What do we owe as a community to our marginalized, historic neighborhoods in a community built around a university? What do we owe to students from a university on which our communities thrive? Should we view students moving into existing residential neighborhoods as a threat or should we expect this change and manage for it?

The neighborhoods closest to the university are the most impacted by students as they move in. Impacts include more noise, foot and car traffic and sometimes more trash. They also result in co-learning, resource sharing and greater vibrancy. The challenge is that many of those neighborhoods are historically African American neighborhoods that have already faced cumulative impacts of systemic racism, dis-investment and gentrification.

Welcome to the open thread for the Orange County Board of Commissioners candidate forum happening on April 8, 2018, at 7:00 pm. Comments on this page are now open. The candidates are:

• District 1: Jamezetta Bedford
• District 2: Earl McKee, Tommy McNeill
• At Large: Brian Crawford, Sally Greene, Noah Oswald

The forum itself is happening here:
https://orangepolitics.org/elections-2018/forums/bocc.

We hope you'll use this open thread to post your thoughts and reactions, or to propose additional discussion topics. The forum moderator will have final say in question selection.

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.