Compared to increasingly intense federal elections, local elections are generally calmer, with candidates having like goals and focusing on smaller, town-specific issues. The ongoing Chapel Hill mayoral race, however, has magnified issues and differing goals within the town’s population.
“This has been a really tough election. I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Jess Anderson, the eight-year Town Council member currently running for mayor.
Her campaign, summarized by the slogan “moving Chapel Hill forward,” is focused on the growth of the community.
Her opponent, two-year Town Council member Adam Searing, has spent his career lobbying for increased access to healthcare, and has crafted a campaign based around keeping the “homey” feel of Chapel Hill in the midst of widespread development.
To Searing, a priority is maintaining the town’s atmosphere that he, as a lifetime resident, has grown up with.
“I’d like to keep the character that we have in Chapel Hill and the green space while we grow,” Searing said. “It seems like we’re building kind of another generic urban municipality with high-rise luxury apartments, giant office buildings downtown and not keeping a lot of the character and green space that people love about Chapel Hill.”
Anderson, having served as Mayor Pro Tem for two years, has received an endorsement from current mayor Pam Hemminger. She’s worked in public policy for several years with a focus on education evaluations.
Anderson’s campaign champions the Complete Community Vision, a plan focused on housing and recreational area expansions, which the Town Council adopted last year.
Chapel Hill has grown by over 13,000 people since 2000, and the rapid growth of the area is evident in overflowing schools and limited available housing.
“We need more housing targeted at the people who are currently not included in our community,” Anderson said.
She highlighted the importance of ensuring affordable housing for the teachers, custodians, and cafeteria staff who provide the foundation for schools in the area.
“We talk a lot in Chapel Hill about being inclusive, but I think the way we actually put our money where our mouth is by making sure that people who run our schools and our universities are included.”
Searing also aims to increase housing, though his approach differs from Anderson.
“We need more housing, and we need more infrastructure to support that housing,” Searing said. “Both have been quite neglected. As we welcome more people here, and as we change and grow, we really need to provide all the great things about Chapel Hill… to people who are moving here for the first time, as well as to people who’ve been here for a while.”
Despite his push for housing, Searing strongly opposes building over preserved forests and spaces purchased by the town’s environmental bonds.
Searing and Anderson share similarities when it comes to working with public green space. Both candidates emphasized wanting to continue the unfinished 2013 Parks Plan.
“[The plan] has a whole laundry list of suggestive proposals and priority recommendations for the town to do from creating more tennis and ball courts to creating a splash pad for kids, to modernizing our skatepark,” Searing said. “These are all things that communities around us have done many years ago and we haven’t done any of those things.”
On his campaign website, he cites the neglect of Chapel Hill’s parks, hoping to prioritize their upkeep as mayor.
While Searing is pushing for more maintenance and development of local recreational space, Anderson’s views on Chapel Hill’s greenery focus on increased transportation, specifically pushing for a greenway in our area. This greenway plan includes biking trails, sidewalks and other municipal services that allow citizens, especially children, more accessible transportation.
“Part of the Complete Community Vision is an everywhere to everywhere Greenway network, and I think getting students of all ages out of car lines and off of a really challenged bus system right now,” Anderson said.
Despite their differences, both candidates say they are willing to collaborate for the betterment of the town.
“I’m willing to work with anyone, as long as they are committed to working for the town as a whole,” Anderson said. “We don’t always agree, but I’m always committed to working with my colleagues for the betterment of the town.”
Searing shares a similar view.
“Be cognizant that even though you may disagree with them, they live here,” Searing said. “They have a point of view and you have a responsibility to consider it and not belittle their concerns, or make them feel that their point of view is not as valid as anyone else’s.”
Early voting began Oct. 19 and the election will take place on Nov. 7.
Photos courtesy of the candidates
