Preserving Chapel Hill’s Charm because Our Past Informs Our Future
These are some of the core values that drive my local activism. These were core values of my 2005 campaign. They are core values for 2007.
If you’re interested in what I’ve been working on since 2005, please check out my regular site CitizenWill and this list of articles covering everything from Downtown development to open governance.
From CitizenWill.org:
Two years ago I ran for Town Council on a platform emphasizing innovation, creativity, responsibility and community involvement ( Campaign 2005 ). In the two years since, I’ve continued to participate in local affairs – praising the good and working to prevent the bad in process and policy.
But today’s campaign platform, like that of two years ago, isn’t built on correcting our current Council’s mistakes but upon a foundation of specific, measurable, verifiable measures to enhance our residents future and preserve the charm that has made Chapel Hill a “Southern Part of Heaven”.
Why run? As a member of several Town advisory boards, a close observer of our governmental process and an activist interested in improving upon our Town’s successes, I have become more and more concerned as our leadership strayed from some bedrock principles of good governance.
As a member of Council, I will promote policies that speed the wheels of progress, that increase the level of citizen participation and that will set a new course for Chapel Hill’s Council.
What, specifically?
In the next four years I will work hard to make sure our Town’s fiscal policy doesn’t continue to be dictated by political expediency. Transparency, openness and inclusiveness will be first and foremost in developing our Town’s budget.
We can’t borrow from tomorrow’s seed corn to pay today’s debt. We can’t dip into our children’s college fund because we’re not willing to tighten our belts. We must build our financial foundations on sturdier grounds than the expectation that next year will always be better than this year – that housing values will forever escalate, that sales tax surprises are right around the corner.
We are entrusted with our citizen’s hard-won dollars, not “units” to be extracted as needed, and every action we take must reflect that recognition. When we negotiate and then take on a new burden on our citizens behalf we owe them a regular and accurate accounting. We should err on the side of caution and not become so obsessed with grand dreams so as to dispense with good sense and good policy.
Affordable housing should mean housing – square footage on the ground. We cannot continue our Town’s addiction to payments in lieu. We must be prepared to accept housing when it becomes available – to be nimble and flexible in adapting to current conditions.
And while affordable housing is important, affordable living must be our first and foremost goal.
Our town has adopted policies that are driving diversity from our community. In our rush to support gold-plated condos and a caviar lifestyle we’ve forgotten that our Town’s historical constitution and strength is born of a wide cross-section of interests and means.
Affordable living necessitates policies that encourage folks to stay awhile. We need a new attitude that supports our long term residents in keeping their homes and our newest residents in their desire to move from transitional housing to homes.
Leadership does not mean going it alone. Our community is blessed by many resources, our citizens being a source of strength and talent we cannot continue to ignore. We must not wait for them to come forth but nurture their involvement – and take their counsel even when it goes against our initial impetus.
Finally, when we call on others to do what’s best – environmentally, social justice, human services – we must lead by example and not resort to “do as I say, not as I do”.
Why boot the incumbents?
In the last 18 months, we’ve seen some of our Council become so enamored, even obsessed, with their Downtown development plans, that they’ve wavered from their obligation to maintain our Town’s sound fiscal foundations.
Delay is a matter of course for this Council. Just two weeks ago the Council received an independently conducted technology assessment that called for a number of innovative, cost reducing, improvements that I, other concerned citizens and our now disbanded citizen-led Technology Advisory Board had made more than 5 years ago.
And rather than make key structural and organizational changes in the way our Town functions, they pushed off to tomorrow what needs to be done today.
As we know, delay costs. In some cases, delay costs dearly.
Over the last few years, while the Council has maintained their policy of citizen comment on the issues before them, they have become partially deaf to critiques of their plans. Nothing sounds so sweet as the chorus of “yes, yes, yes” but paying attention to the “nayes” can strengthen any policy. Add to that recent examples of political gamesmanship and imprudent streamlining of public hearings to see how citizen discourse and debate has taken a backseat to winning their way. Public policy has suffered.
Though potentially ego bruising, integrating citizen feedback can only make our government work better.
Beyond ignoring professional assessments from the professors of UNC’s Kenan-Flagler business school on the Lot #5 development debacle, this Council has stood quietly by while the Mayor dispensed with the Horace-Williams Citizen Committee (HWCC). The HWCC, of which I was a member, stood poised to make additional, substantive, contributions, from am informed citizens perspective, on UNC’s Carolina North project.
Some Council members appeared worried, that they couldn’t control the outcome of this committee’s work.
Certainly an independent and non-political analysis might yield answers that this Council didn’t want to hear but, again, that leads to poor results. Results, for instance, like the Lot #5 money-pit, underwritten by our residents, carrying a quickly escalating citizen borne commitment of $20 million – a project whose primary beneficiary is a private development company.
Yes, the Council does sometime listen. Candidate Hill took my suggestion to make Lot #5’s affordable housing more family friendly and ran with it. And the Council, after years of lobbying by folks like myself, did decide to invest in community-owned networking infrastructure to meet the economic and social demands of a new century. Yet, in-spite of assurances to the contrary, they have yet to involve the community in this vital community serving project.
What of the Downtown Parking Task Force, on which I served? Trying to resolve some of the parking misery in our Downtown district, this committee did some of the best work I’ve ever seen any board perform over the 7 years I’ve closely participated in Town affairs. Members of this task force were eager to continue – to help with the implementation of a number of no-cost or low-cost improvements to make our Town center more inviting, more friendly.
While this groups practical advice was put aside (for now we hear), the committee’s recommendations to reduce the cost of parking became, perversely, a call to raise parking rates Downtown.
“What’s the matter with raising prices by ‘two units’?” as one Council member asked. “Units”, it appears, is how the current Council sees our citizens and visitors hard-earned dollars.
Again, political gamesmanship, closing ranks, trying to bolster this year’s incumbent candidates prospects, overrode good and fair public policy. At least the work of that committee hasn’t been added, as one long time resident and board participant commented, to the “stack of dusty reports” generated by our advisory boards that litter Townhall.
One incumbent Councilmember, Bill Strom, recently complained that he couldn’t work with the Orange County Board of Commissioners to set policy.
He has had eight years to work on that issue, and so many more, how would eight more years of Bill or four more of Cam and Sally, benefit our community? I expect a flurry of proposals this Summer from our incumbents and my question to them will be simply “Why are we just now hearing about this? Why wait?”
The trend is set. These few of many examples show a Council that has lost their way.
Over the next few months I look forward to, once again, meeting with our citizenry, to discuss how our Town can maintain its charm while becoming not only an even better place to live but a sustainable, growing, vital and creative community that will lead others by example.
I will be posting a much more extensive thank you’s, some ruminations on the outcome and various other miscellany fairly soon. For now, I’m busy fighting one heck of a cold from Tuesday, catching up on some work and pulling together some loose ends from my run.
Speaking of loose ends, I’m looking for some very modest contributions to retire my debt of $1,500. You can still donate to my campaign for the next few months.
So, change is on the way, please stay tuned.
By 7:21AM, my signs were out of almost every precinct (Frank Porter Graham/Scroggs were the last two I got after dropping E. at school) and off most of the roads. By 9:30AM, every sign I knew about (and I kept a log!) was safely retrieved.
If you have a sign or see a sign waving around out there, please send me an email or give me a call 932-1380 – I’d like to hang on to them.
Oh, why the quick pickup?
I said early on in my campaign, win or lose, my signs would not linger throughout our Town.
If there’s one discriminator the electorate takes away from this election, I hope they recall that I said it, then I did it.
At this point, with 38 precincts reporting, it appears I’m headed for a solid 5th place. If the trend of a vote for Thorpe is a vote for Harrison continues, I imagine that by the end count I’ll still be out of the running. Of course, it isn’t over until it’s over – 45 of 45 reporting.
Win or lose, the campaign has been great. I’ve had an opportunity to express some ideas and viewpoints not generally found in our races. I’ve also had an opportunity to see some interesting character emerge in our candidate field.
I also made the unprecedented move of releasing all my financial and contributor information prior to the election. I hope this is something the current candidates will do ASAP and that the next slate of candidates will do as a matter of course.
To the 2005 SPCH endorsement class; Laurin and Mark, great top of the ticket. Jason, good experience for your next run. And thanks for all the Pit sits.
I’m sure there will some great post-analysis: Was turnout a factor? Did more money equal more votes? What was the role of all the signage?
That will all be interesting but in the end the Town will have spoken.
Thank you to all my supporters, the folk that voted for me and all the folk that turned out to vote on one of the loveliest election days I’ve ever experienced.
Finally, thanks to my great family – E. and Ellie. Without your support I would’ve never gotten as far as I have….
Goodnight folks, it has been a long day.
Looks like I’ll be finishing the day between the Library, Binkley and possibly Southern Village. It’s been an absolutely fabulous day meeting the electorate. I’m as relaxed as when I started 4:00am but a slight bit more tired.
Thank you all the voters that have turned out. If you’re reading this prior to 7:30pm and you haven’t voted, why don’t you join the ranks of those who have?
I’ll probably post one more time before midnight…
Except for a few quick turns at Binkley, Community Park and Ephesus, I’ve camped out for the last 4 hours at the Library on an incredibly beautiful day. Reports are that turnout is fairly pitiful Town-wide. Comparing my numbers from last election to the numbers I’ve had reported from 8 different precincts, it appears we’re lagging about %20 behind where we were in 2003.
On the good side, I’m getting quite positive feedback and my position on the slate seems quite firm. Of course, time will tell.
Jeff Danner, Robin Cutson, Mark Kleinschmidt and my family are at the Library.
Ellie, E. and I voted at 11am. We’re in the early 200’s.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Just back from 2.5 hours at Colonial Heights. Fairly steady but slowing traffic. I’ll be at the Library from 10:30 until 11:30, Binkley and the Community Park during lunch and back to Colonial Heights by late afternoon.
Turnout is fairly good so far – and the day is getting much nicer.
I’m giving balloons out to the kids – young and old – come on by and get one while you’re out!
The balloon is going up! Headed out from campaign headquarters 
to take a quick tour of the key precincts in town. Putting a few last flourishes on and checking for sign “corruption”.
Final prep for Election Day. Have a little surprise cooked up but it’s “time limited” – essentially means I had to wait until the last minute to add it into the campaign mix.
I’ll be attempting to add photos and commentary throughout the day (if I can find a Wifi hotspot). I know some of you use Flickr for online photos. Why don’t we use the tag OrangeCountyElections2005 to track the day?
See you at the polls.
In Chapel Hill’s case, it wasn’t the case that not a creature was stirring. Earlier, I was distributing the last bits of my printed materials to both volunteers and potential voters. This evening, Mark K. and I put up our last few precinct signs.
And we were not alone. Other electioneering folk were scampering to-and-fro getting ready for the big day.
But it won’t be a big day if you don’t get out and
The weather is supposed to be stunning. My family will be up early to greet you either at Seawell School or the Library. My volunteers will be handing out literature at a variety of polls. It would be a shame after all the preparations if you don’t “show up”.
I hope you do and blow away all the predictions of a smidgen of a turnout.
ps. I’ll be trying to “live ‘blog” the day if I can find any Wifi hotspots
When asked why I ran this year, I try to articulate a complex amalgam of reasons.
After more than four years of growing involvement in our Town’s affairs, years of research and advocacy on a range of issues, I had unintentionally qualified myself for a larger role in Town governance.
Joining the Technology Advisory Board, I was attempting to leverage one common denominator (or what should be a common denominator) in all our Town’s operations, technology, to address a range of issues: bridging the digital divide, increasing our operational efficiencies, improving our delivery of services, reducing our cost basis, opening the doors of governmental participation to a much wider segment of our community. While our board could help craft policy, we were missing a strong champion for those new policies. I was ready, willing and maybe uniquely qualified within the pool of candidates to champion a new way of doing our Town’s business.
Residing here for 14 years, an “informal Chapel Hillian” for over 26 years, I certainly realized that Chapel Hill hadn’t casually arrived at its current destination – that many hands had shaped our community – that many shoulders had borne its varied responsibilities. I thought “maybe it was my turn to show up” – to give back, as a Council member, to our community some of the largesse it had bestowed on myself, my family, my friends – to stand and deliver on behalf of all our citizenry.
I was prepared, I was ready to lead and maybe it just was my time to shoulder that responsibility.
All this is a long, long windup to my second (but not final) “How well do you know Chapel Hill?” puzzle! I apologize to my readers for not doing this sooner.
I selected this location on the eve of this election because it reflects, maybe best, why I jumped into the fray.
First person to accurately identify the place gets a beverage of their choice – maybe even this Tuesday night – compliments of your humble servant. Bonus points for relating any small reminiscence you might have sparked by the same location.
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
During this campaign, I’ve talked about providing quarterly reports on the fiscal activities of our Town.
Along with our quarterly report, we would issue a simplified “economic report card”, so the citizenry – at a glance – can tell if the Council is doing a good job helping our community “live within our means”.
If there is one operational innovation I can bring to Townhall my first year on Council, it would be this new budget transparency. With these tools, we all can keep an eye on our budget, suggest efficiencies and strive to make the best possible use of our hard-earned tax dollars.
We owe our citizenry that basic courtesy.
Here’s a simplified “report card” of my campaign finances to-date.
Revenue: $3,135
Liabilities: $1,600
Expenditures: $3129.20
Anticipated Balance as of Nov. 9th: $5.80
A detailed breakdown of all my contributions is available here.
And if you would like to throw all my carefully calculated results off, please 
UPDATE: A. Badrock has thrown my contribution numbers out-of-whack with her 12:22pm Nov.4th $25 donation. Thank you Ms. Badrock!
UPDATE: Added detailed loan information.
UPDATE: J. Gurlitz’s $50 Nov. 6th donation added, expenditures and revenue recalculated.
UPDATE: Reposted to the front page for visibility.
We’re very close to the end but I need a bit more help on Tuesday, Nov. 8th at the polls. If you have the time, I have the need. Please call me at 932-1380 or drop me an email at campaign@willraymond.org.
Thank you Joyce Brown, Cam Hill, Janet Kagan, Gregg Gerdau for lending your names and kind words to my campaign.
To all those displaying (and managing) my signs, thank you. My signs are part of my message and a form of political speech – I appreciate the help you’ve leant in keeping them “evergreen”.
To the “word of mouth” crew, the email listers and all the folk getting the message out – incredible! Our “viral marketing” campaign seems to be working – don’t stop now!
Finally, for now at least, thank you to all the folk that pitched in to fund my campaign. With the earthquake, Katrina and so many other pressing needs in the world, I’m humbled that you dug deep and supported my candidacy. Thank you!
Here’s a tally to-date (prior to Nov. 4th) of my contributions, the contributor’s name (with a possible link to an affiliated website), the election report (10 Day, 35 Day, PreElection) and a quick, far from exhaustive, comment about my fine contributor. Contributions beyond the PreElection report are noted as “Past Last Report”.
If you want to be added to the list, please
| E. Raymond | $5.00 | 10 Day | My son, the rising 3rd grader, gave me the filing fee. |
| M. Reinhold | $100.00 | 35 Day | My great, Mac-using, Mother-In-Law made my 1st Online Donation! |
| B. Kielwasser | $100.00 | 35 Day | Bonnie got my fund-raising off to a great start! |
| G. Jansen | $25.00 | 35 Day | Campaign documentarian |
| T. Jensen | $10.00 | 35 Day | Student activist, campaign support |
| T. Schwerin | $100.00 | 35 Day | Invaluable sign critic, Biofuels entrepreneur, President of Chatham Marketplace |
| G. Ingalls | $5.00 | 35 Day | Thanks for helping. |
| M. Marcopolus | $35.00 | 35 Day | Local political powerhouse and OWASA Chair |
| P. Gates | $50.00 | 35 Day | Prolific book reviewer. |
| R. Kim | $50.00 | 35 Day | Tabulas is Roy’s baby. Cool online community support… |
| J. Guillory | $5.00 | PreElection | Fresh from electorial success in Raleigh |
| X. Gregg | $100.00 | PreElection | Extraordinary gamer and Forth programmer |
| A. Rimer | $50.00 | PreElection | Former Councilmember. My former Technology Board chair and current Stormwater Utility chair. |
| T. Tyson | $25.00 | PreElection | 2003 Council candidate and current community volunteer |
| J. Carnahan | $30.00 | PreElection | One of the The Village Project’s design gurus,Chairman of the Planning Board of the Town of Carrboro, NC |
| T. Dempsey | $25.00 | PreElection | Local activist, Planning Board member |
| J. Baysdon | $25.00 | PreElection | Mr. Shaggy! Former and future (?) Chatham activist. |
| M. Peters | $25.00 | PreElection | Concerned Citizen. Schools Activist. Our school’s Tech Coaches Volunteer Coordinator |
| G. Pease | $50.00 | PreElection | Entrepreneur. Planning Board and Horace Williams Citizens Committee member. |
| T. Burd | $50.00 | PreElection | T. has known me a long time, thanks for the support! |
| T. Clark | $50.00 | PreElection | T. keeps my work product humming along…. |
| R. Sinreich | $25.00 | PreElection | Community builder and chair of our Planning Board. |
| W. & A. Raymond | $100.00 | PreElection | Mom and Dad. Thanks for your enthusiasm. |
| A. Shundi | $20.00 | PreElection | A. is a sharp software developer that has a knack for not falling asleep during standards meetings! |
| A. Chute | $50.00 | PreElection | Neighborhood activist and very prepared concerned citizen. Time to join a board A.! |
| W. Raymond | $100.00 | 35 Day | In-kind website development done by me. |
| $1,210.00 | |||
| A. Rohrbacher | $20.00 | Past last report | Downtown Partnership Chair and former Council candidate |
| W. Rutherfurd | $50.00 | Past last report | 2005 Town Council candidate and, hopefully, new Technology Advisory Board Member |
| C. Hill | $75.00 | Past last report | Current Councilmember |
| B. Strom | $75.00 | Past last report | Current Councilmember |
| M. Dreyfors | $25.00 | Past last report | Forests of the World founder. Great guy with a great idea. |
| E. Barney | $15.00 | Past last report | Neighborhood activist. Longtime resident. Member of Coalition of Neighbors Near Campus. |
| A. Badrock | $25.00 | Nov. 4th | 2005 Chapel Hill Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and member of the Town’s Personnel Appeals Committee |
| J. Gurlitz | $50.00 | Nov. 6th | Local architect involved in major developments along Franklin and Rosemary Streets Downtown Chapel Hill |
| $1,535.00 | Nov. 6th Candidate Report |
Bad Behavior has blocked 5 access attempts in the last 7 days.