We’re getting a park on the American Legion land. Why are people fighting it? 😬😬😬

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You may have seen messages imploring you to “save the park space at the American Legion property.” As usual, a ton of misinformation about this project is circulating around NextDoor and neighborhood listservs in Chapel Hill.

There’s now a website, a ‘working group’, yard signs, and talking points circulated by a leader in CHALT that repeat the tired old chestnut that there’s a need to “save” the Legion site. Emails have poured into the council inbox, imploring them to save the park.

However, today, there is no park. Just vacant land with an abandoned building on it. And no funding to create the park that everyone wants.

Make no mistake: the ongoing fight around the American Legion land in Chapel Hill is not about park space. We’re getting park space. A lot of park space.

This fight is about housing.

Oy. Tell me more.

More than 600 people use Cameron to bike to and from UNC every day. With a safer street, that number could double, which will make everyone’s commutes better.

We think that the Council and town staff should look into this. We expect that if this idea goes forward, that town staff with expertise in these areas would make a protected bike route that is safe and better, even if it looks slightly different than what we’re proposing. (In other words, we’re hoping to get this conversation started.)

And we need your help in starting this conversation.

Here are three ways you can help:

You can write a letter to the Town Council to let them know that you’d support a protected bike lane on Cameron.
You can also volunteer to help support this project.
You can share this blog post or the website with your neighbors and friends.

Three reasons to extend the Libba Cotten Bikeway to UNC

The Great Carrboro Saunter: A 32-mile walk around town....

In May each year, the Shorewalkers of New York hold an event called the Great Saunter, a 32-mile leisurely walk around the perimeter of Manhattan. It is a fantastic way to see the city while challenging yourself with a long distance urban hike.

I have done the Great Saunter a few times with family, but we’ve never managed to complete it.

However, in 2020, the year of the pandemic, the event went virtual, so I mapped out a course in Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and a bit of Durham, and decided this was the year I would do my 32-mile Saunter!

Read about Heidi's great adventure

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Over the summer, our friends at NEXT put together this impressive website outlining the decades of work that has been put into creating a linear parks network for Carrboro. While these efforts have faltered in the past for a variety of reasons, we hope that the Carrboro Town Council takes up the mantle again.