Human Rights Center receives extension, must relocate by March 1

The Human Rights Center has been offering programs for immigrants and the underprivileged since 2009, but a forced move could interrupt its services this spring.

The nonprofit center located in Abbey Court Condominiums was notified Nov. 16 that it would be fined $300 per day starting last Friday for using the property for non-residential purposes, among other infractions.

But the Abbey Court homeowners association granted the center an extension Thursday, giving it to March 1 to relocate.

That date is earlier than the May 15 extension that center founder and UNC professor Judith Blau asked for.

Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton said more than 100 protesters marched through town Saturday to oppose the association’s actions.
Chilton said he doubts the center will receive another extension, and Blau said the task now is to plan ahead.

“It’s definitely a victory for the Human Rights Center, but it’s limited in scope,” said Rachel Myrick, a junior who is co-chairwoman of a Campus Y group that uses the center.

Fighting the fine

Bart White, legal counsel for the homeowners association, has said Blau knew the center might be fined for more than a year.

Blau said the Nov. 16 letter caught her by surprise.

Blau learned the homeowners association would discuss the fines Dec. 1, and she and Human Rights Center supporters — from UNC students to children who attend the center’s after-school program — mobilized to convince them not to fine.

Blau took with her to the meeting a petition that she said garnered about 2,200 signatures and drawings by children about how the center has helped them.

But Blau said when she arrived at the meeting — testaments of support in hand — the association had already decided to delay the fines.

“It was generous on their part, definitely, to grant the extension,” Myrick said.

Blau said though she and stakeholders at the center are pleased to have an extension, the May 15 date would have allowed them to finish out spring semester, while the March date will interrupt programs.

To protest the association’s decisions, Occupy Chapel Hill, the NAACP, those who use the center and Abbey Court residents joined other community members for a peaceful march from the Carrboro Farmers’ Market to Abbey Court.

Police escorted the march, and officials like Chilton joined in.
“I think it was partly the larger community’s way to register its protest,” he said.

Chilton has created a Facebook group called Solidaridad Abbey Court to facilitate conversations moving forward.

Planning for the future

Blau said she is in the market for a new house to move the center into, but protecting the center’s programs will take planning.

She said Mary Scroggs Elementary will host the center’s after-school program this spring, but classes like English as a second language could be displaced.

Blau said she wants to buy a house for the center. She hopes to add a space where day laborers who wait for work outside on Jones Ferry Road can more safely and sanitarily wait for employers.

“A must for this move is that we can accommodate day laborers,” she said.

She said in a perfect world, the center will have a new location before spring semester.

Blau said she will sell her two units in Abbey Court to buy the new house, but will have to take out a mortgage and possibly fundraise to defray additional costs.

Myrick said she is glad the center has more time to plan a strategy to continue as a resource for the community and an outlet for student volunteers.

“This is just so unique in that it’s community based, it’s just such an incredible asset.”

Contact the City Editor at city@dailytarheel.com.