Date: Sun, 8 Jun 2014 13:21:17 -0400
From: virginia penley
Subject: Chatham Park
I will make this brief.
It is time for the Town to make an affirmative vote on Chatham Park and with a clear understanding that this approval will be a partnership between the people of Chatham County, the Town of Pittsboro, and the developers. I believe that constructive and continuous engagement between the Town, the people and the project based on a shared vision of sustained prosperity isthe key.
The project needs to employ Chathamites, benefit Chathamites and bear fruit in the present and the future for Chathamites and the region.
The News and Observer has been covering towns and cities such as Rocky Mount that are shrinking and losing population due to a variety of factors including, but not limited to, the lack of opportunities available for Generation Y and Generation Z. We should not align ourselves with notions that limit our potential and drive our children away from Chatham County.
Injecting our values into this project and moving forward on June 9, 2014 will be the beginning of Pittsboro and Chatham County taking a big step into the future instead of settling into the dustbin of history.
A failure to embrace change and vision will likely yield a future where people muse “what could have been” instead of proudly discussing the work that has been accomplished.
This happened before when Jordan Lake was carved out of our best farmland in the 1960’s and 1970’s and past leaders failed to embrace the future and left Chathamites wondering for decades how they had lost control of an asset as important as Jordan Lake. Making a mistake once is understandable, but twice makes one wonder.
We must learn from the past and adjust our course for the future.
A shared vision with Chatham Park beginning with the approval on June 9th is the first step that we need and I support as many others do a affirmative vote by the Town of Pittsboro on our future.