Mayoral, council candidates discuss town development

Candidates for Chapel Hill government met at University Presbyterian Church on Thursday to discuss downtown parking and development.

Hosted by Friends of Downtown, the forum showcased the four mayoral candidates and the eight Town Council candidates.

Several of the candidates cited Durham’s policy of offering free parking as an example of a successful parking plan.

Many candidates stressed the need to streamline the process of opening a business and reduce its cost in order for downtown to develop.

Mayoral candidates

Augustus Cho said the town has enough parking spaces, but security is an issue.

“We lack parking spaces where people want to park because they are not safe.”

Mayoral candidate Matt Czajkowski said the town lacks clear signs telling people where they can park. He also suggested the town build a 400-car parking lot.

He also said he will try to offer residents some tax stability.

“I will ask the city manager to hold taxes flat for the next two years,” Czajkowski said.

Mark Kleinschmidt said many residents flock to Raleigh and Durham for entertainment and shopping, and the town needs to foster more local opportunities for them.

He also said he wouldn’t make any promises about taxes.

“I don’t believe good government comes from promising no new taxes,” Kleinschmidt said.

Kevin Wolff said it’s too expensive to open a business in Chapel Hill.

“A Hollywood real estate agent told me, ‘Hollywood real estate leases for less than Chapel Hill real estate,’” he said.

Council candidates

Jon Dehart said improving the town’s image could come from simple changes like using pedestrian crosswalks and removing graffiti from walls.

“Having the streets cleaned on Mondays would be a huge improvement,” Dehart said.

Laurin Easthom said a trolley car might be interesting, perhaps modeling Asheville’s system.

“I was the only council member who opposed parking rate increases,” she said.

Ed Harrison said he has voted against panhandling in the past and will continue to do so.

“If you want political correctness on panhandling, don’t re-elect me,” Harrison said.

Jim Merritt said the town needs to address the issue of taxes and create more single-family homes.

“I would advocate job training programs for our youth,” he said

Gene Pease said the town must work to fill vacant spaces on Franklin Street.

“We need to create incentives for businesses to come back to Chapel Hill,” he said.

Matt Pohlman said that if elected, he would try to hold office hours where he would meet with residents at local coffee shops.

Pohlman, like several other candidates, pointed out the difficulties new business owners have when starting out in Chapel Hill.

“There’s no reason we should have a reputation as a tough town to start and run a business in,” he said.

Penny Rich said the town should prepare for higher traffic rates by increasing public transportation.

“People are looking for more cultural tourism,” she said.

Will Raymond said Chapel Hill should host more events downtown, but should also work to increase safety.

“We need increased visibility of our police downtown,” he said.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu