Isaac Woolsey wants to bring disability, low-income perspective to Carrboro council
Isaac Woolsey wants to be a voice for people with disabilities in Carrboro, who he said struggle to find affordable housing, jobs and a transit system that meets their needs.
He is running in November against Cristóbal Palmer to fill now-Mayor Barbara Foushee’s unexpired term on the Carrboro Town Council. Early voting in the Nov. 5 election runs Oct. 17-Nov. 2, with Election Day Nov. 5. Find more information here.
Woolsey, 30, is autistic and has made it his mission to expand Chapel Hill Transit bus service for people with disabilities in particular.
“It was kind of hard for me to get a job for the longest time because of [limited service hours],” Woolsey said. “I can’t even go to a UNC game or go to Cat’s Cradle because of that.”
Woolsey said he’s worked hard to be more independent since a 2016 court-ordered guardianship let his father get involved in financial and health-care decisions, his personal safety, and daily activities. The order was approved when he had a panic attack at age 22, and got into an altercation with his brother, he said. Both men were charged with simple assault, but the cases were dismissed, court records show.
He takes medication now to stay calm in difficult situations, and his father helps him pay his bills on time, Woolsey said, but being “disabled does not mean I can’t take care of myself.”
He recently got a part-time job with CandleScience, an online candle supply store, in Durham, and he studies finance and accounting at Central Carolina Community College. In his spare time, Woolsey is “The Autistic Comedian,” performing at Triangle area clubs.
His jokes can be “edgy” and especially crass about women, sex and life with autism, but “it’s just comedy,” he said.
“It was the only real art form I could do, because I can’t really draw, because I don’t have fine motor skills in my hands,” he said. “But I am good at telling stories.”
Does a guardianship order matter?
Corye Dunn, director of public policy with Disability Rights NC, would like to see more people with disabilities run for office, especially since their lives are “deeply affected by public policy decisions,” such as access to safe sidewalks and housing.
While she hasn’t heard about someone with a guardianship order running for public office before, the question is about judgment and whether voters trust Woolsey to represent their interests, Dunn said. The fact that Woolsey may ask his father for advice is the same as other council members getting input from the public, a spouse or co-workers, she said.
Woolsey also wouldn’t be acting alone if elected or spending public money independently, she said.
“We do not have a capacity test for running for office at any level. We don’t have poll tests to vote. We don’t have tests for capacity to run for office,” she said. “Guardianship under North Carolina law is intended to help a person exercise their rights as much as possible.”
But they’re also “heavily overused,” she said, and increasingly used for young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, severe mental illness and substance use issues. Most grow up and acquire more skills by the time they are 30, she said.
“I’m glad that no one is looking at some assessment for me when I was 22. There were plenty of basic adulting activities that I had not yet mastered, and I didn’t have a guardian,” Dunn said.
Woolsey said he would also like to see more higher-functioning people with disabilities participate in the political process.
“If it’s just a bunch of able-bodied, able-minded people making decisions, they don’t really know what it’s like to be in our shoes,” he said.
Here are more excerpts from Woolsey’s conversation with The News & Observer:
Why should voters elect you?
I was in student government, and I also was a cadet (and senior master sergeant) at Civil Air Patrol 9. So I know some good leadership.
Woolsey also cited his experience “riding the Chapel Hill Transit, because I think all the Carrboro council, except for maybe Jason Merrill, are car drivers.”
Weren’t you a registered Republican until September?
[N&O: The Carrboro council election is a nonpartisan race, however, questions have been raised about Woolsey’s party affiliation in the heavily Democratic town.]
I was, and then I tried to switch it to independent, because I’m not really a hardcore Republican or Democrat. I’m very apolitical, to be honest. I kind of was a Republican, because my dad was, but I didn’t always vote for everyone who was Republican. In fact, most of the time I voted against them, and I was against Trump. So I’m a lot more moderate.
I accidentally registered for the No Labels party, because I’m mostly independent than anything, because both parties have issues. The Republicans are not very good with public transit … they think it’s a waste of taxpayer money. And Democrats, they raise taxes and make it harder for people who are on disability to get off disability, to find a job. … It’s a very ableist thing.
What is your top priority?
I think my top priority is to increase Chapel Hill Transit (services), which is going to be very hard to do, because Carrboro doesn’t have as much of a say as like Chapel Hill or UNC does.
The reason why the buses are reduced is because of a driver shortage. The bus drivers ... get their free (Commercial Driver’s License) training … and they also get pay raises and sign-on bonuses. The new driver will get trained, and then after the first month, they’ll get their bonus and they’ll leave for another transit company, leaving us with the bill for the CDL training.
So what I propose is a nine-month to 12-month probation period where they’ll get all the benefits, even a pay raise. It’s just that for nine months to a year, as long as it’s nothing health related, maternity leave, some legal or military service, if they leave for any other reason, like to work for someone else, then they’d have to reimburse us for the CDL license.
[N&O: Chapel Hill Transit requires bus drivers and maintenance workers to complete six to 12 months on the job before receiving bonuses. Employees must also meet safety and attendance goals. CDL training can take eight to 12 weeks.]
Where have previous councils fallen short?
I really liked their idea with the greenways ... and the parks and stuff like that, which is very admirable. It seems like they’re focusing way too much on people who can ride a bike. I think there should be more bikes on the road than cars. I think they’re also not taking into account people who ride the bus, and buses are very important to people who have leg muscle issues, like me, who can’t really ride a bike.
So I think they need to focus on that, and they didn’t really solve the problem with predatory investors coming into Carrboro, buying up all this property and then raising the prices to an insane level.
What about paid parking downtown?
I can see both sides to it, because, one, it’s going to bring in more money to the town, but two, that’s also going to mean less people are going to come into Carrboro to go to our stores and stuff like that.
What I’m also worried about is all these people with cars wanting to build all these different parking lots. That’s just going to turn Carrboro into a giant parking lot. Like they spent $40 million for the project 203 (Greenboro Street). ... They could have used some of that money to increase public transportation and make it more accessible.
If it were up to me, I would (vote for) paid parking.
Where and how do you see Carrboro growing?
There’s some room for growth. But hasn’t Carrboro always looked the same as it did, like 50 years ago? So another 50 years, it’s not going to change all that much.
But I think that we can improve it somehow. We can open up more easy options for dining for low-income people, and more popular brands of stores in the area, and we definitely need to make it more interconnected with public transit. And I don’t like the fact that they’re turning one of our icons, the Carrboro train tracks and train station, into another greenway.
If we use the actual train tracks for some kind of rail, which is what they were designed for in the first place, that’d be great. So it won’t be hauling coal, it’ll be hauling people. (It) could be, like a rail system or something like that, you know, it doesn’t have to be anything elaborate. It can just be a little electric rail, good for the environment, too.
This story was originally published October 8, 2024 at 5:30 AM.
