David Williams has lived in Raleigh for eleven years in a modest home which he considers grants him the needed perspective to be on the city council. He has worked as a financial adviser for nine years and prior to that was a senior network engineer for a major telecom company. He is active in Urban Ministries of Wake County as well as the Meals on Wheels program. Williams was quick to note that he was the only Republican running in this non-partisan election (emphasis mine). His stances on the issues was thus very different from his opponents.
Williams said his election would bring “financial frugality” back to the city council. He also said he would not support TIF financing of new developments, nor specifically did he support the proposed subsidy for the private parking facility in the North Hills Mall/John Kane debate. Williams said that “time and time again TIFs have bleed money away from the tax base in cities across the country.“
He proposed an ABC initiative, which stands for Activity-Based-Costing. His proposal is simple, and used in the business accounting world. It involved dissecting the individual cost of all city operations and alleviating waste. Such proposals, Williams said, had saved for example Indianapolis $400 million dollars in its budget (CORRECTION). He also said that such a program would stretch the taxpayer’s dollar and control the tax burden. Also included in this proposal would be the eventual creation of protected greenspace as each taxpayer would have a greater stake in the community.
Williams also argued against impact fees for development, as well as raised property taxes.
When asked about downtown development, and preserving the culture of downtown, Williams said that lowering taxes and fees for downtown businesses would encourage local entrepreneurship. He said that the city was currently too involved with the development of downtown, picking and choosing restaurants and businesses to subsidize. Without the government there, the local business climate would improve and the community would benefit from the explosion of new private interest. Williams said the debate shouldn’t be about Inside vs. Outside (the Beltline), but that a developed downtown was good for all of Raleigh.
Transportation is another subject Williams believes needs addressing. While he claimed that the CAT and other current transit operations were not the best bang-for-their-buck, he offered several other options that would improve the growing transportation problem. One solution would be encouraging more high density planning that was also environmentally friendly, such as mixed use development. Williams also said that the city should invest in more bike paths throughout the city, such an investment would be minimal to the city and reap a great deal for consumers and the city as a whole.
David Williams said his ideas did differ from his elected colleagues but in the end there was common ground between fiscal conservatism and so-called liberal ideas of sustainability and smart growth. He looks forward to bridging the idealogical gap and ending the “butting of heads” that has plagued the city council. Williams said he was not representing any business interest going into the race, but aimed to be a smart choice for the growth of future business and a sustainable and responsible Raleigh.
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