
{"id":21119,"date":"2011-09-29T12:30:52","date_gmt":"2011-09-29T16:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=21119"},"modified":"2011-09-29T12:30:52","modified_gmt":"2011-09-29T16:30:52","slug":"carrboro-candidates-square-off-at-chambersierra-club-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2011\/09\/29\/carrboro-candidates-square-off-at-chambersierra-club-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"Carrboro candidates square off at Chamber\/Sierra Club forum"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Rose Laudicina<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><br \/>\nCARRBORO \u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00c2\u00a0Expressing their thoughts and opinions on economic development and the environment, candidates running for seats on the Carrboro Board of Aldermen and the lone candidate vying for the title of Carrboro mayor answered a number of questions at a forum on Friday. <\/p>\n<p>The forum was co-hosted by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce and the Orange-Chatham Sierra Club. While the two organizations typically host separate candidate forums, this year they decided to host a joint forum. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Candidates tell the chamber that business is the most important issue to them and they also tell the Sierra Club that the environment is the most important,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Aaron Nelson, the director of the chamber of commerce, joked. <\/p>\n<p>Although turnout to the forum was small \u00e2\u20ac\u201c perhaps because of the Chapel Hill High-Carrboro High football game scheduled at the same time \u00e2\u20ac\u201c all candidates running attended the event. <\/p>\n<p>Mayor Mark Chilton, who is running for re-election unopposed, said he wants to serve one more term as mayor because he would like to continue the work he has been doing for the past six years. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I am feeling the need to follow through with the new town manager hiring and I want to continue to expand our sidewalks, greenways and bike lines and to also continue our planning process in places for commercial growth in the northern part of Carrboro,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Chilton said. <\/p>\n<p>Candidate Braxton Foushee, who served as the first black alderman from 1969 to 1981, said that he wants to serve on the board because while he loves living in Carrboro, he believes that some of the stakeholders aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t being well represented. <\/p>\n<p>Foushee said he supports the revolving loan fund and emphasized the need for better-marked bike lanes and safe walking and biking spaces for people to travel between Chapel Hill and Carrboro. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153One of the things to enhance [the revolving loan fund] is to put more info out about how the fund operates and have an emergency component to that,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Foushee said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I would be willing to increase that fund if elected to the board.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Michelle Johnson, who is running for the first time, discussed creating a live-in economy for Carrboro, having more affordable-housing options downtown and increasing transit service, as well as the controversy surrounding day laborers.  <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The issue of day laborers and the safety of the community \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the group is being targeted as a whole for the actions of a few, and the needs of the community need to be balanced,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. <\/p>\n<p>Incumbent Dan Coleman discussed the work he has done on the board to support local businesses while encouraging safe environmental development.  <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I am a big fan of the rural buffer and the urban service zone,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Coleman said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Having the rural buffer helps us to do smarter things, gives us a density that is smart for the environment and puts people close to destinations and jobs.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Incumbent Lydia Lavelle discussed her work on the transit committee and the need for partnerships with Orange, Durham and Wake counties to create a light-rail system. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We are trying to follow our sustainable goals, but we recognize we have to push our economic development. One way to try and achieve this balance is by the financing of the Chapel Hill transit system,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Lavelle said. <\/p>\n<p>The public will have another chance to hear the candidates debate on Oct. 10 at Carrboro Town Hall, with the Orange County Democratic Party candidate forum.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Candidates running for seats on the Carrboro Board of Aldermen and the lone candidate vying for the title of Carrboro mayor answered a number of questions at a forum on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-elections","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21120,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21119\/revisions\/21120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}