Why I am (not) running for Chapel Hill Town Council
At 12:00 PM today, the filing period closed for thousands of municipal offices across the state of North Carolina. According to WCHL/Chapelboro’s tally of candidates, ten area residents have filed to run for Chapel Hill Town Council. Among them are longtime resident and former EPA administrator Melissa McCullough, doctoral student and former UNC Graduate and Professional Student Government president Theodore Nollert, and El Centro Hispano head Erik Valera, and Planning Commissioner Jon Mitchell.
The keen-eyed among you will notice a specific name missing: my own.
A little over a month ago, I formally announced my candidacy on a platform of growing housing and economic opportunity in Chapel Hill, and improving our cityscape to make it more environmentally sound and safer for its inhabitants and visitors.
Since I announced my candidacy, a number of events have transpired: the most significant being the passage of the proposed Land Use Management Ordinance (LUMO) text changes that will make it easier for people to build duplexes, triplexes, and quadplexes on their land. This was a positive move, and an outstanding step in the right direction for Chapel Hill and its current and future residents.
At the same time, a nasty and acidic backlash to this text change occurred. Current Councilmember Adam Searing, who vociferously opposed the text change, has announced his candidacy for mayor. At the same time, he has an entire slate of candidates — David Adams, Breckany Eckhardt, Elizabeth Sharp, and Renuka Soll — at his side. Under the guise of smiles and a phony environmentalism, they are running on a campaign of “no” — no to smart growth in Chapel Hill, no to improved transit access, no to parks and affordable housing, no to land preservation beyond the rural buffer. In a town that prides itself on its willingness to embrace progressive causes, there exists a substantial and aggravating faction that likes to stand in front of an ambulance carrying much-needed supplies to a disaster site and complain that the ambulance is moving too fast.
Which brings me back to why I’m not running.
All Chapel Hill town councilors serve in at-large positions, meaning that they represent the entire town. When it comes to elections, this means that voters are allowed to choose four candidates from a list of usually double that number. As of the conclusion of the filing period, that number is 10.
If there are indeed only four spots on the council, a particular side of the pro-/anti-progress aisle taking on more than four candidates would be self-defeating. And of the candidates on our side of the aisle, we have reached that cap. And though I announced earlier than almost all of them, I have confidence that each of those four who did end up filing are more qualified and better equipped to win in November than myself.
Thankfully, the anti-progress side has six candidates. While they split votes, our side will be united and stronger for it. If we play our cards right, we can clean sweep and make sure that the axis of no is kept out power, and that the progress we have made over the past several years isn’t undone be self-interested, unserious people.
I have faith that four of the candidates who have filed to run — Theodore Nollert, Erik Valera, Jon Mitchell, and Melissa McCullough — will make far better members of the Town Council than any of their opponents. Chapel Hill is at a nexus point in its history, and we must ensure that those who hold the reins in our Town Council are those that will see to it that Chapel Hill continues on the path of change.
I thank all of those who supported me through this (admittedly brief) campaign. In the coming days, I will attempt to issue refunds for all of those who donated, and I strongly encourage those who donated to visit the following candidates' websites and consider donating to their campaigns.
Erik Valera - https://www.valeraforchapelhill.com/
Theodore Nollert - https://www.theodore4chapelhill.com/
Melissa McCullough - https://melissaforchapelhill.com/
Jon Mitchell - https://www.jon4chapelhill.com/
Once again, thank you to all of those who have supported me over the course of the journey. Now let’s make sure that Chapel Hill sticks to the right path, and that we can create a better tomorrow for all of its people.