Support for Marsh Smith Campaign

[personal message from blogger Maureen Sutton]

As a Southern Pines resident for the past 28 years and as one of her local urban farmers, I'm supporting Marsh Smith's campaign for a seat on Town Council.

For at least two decades I've watched Marsh's tireless efforts at educating us on issues surrounding responsible land and water use, responsible development and the creation of an infrastructure that best supports those of us fortunate enough to live here now.

We know of many town's having been saddled with costs and results only to see developers leave the area and the responsibilities subsequent to their developments. Marsh supports growing business from inside the existing community and keeping as many dollars as possible circulating within our local region.

One of the most-used arguments for development is jobs creation. I have never met a young person whose driving ambition is to work at a big box store; rather, many young people would stay in the area for training in and working in professions that support green development and responsible use of irreplaceable resources, those being clean, abundant water, clean air and permeable land surfaces, without which our water sources become more and more polluted.

Marsh, known as a water regulations expert and the environment's legal counsel, is our best bet for bringing alternative views to local jobs creation, to conserving water, recycling materials, and to using already available land sites without disturbing the green ambience that supports tourism, local food production, recreation, horse country and our rare and precious longleaf ecosystem.