Municipal Candidate Questionnaires
* near the name signifies PDOC has endorsed this candidate
Carrboro Mayor and Town Council
*Damon Seils – Mayor
Michael Benson – Mayor
*Barbara Foushee – Town Council
*Danny Nowell – Town Council
Randee Haven-O’Donnell – Town Council
Jacquelyn Gist – Town Council
Chapel Hill Mayor and Town Council
Hongbin Gu – Mayor
*Pam Hemminger – Mayor
Zachary Boyce – Mayor (not eligible for endorsement/Not a Democrat)
*Karen Stegman – Town Council
Vimala Rajendran – Town Council
*Paris Miller Foushee – Town Council
Adam Searing – Town Council
*Camille Berry – Town Council
Robert Beasley – Town Council (not eligible for endorsement/Not a Democrat)
Jeffrey C. Hoagland – Town Council (not eligible for endorsement/Not a Democrat)
Hillsborough Mayor and Town Commissioner
*Jenn Weaver – Mayor
*Kathleen Ferguson – Commissioner
Anna Linvill – Commissioner (not eligible for endorsement/Not a Democrat)
*Robb English – Commissioner
Mebane Mayor and City Council
*Montreena W. Hadley – City Council
Chapel Hill/Carrboro Board of Education
*Mike Sharp
*George Griffin
*Riza Jenkins
Tim Sookram
Carrboro Mayor and Town Council
Candidate Questionnaires
* Damon Seils – Endorsed by PDOC
Running for Carrboro Mayor
Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities for Carrboro? Why are they important? What
are your plans/strategies for addressing them? *
Two of my top priorities are (1) pandemic recovery and (2) adopting and implementing
the Carrboro Connects comprehensive plan. First, on the topic of pandemic recovery,
we have met some immediate needs in Carrboro by dedicating $1.3 million in local and
state/federal funds to the countywide emergency housing assistance program and more
than $300,000 in emergency grants and loans to local businesses. As we begin
allocating funds from the American Rescue Plan Act—$6.8 million coming to Carrboro
alone—housing security and local business support should continue to be budget
priorities. We should build on these commitments by using the federal rescue funds to
support local nonprofit groups that are providing critical community services. The federal
rescue funds also present an opportunity to identify systems and processes that should
change for the long term to support community resilience and foster community
engagement. For example, we should explore a pilot participatory budgeting process or
other meaningful engagement mechanism in which community members participate
directly in decision making about how to use the rescue funds. This experience would
inform future efforts to engage community members in identifying and prioritizing public
spending projects. Second, I have long advocated that decisions about long-term
growth and development in Carrboro should be guided by a community-driven
comprehensive plan. We are now deep into the Carrboro Connects comprehensive
planning process. Once adopted, Carrboro Connects will guide decisions over the next
20 years on our greatest challenges, from growth and development to affordable
housing to climate change. A key area of the plan is land use. Today, we have a land
use ordinance that is outdated in many ways and that largely promotes a sprawling,
suburban form of development. We need land use policies that promote more compact,
walkable, transit-oriented development and that result in greater variety and quantity of
housing opportunities in a community and a region that are under strong growth
pressure and have become less affordable.
2. Describe how the Rural Buffer informs your land use policies? *
I support maintaining the rural buffer. I also support maintaining the current zoning of
Carrboro’s extraterritorial jurisdiction and continuing the incremental development of the
town’s transition areas, consistent with the Joint Planning Land Use Plan, the Northern
Study Area small area plan, and the Mapping Our Community’s Future report. We
should promote (re)development that is compact in form, walkable, and transit-oriented
and that is concentrated within the urban core. The rural buffer, the extraterritorial
jurisdiction and transition areas, and other elements of the Joint Planning Land Use
Plan are important components of accommodating development within the urban
services boundary and restricting sprawl outside of it. But these components must be
taken together. Erecting unnecessary barriers to development within the urban core
simply drives up development pressure outside of it, increases the costs of housing and
transportation, undermines progress on our climate goals and our efforts to shift people
away from single-occupancy vehicles, and defeats the purpose of the rural buffer to limit
sprawl.
3. What would Carrboro look like in twenty years if your transportation policies
and vision were executed? *
Carrboro would look like a community that connects its residents to social, civic, retail,
health care, and employment opportunities by:
• placing pedestrian, cyclist, and transit user safety and convenience as the highest
priority;
• creating a network of bicycle facilities that links neighborhoods to each other, to
downtown, and to transit;
• providing high-frequency bus service during peak hours on key corridors; providing
frequent, reliable local bus service 7 days a week throughout Carrboro and Chapel Hill:
and making frequent regional connections; and
• delineating a “downtown slow zone” by redesigning streets, upgrading sidewalks and
bike lanes, installing gateway treatments, and discouraging unsafe driver behavior.
4. What policies on land use and facility improvements would help the city
contribute to mitigating climate change? How can we ensure the implementation
of these policies will not negatively impact communities of color? *
At the risk of being overly repetitive, I have to again stress the importance of adopting a
Carrboro Connects comprehensive plan that updates our land use policies to promote
more compact, walkable, transit-oriented development as the best approach to
promoting livability, affordability, and environmental sustainability. Local governments
should adopt and implement policies and plans that reduce per capita greenhouse gas
emissions. In Carrboro, these efforts should include implementation of the town’s
Energy and Climate Protection Plan and the Community Climate Action Plan. We are
making capital improvements to address climate change, such as energy efficiency
upgrades to town facilities. This year, we agreed to a definition for “net zero” buildings
by agreeing that new and renovated town buildings will be evaluated in terms of their
contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. Finally, we should work with other
jurisdictions to advocate for changes in state laws and policies, and collaborate in joint
efforts to achieve greater impact. One good opportunity for taking an environmental
justice approach is the implementation of our Community Climate Action Plan. The town
can prioritize projects in the plan that both reduce carbon footprint and support
vulnerable and directly impacted communities—such as through home weatherization
and other energy efficiency projects in older, less affluent neighborhoods that improve
the quality and cost of housing while reducing per capita greenhouse gas emissions. In
general, I would like to see more community-first planning, such as the effort
undertaken with the Roger’s Road community for the Mapping Our Community’s Future
initiative. Policy making should center communities and groups who historically have
been excluded or marginalized. Local governments should work in authentic partnership
with these communities and groups to develop a vision and strategy for making change.
Mapping Our Community’s Future identifies the community’s priorities for environmental
preservation, affordable housing, and economic opportunity, and it articulates strategies
for achieving that vision. Advancing change in this way is likely to be more sustainable,
because it emerges from deep community engagement.
5. What plans do you have for securing affordable housing in future
development?What do you think are appropriate AMI levels to target for
affordable housing? (For both renters and homeowners) *
The Triangle region is in a housing crisis characterized by a few main drivers, including
lack of supply to meet high and growing demand, lack of variety in types of housing, and
a suburban-oriented form of development that exacerbates the lack of supply and
promotes a monoculture of single-family homes that are largely accessible only by
single-occupancy vehicles. This is a recipe for unaffordability. I was a strong supporter
of the Town of Carrboro’s recently completed initiative to dedicate a 1.5-cent property
tax rate increase entirely to our Affordable Housing Special Revenue Fund, which has
enabled us to fund the creation of new affordable units, maintain existing affordable
units, and provide emergency rental assistance. Already, this fund has made a big
impact, such as through the largest individual grant the town has ever provided to
support CASA’s Perry Place project on Merritt Mill Road, as well as a large grant to
support the Habitat for Humanity project on Cobb Street. The town has also prioritized
grants from the affordable housing fund to support critical home repairs, utility payment
assistance, and other efforts that enable residents on low and fixed incomes to stay in
their homes. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have allocated $1.3
million in local and state/federal funds to the county’s emergency housing assistance
program earmarked for Carrboro residents. For the purpose of achieving the Town of
Carrboro’s specific adopted policy goals for affordable housing, we are focusing efforts
on improving access to homeownership for individuals and families with income
between 60% and 115% of the area median income (AMI) and improving access to
rental housing for individuals and families with income at 60% of AMI and below.
Because of Carrboro’s small size, using our affordable housing fund to support housing
for individuals and families earning less than 30% of AMI will require leveraging our
special revenue fund in partnership with other local governments and nonprofit housing
providers. Developing affordable housing at this level requires significant public subsidy
through grants, tax credits, and other programs. The amount of subsidy required to
make a big impact requires collaboration and coordination between the towns, the
county, and nonprofit partners, similar to what we achieved with Perry Place. One
important way for local governments to contribute is through the use of publicly owned
land. Consistent with the Mapping Our Community’s Future initiative and the ongoing
partnership between the towns and the county, I support the Rogers Road zoning
initiative and other strategies to encourage compatible development (including
affordable housing) in the Rogers Road neighborhood, including on a portion of the
Greene tract. Meanwhile, the Town Council has also directed town staff to investigate
the potential use of other town-owned land for affordable housing.
6. What plans do you have for bridging the economic gap in the Carrboro
between people of color/people with low incomes and more affluent white
community members? *
First, we need housing, land use, and transportation policies that lead to more and
different types of housing and more and better transportation options that do not require
vehicle ownership. As in most social domains—including health care, employment,
education, and criminal justice—people of color are disproportionately represented in
the communities most affected by housing unaffordability, gentrification, and
displacement. Increasing the availability of housing and lowering transportation costs
helps lower-income individuals and families gain access to social, civic, and
employment opportunities and, therefore, is a key tool for achieving our goals to
address racial disparities in wealth, health, and other indicators of well-being. I want to
also include a plug for Carrboro’s recently established Racial Equity Commission. This
community advisory board will make recommendations to the Town Council for short-,
medium-, and long-term steps the town can take to address systemic racism, boost
economic mobility and opportunity, and create generational wealth in the Black
community.
7. How will you seek input to inform your role as a council member from town
workers and residents? *
I place a high priority on being accessible and responsive. In my time on the Town
Council, I have arguably been one of the most accessible elected officials in Orange
County. I regularly hold open community office hours (currently at about 50 events and
counting) to hear from residents about their ideas and needs. I have built relationships
with community leaders and organizations to ensure that the decisions I make are in
line with our common goal of advancing a progressive agenda for Carrboro and the
region. On the subject of workers specifically, among my first accomplishments in office
was to revive the Town Council’s effort to bring the town’s lowest-paid employees up to
a living wage. This effort coincided with the launch of the Orange County Living Wage
Initiative, and I am glad the town remains a certified living wage employer. I have also
been a leader statewide in undoing some of the effects of the anti-LGBTQ, anti-worker
House Bill 2 and House Bill 142. We need changes in state law, and I have been
working with colleagues in other towns and cities as cochair of the North Carolina
chapter of Local Progress—a statewide network of progressive local elected
officials—to highlight this issue and organize for change. For example, a couple of years
ago, I introduced a resolution in Carrboro to coincide with resolutions in other
jurisdictions that called on the General Assembly to raise the minimum wage for all
workers, provide for paid leave, empower public sector workers to negotiate the conditions
of their employment, and repeal “right to work” laws. For the past few years, I have been
working in coalition with Equality NC and the Campaign for Southern Equality, along with Mayor
Lavelle and others, to help communities across North Carolina in adopting comprehensive
nondiscrimination ordinances. We have been successful in doing this all over the state, from
small towns like Hillsborough to big cities like Charlotte. As a result of this work—which is
ongoing—today approximately 2 million North Carolinians are now protected by local laws that
prohibit discrimination in employment and public accommodations on the basis of sexual
orientation, gender identity, and other characteristics.
8. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet with us,
and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that promise? *
Yes
___________________
Michael Benson
Running for Carrboro Mayor
Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities for Carrboro? Why are they important?
What are your plans/strategies for addressing them? *
Reconfigure the downtown library project to just parking. The cost has jumped from $12
million to $26 million and is rising to over $50 million. Money that should be put into
infrastructure and alternative energy. Support our downtown businesses by having
accessible parking. Find solutions to affordable housing versus continuing to have
studies.
2. Describe how the Rural Buffer informs your land use policies? *
It contains development. That is its purpose.
3. What would Carrboro look like in twenty years if your transportation policies
and vision were executed? *
Light rail to Durham using the existing Norfolk Southern line. Better bicycle lanes
including a lane to and from Calvander. Better use of density housing that’s included
affordable housing. Parking in the downtown for people that need a vehicle and to bring
people from the county to our downtown businesses.
4. What policies on land use and facility improvements would help the city
contribute to mitigating climate change? How can we ensure the implementation
of these policies will not negatively impact communities of color? *
Solar and wind power. Alternative energy. Increase bicycle ridership. Safe sidewalks for
walking (lighting improvements). Impress upon the University to turn away from coal.
5. What plans do you have for securing affordable housing in future
development?What do you think are appropriate AMI levels to target for
affordable housing? (For both renters and homeowners) *
The Mayor leads the council and I would appointment Barbera Foushee as the point
person to answer this. She is well versed and qualified.
6. What plans do you have for bridging the economic gap in the Carrboro
between people of color/people with low incomes and more affluent white
community members? *
People of color and low incomes are being pushed out of Carrboro as we write this.
People of color, artists, bartenders… the people that are the backbone to this town. we
need to find a way to lower the cost of housing and to possibly supplement the cost of
some of the basic services.
7. How will you seek input to inform your role as a council member from town
workers and residents? *
By having longer hours more of a full-time mayor than a part-time mayor that works a
couple of evenings a week. Accessibility to the people is important.
8. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
________________________
*Barbara Foushee– Endorsed by PDOC
Running for Carrboro Town Council
Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities for Carrboro? Why are they important?
What are your plans/strategies for addressing them? *
When we resolve the persistent issues affecting our most vulnerable community
members, we are able to create sustainable change for all. So addressing priorities
through a racial equity lens improves outcomes for all Carrboro residents. Affordable
housing and climate change mitigation are equally important within our community. As
we consider priorities, we must interweave climate change mitigation into all of our
solutions. Globally, we’ve seen the dire impacts of climate change and we need to act
urgently to create policies and take actions to reduce energy usage, conserve water and
reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I will work to address the scarcity of affordable
housing and climate change issues by continuing to advocate and educate our
community on the importance of the expansion of housing opportunities and how
climate change/environmental justice impacts all of us. Priorities are reflected in the
town’s budget so I will push for more funding allocation for these areas.
2. Describe how the Rural Buffer informs your land use policies? *
The rural buffer currently has limited urban sprawl and should stay rural in character
with some low-density residential uses. I will continue to advocate for compact, dense
housing within Carrboro to help reduce sprawl in the rural buffer. Preserving the rural
buffer will take creative thinking in Carrboro’s development planning so that new
structures can be appropriate for the existing surroundings in scale and in design and
minimize environmental impact.
3. What would Carrboro look like in twenty years if your transportation policies
and vision were executed? *
Connected locally and regionally with public transit options which reduce dependency
on individual vehicles. Carrboro already has comprehensive bicycling and greenways
plans and we continue to work on more infrastructure for bicyclists and pedestrians.
Funding should be allocated in a way that is supportive of increasing transit services,
improvements to current infrastructure and support for new projects. I am also
supportive of continuing to look for ways to increase connectivity in Carrboro and to
seek funding for greenway development. Given the small scale of Carrboro’s budget,
we have to partner with larger counties and municipalities to support an integrated mass
transit system throughout the Triangle area. Collaboration is key for our local and
regional transit picture. There should also be a deep community engagement process
prior to making any decision about integrated mass transit to ensure that we would be
moving towards an equitable and sustainable solution for everyone. Community
education is also an important component as we continue to look for viable solutions
that will serve all community members.
4. What policies on land use and facility improvements would help the city
contribute to mitigating climate change? How can we ensure the implementation
of these policies will not negatively impact communities of color? *
We must advocate and educate our community on how climate change/environmental
justice impacts all of us. The Town of Carrboro will continue the implementation of its
Community Climate Action Plan and Energy and Climate Protection Plan Priorities are
reflected in the town’s budget so I will push for more funding allocation for these areas. ·
Policies that reduce reliance on greenhouse gas emitting vehicles · Creating walkable
communities · Partnering with businesses and individuals to invest in energy
conservation (create incentives) · Invest in weatherization and preservation of
affordable homes which save energy costs for the economically disadvantaged. ·
Protect water supply Communities of color will bear the brunt of the effects of climate
change and should be at the table as policies are developed and implemented; we can’t
leave anyone behind. Deep community engagement and an inclusive process will
assure that they have seats at the climate table.
5. What plans do you have for securing affordable housing in future
development?What do you think are appropriate AMI levels to target for
affordable housing? (For both renters and homeowners) *
We need to increase options, across socioeconomic statuses, particularly for low to very
low wealth and the missing middle class, (i.e. housing for our extremely low income
community members about $19,000 for an individual and about $27,000 for a family of
four in Orange County). I would start with engaging local elected officials to activate
land use policies that would allow for this housing. I would also work with community
leaders and developers to identify funding sources for the effort. In considering suitable
land for this housing, we must keep in mind critical factors, such as proximity to public
transit which enable people with low access to financial resources to engage in the
community as well as minimizing environmental impacts.
6. What plans do you have for bridging the economic gap in the Carrboro
between people of color/people with low incomes and more affluent white
community members? *
Persistent income equality is a real problem for people of color as well as the overall
economy. This gap is a result of very complex interactions among social, historical,
political and institutional forces. My plans are: continuing to advocate for increasing the
minimum wage, advocating for additional support for education, and helping working
families to build assets by enabling investment in housing and employment
opportunities.
7. How will you seek input to inform your role as a council member from town
workers and residents? *
I have always had a very high level of activism within the community as I worked with
various organizations such as the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority,
Inc., OWASA Board of Directors, Blue Ribbon Mentor Advocate and My Brother’s and
Sister’s Keeper of Orange County to name a few. I seek input through engagement and
ongoing conversations with town staff when possible and community members. This is
how I keep my finger on the pulse of the community; to know community you have to be
in community. Accountability and transparency are key when you are serving in an
elected office.
8. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
____________________
*Danny Nowell- Endorsed by PDOC
Running for Carrboro Town Council
Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities for Carrboro? Why are they important?
What are your plans/strategies for addressing them? *
My two main policy priorities are 1) to radically expand the stock of affordable housing
by placing subsidized rentals, denser market-rate multifamily rentals, and “missing
middle” ownership opportunities like duplexes, townhomes, and condos at the center of
our town’s growth and planning priorities and 2) to use every available means to
decrease car dependency and increase transit service and use. More broadly, I see
these two goals as the most important two steps to developing the denser, economically
vibrant community we need to develop on our already existing footprint in order to meet
our climate and equity goals. With our town presently oriented around single family
homes, our development process defaults to a sprawl-based model, while working
people without the capital to buy into our increasingly unattainable housing market do
not enjoy the convenience or sustainability of the “15 minute city” many of our affluent
residents live in. The economic ramifications of this status quo for our town are very
real: as property taxes drive so much of our revenue, we are increasingly beholden to
raising taxes on a class of assets fewer and fewer people have access to, when we
need to be pursuing means to stimulate local business and adding homeowners to the
equity pool in the currently non-existent middle of the market. Ultimately, climate change
demands that we radically re-orient our process of building towns to make more
connected, diverse, and car-free communities; without addressing the racial and
economic equity gaps in our housing market, we won’t be able to achieve that
re-orientation. By systematically and strategically expanding access to transit and
housing by placing them at the center of an intentional, vibrant local economic model,
we can address many of the most pressing challenges facing Carrboro over the next
term.
2. Describe how the Rural Buffer informs your land use policies? *
In a very basic sense, the Rural Buffer constricts the approaches we’re able to take to
town development, forcing us to make more strategic, sustainable use of our existing
development footprint rather than expanding town development outward. Ultimately, as
my previous answer indicates, I think this approach is what climate realism demands of
our growth approach regardless; in the long-term, I am not persuaded the Rural Buffer
moves our community closer to just and equitable outcomes, but it does present us with
the opportunity to model responsible and sustainable infill development that still
preserves Carrboro’s unique character.
3. What would Carrboro look like in twenty years if your transportation policies
and vision were executed? *
Ultimately, most important to me is that residents twenty years from now are not using
their cars on a day-to-day basis, or have at least reduced car use so much that they
might feasibly achieve car independence by 2050. This would have to mean radically
expanded transit service in current high-density corridors, and a significant reinvestment
in bike and pedestrian structures in our economic centers like downtown. It would have
to mean a massive investment in regional commuter transit as it presently exists, and
the rebuilding of local coalitions for larger structural changes like light rail. I’d like to see
Carrboro pursue “complete streets” that reduce the amount of impermeable surface
dedicated to car travel and feature protected routes for bikes and pedestrians and
re-planted green areas. Finally, many more Carrboro residents would need to be able to
work and shop within their neighborhoods—our zoning and development strategy must
give people the opportunity to be economically present in the community without relying
on their cars.
4. What policies on land use and facility improvements would help the city
contribute to mitigating climate change? How can we ensure the implementation
of these policies will not negatively impact communities of color? *
I think both strategic, sustainable upzoning and the “complete streets” approach offer
significant benefits for improving our land use and environmental justice outcomes. As
discussed in previous answers, zoning more of our town for small business and
multi-family residences moves us toward a denser, more economically diverse town that
might be able to radically reduce our carbon emissions and car dependency, while
developing more “complete streets” will allow more Carrboro residents to enjoy the
bikeability and walkability many affluent residents already do. We know that negative
externalities from car use disproportionately affect people of color: cars are expensive
and require a significant investment upfront to even have access to; workers of color are
likelier to face longer commutes, which are associated with a host of negative health
outcomes; car infrastructure like roads, highways, and parking lots has historically been
developed in ways that have broken up working class communities of color; owing in
large part to that historical development, people of color are far likelier to be injured or
killed in collisions. By reducing the centrality of cars to our planning and daily economic
activity, we’re limiting a major driver of racial inequities. As for ensuring that zoning and
development does not exacerbate gentrification or offload negative environmental
consequences onto communities of color—as has happened too often in places like the
Northside and Rogers Rd communities—I am committed to actively “organizing from
office” to stay in touch with affected communities on the ground and ensure that the
housing and businesses we develop are restoring equity to the working class people of
color who’ve built this town and staffed its major employers.
5. What plans do you have for securing affordable housing in future
development?What do you think are appropriate AMI levels to target for
affordable housing? (For both renters and homeowners) *
I believe 30-60% AMI needs to be the priority range for all affordable housing, receiving
the bulk of subsidies for both rentals and community partners like Empowerment and
the Community Home Trust maintaining affordable ownership stock with assistance
from the Affordable Housing Special Action Fund. While I thin we can work to integrate
these goals into our market-rate developments to make sure we’re weaving these units
into our community in a meaningful way, we also have a huge opportunity in the Greene
Tract to develop a community on public land that places this housing at the very center
of its strategy.
6. What plans do you have for bridging the economic gap in the Carrboro
between people of color/people with low incomes and more affluent white
community members? *
Most immediately, expanding opportunities for affordable housing will allow more
working class people of color to build wealth and equity rather than struggle to stay
afloat with fundamental expenses. Increasing opportunities for the development of local
businesses, and using town resources to support BIPOC owners and businesses that
provide hourly employees with meaningful benefits or co-operative models, will help to
people without private investment-level capital build meaningful equity. More broadly,
the driving aim of my integrated development plan is essentially to un-redline our
town— to build a town where a more economically and racially diverse group of
neighbors share services and community without having to commit too much money to
basic living expenses to save and thrive.
7. How will you seek input to inform your role as a council member from town
workers and residents? *
I am very committed to the approach of “organizing from office.” My campaign has run a
larger field operation than any other Carrboro municipal campaign I’m aware of because
we believe we need to build new, dynamic, accountable structures of solidarity that
represent the perspective of every resident, not just the ones with the resources and
means to participate in the usual places. I will continue to work relentless to reach
neighbors outside of our town’s usual power structures, and to seek the input of
coalition partners that have been working with our underrepresented communities for a
long time already.
8. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
__________________________
Randee Haven-O’Donnell
Running for Carrboro Town Council
Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities for Carrboro? Why are they important?
What are your plans/strategies for addressing them? *
Community Action Priorities 1a. Racial Equity and Social Justice 2a. Climate and
Environmental Action Racial equity and social justice in tandem with climate and
environmental action policies, practices and procedures perfectly interface and are core
for the intersectionality of all other policies. 1b. Why? I have been dedicated to racial
equity and social justice throughout my career in my work a science educator, diversity
trainer, community activist and representative. Since being on Council, On every
platform I have fought vigorously to establish policies that embrace and reflect race
equity and justice. During my time on Council, in concert with colleagues, I have taken
an active role in building our hometown into a caring place where race, sexuality,
religion, ethnicity, economic status, physical, emotional or intellectual ability do not
determine outcomes for access or success. 1c. My plans and strategies align with and
are not limited to the race equity and social justice work in progress as a Carrboro Race
Equity Commission co-constructor of and liaison with Council member Barbara Foushee
and the Town of Carrboro Race and Equity Officer and GARE Anita Jones-McNair,
Town of Carrboro Race and Equity officer we framed the establishment of Carrboro’s
Race Equity Commission. Barbara and I serve as liaisons to the newly formed
Commission. Key to the strategy to advance race equity is to ensure that we help build
a strong Racial Equity Commission. I am also an active member of the NC DEQ Equity
and Justice Advisory Board. In that capacity, my work extends across the state in an
effort to inform NC DEQ decision-making and policy for equitable and just actions,
engagement and addressing the cumulative, disparate impacts of race, “religion or
income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of
environmental laws, regulations, and policies.”
https://deq.nc.gov/outreach-education/environmental-justice/secretarys-environmental-j
ustice-and-equity-board-0 2b. Why climate and environment? Inspired by Senator
Gaylord Nelson’s proposal for Earth Day, I helped plan and run an Earth Day
Celebration that first year and continue to do so. This year, I paired my dual priorities at
two Carrboro events. April 22, the Town of Carrboro, Climate Reality Orange County
Chapter, and Present Day on Main sponsored an Earth Day Celebration and
Plant-Based Food Footprint Food Sale. This event focused on the importance of a small
food footprint of a plant-based diet. As an extension of my sustained work the local
living economy, the last three years I have been networking with non-traditional Black,
Brown, BIPOC, business entrepreneurs and their enterprise. PDOM and a majority of
Black, Brown and BIPOC vegan and vegetarian food vendors participated in the Earth
Day event. The vegan and vegetarian food vendors joined me again, June 24th for
Carrboro’s PRIDE Food Rodeo and Dance Party. The Earth Day and PRIDE events
highlight a perfect fusion of my dual passion for people and the planet. The event
cross-pollinated my values and priorities on race equity, justice and climate action. 2c.
Plans and strategies: I have long been an activist working on climate action and
environmental sustainability. On climate and environmental action my continued work
plans and strategies include and are not limited to: Education: Engage and educate the
community to lean-in and address the addiction to fossil fuels and shift habits of living
through the continued implementation of the Climate Action Plan (CCCAP). As a liaison
to the Environmental Advisory Board and the Climate Action Plan Task Force, I
envisioned, implemented and continue the work to implement the CCCAP by designing
aligned educational outreach modules. I was the architect and curriculum content
planner, I co-constructed the presentations with community module model builders. The
current library of Carrboro Community Climate Action education outreach modules
consist of: Emissions: Transportation, Energy Efficiency (including Solarization and
Weatherization), Ecosystem Preservation, and Protection, Food Footprint and
Emissions, Composting: Community and Neighborhood, In development: Stormwater
and Repurposing Stuff Energy Efficiency: electrification and solarization, solarizing the
roof and parking deck of the 203 Project. Implement community-wide, neighborhood
championed, energy efficiency and weatherization audits and funding for upgrading
homes for efficiency. Design thinking public and private partnerships continue work with
community members to engage with solar contractors to formulate potential “out of the
box” pilot programs testing the viability of communitizing solar linked households to
arrays in parks and open space in anticipation of micro-grid, compact recirculation of
solar energy. Energy Localization: I support and will advocate the localization of solar,
geothermal and wind power in the development of local energy micro-grids and
micro-grid neighborhood sharing based on renewable, regenerative energy. I will
continue the work I have done and presently do to address the climate red alert priority
and its existential challenge. Transit: As a liaison to the Chapel Hill Transit Partners, I
have learned about the inner workings and decision-making that goes into mass, public
transit design thinking. I recommend scaling-up multi-modal transit BRT, and
on-demand and mobility on-demand targeted service through public-private microtransit
partnerships.
2. Describe how the Rural Buffer informs your land use policies? *
Having a rural buffer is key to comprehensive planning, zoning and permitting
concentrated, dense development and growth within the urban services boundaries.
The rural buffer is an interjurisdictional agreement established by Carrboro, Chapel Hill
and Orange County to coordinate land use plans, set boundaries to contain urban
sprawl, protect watersheds and the environment from the impacts of unbridled growth. A
rural buffer is essential as we know compact urban design, development and transit is
sound environmental stewardship.
3. What would Carrboro look like in twenty years if your transportation policies
and vision were executed? *
I expect in twenty years I will be able to affordably travel anywhere in the metro regions
of the state with clean energy efficiency, safety, ease, and reliability. I intend and will
work so that twenty years from now the 2014 concept of complete streets is complete in
Carrboro. Complete streets will provide the safety and mobility on a human scale, it will
have freed up former roadways to fully accommodate pedestrians and cyclists and
whatever electric scooters/carts will exist by then. Carrboro will have built out her
bikeway system with bike paths, bike boulevards, pedestrian sidewalks, formal and
informal community paths and trails networked into the Mountains to Sea Trail, and our
regional greenways. I expect a tight network of public and private microtransit
partnerships, that single occupancy vehicles are few, preferably completely obsolete.
That there is a dynamic, multi-modal transit system consisting of and not limited to:
electrified BRT, service for mobility on-demand, Carrboro is a hub for rail to Hillsborough
east to Durham, RDU airport and Raleigh, and west to Greensboro, and southwest to
Charlotte.
4. What policies on land use and facility improvements would help the city
contribute to mitigating climate change? How can we ensure the implementation
of these policies will not negatively impact communities of color? *
First and foremost it is important that our land use policies reflect race equity and justice
in zoning, set-backs and permitting. We have work to do on our land use policies so that
they mitigate the cumulative impacts that disparately impact neighborhoods and
communities of color. Doing so would ease the addition of more diverse housing stock
to include providing PeeWee and Tiny homes, for example, for folks who are below or at
30% AMI. We need to constrain and/or restrict mega square foot single family home
building and development. The goal is to have a more sound, energy efficienct, gentler
footprint on our ecosystem. Our policies must reflect and support downtown density,
which adds to the robust vibrancy that bolsters the local living economy and is an
efficienct land use. Dense, compact, appropriate square foot, right-sized, human-scale
housing with expanded storey height is a wise use of the urban footprint. Density
downtown, is a sound land use. The consolidation and densification of the downtown
urbanized area can serve to protect and preserve the natural habitats and wildlife
corridors and their ecosystem. Sprawl and suburbanization guts the environment. I urge
density, compact, and 5 storey height housing, especially for downtown. Facility
improvements and all town building must be green planned, designed and built. We
must move to electrification and plan to be a microgrid renewable, regenerative energy
efficient community. Consider our big sister neighbor, Durham, and how well compact,
dense housing has proactively re-ignited and re-emerged downtown Durham and freed
up spaces that are dedicated to amenities that enhance downtown urbanized living on a
appropriate square footage, right sized, human scale. Facility improvements must be
green planned, designed and built. We must move to electrification and plan to be a
microgrid renewable, regenerative energy efficient community.
5. What plans do you have for securing affordable housing in future
development?What do you think are appropriate AMI levels to target for
affordable housing? (For both renters and homeowners) *
Fortify work with the non-profits, implement the recommended plans to expand a
diverse stock of affordable housing. Expand housing stock serving the most vulnerable
and housing insecure at or below 30% AMI. Conserve and preserve the current stock
of affordable housing; expand housing stock that serves the 30% AMI community and
the housing voucher programs. Consider “lifetime housing” providing housing security
that meets individual and family needs which expand and contract over the course of a
lifetime. Meet affordable housing stock needs at or below 30% AMI with the inclusion of
PeeWee, Tiny Homes, auxiliary dwellings designated for 30% – 50% AMI, modular
homes, to provide dignified housing for the housing insecure. Pursue public/private
financial partnership opportunities and funding and affordable housing incentives; ex:
payment in lieu of contributions to the Affordable Housing Special Review Fund. Provide
resources for maintenance and to sustain and up fit the affordable housing stock.
Address utility costs needs by providing heating/cooling energy efficiency,
weatherization resources and subsidies. Consider our big sister neighbor, Durham, and
how well compact, dense housing has proactively re-ignited and re-emerged downtown
Durham and freed up spaces that are dedicated to amenities that enhance downtown
urbanized living on a appropriate square footage, right sized, human scale. Durham
Council overwhelmingly supported an Affordable Housing Investment Plan that will use
a municipal bond to provide housing security for low-to-moderate income residents.
6. What plans do you have for bridging the economic gap in the Carrboro
between people of color/people with low incomes and more affluent white
community members? *
Carpe diem. In this time of economic uncertainty it is a time of innovation, thinking
outside of the box and meeting the business interests and skill development
opportunities of those who have been disproportionately impacted by racial disparity. I
continue to be relentlessly local and urge recirculating our dollars within our local living
economy and advocates a living wage. As liaison the economyCarrboro Economic
Sustainability Commission, the last three years, I have worked with Black, Brown,
BIPOC artists and business owners, many of whom have non-traditional,
entrepreneurial enterprises. I have been networking with the BIPOC community of
businesses creating opportunities to showcase their businesses and highlight their
business and vending at our Carrboro events. I am also a member of the Chapel
Hill-Carrboro NAACP Economic Development Board, together, we have been working
on a broader scale plan to uplift the financial needs of the Black, Brown, BIPOC
business needs. A major drawback for non-traditional entrepreneurs is business space.
This is how I plan to address it. I am a strong supporter of the Rogers Road Mapping
Our Community Future Green Tract mixed use recommendations. I am also a strong
advocate for the potential development of small square footprint residential live-work
homes in the historic Rogers Road community. The Town of Carrboro Council and
planning staff are exploring ways properties in this neighborhood, within the Carrboro
jurisdiction, can have the flexibility for live-work expanding Black, Brown, BIPOC
business opportunities and the local living economy. Additionally, the Town of Carrboro
has property on Old 86 that can be reimagined and designed as a business accelerator
and maker space. It would be awesome to establish space for a non-traditional
entrepreneurs guild for trades, crafts, artisans, and commercial prep kitchens, to name
a few.
7. How will you seek input to inform your role as a council member from town
workers and residents? *
All of my work and engagement in community activitism has been co-constructed with
community. I am a strong advocate of participatory democracy and governance. As a
public school teacher and former President of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Association of
Educators, I have lived experience navigating employee concerns and lobbying the
local School Board and state legislators for cost of living salary and benefits. All workers
need a safe and responsive space and forum to share their concerns without retribution
from their supervisors and/or peers. Along with Council plans to embrace more
expansive participatory governance for Carrboro residents, we need to be mindful of
how best to authentically engage and bring voice to town employees. Council will work
with the Town Manager to identify the best strategies to engage and elicit input from
town employees that meets their level of comfort while assuring genuine concerns are
met. The Town Manager and Council may then co-construct a model and pilot it for
effectiveness. That said, I have experience with town employees who have raised
concerns and wanted to know the most effective way to address them. I see the need
for a strategy that ensures the employee’s sense of safety and security as it
appropriately addresses the matter. For town residents, as a community activist and
Council member, I think of input as one directional. My classroom experience has taught
me the value of sharing personal experiences and the truths. It means going to the
people, all people. It means neighborhood conversations taking place in neighborhood
spaces. It means bringing neighborhoods together, sharing and interweaving
conversations into a diverse fabric of community. I envision a robust listening and
dialogue platform that elevates the voices and stories of folks in the community and
serves as a community building tool as it engages and brings life to the stories and
truths of community folk. Part of this work has begun with GARE training, the
Comprehensive Plan: Carrboro Connects and the newly launched Race and Equity
Commission, of which I am a liaison. I will seek to further enact engagement of this kind
as it has the potential to form relationships beyond Council to include those amongst
neighbors and amongst neighborhoods. We are all Carrboro.
8. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
_________________________
Jacquelyn Gist
Running for Carrboro Town Council
Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities for Carrboro? Why are they important?
What are your plans/strategies for addressing them? *
I am proud of my work helping to lead Carrboro as we have grown and changed while
maintaining our sense of place and community. I look forward continuing to help lead
Carrboro as we work to live up to the values we share. I am excited by the hard work
done by the Carrboro Comprehensive Plan Task Force and am looking forward to
helping bring their work to life.I have said that the Comprehensive Plan will allow us to
translate our professed values to our built environment. The 2 top policy priorities,as
outlined in the Comprehensive Plan Task Force Report,must be Equity and Inclusion
and mitigating climate change.Some of my plans and strategies for these are outlined in
my answers to other questions.To successfully meet both of these goals economic
development and increased community engagement are key. Increase Economic
Development; (In addition to the development of the Entrepreneurs Village outlined
below) Work to bring Think Tanks to Carrboro.We are perfectly situated for Social
Science research organizations and consulting firms that can draw on the research,
expertise, and graduates of our outstanding area universities. Carrboro’s progressive
values, vibrant arts, food, and music scenes are a natural draw for think tank and
consulting firm professionals. Create density bonuses for commercial development to
include affordable space for small businesses and start ups. Work with the appearance
commission to revise the town ordinance to allow for a greater range of design and
material to encourage creative commercial development. Allow a greater range of
pop-ups and food trucks to add to the vibrancy of downtown. Make downtown Carrboro
a destination by working with business owners to create a cohesive Carrboro feel and
appearance by fixing sidewalks, creating planters, adding awnings, and installing public
art. Increase Community Engagement Increase citizen participation on advisory boards
and commissions by continuing to hold meetings remotely after the pandemic. This will
allow more people to serve by eliminating the need for a rush through dinner, find child
care, or find transportation. iPads can be provided to those who may not have access to
a computer. Hold town council listening sessions and meetings in neighborhoods
throughout the town. Install kioks around downtown and in neighborhoods to allow
people to share ideas,give feedback and request services. Hold pop up events in the
town parks and at the Farmer’s Market to get community feedback and vision Engage
neighborhoods,including multi family neighborhoods in participatory budgeting for their
communities.
2. Describe how the Rural Buffer informs your land use policies? *
When the Rural Buffer was adopted in 1986/87 it was to preserve agricultural land,open
space and natural resources by not extending water and sewer and by only allowing
rural residential housing. While the buffer does protect rural character and natural
resources when it was enacted it also drove up the cost of buildable land in the towns
and added to the cost of housing.Town policies can be much like a Rubik’s
Cuber-getting one side right often messes up the other sides,this is the case with the
Rural Buffer. It is time to revisit the Rural Buffer with a closer eye.The process of
enacting Carrboro’s Comprehensive Plan gives us an opportunity,while working with OC
and CH,to re-examine the rural buffer. Determining which areas truly are
environmentally sensitive and need to protected and which are not will allow for further
more dense development in designated clusters which can be located near
transportation corridors to provide public transit.
3. What would Carrboro look like in twenty years if your transportation policies
and vision were executed? *
In twenty years Carrboro will maintain and enhance our sense of place and community
through an improved transportation system. I support continuing to expand and improve
our sidewalks,public transit and bike ways.Carrboro residents will be able to easily get
to other towns in the Orange County and the Triangle using BRT. By having more
people out and about and interacting with each other our sense of community grows. I
hope that there will be an electric shuttle service, ( owned by a local entrepreneur who
received a small business loan from the town)making loops through Carrboro’s northern
neighborhoods to bring people to town for the Farmer’s Market or an evening out on
weekends and evenings.This service would add to our local economy as well as reduce
car dependency.
4. What policies on land use and facility improvements would help the city
contribute to mitigating climate change? How can we ensure the implementation
of these policies will not negatively impact communities of color? *
As we move forward with the Comprehensive Plan we have an opportunity to update
and fine tune our land use ordinance to truly protect natural resources and mitigate
climate change. Policies changes and actions include better protecting our creeks and
waterways,advocating with the state to upgrade the building code to allow for the
requirement of energy efficient construction that meets LEED standards, require
charging stations in all new residential and commercial development ( this was passed
this summer) Strengthen our tree protection ordinance and planting more trees in low
income communities to reduce heat islands. Too often environmental concerns are used
to mask nimbyism or preserve public space for the elite in much the same way that
concerns over traffic did in times past.This cynical use of our environmental crisis is
particularly disturbing because it can create a false dichotomy of Green vs Equity. When
low income and BIPOC communites are the most likely to suffer from the environmental
damage brought on by climate change mitigating climate change IS a social justice
issue and the two should not be separated. Carrboro is currently working to upgrade our
storm water control ordinance and facilities.I serve as the council liaison to the Storm
Water Advisory Commission.My work on the council has involved advocacy for storm
water management,affordable housing and equity. As the Storm Water Advisory
Commission begins it’s work of making recommendations to strengthen the ordinance to
control the increased flooding that has come with climate change I will ask that they
work along side of our Affordable Housing Advisory Board to understand the impact of
their recommendations on affordability and work together for solutions that protect our
environment and support housing affordability. I have already spoken to and gained the
support of the AHAB chair to begin this collaboration.
5. What plans do you have for securing affordable housing in future
development?What do you think are appropriate AMI levels to target for
affordable housing? (For both renters and homeowners) *
I strongly support the Rogers Road Mapping Our Community’s Future plan for using
part of the Greene Track for mixed use including affordable housing,I also support
building Pee Wee homes on the Greene Track and other town owned sites.We need to
target AMI levels below 60% including below 30%. I am excited about the concept of
Pocket Neighborhoods,small clusters of small and tiny homes containing 10 or fewer
units that include shared amenities and common space ,much like existing co-housing
communities, I have recently been in conversation with a local architect who is working
to design these projects. I have supported and will continue to support projects such as
the CASA homes on Merritt Mill Rd and the apartments for Club Nova members. I was
excited to vote for the new Pee Wee Homes to be built on Hill St.We should allow and
encourage the use of under underutilized properties such as the parking lot on the
corner of Sweet Bay and Roberson, Carrboro Plaza ,underutilized parking lots for
existing apartment complexes and properties along Hwy 54 corridor for further
development if it includes at least 30% units affordable to families/individuals earning
60% or less AMI.Increased density doesn’t have to mean a lose of Carrboro’s sense of
place or character,I complaint I hear regularly about what’s happened in our neighboring
town. I have been extremely interested to learn of Portland’s Better Housing by Design
project and it’s Green Building for affordable housing policy. Learn more at
https://www.portland.gov/bps/better-housing/about-project We can incorporate lessons
from Portland as we move forward including working with our local design community
and future homeowners/renters to design sustainable affordable . Allow for the
development of auxiliary dwelling units and increased density on existing lots. Increase
town funding for the maintenance and preservation of existing affordable housing stock
and support local agencies such as EmPOWERment, Community Home Trust, Habitat
and others. “Affordability” and “Sustainability” are the key buzz- words used by housing
developers when they are applying for permits in our towns; it is what they know we
want to hear. Far too often, they fall short of their promise or what they consider
“affordable” is not what many families can afford. Recently I had a conversation with a
developer who was exploring a project that he said would be “affordable” I ask him if he
was willing to give me a price point or AMI % that could be included in his permit-never
heard back from him. To ensure an affordable housing stock we need to view all
housing development proposals through an affordability lens and hold developers
legally responsible for the words they use under oath at public hearings.
6. What plans do you have for bridging the economic gap in the Carrboro
between people of color/people with low incomes and more affluent white
community members? *
I initiated Carrboro’s Truth Plaque Committee and am proud of the work we done and
will continue to do. Examining and telling the whole truth of the experience of the Black
community in Carrboro cannot fit onto plaques, however.Decades of racist
housing,lending,educational and employment practices created the wealth gap between
people of color and white people.In Carrboro’s there is a history town zoning and other
polices which created and perpetuated the wealth gap. Last spring, as the council was
discussing equity, I proposed that we could not move forward with righting past wrongs
until we have a full understanding of those wrongs and the role past town governments
played in perpetuating systemic racism. I have asked that the town do an exhaustive
review of the history of zoning in Carrboro and how it impacted the economic well-being
of people of color. The results of this study will inform our actions moving forward.
Encouraging and supporting minority owned businesses and entrepreneurship plays an
important role in bridging the economic gap and beginning to right past wrongs.I have
actively supported and will continue to support Carrboro’s recent initiatives such as the
Buy BIPOC campaign and the BIPOC Business Round Table. Affordable housing and
affordable workspace are barriers to starting and maintaining a successful business. I
have proposed and will continue to work for the development of an Entrepreneur
Village. Working with area housing non-profits Carrboro can develop affordable
owner-occupied and rental units for people starting their own businesses. The Village
Center will include a small business support center as well as a co-working space to
encourage and support small local BIPOC businesses. Once established these small
businesses will add to the vibrancy and diversity of our local economy. * the space for #
7 will not allow me to enter more than one line so I am writing my answer here instead.
#7 By continuing to engage with all members of our community as we go about our daily
lives.That is one of the beauties of living in a true community. I talk with people on the
bus,in the store,at town events,in the park, at the Farmers Market-in short whenever I
am out and about. For me the hardest part of the stay at home order was not being able
to casually engage with people. I know it was for many people. I reach out to people
who have an interest in agenda items,quickly respond to emails and phone calls and
listen to/learn from the members of the advisory boards that I am liaison to including
Human Services,Recreation and Parks,the Arts,The Storm Water Advisory Commission
and the Appearance Commission as well as the members of our other task
forces,advisory boards and commissions.
7. How will you seek input to inform your role as a council member from town
workers and residents? *
see above
8. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
__________________________
Chapel Hill Mayor and Town Council
Hongbin Gu
Running for Chapel Hill Mayor
Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities for Chapel Hill? Why are they
important? What are your plans/strategies for addressing them? *
My top three priorities are: 1)diversify housing and economic development
opportunities; 2)reduce car-centric development, invest in low-carbon mobility and
green climate infrastructure; and 3)build strong and inclusive community. These
interconnected components of my Chapel Hill Green Recovery plan provides a
comprehensive plan and a whole-community approach to bring system-wide changes
for a more green, inclusive and resilient future. The misplaced priorities of the past
decade have failed us, when we dehumanized housing strategy to maximize units of
luxury apartments instead of the housing needs of essential workers, people under 30%
AMI, starters and young families. We provided incentive packages and opportunity zone
for large cooperations, but offer limited support for local small businesses who are
leaving the town in significant number. My economic development strategy does not rely
on the “one-big-thing” promised by corporations or on the myth of “trickle-down housing“
pitched by luxury apartment developers, but will level the barriers for homeownership
and economic development and create a system that will empower people to achieve
their aspirations. To enable all different kinds of people to make Chapel Hill their home, I
will promote gentle density, allowing townhomes and backyard cottages in our
communities. This will diversify our housing supply while preserving the character of our
neighborhoods. On the transit corridor, condos and townhomes provide opportunities for
homeownership, mobility at a reasonable cost. In the area of economic development,
My main focus will be on innovation and small businesses. The year of pandemic is also
the year of historic new startups and small business applications. I would love to see in
our town a small business incubator, a shared restaurant space, a maker’s place, a
media lab…. and training programs for people in the community who want to try their
ideas but need a place and handhold to get started. A vibrant economy is a diverse
economy. By partnering with university faculties and researchers, we’d like to create an
ecosystem with the funding, mentor networks and flexible shared workspaces to make
Chapel Hill a vibrant hub of entrepreneurial activities. I will make a special effort to
nurture young, female, minority and immigrant entrepreneurs to create the economic
diversity that provides vitality and resilience. The plan does not follow a “top-down”
approach to grow economy; rather, it will grow our town’s economy from ground up and
middle out, strengthening the local community and encouraging upward mobility.
2. Describe how the Rural Buffer informs your land use policies? *
Rural buffer is a significant limiting factor for Town’s land use planning. The boundary is
a joint decision by the County and municipal governments. It puts a hard stop on urban
expansion in its effort to protect water quality and agriculture character of the Orange
County. Unlike Cary, Apex and other fast growing cities in the Triangle, the Town of
Chapel Hill has stayed in its size since 1988. As long as CH remains a desirable place
to live, the population of Chapel Hill will continue to grow. It puts ongoing tension on
how to manage the increasing density. More people brings the need for more services,
more houses, more cars, more parking and more road… a non-solution when the total
space is fixed. This is the reason for the need of comprehensive planning. To
accommodate higher density, we need diverse housing, reduced car-dependence and
multi-modal transportation with reliable transit and bike/walk connectivity, we need
amenities, public spaces, green infrastructures and social network to maintain the
mental and physical health of individuals and the wellbeing of a community.
3. What would Chapel Hill look like in twenty years if your transportation policies
and vision were executed? *
Every morning, families will safely walk/bike to schools with their kids in protected lanes
lined with flowers/trees. There will be no early morning or afternoon traffic congestions
around schools. Downtown service workers, teachers, town staff will take a bus near
their home near a transit line. Most off-campus UNC students/staff/faculty will take a bus
or ride a bicycle to work or go to classes on UNC campus. Professionals work at Duke
and RTP can ride a bicycle to work in well shaded greenway. Everyone can hop onto a
high-speed bus/trail to go to airport, watch a DPAC performance, or go to downtown
Raleigh.
4. What policies on land use and facility improvements would help the city
contribute to mitigating climate change? How can we ensure the implementation
of these policies will not negatively impact communities of color? *
● Retrofitting public facilities and public housing to meet energy efficiency building
standards. We have delayed/neglected basic maintenance of our facility for too
long. This is an urgent issue to tackle while significantly boost our climate goal. •
Reduce car dependence: transportation contributes to 1/3 of our GHG emission.
This initiative will include sensible parking reform, safe sidewalks, bike lanes and
greenway connections, and land use planning with higher density along transit
corridor with easy access to jobs, schools and neighborhood stores.
● Community-wide Green recovery initiative: It takes community engagement to
tackle big issue of climate change. We can provide funding and tax initiative to
make this happen for people to adopt community solar & electric cars/bikes,
install a network of storm water green infrastructure of rain garden and
harvesting facilities in their back yards, plant trees and community gardens, and
to clean creeks and remove invasive species •
● Work with UNC to bring urgency to phase out the coal plant, design sensible
housing/mobility/energy strategies that will reduce the University’s carbon footprit
It has shown that the black-brown and low-income communities are always the
ones subject to the most blunt impact of the climate change. The area in Chapel
Hill that’s most subject to flooding are the low-income communities, the
black-brown and low-income communities usually have much lower tree canopy
coverage than the rich affluent communities. Many of affordable housing
communities are subject to highway noise and pollution. When the 1200 MLK
conditional zoning was being discussed, there was no condition to ensure the
community is being protected by safety buffers to shield them out from light,
noise and emission pollutants. As Mayor, I’ll make sure that the affordable
housing development is subject to the same environment protection standards as
the market housing development.
5. What plans do you have for securing affordable housing in future
development?What do you think are appropriate AMI levels to target for
affordable housing? (For both renters and homeowners) *
Inclusionary zoning negotiation is only one way to secure affordable housing units, and
we were only successful at 80% AMI and above level. We need an
all-hands-on-the-deck approach to address the diverse affordable housing needs.
Residents of the mobile home parks continue facing the ongoing threat of displacement.
It is a threat known to the town for years but without major action. Many residents are
essential workers with income below 30% AMI. We need to explore legislative tools to
preserve the community, working with the County with land and low/no interest loans to
provide a pathway for homeownership and stable housing. For teachers, nurses and
civil servants, we need gentle density in a comprehensive plan to provide diverse
housing over time. It allows affordable duplexes and triplexes to be built in existing
communities without significant impact on the environment or community character.
Affordable housing also needs to be supported by affordable transportation with public
transit and bike/walk networks to connect housing to work/school and neighborhood
access to pharmacy, healthy food, playground and greenways.
6. What plans do you have for bridging the economic gap in the Chapel Hill
between people of color/people with low incomes and more affluent white
community members? *
We need to understand the disparity is due to the long history of racial redlining and the
current economic policies/conditions that greatly favors the people with resources and
high education. We need a comprehensive approach to address the issue from
homeownership, income, education, business opportunity aspects. To enable all
different kinds of people to make Chapel Hill their home, I will promote gentle density,
allowing townhomes and backyard cottages in our communities. This will diversify our
housing supply while preserving the character of our neighborhoods. On the transit
corridor, condos and townhomes provide opportunities for homeownership, mobility at a
reasonable cost. In the area of economic development, My main focus will be on
innovation and small businesses. The year of pandemic is also the year of historic new
startups and small business applications. I would love to see in our town a small
business incubator, a shared restaurant space, a maker’s place, a media lab…. and
training programs for people in the community who want to try their ideas but need a
place and handhold to get started. A vibrant economy is a diverse economy. By
partnering with university faculties and researchers, we’d like to create an ecosystem
with the funding, mentor networks and flexible shared workspaces to make Chapel Hill a
vibrant hub of entrepreneurial activities. I will make a special effort to nurture young,
female, minority and immigrant entrepreneurs to create the economic diversity that
provides vitality and resilience. The plan does not follow a “top-down” approach to grow
economy; rather, it will grow our town’s economy from ground up and middle out,
strengthening the local community and encouraging upward mobility. In the long term,
we need investment in early education for the people of color/people with low incomes
to make sure the people have the opportunities of upward mobility. As a town
government, I would like to see us strengthen the early education and family support
programs for the people of color/low-income community.
7. How will you seek input to inform your role as a council member from town
workers and residents? *
I’m a strong believer of transparent, accountable, and RESPONSIVE leadership. I have
made myself available to people through my Council career to listen to them to visit their
community and to understand their concerns. They always gave me new understands
and new perspectives on a complex issue. I’ll continue to do so as a Mayor, will engage
our town workers and residents for their input. I’d like to be the voice of the voiceless.
8. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
____________________
*Pam Hemminger- Endorsed by PDOC
Running for Chapel Hill Mayor
Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities for Chapel Hill? Why are they
important? What are your plans/strategies for addressing them? *
1) Taking bold action to meet our ambitious climate goals of being an equitable, resilient
and clean energy community before! 2050. The Town of Chapel Hill accounts for a small
percent of the energy usage and greenhouse emissions in our community so, to truly
achieve our climate goals, we need everyone to participate.
• Motivating the community to take action and make changes
• Advocating at the state and federal level for policies and funding that support our
goals
• Committing necessary funds and applying a climate lens to everything we do In
April, the Town adopted our first Climate Action & Response Plan and declared a
Climate Emergency. The Climate Action Plan identifies five “Top Action Categories”.
Within these, focusing on buildings and transportation have been identified as areas
where we can have the most impact and get the greatest “bang for the buck” so I am
currently focused on efforts to:
• Add solar to the roofs of town facilities like Public Works and Transit
• Create a community solar farm
• Complete bikeways and greenways to support multi-modal transportation
• Green our fleet (including our buses)
• Continuing my leadership on Jordan Lake One Water (JLOW) to improve water
quality in the Jordan Lake watershed
• Partnering with the University around their plans for growth, student housing and
climate action
2) Diversifying our tax base Chapel Hill property owners pay some of the highest
combined property taxes in the state which, because of our high house values, is
forcing many people out of our community and negatively affecting our business
community. To take the burden off of residential taxpayers Successes to-date include:
• Working in public-private partnership to redevelop an underutilized part of
Rosemary Street and create a biotech/innovation hub to keep UNC spin-offs in town
• Creating a Millhouse Road Enterprise Zone for light industrial companies that will
house the Carolina Donor Services’ corporate headquarters
• Recruiting Wegmans to take over the former Performance Auto brownfield site
• Getting new Class- A office space in walkable, transit-supported places – like
downtown and Glen Lennox – so new and growing companies can stay in Chapel Hill •
Working with Governor Cooper’s office and Orange County to bring Well ( 400 jobs) to
Franklin Street
• Bringing BioLabs to downtown As a result, since the beginning of my tenure as
mayor, we have brought more than 1,000 good-paying jobs to Chapel Hill and
projections show that having year-round employees and visitors downtown will bring
several million dollars a year in consumer spending for local businesses. New revenues
benefit the town, county and our schools and can be used to pay for things we want –
like new affordable housing, greenways and parks, arts and recreation.
2. Describe how the Rural Buffer informs your land use policies? *
Over 30 years ago, Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County’s creation of the rural
buffer set us on a path toward environmentally-responsible development by preventing
sprawl. It was also an early and visionary response to sprawl’s negative effect on
climate. We’re mostly built out, so we have to be careful how we develop our remaining
parcels. Often, especially on our transit corridors, that will mean buildings need to be
taller. With good design and planning, this new development can fit well into the fabric of
our town while allowing us to retain more green and reduce impervious surface. In
2021, the Town completed Phase 1 of a Land Use Management Ordinance (LUMO)
rewrite by adopting an updated Future Land Use Map (FLUM) which focuses on our
transit corridors as the place for denser growth, building places that can have more
community amenities and where people can walk, bus, or bike to work and dining and
shopping instead of relying on cars. We just saw the results of a housing study we
commissioned with UNC, which points to our community’s need for more “middle”
housing for young professionals, families with small children, and downsizing seniors.
The protections it gives to our rural communities, and the role it will play in our town
mitigating climate change. We want to be part of the increased vibrancy and economic
success of the Triangle and use that energy to build better lives for Chapel Hillians – for
those who live here now, and the ones we’ll welcome in the future.
3. What would Chapel Hill look like in twenty years if your transportation policies
and vision were executed? *
It is an exciting time to envision our future. My goal is for Chapel Hill to retain the
warmth of a small town while promoting a vibrant economy, social equity, high quality of
living, and environmental sustainability. Glimpses of that future include:
• A vibrant downtown where year-round employees, visitors, and residents support
a thriving, diverse business community and the downtown innovation hub has expanded
and is filled with UNC startups and growing companies.
• A well-connected community where people walk, bike, e-bike, and ride the bus
more, thanks to completion of a town-wide transportation and recreation network of
greenways, multi-use paths, sidewalks, and bikeways laid out in the town’s Mobility &
Connectivity plan.
• Transit-oriented neighborhoods along major corridors that foster community with
green gathering places and support our climate goals by incorporating green building
design and green infrastructure.
• New “missing middle,” “middle income,” and affordable housing that meets the
needs of different incomes and life stages and allows people who work here to live here,
and people who live here to stay in the place they call home.
• Fun places to be and things to do for everyone — especially families – like a
splashpad and an inclusive playground, expanded greenways, new green spaces and
parks, and more arts, recreation, and festivals. I’ve been working toward this future as
your mayor for the last six years. Under my leadership, the Town has already been
putting the following community-created plans into action to make this vision a reality:
• 2017 Town-wide Mobility & Connectivity Plan
• 2018 Affordable Housing Strategy, Master Plan and $10 million affordable
housing bond
• 2021 Climate Action & Response Plan
• 2021 ReVive Plan for Economic Recovery and Resilience
• 2021 Downtown Together partnership to reinvigorate downtown
• 2021 Future Land Use Map (FLUM) UNC has announced that BioLabs, a tech
[incubator?] will be bringing new jobs downtown and helping keep UNC spin-offs in
Chapel Hill
• We’re investing in a new downtown parking deck, to spur redevelopment on
Rosemary. Plans are underway for a new wet-lab building at the old Wallace Deck, bike
and pedestrian improvements and two new public parks in the area.
• The Town has plans to move forward on twelve mobility plan projects this year to
make biking and walking safer and more convenient
• We’ve approved a new family fun park in town, coming soon.
• We’ve partnered with UNC on a joint Housing Needs Assessment to make sure
we’re growing in a way that will let us be the diverse, welcoming place we want to be.
4. What policies on land use and facility improvements would help the city
contribute to mitigating climate change? How can we ensure the implementation
of these policies will not negatively impact communities of color? *
Land-use planning is also an important part of the Chapel Hill Climate Action &
Response Plan I championed, which is aimed at reducing our carbon footprint and
building resiliency. The plan focuses heavily on five high impact action areas, three of
which relate directly to land use: Sustainable Development, Green buildings, and Green
infrastructure. Some of the policies included in the plan that will help Chapel Hill mitigate
climate change include:
• Locating density along our major transportation corridors
• Planning for transit-oriented, walkable communities
• Updating our Green Building policies to move buildings toward Net Zero
• Creating a green infrastructure ordinance so that people build with nature’s tools
• Improving our stormwater ordinance to reduce flooding and improve water quality
• Protecting our tree canopy
• Converting community buildings to all electric
• Creating a town-wide electric vehicle (EV) charging stations network
• Electrifying our municipal and transit fleets
• Switching to LED lights in parking lots and town athletic fields Equity and
inclusion are at the heart of our plans, and we have been working proactively with
communities of color to build resilience and reduce the impact of gentrification on their
neighborhoods. We have a team working to implement GARE (Government Alliance on
Race and Equity) practices across all our decision-making processes and have just
hired a new DEI officer to make sure that we’re not only saying we believe in equity and
inclusion, but that we’re living those principles. One example of our work to reduce the
impacts of gentrification on people of color and low wealth neighborhoods has been the
Northside Neighborhood Initiative where we have partnered with the Northside
neighborhood, Jackson Center, UNC and our non-profit partners. We developed the
Rosemary Street Guidelines to make sure we did not surround the neighborhood with
tall, massive buildings. We have been planting trees in Northside and other low wealth
neighborhoods to reduce the heat index and bring more green canopy.
5. What plans do you have for securing affordable housing in future
development?What do you think are appropriate AMI levels to target for
affordable housing? (For both renters and homeowners) *
Since taking office, I have worked hard to make sure that Chapel Hill is on a path to
make solid progress in creating and preserving affordable housing in our community.
This has included:
• Initiating and championing the Affordable Housing Strategy and an Affordable
Housing Master Plan with development and preservation targets and an on-line
dashboard to track our progress.
• Instituting a Town Properties Task Force to identify opportunities for creating
affordable housing on town-owned land as a way of reducing project costs
• Passing a $10 million affordable housing bond
• Instructing our Housing and Community Development staff to review foreclosures
abandoned properties to identify new opportunities for preserving affordable housing in
Chapel Hill. Based on market data and information gathered from our housing partners,
we have been focusing on 80% AMI for homeownership opportunities, 65% AMI and
below for rental units. Providing units for 30% AMI and below is the most difficult. We
meet this need through the Town’s 350 public housing units, which charge rents on a
sliding scale, based on a family’s ability to pay, but the wait list is very long. Some
strategies we’re using to add new units at this level is to partner with community
organizations to make use of town-owned properties, add units into existing public
housing communities as they redevelop, and negotiate with developers to accept
Section 8 housing vouchers in their units. We’ve had success with this approach. For
example, there are currently two projects – CASA’s Perry Place and 2200 Homestead
Road – which will include new units for 30% AMI and below. Both projects utilized
town-owned land. The town currently spends $6 million a year to support affordable
housing and, because affordability is about more than housing, we also support a wide
range of programs and services such as the fare free transit system and EZ Rider
shuttle.
My top housing priorities are to:
1) Continue using the “penny for affordable housing: in our tax rate to give grants to
our partners and go out for another affordable housing bond when we have the debt
capacity to do so.
2) Continue advocating for housing that meets the needs of individual earning 65%
and under when approving development projects.
3) Create strategies and options for individuals living in mobile housing
neighborhoods so that they can remain in our community
4) Continue support for the Town’s Employee Housing Assistance and Master
Leasing programs as a way of making it more affordable for employees to live in Chapel
Hill.
6. What plans do you have for bridging the economic gap in Chapel Hill between
people of color/people with low incomes and more affluent white community
members? *
1) Working to make Chapel Hill more affordable by diversifying our tax base Chapel
Hill currently has one of the state’s highest combined tax rates ,which exacerbates the
wealth gap and has forced some long-term residents to leave our community and
prevented younger generations from staying. This is one of the reasons I have been so
focused on diversifying our tax base by getting new commercial office and retail space
out of the ground. New property taxes from these projects help support Chapel Hill,
Orange County, and our schools and can be used to help us pay for things – like more
affordable housing, improved transit service – that will help bridge the economic gap.
2) Supporting the ReVive Economic Recovery and Resilience Plan We convened
an advisory committee of twenty-one diverse business and community members to lay
out a long-term plan to create a more diverse and vibrant entrepreneurship and small
business sector. Supported by $650,000 in Chapel Hill ReVive Plan money, this
program invests in small business, with special programs for woman- and
BIPOC-owned-business, to support a recovery that will lift all parts of our community.
3) Focusing on job opportunities and education During my tenure as mayor, we’ve
brought more than 1,000 good-paying jobs to our community. More jobs bring more
opportunity and better wages can be a key driver of making housing more affordable. To
equip community members to fill these jobs, and the jobs we’re working to create, we
have programs in place to help individuals of all ages gain access to job training and
education. The Town also offers summer internships for low income teens through our
Summer Youth Employment program. We’re also working with the University and other
partners to find a way to to expand opportunities for the internships and apprenticeships
that can provide a step up into a good-paying job.
4) Encouraging local employers to hire locally and pay a living wage. More than half
of the households in Chapel Hill are currently cost burdened by the high cost of housing.
In 2016, Chapel Hill became an Orange County Living Wage employer and, while we
cannot require local employers to follow suit, we will continue to advocate for them to do
so.
5) . The Town has implemented other programs – including our Employee Housing
Assistance program and a Master Leasing program aimed at making it more affordable
for town employees and essential workers to live in Chapel Hill. Along with the
University, we recently completed a housing needs assessment and I am hopeful that,
as we continue our work together, we can encourage the university, health system, and
other large employers to adopt similar programs for their employees too.
7. How will you seek input to inform your role as a council member from town
workers and residents? *
I value hearing all sides of an issue so do a lot of reaching out when thinking through
decisions or looking for new ideas. This means placing calls or scheduling meetings
with affected individuals, community partners, and others to hear what they are thinking
about an issue at hand. I also reach out to members of staff, seeking their input and
professional expertise to better understand an issue or get answers to my questions
and those I hear from members of the community. I also really enjoy being
out-and-about in the community talking with folks and have an open door policy to be
accessible to everyone. I am f ortunate to have worked in a number of different roles in
our community over the last 30 years – county commissioner, school board member,
board member on various housing nonprofits like Habitat for Humanity, chair of
environmental organizations like the Sierra Club. All of that experience and all of those
community connections have been invaluable to me when I need to understand the
nuances of an issue or bring people together to solve a difficult problem. With so much
going on in Chapel Hill, I check in with our community partners to keep my finger on the
pulse of our community. That communication has been especially important during
COVID as we worked to keep people safe, fed and housed. It’s important to me that
everyone be heard.
8. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
______________________________
Zachary R. Boyce
Running for Chapel Hill Mayor
Not a Registered Democrat – We can’t endorse
1. What are your top two policy priorities for Chapel Hill? Why are they
important? What are your plans/strategies for addressing them? *
My top two policy priorities include establishing a precedent for centering
evidence-based policy at the discussion table and addressing demands long overdue
for racial equity/restorative justice. These priorities are not mutually exclusive and any
solutions required for ameliorating exclusionary functions of exclusively crafted policy
will undoubtedly need interdisciplinary research to counter. Therefore, the strategy is to
use my access as a graduate/professional student to the body of cutting-edge research,
compounded by that access of my colleagues, in order to center evidence-based
solutions in policy implementation during our tenure in the municipal administration if I
am elected to serve as mayor.
2. Describe how the Rural Buffer informs your land use policies? *
Our rural communities are as entitled to the covenant of quiet enjoyment as anyone.
Understanding the needs and desires of our rural communities can better enable us to
increase access to the more urbanized/metropolitan areas of the Triangle. I think that
the community members of the surrounding rural buffers have an important perspective
on meeting agricultural needs of the community and state, and that their perspective is
as valuable as anyone else’s in discussions around public policy development
pertaining to land use.
3. What would Chapel Hill look like in twenty years if your transportation policies
and vision were executed? *
I envision a thriving community filled with green ways and biking access compounded
by a publicly supported transit system with a light rail that connects the triangle research
centers as well as all the public research institutions of North Carolina. This will take
immediate initiatives divesting from fossil fuel industries and increasing the
incorporation of sustainable energy development plans to meet the needs of public
transportation while reversing the causes of climate emergency that have too long been
a function of exclusionary public policy formation practices.
4. What policies on land use and facility improvements would help the city
contribute to mitigating climate change? How can we ensure the implementation
of these policies will not negatively impact communities of color? *
I would like to halt any clear-cutting projects for now and in the future in order to
evaluate the ecological impacts of any such endeavor. As far as land use and facility
improvements go, we must immediately work to minimize the necessity of fossil fuels
and replace our infrastructure with solar power, a resource of which scarcity cannot be
fabricated merely for economic gain. This will also take intentional collaboration to
center the land usage and care practices of our Native American/Indigenous
communities that took care of the land for thousands of years before colonizers arrived
and disturbed the ecological balances for the last several hundred years in the ways
that have directly resulted in climate emergency today.
5. What plans do you have for securing affordable housing in future
development?What do you think are appropriate AMI levels to target for
affordable housing? (For both renters and homeowners) *
Housing is a human right and human rights are not inherently privatized commodities. I
don’t think it is difficult to read a graph and understand how privatized real-estate
development is inherently for profit over human lives. With that said, prioritizing meeting
the housing needs of those community members earning between 1%-30% below AMI
is the only appropriate starting point.
6. What plans do you have for bridging the economic gap in the Chapel Hill
between people of color/people with low incomes and more affluent white
community members? *
We have a responsibility in this community that sits on the hub of knowledge kept within
the public research institution to use that research in order to make informed
evidence-based policy that increases shared prosperity and decreases marginalization
in the community. Greater collaboration amongst the affluent and the minoritized will
take a concerted effort to expand our municipalities electorate to include the voices of
students. I think partnering with student leaders and state officials to advance legislation
that wholly decriminalizes marijuana is a first step to restorative justice in fostering
sustainable economic development in historically minoritized communities.
7. How will you seek input to inform your role as a council member from town
workers and residents? *
As a graduate/professional student myself, I am constantly seeking to understand how
the needs of student populations, especially minoritized student populations, overlap
with those of the rest of the town’s community members. By being elected to serve as
mayor, I hope to establish a precedent that bridges gaps in the quality of
inter-institutional public service that may be provided to our entire community and the
greater state of North Carolina with increased collaboration between the municipal
administration and the university’s leadership.
8. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
________________________
*Karen Stegman- Endorsed by PDOC
Running for Chapel Hill Town Council
Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities for Chapel Hill? Why are they
important? What are your plans/strategies for addressing them? *
My top priority is to increase affordable housing options. The history of housing in this
country is one of racial discrimination and segregation. Whether overtly, as was the
case until the early 20th century, or covertly since then, via redlining, racially-restrictive
property deeds and covenants, and zoning laws, housing policy in American has served
to restrict Black American access to homeownership and the multi-generational
wealth-building that accompanies it. Some of these practices continue in other ways
and it it’s challenging to root them out. The legacy of these practices can still be felt in
the predominant single-family zoning that continues to limit housing production,
preserves wealth for existing homeowners, increases property values and
unaffordability and excludes people of color. I will work to address this by continuing to
leverage Town-owned land to reduce the cost for new affordable housing construction;
creating a “jump the line” policy for development applications to expedite the Town’s
approval process for those developers who offer 30% or more of their units as
affordable housing; and through the upcoming revision of the Land Use Management
Ordinance, address exclusionary zoning that limits access to housing in our community.
Second, as a current member of the Town Council, I have been a vocal and consistent
advocate for changes in how the Town thinks about land use and transit. Reducing
vehicle miles travelled (VMT) is a key strategy of our new Climate Action and Response
Plan and critical to meeting our ambitious GHG reduction commitment by 2030. Per a
recent NCDOT report on VMT reduction, on a per household basis, urban households
produce much lower average daily VMT and much fewer trips than both suburban and
rural households. In 2009, the average urban household in North Carolina drove 32.7
miles per day while rural North Carolina households drove 74 percent more miles, or
56.8 miles per day. Similarly, urban North Carolina households averaged 4.4 automobile
trips per day while rural North Carolina households averaged 23 percent more, or 5.4
trips per day. We know that currently, the average Chapel Hill resident’s carbon footprint
is larger than that of someone in or NY, SF, Boston. Smart growth approaches that
combine dense infill development with access to multi-modal transit options will get
people out of cars and offer significant environmental and health benefits for the
community. I have worked hard to help raise the visibility of this important policy shift,
which is now a strategy of our Climate Action Plan and I will work to implement it in
decisions moving forward.
2. Describe how the Rural Buffer informs your land use policies? *
In the late ‘80s, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Orange County created a rural buffer. This
established a circle around the edge of town beyond which we agreed not to develop.
The intent was to preserve the rural nature of Orange County while also preventing
urban sprawl. Limiting the land that we can use for new development means that we
need to use the land inside the buffer strategically. The tradeoff inherent in the creation
of the rural buffer, one which is now becoming more apparent as developable land
becomes truly scarce, is that we need to use the land we have strategically. Chapel Hill
continues to grow, with a demand for approximately 400 new dwelling units per year to
accommodate this growth. Our housing supply has not grown sufficiently, and this
inadequate supply leads to housing scarcity and increases housing prices. Additionally,
UNC owns a substantial amount of land in town, and, as a non-profit, does not pay
property taxes, shifting even more of the already disproportionately heavy burden of
taxes onto homeowners. Finally, Chapel Hill is an attractive place to live and people
want to live here. Because our supply has not kept up with demand, and all the reasons
described above, the pressure on housing prices is intense.
3. What would Chapel Hill look like in twenty years if your transportation policies
and vision were executed? *
The Town’s Mobility and Connectivity Plan has an ambitious vision for a network that
reduces vehicle miles travelled (VMT) and supports the Town’s commitment to
sustainability. The proposed network of greenways, multimodal paths, bike lanes, and
other facilities connects key destinations in a way that supports safe travel for people of
all ages and backgrounds. Greenway expansion is also a top priority for residents. In
my vision, that plan is fully implemented. Along with this network, we would have Bus
Rapid Transit running both north-south and east-west offering rapid access throughout
town and linking to our fare-free bus service that would be available seven days per
week, late into the evenings. As a result of our transit investments, the transit-oriented
development we also planned for has grown around the transit stops, creating walkable,
bikeable, mixed use neighborhoods that include a variety of housing types and price
points, resident-focused retail, and incorporates welcoming green, tree-lined community
gathering spaces. Many residents go weeks without getting in their cars, if they own one
at all.
4. What policies on land use and facility improvements would help the city
contribute to mitigating climate change? How can we ensure the implementation
of these policies will not negatively impact communities of color? *
Because of the rural buffer, as discussed above, we need to use the land inside the
buffer strategically. If we try to prevent new housing (re-)development in town to
preserve trees, we are undermining the premise of the rural buffer that denser
development in town will prevent sprawl and preserve nature within the buffer. We focus
on preserving trees while forgetting that on any given night there are no fewer than 40
unsheltered people living among those trees. Those 40 represent only 20% of our
county’s homeless population, the rest have temporary housing only due to our
incredible local shelter and housing providers. It’s also important to note that since the
start of the pandemic, homelessness in the county has increased by 35%. With
thoughtful planning and open conversations with our community, we can preserve most
of our trees, grow new trees, create new and appealing green spaces in town, and
create the housing we need for all who wish to live here while not pricing out
marginalized and lower-income households. Policies that prioritize dense infill
development centered around transit, and that allow us to prevent housing scarcity, will
lead to a more affordable, accessible, and sustainable community. The Town Council
passed the first Climate Action and Response Plan that includes additional details on
policies to reduce the Town’s carbon footprint, but changing our land use policies and
increasing multimodal transit investments will have the greatest impact by far.
5. What plans do you have for securing affordable housing in future
development?What do you think are appropriate AMI levels to target for
affordable housing? (For both renters and homeowners) *
Expanding access to housing for residents of all income levels is a key role of an
elected official, through advocacy, collaboration, funding commitments, and policies that
create a supportive environment. In my role on the Town Council, I advocated for the
affordable housing bond and to use Town-owned land and resources for new affordable
housing development, such as the Town’s 2200 Homestead Road, Habitat’s Weaver’s
Grove, Empowerment’s Peach Apartments, and CASA’s Perry Place. I also voted to
preserve the Tar Heel manufactured housing community and have been working to
identify strategies to preserve other manufactured housing communities in town. I will
continue to make housing for 30% AMI a priority in my second term, supporting for
example, financing of additional affordable units on Town-owned parcels and the Trinity
Court RAD conversion, and advocating for an expansion of our master leasing program.
6. What plans do you have for bridging the economic gap in the Chapel Hill
between people of color/people with low incomes and more affluent white
community members? *
1. Increase the creation and success of BIPOC-owned businesses by: developing a
dedicated Town program to support BIPOC-owned businesses, including identifying
solutions to barriers faced; establishing a mentor program, with a special focus on
BIPOC entrepreneurs; negotiate with developers of new commercial development to
include minority-business incubators to expand the model used by Empowerment’s
Midway Business Incubator; 2. Increase access to skilled trade job training through
partnerships with Durham Tech and the Chamber to expand offerings available in
Chapel Hill for skilled trade training, such as in automotive repair, and and
apprenticeships with Town departments such as Inspections, that include a commitment
of future employment. 3. Increase homeownership opportunities for low-income
households through Habitat, Community Home Trust, the Northside Neighborhood
Initiative and other programs that offer subsidized homeownership opportunities.
7. How will you seek input to inform your role as a council member from town
workers and residents? *
This has been a top priority for me on the Council. Engagement in local govt
decision-making is too hard right now. We don’t hear from enough people and we don’t
hear from a diversity of people. That is why I have called for development of an
Equitable Community Engagement strategy, similar to what they have in place in
Durham, that is designed to bring new and innovative structures and strategies to how,
when, and why we engage with diverse communities in Chapel Hill, particularly those
historically under-represented in government decision-making. I am excited that this is
part of the role of our newly hired DEI Officer and she will be taking the lead on putting
this in place. Another important way of engaging and giving input is through advisory
board membership. I have worked hard to increase diverse representation on our
boards in terms of age, race, ethnicity, gender, and lived experience. We have made
some progress but there is much more to do. Finally, I have deep roots in the
community as a life-long Chapel Hill resident and have continued to build new
relationships since being elected. I also regular attend community group meetings such
as the NAACP and CEF Meeting of the Minds.
8. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
________________
Vimala Rajendran
Running for Chapel Hill Town Council
Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities for Chapel Hill? Why are they
important? What are your plans/strategies for addressing them? *
1. Adopt a comprehensive city plan that includes guidelines for growth with an
environmentally sound development with affordable housing ownership and rent,
Increase funding for public transportation, while also improving bike paths, wider
sidewalks (walkable communities). This is important because it offers marginalized
citizens mobility to get where they need to go, gets more people out of their cars, and
on bicycles and on public transportation. 2. Enforce Chapel Hill’s climate action plan –
plant more native, canopy trees with deeper roots, insisting on more pervious surfaces
in new developments – important to do this to address the climate crisis. Neighborhoods
of color are more impacted by flooding, and heat waves. Focus on those neighborhoods
to plant community gardens, and other native plantings.
2. Describe how the Rural Buffer informs your land use policies? *
Rural Buffer was a good concept when it was first put in place in 1986, to separate
urban developments from the outskirts that were rural. The town of Chapel Hill was
build on what was once farm lands. If developing of the land that is now known as Rural
Buffer will result in more affordable housing, while maintaining the environmentally
sound, green infrastructure, then I am in favor of developing the three areas of New
Hope Creek basin, the University lake watershed, and the Southern Triangle Area.
3. What would Chapel Hill look like in twenty years if your transportation policies
and vision were executed? *
There would be fewer cars on the roads, the streets would have wider sidewalks, and
bike/pedestrian paths that are safer, and well marked. A safer Chapel Hill for all people.
4. What policies on land use and facility improvements would help the city
contribute to mitigating climate change? How can we ensure the implementation
of these policies will not negatively impact communities of color? *
Land use and facility improvements must always be based on a well researched
environmental impact study. An energy audit needs to happen on all buildings and they
need to be made energy efficient. All light bulbs must be changed to LEDs and there
must also be more electric car charging stations. Communities of color need to be
prioritized for home energy saving improvements.
5. What plans do you have for securing affordable housing in future
development?What do you think are appropriate AMI levels to target for
affordable housing? (For both renters and homeowners) *
Future development permits must not be approved unless affordable housing units are
included and they must be located within the development in easily accessible areas,
and throughout the area, instead of on the fringes of the property, or in the rear corner.
The appropriate AMI to target for affordable housing would be 30%
6. What plans do you have for bridging the economic gap in the Chapel Hill
between people of color/people with low incomes and more affluent white
community members? *
The growing economic gap is a result of age-old practices of low pay for workers,
unequal pay along race and gender lines. Chapel Hill increased the wages for Town
workers less than a decade ago. It was a good thing but by no means sufficient.
Requiring all businesses to pay livable wages would be necessary. Some of these plans
may not be within the jurisdiction of the local, municipal government, so with my
colleagues on the Council, I will push for dialogs with the County government and the
State Government, as well as the US Congress to grant economic relief for
marginalized families to own homes, and have tax reliefs.
7. How will you seek input to inform your role as a council member from town
workers and residents? *
I will continue to meet with community members by holding listening sessions. I will post
a blog with bullet points of important issues, and give links to detailed communication. I
will ask for better communication between town workers and the council. I know that the
council only hears from the town workers through the Town Manager…. I will be open to
hearing from the advisory boards, the workers, and the residents of Chapel Hill to help
understand better every issue that needs to be heard and understood.
8. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
_________________________
*Paris Miller-Foushee– Endorsed by PDOC
Running for Chapel Hill Town Council
Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities for Chapel Hill? Why are they
important? What are your plans/strategies for addressing them? *
My two top priorities are affordable housing and environmental justice for all
constituents. These two priorities are very linked. Building affordable housing for the
30% to 100% AMI would allow those that work here to live here, decreasing car
emissions from commutes into and out of town. These two priorities are important
because they will allow us to build a livable, equitable, and vibrant town that ensures our
people can grow their families with opportunities here. To address these issues, I will
advocate for expedited review of affordable and creative development projects that are
along transit routes and are uncoupled from parking development. And, I will leverage
Town-owned land to further maintain affordability of projects. I will advocate for
complete streets (bicycle and pedestrian lanes), the completion of the NS Bus Rapid
Transit, and transit-oriented development along MLK that decreases car-dependency. I
will also work to sustain the Northside Energysavers program. I live in the historically
African American neighborhood of Northside. Elder residents do not have the means or
information to upgrade their appliances to more energy-efficient models. The
Energysavers program would allow us to work with marginalized neighbors to upgrade
their homes to become more environmental. This is a step forward to secure
environmental justice.
2. Describe how the Rural Buffer informs your land use policies? *
The Rural Buffer was designed to promote infill development inside the buffer, while
preserving greenspace and natural habitats outside of the buffer. By not using the Rural
Buffer for what it has to offer, we are letting valuable opportunities to use land for
creative mixed-use, mixed-income, transit-oriented, walkable developments go to
waste. The Rural Buffer will inform my land use policies because I will encourage smart,
purposeful development that meets the needs of our residents inside the Buffer along
transit corridors to meet community needs and decrease car dependency.
3. What would Chapel Hill look like in twenty years if your transportation policies
and vision were executed? *
20 years from now, MLK has very few cars, if not none. The primary mode of transit is
the Bus Rapid Transit to travel across that corridor. Biking is safer due to protected bike
lanes. Residents can walk from their homes to amenities within 10 minutes without
having to get into a car. The streets are cooler and more vibrant. What are now surface
level parking lots are retail spaces for local businesses, parks, gathering spaces that are
easily accessible to residents without having to get in a car.
4. What policies on land use and facility improvements would help the city
contribute to mitigating climate change? How can we ensure the implementation
of these policies will not negatively impact communities of color? *
Regarding land use, we need to build multi-purpose, mixed-income, transit-oriented,
walkable communities to mitigate climate change by decreasing car-dependency. I
mentioned earlier that we should work with communities of color to retrofit home
appliances for increased energy efficiency at a fraction of current costs to increase
climate and energy equity. I am also an advocate for installing alternative energy
infrastructure such as solar panels on public buildings to mitigate climate change by
diversifying our energy sources. All of these policies should be implemented through a
racial equity lens. Communities of color should not be an afterthought, they should be
prioritized in community engagement, planning, and execution of such policies. As a
Black resident of the marginalized African American Northside community, I will ensure
that we mitigate climate change in a way that benefits communities of color.
5. What plans do you have for securing affordable housing in future
development?What do you think are appropriate AMI levels to target for
affordable housing? (For both renters and homeowners) *
I have a middle-term and a long-term plan to secure affordable housing in future
development. Middle-term, we must expedite review of affordable projects to make
building affordable housing economically viable for developers. We must also leverage
Town-owned land (Greene Tract and American Legion, specifically) to build affordable
housing at the 30%-80% AMI level (low income to workforce housing). Long-term,
across the country, cities with strong hospital presences are finding that hospitals are
economically incentivized to build affordable housing to address social determinants of
health and qualify for Medicare/Medicaid subsidized care that keeps hospital costs low.
We can partner with UNC Healthcare to look into such programs that would benefit both
parties immensely.
6. What plans do you have for bridging the economic gap in the Chapel Hill
between people of color/people with low incomes and more affluent white
community members? *
Right now, our housing developments are largely segregated by income. This means
that amenities are also segregated by income. This is why I will support mixed-income,
mixed-use, transit-oriented developments so that access to amenities are equal
regardless of income level. These amenities could include: car-free access to groceries,
pharmacies, recreational activities for families and children, and childcare support.
Additionally, we can work with the minority and women-owned business community to
ensure that we are providing them with the resources they need to grow and employ
locally. Funding and providing amenities for entrepreneurs of all backgrounds will
continue to bridge the economic gap in Chapel Hill.
7. How will you seek input to inform your role as a council member from town
workers and residents? *
I am a progressive, grassroots advocate. I serve on the Board of EmPOWERment Inc
and the Marian Cheek Jackson Center. I served on the Town’s Reimagining Public
Safety Taskforce. And, I work at the Inter-Faith Center for Social Services. I am
constantly seeking input from and engaging with residents of all backgrounds to secure
resources and changes in our community that benefit constituents. Running for office is
a culmination of my work in the community. Town staff is invaluable in collecting and
acting on data to move our community in the right direction. I would rely on them for
technical and expert information that I would couple with community input to make my
decisions on Council.
8. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
_________________________
Adam Searing
Running for Chapel Hill Town Council
Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities for Chapel Hill? Why are they
important? What are your plans/strategies for addressing them? *
1. Save our parks and wild open spaces like the Greene Tract Forest, Legion Park, and
our creeks and trails. The largest public forest in Chapel Hill, the Greene Tract Forest, is
threatened with development that bears little resemblance to proposals from years of
community planning. Our public property on Legion Road is in danger of being divided
and part of it sold for commercial uses – instead of creating an amazing park as
residents have asked. Miles of trails and acres of beautiful hardwood trees beside many
creeks are now slated for removal for water retention projects to support even more
building. (While we’ve “paused” the Booker Creek removals in this election year,
removal of acres of trees at the headwaters of Booker and Bolin Creeks is still on the
table and this issue has not gone away.) Our woods, trees and wild spaces help make
Chapel Hill great and are an important reason so many of us love living here. Especially
after this awful pandemic we need to put a much larger priority on our parks and green
space than we have in the past. To do this we need to halt plans to sell off our public
land to private interests and focus on what our residents want. In Chapel Hill, our Town
Council frequently sets up large community meetings, asking residents to spend
hundreds of hours of time and input and then produces comprehensive, hundred-plus
page reports on the results. However, if the community results don’t match what the
current Council wants to do those reports are often disregarded, frustrating residents. In
the case of the Greene Tract Forest, more than 20 years of public planning and
community meetings have consistently produced multiple reports recommending that
around 80% of the Forest be preserved around 20% be set aside for affordable housing
and development in character with surrounding neighborhoods. At no point has anyone
in these years of reports asked for the current plan – two large roads run through the
forest and 80 acres of the public’s forest sold off to private developers for market rate
housing and market rate development. A “preserved area” is now just green space
around the headwaters of Bolin and Booker Creeks that can also contain retention
ponds, road development and utilities. This development on our public forest could be
as big as five times the size of the town’s recently approved controversial Aura project
on private property, would be by far the largest project built on town land in decades and
the largest sale of public land in decades to private interests. This isn’t what has been
asked for in the past. Is this really what we want now? We need to bring similar scrutiny
to proposals to sell part of the public Legion Road Park property to commercial
developers and to develop even more housing. Over 1000 apartments – including over
140 affordable units – have been built or are already proposed in the Legion Road area
and the community there has consistently asked for a park on the entire property to
serve surrounding communities, most recently after hundreds of hours of time helping
the town produce a community report. Other, wealthier areas of Chapel Hill have much
larger parks. But the report doesn’t match what the Council wants, so out it goes and
the march is now on to sell off substantial parts of the Legion property for development.
It’s only a matter of time before the Council again asks for a community meeting and
report on yet another project, residents spend hundreds of hours helping produce
recommendations, and the Council then disregards the input. No wonder many
residents are fed up with the current process! 2. Support affordable housing. If we stop
delaying and start building, we can quickly create at least 210 units of affordable
housing with projects already in process. New innovation with partners like UNC can
create even more units. We can move forward with our affordable housing efforts while
also preserving our amazing forests and beautiful open spaces. For example, our failure
to move for years on rebuilding the closed Trinity Park apartments is a case in point.
This is land right next to downtown and a great park and it is only in this election year
that finally there is some life to the discussions to rebuild. Second, we need to move on
the Jay Street project, which is again close to downtown and can provide even more
homes. Finally, we have delays in our 2200 project we need to overcome to move more
quickly there. Let’s focus on actually building housing for people who need it instead of
selling off our public forests and open spaces. In addition, we need to build on our
history of collaborating with UNC, our town’s largest employer, to create more housing
for UNC staff in areas like housekeeping, food service, and facility services along with
young faculty members. I will use my long connections with UNC to begin discussion of
how we can create more great sliding scale rent housing for UNC affiliated folks, helping
people have great places to live and freeing up more space in other housing options for
everyone in our town.
2. Describe how the Rural Buffer informs your land use policies? *
The rural buffer is one part of our long-term land use plan adopted by Orange County,
Chapel Hill and Carrboro back in the 1980s. It has been a successful tool to prevent the
sprawl that surrounds some of our neighbors like Cary and North Raleigh by delineating
where we should extend water and sewer services. Unfortunately, some folks use the
rural buffer to argue that we in Chapel Hill must approve all new development proposals
that come before the town – no matter if that means town residents must give up our
goals of great parks and any preservation of our remaining public forests and open
spaces. Indeed, in recent years, some Council members seem to vote “yes” on every
single development proposal. However, so many people I’ve talked to during this
campaign have told me the importance of our woodland trails, our public spaces and
our parks as critical to their desire to live in Chapel Hill. They want our town to have
successful businesses, a great library, a solid police and fire department, and yes, more
development. But they want that development to be include more housing like
townhomes, duplexes and housing for residents of all incomes, all built in a manner
where people are eager to buy and live in these neighborhoods. And our woods and
trails are a critical part of this vision. Everyone in our town, regardless of their income,
deserves to be able to enjoy a walk on our public land, in our public’s forest, by our
public greenways and creeks – this is the very essence of what it means to live in
Chapel Hill and exactly why people want to live here. Finally, folks outside of town in
Orange County have the same concerns as Chapel Hill residents. Orange County
residents recently organized to successfully defeat a proposed 100 pump gas station
that would have been built in rural Orange County. The project was defeated because of
community concerns about traffic, environmental damage, stormwater, and other
impacts – similar issues that Chapel Hill residents raise about development. In a time of
worsening heat, drenching storms and after an awful pandemic we should all have a
better appreciation of the importance of our public forests, trees and other green spaces
– these are important whether you live outside or inside of Chapel Hill’s town limits. The
rural buffer is a critical land use tool that works in concert with our other land use
policies. It should be used to improve our community and not as a political cudgel to
force bad policies – whether within or outside our town limits.
3. What would Chapel Hill look like in twenty years if your transportation policies
and vision were executed? *
The active railroad track bringing coal to burn in UNC’s power plant is has been long
closed and turned into a beautiful greenway that connects the northern parts of Chapel
Hill with downtowns in both Carrboro and Chapel Hill and provides access for everyone
to amazing trails on the Greene Forest Park, Chapel Hill’s largest forest park, along with
connections to the remaining green space in Carolina North after UNC’s expansion. Key
projects in our town bicycle and mobility plan are implemented and we have more
protected bike lanes, pedestrian crossings, walking paths and greenways that allow
people to move around town. A new greenway using OWASA easements is developed
to allow eastern neighborhoods an off-road access to downtown and bicycle climbing
lanes are installed on hills like Raleigh Road to enable even more access, including for
electric bikes. Our North/South bus rapid transit system is in place with additional
bicycle carrying capacity and enables quick and easy movement from the north and
south of town to come to downtown offices, businesses and the university.
4. What policies on land use and facility improvements would help the city
contribute to mitigating climate change? How can we ensure the implementation
of these policies will not negatively impact communities of color? *
Climate change response urgently requires systematic action on the state, federal, and
international level but, as a town, Chapel Hill can do its part as well: 1. Chapel Hill’s
budget reflects its priorities, and with 23% of the budget devoted to public transit, our
free bus and related transit system is the single largest line item we spend money on as
a community. Continuing this investment to make sure our bus system is efficient,
comfortable (including decent shelters) and highly used is critical to our climate efforts
to reduce automobile use. In addition, moving along construction of our North/South
corridor bus rapid transit route is critical during the next Council term to improve our
system even more. 2. We also need to complete more of the planned greenways and
other connectors in the town’s bicycle and mobility plan in order to provide multiple,
safer ways for residents and families to use bicycles and other alternative forms of
transportation to get to grocery stores, school and work. We have a long priority list of
projects for connectivity in that plan and we should continue to implement these
improvements as funding allows and as we begin work on priorities like the Estes side
path. 3. Finally, deforestation should be at the top of our list of concerns. As
development pressures result in more and more building on privately-owned land in
town, our town must better prioritize preservation of our forests and trees, with a special
duty to property that the town owns already. With more and more research showing the
beneficial effects of forests and tree cover for the mental and physical health of
residents we should also strive so that all our residents, regardless of income, have
access to our cooling forests and beautiful streams and trails. Unfortunately, our largest
tracts of park-designated and protected forests are currently largely in higher income
areas of our community. And some recently-approved large developments are next to
streams like Booker Creek where acres of town-owned trails and trees are now
designated for removal in the service of flood mitigation projects without regard to other
options that don’t require extensive clear cutting of the public’s forest. (This policy is on
hold in an election year, but the stormwater issues behind it have not gone away.)
Especially after the pandemic, itself arguably another manifestation of climate failures,
we need to better conserve the public natural resources we have left here in Chapel Hill.
Climate change impacts our lower income communities significantly in Chapel Hill. Our
largest protected green spaces and protected forest land – which have significant
cooling effects in a warming world — are mostly surrounded by Chapel Hill’s higher
income communities. We need to develop and protect more parks and open spaces
near our lowest income communities and development of a forest park in the public
Greene Tract Forest and a full-size protected park at Legion Road can help. More
frequent and heavier rainstorms as a result of climate change are also causing more
flooding – and have a high impact on our lower income neighbors that live closest to our
creeks in rental housing like Camelot Apartments. We need to protect our watersheds
and prepare for much more stormwater by protecting our public forests and insisting on
building that takes into account this new normal.
5. What plans do you have for securing affordable housing in future
development?What do you think are appropriate AMI levels to target for
affordable housing? (For both renters and homeowners) *
I’ve outlined my basic affordable housing proposals above. In addition, we are
experiencing a “gold rush” in Chapel Hill – only now the prize isn’t gold but the right to
build cheap, easily erected four or five story wood-framed apartment buildings
containing hundreds of units in each complex. Right now there are nearly 40
development projects in process, proposed, or on the drawing board for various areas in
our town. Developers want desperately to build here in town and are clearly making
very large profits. This gives us leverage to require higher percentages of affordable
housing, especially for folks between 30% and 80% AMI. For folks below 30% AMI we
need to look to projects like our long-overdue Trinity Park redevelopment.
6. What plans do you have for bridging the economic gap in the Chapel Hill
between people of color/people with low incomes and more affluent white
community members? *
Chapel Hill cannot bridge this gap alone. We have made significant progress in
providing more affordable housing with an affordable bond issue almost half the size of
Greensboro’s – a city five times bigger. We have worked with UNC to improve and build
more housing and will collaborate on other projects. These efforts can bridge part of this
gap. But Chapel Hill is part of a state that refuses to expand Medicaid, eliminated the
state earned income tax credit, refuses to act on raising the minimum wage, and puts a
fraction of what it used to into state housing programs. We need to work on pressuring
the legislature to act on these issues and we need to also work to let Congress know
the substantial positive financial impact of the new federal child tax credit on low-income
families.
7. How will you seek input to inform your role as a council member from town
workers and residents? *
I will reach out and listen. I will not hire expensive consultants to filter community
member meetings through long, complex reports. Already during my campaign, I have
hiked and walked with many constituents around multiple areas of Chapel Hill, hearing
their concerns and dreams for our town. I hope to continue this practice if I am elected
to the Council. I’ve also always been someone who believes in getting to know the work
of others. Whether sitting down and talking, riding along on a bus or police car, or
spending the day with our parks service folks, I am a firm believer that actually seeing
and doing is the best way to learn.
8. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
_______________________
*Camille Berry- Endorsed by PDOC
Running for Chapel Hill Town Council
Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities for Chapel Hill? Why are they
important? What are your plans/strategies for addressing them? *
Affordable Housing and Economic Development
2. Describe how the Rural Buffer informs your land use policies? *
The Rural Buffer was created to contain the development and protect our farmland and
other green space in the more rural area of Orange County. That, of course, meant that
development is intended to have greater density inside of the perimeter. I would
advocate and support land use policies that continue to honor these two premises of the
Rural Buffer.
3. What would Chapel Hill look like in twenty years if your transportation policies
and vision were executed? *
Multi-modal transit corridors that allow for buses and bikes to have restricted lanes as
well sidewalks. Increased public transportation within Chapel Hill and to nearby
communities. Additionally, greenway trails that are connected so that pedestrians and
bikers can travel safely across town without having to come into contact with vehicular
traffic (or minimally so).
4. What policies on land use and facility improvements would help the city
contribute to mitigating climate change? How can we ensure the implementation
of these policies will not negatively impact communities of color? *
Requiring development and improvements to meet standards set forth by the town.
Grants and loans (forgivable and/or to be paid upon the sale of a property) should be
made available — I have seen communities of color in Chapel Hill struggle to meet the
demands that already exist. The Duke Energy Northside Energy Savers program is an
example of how a private-public partnership can help advance efforts on mitigating
climate change. However, it starts with planning — planning that is informed by
communities of color and other community stakeholders.
5. What plans do you have for securing affordable housing in future
development?What do you think are appropriate AMI levels to target for
affordable housing? (For both renters and homeowners) *
Be creative in providing diverse housing options that are more affordable than what is
being offered today (e.g., greater density, mixed use developments, smaller dwellings,
etc.). Reduce the planning and permitting process by articulating in greater detail what
types of development are being sought for areas throughout the town. Developers and
town staff could save time if the requirements were clear from the onset, and that
determination is made by the Council and Mayor. We will need to bolster our economic
development in tandem with increasing our housing supply. Commercial growth is
happening in Chapel Hill, and it needs to continue. The arrival of Wegman’s shows us
that big box stores can exist in Chapel Hill, add significantly to our economy, and
complement the smaller businesses. Along with size, we should incorporate more
diversity in the types of businesses and their ownership. We ALL aspire to occupy
housing that we can afford, including those of us at 30%AMI and lower. How do I know?
Because I was in that population with two teenagers and another away at college for
several years. Chapel Hill needs to create housing options for those under 30%AMI all
the way to the missing middle (often represented by our young professionals). None of
what I have suggested here will happen organically. We have to be intentional and
strategic about our housing growth. I aim to keep the need for housing that’s affordable
to much lower incomes at the forefront as we make decisions.
6. What plans do you have for bridging the economic gap in the Chapel Hill
between people of color/people with low incomes and more affluent white
community members? *
Create significantly more housing that’s affordable to lower income households; that
includes housing that is energy-efficient, durable/sustainable, and close to amenities
(e.g., public transportation, grocery stores, other retail, and greenways). Support and
advocate for partnerships, including UNC and the County, to foster entrepreneurship
and living wages. Also, bolster and promote the small business grants and services that
already exist.
7. How will you seek input to inform your role as a council member from town
workers and residents? *
I will continue to do what I have been doing before seeking to serve as a council
member. I will ask. I will seek out the input of town workers as they are our specialists
and can share their insights. I would seek out input from the residents often. I would
remain curious with both groups as they are chief advisors for the work I wish to do.
8. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
_______________________
Robert Beasley
Running for Chapel Hill Town Council
Not Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities for Chapel Hill? Why are they
important? What are your plans/strategies for addressing them? *
Fundamentally, I think the way the Town Government is running and making decisions
is the biggest underlying issue. The Town’s mode of operation is driving a set of policies
and behaviors that is not prioritizing the needs of our residents over developers and
outside investors. The Town’s approach is actually undermining the priorities for
Affordable Housing, Adequate Infrastructure for our current and future needs, and
Conservation and Climate Change. I want to make changes so that we truly align Town
Policies, Ordinances, and Plans with our residents’ principles, values, and goals as we
address our challenges of Affordable Housing and living, land use and conservation,
and health and safety. I want to change our Town Government’s operational procedures
to improve and ensure transparency and informed data and fact-based decision. I want
to ensure our Town Government really listens to and responds to residents’ concerns,
including those who are members of our marginalized communities, and act in
accordance with community needs and values in an equitable manner. I want to ensure
we are prioritizing the needs of residents–not developers – and that we are investing in
Chapel Hill’s infrastructure sufficiently for Our Town’s Future.
2. Describe how the Rural Buffer informs your land use policies? *
For me, it’s a matter of accepting the reality of the Rural Buffer and what it means for
Chapel Hill. The Town is roughly 21 square miles of land, and that is all there is, and all
there will likely be. So we have to have a clear vision for how we want to use that land
space, with some guiding principles. And then we must define our plans and select and
approve our projects with fact based decision making that follows the plan, and delivers
the vision.
3. What would Chapel Hill look like in twenty years if your transportation policies
and vision were executed? *
It would look greener, with more options for walking, biking, and public transportation
that are safe and viable, given the realities of where people live, where they work, and
what the weather brings day to day in Chapel Hill.
4. What policies on land use and facility improvements would help the city
contribute to mitigating climate change? How can we ensure the implementation
of these policies will not negatively impact communities of color? *
The Town needs to define the requirements for land use and facility improvements that
are necessary for achieving our Climate Action and Response Plan. These need to be
assessed by the Town Government, Town Stakeholders – which must include
representatives of Chapel Hill’s Communities of Color, and third party experts for
potential negative impacts, and impact mitigations must be put into place for any
negative impacts that are identified.
5. What plans do you have for securing affordable housing in future
development?What do you think are appropriate AMI levels to target for
affordable housing? (For both renters and homeowners) *
I support increasing the Conditional Zoning requirements to 25% for Affordable
Housing. Additionally, I am an advocate for acquiring existing housing and offering it as
affordable housing. In my opinion, the Town’s current strategy is overly dependent on
new development. New development takes a long time to come to fruition. Even in
cases where the Town or non-profits already own the site, new development takes
years. Funding programs for the Town and the Town’s Affordable Housing Partners to
acquire existing housing, recondition it, and offer it as Affordable Housing – both under
rental and ownership models – will help deliver affordable housing inventory much
faster. As to what I think appropriate AMI levels are, I believe the Town’s definition of
Affordable Housing should be 80% AMI and below. The Town also needs a clear
definition of ‘the missing middle’, which I believe should be between 80% and 120%
AMI. Furthermore the Town needs to clarify what constitutes ‘spending of 30% of
income on housing costs.’ Housing costs are more than ‘just rent’ or ‘just mortgage’, and
I do not think we have a clear definition for this in Chapel Hill. We need one to ensure
we have clarity on expectations and criteria for developers and development proposals
and plans.
6. What plans do you have for bridging the economic gap in the Chapel Hill
between people of color/people with low incomes and more affluent white
community members? *
First, I think the Town needs to truly make Affordable Housing a priority. Chapel Hill has
got to start thinking about affordable housing strategically, with an understanding on the
implications inadequate affordable housing will have on local town business, services,
and Chapel Hill’s identity and values. Otherwise it seems we face a future where fewer
and fewer local businesses will be able to afford to operate in Chapel Hill. And the
University (including its medical operations), Town Public Services, and the retail,
hospitality, and restaurant business (that you can find in Anywhere, North Carolina) will
have to pay more for workers who will inevitably be daily commuters that live in Orange,
Chatham, Alamance, and Durham Counties. Second, I think that Chapel Hill needs to
focus on locally owned business development with a focus on equitable opportunities.
There is much discussion and focus on bringing more jobs and businesses into Chapel
Hill, and I think we need to increase our focus on cultivating and prioritizing locally
owned businesses that deliver jobs in Chapel Hill – especially ones that are consistent
with Chapel Hill’s identity, and ones that deliver products or services that are consistent
with Chapel Hill’s priorities of affordable housing and green infrastructure.
7. How will you seek input to inform your role as a council member from town
workers and residents? *
I will listen to the people of Chapel Hill. I will seek answers from the developers and
planners to adequately address the questions our citizens are raising. I will work to
validate that those answers are comprehensive and satisfactory through transparent
public processes. I will encourage productive public discussion that ensures every voice
is heard, and given proper respect and thoughtful consideration.
8. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
___________________
Jeffrey C. Hoagland
Running for Chapel Hill Town Council
Not A Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities for Chapel Hill? Why are they
important? What are your plans/strategies for addressing them? *
Downtown parking efficiency, lowering parking rate to help fix this. Getting a train from
chapel hill to the north Carolina zoo, I’ll reach out to Pittsboro and Asheboro to help get
local funding, and to then reallocate the federal grant that Durham voted to not have to
finish federal funding which will trigger the state grant funding to finish it.
2. Describe how the Rural Buffer informs your land use policies? *
I don’t know
3. What would Chapel Hill look like in twenty years if your transportation policies
and vision were executed? *
It would have connected modern rail system
4. What policies on land use and facility improvements would help the city
contribute to mitigating climate change? How can we ensure the implementation
of these policies will not negatively impact communities of color? *
I don’t know
5. What plans do you have for securing affordable housing in future
development?What do you think are appropriate AMI levels to target for
affordable housing? (For both renters and homeowners) *
Getting a mass transit system in place that will make rentals have to compete with rural
rental prices to equal out prices
6. What plans do you have for bridging the economic gap in the Chapel Hill
between people of color/people with low incomes and more affluent white
community members? *
Making local policies that would counter tax code 469 which would force commercial
rental prices to drop as rich land owners could no longer use over priced unrented
properties as a tax deduction
7. How will you seek input to inform your role as a council member from town
workers and residents? *
I go to local venues and interact with owners and patrons
8. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
__________________
Hillsborough Mayor and Town Commissioner
*Jenn Weaver- Endorsed by PDOC
Running for Hillsborough Mayor
Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities for Hillsborough? Why are they
important? What are your plans/strategies for addressing them? *
– Completing and Executing the Comprehensive Sustainability Plan, which includes our
Climate Action Plan. This plan will be the guiding document for Hillsborough for many
years, being written and updated with an eye toward sustainability and the era of
climate change we have squarely entered. The town board approved a 2 cent property
tax this past summer to go toward the implementation of that plan. For it to be
successful, in addition to funding it will be essential for me as the mayor and other
elected officials to help the public understand we will have to start doing some things
differently in a way some may find uncomfortable given what many of our broad cultural
norms and practices are (such as ending our love affair with single family homes,
ending our default of building communities for cars). – Approving and executing a plan
for addressing the $36-42 million in water/wastewater system repairs and upgrades that
are needed. Our water/wastewater customer base is small and our rates are high. We
must pursue to the greatest extent possible funding options that do not place additional
burden on our W/WW customers, especially when we are prohibited from differentiating
rates based on ability to pay. We are already planning to allocate our ARP funds to
leverage for some of these needed repairs, and are certainly very much hoping the
infrastructure bill and reconciliation bill pass Congress, as they would likely have viable
grant opportunities. – Continuing to pursue creative solutions for adding more units of
affordable housing in Hillsborough. Housing has gotten very expensive, as it is
throughout the Triangle, and shows no signs of slowing down, especially with thousands
of new Apple employees coming to RTP, where many Hillsborough residents already
commute. Because we do not have capacity to have our own housing department, we
must always work with partners in the nonprofit sector or, as we have with our $600,000
HOPE grant secured by Hillsborough but administered through the County’s housing
department, work with the County. I am interested in the possibility of a .25 or .50
property tax increase to create a consistent funding stream to put toward AH efforts, but
we would need to be very deliberate and careful about doing that, as we may end up
pricing people out anyway by trying to fund effort to help them.
Added through email: Following through with the recommendations of the Mayor’s Task
Force on ReImagining Public Safety.
This task force formed in the wake of the George Floyd murder as part of a resoluition
passed by the town board. The task force was charged with taking a dive into
Hillsborough policing practices and policies and making recommendations for how to
re-imagine public safety and eliminate the racial disparities in who gets caught up in the
local criminal justice system. This time-limited group was also charged with making a
recommendation for what a standing advisory board might look like. The task force
recommendations were community driven, with the mayor (me) facilitating the process.
Those are just now wrapping up and will soon be submitted to the town board, town
manager, police chief, and town attorney. Following through on this commitment to the
community is of paramount importance.
2. What would Hillsborough look like in twenty years if your transportation
policies and vision were executed? *
First let me say that the implementation of my transportation vision for Hillsborough is
unlikely to be fulfilled in the next twenty years without significant changes to how the NC
DOT funds transportation projects in our state and thinks about transportation,
generally. That is a cold, hard fact. I am using my position as mayor and as a member of
the Durham-Chapel-Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (and current vice
chair) to advocate for changing that process. In order to have multi-modal, not car
dependent communities that are equitable and putting minimal (preferably zero) carbon
into the atmosphere, the prioritization by NCDOT of single vehicular travel on highways
and interstates must change. That said, given the tools with which to execute my vision
– which is shared by the board of commissioners – for Hillsborough twenty years into the
future, we would see: – Our Community Connectivity Plan fully implemented. Every
neighborhoods would be able to walk or bike safely within the neighborhood and
throughout town. – Multi use paths would be viewed and used not just primarily as
recreation, but as a critical venue for transportation. – clear evidence that housing had
adapted to be more transportation and climate friendly. We would have more dense
infill, so that fewer cars/driving trips are necessary. Hillsborough’s town limits are small
enough that given safe conditions, those who are physically able could walk and bike to
meet many of their daily needs, getting cars off the road. – Bus service expanded via
Orange Public Transit, Chapel Hill Transit, and Triangle Transit to enable bus travel both
within town and between Hillsborough and major job, healthcare, and entertainment
centers in other nearby municipalities. – Our future train station, built and operating as
both an Amtrak stop and a commuter rail stop, connected to bus service and accessible
by bicycle and pedestrian travel. Good transportation systems, while largely funded by
the state, begin with good local visioning and planning, responding to local values and
needs. We have a history of good plans in Hillsborough, and are currently updating
them through the Comprehensive Sustainability Plan process and by funding our own
feasibility studies for additional needed greenways/multi use paths and sidewalk
facilities.
3. What is your opinion on advisory board members with known association and
support for white supremacist groups? *
It is my expectation that everyone applying to serve on any Hillsborough advisory board
would be committed to carrying out the vision, mission, and values expressed by the
town. Membership in a white supremacist group or any other hate group would be
antithetical to the implementation and expression of the vision, mission, and values.
4. What policies on land use and facility improvements would help the city
contribute to mitigating climate change? How can we ensure the implementation
of these policies will not negatively impact communities of color? *
I will be advocating for the town adopting a comprehensive sustainability plan that
encourages infill, du/tri/quad plex housing, and sets us up for integrating transportation
oriented development as soon as the opportunities present themselves. These are the
same policies needed to make our community more affordable to more people. The
primary risk to communities of color is gentrification. The more we make our
neighborhoods more bike/ped friendly, the more attractive they will be for others to
move in. We are seeing that already. To be frank, the town has very little ability to
mitigate gentrification. As long as housing is based more on capitalism and property
rights rather than as a human right, we will continue to see this tension because
Hillsborough is a desirable place to live. We have a prime opportunity in how we
develop the property around the future train station to include affordable housing,
market rate mutifamily housing, and commercial/retail. We already have a stated goal
and formulated plan for that area to be connected to transit, including safe bike/ped
facilities. As stated previously, any increase in our community’s already significant tax
and water/sewer rate burden runs the risk of pricing people out, and our Black and other
non-white communities are most likely to be disproportionately impacted, so we have to
think through very carefully any time we choose to raise taxes/rates. This thought
process is reflected in the fact that when we approved the 2 cent tax increase to fund
implementation of the Comprehensive Sustainability Plan during the most recent budget
cycle, it was the first time in 9 years we had raised municipal property taxes. Staff is
currently working on drafting the CSP which includes the Climate Action Plan and I look
forward to seeing the plan, discussing priorities and approaches that help us meet our
climate goals. One more note, thought we certainly have the same stormwater runoff
issues being experienced by other communities due to the intense, water-heavy storms
amplified by climate change, we do not have communities of color or low-income
neighborhoods/apartments being impacted by flooding like some of our neighboring
jurisdictions are having.
5. What plans do you have for securing affordable housing in future
development?What do you think are appropriate AMI levels to target for
affordable housing? (For both renters and homeowners)
It is the practice of the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners (at least over the last
10-12 years) in consideration of any large developments that come before us to ask that
they include affordable housing units in the development or provide a payment in lieu.
This practice has resulted in the Magnolia Place Habitat homes in Waterstone (attached
units and geared to aging in place, a first of its kind for Habitat); 80 units of affordable
housing reserved for veterans, an identified need and to be constructed by CASA (to
add context to the number, based on population figures at the time this would be the
equivalent of 800 units in Chapel Hill); and a pot of funds we have used to help people
with rental and utilities assistance. I will say that we should continue this practice into
the future, but there are likely to be few new developments of significant size in the near
future based on the lack of available land. The town owns 20 acres around the future
train station site, and I support using part of that acreage to build affordable housing.
Based on housing studies I have seen in recent years, there is need at every level of
AMI, but the most need is for the lowest incomes. I think it would be great to target
those lowest AMI levels if we can find a partner with whom to make that work
(Hillsborough is very dependent on non-profit partners for affordable housing efforts, as
we do not have the capacity for housing staff/department). Hillsborough was fortunate to
receive a HOPE Covid relief grant for $600,000. As mentioned above re: capacity, we
could never have administered this grant on our own. We secured the grant and are
partnering with the housing folks at the County to administer. These funds are going to
Hillsborough residents for rental and utilities assistance. We did the similar with the
direct payment we received earlier in the pandemic for about $100,000, dividing those
funds evenly for direct assistance for food, housing, and utilities, working with
community partners to administer. It will be important for us to follow how this
partnership with the county for HOPE grant works (for the county, the town, and the
recipients). If all goes well, it would be worth exploring a continued partnership for future
grants opportunities or the collection of a quarter or half-cent increase on the property
tax to accrue funds for this assistance.
6. What plans do you have for bridging the economic gap in the Hillsborough
between people of color/people with low incomes and more affluent white
community members? *
Given the tools available to us at this time, one of the biggest impacts we can have is
creating and implementing a Comprehensive Sustainability Plan (in progress) that
manifests housing and transportation priorities that leave people spending less money
on those areas. That is very much a long game. The town also is living wage certified
and offers paid family leave to our employees – important in its own right but also sets
an example for the business and non profit community.
7. How will you seek input to inform your role as a council member from town
workers and residents? *
I’ll begin by saying that is is important for elected officials to be mindful of staff protocols
that exist between the board, town manager, and town employees, unless there is a
powerful reason to go around them. When those protocols are ignored, it can leave staff
feeling very confused about where their direction is coming from. That said, as mayor I
make a point to check in with the manager to see if there is support they or the staff
need from the mayor/board, if they are feeling clear in the direction and purpose they
are receiving from us and have the time to manage their directives. I periodically hold
open “office hours” where I plant myself in a public place like a park or coffeeshop and
invite the public to come by and talk/ask questions. I generally try to get out in the
community (covid-safely) to talk to folks, attend events, etc. During the first several
months of the pandemic, I held weekly Facebook live sessions to try to share
information, collect and answer questions. I do respond to social media queries but
generally encourage people to contact me through my official hillsborough.gov email for
public records transparency. The town also conducts periodic employee and community
surveys which help illuminate where we are doing well and where we need to dig in and
do work.
8. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
_________________________________
*Kathleen Ferguson– Endorsed by PDOC
Running for Hillsborough Commissioner
Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities for Hillsborough? Why are they
important? What are your plans/strategies for addressing them? *
1) Completing our comprehensive sustainability plan, which will lay out our roadmap for
Town priorities aligned with Town values, resiliency, and sustainability. I will continue to
support allocating resources and staff time needed to compete the plan, will vote to
adopt it, and will support it as providing guiding principles for priorities and decisions. 2)
Repair and upgrade water, sewer, and public works infrastructure before we have
overflows/fines or service failures and doing so aligned with our clean energy resolution
(which I introduced and led adoption of) and without debt service or tax burden. I will
continue to seek funding sources available and collaborating with colleagues and staff
to determine if / when to pursue bond revenue, which I am hopeful will also provide
funds that will help us also achieve some affordable housing, connectivity, and public
spaces projects we currently lack funding for.
2. What would Hillsborough look like in twenty years if your transportation
policies and vision were executed? *
A community where where folks can get anywhere safely and conveniently in town
without having to drive and where “thru” traffic has been diverted to 70/85 connector,
Lawrence Road, Orange Grove Road/ Mayo Street/86 connector (which has been
realigned) and Waterstone drive; where we would have integrated affordable housing,
community gardens, bee hotels, and little libraries in every neighborhood thru
partnerships with our nonprofit partners, where Exchange Park is now a Town park and
the skate park has been created and is being used by kids across the Town, where the
old detention center has been transformed into shops that attract people after 5pm,
along with an arts center and and offices; where the Highway 70 corridor has been
redeveloped with local businesses and features a walking path from Holiday Park / Lake
Shore to Corbinton Commons, where every neighborhood has a corner market and
gathering spot; where our train station has been built and being used by commuters,
shoppers, and day trippers, where Town property has been developed featuring a small
hotel, more shops, an arts venue and center, and commercial office space. In 20 years,
we will have maxxed out the population we can support, so our urban footprint is
contained. We have achieved our clean energy resolution and are a model town for
planning and executing resilience and sustainability. All along we have maintained and
continue to live out our values of inclusivity, connection, stewardship of living beings, as
a place that is safe, welcoming to all, where the arts flourish, and we are governed by a
town government that is transparent, high-functioning, and true to our budget mantra of
safety and mandates first, maintain what we have next, invest wisely for our future,
minimize tax burdens on our residents whenever possible.
3. What is your opinion on advisory board members with known association and
support for white supremacist groups? *
Support of or membership in supremacy , hate, and terrorist groups are incompatible
with town values. Any association would need to be in the footsteps of Daryl Davis (an
African American musician who has changed hearts and converted over 200 klucker
leaders) or as confidential informants aiding local /state / fed authorities.
4. What policies on land use and facility improvements would help the city
contribute to mitigating climate change? How can we ensure the implementation
of these policies will not negatively impact communities of color? *
Maintaining our water / sewer boundaries and focusing on infill development is the most
environmentally responsible approach to development, and the biggest threat to our
communities of color is to have board members who are disconnected from our
communities of color or who never have bothered to become involved with those
communities on an ongoing basis. One of the reasons I am running for reelection is to
ensure that as we repair and upgrade our water, sewer, and public works infrastructure
in ways that support achieving our clean energy resolution and which utilize as few
chemicals as possible, and which allow for adoption of dark sky wherever safety or
insurance ratings are not at risk. Another reason is to fulfill the vision of the Fairview
Community and the Cornelius Street/Highway70 corridor redevelopment plan, and
prevent the temptation to concentrate development of businesses frequently associated
with minority or low income neighborhoods north of the Historic District or around
Oakdale. As a longstanding member of Fairview Community Watch and someone who
lives where there are 7 Habitat and Empowerment homes behind or beside me, I am
adamant that the 70 Corridor reflects Their vision, which in some cases differs from the
vision that folks outside of Fairview have in mind.
5. What plans do you have for securing affordable housing in future
development?What do you think are appropriate AMI levels to target for
affordable housing? (For both renters and homeowners)
I still want Hillsborough to have a dedicated revenue stream for affordable housing. I
was outvoted this year but if reelected will push to allocate a penny of tax so that we
can better support our affordable housing nonprofits, invest in property banking, and
other tools that come available to us. This is in addition to my current advocacy and
efforts which resulted in Collins Ridge dedicating 88 affordable units instead of their
initial offer of 44, collaborating with Habitat to secure board support for Odie Street,
personally intervening and saving three homes in inventory by for Empowerment, and
securing board support for establishing a rental assistance fund. I will continue to push
our board to allocate funding that closes gaps in our homelessness services /
prevention system. Additionally, as chair of Orange County Partnership to End
Homelessness and member of the OC Housing Collaborative, I have helped ensure our
area receives the maximum possible of available funds for affordable rentals and
affordable home ownership and will continue to do so if reelected. So while I personally
wish the official AMI definition was calculated for Orange County alone or Hillsborough
alone, it isn’t. It is calculated based on AMI for Orange/Durham/Chatham counties. We
sorely need permanent supportive housing, whose residents frequently have only
SSI/DI income. (I now have a woman who survived a .357 to her face stay with me
every time she has doc appts, which is every other week, because I have yet to find her
housing. The rest of the time she couch surfs. ), We sorely need housing in the 30-80%
AMI range, which is the range of teacher, first responder, and service worker salaries.
We even need housing in the 80-120% range. As for the definitions of affordable being
rent/mortgage + utilities = 30% of gross income, I personally think that the state & fed
definition 30% is too high but again, with the overwhelming percentage of affordable
housing funding coming from state and federal funds, the 30% is what our decisions as
electeds, must be based on.
6. What plans do you have for bridging the economic gap in the Hillsborough
between people of color/people with low incomes and more affluent white
community members? *
I would love a magic wand that gave me power to slash CEO pay, up teacher, first
responder, and worker pay, free education, apprenticeships, and internships, implement
universal health insurance, paid childcare, parental leave, and paid sick and vacay
leave. However, the primary lever I have as a NC municipal elected official have are
development ordinances and approvals and influencing public safety policies that favor
community policing and criminal justice diversion. Implementing the Cornelius Street
/Highway 70 corridor plan is critical to ensuring Fairview residents have access to
quality, healthy /affordable live /work /play opportunities as other parts of town.
Fostering a business community and commercial approvals that include employment
opportunities across the income continuum is critical to providing opportunities for
people looking for that next step up. The other area where I have been able to make
headway towards bridging the gap is in my role as an officer and chair of the Triangle J
Council of Governments and a representative of the Triangle J Council of Governments
at the state level. In this capacity, I helped develop NCGA support for starting to loosen
the barriers that currently prevent 100% affordable access to highspeed broad band.
Having collaborated with HPD for over 15 years, I have supported and fostered the
policing culture that gave rise to Fairview Live, basketball camps, tutoring, community
garden help, Latino summits, community summits, all initiated and funded thru HPD.
These programs, along with others, body cameras and deescalation policies all
predated the Ferguson murder. Hboro, unlike Chapel Hill and Carrboro, had already
purged homelessness-as-a-crime statutes years ago. I look forward to hearing what the
mayor’s task force recommendations are.
7. How will you seek input to inform your role as a council member from town
workers and residents? *
Having been a community watch leader for over 15 years, I have built and maintained
relationships across our neighborhoods, HPD, and Town employees and staff. I
continue to nurture these relationships and use their insights to inform my thought
process. Having engaged and continue to engage literally hundreds of residents
through community events and activities, door knocking, outreach, I am able to
ascertain community perspectives. I augment by hearing thoughts and perspectives
from other electeds locally and regionally, and I augment with personal experience and
research. I have always been a connector and one who builds and maintains a large,
diverse network of folks which is helpful on a myriad of levels.
8. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
__________________
Anna Linvill
Running for Hillsborough Commissioner
Not A Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities for Hillsborough? Why are they
important? What are your plans/strategies for addressing them? *
My top priorities for Hillsborough are: 1) Building a clear vision for Hillsborough’s future
growth and development that prioritizes affordable, people centered, quality housing for
residents at all socio-economic levels. No one should have to commute 30-60 minutes
to work whether they are teachers or hospitality workers. If we do not know how we
want our community to look, feel, and function socially, but sit back and wait for
developers to push proposals our way, we will end up with development that benefits
developers and not our community. Hillsborough has many valuable assets that make
our town a desirable place to live: our ethnically and socioeconomically diverse
population, our rich history and culture, our environment, and our optimistic, creative
spirit. People want to live here and developers and businesses want to build here. We
can incentivize the kind of development we want, prioritizing developers and plans that
align with the long term vision that we, as a community have envisioned together. 2)
Working with other agencies (DoT, county) to update and improve our transportation
system, with more frequent bus routes, intercity commuter trains, well times traffic lights,
and safe walking and biking paths to schools and essential businesses and institutions
like grocery stores and hospitals. Having more reliable and frequent public
transportation and pedestrian friendly development is better for the environment and
increases economic and social opportunities for everyone, especially those who cannot
afford to own and maintain a car. Every day, I see people walking on the shoulder of
highway 70 to Walgreens and Food Lion, and on Old NC 86 toward the hospital. Every
year, we hear of high school kids being hit by cars walking to or from school. This
effects minority and low income white kids more than those with parents with flexible
schedules who can ferry their kids around. Kids should not have to be driven a few
blocks to school, nor should they have to endure a 2 hour bus ride to a school that is
only a couple of miles from home. I would work hard to build relationships with Orange
County and neighboring towns to align our vision for a better transportation environment
for the Triangle.
2. What would Hillsborough look like in twenty years if your transportation
policies and vision were executed? *
All neighborhoods would be interconnected with sidewalks, greenways, and biking
paths. We would have a bypass on Lawrence Rd to minimize commuter traffic through
neighborhoods and downtown. Intercity greenways, bikepaths, and light rail would
connect towns and cities to others in the Triangle and to main train stations so that
longer distance travelers and commuters would be more inclined to use passenger train
service. The top levels of parking garages would have covered parking with living roofs
and solar panels, powering electric vehicle charging stations throughout the building.
Pedestrian friendly traffic circles would replace traffic lights wherever possible,
minimizing idling and reducing pollution. More crosswalks, warning lights, and on
demand signals would make it easier for people to cross busy streets. Buses would be
clean and comfortable, would run more frequently, and have schedules that are
consistent and easy to understand. Bus shelters would be conveniently located to every
neighborhood and school, be easy to find and adequately protect people from the
elements. I would love to see the public transportation system service both the general
public and middle and high school students as it does in places like Germany that have
high ridership on public transportation systems. If buses and trains run frequently and
reliably, more people use public transportation, it is safer for everyone, including young
people. (My kids both rode to school on a German public bus from 5th-8th grades when
we were stationed there with the Army)
3. What is your opinion on advisory board members with known association and
support for white supremacist groups? *
If a board member publicly espouses violence or discrimination against anyone because
of their socioeconomic status, religion, sex, lifestyle, or skin color, the Town Board
absolutely has a responsibility to examine the appropriateness of their tenure on the
board. I try not to presume to know people’s political or personal beliefs based on their
casual or even personal associations (family, old friends, patrons, clients). We as a
community should foster a generosity of spirit that does not automatically assume the
worst about people. We should seek to address and diffuse people’s fears rather than to
shun and ostracize them when we don’t agree with their views. Often, especially in the
most controversial political issues, there are knotty quandaries that resist resolution by
simple, tribal, party line prescriptions. People are more complex, their views more
nuanced than the 24 hour news cycle and social media feeds would have us believe. I
believe in building bridges between communities, actively working to breaking down
barriers, and undermining anachronistic views not by shoving new ideas down their
throats by force, but by working to enrich and expand the culture. My work bringing
diversity to Arts Council events is case in point. Conservative business owners and
tourism board members once hostile to our events are now enthusiastic supporters and
hosts of African American spoken word poetry. All it required was an invitation to
participate and a commitment to consider the impact on local businesses when we
design events. In the end, their resistance had nothing to do with race or ideology. It
was economics. If we push people to seek safety in their own little bubbles, we are not
going to build the open and dynamic society we hope to build. We have to give people
opportunities, space, and time to adapt to changing attitudes and socio-cultural realities.
It helps to keep in mind not just how far we have yet to go, but how far we have already
come.
4. What policies on land use and facility improvements would help the city
contribute to mitigating climate change? How can we ensure the implementation
of these policies will not negatively impact communities of color? *
I have addressed some of this question already, but let me see if I can elaborate further.
Besides better public transport and designing our community to reduce the number of
cars on the road, we should be planning for human scaled, thoughtfully planned,
walkable communities at appropriate, real world price points for the people who live and
work here. I would like to see more mixed use zoning in developed commercial areas,
and the redevelopment of strip malls as vibrant, diverse, walkable mini villages with
retail, and housing for people at all ages, stages, and socio economic levels. Such
development would reduce reliance on cars and beautify our environment, lessening
our impact on the environment. Some of our well-intentioned efforts to preserve our
town’s character and architectural history may be having the opposite effect, leaving us
with little socioeconomic diversity, inefficient, decaying buildings, and empty storefronts.
Some of our regulations are inhibiting the evolution of buildings and commercial
infrastructure to meet today’s realities, needs, and long term priorities. We need to
initiate a collaborative community process to come up with a long term vision for how
we want Hillsborough to grow. Once we know what we want, our regulations and
standards can be designed to be reasonable and flexible, our processes simple and
respectful of people’s time and limited resources. Developers do not have to be the
enemy. If we know what we want, we can control the process, seek bids, and work to
build positive, public-private partnerships. Personally, I would like to see single story
sprawling retail morph into human scale mixed use development centered on public
squares with beautiful, climate appropriate, pollinator friendly landscaping, and solar
powered parking garages pushed discreetly to the back rather than front and center.
Rooftop gardens, low maintenance, long lived green roofs topped with solar panels on
all flat roofed commercial buildings would reduce urban heat, provide pollinator habitat,
and generate reliable power and revenues or reduce costs for developers, property
owners, and renters in our sunny climate.
5. What plans do you have for securing affordable housing in future
development?What do you think are appropriate AMI levels to target for
affordable housing? (For both renters and homeowners)
AMI may be too crude an instrument to measure true affordability or the range of
housing prices that we need to serve the people to live and work here. 80% AMI of an
economy where homes average price is approaching $500K and rents start at 1K per
month for a 1 bedroom apartment is still more than many people can afford. We need to
make sure we have a vibrant economy and and education system that produces a
population that is skillful and well trained in a variety of trades and professions. Where
entrepreneurship is alive and well, and wages and cost of living are in good alignment.
Hillsborough could do a better job planning our environment to meet the long term
economic, social, and environmental the needs of residents from all income levels.
Community groups should be involved in building a long term vision for their
neighborhood’s development. In my view NIMBYism occurs when people are asked to
rubber stamp developments that are already far along in the process, or when
developers and planners fail to see and understand what makes that neighborhood or
community special. It is far better and less expensive to get people involved in building
a long term vision for growth, THEN seek developers to bring that vision to life, not the
other way around. Rezoning already developed commercial areas for mixed use
development is my preference over developing woodland or greenspace. Homeowners
with large lots should be not only allowed, but encouraged to build accessory dwellings
on their properties, allowing multiple generations to live together and increasing the
stock of rental property available to lower income residents. Restrictions on building
accessory dwellings and outbuildings within 15-20 feet of a property line are
unreasonable, preventing those with smaller lots from taking advantage of this
economic opportunity/social good. The policy should be reexamined and revised.
6. What plans do you have for bridging the economic gap in the Hillsborough
between people of color/people with low incomes and more affluent white
community members? *
First of all, we should treat historically diverse communities as cultural assets to be
protected, much like we do for significant buildings and the environment. Communities
die when they are not supported by an economic infrastructure that reflects and serves
their specific needs. Empty lots and strip malls in or near neighborhoods that do not
currently have a public gathering space with walkable retail, services, and dining should
be considered for mixed use development in accordance with the long term
development goals and vision of the people who live there. Schools should be walkable,
community centers and affordable senior housing should be located within the
neighborhoods they serve, so that all generations needs are being met. Many homes in
the Historic District and West End are more than 50 years old, but not are not
architecturally rare or connected to historically significant events. These homes should
not be subject to the same onerous permitting processes as a home with documented
historic or cultural value. Onerous and expensive design standards and processes that
require homeowners to provide detailed drawings and narratives even for simple,
everyday necessities such as window and door replacement, fences, home gardens,
and garden sheds are unreasonable, intimidating, expensive, and slow, often involving
multiple trips before the Historic District Commission. This process prevents many
property owners (even white, well to do ones) from necessary maintenance, or making
improvements that would boost the value, condition, and energy efficiency of their
properties. The installation of affordable, modern, energy efficient windows and doors
should be allowed in non-contributing buildings within Historic Districts. Guidelines
should be specific and clear, and homeowners seeking minor works permits should be
able to submit a simple form online to be reviewed by staff, not HDC volunteers.
7. How will you seek input to inform your role as a council member from town
workers and residents? *
While we should encourage citizens to participate in the process of creating a long term
vision for greater Hillsborough that includes plans and processes for incorporating
currently unincorporated areas. While citizens should be invited to sit on advisory
boards, they should not be given quasi-judicial or decision making authority. Elected
officials, accountable to citizens, supported by trained and highly qualified staff should
be charged with making all zoning, appropriateness, and permitting decisions. This will
ensure that permitting is more fair, less biased, and aligns with the communities’ long
term development plans and goals, not arbitrary whims, tastes, and connections of
committee members. We want to maintain and protect the special feeling and sense of
place, not turn our town into a museum for tourists or an exhibition of changing elite
tastes,
8. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
______________________
*Robb English- Endorsed by PDOC
Running for Hillsborough Commissioner
Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities for Hillsborough? Why are they
important? What are your plans/strategies for addressing them? *
Climate Action and Community Connectivity. Climate action is critical for Hillsborough to
continue to advance our sustainability and resiliency of the Town. I will continue to
strongly support the Town’s development of the Comprehensive Sustainability Plan,
encourage public engagement throughout the process and work hard to implement the
plan that will guide future development decisions and the Town’s goal of reaching the
transition to 100% clean energy. Community Connectivity is paramount to the Town of
Hillsborough’s goal of remaining a vibrant town with a strong sense of community. I will
advocate to increase pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure in and around the Town of
Hillsborough, connecting existing neighborhoods via bicycle and pedestrian paths, and
connecting downtown with the southern and northern parts of Hillsborough. In addition, I
believe there are opportunities to expand the Town’s internet access in our public parks,
facilities and open spaces and possibly partner with the County to expand internet
access in the Downtown area.
2. What would Hillsborough look like in twenty years if your transportation
policies and vision were executed? *
Hillsborough would have many more sidewalks and bike paths throughout town, it would
have bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and complete streets that would connect the
southern and northern parts of town to downtown, there would be some round-a-bouts
where we have traffic lights, traffic would flow better and we would have more people
walking and biking to get around. South Churton St would have sidewalks from
Waterstone to 70-A, the ramps at Churton/I-40 and Churton/I-85 would be improved,
and we’d have a pedestrian bridge across I-85 connecting Becketts Ridge and Collins
Ridge.
3. What is your opinion on advisory board members with known association and
support for white supremacist groups? *
I would not support any advisory board appointments of members with known
associations or support for white supremacist groups. I do believe we need to continue
to work harder to diversify our advisory boards and have them better reflect the
demographics of our communities.
4. What policies on land use and facility improvements would help the city
contribute to mitigating climate change? How can we ensure the implementation
of these policies will not negatively impact communities of color? *
The Town of Hillsborough’s Comprehensive Sustainability Plan is intended to guide
future development decisions and land use management to assist in mitigating climate
change. The Town of Hillsborough is working hard to increase community engagement
and to utilize creative and flexible ways to reach out to our marginalized communities to
get their input regarding sustainability, connectivity, racial and social justice. We need to
physically go into our communities of color and engage with those community leaders
regarding their concerns about land use, facility and infrastructure improvements.
5. What plans do you have for securing affordable housing in future
development? What do you think are appropriate AMI levels to target for
affordable housing? (For both renters and homeowners)
I will continue to advocate working with our non-profit housing partners Habitat for
Humanity Orange County and CASA for all future residential developmental decisions,
and increasing housing options for families, veterans, people with disabilities and low
wage workers in Hillsborough. In addition, I will advocate for mixed-use and
mixed-income medium and high density developments that are on bus lines, walkable
and bikeable. I would target households below 50% AMI for renters and in areas
experiencing significant price appreciation.
6. What plans do you have for bridging the economic gap in Hillsborough
between people of color/people with low incomes and more affluent white
community members? *
I will advocate for our local non-profit Orange County Living Wage and encourage our
local businesses to voluntarily certify because fair compensation is good for all
employees and our local economy. I will advocate for mixed-income developments that
include people and families of all incomes.
7. How will you seek input to inform your role as a council member from town
workers and residents? *
I will continue to encourage our residents and workers to participate on our Town
advisory boards and for continued diversification of our town boards. I will engage with
our local businesses and residents and listen to better their issues and concerns to
develop a more comprehensive understanding of the needs of our workers and
residents.
8. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
_____________________
Mebane Mayor and City Council
*Montreena W. Hadley- Endorsed by PDOC
Running for Mebane City Council
Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities for Mebane? Why are they important?
What are your plans/strategies for addressing them?
My top two policy priorities for Mebane are 1) Growth and 2) Transportation. Both are
important because they are lifelines for city development and connectivity. My plan for
addressing each is to utilize the Mebane By Design Comprehensive Land Development
Plan and the City of Mebane Comprehensive Transportation Plan that I participated in
developing with the citizens of Mebane and was adopted by the City Council on
05/01/2017 prior to my retirement in May 2020.
2. What would Mebane look like in twenty years if your transportation policies and
vision were executed?
In twenty years, Mebane would look like a vibrant, well-planned city with smart growth
and an adequate transportation network connecting roads, streets, sidewalks, etc., for
friendly pedestrian mobility, biking, walking, rail, and driving.
3. What policies on land use and facility improvements would help the city
contribute to mitigating climate change? How can we ensure the implementation
of these policies will not negatively impact communities of color?
The Mebane By Design Comprehensive Land Development Plan would help the city
contribute to mitigating climate change. The plan is a tool used to help guide
sustainable land uses. We can ensure the implementation of these policies will not
negatively impact communities of color by abiding by the plan. When developed, the
plan intentionally addressed concerns of communities living in the affected areas.
4. What plans do you have for securing affordable housing in future
development?What do you think are appropriate AMI levels to target for
affordable housing? (For both renters and homeowners)
As the council is doing now, and has done over the years, is to continue to make sure
that there is an equal balance for affordable housing. I know from a zoning standpoint
as an employee, we have that leverage we can use to make sure that, as developers
come in, the plans are something that can benefit the residents of Mebane and that it’s
affordable for all. As a NC Certified Zoning Official, I plan to apply the appropriate
zoning rules and regulations to secure affordable housing in future development. I think
the market should determine what the appropriate AMI levels to target affordable
housing for both renters and homeowners should be. Typically, when developers come
in with their product, they give you a background of the research that they have done to
show what is actually needed in Mebane. If the statistics show that’s what’s needed at
that time, then at that point, as a council, when the developers come before you with the
product that they’re trying to bring to Mebane that research can be discussed. If it’s
beneficial at that time, and looking at the area that they’re talking about building or
developing in, you have to look at those things.
5. What plans do you have for bridging the economic gap in the Mebane between
people of color/people with low incomes and more affluent white community
members?
As I have already indicated, I plan to rely on the Mebane By Design Comprehensive
Land Development Plan and the City of Mebane Comprehensive Transportation Plan as
the cornerstone for my work on the City Council, including in my efforts to bridge the
economic gap.
6 How will you seek input to inform your role as a council member from city
workers and residents?
I will seek input by participating in public candidate forums, knocking on doors,
attending city events, and continuing existing relationships with former and current city
employees.
7. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
___________________
Chapel Hill/Carrboro Board of Education
*Mike Sharp- Endorsed by PDOC
Running for Chapel Hill/Carrboro Board of Ed
Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities? Why are they important? What are your
plans/strategies for addressing them? *
I’d say my top two priorities for our district should be (1) working to remove the
“opportunity gap”, and (2) establishing a better system for implementing and tracking
the success of district initiatives. To clarify, the “opportunity gap” represents the
difference in grades, test scores, opportunities for advancement, discipline referrals,
and more(!) between white students and students of color in our district. I’ve been told
by the district every year (since I started teaching here in 2002) that we are “working on
it”. I’ve seen programs come and go fairly often, all promising to make a difference but
we know the numbers are just as bad as they were when schools were first
desegregated! Our solution needs to be multi-faceted. First, we need to make more
conscious efforts to hire and retain staff at every level who represent and approximate
the diversity of our community. Second, we need to implement racial equity training in
every school (and among administration) that helps staff to understand the ways in
which our systems are failing our students of color. This training has begun, in my
experience, many many times but fizzled out within a year. Hence the need, as I
mentioned earlier (priority 2) for accountability and data to track our efforts. We also
need to ensure that trainings continue even when staff starts to feel uncomfortable, as
we recognize that’s an important part of how we grow and learn about such emotional
subjects. Third, we need to use that newfound training to examine our current (and
especially our long-established) practices and throw out whatever doesn’t bring us
closer.
2. How can the budgeting process be improved? *
I’ve always been troubled by the ongoing relationship between our district and the
county in terms of budgets. I can recall numerous times that we “needed” a grassroots
effort from parents and community members to ask for Orange County to continue
funding our efforts. We should not need to plead every few years for funding in order to
keep our budget afloat. We need to either formalize some arrangement for what seems
equitable for funding both county and city schools, or else we need to compose our
budgets assuming we will not receive such funding.
3. What policies or facility improvements would help the school system
contribute to mitigating climate change? *
Our sustainability director, Dan Schnitzer, has done a great job in reducing our carbon
footprint and educating our staff and students about our responsibility to fight climate
change. We need to continue these efforts, especially continued education on resource
use and composting. We can also agree to consistently employ eco-friendly
construction methods like we utilized at Northside. I’d also be interested in encouraging
carpooling efforts among staff and families, once we’re clear of COVID concerns, and
pursuing the viability of alternative fuel sources for our buses.
4. What plans do you have for bridging the achievement gap in the Chapel
Hill/Carrboro Schools between minority and white community members? *
I mentioned this in my priority number 1 above.
5. What is your position on School Resource officers? *
I have worked with many SROs and they’re all fine people and well-intentioned; I don’t
mean to cast aspersions on any of their efforts in schools. But I question the
effectiveness of their presence in our schools, and I’m afraid it’s doing more harm than
good for our students of color. In the reality of America today, police officers are at the
center of many highly-publicized acts of racism and inequity. Many of our students have
experienced frustration and anger about the unfairness they see in media and in their
personal lives and the lives of their families and friends. When you’ve seen and felt this
oppression coming from police officers, that level of fear and distrust cannot be erased
by a few examples that officers can be friendly in school. Using SROs for discipline
matters contributes to the school-to-prison pipeline and goes contrary to our efforts
toward restorative practices. Our counselors, social workers, and other staff can do the
job, without the overhanging anxiety of an armed officer in our schools.
6. How do you plan to allocate BOE funding from Orange County to balance the
needs of refurbishing buildings against the cost of educational programs? *
I think this balance is best achieved with an overarching set of mission priorities and
goal setting, so that we can weigh the outcomes from each expenditure
7. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
_______________________
*George Griffin- Endorsed by PDOC
Running for Chapel Hill/Carrboro Board of Ed
Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities? Why are they important? What are your
plans/strategies for addressing them? *
My top two policy priorities are: 1) Eliminate the racial opportunity gap. The school
board has a legal, ethical, and moral commitment to ALL students. It is incumbent on
the board to develop and adopt a collective belief related to addressing this decades old
inequity. Systemic changes are needed in identification of “above average” students
resulting in de facto tracking, under-identification in programs for students identified as
Academically/Intellectually Gifted (AIG) and resultant lowered performance expectations
for black and brown students. Disciplinary practices and the over-use of out-of-school
suspensions need to be revisited and revised to address this long-standing reality. 2)
Focus, support, and strengthen our general education program Pre-K through Grade
12. Another way of putting it is, “first things first.” Ensuring that high quality learning
opportunities are available to all students in every grade-level, classroom, and school in
our district is the primary mission of the board. A purposeful effort is needed to monitor,
evaluate, and support effective teaching and learning. A focus on classroom learning
environments that foster the critical thinking skills of each student is fundamental and
needs ongoing development.
2. How can the budgeting process be improved? *
We are a resource-rich district, with many programs and services. Most recently the
district used a zero-based budgeting process which calls for each program and service
area to generate its proposed budget from a “fresh-start” viewpoint, rather than
continuing what’s currently in place and simply adding to it. The unstated assumption is
that each program is equally effective and needed. The metrics used to assess
effectiveness vary widely and are not consistently reviewed. The entire process can be
improved by having the board prioritize funding approval based on board priorities and
collectively generated values and beliefs. When viewed in isolation, almost every school
program and service appears valuable and helpful. However, there is not always useful
data to support this belief. Additionally, some budgeted areas address specific goals of
the district more directly than others. Therefore, budgeting priorities need to be
developed up-front by the board, so that each existing program is not in competition
with others.
3. What policies or facility improvements would help the school system
contribute to mitigating climate change? *
It is incumbent on the board to not only address current capital improvement needs, but
to plan for the future. The board has several policies in place that address
environmental issues: “… conserves environmental resources… are energy efficient…”
(Policy Code: 9020 Facility Design). Another (Policy Code: 9040 High Performance
Building Design Criteria) includes: “…High Performance Schools (HPS) are designed to
improve the learning environment while saving energy, materials and natural
resources… develop in an appropriate and environmentally sensitive manner… reduce
the use of water… use materials that conserve raw resources… In order to accomplish
the desired outcomes, design standards established by the Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED) will be employed…” Building on the design criteria
above, I would support efforts to encourage walking/biking to school wherever possible.
School start and stop times may be modified to reduce long bus rides, as well as long
car drop-off and pick-up lines.
4. What plans do you have for bridging the achievement gap in the Chapel
Hill/Carrboro Schools between minority and white community members? *
The achievement gap, now better described as the opportunity gap, requires significant
systemic changes. This is a departure from viewing the problem and solution as a deficit
problem related to black students. Recent data reveals that racial disparities persist in
the identification and participation rates in programs and services for academically
gifted students. Disparities in out-of-school suspension rates remain unacceptably high,
and in fact are increasing. To me this is a “kitchen on fire” situation. The school board
needs to step-up and lead the way to some systemic changes. The 2015 report titled
“Excellence with Equity: The Schools Our Children Deserve” (compiled by the
Campaign for Racial Equity In Our Schools) needs to be revisited. This report contains
excellent anecdotal insights and data highlighting similarities and differences in
perceptions of white and non-white students, parents, and teachers. It also contains
eight Equity Goals that remain highly relevant. The Campaign for Racial Equity in Our
Schools has developed a new year-long series titled, “Ending School Racism; What
Can White Parents Do?” I look forward to participating in these sessions as there is
much to be learned.
5. What is your position on School Resource officers? *
School Resource Officers are not needed in all schools. The broader issue is best
described as school safety. First and foremost, schools must be safe learning
environments. Safe includes both physical and emotional safety. Without a truly safe
environment, teaching and learning is significantly diminished. School safety issues and
how to best address them require a total team commitment from all the adults in any
school. Beginning with the principal and administrative team, a successful school safety
plan requires the participation of the entire faculty, staff and supporting agencies. A
School Resource Officer (SRO) may be a vital and important part of the plan; however,
this is not automatic. The key ingredient to success is that each adult has a role to play
and collectively every school may develop a truly safe learning environment for all.
Additionally, black students report higher rates of undesirable interactions with SROs. It
is incumbent of school administrators to act on this reality, rather than simply
acknowledge it. The current review of the role of the SRO in our schools should occur in
the context of the overall safety plan at each school. The SRO may play a vital role;
however, it needs to be as part of the overall team, and not done in an isolated manner.
I have seen many situations nationwide where the administration and/or staff abdicate
some of their responsibilities for school safety because there is an SRO in the building.
SROs have no place in handling routine student discipline issues. That is the job of the
school administration and faculty. So, the common question of, “Should we have SROs
in our schools?” is better framed as “How can an SRO assist in our overall safety plan?”
and then go from there to make decisions on a school-by-school basis.
6. How do you plan allocate BOE funding from Orange County to balance the
needs of refurbishing buildings against the cost of educational programs? *
Budgeting for capital needs projects in the schools is often a contentious process. Most
funds are categorical and may only be used for specific purposes. The Board of County
Commissioners (BoCC) allocates both operational funds and capital outlay funds. At
present, the BoCC has approved approximately $30 million dollars (both systems) in
capital improvement funds, however, the CHCCS deferred using some of these funds
for one year. Discussion among commissioners and board members needs to be
ongoing, and direct, and not through social media outlets. Within the constraints of my
role as a school board member I would work directly with the BoCC to develop some
common understandings, and a degree of trust in order to better address the balance
between refurbishing buildings and the cost of educational programs.
7. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
_______________________
*Riza Jenkins- Endorsed by PDOC
Running for Chapel Hill/Carrboro Board of Ed
Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities? Why are they important? What are your
plans/strategies for addressing them? *
The top two (2) priorities that I would address are: 1. Increasing the intentional work
around diversity and equity 2. Ensuring transparency and accountability of the CHCCS
district to its stakeholders These priorities are important because they impact all
decisions that the CHCCS district will make for our students, staff, and schools. I will
address these by making this priorities required information for the staff to provide for
any decision the board is presented to make decisions or provide guidance.
2. How can the budgeting process could be improved? *
The budget process can be improved by doing more outreach to community on the
budget needs of the district both short term and long term and the impact on students,
staff, and community. The budget needs of the schools are great and investing in our
schools will impact the students and the greater community.
3. What policies or facility improvements would help the school system
contribute to mitigating climate change? *
Many of the schools in the district are older, inefficient, and are having a negative
impacting the environment. By renovating and updating our older facilities, we can
reduce our negative impact on the environment, but this requires funding to make these
repairs or renovations. The district currently has initiative in place that support climate
change initiatives such as gardens at schools which provide food to members of our
community, composting at all schools, and discussions have occurred to add solar to
some of our buildings.
4. What plans do you have for bridging the achievement gap in the Chapel
Hill/Carrboro Schools between minority and white community members? *
The work around bridging the achievement/opportunity gap will take intentional work
around decision making and ensuring we are meeting the needs of all students. As a
district, we state we use the Racial Equity Impact Assessment (REIA) toolkit and we
should ensure we are utilizing it to inform our decision making. Additionally, we need to
look at existing policies, programs, and curriculum and see if it is satisfying the areas of
our strategic plan that address the achievement gap. If we have programs that are
making the impact we intended, we should continue those programs and look at
strategies to expand/replicate those programs. If we have programs/policies that are not
working to close the achievement gap/strategic plan, then we will need to have some
conversations about whether we will continue or need to make changes to those
programs/policies.
5. What is your position on School Resource officers? *
I currently serve on the Safety Task Force, formerly the SRO Task Force, which was
formed in the CHCCS district to look at School Resource officers in our schools. I, along
with other committee members, have worked to help reframe the discussion to focus on
safety, how we define safety, how decisions around safety can impact how students of
various groups, and what our safety plan looks going forward. By getting the
stakeholders to have honest conversations about these areas, we hope that this will
uncover that School Resource Officers may have been hired with one purpose in mind,
but the actual impact has had a negative impact on students/community members of
color. At the end of the day, schools are a place of learning that we want safe. We
should not have any person or position at our schools who make any individual or
groups of individuals feel unsafe.
6. How do you plan allocate BOE funding from Orange County to balance the
needs of refurbishing buildings against the cost of educational programs? *
The funding for capital improvements and educational programs should not be an either
or since both needs are equally important. The funding from the county is separated by
operating and capital funds. Our current challenge is getting the county and state to
fund budget requests. The district has been taking additional steps to scrutinize our
current spending, so that we are spending our funds on educational programs that are
ensuring all students educational needs. There are some capital projects that have
been addressed, but with over $200-$300 million of unfunded capital improvements, we
will need the fiscal support from the county and state.
7. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes
____________________
Tim Sookram
Running for Chapel Hill/Carrboro Board of Ed
Registered Democrat
1. What are your top two policy priorities? Why are they important? What are your
plans/strategies for addressing them? *
Covid and infrastructure. I think we need a broad plan to make up for the time the
students have lost
2. How can the budgeting process could be improved? *
I’m new to the process, but I see the school board fund short-term decisons that cost
more money in the long run. At my kid’s elementary school, the water pipes carry
dangerous amounts of lead. This was discovered in March. Water fountains can’t be
used. The chefs in the cafeteria can’t cook with the tap water. The district’s reaction was
to buy a bunch of bottled water, rather than fix the underlying problem with the pipes. So
they’ve created a bunch of plastic waste and made a stopgap solution into what appears
to be a permanent solution.
3. What policies or facility improvements would help the school system
contribute to mitigating climate change? *
This is a big question that involves a lot of long-term decisions, which I barely see the
current school board think about. As far as mitigation, we need to look at our carbon
footprint. We need to change in-district zoning that sends children to a school on the
other side of town. We need to look at our pick-up and drop-off policies that let cars
unnecessarily sit in line idling and pumping pollution into our atmosphere. We need to
find a way to employ zero emissions or hybrid buses. I think we also need to look at
how climate change puts our schools at risk. We need to audit our district’s properties to
see if, for example, they are put at risk of increased flooding.
4. What plans do you have for bridging the achievement gap in the Chapel
Hill/Carrboro Schools between minority and white community members? *
I think one major thing we can do is expand our Pre-K programs. Researchers have
known for 20 years that the earlier we begin with quality education, the bigger the
improvements.
5. What is your position on School Resource officers? *
I think that schools have no need for dedicated police officers in the building. I respect
the police, but when schools need the police, they can call the Chapel Hill or Carrboro
Police Department. I do not think police mitigate danger in schools, I think they end up
acting like a hammer in search of nails. There were SROs in my middle and high school
growing up. The primary effect on children was intimidation.
6. How do you plan allocate BOE funding from Orange County to balance the
needs of refurbishing buildings against the cost of educational programs? *
I think our facilities will cost us more in the long run if we don’t fix the fundamental
problems now. It’s possible we may get funding from the federal government to fix this
basic structural problems so we don’t have to pull money away from other priorities
7. If we endorse you we are asking for a promise that you will continue to meet
with us, and address our concerns when they arise. Are you willing to make that
promise? *
Yes