Cook and Ryan team up

I heard that Ryan & Cook also share a brochure that features lists of their shared goals & joint accomplishments. Anybody else seen this?

Nope - haven't seen the Ryan-Cook brochure. Do they also have a joint website?

You can see joint signs in Durham, usually not in Orange County. I think reporting funds to NC Election Board can be more complex, but it does save some money and carbon. Some volunteers in our area will put up and maintain signs for several candidates. These volunteers sometimes put several signs on the same stick. Maybe someone else has seen joint signs...

This is the first time I've ever seen two candidates team up so visibly. Candidates have helped each other in the past, distributing each other's literature for example, especially as Election Day draws near.

It may be the first formally joined campaign but I see Chilton, Coleman, and Lavelle referenced as an informal slate constantly. I don't see any difference between the two "teams."

In 2005, Laurin. Bill, Mark and I sent out a joint postcard.

This year, the Chapel Hill incumbents are running together on an all success, no mistakes platform usually introduced by Kevin ;-)

A couple even seem to share a common speech writer/political operative - at least that's the way it seems when you hear them read their prepared pieces.

The common thread from the slate of candidates from the annexed areas appears to be anger at the Town of Carrboro for having the temerity to annex them into a town that they feel no connection with. Here is a quote from Katrina Ryan.

"I can tell you that people in NE Carrboro are still very angry, and I can't forsee that ending any time soon. I fully expect to see a slate of candidates next year from north of Homestead Rd. It's going to be very interesting."
Katrina Ryan, August 17 2006

link:
http://squeezethepulp.com/viewtopic.php?p=2428&sid=4113bf760ad1702b11a3d...

The common reaction I have garnered from individuals observing Brian Voyce at the candidates forums is "Wow, what an angry individual". This is also my personal impression of Brian and Katrina and Sharon seem to have closely aligned themselves with him and his dissatisfaction with the town that I know and love. I have a feeling that the "Slate" is not truly representative of the annexed areas and that there are many people who identify with Carrboro and are happy to be a part of our town.

Sorry, typo on the link. Here is the correct one;

http://squeezethepulp.com/viewtopic.php?=2428&sid=4113bf760ad1702b11a3df...

Recently I noticed that two Carrboro candidates are running as a slate. Has this ever happened in Orange County before? Another thing that was pretty different was that there is one brochure and one sign for both candidates. Both of these materials advocate for both Sharon Cook and Katrina Ryan.

I believe two years ago Katrina threatened to run an all Northern Carrboro slate. Is this what this combo is about? I've seen candidates collaborate on mailings before, but this is practically two candidates with one campaign. What do you think about candidates running together?

Alliances, slates, and sharing resources are common place in Orange County. Some alliances are overt as the one you have mentioned. Other alliances are clandestine in nature (whisper campaigns). Both forms are commonplace in Hillsborough and throughout Orange County and happen all the time.

On the overt side, in years long past, former Hillsborough Mayor Horace Johnson and Town Board member Evelyn Lloyd used to post their campaign signs on the same stake and shared many campaign resources. Campaign finance reporting was never an issue because they both filed under $3000 and Hillsborough has different campaign finance reporting rules than Chapel Hill.

On the clandestine side, this year current Town Board Commissioners Mike Gering and Eric Hallman are quietly supporting challenger Bryant Warren. Hallman is running for re-election this year. Hillsborough Town Board member Mike Gering's wife, Marsha Ferree, has been assisting Warren with his candidates questionnaire answers and campaign brochure. I overheard them speaking about it at the Sierra Club Candidates' forum. It is doubtful that either sitting Town Board Member will publicly endorse Warren, but they are certainly doing all they can to help him minus the endorsement. The "whisper" around town is that Gering and Hallman want Evelyn Lloyd off the Hillsborough Town Board.

Such is politics in Orange County. ;-)

Brian wrote Herald columns ridiculing Carrboro during Katrina's last campaign! I had the impression that he was managing her campaign. Neither Katrina nor Sharon can pretend to love Carrboro. They've dissed the town too many times in the past.

Seems to me if they both sincerely want to win, they should not have joined themselves at the hip.

James and Catherine,

Have either one of you listened to Sharon or Katrina in the candidate forums? Have either of you spoken with them? Katrina was angry 2 years ago and she and I had words over that anger several times on this forum. But she's mellowed and accepted that she is a Carrboro resident and has proposed some excellent ideas for improving the economics of the town.

As for Sharon, I sincerely doubt you will ever hear Sharon say words of anger. That simply is not her personality. Sharon is an honest, friendly, intelligent candidate who has worked hard to improve this community. Your attempts to lump her or Katrina in with Brian Voyce, simply because they are neighbors, is very sad to me, very sad. Rumor and innuendo--I think the word is spin. I know it happened in the last election behind the scenes, and Alex suffered as a result. It was wrong then and it's wrong now.

Cheer up, Terri. I think you're spinning James and me. Both of us own our personal impressions -- no rumor or innuendo, which would be quite sad if we were guilty of spreading lies.

The Ryan/Cook alliance is obvious to all, and the Ryan/Voyce alliance appeared to me to drive Katrina's first campaign. It appeared that way to James also.

Terri,

Respectfully, I have not heard either Sharon or Katrina repudiate Brian's vitriolic distain for the current political and cultural climate of Carrboro. Until such time as either of them publicly distances themselves from the negativity of the Voyce campaign, I will continue to view them as joined at the hip.

Go for it James. Of course, the candidates you support each have their own achilles heels don't they? One smear campaign could well end up begetting another one. How ugly would you like for this to get?

Would OP like to pit its vitriole against STP vitriole? Or could there be one place in the local political arena of this area everyone rises above the fray and supports their own candidates without trashing others?

Brian Russell launched this thread questioning the wisdom of two candidates, namely Ryan and Cook, running together. So we're talking about Ryan and Cook here. Okay?

James and I and ten others came out for other candidates very politely obeying the Most Important Endorsement rules of etiquette. That was a fine exercise in self-restraint.

Didn't some of the "neighborhood protectionists" run as a slate in Chapel Hill four years ago?

Terri,
I don't see Mark Chilton, Dan Coleman and Lydia Lavelle as a slate. I know that Dan and Mark and Dan and Lydia have had meet the candidate sessions at supporter's homes together but I assumed it was because the host supported both candidates not because they were running as a slate. I didn't go to any of these sessions but I imagine Dan and Lydia must have been uncomfortable together. After all they are rivals. In some cases I think running as a slate has an advantage but I think in this case it hurts their chances. As you can see from this thread they both get painted with the same negatives. To prove your point Katrina or perhaps Katrina and Sharon should have come up with a running mate from "old" Carrboro, now that might have been convincing.

Can anyone tell me how many potential voters live in the newly annexed areas? I imagine most of them will vote. How does the sum of those voters plus the votes Katrina got last time compare with the winning total in the last election?

Jim Rabinowitz

There is a Cook Ryan sign on the right-of-way in front of my house. I went out and studied it carefully. I didn't see any other names on the sign. How many people do you think are driving around wondering, who is this guy Cook Ryan and what is he running for anyway?

Jim Rabinowitz

Terri,

Respectfully, I have not heard either Sharon or Katrina repudiate Brian's vitriolic distain for the current political and cultural climate of Carrboro. Until such time as either of them publicly distances themselves from the negativity of the Voyce campaign, I will continue to view them as joined at the hip.

My understanding is that Brian's number one priority in running was to bring attention to the Rogers Rd. issue, and ultimately to help them achieve their goals. Based on the amount of press that has been devoted to to the Rogers Rd issue lately vs. February and March, then I think he has, in part, been a success. Brian is way out in front on this one issue.

That said, Brian paid his money and he gets to campaign on his own platform. Brian gets to be angry and/or critical if he wants. It's not the same platform as Sharon and mine. Sharon and I are both quite content to live in Carrboro. If I spent all my time at forums listing the things I disagree with Brian over, I would never have a chance to talk about any of the positive things we are advocating for.

And, Jim, we didn't recruit an "old carrboro" member of the slate, because 1- the whole BOA is "old carrboro", and, 2- we are all quite happy to support Joal, in fact I REALLY tried to convince her to run for mayor.

Bryan asks if multiple candidates have ever run on a slate before in Carrboro.
The Carrboro Community Coalition, formed in 1975 largely to oppose plans to tear down Carr Mill, ran formal slates with joint campaigning in 1975, 1977, and 1979.
Braxton Foushee, Ernie Patterson, and Doug Sharer were among the principal organizers.

"How ugly would you like for this to get?"

Whoa. How about not ugly at all.

I agree Maria. Unfortunately, this discussion topic spawned a counter response on STP. In the middle of all this are good people offering up their time and commitment to improve the community. We don't all have to agree with one another. But in the immortal words of Rodney King, why can't we just get along?

Terri, I don't think we can limit our discussions here to what won't cause a fuss on STP. I've only visited the site a few times, but seems to me unless OP (and many of the people associated with it) disappeared all together it will always upset some of the people on STP.

In the last few years a lot of hurtful things have been said about the people who live and vote in Carrboro. I've likened it to being told that My Mother Wears Combat Boots. It's hard to forget.

If we did all pursue "just getting along", Bryan Voyce would write a sophomoric, disdainful column mocking the fuzzy liberal Carrboroness of such a naive idea.

But Maria--Cook and Ryan both live in Carrboro and many hurtful things are being said about them. Two wrongs don't make a right.

I'm not suggesting that all topics be avoided simply because others may disagree. But politically motivated topics such as this one could be avoided at no risk to productive political discourse.

Will,
In the end we sent out a joint postcard but we did not "run" together, claim to be a slate, or espouse the same views necessarily.

Quite true Laurin. I saw the joint postcard as being an environmentally conscious way for us to announce our common endorsements, etc. - kind of like putting all our names on one sign (wish the incumbents, who are running as a pack, had done that this year - it certainly would've cut down on the clutter and cleanup).

Fiscal responsibility and reduction of visual clutter ( a pet peeve of mine) were two very strong reasons that Sharon and I decided to put up joint signs.

Obviously, we can't force people to vote for both of us. We are simply advocating for who we would like to work with on the board, much like Jackie has done.

Saw Ryan on a Segway going the other way as I passed through Wexford on my way to work today.

Look above at the "Candidates" link, it shows a website for Katrina and none for Sharon.

Does this thread confirm that there are really no pressing issues that people here want to talk about in what remains of this election season?

Gracias, Fred. I checked both websites and see more Katrina on Sharon's than vice versa.

Otherwise you''re right about this thread's usefulness in the broader scheme of things.

While Cook and Ryan are not sharing a website, they are sharing website colors and patterns. As well as a lack of information or perhaps just a navigation that's beyond my capabilities, but I tried clicking on a couple of things looking for a resume or platform. Maybe they are relying on the brochures (which I haven't seen) or the newspapers (which I have) to communicate more.

Honestly, I did not know how closely linked the campaigns were until the signs appeared outside Carrboro Elementary and like Brian R. I had some curiosity about the purpose of linking the campaigns, too.

Ruby, I commented on our growing debt as a percent of our budget in Chapel Hill and what is and isn't policy by resolution. It appears there is no interest in either of those topics.

"We are simply advocating for who we would like to work with on the board,"
Katrina Ryan

"Katrina and I have decided to join our campaigns to build a coalition that can address the issues that will shape Carrboro's future."
Sharon Cook

Ruby, http://www.cookforcarrboro.org/campaign_website/Welcome.html
But I'm not sure it's the campaign site and not a placeholder.

Seriously, you guys need a hobby. I am having real trouble understanding why this is so fascinating to y'all.

I used my Mac to create my website. When Sharon sat down to do hers, she thought mine was pretty. She asked if I minded if she used the same template. I said fine, since this isn't jr. high, and we're not wearing the same dress to prom.

Jacquie pointed out publicly that she would like to work with Lydia and Dan. Sharon and I are letting our separate constituencies know that we prefer to work together. In the mean time we've spent less money, have more time to knock on doors since we're campaigning together, and have disseminated less landfill bound coroplast campaign signs than our counterparts. We think it's quite a Carrboro friendly thing to do.

Okay, Katrina, I've got a question for you.

Two years ago, on this board, you said a lot of very negative stuff about Carrboro, not just the town government, but also the people of Carrboro. It made quite an impression on me at least, as a Carrboro resident and a fan of Carrboro in general. I love my town (okay, I don't live there anymore but it's still my legal residence) as much as you seemed to disdain it.

So, and I ask totally seriously, do you really mean it now when you say you like Carrboro? And you want to work for all its people?

If so, does that mean you think you were wrong two years ago?

And, since I'm on a role, I do have another question for you. Why don't you support the very people who voted against annexation?

...but also the people of Carrboro.

It is important to provide quotes and links rather when making such a strong accusation so that folks can see the actual comments as well as the context. Otherwise, your point looks like a strawman.

Maria,

I think that my comments two years ago are consistent with the "generic" comment I made above. Groovy, to me, is not an insult, but a short hand descriptor of the things that are closely identified with downtown Carrboro.

I think the point that the more mostly wealthy, mostly white, neighborhoods we get in Carrboro, either by annexation or new construction, the less likely it is that Carrboro will be what it is now, a vibrant, diverse community. Ergo, much less groovy. I guarantee you most of my neighbors are tragically ungroovy, and I don't think any of them would be insulted by my bringing that up.

To turn the question around, why do you so enthusiastically support three candidates with such deep Chapel Hill connections ?

Katrina, face it: your criticisms of Carrboro two years ago really stung. I can't quote any, but they did build up to a lasting impression.

Honestly, Joan, I can't remember a specific criticism that made that wasn't connected to a town elected official, but, I might need Ginko Biloba. If you can refer me to one, I'll do my best to address it. If anyone took personal umbrage to my criticisms, then yes I was wrong, and please accept my apologies. Stop by the shop, and I'll buy you a gelato, or a sangria swirl to make it up to you.

I really never meant to express disdain for Carrboro. I like a lot of things about Carrboro. I can list them if it's all that important to y'all. I am extraordinarily concerned that much of what I really enjoy about Carrboro is in peril because of ill-conceived board policies. I think that the current BOA has set us on a course toward gentrification that will be very very hard to halt. Somewhere between small town and big city, municipalities get very generic.

"As Carrboro reaches out and grabs more people who think like me and less that think like Dan, the “groovy” factor in Carrboro will not be long for this world."

Katrina Ryan Orange County Politics February 2005

Pretty easy to find if you use OP search engine put in Katrina Ryan and 2005. Or put in Katrina Ryan and "groovy". I tried "funky" first .

It was these constant comments about how much Ryan wanted to see the "groovy" gone from Carrboro that sat ill with me. I find it hard to believe she now likes people she then disdained and who don't think like her.

As well part of our reason to live in Carrboro and not Chapel Hill is because of the many groovy family events that happen in Carrboro, some sponsored by the town or cosponsored and some not. Contrast Carrboro on Halloween and Chapel Hill.

And now I must run my groovy daughter to her groovy belly dance class in Lake Hogan farms, which is part of Carrboro.

(And I thought following local election was a worthwhile pursuit. I guess I need to get a hobby - maybe knitting. There's a really groovy knitting shop in Carrboro too.)

Katrina,

I don't live in Carrboro so I have no stake in the upcoming election there. But it seems to me that the quote attributed to you in 2005

"“As Carrboro reaches out and grabs more people who think like me and less that think like Dan, the “groovy” factor in Carrboro will not be long for this world.”

and the statement you just made

"I think the point that the more mostly wealthy, mostly white, neighborhoods we get in Carrboro, either by annexation or new construction, the less likely it is that Carrboro will be what it is now, a vibrant, diverse community. Ergo, much less groovy."

are saying two entirely opposite things. In the first you seem to be saying that if people would support you and not Dan that Carrboro would lose the 'groovy' factor. In the second you seem to say that as Carrboro becomes more wealthy and mostly white (something I presume you oppose) it will become less 'groovy'.

Am I missing something here? Aren't these two statements in direct opposition? Or do I need the ginkoa?

George,

I see your point. I'll clarify:

If Carrboro continues to grow unchecked, and the demographics are similar to my neighborhood, Carrboro will lose much of it's unique charm.

If Carrboro continues to elect people who support the types of economic policies Dan proposes, Carrboro will become so expensive that most of the neighborhoods will be mostly white and mostly wealthy, and Carrboro will no longer be Carrboro.

Having lived in this area for 20 years, I've crossed the line like most people do. I've voted in Carrboro and in Chapel Hill. My first time voting in a local election was the first time Alex Zaffron ran. I handed out flyers for him on election day in the rain.

For five years I lived in Chapel Hill, but worked on Weaver Street in Carrboro, which meant I spent most my time here, but voted there.

If Sally Greene moved to Carrboro I would vote for her here.
If Dan had run in Chapel Hill while I lived in Chapel Hill I would have voted for him there.
I've already voted for Mark in both towns.
I don't think who I am or who I support changes much as I cross the railroad tracks.

I was renting in Carrboro (one street over from where I live now) when I bought my first home in Chapel Hill. That was after an arduous search that included trying to buy a starter home before a real estate agent could scoop it up as an investment property.
When it was time to buy our second home, we wanted to be in a walk zone. We looked at Ephesus, the neighborhood where my husband grew up, but having lived on that side of town for seven years, we knew the only place our daughter would be able to walk was to school - unlike when my husband was a kid and teen and biking from there to Franklin Street seemed safe.

As well - as I said - contrast Halloween in Chapel Hill and Halloween in Carrboro. Carrboro just felt like a better place to raise a family.

Some of the exact things that you've criticized Carrboro for doing - having music and arts festivals, establishing the Farmer's Market on the Town Commons (and I shopped at it when it was in the parking lot behind the street that I always forget the name of) - those are the reasons I wanted to live here and not in Chapel Hill.

Those are also likely some of the reasons Mark and Dan decided to move out of Chapel Hill and into Carrboro. Though I can't speak for them. I know Dan was already looking for a house in Carrboro in 2002 when I moved.

My personal conspiracy theory about why Dan decided to move into Carrboro and go into government was to give his son a leg up in the yearly Weaver Street Market Halloween costume contest, which he's won two years in a row. Coincidence?

I found this quote on STP dated Oct 5 2007 from Katrina Ryan, it is from the Big Boxes in Carrboro thread.
"Small business loans are fine, but in the case of the Carrboro Revolving Loan program. It has failed to spur economic development in any meaningu way....It's really sort of an extension of Parks and Rec."

Wow. Let's see the Revolver started some twenty plus years ago with funds from a federal block grant that allowed for the expansion of Cleora Sterling, a fairly successful local business out west on 54. No Carrboro tax dollars were ever used to fund the Revolver, it's growth todate is entirely from the pay back by local businesses. Which include: a new day care in the Lloyd Broad community, Acme resturant, Weaver Street Market, Phydeaux, Orange County Social Club, Cats Cradle, and quite a few more. It has been a highly successful local small business development fund that I repeat does not cost the town anything. I don't know what sort of economic development Katrina is looking for; but I am pretty pleased with the local businesses helped out by the Revolving loan fund.