TO THE EDITOR:
Our upcoming Chapel Hill municipal elections matter greatly. We look to local government to solve the many challenges our community faces, including transportation issues (traffic congestion, bike and pedestrian facilities, public transit services), flooding, erosion of our local business fabric, environmental protection and escalating cost of living.
Further, market distortions combined with a shift in town policies have promoted speculative and ill-considered building practices, resulting in half-empty eyesores such as The Berkshire on Elliot Road.
I believe that in recent years our town government has drifted off-course, and has become long on PR and short on true collaboration, inclusivity, fiscal responsibility and wise land use planning. We have seen a disturbing disconnect between what some elected officials say and what they actually do, such as incumbents claiming to support affordable/workforce housing while voting to do the opposite.
From John Winthrop’s famous 1630 sermon “City upon a hill”: “We must delight in each other, make others conditions our own...labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes...our community as members of the same body.”
That’s the Chapel Hill I want to live in. And that’s why I will be voting for Allen Buansi, Hongbin Gu, Rachel Schaevitz and Karen Stegman to bring fresh ideas and new leadership to Chapel Hill’s Town Council.
For more information about these candidates and their qualifications, see http://www.chalt.org/chalt-makes-town-council-endorsements/. Early voting continues through November 4, and election day is Tuesday November 7. Same day registration is offered at all early voting sites.
Amey Miller
Slavic Languages
