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Robin Cutson
BY TED STRONG
CITY EDITOR
Robin Cutson doesn’t exact
ly blend into the field of Town
Council candidates.
She’s vociferous when she
speaks at council meetings, decry
ing the policy of the current coun
cil and calling for changes that
she feels will advance her goals
of environmentally and busi
ness-friendly growth and fiscally
responsible government.
She’s also a wildlife advocate
for issues including live trapping
of beavers at Eastwood Lake and
local animal shelter services.
All of her pets have been adopt
ed, either as strays or from local
shelters, and Cutson likes hiking.
It’s her outside take on issues that
Laurin Easthom
BY TED STRONG
CITY EDITOR
Laurin Easthom doesn’t want
to be called a soccer mom.
She wants to be known as a car
ing and open person —one that
cares for her kids as a mother,
cares for her patients as a dentist
and cares for Chapel Hill neigh
borhoods as an advocate.
And she said she feels that those
attributes could be useful when
the Town Council tackles what she
sees as the most important issue
looming over the horizon.
“I think that the most impor
tant thing is to elect someone who
is going to share the vision for
how Carolina North will develop,
because... you need to have a coun
cil member who is going to be able
Ed Harrison
BY TED STRONG
CITY EDITOR
Few people would accuse Ed
Harrison of being an overly loud
man.
Fewer would accuse him of
being under-prepared for Town
Council meetings.
Harrison tries to devote sub
stantial time prior to council
meetings to preparing for them,
reading the voluminous packets
the town staff supplies and talking
with other council members.
That’s a lot of zoning districts,
height restrictions, open space
conservation and affordable hous
ing requirements.
“He seems to have a lot of energy
and the ability to command a lot of
info, and I guess that’s what I like
about him,” said George Cianciolo,
chapel Hill Town Council
could be the key to winning a seat.
Terri Tyson, who ran unsuc
cessfully for the council in 2003,
said Cutson makes many points
she agrees with
that the current
body’s members
don’t necessar
ily represent.
“I believe that
she’s offering
a little bit dif
ferent point of
view,” she said.
Tyson cited issues such as money
for public art, which she and Cutson
oppose, as important factors in her
decision to back Cutson in 2005.
Some political insiders have
been taken aback by what they
perceive as Cutson’s aggressive
Chapel Hill Town Council
to effectively understand what the
University is proposing and be able
to negotiate, if necessary, in the
town’s best interest,” she said.
Easthom,
who does her
best thinking
while out run
ning, said that
her profession
alism will help
her with such
negotiations.
Randy
ft
~ ;
Kabrick, chairman of the Horace
Williams citizens committee, on
which Easthom, a longtime neigh
borhood advocate, serves said
Easthom has kept her constituency
in mind while looking at the issue.
“She’s been able to kind of look
chapel Hill Town Council
chairman of the town’s transporta
tion board, to which Harrison is
the council’s liaison.
But it’s not like complex docu-
ments are new
to Harrison:
he’s been an
environmen
tal planner for
years, graduat
ing from Duke
University
with degrees
in English and
environmental management.
He currently works as an envi
ronmental planner and lives in
Durham County, residing in the
sliver of Chapel Hill that’s across
the county line.
That experience has played into
the way Harrison the only coun-
Voters Guide
style, but Brooke Hayes, a Chapel
Hill resident and Cutson sup
porter, said what could look like
forcefulness is really just Cutson’s
honesty coming through.
“I thmk she’s just very honest,
and has an honest view about what
is best for this town,” she said.
That honesty or forcefulness,
whichever it ultimately is, has come
through on several occasions.
She has spoken out against
what council members call “smart
growth,” saying the town’s regu
lation is not sufficient to prevent
ecological damage.
She also has called for major
changes to the Carbon Reduction
Program, such as the inclusion of
the University in the plan. The
program, recently adopted by the
at those plans with the neighbor
ing neighborhoods kind of as a
focus point,” he said.
Easthom also wants to ensure
that people working at places such
as Carolina North can call Chapel
Hill their home. “We don’t want to
be seen in Chapel Hill as a gated
community,” she said.
But right now, she said, housing
prices are just not where they need
to be. “We’re seeing extreme highs
and... extreme highs.”
She also wants different groups
to work together to pull out a
downtown that acts as a bridge
between the town and its academ
ic neighbor. “Here is a chance for
students, UNC administrators and
the town to work together to make
a social place, a place that we all
cil member from Durham County
shapes town policy.
Harrison has consistently voted
for conservation measures and
says he hopes to develop transit
planning to guide the future of the
region’s connectivity away from
multi-passenger vehicles with
single occupants.
He still zips around town on
the Diamondback TYailstreak he
bought used in the spring 0f1986.
But Harrison is known for more
than his in-depth knowledge on
technical issues.
He said that his approach to
issues lots of research and rea
soned debate could be as impor
tant as his own take on the issues.
“People need to look at the approach
that they want council members to
take to the issues,” he said.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2005
town, is run by UNC professor
Douglas Crawford-Brown.
She has said local leaders have
not paid enough attention to water
management issues and criticized
the town’s affordable housing pol
icy, saying it promotes high-priced
growth. “That’s gentrification with
a few affordable housing units, you
know, tacked on the end.”
Cutson also has condemned the
present council for what she sees as
fiscally foolish policies.
“We have excessive spending,
and that’s increasing taxes and fees
and it is threatening to drive peo
ple of moderate and fixed income
out of this town,” she said.
In the end, it could be those
views, and the way Cutson express
es them, that determine her fate.
can use together,” she said.
And Kabrick said Easthom is
the kind of person who could fos
ter that sort of understanding.
“She’s outgoing, participative in
terms of expressing her opinions,
definitely willing to listen to the
opinions of others,” he said.
On the campaign trail, Easthom
also said she prefers neighborhood
get-togethers, which allow her
to mingle with residents to large
forums, at which candidates engage
in more oration than conversation.
But all of that doesn’t mean that
Easthom doesn’t like seeing her
kids out kicking the ball around.
“I enjoy going out and spend
ing time with my kids and seeing
them excel at a sport and seeing
them engage in teamwork.”
Cianciolo said that Harrison
has a quality approach. “I haven’t
seen him get in any arguments
with any council members, but in
all honesty, I don’t know if he pals
around with any others, either.”
Cianciolo also praised Harrison’s
devotion to the board, noting that
he attends virtually every meeting
—a devotion not all council liai
sons share.
Harrison is hoping to keep on
applying that approach to all sorts
of items before the town.
“When you have a really large,
complicated issue like what to do
about Carolina North, I think you
need to start with the position
that you’re going to have a civil
and constructive relationship with
anyone that’s going to have to do
with this.”
5
Nice to meet you
Age: n/a
Job: n/a
Favorite movie:
n/a
Inspired by what album:
n/a
Political figure he would like
to meet and why:
n/a
Nice to meet you
Age: 41
Job: part-time dentist
Favorite movie:
The English Patient
Inspired by what album:
any Dave Matthews Band
album
Political figure she would
like to meet and why:
Former president Bill Clinton
to see how smart, quick and
sociable he is and to talk to
him about local politics and
how he thinks they can influ
ence politics at the national
level
Nice to meet you
Age: 55
Job: environmental plan
ning consultant and ecology
instructor
Favorite movie:
Casablanca
Inspired by what album:
Miles Davis, Kind of Blue
Political figure he would like
to meet and why:
Thomas Jefferson because I
think Jefferson is the most
influential president that the
country has ever seen