Date: Fri, 18 Dec 2015 13:35:26 -0500
From: virginia penley <aka randy voller>
Subject: Perpetual lawsuits equal perpetual war in Chatham
I had a chance to read the latest positive spin that Pittsboro Matters, Inc. put on their latest loss in court.
Of course they lay claim to any improvements in the process and plan and they throw the previous Town Board, the Town staff and anyone associated with Chatham Park under the bus.
One wonders if they will take responsibility for any of the collateral damage their messaging and lawsuits have caused in the community.
They also claim that their work allowed the Pittsboro voters time to elect a stronger Town Board to fulfill these new responsibilities as envisioned by Pittsboro Matters, Inc. The newly elected Mayor and three Town Board members took office this week.
I attended the meeting on Monday and observed only two changes to the Town Board: Mayor Terry was replaced by Mayor Cindy Perry and Commissioner Beth Turner was replaced by Commissioner John Bonitz.
Both Terry and Turner were given commendations from the Town for their public service.
Additionally, Commissioner Turner worked hard, learned a lot over her four years and was experienced when she ran for re-election. I fail to see how the change they cite gave the business community and the people a stronger board.
Unless Pittsboro Matters has empirical evidence to the contrary, the only reason they are happier with the board is that they must believe that Commissioner Turner was less likely to do their bidding and thus needed to be replaced.
Mayor Terry was given high marks by Pittsboro Matters and endorsed by them for office so they must be placing a lot of stock in the Bonitz for Turner change.
To me the new board will be different, but not necessarily stronger or better.
Just a new and different board with the two new members facing a learning curve.
The irony of course is that Mayor Cindy Perry is quite independent and it is very likely she will seek input from all parties and stakeholders in the community.
And as a former officer of the CCDW myself, I look forward to supporting our former CCDW President, Mayor Perry, in her service to the community.
In conclusion Pittsboro Matters has had plenty of time to provide input, influence the process, and get involved with elections.
Unfortunately by seeking the route of perpetual litigation they are insulating and isolating themselves from actually being a positive force in the community and working on real solutions outside of the courtroom.
Perpetual lawsuits = perpetual war. A strange place for peace loving people to inhabit.
To me their only real gripe that I can see is that the elected officials listened to them at length; made plenty of adjustments over the past two years and ultimately did not do everything that they wanted.
But no one gets 100%.
Their attitude is not pragmatic.
Their attitude is dogmatic, which is the opposite of what local governance is.
Somehow, I thought Randy Voller was involved in the purchase of the thousands of acres by Chatham Park. Wasn’t he the one who said nothing to the county or city about the huge land purchases and therefore no one knew about the purchase and plans until they were a fait accompli.