Harrison urges move toward creative transit

Few people would accuse Ed Harrison of being an overly loud man.

Fewer would accuse him of being under-prepared for Town Council meetings.

Harrison tries to devote substantial time prior to council meetings to preparing for them, reading the voluminous packets the town staff supplies and talking with other council members.

That's a lot of zoning districts, height restrictions, open space conservation and affordable housing requirements.

"He seems to have a lot of energy and the ability to command a lot of info, and I guess that's what I like about him," said George Cianciolo, who served on the town's transportation board, to which Harrison is the council's liaison.

But it's not like complex documents are something new to Harrison: he's been an environmental planner for years and graduated from a school in Durham with a degrees in English and environmental management.

He currently works as an environmental planner and still lives in Durham County, residing in the sliver of Chapel Hill that's across the county line.

That experience has played into the way Harrison - the only council member from Durham County - shapes town policy.

Harrison has consistently voted for conservation measures and says he hopes to develop transit planning to guide the future of the region's connectivity away from multi-passenger vehicles with single occupants.

He still zips around town on the Diamondback Trailstreak he bought used in the spring of 1986.

But Harrison is known for more than his in-depth knowledge on technical issues.

He said that his approach to issues - lots of research and reasoned debate - could be as important as his own take on the issues.

"It's not so much issues, - but it's also the people need to look at the approach that they want council members to take to the issues," he said.

Cianciolo said that Harrison has a quality approach.

"I haven't seen him get in any arguments with any council members, but in all honesty, I don't know if he pals around with any others, either," he said.

And Cianciolo also praised Harrison's devotion to the board, noting that he attended virtually every meeting of the board - a devotion not all council liaisons share.

Harrison is hoping to keep on applying that approach to all sorts of items before the town.

"When you have a really large, complicated issue like what to do about Carolina North, I think you need to start with the position that you're going to have a civil and constructive relationship with anyone that's going to have to do with this."

 

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