1. Please tell us about your background and explain why you are running for Orange County Commissioner. What experience, skills, and values do you bring to the board? Why should voters elect/re-elect you?
I fought for equitable access to services for the Rogers Road community & to include $5 million for affordable housing in the 2016 county bond. I advocated for the county to develop a program to assist manufactured housing residents facing displacement, and to concentrate housing resources for low-wealth residents in greatest need. I pressed for body-worn cameras for the Sheriff’s Department and advocated for a driver’s license restoration program. As Chair, I led the board to work more effectively and transparently, promoting open, accessible policy discussions; and to engage residents that too often have been left out of the decision-making process. I helped create a more collaborative school budget approval process. As a commissioner and a civil rights lawyer, I’ve demonstrated an unwavering commitment to racial and social justice, a willingness to take on extraordinary challenges, and creativity and flexibility in developing new ideas and strategies to meet those challenges.
2. Historically, one of Orange County’s greatest assets has been the excellent quality of our K-12 public schools. However, many parents are becoming concerned that our public school buildings are aging and in need of repair and renovation. The Board of Orange County Commissioners (BOCC) is fully responsible for funding the maintenance for school buildings. How do you propose to address the backlog of deferred school maintenance projects?
It is critical that we continue to improve the school budgeting process, and for the school boards and BOCC to balance prioritizing our most urgent needs and the responsible use of our resources. We set those priorities for the bond; we have not done as well with the ongoing needs. Because the BOCC’s role is limited to funding, we depend on the school boards to make the difficult but necessary assessments of the most urgent needs, and which projects can be delayed. We must push the legislature for additional funds since we cannot make up all lost state support with local resources. It is also vital that we recognize that that universal student success depends not only on funding for schools, but also on ensuring equal access to affordable housing, well-paying jobs, transit, and clean water. We must also address the impacts on students and families outside our school facilities.
3. GoTriangle recently released an outside evaluation by a national transit organization which described management problems related to the now defunct Durham-Orange light rail project. This report said that the Orange and Durham County Boards of Commissioners and GoTriangle failed to recognize the numerous warning signs that the project could not be completed and continued to spend public money on this dead end project. Throughout the DOLRT planning process the lack of transparency, accountability and local (county and town) control over funding decisions subordinated Orange County’s interests to those of Durham and GoTriangle. What changes to the decision-making process would you urge to address these problems? Link to the report. https://gotriangle.org/sites/default/files/publications/final_report_dolrt_gotriangle_11.5.19.pdf
The long struggle with the light-rail that project and its ultimate defeat highlighted both the substantial power of our collaboration with Durham, and the need for a more transparent process. There are important lessons from our past experience relating to coordination with external agencies, and recognizing the varying needs and goals of the partners. Given that experience, and a renewed commitment to accessibility of information and community education, I believe the collaboration will be more even more effective this time. To be most effective, regional transit should serve Orange County at its key density points and along critical inter-county corridors, and be supported by enhancements to our already successful network of intra-county transit.
4. What actions and/or policy changes should the BOCC take to improve public transit service for Orange County residents and reduce congestion on our roadways?
The county is beginning the process of (re) developing its comprehensive transit plan, which must reflect coordination and collaboration with our towns and our neighboring counties. It seems most likely that we will be looking at an interlocking system of bus rapid transit routes. While we will be able to build on some of the work that was done for the light rail (including the planning and data regarding routes), we must acknowledge we will face many of the same challenges—including costs– as with light rail. The County’s emerging “on-demand” type service for more rural areas will help connect residents of lower density areas to the regional system. We are also continuing to support and expand intra-county transit efforts, including the North-South BRT. We should also work with UNC and other employers in the county and the region to expand telecommuting options.
5. The 1986 Joint Comprehensive Land Use Plan established urban service boundaries for the largest Orange County towns and a rural buffer. In your view, how does the existence of the rural buffer benefit Orange County? What costs does it impose? What changes, if any, would you support making to the 1986 Joint Comprehensive Land Use Plan?
As noted below, the rural buffer and the urban service boundary were designed to prevent suburban sprawl. The underlying premise of these policies, because they necessarily limit the supply of housing, is that there will be more dense development concentrated within those boundaries. Unfortunately, current zoning or planning policies undercut our ability to take meaningful advantage economic or environmental advantages these boundaries should provide (see answer below). In addition, there are some limited areas where development patterns and artificial limitations make revisiting the lines worthwhile (e.g., Millhouse Road, where there is water and sewer serving the town transit facility, but not the land across the street; there is a similar situation on Old 86, with service to Morris Grove school but not adjoining properties, including one owned by Carrboro, which presents economic development opportunities).
6. What actions and/or policy changes should the BOCC take to preserve and increase housing that is affordable for less affluent OC households, especially those earning below 60% of AMI?
In light of the growing income disparities, we must focus affordable housing efforts to serve residents of greatest need, like our new local housing voucher program and program for residents facing displacement from redevelopment. We should also pursue policies to incentivize housing opportunities for public employees, many of whom cannot afford to live in the community they serve. We should revise land use policies to encourage high-density housing along the pending North-South Bus Rapid Transit route. We should revisit all zoning and planning regulations that can artificially suppress housing supply. The anti-sprawl premise of the water and sewer boundary (and the rural buffer) is based on embracing the economic and environmental benefits of more strategic development within the more urban areas. We must develop policies to encourage smaller lots, multifamily developments, and mixed use developments in all residential zones, which can help reduce residential racial and economic segregation.
7. What actions and/or policy changes should the BOCC undertake to reduce carbon emissions in Orange County? What do you think is achievable within the next 3-5 years?
I’m proud to have supported the county adding a 1/4 cent tax dedicated to funding programs designed to address climate change, which can include additional funds for making homes more energy efficient, supporting alternative energy use by public entities and facilities, additional public electric vehicle charging stations, and installation of solar arrays on government buildings. We should also be moving toward zero-waste. Such efforts depend on community education, outreach, and where possible, incentivization (especially of businesses). These efforts could include discouraging single use plastics and styrofoam, supporting composting, outreach programs to encourage changes in shopping habits, promoting community gardening, and supporting local businesses with technical assistance, grants or loans to promote zero waste strategies and programs. Critical steps in the process are awareness, education, and training. The county can lead by implementing additional practices internally, several of which are already in place.
8. What actions and/or policy changes should the BOCC take to conserve agricultural, forest and park land in Orange County?
The BOCC already has comprehensive and effective policies in place to preserve the county’s agricultural heritage, forest, and park land. These include the Voluntary Agriculture District program, the Land Legacy program, farmland protection programs, and the agricultural grant program. The county also has a master park plan and has been diligent in purchasing and developing park resources all across the county. These efforts continue to grow and expand, and also work in coordination with other county strategies to concentrate economic development in targeted districts along highway corridors and in the towns, and other development within the urban services boundary.