If you haven’t seen our election guide, you owe it to yourself to look it over. The ballot is HUGE and every single item is hugely important. There is plenty written about the top of the ballot – and plenty of excellent voter guides and interviews to examine.
But we’re blogbloggers and we focus on what’s important locally in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. That’s why I’m here to talk about the bonds! (They are on the back of the ballot. Flip it over and make sure you fill in every race.)
I’m a member of the Orange County Affordable Housing Coalition, which wrote this one pager explaining the affordable housing bond. The town also produced an excellent write up explaining all the bonds. Some key points.
- General obligation bonds are one of the most cost-effective ways for cities and towns to make major infrastructure investments.
- The Town will be able to borrow this money without raising property taxes. That’s because the Town has a debt fund that annually allocates a portion of our property tax rate to pay existing debt service and build future debt capacity.
- These bond orders reflect Town Council’s strategic goals around affordable housing, connectivity, community safety, and economic stewardship. The bond orders you’ll see on the ballot are:
- Affordable Housing
- Public Facilities
- Streets & Sidewalks
- Parks & Recreation Facilities
- Open Space & Greenways
And just to drive it home again, the town repeats “The Town will be able to borrow this money without raising property taxes.”
Why do we need an affordable housing bond in Chapel Hill?
The town’s affordable housing plan shows that 70% of Chapel Hill renters are cost burdened, meaning they pay more than 30% of their monthly paycheck on housing costs. There has been a 32% decrease in Black homeownership in Chapel Hill since 2010. When housing costs are high, our community suffers.
This investment will help put people in safe, affordable homes.
Another way to put it, beyond it being an affordability crisis, housing is both a quality of life and a climate issue. The people who work in lower paying jobs in Chapel Hill are increasingly having to go farther and farther out of town to find affordable places to live. This forces them to drive farther and farther every day. This driving robs them of time with their families, costs them money in transportation costs and increases miles of car traffic on our roads.
OK, what about the other bonds, why are they needed too?
Streets and sidewalks. Vote yes. If we are going to make our town easier to get around without always driving, sidewalks and multi use paths are essential. As a person who uses a bike and feet as the primary source of getting around town, I can tell you from experience, the gaps in some of our existing facilities make it an obstacle course and life should not be an obstacle course to get to school, work, and stores! Having more sidewalks makes it safer and easier to get around. The plan will also increase ADA accessibility.
More sidewalks and more ADA accessibility? ?to our ?s.
Parks and Recreation Facilities. Vote yes. The town would use these funds to replace the turf at Homestead Park, a facility that receives tremendous use by soccer players of all ages and backgrounds. Additional uses for this funding include potentially replacing the climbing wall at Community Center, building a splash pad, or enhancing/expanding pickleball courts.
We have been long been champions of the splash pad and the pickleball community, and know that the climbing wall needs some ❤️. We support these projects.
Open Space and Greenways. Vote Yes. With these funds, the Town’s goal will be to construct the Bolin Creek Greenway extension from Umstead Park to Estes Drive Extension. This will add miles of connected greenways as part of the Town’s Everywhere to Everywhere Greenway Initiative to create a multimodal network to connect schools, shopping, parks, healthcare opportunities, and UNC.
We are really big fans of this one. Connecting more parts of our town east to west, north to south allows more people to get out in nature, commute to UNC or schools or work, and relax. We’ve long championed the Bolin Creek Greenway in Carrboro, and connecting it to Chapel Hill will only enhance the network and allow more people to bike and walk to school, work and around town.
Public Facilities. Vote Yes. The town has some dated fire stations that are both well past 40 years in life. They have issues that cannot be issues that are beyond repair. We are fortunate to have a full fledged professional fire fighting force in Chapel Hill and believe our firefighters deserve facilities that help them do their job and also do not impair their health.