November 2009
In attempt to restore sanity to the endorsements thread, I'm taking my response to the comments about comments over here.
Cam's comment was posted around 7pm and the first time I saw it was around
11am the next day, at which point I took it down and responded to Fred's comment. I am just not as obsessive about reading the site as some folks are, and that's OK with me. I don't plan to do much more responding to him because I just don't have the time and it doesn't seem productive in any way.
I still don't understand why some people who claim to have such problems with this web site spend so much time here. For example, as of this moment Fred has posted 305 comments on OP in the past year, more than any other user of the site.
I continue to be amazed by the number of people who tell me they don't see a huge difference between Mark Kleinschmidt and Matt Czajkowski. These folks usually describe themselves as "progressive"
(as do I, for the record) but they say they're voting for Matt based
on some single issue. Let me tell you, folks, I believe there is a
huge difference between these two mayoral candidates, and I think
anyone who is concerned with social, racial, or economic justice will find
themselves disappointed in a Czajkowski mayoralty.
I recently saw Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy give an interesting speech on the problem that everyone seems to think that Chapel Hill was just perfect right about the time they got there. Kevin is not the first person to have observed this, and he won’t be the last, but I thought it might be interesting to share this item I stumbled across while researching an unrelated topic. R. L. Gray wrote an essay on Chapel Hill in the News & Observer (reprinted in
NC Journal of Law, Vol 1, pp 516-518, 1904):
"Let the man have been tarred with the University stick and he will tell you along with his after-dinner cigar that he has a notion of some day building a house at Chapel Hill – and there remaining to the end of the chapter in the one place where he believes he can obtain a large and perfect peace. There men cling to the town and its surroundings with a memory that is both tenacious and jealous of details.
This is being released to the press today:
Jim White, Chair of the Orange County Democratic Party and Bill
Knight, Chair of the Orange County Republican Party issued the
following joint statement today:
Last week a mailing was sent to residents of Chapel Hill that was
supposedly from an organization calling itself “CHC PAC.” There is
apparently no such political action committee registered with the
Orange County Board of Elections and no contact information or mailing
address on the postcard. The postcard is designed to look like a
mailer supporting mayoral candidate Mark Kleinschmidt, and contains
attacks on mayoral candidate Matt Czajkowski.
For ten years, discussions between the Inter-Faith Council, the Town of Chapel Hill, and the University of North Carolina have been underway to relocate the men’s shelter and community kitchen. Many factors were considered during the deliberations, and with great generosity a site along Martin Luther King jr. Blvd. was donated by the University. So an ideal site found but so was a new obstacle; fear.
The race to be Chapel Hill's next Mayor is too close to call. Matt
Czajkowski leads Mark Kleinschmidt 45-44, a difference that suffice it
to say is within the margin of error.
The
key finding in the poll underscoring how divided the community is
headed into election day is that 49% of voters think the town is headed
in the right direction while 51% think it's off on the wrong track.
That should make for closely contested races both for Mayor and Town
Council.
In general most politician's campaign materials lack details. Its easy to say we're going to reduce taxes, but much, much harder to identify what to cut, so I'm not going to rule him out based on that. What did make up my mind, however, is his misunderstanding of mixed-use developments:
Several of the OP regulars will be guests on WCHL as they cover the election results tomorrow. Tune in to hear the dulcet tones and considered opinions of Mark Marcoplos, Fred Black, Tom Jensen, Nancy Oates, and yours truly. You are also encouraged to call in with your own comments and analysis at 929-9245.
From an e-mail from news director LMT:
The plan is to have a pre-election result conversation: rehashing of the election season, discussion of issues facing both Carrboro and Chapel Hill, overview of candidates and respective platform, and action plan for the newly elected officials. Then a discussion and analysis of the election results, as they come in, followed by a post-election wrap up.
The conversation will be lead by Ron Stutts and Community Government Reporter Elizabeth Friend.
We have invited commentators that we feel will provide a balanced discussion [...] We welcome lively and respectful discussion that best represents topics and opinions that have been discussed within the community.
Date:
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 - 1:00pm to 5:00pm
Location:
1360 AM, 1360wchl.com, & Town Hall Grill in Southern Village
Each election, I am awed and inspired by those who have the courage and the stamina to run for office. Regardless of who we support, we should all be thankful for those who step up and put themselves on the line for the sake of their community.
Good luck to all the candidates, and thank you!
I'm not sure whether I'll be awake to kick this off when the polls open at 6:30 am (although it's all too likely with an infant in the house) so I'm starting it early. What's going on out there, how are you feeling, what are you doing today?
And aren't you glad it's almost over!
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