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A Clear Choice This Election Season
A perspective from Susan Romaine
(editor’s note: Susan Romain is a sitting member of the Carrboro Town Council who is not seeking reelection in 2023)
Greetings, Carrboro friends and neighbors:
Early voting is underway for an election in Carrboro that will fundamentally reshape our governing body. We’ll have a new mayor (Council Member Barbara Foushee is running uncontested); and there are three contested Council seats with just one incumbent running. Assuming Barbara is elected mayor, a fourth seat will open, which will be filled at a later time by special election or appointment.
Which is all to say, this election matters – a lot. And when I think about the candidates who are most experienced in local government, who would be best positioned to jump right in, whose vision for Carrboro is most closely aligned with Town goals around equity, sustainability, connectivity, and affordability, my choice is clear: the Carrboro Better Together slate of Catherine Fray, Jason Merrill, and Eliazar Posada.
Meeting Town goals often means balancing and accommodating different interests and concerns. Building essential affordable housing, for instance, requires more attention to storm water management. Connecting streets and diverting cars from congested arterial roads requires traffic calming on the cut-throughs in kid-friendly neighborhoods. Allotting space at our Town-owned cemetery to honor the cultural and religious significance of burials for the Black community is paramount, while also offering walking trails and open space for light recreation. Paving the Bolin Creek Greenway replaces car trips with walks and bicycle rides, and reduces our carbon imprint, but there are certainly environmental risks from adding impervious surface near a creek’s riparian zone.
Weighing the pros and cons of public policy is never easy, but I have full confidence that Jason, Eliazar, and Catherine will find sweet spots and win-wins. They are smart, practical, collegial, collaborative, engaged, and passionate about the implementation of our community-driven comprehensive plan. This early voting season, I could not be more excited about casting my vote to make Carrboro Better Together.
I hope you will join me. Here are the days, hours, and locations for early voting polling places. Note that a photo ID will be required to vote in this municipal election.
Together for Carrboro,
Susan
“Viewpoints” on Chapelboro is a recurring series of community-submitted opinion columns. All thoughts, ideas, opinions and expressions in this series are those of the author, and do not reflect the work or reporting of 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com.
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