BY MILES LAYTON

Time crunched these days but here it goes with Edenton Town Council…

None of the topics in this story are any typical order – just the things that flowed from my memory after Tuesday’s meeting.

First – yes, everyone is right, certain stoplights, such as the one at the intersection of N. Broad/Church streets, yep, we’ve all noticed that they take a LONG time to cross. While waiting for the light to turn green at Church Street, I was able to write a PhD dissertation, text my wife and respond to an emoji from my daughter. 

City leaders are aware of the problem — turns out that this stoplight, and others, are on the default setting (long) until sensors that are needed to mitigate traffic flow can be installed. 

During the public comment portion of the meeting, Lorrie Dablow spoke about the community’s reaction to the recent shooting incident at Food Lion.  

“What happens in our home, good, bad, or indifferent, affects all of us, which is why the local newspapers and social media and friends and neighbors and others are still talking about the shocking events,” she said.   

Dablow lives on South Broad – owns the Edenton Tea Shoppe, where the Chowan Herald was located for many years. Good tea shop.

Anyway, Dablow praised Edenton Police Chief David LaFon’s effort for organizing a community meeting to provide citizens with much-needed information about what had happened.  
 
“I think the Chief’s instincts about coordinating a community meeting that provided the kind of triage experience for a lot of people is just right spot on. It’s great.”

That said, Dablow said crime is headed our way.  
 
“But, you know, in hindsight, we really shouldn’t have been so surprised by the presence of crime tape around our little Food Lion and all those police cars with their lights going. If you paid attention to a WAVY news report that came out in August of 2024 and the findings of the violent crime plan, and that multi-agency group that has been working together with our local law enforcement, there was a lot there to suggest that this was coming down the pipe.”

Dablow continued, “I know we were all greatly relieved and that 60 people plus people inside the Food Lion and that the 30 plus people out in the parking lot were not physically harmed. But I don’t think I’ll ever really be the same again after coming so close to such a harsh reality of crime in our home.”

Dablow then drove her point home – addressing crime in Edenton.    

“My hope is that we’re sufficiently convinced now that there really is a serious problem, that we don’t need for something even more tragic to happen in order to motivate us to take a look at the root causes of crime in Edenton and to figure out the tough question of why is this area such fertile ground for gang recruitment? The EPD and the multi-agency collaboration are doing a great job of law enforcement, but they can’t be expected to solve the whole problem of crime.”

Dablow makes a good point – crime prevention.     

“If we want to live and work and gather in a safe home that we all love and enjoy, it’s clear that crime prevention needs to become our top priority. So I’m looking forward tonight to hearing how our town government plans to direct additional resources, time and money for the question of how to prevent crime by addressing its root causes in our community.”

Editor’s NOTE – Root causes… Long sigh… Regardless of drive-by media stories written by idiot reporters who don’t have the slightest clue about how the world works, especially the criminal world, I can say that crime happens where crime happens. Some places are worse than others. Knowing how hard our local law officers work and the strides they’ve made to keep our community safe, the world would be a better place if they could predict where crimes occur, but there is no crystal ball. Can more be done to prevent crime? That’s certainly true with any community. However, Edenton is a safe place to live – same as Chowan County.

Even if I hadn’t worked as a courts/cops reporter for decades, now retired, how do I know that Edenton is a safe place to live? Because the Albemarle Observer receives weekly crime reports from the Edenton Police Department, and we’re apprised of what’s happening in the county by the Chowan County Sheriff’s Office. Honestly, most weeks, these reports are filled with run-of-the-mill crime – not like the violent stuff from Elizabeth City, a place that’s affected by spillover from large cities nearby in Virginia.  

Worth noting, the Albemarle Observer doesn’t obsess over crime reporting like certain other news outlets that seem to lose their minds every time something bad happens. Instead, we report what we must, but feel that an outsized emphasis on crime stories creates a bad/false impression of the community. If all you read about is crime, then you’re less likely to invest in a home or business in those places. There is so much more to our communities than dirtbags doing dirty deeds.

Last note about Food Lion/crime, EPD has erected an “alert pole” that monitors activity at Food Lion — if something stupid happens, police will know and can respond that VERY quickly.

Architecture Today

Christopher and Jenny Liberatos of Liberatos Architects LLC gave an informative presentation about instituting architectural guidelines for Edenton.

Council is going to evaluate these guidelines before deciding as to whether to move forward.  

“Our buildings, we’ve succeeded in some places, but if you ride to down to Nags Head and go into Manteo, there’s a CVS right there that looks great. We’ve all seen it. We’ve tried before, and they got they got that and we got this. And I think that’s why these people are here,” Council member Sambo Dixon said, referencing Edenton’s 4-square brick non-descript CVS.

Dixon continued, “We can say, you build stuff and it’s not always more expensive. You just have to not build it like you want to build it in California because what makes this place different is that it’s different from Elizabeth City. You know what I mean? It’s just different than all these other places.”   

Council member Craig Miller interjected, “I remember us talking to CVS people here. They gave us a run around — like, they’re going to do what they want to do.”

Council was not necessarily picking on CVS since there are other buildings like that which makes you want a better architectural theme for Edenton.  
   
Why does this matter? Because we want our town to have the symmetry and balance that architecture provides. 

No one wants to live in a town that looks exactly like the one up the road – but that’s becoming more and more commonplace as corporations clone their storefronts near and far. Ever notice how you can recognize one pharmacy town after town? Well, that cloning process is what might be called the “McDonald-ization” of architecture. 

Town planners strive to foster a common theme approach – in Edenton’s case, a classical theme that embraces traditional concepts of symmetry, order, and proportion, drawing inspiration from ancient Greek and Roman architectural styles. It prioritizes using specific architectural decorative elements like facades and pediments, and durable building materials like stone. The design principles of classical architecture ensure a harmonious and aesthetically pleasing structure. 

To be candid, this approach is why Edenton’s downtown looks excellent, not like some modernist architect — who was high on his supply — designed the buildings. That’s why the houses and grand homes are aesthetically aligned. 

However, Edenton seeks to formalize standards better so that you don’t have unsightly and boring structures – buildings that may become hard to lease as businesses move on. If a building is designed as a “legacy building” then not only can it more easily attract business owners, but it also underscores Edenton’s unique architectural vibe.      
  

I’ll concede that my writing about architectural themes in a standard council meeting story may seem out of place, but this issue is important to a town’s longterm identity. Don’t believe me? When I mention places like Franklin Street in Chapel Hill or Hillsborough Street and certainly Five Points in Raleigh, perhaps Fifth Street in Greenville, your mind’s eye knows these places. The Liberatos share this vision for Edenton, the same as Town Council.  

Here are a few takeaways from Jenny Liberatos’ presentation. Why does everything look the same?  

“The building industry and zoning and building codes — These are basically what you’re up against. This is why you’re not getting good new architecture just automatically.”

Then there’s the whole disaster that is becoming a lunatic fringe architect – why is that?  

“There’s almost no school that teaches traditional architecture anymore,” Jenny Liberatos said. “There are a 40 architecture schools in the country and only one focuses on traditional and classical architecture… Building industry with the zoning and the building codes – they really have all just shifted the focus away from the local building trades and towards building components that can be assembled, shipped in from elsewhere and assembled. So that’s why buildings are so disappointing.”

What can be done about it? 

“There’s the traditional way of going about building a city. A city starts as a little nucleus of an idea… This is how Edenton has grown,” Jenny said Liberatos. “You start with a few streets and a few blocks. And then as the population grows, as their needs expand, you lay out more streets, you add more blocks, and then you rely on traditional architects and builders to fill in the gaps, fill in the blocks, fill in the lots with nice buildings that all work harmoniously together.”

She continued, “Since this model can’t be purely relied upon anymore, then places of unique character need to kind of reestablish what their languages are to present. If buildings are being built by people out of town, you want to be able to show them that this is what Edenton’s architecture is, the right place to focus.”  

99 Luft Balloons

Enough about architecture – let’s move onto balloons. Yes, Council has been discussing a balloon ordinance where if you release so many, a number that has yet to be determined, then you could be cited for littering. 

Get this – Council member Patrick Sellers noted that an offender would have 30 days to plead their case in court. Love this part – Sellers said if someone were to ask for a continuance, thereby pushing the matter beyond the 30-day limit to adjudicate the matter, that case would have to be dismissed because moving the matter forward exceeds the deadline for what I’ll call speedy justice – I love good lawyering. 30-day rule — If only we could do that with speeding tickets — good song by Sammy Hagar.

Thus, Council will let the General Assembly lead the way in its efforts to pass a balloon bill that can take flight to keep litter from falling from the skies. Town Hall will be drafting a letter supporting that balloon bill that Council will surely endorse at a future meeting.  

If you click the subhead — 99 Luft Balloons — it’ll send you to this 80s classic by Nena. What happened to those balloons? Speaking of Germany, check out this banger by Rammstein — Du Hast.

Nuggets of Interest

Other takeaways from the council meeting – Rand Williams of One Digital Employee Benefits gave a presentation about renewing insurance rates for Town Employees. It’s 9 p.m. and I haven’t had dinner so I’m not going to go into the weeds regurgitating numbers, boring our readers like this scene from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Long story short, Council opted for the best deal so employees won’t see their premiums shoot up, the annual budget won’t be screwed and taxpayers won’t be screaming – that’s good news.  

Edenton-Chowan Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Susan Creed gave a presentation about the Chamber’s efforts and success – more and more businesses are joining the Chamber. She deserves a gold star.  

Another nugget — our city leaders are checking on this statistic, but Edenton is either the first or second in the state with the highest growth in sales tax revenues – that means more and more tourists are coming to town.  

During public comments, Pat Grother made a strong case for more crosswalks, and she’s worried about jet skis and other water traffic – what will be done to enforce a no-wake zone.  

T&A Charters wants the Council to grant the business permission to dock their boat at the Town’s dock during the season. The business wants to give tours of Edenton Bay and into the Albemarle Sound. 

Back to the Council meeting — Boy Scout Pack and Troop 0164 talked about their trips, plans to help Scouts level up, and the importance of scouting. Thanks goes to Scoutmasters Edward “Scooter” Basnight and Chris Nagle. The feature photo for this article shows the Scouts.