
{"id":7849,"date":"2009-11-05T10:31:18","date_gmt":"2009-11-05T18:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=7849"},"modified":"2009-11-05T11:13:01","modified_gmt":"2009-11-05T19:13:01","slug":"voller-returned-to-office-in-pittsboro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2009\/11\/05\/voller-returned-to-office-in-pittsboro\/","title":{"rendered":"Voller returned to office in Pittsboro"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Taylor Sisk, Staff Writer<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p> PITTSBORO  \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Randy Voller won a third term as mayor of Pittsboro Tuesday night, saying a burgeoning diversity in the community makes this a pivotal moment in defining the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s future, one that he hopes to shape with smart growth and inclusion.  <\/p>\n<p>Voller received 392 votes to challenger Bill Crawford\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 328, a 54.14 percent to 45.30 percent margin. <\/p>\n<p>In the race for two open seats on the Town of Pittsboro Board of Commissioners, incumbent Pamela Baldwin finished first, receiving 461 votes, while challengers Michael Fiocco and Andrew Allden went neck and neck, with Fiocco prevailing, 345 votes to 337.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Significant changes have taken place in Pittsboro since he was first elected four years ago, Voller said Tuesday night, as friends and supporters gathered at his Chatham Forest home to celebrate. He referred to the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153dynamic of diversity of the community\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that has brought a considerable Latino population and new arrivals from a number of other countries \u00e2\u20ac\u201c including Jamaica, India and Pakistan \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and from the northeast and, increasingly, other communities within the Triangle. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It used to be that people were coming to Pittsboro because it was less expensive to live here vis-a-vis Cary or Chapel Hill,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Voller said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Now people are coming here and staying here, because they want to live here.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Voller said people choose Pittsboro because it offers a welcoming environment to a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153unique mix\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of artists, entrepreneurs, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153folks who are interested in things like sustainability, organic farming, biofuels \u00e2\u20ac\u201c along with other folks who are working jobs in RTP and UNC, and retired folks who see Pittsboro as a safe, interesting, eclectic community to live in.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Voller points to express bus service to Chapel Hill as a key achievement from his last term that helps put Pittsboro \u00e2\u20ac\u0153on the map.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Starting with that link means we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get a link to Sanford and Southern Pines and Siler City and back to Raleigh,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153and [Triangle Transit] will probably someday come in here and start running some of these buses.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Two years from now, Voller hopes to see Pittsboro having successfully dealt with its waste-water treatment plant issues and, he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think our water quality will have improved tremendously.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Also: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to have a lot more development of small businesses downtown.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Now that the town can offer mixed beverages \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the introduction of which Voller championed in his last term \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he hopes those businesses will include more bars and live-music venues.<\/p>\n<p>As for 10 years from now, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a tricky question,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Proposed development could bring as many as 20,000 more residents to the community, Voller said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have a chance to do something great, or repeat some of the mistakes of the past.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d  <\/p>\n<p>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a matter of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153if we grow,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Voller said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153but how we grow.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153And in the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dchow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 part of the equation, we need to discuss energy, sustainability, transit, how we build properties, how we design things.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>These issues, Voller said, are \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ultimately why these elections really matter. Because people really need to be paying attention to who they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re putting in office and the kinds of values that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to take forward. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why local elections make a difference.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Taylor Sisk, Staff Writer PITTSBORO \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Randy Voller won a third term as mayor of Pittsboro Tuesday night, saying a burgeoning diversity in the community makes this a pivotal moment in defining the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s future, one that he hopes to shape with smart growth and inclusion. Voller received 392 votes to challenger Bill Crawford\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7849","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=7849"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7850,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7849\/revisions\/7850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}