Like many folks, I spent time at the end of 2024 with close family eating and celebrating, and I spent some of my time reflecting on my goals for the new year. Experience has taught me that a long list of resolutions tends to crumble quickly, so I only made one: spend time every day learning how to be a better member of the Carrboro Town Council.

To me that means allocating time and energy into the Where, How, and Who of Town Council work, but not the Why. I already have the Why. The four pillars of my campaign are still what I keep coming back to for why I’m doing this work:

• Transportation Equity

• Climate Justice and Action

• Better Housing

• Anti-Racist Learning and Practice

And I have a short set of updates that touches on at least one of each of those today.

Firstly, I mentioned several times during my campaign that we need safe pedestrian crossings across Highway 54. I’m happy to report that “Carrboro and Chapel Hill have partnered with NCDOT to install pedestrian activated signals at three locations along NC 54 West: two in Carrboro and one in Chapel Hill.  Carrboro locations include NC 54 & Abbey Road and NC 54 & Westbrook Drive.” according to the Carrboro Town Manager. This process has hit a delay involving utility relocation, but you can expect an update from me in late April or early May of this year. At that point I hope to have heard from NCDOT about their engineering plans for these crossings.

Last night (Tuesday the 14th) Carrboro Town Council had a work session to discuss possible future uses of E. Weaver St. I’m delighted at the thorough and thoughtful packet that staff put together, and I have nothing but praise for my colleagues on Council, who raised smart points about working with the local residents and businesses, transit impacts, and possible phased approaches that would reduce cost and let us use E. Weaver as a lab or model to work out how we want to improve stormwater management, shade, pedestrian safety, and other factors all across town.

On the Housing front, I’ve set up conversations with many people and organizations and have done more unassigned reading than I have done since my first year in grad school. Some of that reading was spurred by my initial interview with Codewright, the firm handling the Land Use Ordinance (LUO) rewrite, and some of it stems from my conversations I’ve started with individuals. I also had to do a fair amount of reading (and re-watching of the November 19th 2024 Town Council meeting) because Council discussed, and then ultimately approved the Special Use Permit (SUP) for the Newbury Architecturally Integrated subdivision (AIS) at 904 Homestead road, which will eventually add 36 residences to Carrboro. That SUP process underscored for me just how urgent and necessary the LUO rewrite process is.

Last but certainly not least, I’ve started some online, self-paced training offered by the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE) as part of my commitment to Anti-racist Learning and Practice, and also to be on the same page with Carrboro staff who have also used GARE’s training tools. I’m also signed up for an Essentials of Municipal Government course offered through the UNC-CH School of Government.

We have so much more that we’re doing to grow Joy, Peace, and Justice in Carrboro, but this update is already so very long. Was something missing? Are you wanting updates on a particular topic? Please let me know! Please also do me a favor and forward to a friend or neighbor that you’ve been meaning to re-connect with anyway. We have big challenges ahead, but we can face them together, and folks need reminders that their neighbors, especially their neighbors in local government, are working hard and have their backs.

Warmly,

CMP