I hope the voters in Chapel Hill will join me in voting for Mark Kleinschmidt for Chapel Hill mayor. I've served as mayor for the past eight years, and I'm proud of our town -- we've adhered to our values as a place that protects the natural environment, works closely with our university, and respects all our neighbors without regard for their economic status.
Over the past eight years, with Mark Kleinschmidt helping to lead the way, Chapel Hill has invested in a safe, vibrant downtown, new greenways, the arts, a major new park, a transit center, a new public works facility and an aquatics center. We've done all this with an eye to prudent money management (we have the highest bond rating) and diversifying our tax base.
And it has paid off -- just this year Chapel Hill was named both America's Most Livable City and Best Place in the Country to Start a Business. We're doing a lot of things right!
We have a bright future. A vote for Mark for mayor will keep Chapel Hill on the right track.
Kevin Foy
Chapel Hill
Make sustainability basis of votes
A hallmark of the modern conservative movement has been an attempt to restrict individual rights while wrapping itself in the rhetoric of "freedom." This has led to ongoing efforts to restrict the rights of women, gay men and lesbians and minorities.
Now, Michael Krasnov (letter to the editor, 10/30/09) considers it "Jeffersonian" to restrict citizens' right to make sustainability improvements to their homes. He opposes Carrboro's recent legislation that would secure such rights for Carrboro homeowners (SL 2009-427, "Providing for the Orderly Installation of Energy-Generating or Energy or Water-Saving Devices").
To the contrary and as is well known, it was Jefferson who penned the immortal words that governments are instituted to secure rights for citizens. This is exactly the role the Carrboro Board of Aldermen takes in securing for our citizens the right to employ energy saving and generation technologies in their homes.
Like fellow conservative true-believers, Krasnov dismisses well-accepted measures to combat climate change and seek a new energy paradigm as expressions of "political correctness."
But, while the Arctic ice cap continues to melt and air pollution continues to plague the Triangle, the Town of Carrboro will do what it can to help our citizens achieve the goal of a more sustainable way of life.
With election day coming up, I encourage voters to support candidates committed to a sustainable future for Carrboro.
Dan Coleman
The writer is a member of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen.
Proud mom seeks votes for her son
William Samuel Slade, who is running for Carrboro Board of Alderman is my son. Sammy's father was Santi (James Jeremiah Slade III). Looking back at our marriage, I remember all the great things his father did and the great respect he showed to the different cultures of people who we met traveling and living in Latin America.
After earning his PhD, Santi was the heart of Latin America History and Chicano Studies Department at the University of Redlands, California. He was active in "Los Charros de Redlands" and other similar organizations.
He asked his students to write papers on the day-to-day lives of Spanish-speaking ethnic groups in an effort to integrate some of his classes with the community of Redlands. He created a special interim class to show the student the culture of the rural area of Michoacan, Mexico, and the different ways of growing things to survive, teaching the students to be better stewards of the Earth.
At our home, we used to have a big vegetable garden, chickens and raise our own meat. Santi would cook "Brazilian churrascos" outside and host events with the Charros of Redlands, his students, friends and professors to create more community between the different groups. Santi also wrote essays for the local newspaper on subjects of interest to the community. Santi passed away in 1978.
In 1982, we moved to Chapel Hill. Like his father, Sammy is very concerned about what is going on in the world politically, with the environment and the community. He is a founder of the Carrboro Community Garden and also the Carrboro Greenspace. He raises chickens and grows a garden at his home. My husband and I used to buy some of the things we didn't grow in a Coa in Redlands every Saturday. Samuel and his partner Michal do the same at the Carrboro Farmers' Market.
I am very proud of my son Sammy and hope he will be elected alderman.
Fitita Slade
Chapel Hill
Slade practices social consciousness
I am a senior citizen living in Chapel Hill. I have been here for over 25 years. In my young adult years, I was active in the '60s when social consciousness was a very big part of all of my friends' lives.
I am so happy that I met and have enjoyed the company of a young man with that kind of spirit and belief in our mission here on Earth. I hope Sammy Slade will continue to give to his community in ways he has already and will do even more as an alderman on the Carrboro Board of Aldermen.
Julie R. Coleman
Chapel Hill
