The Town of Chapel Hill has had some rather hefty accolades thrown at it of late. Just this week, the Daily Beast named it the smartest college town in America. Last month, the Triangle was named by the same publication as the smartest place in America. Chapel Hill also has hit the top of the lists for best place to start a business, best commute and best place to raise a kid.
There’s also quite a bit of applause nationwide for the recent election of Mark Kleinschmidt as mayor, because, well, he’s gay. Kleinschmidt’s election was a bright point on a gloomy election night for gay-rights supporters, as Maine voters repealed a gay-marriage law.
Although the new mayor has been quite open about his sexual orientation, you would probably not know this even if you were following the close and hard-fought campaign for mayor.
Save for a comment or two during the debates and a not-too-subtle 11th-hour flier, the subject never really came up.
With all due respect to the stride that Kleinschmidt’s election represents, that the fact that he is gay was never an issue – not even a blip – is a testament to the community we live in.
After the election, Kleinschmidt said he was prepared in case an opponent or anyone else wanted to make it a negative; but like the rest of us, he was pleased to see an issue-based campaign.
At Monday night’s swearing in, both Kleinschmidt and council member Matt Czajkowski, his chief opponent, noted the gentlemanly way in which such a close campaign was handled. That will pay dividends for all of us for years to come, because the election really was focused on the town’s future and offered citizens clearer insights as to our options. And, as promised, this truly has been a sea-change election in Chapel Hill, with a new mayor and two new council members seated and a third due to be chosen shortly.
We do not expect all disagreements on issues related to the growth of the town, budgets, taxes and transportation to come to an end, but we do see potential that the relative comity of the campaign will be reflected in governance going forward.