Sorely disappointed

Over the years I have come to rely on the INDY‘s election endorsements because they usually provide well-reasoned discussions based on solid research (“Vote!” Oct. 21).
But I have been sorely disappointed in your coverage of the Chapel Hill election for mayor and town council.

It is laughable to credit the current council with taking innovative action for more affordable housing when very few units have been required in the massive, architecturally questionable new high-rises that the council has approved. And there is no discussion about how little, if at all, the new high-end housing will actually give any relief on taxes that are much higher than anywhere else in the area.

Of greater help for our tax base would be more commercial development that could keep residents spending their money in town and more spaces for start-up research companies that now look to Durham for their homes. Also, while the idea of light rail seems attractive to the current council, Chapel Hill and surrounding communities are too spread out (even with increased density) to be well served by a system that would really just connect two campuses. The investment in public transportation should be for an improved bus system serving as many neighborhoods as possible in the entire Triangle.

I do not question the intelligence or integrity of our current mayor and town council, but I think it is time for new leadership to look more seriously for alternatives to the direction that we seem to be heading.CHALT may not have all the answers, but they will at least not be wedded to policies that deserve more scrutiny than they are now receiving.

Richard Cramer

Don’t make us Cary

CHALT has raised important and credible questions (“The insurgents,” Oct. 14). But CHALT, of itself, would be meaningless if the ideas and concerns that they have expressed did not resonate with so many people living in Chapel Hill.

Our current mayor, council, and, very importantly, town manager and staff have made serious mistakes in backing [developer Roger] Perry and his out-of-state investors over the desires of the people of Chapel Hill. We all know Chapel Hill will continue to grow and change, but we do not need to suffer a continuing parade of massive Perry developments that turn Chapel Hill into something no one who knows and loves Chapel Hill can recognize. The current mayor and council have gotten out of touch, got called on it, and didn’t like being questioned, thus the vituperative comments by our mayor.

Our mayor has been on the council or served as mayor since 2001! The mayor of Chapel Hill is not a lifetime position. They overplayed their hand, and enough people have disagreed to make this a very tight race. It is time for a change in management in Chapel Hill, and I am voting for the CHALT list of candidates. Come on. No local politician needs to be in office here for 17 years. Find something else to do, and stop turning my town into Cary.

Scott Madry, via indyweek.com

More precision

I am neither a Republican nor a Fox News fanatic, but I am a churchgoer, and I resent being lumped in with these other groups in your story about Greg Fishel’s accepting the validity of climate change (“Changing forecast,” Oct. 21).

Not all Christians are crazy, Fox News-loving, Republican climate-change deniers. Some of us are crazy Democratic Socialists (who support Bernie Sanders)!

Please, in future, be more precise.

Very Rev. Christopher Ross, Durham

Not worth it

After your glowing report of Lee’s Kitchen’s authentic Jamaican jerk chicken (“Food for Life,” Sept. 9), I decided to drive from Durham to Raleigh to try it out.No place to sit, but the staff was very friendly and the portion was adequate. It was a Saturday afternoon, so I had to get the dinner.For $12 without any drink I received a Styrofoam container with jerk chicken, mac and cheese, collards and fried plantains.

After getting my first taste of Jamaican jerk in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, while in the Navy, cooked by Jamaicans who worked on the island, I was looking forward to something authentic. While the collards were very good, the mac and cheese was nothing special, the plantains were ordinary and the chicken was only hot, but had no flavor at all.It was tender, but black in color, without the layers of flavor that great jerk has. I’d put my own sauce up against theirs any day.Sorry, but it wasn’t worth the trip.

Gregory P. Holman