Council Must Continue Moving Forward

ELECTION 2019

Please Note: All local groups who make political candidate endorsements were invited to write Letters to the Editor.

Letter to the Editor by Julie McClintock for CHALT

The Chapel Hill Alliance for a Livable Town (CHALT) announces its recommendations for Chapel Hill mayor and town council.  Of the two candidates for mayor and seven candidates for town council, we have recommended those whom we believe to be best qualified to lead the Town in the coming years and make the tough decisions that lie ahead. The process by which we reached our decision can be found here.

As a result of the current Council’s efforts and those of citizen groups like CHALT, the Town of Chapel Hill is on a path toward improved environmental stewardship and stormwater management, greater fiscal responsibility and transparency, and more strategic and cost-effective transportation planning – all priorities favored by the voters in the Town’s biennial survey.

Contrary to some reports, the present Town Council majority led by Mayor Hemminger and Mayor Pro Tem Jess Anderson worked to improve the Blue Hill building code—approved  in 2014 by a previous mayor and council members—that has given us the large luxury apartment blocks being built in the vicinity of the Eastgate and Ram’s Plaza shopping centers. Specifically, they have sought to bring more affordable housing, green spaces, businesses (instead of more apartments), and smaller, less massive buildings to the district.

The gains made by the current Council, however, are fragile. In order for progress to continue, we need to elect leaders who understand how to make Chapel Hill better, not just bigger.

We therefore enthusiastically endorse Pam Hemminger for mayor and Jessica Anderson, Nancy Oates, Renuka Soll, and Amy Ryan for Town Council.