Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 17:09:24 -0400
From: virginia penley
Subject: GOP Commissioners serve Chatham Co the Least They Can
I could not help but to read Ms. Johnson’s explanation regarding the change of priorities by the GOP-led County Commissioners over the last four years. Of course when they were narrowly elected in 2010 or what they called a “mandate†we were told that they would return Chatham County Government to “its core purpose of providing essential services.†*
As I understood it the services were 1. Upholding the US Constitution and the NC Constitution; 2. Public Safety; 3. Public Education; 4. Infrastructure; 5. Protecting our environment and natural resources; 6. Providing a basic social safety net to those who cannot provide for themselves
Naturally when one governs through a rigid application of ideological filters expenditures or investments on all functions not considered a “core function†, such as public transit, recreation, parks, arts, libraries, etc. will potentially be defunded, privatized or de-emphasized.
For example, to my understanding, during the discussion about the Pittsboro-Chapel Hill bus that is funded almost entirely by UNC and Chapel Hill, Mr. Bock said that if they had extra funds after adequately financing the above-listed core functions, they would return the funds to the taxpayers, not fund non-core functions such as public transit. Now given the potential growth in our county and the attitudes from millennials about cars and transit Mr. Bock appears to be out of step with the younger generation and where the scholarship and the development community nationwide is on the issue of transit and its economic importance.
So apparently when transit is on the table regardless of facts and the prevailing scholarship, Mr. Bock is determined to take Chatham in his direction, “Bockward†, which is neither forward nor backward.
Naturally, I and many others support the funding of FVRC and its mission, but I do not see why the GOP team deserves much credit for their decisions. They essentially took the funds out of the the deal made years ago with Briar Chapel, failed to make a good deal on behalf of the citizens to secure the promised lots in Briar Chapel and took the money and threw it at the non-profits they decided to support in Chatham County with little or no process and little regard to the many years of work volunteers put in on the Affordable Housing Task Force and on the Advisory Board.
To me the result was another example of “Bad Deal Brian†. He could have negotiated a much better deal on behalf of all citizens in the county, but instead negotiated and accepted a convenient deal instead of the best deal.
Again, I support the mission of those non-profits and their tremendous work making proverbial “silk from a sow’s ear†, but I believe legitimate questions linger about the process and policies that led to the decisions by our GOP-led Board of Commissioners.
Finally, I have no issues with Mr. Bock nor Ms. Stewart personally, I respect their willingness to serve in our county. My critique is solely focused on where we differ on process, policy and implementation and why I believe Karen Howard, Diana Hales, and Jim Crawford are better candidates to serve the long term interests of the people of our county.