"Four for Town Council"

When Chapel Hill voters cast ballots for Town Council in a couple of weeks, they’ll be doing more than filling open seats on the town’s governing board. They’ll also be deciding the course of development of UNC’s Horace Williams tract, the future of downtown revitalization and other key issues.

This year’s Town Council race has been a fairly low-key affair because, unfortunately, no candidates emerged to challenge the mayor for re-election. But the issues couldn’t be greater, particularly town-gown relations and the development of Carolina North. The outcome of those negotiations will require a combination of firmness and accommodation on the part of our elected officials.

Given that context, The Chapel Hill News endorses the following for election to the Town Council on Nov. 4:

This week, the Chapel Hill News tried to draw some distinctions between Town Council candidates. It got some stuff right, but what a lot of B.S.! And there's at least one inaccuracy in there. I'll buy a beer for the first person to spot it and post here.

The Chapel Hill Herald's coverage of their own candidate forum was interesting, especially since they raised the issue of conflict of interest for UNC employees. They also wisely didn't ask every question of every candidate. Unfortunately these two good factors appear to have conspired to let Diane Bachman off the hook on this crucial question.

Last Thursday's NAACP Candidates Forum was well-organized and well-attended (except for sparse media presence), including about 10 high school students who asked tough questions of the School Board candidates. Listening to nine Town Council candidates all answer the same question got pretty monotonous – especially since only about half of them generally have anything substantial to say. (I have to thank Rudy Juliano, Mike McSwain, and the ever-absent Woodrow Barfield for not coming, and thereby making the forum about 36 minutes shorter.)