Tab Combs @DrTCombs@transportation.social

well I'm not likely to be making any friends with that email.

Brb turning on my out of office autoresponder

OMG OMG OMG IT'S HERE!!!

you those videos where people put a cucumber in a room with a cat and the cat loses its mind?

that, but the cucumber is a construction vehicle in the distance and the cat is literally everyone in a car.

https://urbanists.video/w/hpkbSN41dMqmJRcmHvon8u

#CarBrain ruins everything

My dirty fingers give me hope.

A friend's kid needed emergency roadside bike repair this morning on their ride to school, and I happily obliged.

I'm glad my friend's kid has the freedeom to #BikeToSchool independently, and am glad to be a part of a community that is working to make this possible for more kids.

TL;DR:
NC town hiring multiple positions, including town manager, town clerk, two planners, and an entire parks and rec department. You are encouraged to *not* apply...

https://transportation.social/@DrTCombs/112473899460349174

BTW, Oak Ridge is a pretty awesome town. It had a very progressive mayor for a long time. He hired a top-notch staff who did their best to balance rural charm with modern demands. And Oak Ridge is on the #MountainsToSea trail, so you can get there on foot it you want to. It's pretty bad ass.

As the daughter of Oak Ridge's former long-time mayor, I cannot help but bask in a little hometown pride. Oak Ridge isn't perfect, but by george we are NOT Summerfield.

(9/9).

#Summerfield abuts my own hometown, #OakRidgeNC. Both communities incorporated around the same time, in response to concerns over being annexed by Greensboro. The towns had similar pasts, but took very different approaches to planning, governance, and growth management after incorporating.

As a planner, it's been utterly fascinating to watch the chaos Summerfield's zealous NIMBYism has caused. (8/n)

The local weekly paper, The Northwest Observer, broke the story yesterday on their facebook page last night, and posted the text of the staff's collective resignation letter today.

https://www.facebook.com/NorthwestObserver/posts/pfbid0ufRN3nMFPBHsFB5AVvUggMwvU4hAaJ7Wd3LcxpNsB1dynYYhrxh2wigifCVUDc8Ml

https://www.nwobserver.com/articles/featured-stories/the-great-resignation/

(7/n).

The town manager is a beloved member of the community, and was well-respected by his staff of 8. So when council announced the manager was not having his contract renewed--and thus effectively being fired but without the benefit of severance pay--staff got mad.

So mad, in fact, that yesterday evening, at the close of the town's annual 2-day Founders' Day celebration, all 8 of them tendered their resignation. (6/n).

Anyway, things just got a lot more saucy.

#Summerfield's long-time town manager had been working to mitigate some of the worst consequences of the council's NIMBYism, including working with the developer to try and find a non-de-annexation solution.

And that pissed council off royally.

So, a month or so ago, council decided in a closed door session to not renew the town manager's contract when it expires in June. (5/n)

But it may also provide a fascinating laboratory for studying the consequences of exclusionary zoning (albeit through the lens of another form of exclusion--these townhomes are meant to cater to wealth beyond Summerfield's wildest dreams). (4/n)

But rather than wait to see how the lawsuit plays out, Couch, a wealthy and well-connected Republican, has been working with NC's right-wing legislature to advance a bill to de-annex his property from Summerfield altogether.

This move would set a dangerous precedent for local governments in NC, where towns are already constitutionally hamstrung by state regulations, most of which are very conservative. (3/n).

...a potential lawsuit by the #NAACP over the town's #ExclusionaryZoning code (which requires a minimum 1.5 acre lot size for residential development).

An out-of-town developer, David Couch, has been credited with tipping the NAACP off about #Summerfield. Couch has spent the past few years assembling a ~1000 acre tract of formerly farmland near the historic center of town, on which he has proposed a high-density-but-also-high-end townhome community. (2/n)

This story has something in it for everyone.

The town of #SummerfieldNC lies just north of Greensboro, North Carolina, and has seen a transition from rural farming village to bedroom community to reluctant suburb over the past two decades.

#Summerfield's current town council was voted in on a hardcore #NIMBYism platform. Putting that platform into action, however, has led to some substantial consequences for the town, including... (1/n)

#planning #LocalGov #government

Having done quite a bit of long-distance backpacking in my day, I can say with the certainty the answer is bear.