I just received an email announcing the organizational meeting for the Durham Orange Friends of Transit and it got me to thinking... As a resident of Carrboro, I continue to hear a lot of excitement at the neighborhood and town level about the idea of some type of fixed rail service with a stop in downtown that takes folks to the university and beyond to Durham. Despite this, everyone that I've heard that is "in the know" about transit issues seems to be dismissive of the idea that a station in Carrboro is a viable idea. I believe this is partially due to the perception that the Carrboro population is not large enough to sustain such a station. The types of statistics I've seen that justify transit and transit stops tend to only use population and density numbers, but don't take into account the percentage of the population likely to use such a service.

We thought turnout for the municipal elections in Carrboro was low, but word on the street is that the turnout for the board elections at Weaver Street Market is abyssmal. Apparently even though many folks in Carrboro are members of the Weaver Street Market cooperative, only a couple of hundred members actually vote in a given election for the board. Considering there are probably 10,000+ members (educated guess based on the membership numbers i'm hearing people give at the register these days), that's a 1-2% turnout rate. Considering that the market is arguably the soul and conscience of Carrboro, it's surprising that so few people take a moment to learn about the candidates and take the important step of voting.

This year we're hoping that changes. So in an effort to promote voting of "consumer-owners", both candidates for the board have written this piece to get the word out about the voting, to tell you a little about ourselves, and to encourage each of you to reach out to your friends and neighbors and encourage them to vote as well.