The Orange-Chatham group of the North Carolina Sierra Club is proud to announce the endorsement of Sally Greene for the at-large seat on the Orange County Board of Commissioners. The NC Sierra Club supports candidates with demonstrated knowledge of local environmental issues who will provide strong leadership on matters including conservation, growth, and transportation.
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It’s smart to plan ahead before making a big purchase. Chapel Hill didn’t do that when it decided to buy the American Legion property for $7.9 million, and now Chapel Hill taxpayers are paying the price. The parks and recreation facilities we thought we were getting when we voted for bonds in November 2015 will be postponed indefinitely, sacrificed for the purchase of the American Legion property.
Flush with $3.6 million in surplus in fall 2016, Town Council decided to rush ahead with the purchase of the longtime home of American Legion Post 6, a 35-acre piece of property. Post 6 had an option with a private developer, who planned to put housing on part of the site and agreed to work with the Town to program part of the site as a public park. (Use of part of the site to expand the adjoining Ephesus Park is a long-time Town goal.) However, even more housing near what is now called the “Blue Hill District” was too much for some Councilmembers. Instead, Town Council decided, it made sense to buy the property.
At a meeting last week with many local nonprofit leaders, I learned something not too surprising – the nonprofits in Orange County are largely run by white folks with accompanying huge disparities in assets and revenue when compared to those run by people of color. Across the Triangle, such nonprofits primarily serve communities of color. And according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, this is the case across the US. I’m not going to tell you why you should care that, like other sectors, the wealth of our nonprofits is concentrated in the hands of white people. It has been written about here (racial wealth gap) and here (nonprofit diversity). But I do want to share our local stats so we have an accurate picture of what we’re facing.
OrangePolitics will hold our semi-annual Candidate Coming Out Party & Happy Hour on Wednesday, February 28th from 5:30 to 7:00 pm at Mystery Brewing in their brewery location (437 Dimmock's Mill Road in Hillsborough).
*Note: We will be at the brewery, not the pub.
Election Information
Three of our county commissioners are up for re-election – one each in District 1, District 2 and At-Large.
Commissioner Mia Burroughs announced that she will not seek reelection next year. Burroughs was elected to the Board of Commissioners in 2014 after serving on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board. She replaced longtime board member Alice Gordon. Former Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board member Jamezetta Bedford has announced that she will file to run for this seat. Bedford also ran for a District 1 seat in 2016.
Commissioner Barry Jacobs (At-Large) and Commissioner Earl McKee (District 2) have said that they will seek re-election.
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