Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton, Hillsborough Mayor Tom Stevens, Durham
Mayor Bill Bell and Chapel Hill Town Councilman Ed Harrison (who lives
in the Durham County part of Chapel Hill) did a talk show together
today on WCHL.
Transit, downtowns, greenspace and mixed-use developments were
moderator Ron Stutts's suggested topics of discussion, but it seemed
like no matter what the panelists had to say they were talking about
money.
At one point, Harrison (right) let it all hang out:
"It's something we're facing every [council] meeting, more and more:
How do we pay for our quality of life? If you want this quality of
life, you have to pay for it.
"Getting stuff paid for is the major challenge right now," he said. "Chapel Hill citizens can be very demanding."
The dignitaries' conversation went on in front of a live audience at
the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' office in
Durham.
Harrison mentioned one specific price: a half-cent sales tax to be
put toward regional transit. Durham, Orange and Wake counties are
considering a simultaneous referendum on such a tax in November 2011.
"If we pass the referendum and give ourselves a small sales tax, very small, the benefits will be tremendous," he said.
Comments
Good!
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 01:25 — ignc73They're right. It costs a lot of money to live in Chapel Hill/Carrboro. However, there's no shortage of intelligent people who want to live there. There's virtually unlimited demand there, unlike the redneck sprawl east of Raleigh.
Spend, baby spend!
Sun, 05/02/2010 - 15:30 — elvisboy77You want to live in our wonderful little community? Then shut up as we raise your taxes to the point that it decreases your quality of life. And you WILL enjoy it.
This is getting to the point of being comical. There is no waste in Orange County governments, everything is absolutely necessary. Just ask the politicians.
Actually
Sun, 05/02/2010 - 11:19 — Manythe Obamas gave 329,000 to charity last year from an income of 5.5 million a little less than 6%. This is in addi5tion to has 1.4 million from the Nobel Peace Prize they donated to charity, which was not recorded as income due to IRS rules on the gift. If you include the Peace Prize as both income and charitable giving they gave about 20% of their income to charity.
You may disagree with some of his policies (as I do) but that facts are that they are generious to charities.
As far as Chapel Hill goes, this sounds to me like a responsible statement from Harrison.
So generous with other people's money
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 01:34 — PaulTerrellThere is a saying that liberals are so generous with other people's money but their own. This get together mentioned in this article reminds me of how little President Obama and Vice-President give to charity depsite what they make for a living. yet Obama is ready to spread my wealth to someone else.