Video: Why I’m running for Mayor – Is this what you want for Chapel Hill?

Gigantic luxury apartments, draining the fishing pond to build on Legion Park, our neglect of our parks and a glass wet lab downtown instead of nurturing local businesses – these are just a few of the ways we’ve lost our way in Chapel Hill. We need a change of direction with new leaders and a new vision. I hope you’ll support me in my run for Mayor!

A NEW DIRECTION: Two priorities for me:

First, just start building what we promised in the decade-old Chapel Hill parks plan we published back in 2013 but have largely not implemented. Some priority plan recommendations: Expand and modernize the “extremely popular” skate park (4-18), Build “several spraygrounds” or splash pads (4-16), adequately maintain our parks (4-19), replace the “outdated” rock climbing wall (4-18), “six additional tennis courts by 2022” (4-13), acquire more protected open space and parkland (4-10), create an eastern park using Legion Park land (4-7). Add newer sports like Pickleball and more trails into this mix.

Second, bring UNC to the table and work with other UNC system towns around North Carolina experiencing similar housing pressures to make our expanding UNC system schools a more invested partner in creating great housing for the 40% of our town workers who are affiliated with UNC. My vision is for an amazing housing development at UNC’s huge empty airport at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and Estes Drive. Make it a truly great home with green space and playgrounds and with great access to our coming rapid transit bus line to downtown and UNC. With substantial state investment and UNC control, townhomes and apartments could be subsidized for UNC’s workers so it would be a great housing choice for a wide range of employees from our hardworking housekeepers to young faculty moving here for the first time.

There’s lots more to do from new trail systems to pushing for more green space as we develop more housing across town, to saving our still-affordable apartments and homes, to reforming our budget – but this is a start.