Who's announced their candidacy now?

The latest to announce his candidacy is Alderperson Damon Seils of Carrboro. Here is his annoucement:

Good morning! I’m happy to announce that I will file next week as a candidate for re-election to the Carrboro Board of Aldermen.

Two years ago, after several years of involvement in town and county government, I came into office ready to bring my experience and energy to the Board of Aldermen. Today, my enthusiasm for representing and advocating for Carrboro residents has only grown stronger.

My work has stressed responsiveness to and collaboration with neighbors and community organizations on a wide variety of issues, from improved bus service and pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure to civil liberties and social justice.

Among my first accomplishments was to revive the board’s effort to bring the town’s lowest-paid employees up to a new living wage. I also led a response to legislation in the North Carolina General Assembly that threatened local environmental rules, resulting in new protections for Carrboro’s stream buffers and tree canopy. I am especially proud of my advocacy for expanded nighttime and weekend bus service as a member of the Chapel Hill Transit Partners Committee.

Renewed nationwide focus on policing, civil liberties, and racial equity has presented us with an imperative to engage with our neighbors in understanding and improving local law enforcement. I have partnered with town staff, residents, and advocacy groups to organize community forums on policing and to craft policies that serve everyone equitably.

We have more to do. In all of my work, colleagues and community members know me to take a fair, thoughtful approach to both policy and process. My priorities for the next four years remain:

• land use and transportation planning that promotes a healthy and affordable community, furthers our leadership in alternative transportation, thoughtfully integrates new development with existing neighborhoods, and responds to the challenges of global climate change;
• economic development that helps locally owned businesses thrive, expands and diversifies our tax base, and meets people’s everyday needs close to home;
• policy making that encourages broad participation, fosters partnerships with and among community groups, and builds on Carrboro’s reputation as a progressive community that values diversity and social justice.

I look forward to continuing to build relationships with my neighbors, to deepen my understanding of our community’s needs and challenges, and to promote solutions that reflect our values.

Carrboro alderperson Bethany Chaney also announced that she will seek re-election. Below is her press release:

Just one year into an 18-month term earned in a May 6th, 2014 special election, Carrboro Alderman Bethany Chaney has announced she will file next week for re-election. Chaney, who served on the Town’s Planning Board prior to her election, wants a full four-year term to put into action the ideas she’s gained from her service to date.

 

“There’s been a lot to learn in my first year,” she says, “but I’ve proven a quick study, enough to make a few notable contributions to decision-making.” Among these are:

• Steering the conversation away from a $14 million publically-funded arts and innovation center, an investment she thought would be unwise, to a more comprehensive planning process for right-sized arts and culture infrastructure in Carrboro.
• Shaping goal-oriented strategies and securing more resources for the Town’s Affordable Housing Fund, which will grow from under $40,000 in 2014 to nearly $760,000 2015.
• Supporting synergies rather than divisions between urban and rural areas, advocating for an equitable fee structure for the County’s recycling program and supporting new, low-impact land uses in the rural buffer.

 

Chaney also organized and hosted a public information session about the US Treasury’s New Markets Tax Credit program, with an eye for expanding opportunities for private investment in major development and redevelopment projects in Carrboro.

 

“The Town has done a great job promoting local business and a very high quality of life for residents,” she says.  “But we’re also facing new financial and legislative limitations on funding and pursuing our goals for Carrboro.  We need creative tools and some new efficiencies in the face of increasing costs and a short-sighted General Assembly.”  

 

Three issues Chaney says will loom large in the next four years include:

• Paying for an increasing number of necessary and large capital expenditures in stormwater management, public transit, and Town infrastructure.  
• Shortening the time between development permit application and approval, reducing inefficiencies in the process while supporting quality decision-making.
• Working toward a more inclusive economy that supports a diverse and resilient Carrboro.

 

On this last point, Chaney says the Town’s recent focus on police bias suggests the time is right for a deeper dive.  “I’m proud of Carrboro’s ongoing collaborative process to prevent bias in policing, but I’d like us also to consider the roots of bias in other parts of our civic life,” she says.  “How can our land use policies best support equity and affordability?  How can we ensure our parks and cultural scene are safe and inviting for teenagers?  Is our focus on environmental sustainability helping or hurting people who have the fewest means?  What can we do to make our citizen advisory boards more diverse and engaging?  These are questions that we need to attend to if we’re earnest about equity in Carrboro.”

 

As the Chair of the Board of Aldermen’s Affordable Housing Task Force, taking over from Michelle Johnson earlier this year, Chaney feels she is well-positioned to make a difference.  She also serves on the Chapel Hill Transit Partners Committee and the Triangle J Council of Governments Board of Delegates, and is the Board’s liaison to the Northern Transition Area Advisory Committee.  

 

Chaney has twenty years of experience in the nonprofit sector, including program and management positions in community development, homeless services, and youth development organizations. She is a graduate of Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, UNC-Chapel Hill (B.A.), and Northeastern University (MBA). She is an accomplished writer, a past NC Arts Council Fellow, and a recipient of the William Saroyan Society Centennial Prize for Non-Fiction. Her award-winning pine needle baskets are coiled with longleaf pine needles harvested from a Carrboro back yard.