Elections
News and opinions related to local elections.
I have long felt that the placement of candidates' yard signs can tell you a lot. Each of us tends to put signs in places we think people are likely to see them, usually based on places we ourselves feel likely to see them. For example, if there are gaps in signage, we don't notice them unless we see the gaps ourselves.
Since most yard signs are put up by friends of the candidate, if not the candidate herself, they tell us a lot about the milieu of each candidate. Do they spend a lot of time near local schools, downtown, the mall, the grocery store, parks?
Today I went on a walk to see what yard signs are up in my neighborhood. I walked about a mile west into downtown Carrboro and a mile east into downtown Chapel Hill. Here is what I saw...
Here are SOME of the many signs I saw in downtown Carrboro:
I have read some coverage of the School Board race including last night's forum. The Herald had candidates arguing over who is accountable for the acheivement gap, while the DTH had them debating srategies for addressing it. Either way it's pretty much the same story.
We all want to close the gap, but School Board debates seem to be conducted in some code I don't understand to avoid touching the lightning rod of racism - which is really at the heart of the problem. So you tell me, readers: Who are the progressives in this race and why?
The Sierra Club announced its endorsed candidates in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough today.
In Chapel Hill the Sierra Club endorses Kevin Foy for Mayor, and Mark Kleinschmidt, Laurin Easthom, and Will Raymond for Town Council.
In Carrboro, the Sierra Club endorses Mark Chilton for Mayor, and Jacquie Gist and Randee Haven-O'Donnell for Board of Aldermen.
In Hillsborough, the Sierra Club endorses Tom Stevens for Mayor, and Mike Gering and Frances Dancy for Town Board.
Having been a part of this process I am thrilled with all of these selections. I think the club definitely made the right choices. Just as a disclaimer, I recused myself from voting on Chapel Hill endorsements because of my positions in several of the candidates' campaigns.
In an amazing feat of citizenship, the Neighborhoods for Responsible Growth (NRG), an all volunteer organization, has posted a summary of responses to eight interview questions with Chapel Hill candidates on its web site. Audio of the interviews is also available.
Chapel Hill has four Town Council seats and the Mayor's seat up for election in 2005. NRG asked all ten Chapel Hill Town Council candidates to participate in an interview on topics of interest to local citizens. Nine of the candidates accepted, and one candidate withdrew from the race on October 6. The responses from the remaining eight candidates are presented here. NRG as an organization is not endorsing candidates for this election. We are posting the candidates' responses here in the hope that this information will help citizens make an informed decision this November. No comment or statement on these pages should be seen as an endorsement of a particular candidate.
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