A second candidate has filed in the special election for a short-term seat on the Carrboro Town Council.
Isaac Woolsey, a disability rights activist and self-described autistic comedian, announced his candidacy for the vacant City Council seat last Thursday. He is running alongside Digital Library Director Cristobal Palmer to fill the unfinished term of Mayor-elect Barbara Foushee in the fall of 2023.
Woolsey, a five-year resident of Carrboro, said this is his first time running for public office and that accessibility to the city and all of Orange County is a top priority. Diagnosed with vision problems in both eyes, Woolsey is unable to drive and relies on public transportation to get around his community, but recent changes have made that more difficult.
” [Chapel Hill Transit system] Weekdays until 11pm, weekends [would] “Buses run every 40 minutes from 6-8pm,” Woolsey said in a statement to Chapelboro. “Three years ago, buses stopped running at 7:30pm on weekdays due to the pandemic and have not been restored since. This has kept me out of work for a long time, but I have seen people driving around unimpeded at all hours of the day and night.”
Woolsey said he has spoken with city council members from both Carrboro and Chapel Hill about the bus situation, since the Chapel Hill Transit Authority is jointly funded by the cities of Carrboro and Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina. He added that he has attended meetings about the issue, organized protests and has ideas about how to hire and secure more drivers to run the buses late at night.
“I am a strong supporter of disability rights,” the Carrboro resident said, “I will fight for equal employment opportunities for people with disabilities, I will work to create more group homes where people with disabilities and mental illnesses can live safe and dignified lives, and I will work to build more affordable housing in Carrboro.”
The filing period for the special election for Carrboro Town Council closes at 12pm on Friday, July 5. For more information on how to run for office in Orange County, visit the Board of Elections’ “Run for Office” webpage. In North Carolina, early voting for fall elections at the federal, state and local levels begins Thursday, October 17.
Feature photo courtesy of the Town of Carrboro.
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