6The Tar'HeelThursdayJuly 13,
Community service important to Wilkeirsom)
For the fifth in a series of articles
about the Chapel Hill Town Council,
The Tar Heel talked with Council
Member Roosevelt Wilkerson, Jr.
By JIM GREENHILL
Staff Writer
Roosevelt Wilkerson, Jr., called
"housing affordability" his number
one priority as he serves the four
year term he started in 1987 on the
Chapel Hill Town Council.
Affordable housing should be
aimed at people earning $10,000 to
$15,000 per year, Wilkerson said.
'This community may not want to
recognize (it, but) ... there are far
more persons in that economic strata
than there are in the upper strata," he
said.
Tandler, a development of afford
able homes on Merritt Mill Road that
is near completion, is a good project,
Wilkerson said, "but more needs to
be done."
"I'm also concerned about eco
nomic development for minorities,"
Wilkerson said. This means more jobs
and business ownership, he said.
Racism still exists in Chapel Hill,
he said. "I don't think it's mainly a
thing of the past," Wilkerson said.
"It's not as open as in the past, but I
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1989
still think there are some racial ten
sions in Chapel Hill."
Wilkerson said the University's
largely segregated Greek system "may
be indicative of our community."
Laughing, he said that "death some
times has a way of changing things.
It just takes time for some attitudes
to pass away, and that's what I mean
by death some people just will not
change."
Wilkerson, 38, moved to Chapel
Hill to in 1983. "It's a good place to
live," he said. "That's what got me
here. I had three choices and this is
the place I chose and this will be
home for us."
The council member is married
and has two children. He said that he
ran for the council out of "first of all,
a commitment to service, second, a
desire to be involved and to lend what
Hide expertise I might have in serv
ing our community."
Wilkerson is also pastor of the St.
Joseph Christian Methodist Episco
pal Church at 510 W. Rosemary St.,
a job he has held for 19 years. His
wife is the community schools direc
tor for the Orange County School
System.
Wilkerson was born in Dayton,
Ohio, and came to North Carolina to
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attend Duke Divinity School although
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like the physical environment the
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which is one of the things that got
me to North Carolina," he said. He
lived in Raleigh, Durham and Char
lotte before coming to Chapel Hill.
"The thing that appeals to me is
the University environment," Wilk
erson said. "A good academic envi
ronment sets the tone for the com
munity to be a good quality commu
nity." The relationship between the town
and the University has "definitely
improved," Wilkerson said, a fact he
attributed to "(Chancellor Hardin's)
willingness to listen to the issues that
are brought about by the University
that have a direct impact on the town."
The student liaison to the town
council is a good idea that must stand
the test of time, Wilkerson said. "I
don't think it would be right to not
listen to student concerns. The stu-
Seating
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tions open," Frye said.
Once the seats are installed, Elliot
and Frye will work to determine where
the additional student seats will be
located. "By the time school starts, I
feel confident we'll have some defi
nite idea," Elliot said.
"My goal is to retain student seats
in a student section," Frye said. "It's
possible that we could sit in other
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dent population is a very important
part of the fabric of Chapel Hill."
Asked about the issue of develop
ment, Wilkerson said "the key to
providing good, sound development
in Chapel Hill or any community must
be environmental sensitivity, aesthetic
sensitivity."
But there's a need for balance, he
said.
"It's tough, and sometimes devel
opers catch a lot of grief that's unde
served," Wilkerson said. "I don't think
walking through the application proc
ess should be easy, but I do think that
sometimes developers get caught up
in emotional issues and sometimes
political decisions are made instead
of valid planning issues."
On the controversy surrounding
the proposed $100 million Gateway
shopping mall and office develop
ment, Wilkerson said "in terms of a
mixed-use project, (it) comes close
to meeting the criteria established by
the council (but the) development
initially came in with too much de
areas that would make an actual block
of students."
Plans to provide even more stu
dent seats by scaling down seats in
rows M through AA were also con
sidered by athletic department offi
cials, but officials were hesitant be
cause of the cost and because of pos
sible damage to the structure of the
Smith Center.
"This has become a second prior-
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tail."
Wilkerson is also looking at fu
ture problems the town may face. He
said he is worried by "the leveling
off of the growth rate, which will
have an impact on our budget over
the next three to five years."
Health costs are an emerging is
sue, too, he said. Wilkerson said the
cost of providing the town's employ
ees with health insurance increased
50 percent in the 1989-1990 budget,
and may increase 30 percent more in
the 1990-1991 budget.
"How do we meet the revenue
shortfalls to cover those increases?"
he asked.
The role of the town council is
"providing guidelines or policy for
meeting the growth demands of the
town," Wilkerson said. "Whereas
individual citizens may just look at
one piece of the pie, I think the coun
cil's responsibility is to look at a broad
perspective, without regard for a
council member's own biases."
from page 1
ity," Elliot said. "Right now we're
interested in doing things that can be
done expediently."
Officials will continue to research
that plan and will decide by the spring
of 1990 if it is feasible, he said.
"The athletic department is will
ing to talk about it, and that is posi
tive," Frye said.
Elliot stressed that renovations will
not affect current seatholders. "People
who sat in certain seats will not be
affected by reduction in the size of
their seats or the elimination of their
seats," he said.
Members of the press, many of
whom are University sports informa
tion staff members, who normally sat
in the press boxes, will be accommo
dated elsewhere. "We are committed
to giving the press adequate work
space," Elliot said.
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