We're just four days out from the election now, so I'd be interested to hear some predictions on a couple fronts:

Obviously the most intense race locally is the well funded Superior Court race between incumbents Carl Fox and Allen Baddour, and challengers Chuck Anderson and Adam Stein.

-One thing I'll be watching with interest Tuesday night is Carl Fox's performance. During both the primary and the general, Fox has run the lowest profile campaign of the contenders. In the primary he finished first by a large margin nonetheless, likely owing to his name recognition and magnetic personality.

But that was the primary, and the wider electorate in the general is less likely to be familiar with Fox's record and personality. I think he'll probably still finish first, but by a much smaller margin, at least percentage-wise, than in the spring.

As published in the Chapel Hill Herald on October 28th, 2006:

Alot of the civic discourse in Carrboro recently has been about green space and public open space. The most prominent example of this is the Weaver Street Market dancing controversy, which was recently resolved happily, in large part due to extensive public input about the situation.

One positive impact of that dialogue was that it got more people thinking about the importance and meaning of putting beautiful spaces in the community to use for the public good. As with the WSM situation, public participation and input will be vital to the success of the ongoing Carrboro Greenspace initiative, and the Greenways Summit the town of Carrboro is holding today at the Century Center.

A quick look back at the resolution of the "Dancing Man" controversy shows the impact citizen activism has on public space. Early on many folks in Carrboro made it very clear that curtailing Bruce Thomas' dancing on the lawn was unacceptable to them and took action on their concerns. Their letters to the editor, organizational meetings and dance-ins showed the support behind their cause.

Join us at Open Eye Café (101 S. Greensboro St. in Carrboro) on Thursday, November 2nd for a good time, good people, and good cakes. We'll be celebrating our twenty-five years of activism and twenty-five years of community support. We will be auctioning off twenty-five cakes, of all shapes and types (some vegan!). Join us for a fun evening of cake, coffee, and sparkling wine, as well as friends and community.

We will also be presenting a first look at our Hidden Histories of Chapel Hill project, which compiles 25 chapters of local history that you probably didn't learn about in school: Floyd Council, laborers at Carr Mill, the 1937 riot, Junius Irving Scales, Elizabeth Cotten, the UNC Speaker Ban, King Nyle, the Journey of Reconciliation, Bob Brown, Joe Straley, Rosemary Ezra, Charlotte Adams and many more.

Internationalist Books & Community Center