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What Chapel Hill Has Now Is Not Good Enough
A perspective from Trisha Lester
I’ve lived in Chapel Hill for 31 years. Never have I been so disheartened by local politics than I am now. The future of our town will be decided in important municipal elections November 7. YOU can play a role at this critical juncture and invest in the future of our town by voting for Adam Searing for Mayor and David Adams, Breckany Eckhardt, Elizabeth Sharp, and Renuka Soll for Town Council.
What Chapel Hill has now is not good enough. There are big issues that need fixing, and we can’t keep doing the same thing because it’s not working. It’s time to give these leaders a chance to bring their bold vision to Chapel Hillians. Our town budget is in bad shape, due in part to an over-reliance on the industrial consultant complex. The current Mayor and Town Council used a completely non-transparent, closed-door approach when they eliminated the controversial single-family zoning through a “text amendment” (Adam Searing voted against it). This meant they didn’t have to notify residents of the change — unlike a zoning change which would have required notification.
The massive number of luxury apartments that have been built in Chapel Hill over the last years also don’t address the genuine needs of our town. Growth is fine, but is this how we want to do it? While we’ve made some gains with affordable housing, there is so much more to do. Nowhere in the current affordable housing policy is there a comprehensive strategy to enable lower-income individuals and families to build generational wealth through home ownership. For now, they’re mired in an endless cycle of poverty with high-priced rentals in an overvalued market. These five candidates rightly want UNC more involved in working with the town to find a sustainable, longer-term solution to our affordable housing crisis.
Amid all this building, what is happening to our green space, tree canopy, and parks? Chapel Hill has not built a single park in 15 years! I was amazed to hear parents talk about how they have to take their kids to Durham and Cary to play team sports because our parks are in such appalling shape. The truth is parks, recreation, and green space have been seriously underfunded for 10+ years. The needs are so great that it will take 25 years of the other side’s “Pennies for Parks” plan to fund it. We can’t wait a generation.
Politics in America have gotten real nasty, and sadly they’ve reached the municipal level. This election has been the epitome of purposeful fabrication of mistruths and twisting of facts by this slate’s opponents, NEXT, and Triangle Blog Blog — the latter two of which are unaccountable political action groups funded by thousands of dollars in anonymous donations (aptly named dark money as none of us know anything about the sources). Instead of being able to focus solely on campaigning, the candidates I endorse have had to spend precious time responding to the latest lies.
I’ve canvassed for, donated to, held a meet-and-greet reception, and voted for Adam Searing, David Adams, Breckany Eckhardt, Elizabeth Sharp, and Renuka Soll. I am 100% confident that they bring the knowledge, honesty, integrity, experience, and diversity of thought that will make for creative, robust leadership of our town. I hope you will vote for them and give Chapel Hill a new chance.
“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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