I am writing to heartily endorse Sammy Slade for Carrboro Board of Aldermen.
I have been privileged to know Sammy, both socially and through his activism, since we were in grade school, through his college years and adventuring abroad and then as an adult. The heart of Sammy’s philosophy is that communities have the right to choose how their shared spaces will be utilized and that patterns of growth are not a kind of natural force to be reacted to as one would the weather, but the sum of the decisions of people, decisions that should be shared in by all of the people.
Sammy’s vision is radical, not in the sense of contrarianism or a rejection of norms but in the sense of an uncompromising belief that a holistic improvement in American life is exactly as realistic as we chose to believe it is. The consistent theme of Sammy’s life has been the way he combines fearlessness with a strong desire to get his hands dirty in the actual business of doing things. At an age when many young men take backpacking vacations, going to bars and youth hostels, Sammy chose to see the world by signing onto ships as a hand and learning the trade of the sea from the bottom up. Sammy has taken that spirit to his political life by taking a hands-on approach to making projects for sustainable living work without ever losing sight of how they could and should fit into the bigger picture of the whole economy.
With our progressive population, relative prosperity and potential for rapid imminent economic growth via the Carolina North project, Carrboro is uniquely suited to become a beacon for organizing a prosperous, harmonious and healthy future for all Americans. I believe Sammy Slade has the experience and commitment to help us achieve that and more.
BENJAMIN MACE
Carrboro