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�s <br /> r; <br /> To: Orange County Hoard of County Commissioners <br /> From: .Tim Protzman, Mac Protzman, Anne Fleming, and Margot Wilkenson <br /> Subject: Proposed name change for Williams Street <br /> As residents and property owners on Williams Street, we are rather <br /> disturbed by the capricious and unnecessary proposal to change the name <br /> of our street. Our objections to that proposal are twofold: <br /> First, a majority of the people who actually live on Williams Street <br /> do not desire the name change. Of the seven residences on the street, we <br /> represent three-fourths of the property owners who have Williams Street as <br /> a mailing address. The other residences are rental properties, two of which <br /> (mobile homes) have been vacant for years, another of which has an annual <br /> tenant turnover. <br /> In addition, one of the property owners, Margot Wilkerson, operates her <br /> own private business out of her home. She would be severly penalized in <br /> terms of time, inconvenience and money, if the name change is effected. <br /> Because it Is unlikely that the desires of the residents is an important <br /> consideration in this matter, the second reason for our concern is probably <br /> more significant: the name change is not necessary. <br /> None of the public services which operate in our neighborhood are even <br /> slightly inconvenienced or confused by the fact that there is a Williams St. <br /> in Carrboro and a Williams Circle in Chapel Hill. Our public safety officers, <br /> fire and rescue squads, UPS delivery person and paper boys all know that <br /> we live on Williams Street, and, more importantly, they know where Williams <br /> Street is. <br /> We hasten to add that they have this knowledge in spite of the fact that <br /> there have never been any street markers indicating the names of the streets <br /> in our neighborhood. It seems surprising to us that the one-man bureau of <br /> street-name-changing has developed such an intense concern for our welfare <br /> so suddenly. A more likely explanation, however, is that a bureaucratic <br /> fixation on closure (that is, to stamp out ones and for all any street name <br /> duplication in the county) is dictating this proposal. We, the persons most <br /> affected by the proposal, find any of these explanations untenable. <br /> A final, point. The single home-owner on Williams St. who signed the <br /> petition for the name change has been convinced by the person who carried <br /> that petition that her life and safety depend critically on the immediate <br /> changing of her street name. Although we have been unable to convince her <br /> otherwise, we would like to object strongly to the use of such tactics <br /> to gain resident cooperation. Further, she reported to us that "the county <br /> said they'd change it whether we wanted it or not." We submit that this <br /> statement reflects an unfo,.tunate and undesirable state of affairs between <br /> a government and its constituents. <br /> i <br /> j Thank you for your consideration. <br /> I <br /> 3 <br /> is <br /> r <br />