Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 16:20:10 -0500
From: Pittsboro Matters
Subject: Pittsboro Matters: Who We Are
In Samantha Capital’s post to the chatlist on Tuesday, she makes assertions
about Pittsboro Matters members or leaders. She claims we represent only
white educated folks and have no expertise.
1. We are an organization with 600 supporters who represent folks from all
walks of life and from all across the Pittsboro area.
2. Yes, our steering committee may be small but we are a volunteer
organization that just started in September and we are constantly getting
new and diverse supporters. Most other Pittsboro Matters volunteers who are
not retired, are professionally tied down with commuting, working, raising
children and don’t have the time or energy to be members of a volunteer
steering committee. But they have come out to board meetings and spoken,
they have mailed in their comments to the board, they have signed our
petition and receive our newsletter, they have come to our forum and
workshop. They care about having a voice in the future of Pittsboro.
3. So, who does Chatham Park LLC represent and who are their supporters?
They are basically wealthy white male developers from Cary, or outside
white male businessmen and consultants. None live in Pittsboro or Chatham
County. If you look at who has mostly supported them locally, it was the
mostly while male Chatham County Economic Development Corporation, which
always supports “growth” regardless of its impact on a community.
Likewise, Chatham Park LLC has presented nothing in their concept or plans
that would make this anything but a elitist community for highly educated
folks, most who would not even come from this state.
4. We do have tremendous expertise in Pittsboro Matters, including
architects, lawyers, public policy professors, downtown business owners,
energy entrepreneurs, computer professionals, farmers, small business
innovators and fund raisers, scientists, environmental experts, energy
experts, builders, design professionals, college sustainable communities
instructors, non-profit directors, and that is just those on our steering
committee and does not include the hundreds of knowledgeable, experienced
professionals and experts in this community who have joined with our
voices, spoken or written to the town board, and participated in our
forums. Our collective experience, education, expertise clearly exceeds
that of the developers of Chatham Park, LLC, virtually none of whom have
ever attempted to develop a sustainable community.
5. Finally, we are not suggesting that the leaders of Pittsboro Matters
want to tell the town how to design Chatham Park. We are asking for a
public deliberation process where the collective intelligence of the
community, guided and facilitated by a team of experts representing the
town, can work collaboratively with the developers, town staff and town
board to create a much better product than these developers will do on
their own. Why would anyone from Pittsboro be against that?
If you want to learn more about Pittsboro Matters and who we are, please
visit our website: http://pittsboromatters.org