Why I am enthusiastically voting for Mark Kleinschmidt for mayor

[Sally]

Dear friends:

It has been my pleasure to serve on the Town Council for six years
with Mark Kleinschmidt, and now I want to add my voice to those urging
you to vote for him for mayor. Mark has been in leadership positions
on important initiatives, helping to create the conditions that have
led Chapel Hill—just this year—to being named both America’s Most
Livable City and Best Place in the Country to Start a Business. Such
honors are regularly earned by Chapel Hill, in large part because of
progressive policy decisions that have led to our phenomenally
successful fare-free transit system (7 million rides a year), the
purchase and maintenance of open space and parklands, and other
environmentally important initiatives including a strong stormwater
management program and land use ordinances that protect the natural
environment. With Mark’s leadership, we have achieved these goals and
more, all the while maintaining a AAA bond rating (a rarity for small
cities).

As chair of the Council’s economic development committee, Mark oversaw
the town’s hiring of its first economic development officer, and he
continues to take a leadership position in working to bring new
business to town. Mark is also a strong advocate for the Downtown
Partnership, which has been working to improve the life of the
downtown through creating open wireless network; revitalizing the
street life by hiring musicians to perform on the sidewalks;
championing a new lighting system; and more.

In our successful negotiations with UNC over the development agreement
for Carolina North, I witnessed Mark’s persuasive leadership on
important issues such as fiscal equity and the permanent conservation
of open space.

In the current climate—when many of us are faced with at least a
double hit, from the recession generally and last year’s property
reevaluations in particular—the economy, and taxes, are important
issues. Mark is committed to maintaining a lean, efficient town
government. But I am proud of him for what he hasn’t said: he has not
uttered the words “No new taxes.” Why not? Because one Council member
alone—even if he is the mayor—does not have the power to make that
decision. And further, because such a pledge is bad policy. It puts
too much at risk—including the planned expansion of the public library
that the voters have overwhelmingly supported in a bond referendum.

As a community we have worked diligently and prudently to establish
several long-range community goals. In recent years we've established
a debt management fund that makes it less likely that we will have to
raise taxes in order to achieve these goals, but adopting the mantra
of no new taxes promises only to replicate the failed fiscal policies
that endangered public services for our nation in the early 90s and
for our state earlier this decade. We knew what a great town Chapel
Hill was even before the National Conference of Mayors named us the
Most Livable City in America, but in order to continue to live up to
that recognition we need to remain true to the community process and
the priorities we have set for ourselves. We must not give in to feel-
good rhetoric that has the potential to put even basic services on the
chopping block. Mark trusts our community to work through issues
carefully, through broad and open public deliberations, as the best
way of deciding what we value enough to fund and what we can live
without.

Mark is a leader, a listener, and a proven team-builder. I’ve seen
these qualities demonstrated consistently for my six years on the
Council. He will be a great mayor. I urge you to join me in casting
your vote for him on Tuesday. And in the meantime, please freely
forward this message or do whatever else you can to help him spread
the word!

Thanks as always for your own many contributions to the strength of
our community.

Sally

http://sallygreene.org
sa...@ibiblio.org