News Digest for Town of Carrboro, NC (April 18, 2023) 

Get ready for the Earth Day Celebration on Saturday, attend a Poetry Month event, consider volunteering for Keep Carrboro Beautiful, and check out the 203 Project April update in this issue of Carrboro This Week.

Come Celebrate Earth Day!

Join us this Sunday, April 22 at the  Carrboro Town Commons to celebrate Earth Day 2023! 

With the Chapel Hill Service League, the Town of Carrboro is partnering on an Earth Day Celebration on Saturday, April 22 from 3:30 to 6 p.m. at Carrboro Town Commons, 301 W. Main St. 

Carrboro's Earth Day event will feature a variety of information and education tables to learn more about climate and environmental topics in our community and Community Climate Action initiatives such as Carrboro's Green Neighborhood initiative, Solarize Carrboro, weatherization, sustainability, food footprint, composting, recycling and EV vehicles.  There will be activities for children including a parade (animal and plant costumes welcome), planet-friendly vegan and vegetarian food for purchase, and climate and environmental Earth Day Free Book giveaways.  Celebrate the Earth with Carrboro!

Together, we can create a strong sense of community as we work to better our Earth. Come get inspired. The earth is in our hands! 

Volunteer to Keep Carrboro Beautiful

Celebrate Earth Day and help clean the Town of Carrboro and prevent trash from entering our local streams. Feel free to bring your work gloves and dress to potentially get dirty. 

Volunteers will meet in front of the Century Center at the statue in the grass on Sunday, April 22 at 9 a.m.  We will have extra gloves and trash bags available.  Groups are welcome to participate but please let us know you are helping. 

Please register your family or group by calling 919-918-7392. This event is free.

Mildred Council Community Dinner scheduled for April 30

The Orange County Human Relations Commission and Office of Equity & Inclusion are co-sponsoring the 23rd Annual Mildred Council Community Dinner to be held Sunday, April 30, 2023, at 1 p.m. in the McDougle Middle School Cafeteria, 900 Old Fayetteville Rd. in Chapel Hill, NC. 

The Community Dinner is a community building event, crossing economic, racial, religious and ethnic barriers and presenting a wealth of wonderful, culturally diverse food and entertainment from our own community.  In 2014, The Community Dinner was a winner of a National League of Cities Award for Cultural Diversity

Mildred Council, aka "Mama Dip," was the creator of this event and our source of inspiration and partner for 21 Community Dinners, celebrating our community's cultural diversity. She is sorely missed by all who knew her. Her legacy continues through her children and grandchildren.

Mildred Council's family at Mama Dip's Kitchen will be coordinating the menu and, along with the Carolina Inn, provide the Dinner's main courses. We are very pleased that the Council family want to keep their association with this event, which was so important to their mother, Mama Dip. In addition, many local restaurants and churches donate side dishes and desserts to complete the feast. This gives attendees the opportunity to taste food from our many community partners who contributed dishes, all in one place.

You can make a one time or recurring donation to this effort here. Create an account, navigate to donate page, select Community Dinner under "Select a Fund" drop down menu.

For more information about the Community Dinner, visit the Community Dinner Website at www.communitydinner.com.

April community update for the 203 Project

Crews are finishing construction of the foundation system and first floor cast-in-place concrete on the 203 Project this month. 

Preparations are being made to pour the second floor concrete slab on Friday, April 21. Utility crews are expected to begin removing old aerial communication cables around the site in the coming weeks. Please check the Town’s social media for ongoing utility work notifications.

In other updates, the Town Council will be considering policies and procedures for naming the building at the April 25 regular Town Council meeting.

Background 
The $42 million development will be the future home of the Orange County Southern Branch Library. The facility will also provide a permanent home for the Orange County Skills Development Center; Carrboro Recreation, Parks and Cultural Resources Department; WCOM Radio; and performance/multipurpose uses. The 203 Project will provide opportunities for education, art and community connection.

More information:

• The Town of Carrboro posts regular updates to the community on the Town website and through social media. Sign up to receive Carrboro Town News updates at www.carrboronc.gov/signup 
• If you would like to be included on a neighborhood email distribution list, which includes residents living in the adjacent neighborhood and the local business community, please notify the203project@carrboronc.gov
• For more information and the latest drone videos, please visit  https://www.the203project.org/

Town Council Update

Meeting agendas and updates are issued from the Town Clerk’s Office. To receive these by email or text, sign up for Carrboro Town News at https://www.carrboronc.gov/list.aspx

Civic involvement is a valued tradition in our community. Reach the Town Council with your ideas, views, and questions at Council@carrboronc.gov

Coming Up
The Carrboro Town Council will hold the next Council Meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 18, 2023. The agenda is available at https://bit.ly/41zBZmI

This meeting will be held at Carrboro Town Hall, 301 W. Main St. Members of the public are welcome to attend in person or can view the livestream at https://carrboro.legistar.com/   OR YouTube.com/CarrboroNC OR Cable TV 18 (in Carrboro). 

To download a copy of the full meeting calendar visit https://www.carrboronc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/12313

Past Meetings 
The Carrboro Town Council met Tuesday, April 4, 2023, for a Council Meeting and took the following actions on the agenda posted at https://bit.ly/3zr1jz5

• Elected Danny Nowell to chair the April 4, 2023 meeting.
• Absences of three Council Members excused.
• The Poetry Month 2023 Proclamation and The Resolution Supporting Extension of the Temporary Protected Status Program for Guatemala are moved to the next Council Meeting (April 18, 2023).
• Appointed Margaret Kurz, Beth Vollins and Deanna Hardesty to the Stormwater Advisory Commission.
• Approved the expansion of the Climate Action Team from nine to thirteen members.
• Appointed Jane Danielewicz, Meg Molloy, Greg Randolph, Riz Rashdi and Nicholas Stover to the Climate Action Team.
• Approved the wording and location for a double-sided Toney and Nellie Strayhorn Homeplace Plaque.
• Considered information on potential naming policies for town-owned facilities and rooms.
• Postponed appointments to the Planning Board to the April 18, 2023 agenda.
• Requested clarification on what information will be used and how education will fit into the public engagement plan for Bolin Creek Greenway.

Town Council 
The Town Council, which is the legislative and policy-making body for Carrboro, comprises Mayor Damon Seils, Mayor Pro Tempore Susan Romaine, Council Member Barbara Foushee, Council Member Randee Haven-O’Donnell, Council Member Danny Nowell, Council Member Eliazar Posada, and Council Member Sammy Slade. More information is available at https://www.carrboronc.gov/248/Town-Council

Carrboro Open Streets 2023

Thank you to everyone who came out to Carrboro Open Streets this past Sunday. The community enjoyed making smoothies with bicycle powered blenders, learning new skills like CPR and how to stop or yield on a bike, decorating Weaver Street with sidewalk chalk, jumping rope, and so much more!

We look forward to seeing you next year when we open up the streets again for Carrboro to run, jump and play!

MUSIC MAKER FOUNDATION’S NINTH ANNUAL “FREIGHT TRAIN BLUES” CONCERT SERIES RETURNS, EXPANDED TO EIGHT EVENING EVENTS FROM MAY 5 - JUNE 23

The Town of Carrboro, N.C., proudly presents the Music Maker Foundation’s Freight Train Blues series of live concerts every Friday evening between May 5 and June 23, 2023, at the Carrboro Town Commons, 301 W. Main Street. The series is a collaboration among  Music Maker Foundation; the Town of Carrboro; WUNC 91.5 FM; and The Forests at Duke.

Bring your picnic, lawn chairs and blankets for an evening of live music on the lawn. Public parking is available and free in downtown Carrboro.

More information: www.freighttrainblues.com 

An annual event, the concert series honors GRAMMY-winning folk and blues artist and North Carolina Music Hall of Famer Elizabeth “Libba” Cotten, born in Carrboro, N.C. in 1893. Cotten’s soulful voice and unique guitar style have rendered her a legend in the world of blues, leading her to receive National Heritage Fellowship in 1984 and a GRAMMY award in 1985. She lived to be 104 years old and died in 1987. Her songs, like the iconic “Freight Train,” have been reimagined by artists like The Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan. In 2022, she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Music Maker Foundation honors Cotten’s legacy in the world of roots music by emphasizing the cultural diversity, complexity, and vitality of her music and the music of many other artists local to her community and all over the country.

Read more at https://www.carrboronc.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=2359 

Stormwater maintenance underway in neighborhoods

A contract crew for the Town of Carrboro will be cleaning and performing a video assessment of stormwater infrastructure over the next couple of weeks. 

This work is an important element of both ongoing maintenance and a new townwide stormwater infrastructure condition assessment motivated by climate action and community resilience. 

This round of work will be done in the following locations:

• Barred Owl Creek Neighborhood
• Webbwood Subdivision
• Quarterpath Trace Subdivision
• Bolin Forest Subdivision
• Waverly Forest Subdivision
• Fidelity Street
• Poplar Street
• Davie Street
• Starlite Drive
• Brewer Lane/ Hargraves Street Area

There may be minor traffic interruptions in these areas to allow for safe access to stormwater infrastructure such as inlets and manholes, but roadways will remain open to traffic. The crew may need to access structures within Town-owned easements, if they need to enter your property, you will be informed in advance.

If you have any questions or would like more information please contact the Carrboro Stormwater Division at 919-913-2999 or Stormwater@CarrboroNC.gov.

2023 Jacquelyn Gist Summer Apprenticeship in the Arts

The Carrboro Arts Committee is offering an award of up to $1,000 to assist emerging young artists in developing their talent through the Jacquelyn Gist Summer Apprenticeship in the Arts program.  A total of up to three (3) apprenticeships are available.

More information can be found at https://www.carrboronc.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=2372

Deadline: May 1, 2023 at 5 pm