There are two people running for town council in Carrboro, Cristóbal Palmer and Isaac Woolsey.
On September 20th, 2024 we sent both candidates the same set of basic questions and asked for them to be returned by October 1, 2024. You can see Isaac Woolsey’s answers here.
Cristóbal Palmer grew up in Carrboro and has been both a renter and a homeowner. He has written for the blogblog on the need for Carrboro to have a SeeClickFix and for Carrboro to think about multi-generational mobility needs.
He was interviewed by Tammy Grubb in the News and Observer yesterday. The interview below is unedited and was conducted over email.
Can you briefly explain your political beliefs and why you’re running?
I’m a Progressive Democrat, which means that I believe in the urgency of climate action, transforming our transportation infrastructure, housing everybody, and joining my friends and neighbors in the ongoing work of dismantling racism. I’m running now to fill a vacancy that runs to 2025, but because the next few years are critical for us to get right as we update our Land Use Ordinance (LUO), my vision goes well beyond 2025. I think my background, skills, and experience can help bring more of Carrboro together for that process, and I look forward to representing Carrboro in getting that work done.
What is your vision for Carrboro in 10 years?
I envision a Carrboro where we have grandparents, their grandkids, the kids’ teachers, and the nurse aides who visit the grandparents all living, working, and happily playing inside Carrboro. I envision a Carrboro with more and better access to green, shady spaces for everyone. I envision a Carrboro where more people have the freedom and confidence to choose to walk, bike, or ride a bus where they need to go. I envision a Carrboro where more of our residents can share in the joy of our quirky town.
What are three things that you believe the town could be doing better?
For one, Carrboro has made great strides in the last ten years on public engagement, and I’m happy that town council meetings provide Spanish translation, and the Language Access Plan provides for more languages, but these are first steps, and more work is needed to make sure we’re truly empowering marginalized folks to participate meaningfully in decisions about our future.
Secondly, I’m encouraged by recent action by Town Council to look at public land as an option for building more housing, but we need to do more and faster to add housing in this town, and I would start with pre-approved sets of architectural plans and other design documents to add ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units) as part of our LUO (Land Use Ordinance) rewrite. I have to credit Councilmember Fray for this idea.
Thirdly, we need to work faster to make crossing our streets safer and easier for folks who aren’t in a car. I appreciate the work that has been done on Greensboro St, but every weekday I see people dashing across 54 to get to or from bus stops, and way more of our families should be confident about their kids having the option to walk or bike to school.
What are the things you think the town currently is doing right?
I’m so proud to call the quirky little town of Carrboro my home. I’m tempted to answer with a laundry list of the businesses and groups in town I love, but this isn’t about me: people generally love it here. 97% say Carrboro is an excellent or good place to live. That’s a credit to the mayors and town councils of the past. I also think that in Carrboro we have a bunch of smart, friendly, and motivated people already doing great work that helps us make the most of our connections to other towns, other levels of government, and businesses around the state and the world.
We know that feedback the Council receives does not reflect Carrboro’s population. How will you ensure your decision making process takes into account the perspectives of people who may not have the time or resources to attend council meetings?
Clear structure, shared in advance, helps folks who are concerned that they won’t be listened to, or won’t have real power (maybe because of wealth, race, gender, national origin, or some other factor) to participate in a way that not only lets them share their perspective, but that benefits all of us because we improve both our process and our decisions when everybody brings their skills and experience.
That means allocating more budget and staff time to systematically identifying and eliminating the barriers to participation–not just feedback–for folks who have been less likely to engage in the past. We need mechanisms for public participation that help our elected officials and staff have confidence that we have real community participation and not a biased slice of the town.
Our school system is experiencing a decline in elementary school students. Are there any policy changes Carrboro could make to help with that?
The single biggest driver of this demographic shift (parents of young children not living here) is housing cost, and another is a dominance of specific large employers on the demand for housing. Fortunately, both diversifying the employment base and reducing housing costs can be affected by the LUO (Land Use Ordinance) rewrite process, which has already started. There’s no one policy change, but making it possible for more people to choose to get around without a car also makes existing housing stock more affordable, and incentivizing the kinds of housing that people actually want instead of the current pattern of rebuilds tearing down modest homes and replacing them with large single family homes are two of the issues that I’d like to work on.
Small cities like Asheville and Evanston IL have implemented reparations program to help address past discriminatory government actions that contributed to racial homeownership and wealth gaps. Should Chapel Hill/Carrboro implement a reparations program? Why or why not?
Firstly I would encourage readers to look at the Asheville and Evanston reparations programs, because among other things, Evanston has cannabis dispensary funds that it can use that we and Asheville do not, so I think it’s helpful to highlight that funding has a very direct impact on the different emphasis between those programs. I appreciate that Asheville has different definitions of reparations on their page, which shows that even with limited funds, meaningful steps can be taken. So yes, part of the practice of anti-racism should include reparations, and that process of making reparations must be tailored to the needs of our local Black communities and the budgets of our county and towns. Let’s also be very clear: the Republican-lead NC legislature has repeatedly made life measurably worse for Black, Latino, and other marginalized communities in the state, but especially Black communities. I need my fellow white residents of Carrboro to recognize that fact and come out to vote in the judicial, attorney general, treasurer, and other state-wide races that will be a check on the abuses of the Republicans.
Given the urgency of the issues that face Carrboro—including the lack of housing, and the threat of climate change—do you think Carrboro’s decision making processes are effective? If not, how would you change them?
I think the Carrboro Connects Comprehensive Plan is a great blueprint for tackling these challenges, and my main concern is that we be inclusive and have broad participation while still moving fast enough to mee the climate and housing challenges we face. I can think of at least two issues that have come before council in the last fifteen years where a small group of people were able to stop progress, and we can’t afford that with climate change, so we need to make sure Town Council answers to those who will be most impacted by climate change more than it currently does. I can see pros and cons to several options to make that happen, such as moving elections to even numbered years, and I look forward to working with Council, town staff, and residents more broadly about how we can best make that happen.
If your readers take away only one thing from this interview, let it be this: fewer than 50 people have made the difference between winning and losing local elections multiple times in the recent past in this region, so your power to meaningfully drive change is huge, and you should use it! Folks with money and time are trying to discourage you, but money doesn’t vote. Republicans have added needless hurdles to exercising your right to vote, but you can vote, and you can participate in making sure Carrboro continues to be a town we all love.
Do you think Carrboro/Orange County is growing too fast, too slowly, or about right? Why?
I want to challenge this question because I think the main problems with our growth are not about its speed but about the uneven harms: farmland loss due to sprawl makes climate change that much worse, and incentives that mean builders mostly just fill lots with large single family homes mean that renters, the elderly, and those already marginalized by race, language, or other barriers to housing equity have been squeezed hardest. We need policy and decision making processes that are adaptable to the changing conditions, which right now means responding to the rapid development happening South of us that may further depopulate our schools if we do nothing. We don’t get to choose how fast Chatham County grows, but we do get to choose how to respond.
If you could design a pair of Crocs for yourself, what would they look like?
I love looking up at the clouds, so I think the base would be a pale sky blue with big puffy clouds, and I’m also a fan of pickles, especially at about mile 7 of an outing. My youngest loves playing with our shoes, so I think there have to be some teddy bears and owls, and my eldest would get a kick out of a cat and a race car. A bit chaotic when they’re all put together, but little kids enjoy when you pull a bunch of things they like together to make up stories.
Questions for candidate interviews were compiled by a group of people, including Stephen Whitlow, Martin Johnson, Melody Kramer, and John Rees.