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Click Here to Listen to the 2014 Community Forum

 

Town & Gown – 8am

Chapel Hill-Carrboro and the University of North Carolina are inseparable. Changes to the town can’t help but affect the gown, and vice versa.
 
UNC continues to plan and discuss potential growth at Carolina North; across Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd, the Central West development will be taking form in the near future.
 
Development isn’t the only thing affecting the town and university. Every year, the school adds more students, contributing more congestion to the roads, but also more revenue opportunities as the students shop at the local stores. A bigger population also puts more strain on the police, fire, and EMS departments.
 
Local officials from the towns and the university open our 2014 Community Forum with a discussion of the connection between the entities and how they work together while working on their own.

 

Carol Folt

Chancellor of UNC

 

 

Barry Jacobs

Board of County Commissioners

 

 

Christy Lambden

2013-14 UNC Student Body President

 

 

Lydia Lavelle

Mayor of Carrboro

 

 

Mark Kleinschmidt

Mayor of Chapel Hill

 

 

Tom Stevens

Mayor of Hillsborough

 

 

Public Safety – 9am

Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough, Orange County, and the University of North Carolina all have their own separate policing agencies and their own separate issues to keep in mind in order to keep their people safe. However, there is plenty of overlap as well.

 

Chris Blue

Chapel Hill Police Chief

 

 

Tom Stevens

Mayor of Hillsborough

 

 

Dan Jones

Chapel Hill Fire Chief

 

 

Walter Horton

Carrboro Police Chief

 

 

Economic Development – 10am

Orange County is known as being very environmentally friendly, but there are still many areas that could see improvement. There are constantly new developments in how to best take care of Mother Nature so that she will in turn take care of us. What we once thought was good may no longer be, and vice versa.

 

Julie McClintock

President, Friends of Bolin Creek

 

 

David Schwartz

Researcher, NC Botanical Garden

 

 

Michael Parker

Chair of the Town Transportation Board

 

 

Aaron Nelson

President & CEO Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce

 

 

Environment – 11am

The borders of our towns and county are pretty well set, but populations (including the University) are growing. We have to decide where to put everyone, their places of business, and their recreational activities with the space we have, all while trying to please as many people as possible and keeping in mind how growth affects the environment.

 

Sammy Slade

Carrboro Alderman

 

 

Mark Marcoplos

OC Board of County Commissioners Candidate

 

 

Jim Ward

Town Council Member

 

 

Bernadette Pelissier

OC Board of County Commissioner

 

 

Earl McKee

OC Board of County Commissioners Incumbent

 

 

Big Time Sports – 12pm

The National Collegiate Athletic Association has been blamed for colleges and universities nationwide taking advantage of their student athletes as a source of profit. UNC has been torn down in recent years and called out for issues that are plaguing many higher education institutions with revenue-generating sports. How do schools nationwide address the issue, and what’s the next step in reforming the NCAA?

 

Lew Margolis

Associate Professor, UNC

 

 

Bubba Cunningham

UNC Athletic Director

 

 

Walter Storholt

Play-by-Play Announcer for UNC Women’s Basketball

 

 

Kelly McFarland

UNC women’s soccer player (Class of ’14)

 

 

Deborah Stroman

UNC Dept. of Exercise and Sports Science, UNC Black Caucus Chair

 

 

K-12 Education – 1pm

Schools in the area are bursting at the seams, but the budget for additional schools isn’t coming anytime soon. Some schools are in dire need of repairs, too. Not only has the building budget taken a hit in recent years, but teachers are leaving the state to teach elsewhere because of the lack of financial support.

 

Chuck Hennessee

President, Chapel Hill-Carrboro Association of Educators

 

 

Donna Coffey

Chair, Orange County School Board

 

 

Jamezetta Bedford

Chair, Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board

 

 

Jeff Hall

PTA Council President

 

 

Tom Forcella

Superintendent, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools

 

 

Arasi Adkins

Executive Director of Human Resources, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools

 

 

College Education – 2pm

UNC is one of the leading research universities in the nation. The number of applicants and students increases every year. As the numbers go up, competition increases, and students have to fight even harder to make it to the next level.

 

Tom Forcella

Superintendent, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools

 

 

Kristin Hiemstra

Counselor at East Chapel Hill High School

 

 

Penny Gluck

Executive Dean of Orange County Operations, Durham Tech

 

 

Jan Boxill

Director, UNC Parr Center for Ethics

 

 

Affordability – 3pm

Orange County’s population continues to grow. While the space in which to build shrinks, how do the municipalities fulfill the needs for housing and retail while still catering to all levels of the economic spectrum?

 

Hudson Vaughan

Deputy Director, Marian Cheek Jackson Center

 

 

Mark Dorosin

Orange County Commissioner

 

 

Bonnie Hauser

OC Board of County Commissioners Candidate

 

 

James Davis

Orange County Housing, Human Rights and Community Development

 

 

Maria Palmer

Chapel Hill Town Council

 

 

Sally Greene

Chapel Hill Mayor Pro Tem

 

 

Delores Bailey

Executive Director at EmPOWERment, Inc

 

 

Michelle Laws

Chair, Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP Housing Committee

 

 

Tomorrow’s News Makers – 4pm

A number of new faces are now writing the laws that affect your everyday life. What are their agendas? Where do they want to see North Carolina go? How will their choices keep you on your life path or take you in another direction?

 

Mark Dorosin

Orange County Commissioner

 

 

Renee Price

Board of County Commissioners

 

 

Graig Meyer

NC District 50 Representative

 

 

Laura Morrison

Associate Vice President, Membership at Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce

 

 

Damon Seils

Carrboro Board of Aldermen

 

 

Maria Palmer

Chapel Hill Town Council

 

 

From Raleigh to Orange – 5pm

The democratic Orange County has kept its sights on Raleigh since the Republican takeover, and little that’s been sent from the General Assembly has been taken as a positive change. How are those decisions affecting our county, our municipalities, and our schools?

 

Mark Chilton

Orange County Register of Deeds Candidate

 

 

Ed Harrison

Chapel Hill Town Council

 

 

Lee Storrow

Chapel Hill Town Council

 

 

Penny Rich

Board of County Commissioners

 

 

James Barrett

Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board