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I’ve Never Endorsed Before. Why Now? Who?
A perspective from Graig Meyer
Ten years into my political career, I have consistently used the framing “pragmatic progressive” to describe myself and others with whom I collaborate the most. In this fall’s local elections across Orange County, I am endorsing three pragmatic progressives: Melissa McCullough, Matt Hughes, and Eliazar Posada.
What I have not done before is send out a message like this with local candidate endorsements. This year, I want to support these candidates, and I think the high stakes of local elections deserve attention that I hope I can help bring.
I’ve written a good bit here, and I hope it’s worth a read. I know that not all of my supporters will agree with me on these choices. I simply hope you’ll consider my perspective about what issues are important this year and why these individuals will be good leaders.
Inclusive Housing Options
More than twenty years ago, when I was working as a social worker and running the Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate program, the families I worked with consistently talked about their challenges finding affordable housing. But at the time, most of my colleagues in Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools lived either in the school district or in Orange County.
Today, families still talk to me as affordable housing being one of their primary concerns, but those families now include teachers, first responders, hospital employees and other professionals who increasingly live outside of Orange County and commute to work here.
Climate Change and Conservation
Over those two and half decades, Orange County’s environmental bent has also changed. There have always been conservationists here, which is why we have a rural buffer, amazing parks, and so many beautiful trees and farms. Now, environmentalism has moved beyond just conservation – because we are all trying to tackle the overwhelming reality of climate change.
In the United States, the number one cause of climate change is carbon emissions from transportation. One of the best ways to reduce our transportation emissions is to build dense connected communities where people live, work, and play without having to spend too much of their time in a (carbon-emitting) car. To do that we need options to increase development in places we already live, we need strong investment in transit, we need walkable, bikeable options like the Bolin Creek Greenway. Further, dense buildings like the apartments we see going up around Chapel Hill result in fewer carbon emissions from energy use than single family homes.
Is Development Good for the Environment?
I get it, you can look around each of our towns and see all the development – trees coming down, green areas being paved – and think that it must be terrible for the environment. The reverse is true. The reality is, if we don’t accommodate more people in Orange County, they will simply have to go elsewhere. Somewhere where the same folks simply have long, carbon-emitting commutes. Somewhere where they can’t take the bus to work. Somewhere where their kids can’t bike safely to school. Somewhere with weaker schools and more disconnected communities. (Here’s a very good read about how this is happening across America.)
If you care about the environment (and if you’re reading this, I know you likely do), I urge you step back and see the whole picture. People are moving to North Carolina. They have to live somewhere. If you’re an environmentalist, you should support candidates who will promote dense, connected development. Truly, it’s more important than trees. And we’ll still have plenty of trees.
Let’s Be Inclusive
Our community wants to be known far and wide as inclusive, welcoming, and tolerant. As your State Senator, I hear from people on all sides of local issues that you want Orange County values of inclusion to prevail in state policy. I encourage you to vote for those values at the local level as well.
To be blunt, when I hear things like “Those apartments just look terrible!” and – even worse – “That’s going to hurt property values!” I hear the sound of exclusion from people whom I know see themselves as inclusive. My response is “Your property values are going to be just fine. You live in Chapel Hill.” And, “The 15-501 corridor has always been ugly! At least now we’ve got housing for people!” I hope you laughed at that. If not, consider this next point that I think is completely misunderstood in Orange County.
One egregious statement of exclusivity that I hear consistently is when wealthy people complain about “all of these luxury condos going up!” The Carrboro apartment complex long known as “Old Well” and now called Collins Crossing were the luxury condos of their day, more than 30 years ago. Now they’re among the cheapest, because apartments often have a cyclical lifespan of ups and downs. We need apartment housing at all price points, and enough of them that the rent isn’t skyrocketing in ways that displace families. We also need housing at all price points, which is why I commend the Town of Chapel Hill for it’s plan to increase “missing middle” housing for everyday working folks. This plan has been unfairly maligned for a number of reasons, but today I will simply say that anyone railing against “luxury condos” or “rampant development” or unaffordable housing should favor this effort.
I also hear people say “But who’s rich enough to live in all of these luxury apartments? That Greenbridge place has never even filled up!” This, dear reader, is not true. Our multi-family units in both southern and northern Orange County are full – no matter the price range. Yes, some of these buildings do cater to students, who also pay property taxes as part of their rent and vote in local elections. To understand who really needs housing the most, I would ask you to visit any of the dozens of apartments in Chapel Hill and Carrboro along Highway 54. You will find that they are among the most economically and ethnically diverse neighborhoods in our county, and they are teeming with families. Unfortunately, their rents are rising so fast that many of them are likely to be displaced unless we build more housing supply and keep costs from skyrocketing.
I truly believe this community wants to be inclusive. And in these elections we can vote for that.
Money in Local Elections
In the Chapel Hill election, I am truly concerned that our local values are threatened by the ability of a small group of people to circumvent local campaign finance rules. Chapel Hill has long had a cap on candidate contributions, which helps minimize the influence of money on elections. But this year, a group of affluent residents are trying to win the election for their preferred candidates by using Political Action Committees to spend a startling amount of money. I agree with my friend Chapel Hill Town Council Member Karen Stegman, who said “I think our residents are smarter than that. If these wealthy donors truly have the majority of voters on their side, as they claim, why the need to put a very heavy thumb on the scale?”
My Endorsements
Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough all have significant growth challenges to tackle in coming years. I encourage residents from the towns to vote for candidates who are looking ahead, and not backwards. Candidates who see the big picture. Candidates who know the choices we make here resonate beyond the boundaries of Orange County. And please, please do not vote for anyone whose campaign fosters complaints without providing evidence that they can listen to many voices and think deeply about the complex challenges ahead. I deal with too many of those people in Raleigh, and we should do better than that in Orange County.
The three people I am endorsing are all people who can meet those challenges.
Melissa McCullough for Chapel Hill Town Council
Melissa is a thoughtful, values-based leader. I can’t think of many people who know more about how to combat climate change and the role that towns like Chapel Hill have to play in that effort. She spent her career at the Environmental Protection Agency, and understands how good policy is the key to a better, more livable environment for us all. Melissa has also been on the Chapel Hill Planning Commission, so she knows the inner workings of local government. As an introvert, Melissa says she’s never “the loudest voice in the room”, but I can attest that she’s a careful thinker and a thoughtful listener.
Matt Hughes for Hillsborough Town Commission
Matt focuses on bringing people together and building consensus to tackle big issues. There
are times where he’s leading from his own core values, and others where he’s listening to constituents
to discern the best resolution for a complex challenge. Hillsborough has some tough issues to tackle over the coming years. I know that affordable housing, climate resiliency, small business development, transit, and public safety are all top of mind for the community. I appreciate Matt’s work on all of these issues, and I encourage you to find out more about what he’s doing on each.
Eliazar Posada for Carrboro Town Council
Eliazar has proven that he has what it takes to represent the Carrboro community. Many of us first encountered Eliazar when he was the local staff person for El Centro Latino, and was often the primary point of contact for any leader or organization that wanted to improve relationships with the local Latino community. Now he plays a similar connecting role for anyone wanting to work with Equality NC on LGBTQ policy advocacy. Eliazar continues to be grounded by the needs of the community and has been a strong voice for Carrboro residents on the Town Council.
Some readers will certainly wonder why I am not endorsing other candidates, particularly if you have specific candidates you are supporting. My answer is that endorsements should mean something significant. I hope that my support for only these specific candidates demonstrates how deeply I believe in them.
Early voting begins Thursday and continues through November 7. Please vote.
“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.
