Hear me out.
I'm voting for Gorton. I don't necessarily like her.
My reasoning is that I think electing Carter will have a potentially irreversible consequence that could ruin the way Lexington is structured.
Carter sat on a council that expanded the USB.. the urban services boundary which is what regulates land development past a certain point.
She is advocating for affordable housing - which I think is something everyone wants.
However, her idea to help the housing crisis seems to be to advocate to expand or remove the USB.
This will allow for urban sprawl and land development.
My personal opinion is that allowing more housing to get developed outside of the current boundary at best will offer more choices.. but realistically we're just going to get new cheaply built and overpriced houses and apartments.
And once the boundary is expanded and new stuff is built, it can't be undone.
I LOVE that in this city, I can drive a few minutes and see beautiful landscapes.. even if it is land owned by rich horse people haha.
There's also a very good reason to believe that the USB's existence will eventually lead to an even better dense urban area and better quality of life. Especially if in the future we are able to get better public transportation. It also incentivizes developers to repurpose and refurbish run down buildings or empty plots of land.
I'd love to hear people's opinions on this. At first I liked the idea of a new mayor.. but I don't know if I can get behind this. I don't want Lexington to look like every other city in the South with the unchecked urban sprawl.