superb and a joy to watch. That was in contrast to so many apparent parents who mostly looked fat.

Rubbish

Yesterday as I walked through the parking lot at Southern Community Park, I noticed that many of the cars had a flyer under their windshield wipers. Many of the cars that had been parked there during the day had left and I thought I could simply pick up a flyer that someone had tossed to the ground. Not a chance! It was really impressive to see that no matter where I walked, I found none of the flyers on the ground. Maybe it was really valuable? Or maybe, I hope, everyone is thinking first before adding rubbish to the parking lot and the neighborhood!

"Homeowner’s Fight Involves Flag Tied to Tea Party" - NYTimes.com

Note the homeowners' association aspect to this story. Any flags spotted in Southern Village?

Saturday, August 28, 2010

"Ping - Renting Out Home Belongings Over the Internet" - NYTimes.com

Garage sales

In making a quick tour of Aberdeen and Graylyn at midday, it did not look to me as though many houses had participated in the garage sale that one of our neighbors organized for today.

I wonder if Southern Village might do well to declare one day every 6 months as garden sale day, hold it on the Green, see if someone would take some items on consignment and let anyone who wanted to do so, set up a table or tables to see their "stuff"?

Friday, August 27, 2010

Where are the neighbors?

It is quite remarkable to me how rarely we ever see any of our neighbors outside. I walk a lot and Southern Village often looks like a ghost town populated only by an endless fleet of SUVs or what I prefer to call trucks.

Cars in garages?

I sure get the the feeling that a LOT more people park their cars on the street today than used to be the case. Have they filled up their garages with junk? Lazy? What is it? It makes driving around Southern Village a lot more hazardous as it is much more difficult to see children who might run into the street.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Farmers' Market

It is nearly pitiful to see how few farmers are at the market each Thursday. It's not their fault that people don't shop there.

And it's irritating not to find the seasonal dates for the Southern Village market posted. It appears that it runs through 30 August and that includes today. It will be interesting to see if anyone remains.

Obesity

Upcoming event.

"Riverside Park Plans Composting Restroom" - NYTimes.com

It's too bad "we" did not do this in Southern Community Park.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Park and Ride full?

I noticed more tickets today and realized the cars are there because there is no room either in the Park and Ride or the Park lots. What's the plan? Does this mean no one can come to the park on work days and expect to find a parking place?

Playing fields

What are the rules for using the playing fields at Southern Community Park?

Monday, August 23, 2010

Parking tickets

When I walked through the Southern Community Park today, I noticed three cars parked on the roadway that seemed to have parking tickets tucked under the windshield wipers. There appear to be no signs on that stretch of "road" that say no parking. What are the rules?

"Fearrington, North Carolina" - Wikipedia

The demographics section here is really interesting and will be updated when the 2010 Census results emerge. There will be one for Southern Village as well, although I do not know the status of Southern Village as a Census-designated-place (CDP)

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Southern Community Park - 8/18/10 - 5:15 PM

3 adults and 2 children in playground,1 biker, 3 walkers, 1 runner.

Southern Community Park - 8/16/10 - 5 PM

5 walkers, 4 dogs, 1 worker, 2 kids with adult in playground.

"chapelhillnews.com | Down, Ready, Set ... Hike"

Note mention of Southern Community Park.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Southern Community Park - 8/15/10 - 5:15 PM

Three dogs, 5 bikers, 6 walkers, 12 at a picnic, 15-20 on the playground, 9 on the soccer field, and 2 on the basketball court. There should be many times this number!

Southern Community Park - 8/17/10 - 4:30 PM

One guy setting up some equipment on one of the soccer field, and one adult/child in the playground.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Southern Community Park - 8/11/10 at 4:45 PM

1 biker, 3 walkers, and one more "sort of" walker.....

Street tree pruning

It looks like we are getting - or have gotten - all of our street trees pruned so that they neither block the street (and stop signs, e.g.) or sidewalks.

"Hey, kids! Meet your neighbors" - The Carrboro Citizen

It does not look like this includes Southern Village.

"Cedar Creek plant turns recycled plastic into building blocks for new products" - Fayetteville Observer

Where does all our recycled "stuff" wind up?

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Southern Community Park - 5 PM

5 walkers, 2 kids and 2 adults in the playground area (grilling), about 15 peopel at a picnic in the pavillion, and 2 bikers.

Friday, August 13, 2010

V bus takes too long

I took the V bus from Edgewater - near the pond - yesterday around 4:50. It arrived as the real time service told me it would on the Chapel Hill Transit website. When it got to the park and ride lot next to the church on Market Street, the bus sat for 10 or more minutes so as to be on schedule. To my great surprise, the driver left the bus with its engine on (as best I could tell) and appeared to walk out of sight toward Weaver Street Market; she returned about 10 minutes later. We then took off and I arrived at Glen Lennox shopping center with about 40 mins elapsed. That's just too long to make this attractive. How can we improve this?

Southern Community Park - 6 PM (yesterday)

More people this time. There was a game of inline? skating underway; one of the first times I have seen that rink in use. In addition, 3 walkers, 4-5 on the basketball courts, 1 dog, 1 jogger, 1 adult and child in the playground, and 6 bikers. At most, that totaled a couple of dozen people.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Southern Community Park - 4:45 PM

I made the rounds again today around the Park. I ran into 2 walkers, and an adult and child in the playground. Zero other people.

Monday, August 09, 2010

Southern Community Park

The Town of Chapel Hill seems headed toward hiring a consultant to analyze the parks and recreation program. I sure hope they will tell us what the assessment is of how successful has been the Soutrhern Community Park.

Yesterday - Sunday- as I walked around the park about 4 PM, I was struck yet again by how few people were there. I saw one jogger, two people on bikes, a third on a bike with a small child on the back, 2 guys seemingly throwing frisbees on that "course", 3 walkers, a group of about 10 having a picnic in the shelter, a few on the playground, one fellow shotting baskets, 4 on the skating "rink" but surely did not seem to be engaging in any skating, and that was about it. Worth the millions we invested in this?

I sure hope the consultants will be looking hard at these kinds of data.

Friday, August 06, 2010