Previous Trips
In 1985 the Public Private Partnership (PPP), a group of engaged community leaders, organized our community’s first intercity visit to Lexington, Kentucky. The creation of the PPP and the intercity visit were spurred by a visit from Lexington’s community leadership in 1984 and Lexington’s invitation for a reciprocal visit.
Since that first trip to Lexington our community has traveled to six other college communities including Bloomington (University of Indiana), Boulder (University of Colorado), Princeton, New Jersey (Princeton University), Charlotte (University of North Carolina at Charlotte), Champaign-Urbana (University of Illinois) and Ann Arbor (University of Michigan). Our most recent trip was to Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1997.
What We Learned on Previous Visits
Many of our community institutions and practices owe their beginnings to previous intercity visits. Here are a few that participants of previous visits have identified:
- The creation of the Chapel Hill Community Design Commission;
- The renovation of Memorial Hall;
- The plan to create the University’s Arts Common;
- The creation of a Chapel Hill downtown service district tax;
- The creation of the original Chapel Hill-Carrboro Downtown Commission (though it only operated as the Chapel Hill Downtown Commission);
- The creation of our community land trust; and
- The creation of the recently retired Chapel Hill Transit trolleys
Previous participants report that while they learned a lot about the communities they visited and brought back some good ideas, they also benefited greatly from the relationships and partnerships built among community leaders on the trip.