Q&A: Carrboro Town Council candidate Cristóbal Palmer discusses infrastructure, more

The Daily Tar Heel's Sheridan Barry spoke with Carrboro Town Council special election candidate Cristóbal Palmer about his experience and aspirations for the role. His opponent in the race is Isaac Woolsey.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

The Daily Tar Heel: In your opinion, what do you think makes Carrboro a special place?

Cristóbal Palmer: I think the sort of values-based, welcoming to everybody attitude. ... That regardless of where you come from in the world, or what your family background is, regardless of who you are, you're welcome in Carrboro. I really value that experience of feeling free to be myself in different ways around so many different types of people.

DTH: Is there a specific issue or moment that inspired you to run for council?

CP:  Thinking about my vision for what Carrboro will be like 10-15 years from now, a lot that I have done in the past has been building to this. This is my community, so it's my work. I've been here since elementary school, I've been a renter in town, I'm now a homeowner in Carrboro, I'm raising two kids here. I've been here long enough that I know how this town has changed over the decades, and I'm deeply invested in that work of making sure that Carrboro is ready to tackle issues.

One issue that I think we could talk about for a long time about is the complicated mix of cultural and transportation policy, etc. challenges that mean that a lot of our streets don't feel safe to cross. ... I see people dashing across traffic to get to their bus stop. ... Carrboro can and should work with NCDOT to fix the crosswalk safety issue. 

DTH: What is your long-term vision for the town, and what specific policies or initiatives will you push to achieve that vision? 

CP:  One of the things that I love about Carrboro is this value of inclusivity, but our policy hasn't adapted fast enough to the changing environment to be able to actually hang on to that. ... I want to make sure that, as much as possible, we are adding to the housing supply so that we can hang on to those things that we already love about Carrboro. If we don't add housing supply, we are going to end up self-selecting into a different flavor of community that's going to push out people who can't afford to live here anymore.

DTH: How do your personal and professional experiences shape your vision for this community? 

CP: Professionally, I wear several hats, but the ones that I would highlight are that I supervise students. ... I think that there are a lot of policy conversations that are similar, where you have different people that are at different current points in their learning path. Another hat that I wear is that I work with a range of technical systems that are distributed across different machines.

I think I also have a track record, whether it's volunteer work that I've done with the [Carrboro] Bicycle Coalition or the Triangle Linux Users Group. I focus on what my contribution will be here that will outlast me. I'm looking for the work that I can do that can make the biggest difference and that will last for a long time. I think Carrboro Town Council is a place where I can definitely do that. 

DTH: What are the top priorities you plan to address if elected, and how will you tackle them?

CP: There are a ton of opportunities for Carrboro to partner with the state and the federal government for infrastructure spending, but we have to do the work. ... As a policy matter, I'm focused on the people outside of cars because that is where we can have a huge climate impact. That's where we can have a huge quality of life impact. That's where we can then have an equity impact. ... Everybody deserves green spaces, everybody deserves opportunities for recreation and relaxation outdoors. ... If we put energy into completing our network of pedestrian and bike infrastructure in Carrboro, we get a lot of wins that don't just benefit those people who are directly using those trails.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly referred to the Carrboro Bicycle Coalition as the Triangle Bicycle Coalition. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for this error.

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