by Ann Ansley
Carrboro Commons Writer

Jambalaya. Crawfish bread. Fried alligator.

These are a few of the traditional entrees found on menus in restaurants scattered along the Louisiana coastline.

UNC-Chapel Hill freshmen Nicole Bieber and Ricky Hurtado engage in conversation beneath the ‘gators at the bar in Crawdaddy’s.
Photo by Ann Ansley

But now they are conveniently available for the palates of Carrboro’s inhabitants.

Crawdaddy’s Cajun Cafe opened Jan. 14 at 302 E. Main St., the previous location of Bandido’s Mexican Cafe.

But as Crawdaddy’s owner Tony Sustaita will tell you, this restaurant is quite different from Bandido’s and anywhere else in the Orange County area.

“The most important part of the restaurant is having good food and good service,” said Sustaita. “But we went a step further and wanted people to have a good time.”

The cafe features a number of unique and colorful decorations. Sustaita spent the last eight months acquiring the restaurant’s ornamentation, which includes two alligators above the bar. One of the alligators has in its mouth an arm with a Duke University banner in hand, while the other alligator has a ram on its back. Sustaita said he wanted to make it clear which university Crawdaddy’s supports.

In keeping with its mantra of fun and entertainment, Crawdaddy’s plays loud, festive music and hosts bands that play on the small stage of the restaurant. So far, The Haw River Rounders, a fiddle, banjo, washboard and harmonica group, have played, as well as the Latin band that previously played in Bandido’s. There will also be open-mike nights soon, said Sustaita.

Crawdaddy’s features an array of Cajun dishes largely compiled by Sustaita. In the months preceding Crawdaddy’s opening, Sustaita spoke with a number of chef consultants, researched and visited other Cajun restaurants, tried six different recipes for jambalaya and had taste tests before finalizing the menu.

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by Allison McNeill
Carrboro Commons Writer

Originally, Hunger and Homelessness Outreach Project, a UNC-Chapel Hill Campus Y committee, wanted to hold a 5K to raise money and awareness. Instead, the members decided to produce an eye-opening documentary about homelessness and poverty in Chapel Hill and Carrboro.

Megan Strickland, a first-year of Little Rock, AR., (left), Jon Young, a sophomore philosophy and photojournalism major of Charlotte, N.C., (middle), and Swathi Sekar, a sophomore anthropology major from Miami, are members of HOPE that have contributed to the documentary.
Photo by Allison McNeill

On Feb. 5, about 30 people sat in chairs and on the floor and leaned against the walls of the back room at Open Eye Cafe in Carrboro for a screening of “Faces of Franklin.”

Meghan Prichard, a first-year student from Cary majoring in journalism and mass communication and American studies, says she learned of the event via an Internet social-network invitation.

Hannah Frederick, a sophomore history major from Raleigh and member of HOPE, said the documentary started last semester. She said that although the documentary is only 20 minutes, the creators plan to eventually make it a full-length feature.

“Faces of Franklin” focuses on six homeless men in the community. Maggie West, a sophomore double majoring in public policy and Latin America studies from Raleigh and a member of the documentary team, said she and other members spoke to homeless individuals — without a video camera.

They went to Franklin Street and the Inter-Faith Council of Chapel Hill at dinner and spoke to people at each table. Those interested came back the next day to start the interviews. The team also left a sign-up sheet at the IFC.

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by Kennedy Carruthers
Carrboro Commons Writer

At Tuesday’s business meeting, the Board of Aldermen adopted a resolution submitted by the Planning Committee to modify maximum light levels in two downtown zoning districts.

The Board of Aldermen discuss the Planning Committee’s proposal to increase light intensity in two downtown zoning districts at Tuesday’s business meeting. The resolution passed despite concerns about light invading residents’ privacy.
Photo by Jenny Tenney

The modification will mean foot candles in the residential properties in the B-1(c) and B-1(g) zoning districts will increase in light intensity from the current 0.2 foot cap to 2.0 feet.

The zones include Carrboro locales such as Carr Mill Mall and Carrboro Town Hall.

Lauren Van Sant of Main Street Properties originally requested the modification to the light ordinance. According to Alderman Lydia Lavelle, Van Sant is part of the team heading the 300 E. Main St. project, a mixed use building that will sit within the zones affected by the resolution (where the ArtsCenter is currently located).

But despite the approval for the resolution, board members expressed concern about the future impact of the increased light intensity.

“I can think of all sorts of concerns,” Alderman Jacquelyn Gist said. Gist predicted residents of mixed use buildings to be concerned with the foot candle’s increased light level.

Aldermen Dan Coleman and Randee Haven-O’Donnell also expressed concern with future repercussions. Coleman suggested that the higher light levels could reach residents’ windows and therefore be seen as intrusive.

“I think Jacquie is right,” Haven-O’Donnell said of Gist’s concerns, “that, sooner or later, this may come around again.”

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by Evelyn Greene
Carrboro Commons Photo Editor

Zombies invaded Carr Mill Mall last week, but don’t be too alarmed. These zombies only exist on paper and as latex creations.

Wootini, a store in the mall, launched an exhibit Friday, Feb. 8, based on the soon-to-be -released movie “Sick and the Dead.”

Brockton McKinney stands in front of the Sick and the Dead Wall at Wootini located in Carr Mill Mall. McKinney, co-director and co-writer of the film holds “Rodney” a mask used in the movie

Photo by Eve Greene

Wootini is known for its art exhibits, and Michael Maher, of Carrboro, N.C., the store’s owner, said that these types of events draw large crowds from all over. “Heck, the last one was so awesome we had people fly here from California and wait four hours for us to open,” Maher said.

The “Sick and the Dead” exhibit is likely to draw more local traffic to the store. “All these pieces are from people who had something to do with the movie,” said Brockton McKinney, of Carrboro, N.C., founding member of Magic Twanger Productions, the company behind the movie. The exhibit includes pen and ink drawings, colorful posters and work by artists such as Chris Moreno of Studio City, Calif.; Bo Fader, of Carrboro, N.C.; and Laurie Shipley, of Chapel Hill, N.C.

Aside from viewing the art, people visiting the gallery can learn about the cast and crew’s ideas and inspiration. Maher asked the crew to create a “behind-the-scenes board to show people how things came to be.” Visitors can also view the trailer and an excerpt from the movie on a television nestled among bloody zombie legs, torsos and even a head fondly nicknamed “Rodney.”

Before “Sick and the Dead,” Magic Twanger Productions had only made short films, so McKinney was thrilled when they were offered the chance to make a full-length movie. They were given the opportunity to make “a low-budget, no-budget kind of indie zombie movie,” McKinney recalled. “It was pretty much a dream come true.”

After three months of writing the script, the team began filming at the end of 2006, thinking they could finish within six months. “We didn’t know what we were getting into,” McKinney said. “We had never shot anything over 20 minutes before.”

“Sick and the Dead” was filmed primarily in Carrboro, Chapel Hill and other Triangle locations. Finding stores and buildings that would allow filming was difficult and caused some on-the-spot rewriting and location changes. Creating sound effects to simulate knives whizzing through the air and zombie skulls being smashed also proved more difficult than the crew expected. Using anything from pumpkins filled with meat to fishing poles, the crew turned McKinney’s front yard into a sound-effects studio. “It’s OK, we’re making a zombie movie,” McKinney recalls yelling at one point to reassure a passing jogger.

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by Tracey Theret
Carrboro Commons Co-Editor

A new bike path available to Carrboro residents will help pave the way for a family to purchase an affordable home in town.

The path, which begins in the back of Roberson Place, runs behind a long strip of the neighborhood’s backyards and snakes up to a piece of property on Eugene Street, formerly owned by Piedmont Electric.

The new Roberson bike path runs from the bottom of Roberson Place up to the old Piedmont Electric property on Eugene Street. The Carrboro Board of Aldermen transferred remaining property to the Orange Community Housing and Land Trust, which will build an affordable home on the land.

Photo by Tracey Theret

When the Carrboro Board of Aldermen initially discussed purchasing this property in efforts to complete the path, members said they wanted to use the remaining Eugene Street land to build an affordable home.

“Anytime we get an opportunity to add even one affordable unit we want to take it,” Alderman Jacquelyn Gist said.

The board unanimously passed a resolution transferring the remaining property to the Orange Community Housing and Land Trust in a meeting Feb. 5.

The Land Trust is a nonprofit organization that works to provide affordable housing to people who live or work in Orange County and make less than 80 percent of the area’s medium income. It has provided 13 units of affordable housing in Carrboro since 2000.

Executive Director Robert Dowling said plans are in the works to build a single-family bungalow-style house at the Eugene Street location. The house will have three bedrooms and two bathrooms, comprising about 1,400 square feet.

It will cost approximately $190,000 to build the house, Dowling said, but it will be sold at about $125,000. The trust uses federal and state subsidies to make affordable housing available to Orange County residents.

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by Lindsay Ash
Carrboro Commons Writer

Students and community residents took an inventive step toward linking Carrboro to a more sustainable future Sunday at the Carrboro Century Center.

Chapel Hill High School students Alicia Cohen and Erin Holdaway display their fictional sustainable island named Kabuki. Kabuki is an island in the Caribbean that had areas that were developed, including a downtown and business area, but also had reserved green space that was left undeveloped.
Photo by Lindsay Ash.

Chapel Hill High School students and environmental groups dedicated to climate change, sustainable growth and water resources joined forces to explore how to conserve.

The event, called “Celebration of Earth and Sky,” centered on Robert Greenberg’s Earth and Environmental Science class that created models of fictional islands. The islands required extensive research into the notion of sustainability and its relevance in the community.

“Our research triggered the question, why aren’t we doing any of this here?” said Alicia Cohen, 16, a sophomore at Chapel Hill High School.

Greenberg assigned the island project with William McDonough and Michael Braungart’s “cradle-to-cradle” design in mind. Cradle-to-cradle design suggests a framework in which the effective, regenerative cycles of nature are models for human designs.

Writing in their book, “Cradle to Cradle,” McDonough and Braungart explain. “Imagine a world in which all the things we make, use and consume provide nutrition for nature and industry—a world in which growth is good and human activity generates a delightful, restorative ecological footprint.”

The philosophy, that emphasizes the continuing community over the individual’s cradle-to-grave experience, inspired all of the students’ and other environmental groups’ projects.

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by Sean Umstead
Carrboro Commons Writer

Tyler’s Restaurant and Taproom is used to eruptions of cheer for touchdowns and slam-dunks, but the cheering did not stop when the screens switched to CNN.

Last week, Tyler’s hosted a Super Tuesday rally for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Super Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008, is the day when 24 states hold their primaries, caucuses or state conventions.

Obama supporters take in the excitement of Super Tuesday at Tyler’s Restaurant and Taproom.
Photo by Sean Umstead

The bar and cigar lounge transformed to campaign central, complete with T-shirts, stickers and Obama bobbleheads. Residents from all over the Triangle came out to lend their support to Obama.

The atmosphere was tense but optimistic as supporters watched poll results. When CNN’s Wolf Blitzer spoke, the room hushed into silence and then boomed when he announced Obama as the night’s winner over candidate Hillary Clinton.

Barack fever has been building across the country, and it was evident in Carrboro on Tuesday.

“A lot of [his popularity] comes from him being inclusive rather than divisive,” said Obama rally co-host Adam Rodman.

Others expressed a similar sentiment, citing inclusivity as their reason for support.

“He does a better job of closing the gap between people,” said Durham resident Erin Hite. “Hillary [Clinton] polarizes.”

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by Kate Searcy
Carrboro Commons Writer

The Carrboro Cybrary isn’t like other libraries. There are no endless shelves of books or stacks of movies and cassettes. There are however, plenty of computers—computers that are serving a purpose in the lives of many patrons looking to brush up on their technological skills.

Anne Pusey teaches the computer classes at the Cybrary. The award-winning classes are taught solely by volunteers.
Photo by Kate Searcy

The Cybrary, located on the ground floor of the Carrboro Century Center, offers free computer classes to the general public on Wednesday nights from 7 to 8 p.m.

The subjects vary, from computer and Web basics to online health information for senior citizens. Library cards are optional, and pre-registration is recommended but not required. If there is a spot available when the class begins, anyone can come in and fill it, according to Anne Pusey, the circulation supervisor of the Cybrary.

Pusey, who is also a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, teaches all of the classes available at the Cybrary. The Chapel Hill Public Library, the Carrboro Branch Library, and the Durham Public Library also offer computer classes on differing subjects.

Since the classes are a partnership with UNC libraries, most of the teachers are UNC students, according to Pusey. All of the teachers are volunteers, and anyone can ask to teach the classes, Pusey stated.

The Cybrary is equipped with five computers, so space in the classes is limited but people can also bring their own laptops. The other libraries offering classes have more space – the Chapel Hill Public Library can seat 20-25 people, according to Pusey.

“The Cybrary is a more intimate setting, but as long as we have a teacher, we can offer the classes,” she stated.

The classes offer a great opportunity to the public, according to Pusey. “There is a need in the community to ease the gap between people who don’t have computers and don’t know how to use them and people who do,” she said.

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by Allie Maupin
Carrboro Commons Writer

Real estate in Carrboro has not fully escaped the effects of the deteriorating national housing market, but local real estate agents remain hopeful for 2008.

Don Basnight, seen working in his office at Weaver Street Realty, is concerned about the real
estate slump but thinks sales this year in the Carrboro market will be strong.

Photo by Allie Maupin

Bronwyn Merritt, a real estate agent with Community Realty in Carrboro for the past two years, said she has seen a definite lag in sales since the beginning of 2006.

“Here in Carrboro, the marketplace is slow,” Merritt said. “There are more homes on the market for longer periods of time.”

She said that Carrboro has seen a significant change in its home absorption rate, a calculation of the average amount of time it takes to sell a home in a given area.

“It is all about supply and demand,” Merritt said. “A home that would usually sell in three months now takes up to seven because the market is flooded.”

Ben Johnson, a UNC-CH junior originally from Valdese, NC, saw this first-hand with the Carrboro home he rents on Ruth Street, off of Laurel Avenue.

“The house I rent now was on the market for a while, but it just did not sell,” Johnson said. “My landlord had to rent it out instead because he could not get the price he wanted.”

Nationally, the real estate market continues to fight its deepest recession in recent years.

On Feb. 7, the National Association of Realtors released a report predicting a further recession in the U.S. housing market through the first half of 2008. They predicted that despite lower mortgage rates, home values are projected to drop 1.2 percent this month.

However, lower property prices in Carrboro do not necessarily mean decreases in home values. Merritt believes that sellers have to lower prices not because the home is worth less, but to get an edge over other homes on the market.

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