October 2003
In addition to a plethora of candidates on this year's ballot, Chapel Hill voters will have five bond questions to decide. They are (approximately):
$5.0m Parks & recreation;
$2.0m Open space preservation;
$16.2m Library improvement;
$5.6m Sidewalks & streets;
$0.5m Energy-efficent buildings
Here's an article from the Chapel Hill Herald on the Town Council's approval of the bonds. What do you think? How will you vote?
So, Ann Coulter is speaking at Carolina tonight, and I'm already getting the hives imagining the news coverage: the protesters, the earnest critics with their well-researched and relevant questions who will be brushed aside, the outraged haranguers lobbing their accusations only to have them turned into punchlines. Is there anything about Ann Coulter that should prompt anyone with any knowledge of history (or of patriotism, or of good manners, or of treason) to go out and see her speak?
It is almost midnight and I really need to go to bed since I have to get up at 5 AM. A little over an hour ago I finished the third forum of this Town council race and I'm a little too wired. I did poorly, which is totally my own fault. I am frustrated with the forums. There are too many candidates and it is really getting dull listening to all of us prattle on. The CAN forum tonight started with a question on school merger and went nowhere from there. All of our answers are too long, in most cases not substantive and occasionally insipid. This should be providing voters with a glimpse of their choices, if anyone is watching. After seeing us all in action I know who is repeating rehearsed pablum at every opportunity and who is actually trying to answer the question, but I only get one vote and my mind is made up.
The formats could be adjusted to speed things up. Maybe someone will try something new, encourage candidates to ask questions of each other, mix it up a little.
The Chapel Hill Herald reports on the second round of fundraising numbers for Chapel Hill Town Council candidates. Here's how it looks:
- Rudy Juliano: $10,164 ($9,764 self-loan)
- Sally Greene: $6,736.13 ($500 self-loan)
- Diane Bachman: $5,600 (5,000 self-loan)
- Bill Strom (i): $5,112
- Thatcher Freund: $4,336 ($1,200 self-loan)
- Doug Schworer: $2,480
- Terri Tyson: $1,790.83 ($1,600 self-loan)
- Andrea Rohrbacher: $1,450 ($1,000 self-loan)
- Cam Hill: $1,105
- Mike McSwain: $750 ($400 self-loan)
- Jim Ward (i): $155
- Woodrow Barfield is expected to spend less than $3,000 is therefore not required to report.
I will try post some numbers from previous elections along with the results of those races for camparison. More money does not equal more votes. But it can sometimes help determine who has a "serious" campaign.
(This is a reprint from a local listserv.)
The Orange County Unit of the League of Women Voters is planning three Candidates Forums (for Chapel Hill's Council race, Carrboro's Board of Aldermen and Mayoral races, and for the CH/Carrboro Board of Education race) in the month of October. Forums are scheduled for 7:00 pm
Tuesday 10/14, CH/Carrboro Board of Education in Chapel Hill Town Hall
Thursday 10/16, CH Town Council in CH Town Hall
Wednesday 10/22, Part 1:Carrboro Board of Aldermen and Part two: Mayor; in Carrboro's Town Hall
(Repost from an e-mail.)
Citizens for Livable Communities (CLC) will hold a "Musical Chairs Forum" on Sunday, October 19, from 2 - 4 pm in the large meeting room at the Chapel Hill Library.
A "musical chairs" format was very successful and fun two years ago. We are doing it again. This format will provide citizens a unique small group opportunity for local residents to ask questions in a non-intimidating setting and for the candidate to explain his or her views. Candidates will visit each table for a stated period of time. Unlike musical chairs there will always be a seat for the candidate.
Please refer questions to Kristina Ahlen, 485- 7722 or Julie McClintock, 541-5339, or reply to this e-mail.
The Citizens for Livable Communities Organizing Committee
CLC promotes livable communities through citizen involvement, dialogue and advocacy.
People around here love the word "smart." We're "smart." We have "smart" kids. We drink "smart" juice. We believe in "smart" growth. And now we want a smart-growth high school in Carrboro.
The smart-growth high school may represent the unified theory of folks who have escaped the city, embraced the space and beauty of our landscape and the pace of our lifestyles, but are still nostalgic for the days when they attended schools that began with "P.S." Establishing an urban neighborhood school in a non-urban environment would represent the overcoming of the last great obstacle to this marriage of fire and water we've been noodling with for the better part of a decade. That is, how to live a life as charged and overflowing and creative and convenient as life in Brooklyn (or Wicker Park, or Cambridge), while dispensing with the smell, and the crowds, and the dirt, and the attenuation of the natural world. Maybe in Carrboro, we think, we can just wish it into being.
I just got this in the mail today, the forum is Thursday. I know you candidates are getting run ragged, but at least people want to hear from you! People who are going to vote, and possibly even make endorsements. When I ran four years ago, it was hard to tell if anyone was paying attention at all. Plus campaigning is just as much work as serving on the Council (but without the stipend) so like it or lump it...
Here's the schedule:NAACP Candidates Forum: October 9, 2003, 6 pm
St. Joseph CME Church, 510 W. Rosemary Street
Carrboro Mayor6:05 - 6:15
Carrboro Board of Aldermen6:15 - 7:00
Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board7:00 - 7:50
Chapel Hill Mayor7:50 - 8:00
Chapel Hill Town Council8:00 - 9:30
(From 'Friends of Affordable Housing' press release.)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 23, 2003
Affordable Housing Group Endorses Strom, Ward and Greene
The affordable housing advocacy group Friends of Affordable Housing announced their endorsement of three candidates for the Chapel Hill Town Council Tuesday morning. The group based its decisions on voting records, questionnaires and responses to questions at the Northside neighborhood forum. Incumbent Council Members Bill Strom and Jim Ward were endorsed, as well as challenger Sally Greene.
The organization's spokesperson Rich Leber said, "Bill Strom has been one of North Carolina's leading lights in the realm of affordable housing." The group recognized his leadership on requiring affordable housing in new real estate developments in Chapel Hill and held his work out as a model for other elected officials in North Carolina.
(From a Sierra Club statement.)
Although I was at the Chapel Hill Town Council meeting in person tonight to present the Horace Williams Commitee's report, I dashed home to watch the exciting conclusion from the comfort of my sofa rather than wait it out in the Council Chamber which was filling up with hard-drinkin' lovers of civil liberties. And a TV camera! Did anyone see channel 17?
I think at least a dozen local residents spoke to the Council against this proposal to require expensive sprinkler systems in just three bars in town... which are not coincidentally in the same building downtown on East Rosemary Street. This proposal was made in the name of safety after the tragic fire at a club in Rhode Island. What the requirements fail to do is protect us from pyrotechnics and blocked fire exits, which were two of the main causes of the fatal fire.
It's that time of year, and the "vote for me" signs are sprouting like weeds. (Very much like, and in close proximity to, the weeds that have taken over the flowerbeds on the bypass, those desperate looking things planted a few years ago for the Special Olympics and abandoned since. Ah, when we were pretty.)Our own batty uncle Lee Pavão recently got on WCHL to propose a conspiracy theory involving the strategic placement of certain people's signs next to one another and how this plot reveals the stink of brimstone in the dark heart of certain local politicians and on and on etc etc. I'll let Pavão search out the political meaning revealed in the proximity of inanimate bodies in space. I'm more interested in the vocabulary of our local signage.You can't begin to get into the question, at least not these days, without acknowledging that Council Member Jim Ward is the undisputed and reigning champion in the battle of the election signs.
Today's Chapel Hill Herald has an article about the impact of UNC development on the Town Council race. It's great to see the neighborhoods banding together - again - to protect themselves from UNC (over)growth. But it's disappointing to see that those activists still seem to see themselves as struggling in a vacuum. Many others have been working for years to try to make UNC a better corporate citizen of our town and would welcome collaboration with the growing number of neighbors who feel threatened by UNC.
This new group, "the Coalition of Neighbors near Campus," endorsed Sally Greene, Cam Hill, and Bill Strom for Chapel Hill Town Council. And I sure can't argue with that.
(I'm out of town so I won't be posting much this week. I'm still writing up my review of the NAACP candidates forum last Thursday.)
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.)
As I search the vast horizon of the print and web media for some small shred of evidence of the existence of a Town Council race, a realization dawns......If anyone is going to write anything about this race, it will have to be me.
Ruby is doing us a great service with this site and her postings have been good but she needs help. The way I see it: The Chapel Hill News has not been interested. Tomorrow's edition may signal the beginning of their coverage with a piece summarizing the candidates. The Chapel Hill Herald has had Rob Shapard covering the race. Too often his coverage of the forums has been a list of the candidates present with an answer to one or two questions. The Herald's Dan Coleman has done an excellent job but he is a weekly columnist. The Tar Heel has had several pieces covering the race; they were the first to discuss the campaign finance issues. Well, election day is three weeks from today and what is a voter to do?
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.
The following was written as a series of comments by an anonymous reader of this site. It was based on a survey of the candidates in Wednesday's News & Observer. It is being republished in one post with the author's permission.
What movies tell us:
Terri Tyson lists her hobby as "watching classical film videos" but then her favorite film (the serious acid test of local politics) is "Saturday Night Fever." Besides explaining her hair style, what can this mean?
The Scientologist-starring flick (rated R for strong language, sexuality/nudity and some drug content) is described as "a hopelessly naive film that appears to have no discernible sense of irony." Need I say more.
What movies tell us. Part 2.
Jim Ward goes international with his choice of "Monsoon Wedding" as his favorite flick. Shot in only 30 days in India and in three languages, everyone agrees that this film is something special.
"Four for Town Council"
When Chapel Hill voters cast ballots for Town Council in a couple of weeks, theyll be doing more than filling open seats on the towns governing board. Theyll also be deciding the course of development of UNCs Horace Williams tract, the future of downtown revitalization and other key issues.
This years 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 couldnt 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:
Yesterday's Chapel Hill Herald gave us a preview of the "Friends of Sunrise" forum. Excuse me, but who the hell holds their candidate forum on the same night as a Town Council meeting? Doesn't that sort of indicate that you are more interested in making your own points than hearing other people's?
They also gave the candidates questions in advance:
One of the submitted questions reads in part, "Do you think that the town should continue its current policy of ignoring I-40 noise?" Another question asks, "Do you think nonprofits should be allowed to build large-scale, low-income housing projects with public funds and with no public accountability?"
The question on the bonds reads, "Keeping in mind that property taxes have increased steadily over the past 15 years and many Chapel Hill residents have lost their jobs in the economic downturn, how would you justify that this is the time to initiate the largest bond package in Chapel Hill history? Are there other ways to accomplish the intended goals?"
Ed Caldwell passed away on Sunday. He will be missed, and fondly remembered. He served the community vigorously. He was actively serving on the Northside Neighborhood Conservation District (among other things) until he fell seriously ill.
Here's more info from the Chapel Hill Herald.
Alright, let's talk about Carrboro! This was written by a Carrboro resident who would like to remain anonymous:
The campaign trail has been fairly quiet in Carrboro, but much could be at stake for the Paris of the Piedmont. Four candidates are running for three seats: Incumbents Joal Hall Broun and Alex Zaffron will meet challengers Mark Chilton and Steve Rose in this election. First lets run through the Alderman candidates:
Joal Hall Broun, the Boards only African-American member, has been an Alderman for four years. Shes an attorney and mother of two. Chapel Hill observers will recall the unusual spelling of Joals last name; her father-in-law is former Chapel Hill Mayor Ken Broun. Joals vote against the Pacifica Development at the end of Hanna Street is no doubt going over well with folks in that area of Town. The Sierra Club snubbed Joal in its endorsements, which helps neither her campaign for Alderman, nor the Clubs lily-white reputation. It seems unlikely that this will affect her chances much, however.
For your researching pleasure, here are links to all of the websites I could find for candidates in Chapel Hill and Carrboro.
For those of us who grew up in any other part of North Carolina, moving to Carrboro often seems like moving to a different (and better) world. Carrborians have always prided ourselves in trying to keep the good parts of Southern life intact (the relaxed pace and community) while striving to be the most culturally diverse, progressive town in the state. Instead of comparing ourselves to other similar-sized cities in the state, like Brevard or Concord or Goldsboro, most folks I know now compare Carrboro to other interesting, progressive cities throughout the country. We still stack up quite nicely in terms of our schools, public transit, and leadership, but we fall quite short on a very important indicator or quality of life: pedestrian friendliness.
Just look at other towns that are often mentioned in the same breath as our own: Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz, Ann Arbor, Madison, Towson Park, MD. We are much smaller than most of these towns and have other factors which separate us, but these municipalities are ones in which you can walk around much more freely and where bike paths and sidewalks can carry you to most parts of town.
The Independent Weekly published a trio of articles about Chapel Hill and Carrboro Races this week.
The articles are good. I appreciated coverage of Dianne Bachman's uncomfortable position, but I think calling it a "conflict of interest" really misses the mark. It's more like a conflict of perspective or conflict of loyalty. They also failed to look past her campaign slogans to investigate where her ideas came from and whether she actually understands them.
Hey folks. I don't plan to make a regular habit of this, but as you can imagine a significant investment of my time and money has gone into the contruction of this web site - not to mention the time and energy of the the authors.
Just in case you would like to make a concrete demonstration of your appreciation of our efforts, here are a few ways you can help:
The Hank Anderson Breakfast Club's endorsements were published in the Chapel Hill Herald on Monday.
The Breakfast Club endorsed Joal Broun, Alex Zaffron, and Mark Chilton in Carrboro; Elizabeth Carter, Gloria Faley, and Ed Sechrest for School Board; Thatcher Freund, Sally Greene, Bill Strom, and Jim Ward in Chapel Hill. They also endorsed both incumbent Mayors.
The Breakfast Club pretty much contains the leadership of the local NAACP, so this tell us where they stand. Sadly, they don't pull many votes in local elections. But they do know how to get things done. I wonder why didn't do a "South Orange Black Caucus" endorsement as they have in the past?
The only surprise for me was that they endorsed Thatcher Freund instead of Cam Hill. Thatcher's pretty progressive, but I think Cam's got a much better understanding of Northside's issues since he lives near it, and has a working-class background. I guess they were more impressed by Thacher's politics than by Cam's residency.
The Chapel Hill News has published endorsements for Carrboro Mayor and Board of Aldermen as well as Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board.
In Carrboro, the News went with a solid slate of incumbents Mike Nelson, Joal Broun, and Alex Zaffron - plus Mark Chilton. I would certainly endorse that endorsement. Anyone want to discuss the history or odds of running as an earnest write-in candidate? I haven't seen anyone do it around here before. But even if I lived in Carrboro (which I don't) and even if he was on the ballot (which he's not), I still wouldn't vote for Jeff Vanke.)
For School Board, the News goes with incumbents Elizabeth Carter and Gloria Faley (who rock), pseudo-incumbent Ed Schrest, and over-qualified George Griffin.
OrangePolitics.org is one month old today. Thanks for reading... and writing!
I am really thrilled with the level of community engagement we've seen here, and I think we can do even more! If you have any suggestions for the site, please let us know with your comments. Anything from design ideas, to feature suggestions, to new topics... your ideas are all welcome.
Last Sunday in the Chapel Hill Herald's letters column, the Community Action Network's Fred Black took issue with a column by Dan Coleman, which took issue with the Community Action Network. Surprise, surprise. The roots of the animus between CAN and Coleman (and, it should be said, the Sierra Club the Greens, and most of the town's New Left) are long, and not worth describing here. Let's just say they have a difference of opinion.
In Black's letter he went on to impugn Coleman's ethics as a columnist this way:
"Mr. Coleman alleges that CAN has not clarified its policy interests and endorsement procedures; we have. What hasn't been clarified is Mr. Coleman's tap dancing on the line of endorsing candidates in his columns, his active endeavors in support of "his" candidates, and his ethical standards as a columnist. He needs to clearly disclose these things to the readers of The Chapel Hill Herald."
The next to last forum was tonight, on campus, sponsored by UNC student government and the DTH. Pretty unremarkable.
I've figured out a format which would deal with eleven candidates.......The Weakest Link. There was a television show a few years ago where the contestants were winnowed out when they couldn't answer a question or they were voted out by the other contestants, or some such stuff (I never actually saw more than a few minutes). Applying this principle to our forums would have sent folks home early when they said something stupid. This would have dramatically reduced the candidates quickly.
In an affort to flush out Gregor Samsa. There has been some talk of a drinking game based on the Town Council candidates. For instance: every time you hear me say: "I was born here" you get to take a drink. Whenever Terri Tyson says: "For the record, I'm opposed to school merger." you take two drinks. Any thoughts on other cues?
The Chapel Hill Herald reports that Pat Killian is challenging Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy as a write-in candidate! Although I've wished repeatedly and vocally for mayoral options, this campaign is even more suicidal than Jeff Vanke's in Carrboro. You just can't win the top office in town with a half-assed, last-minute campaign. Especially given this:
Killian didn't offer any specific criticism Tuesday of what Foy has and hasn't done in his two years as mayor.
"I'm just hoping that perhaps I have some other ideas that he maybe doesn't have," she said.
Killian lives on the part of Mason Farm that's in the path of UNC's future expansion, and her home basically is an "island" surrounded by land that UNC now owns, she said. ... [But] "it's not about me living on Mason Farm Road," she said. "That's not where I want to go with this. It's about a bigger picture.
I'm always glad to see more civic participation, but the "big picture" looks to me like she's wasting time and energy that could be used to support good candidates.
I was sorely disappointed with the Independent's failure to endorse School Board Vice-Chairperson Gloria Faley. I have to admit that I'm not the most consistent watcher of school board actions, but the Indy got this one all wrong. There has been no indication that Gloria ever stopped being a "refreshing, independent voice" on the Board. As a member of one of the other elected bodies Gloria addressed during the "School in a Park" debate, one who ultimately voted against her position, I saw Gloria as professional, articulate advocate -- even as some others who supported locating the school on the park land, were anything but. I hope voters in Chapel Hill and Carrboro remember that amidst the fiery rhetoric of both the School/Park issue and the recent merger fights, Gloria has been a calming voice…in large part because she approaches these issues with a reasoned mind (even if other reasoned minds sometimes disagree with her). Her leadership consistently reminds me of the value of representative government.
From this week's Indy (the endorsement issue that was missing a whole page of Orange and Chatham!), the following correction on page 21:
An Oct. 22 article "Town vs. Gown," should have said that Chapel Hill Town Council candidate Dianne Bachman was a board member of the Community Action Network, not the chair. Also, as a university architect and project manager, Bachman did not present plans to the Town Council, but attended council meetings to assist senior adminstrators on technical issues.
Sounds like Dianne didn't like being asked the old "so when did you stop beating your wife" question, and insisted that the Independent let folks know that it was months ago. Really. How reassuring.
And the fox says: "I wasn't actually 'guarding' the hen house per se, I was just, um, watching it for a friend. He'll be right back, I promise."
A few weeks ago we started talking about and comparing endorsements in the local races. Since then, a few more endorsements have come out, including the supposedly-influential Independent Weekly's picks.
A reader recently asked: "Please have a story about least helpful/most harmful personal endorsements. My vote is Moses Carey endorsing Jim Ward."
So what do YOU think, readers? Do endorsements matter? Which ones? Personal or organizational? How many of us bring the Indy voter guides into the booth each November? Whose recommendations do you trust?
Hi folks. The amount of participation and dialogue on the site lately has been amazing! It's really exciting to see so many ideas being exchanged, and to hear voices that aren't often reflected in the local media and government chambers. A lot of people have contacted me to say so - including candidates, reporters, and elected officials!
While I understand that some folks have compelling reasons for posting anonymously or under pseudonyms, I also am concerned that by not standing behind the words, writers really lessen their credibility in the conversation. I've also seen that such anonymity tends to lower the level of discourse. Speaking to strangers on the Internet is very different than speaking to folks you run into around town. Please try to write as if you were talking to your neighbor, ie: someone you have to get along with, even if you disagree or dislike her.
Can somebody break down the school board race for us? I know this: Incumbents Gloria Faley, Ed Sechrest and Elizabeth Carter are running. Challengers Jamezetta Bedford, Mike Kelley and George Griffin are also running. There are four seats total to be filled.
Personally I have known Gloria Faley and Elizabeth Carter for a long time and I plan to vote for them, but I am having a hard time picking my other candidates. I like Ed Sechrest and I think I will vote for him, but how do I choose from among Bedford, Kelley and Griffin.
All the newspaper articles make these candidates sound very similar. About the most substantive thing I can find is that Griffin and Kelley are critical of a Board decision to eliminate "a self-contained classroom" for "gifted" students in middle schools. Is that a suburban middle-class issue that betrays something about who Griffin and Kelley are? Or is it just plain old vote grabbing? Or is there a real, live issue there (but one which I don't entirely understand)?
Let’s talk about Carrboro’s current development policy (probably the most contentious issue in Carrboro politics this month). At the risk of oversimplifying, we seem to have 3 camps here in town. One camp seems to be the majority (and vocal minority at times) and advocates the current administration’s policy of increasing commercial space downtown by allowing taller buildings to make dense development economically feasible for the developers. This camp (or at least lots of people I’ve talked to) generally approves of dense housing and commercial downtown and has mixed feelings about high density village mixed use development outside of the main part of town but understands that village mixed use has its positives and negatives and generally supports it as a way to reduce sprawl and the cookie cutter subdivisions that are its alternative. These folks also tend to be resigned to the fact that Carrboro is going to continue to add population whether they like it or not and they look for ways to accommodate that without the sprawl and increased pricing that has occurred in every other town where this has happened.
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