First Campaign Letter

Will Raymond for Town Council
Tapping into Chapel Hill’s talent, innovation and creativity.
campaign@willraymond.org
willraymond.org
209 Mt. Bolus Rd., Chapel Hill, NC 27514 (919) 932-1380

It started with a streetlight. A few years ago I asked the town to fix a light shining brightly into my family’s home off Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. After months of bureaucratic runarounds, I turned to the Town Council for relief. Even after many years in Chapel Hill, braving that forum was a nerve wracking experience. I stood, asked for help, and unintentionally entered the world of public service.

From engaged parent and homeowner, to Carolina North watchdog, to community technology advocate, to exponent of a new budgeting process, to candidate for Town Council, my journey has been one of curious revelation. Through detailed research, public advocacy, and personal resolve, I have already had more success in altering the path our Town has followed than I once thought possible.

Here are just a few of my recent activities:

  • proposed that the Downtown Economic Development Commission extend wireless Internet (Wifi) downtown (including into the neighborhoods of Pine Knolls and Northside) – a forward-looking effort to spur economic development while bridging our community’s digital divide.
  • called for the Technology Advisory Board (on which I now serve) to actively shape our town’s future in this increasingly important area.
  • dug into the town budget to identify cost savings and proposed a better process for monitoring expenses.
  • worked to protect our civil liberties and prevent the privatization of
    police powers.

As your Town Council representative, I will

  • challenge Chancellor Moeser’s administration to create a more imaginative, forward-thinking, and collaborative design for Carolina North.
  • continue to bring my experience as an entrepreneurial Chief Information Officer of a multi-million dollar DOT.COM to bear on the town’s use of technology to heighten our economic profile and to strategically improve our operations, procedures, and infrastructure.
  • creatively make Downtown a family friendlier destination by establishing a state-of-the-art play area in a prominent location.
  • initiate quarterly budget reviews and issue quarterly fiscal report cards detailing expenditures to date, bond liabilities and bond draw downs to help ALL of us keep town spending in line.
  • support the goals of the Stormwater Utility but end its fee-based funding.
  • continue to strive to “think sideways” and suggest solid business practices and established innovations to progressively and cost effectively enhance our Town’s quality of life.

If you share my goal of a vital, creative, diverse, innovative, natural and sustainable town, please help my campaign: volunteer for a few hours, display a yard sign, make a contribution (no more than $100, please), write a letter, and be sure to tell your friends: in 2005, Everybody Votes Raymond!

Paid for by Will Raymond for Town Council, 209 Mt. Bolus Rd., Chapel Hill, NC 27514 (919) 932-1380