As much as I’d like to run the lowest cost competitive campaign, this year we need a few more dollars to get the message out.
Please consider contributing not more than $100 to our campaign to bring Will’s pragmatic, practical and fiscally prudent leadership to our Town Council.
Further information here.
A big thank you to all the folks who contacted and encouraged me to run.
Below is my formal announcement, more posts to follow:
Will Raymond Announces Run for Chapel Hill Town Council 2009
Chapel Hill, NC – July 17th, 2009
I am taking the next step in my eight year continuum of public service to Chapel Hill by announcing my candidacy for Town Council.
After listening to hundreds of my fellow citizens during the Sustainability Task Force’s nine recent public forums, it is clear that Chapel Hill’s residents want to move forward on a different path for the next decade.
Moving Chapel Hill forward will require common sense leadership that is innovative, experienced, tested and prepared to follow our citizens’ mandate to change course.
Successfully working with a variety of community organizations, advisory boards, the Town Council and Orange County Board of Commissioners in the past, I have taken on some of the thorniest, toughest and, occasionally, most controversial issues facing our community.
Listening to the community, gathering the best advice, with conviction and thoughtful fortitude, I have been unwavering in my support of reasonable growth policies, fiscal prudence, environmental protection and transparent government operations.
As my understanding of these challenges deepened, so has my sense of responsibility for making sure our community thrives when meeting them.
The next four years finds Chapel Hill at a crossroads. Addressing these four issues will be vital to our community’s sustainability:
I have lived in the Chapel Hill area for two decades, the last 16 years a stones throw from UNC’s Carolina North. My wife, Ellie Reinhold, is a local artist and founding member of the wonderful Hillsborough Gallery of Arts cooperative. We currently live along Mt. Bolus, one of the older (and quite delightful) neighborhoods close to downtown, with our twelve year-old son Elijah.
Ellie, Elijah and I have deep roots in this community. We chose this exciting, diverse, vibrant, forward – looking community to make our home at a time when a couple of modest means could get their foot in the door.
Professionally, the last 21 years I have been a successful chief information officer of thriving startups, a technical manager in RTP, an independent software developer and an entrepreneur.
Negotiating decades of technology boom and busts, I know growing a sustainable business concern owes as much to building a strong, independent, flexible, respected workforce as to watching dollars and cents. We need that understanding to pervade our Town’s operations.
Over the last 8 years I have served our community in a variety of roles:
Beyond these groups, I participated as an involved citizen in the Town’s Budget Advisory group, Orange County’s transfer site selection process, the County’s decision to create election districts, the University’s Leadership Advisory Committee and other initiatives with direct impact on our community’s well-being.
Through hard work, due diligence and dogged persistence, I have already helped improve Chapel Hill and seen many of my suggestions integrated into the fabric of our Town and County.
As a member of the Town Council, on behalf of our whole community, I will continue to bring my strong work ethic and proven public service commitment to shepherd our Town through some trying but eventually rewarding times in a way that validates and bolsters our Town’s progressive reputation.
As your representative, I pledge to continue to listen to and cultivate all of the diverse viewpoints which are a hallmark of this community, to work diligently on those key issues to ensure our Town’s viability and to make sure that the door opens wide – and stays open – for folks, like Ellie, Elijah and I, who choose to not only live here but grow and prosper here.
Contact:
Will Raymond, Candidate 2009 Chapel Hill Town Council
willraymond.org
209 Mt. Bolus Rd.
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
919-360-9939
campaign@willraymond.org
Nov 5
Nov 3
Councilmember Raymond will bring a fresh perspective and balance back to our Council.
The one reason you should vote for me in 2007: I “walk the talk”.
Over the last 4 years, my incumbent challengers have talked a good game have ignored their own advice – often to the detriment of our community, always to the detriment of their credibility. Walking in “lock step”, the four folks I’m running against represent a Council out-of-balance, out of fresh ideas.
We need balance, a fresh perspective and at least one new Council member that will, whether on environmental protections, fiscal responsibility or public accountability, drive to “practice what we preach”.
Over the last 5 years, I’ve been a member of the Town’s Technology Advisory Board, the Horace-Williams Citizens Committee (which drafted the principles under which UNC’s Carolina North project will be developed) and the Downtown Parking Task Force.
As a member of each of these advisory boards, I brought a reality-based, pragmatic and proactive approach to solving real problems. Bringing innovation to the table, I believe that there’s always room to improve.
Over the years, I’ve listened to our talented residents make thoughtful and impassioned pleas for practical, cost effective improvements – improvements that this “block of four” have been slow to move on – improvements I would embrace.
I understand, unlike my challengers, you have to sometimes get out of the Gulfstream jet flying 50,000 feet above Chapel Hill and stand firmly on the ground to get the best results.
I believe in setting goals, establishing metrics for measuring success or failure and following up as policies are implemented to make sure our goals are being met. My challengers are afraid to measure results, as demonstrated by their continued resistance to give an accurate accounting of the Downtown Development Lot #5 project. Six times I have been before Council asking for an accurate accounting of this project which has grown 17 times its original cost – $500,000 to $8.5 million tax dollars.
This is just one example of many.
Fiscal Policy
Economic Development
Carolina North
Growth
Environment
Revitalizing Downtown
Community
Open Governance
Other reasons to vote Raymond?
I do my homework. For the last two years, I’ve written extensively on these issues both on CitizenWill and in our local papers on environmental protections, the budget, Downtown Development, Carolina North, open governance and many others – providing detailed analysis and primary research materials to back my opinions.
I have a consistent track record advocating on behalf of all our citizens – young, elderly, rich or poor. Whether working to save the Lincoln Arts Center – our Town’s only hands-on arts program, a program that serves a wide cross-section of the community or calling on our Council to treat our neighbors on Rogers Road with respect – acknowledging the landfill burden they’ve borne on behalf of our community – I have done what I believe was right over what was politically beneficial.
I have advocated and worked many years on bringing sanity back to our fiscal policy.
The current policy, which is based on poor assumptions – %7 increase in housing valuations, low inflation, low credit risk, an addition $100 million in new property values each year – and which discounts the tripling of our Town’s debt service, the real possibility of recession, the open-ended liability of the Lot #5 project and many other foreseeable negative economic factors, has positioned our Town for steep and steady tax hikes.
Worse, our Council, ignoring advice from some of the most talented financial experts in the country, experts that live in Chapel Hill, borrowed extensively from our “rainy day” funds instead of implementing cost efficient improvements in the way our Town does business.
Pushing off until tomorrow what should’ve been done yesterday, filling the gap with funds needed to address our Town’s growing debt obligations, my incumbent challengers have adopted a policy that will drive long time residents out of Chapel Hill and slam the door on new residents making a moderate or low income.
For these reasons, a vote for Raymond this Nov. 6th is a vote for change.
Questionnaires:
As I wrote recently, it’s been quite interesting to see how folks respond to the challenge of campaigning.
I know it’s not conventional to salute your campaign opponents – which explains why the incumbents don’t mention my role in hiring an economic development officer, green fleets, re-balancing the size of affordable housing on Lot #5, etc. – but, as I imagine most folks have figured out, I’m not big on following the status quo, especially when it means passing up an opportunity to improve our community.
Which brings me back to Penny’s and Matt’s well-deserved recognition and endorsement by the Daily Tar Heel.
I’ve gotten to know these folks and they’re both the real deal. They’re not running to be the next Mayor or position themselves to run for State office – ego building is just not part of their portfolio.
Read the rest of this entry »
I believe there’s usually a better way to do almost anything and, as a business person, well understand the value of customer complaints as a tool for driving improvement.
Complaints are like canaries in the coal mine alerting you to developing negative conditions – many organizations, though, would rather kill the canary than respond to their plaint.
In 2005, then Town Manager Cal Horton, made sure that the candidates for office were tied into Council’s information stream. This included citizen mail, status reports, early agenda items and advisory board work product.
After the 2005 election, I asked Council to make this information available to the wider public. In spite of professing an interest in transparent governance, the majority of Council decided not to expose our residents to citizen complaints or alert folks early to developing policy problems.
The Chapel Hill Police Department reports that last night’s Halloween bash, attended by 82,000 folks, went fairly well – at least based on the numbers:
Simple Affray(4),Assault on a Female (1),Simple Assault(2),Drunk and Disruptive(3),Assault on an EMS(1),Disorderly Conduct(1),Assault on an LEO(2),Resist and Delay(3),Failure to Disperse(1).
Orange County Emergency Medical Services responded to thirty-one calls and eight people were transported to UNC Hospitals. Twenty-one of the calls were related to intoxication.
Sounds good but not everyone was happy about our Town’s effectiveness:
The control on our street, NORTH STREET off Hillsborough tonight was ridiculous! By 10PM, the street was filled with cars that didn’t belong here. I spoke with the “traffic control” people and they said “…nobody told us anything…”. They let anyone down the street to park who asked them to, they had no cones until they found some up near Rosemary Street, and had no clue what they were supposed to do. This is the most ridiculous traffic control during Halloween I have ever seen. Someone at the Town needs to take control of this Halloween disaster and protect the neighborhoods from the thousands who invade the Town each year.
There is no reason to spend this much tax money on an event and NOT
protect the people who live here!
Now, we could look at this an isolated complaint, be comfortable with the overall numbers and not investigate any further OR we could look at this as an opportunity to do better next year.
If elected, whether it is Halloween traffic on North Street or a citizen being verbally abused by staff or an unwillingness to drag a dead deer off a residents front lawn for disposal, I will not ignore complaints.
Instead, I will look at each as an opportunity to do better.
I knew my best chance for an endorsement this year was from the Chapel Hill News.
These folks have watched my passionate activism on behalf of the environment, social justice, fiscal responsibility, public accountability, transparent and open governance, community engagement, planning policy and on and on for these last 6+ years.
Will Raymond brings a wealth of knowledge and creativity to the table. Few people in or out of government do as much homework as he does. His contributions to the public debate have provided valuable depth and context. He’s served on the town’s Technology Board, Horace Williams Citizen’s Committee and Downtown Parking Task Force. He’s been faulted on occasion for being overly fervent, but his ideas and strength of conviction, employed judiciously and tempered with a willingness to listen and compromise, can be a valuable asset.
This was the year where it would take some courage to break the incumbent blockade on endorsements. The safe bet would be to go with the flow, follow the lead of the entrenched powers and simply accept the status quo – a slate of incumbents who flailed around blankly at the WCHL forum trying to identify one mistake they had made in the last 4 or 8 years.
The right bet was to back candidates who would bring a fresh perspective, restore some balance and break the group-think within our current Council.
I knew the Chapel Hill News had the integrity and the concern for our community to choose candidates that were best prepared and steadfastly determined to improve our community’s lot.
I hope the Daily Tar Heel, the only other endorsing organization in Chapel Hill this year that is free of entanglements, will show the same kind of courage and choose at least one challenger. I know Penny and Matt are as determined as I am to see our Town through our coming troubled times – they deserve a full and fair evaluation.
I appreciate that the Chapel Hill News honored my service and recognized my passion for change. I will do my best to repay that confidence by “walking the talk”, working productively with my new colleagues and building on the strengths of our diverse community.
Thank you.
I called Jennifer Strom last week to see if the Indy would provide me the courtesy of a response to their endorsement comments. She said they would. Here’s my response:
I’m baffled by the Indy’s comments on my and Mike Kelley’s candidacies.
I’m mystified by your endorsement of Indy editor Jennifer Strom’s husband Bill Strom, incumbents Sally Greene and Cam Hill, all who voted to build extensively into the Booker Creek resource conservation district.
I’m perplexed. I haven’t called for environmentally insensitive development on Booker Creek let alone authorized it.
And I’m disappointed. How do you chastise Chapel Hill School Board candidate Mike Kelley’s attendance record given his personal circumstances? Beyond insensitive, it was ill-informed.
Where was the balanced investigative journalism we have come to expect from the Indy?
I used to give the Indy’s endorsements automatic credence. Any readers who do so this year will be misled.
I’ve written here and here why I think the Indy missed the boat on my candidacy.
As far as Mike, here’s what happened February, 2006 (N&O)
Police charged an elderly driver they say injured a mother and daughter selling Girl Scout cookies when she backed into a troop’s cookie booth outside a grocery store over the weekend.
Chapel Hill police charged Thelma McBride Holloway, 77, of 105 Elizabeth St., Chapel Hill, with failure to reduce speed to avoid collision.
Holloway was backing her 1991 Lincoln out of a parking spot Saturday afternoon in front of the Harris Teeter at University Mall when her foot slipped off the brake and onto the accelerator, according to a police report.
The car ran up the sidewalk and hit Elise Michelle Hoffman, 44, and her daughter Anne Katherine Kelley, 11. Both were taken to UNC Hospitals. The hospital would not release their conditions Monday afternoon.
On Sunday, Lt. Leo Vereen said the accident broke both of Hoffman’s legs, and Anne’s collar bone and one of her legs.
Hoffman and Anne are the wife and daughter of Mike Kelley, a member of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education.
Since reading the Indy’s strange comments on Mike I’ve had some time to talk to folks I know and trust about his candidacy. Overwhelmingly they say he’s meticulous, has responded to folks concerns and, even with a family tragedy, discharged his responsibilities in full.
Here’s what one of his opponents, and Indy endorsee, Jamezetta Bedford, said on the Indy’s website:
…I feel compelled to disagree with the statement that Mike Kelley’s job “has prevented him from attending many forums and activities beyond his basic duties.” Each board member volunteers to serve as liaison to two or three school improvement teams (SITs) and various district committees. Some are scheduled during the work day, some in the early morning and some in the evening. We divide them up at our first December meeting each year based upon the interests and schedules of our board members.
Mike has faithfully attended the SIT meetings most months (board members are only expected to attend once a semester) and has served on our technology advisory group, one of the health advisory committees, as well as liaison to the Special Needs Advisory Council this past year. I would not want a board composed of only retired or unemployed members. By the way, our board will receive an award next week from the NC School Boards Association to recognize that all of our members completed at least 12 hours of board development training this past year, again showing the investment of time each makes to this service.
I like her point about a balance board with more than “retired or unemployed members”.
There are many more statements of support here.
Here’s what UNC Law professor Eric Muller said Are the Indy’s Endorsements Heartless or Worthless? It’s One or the Other over on his ‘blog Is That Legal?.
Bill Strom, at the recent Democrat Candidate Forum, used a quote attributed to Daniel Patrick Moynihan to try to make some point “…you are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.”
Maybe he could share that quote with the Indy’s editor (and his wife) Jennifer Strom.
The Indy is free to express an opinion but it shouldn’t ignore the facts – which, in my case, I did the opposite of what their endorsed candidates did and in Mike’s, that he had an obvious and completely understandable reason for his actions.
The Indy found fault with my style of dissent. I’m a big guy, have a deep voice and am passionate about my well-researched issues. I believe I’m respectful in my appearances before Council (example). Folks have told me that I’m tough but fair. The Indy’s criticism, no matter how emotionally worded, is, in the end, subjective – their job, to shape opinion.
The Indy’s suggestion that I wanted to despoil Booker Creek further is not supported by either the facts or any reasonable inference (as I discuss here).
What inference could the Indy draw about the incumbents – Sally Greene’s, Cam Hill’s, Bill Strom’s – willingness to put development above the health of Booker Creek?
Well, no inference is required as the record clearly shows that all three were willing to contribute to Booker Creek’s ills for the sake of economic development.
I’ve attended many Council meetings over the last 6 1/2 years. Once there, I usually stay to learn about the issues before our Town. That’s why I know that Bill, Cam and Sally voted June 30th, 2004 to approve Eastern Federal’s 10 screen, 38,000 square foot, nearly 200 parking space theater directly adjacent to Booker Creek.
Read the rest of this entry »
In 2005, the IndyWeek endorsed my candidacy, this year they didn’t.
Even though I had more experience serving on the Town’s Technology Board, Horace-William’s Citizen Committee and Downtown Parking Task Force, I didn’t expect a nod.
Why not?
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