At Wednesday’s Chamber of Commerce and Sierra Club forum for Chapel Hill mayoral and town council hopefuls, candidates discussed issues ranging from economic development to the quarter-cent sales tax.
Three candidates — incumbent Mark Kleinschmidt, four-time candidate Kevin Wolff, and newcomer Tim Sookram — are competing for mayor.
Nine candidates are competing for five town council seats on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Check out what the candidates said about how environmentalism and the economy will intersect for Chapel Hill’s future:
Question: How do you balance economic development and environmental protection priorities and what is the priority for the community at this time?
Tim Sookram: “We should make new areas for crosswalks to make it easier for people to get to places without the use of a car.”
Mark Kleinschmidt: “We can do more than what we’ve already done. The environment and the economy will grow together to create a more stable community.”
Jason Baker: “There is a fundamental problem with that question. Economic and environmental priorities are not opposites.”
Donna Bell: “We need to make the economy and environment trust each other.”
Augustus Cho: “Environmental protection and economic growth are definitely not mutually exclusive.”
Matt Czajkowski: “Environmental protection and economic growth are not polar opposites, although for a long time they had been seen as being just that.”
Laney Dale: “We need to give consumers incentives to spend the extra money to be more green.”
Jim Ward: “Getting the economic and environment priorities is very possible.”
Jon DeHart: “I agree with Baker that, of course, we can make the two agree with each other.”
Carl Schuler: “It’s like cell phones; once everyone has them, the price to own them will go down.”
Lee Storrow: “Chapel Hill is a great place, and I think we cannot compromise the protection of the environment with the economy.”
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