We Need to Move Past "Potential" | Eastern North Carolina Now

    More than any other thing I hear from visitors and residents alike is that Washington "has potential". I've actually heard this when I first opened my first store in town in 2010. And it's absolutely true.

    And while we've made tremendous strides to reaching our potential especially with the waterfront and the revitalization of the downtown and the Historic District, we face some major problems still.

    It's high time that we don't just hear people say that the city "has potential," but that we become a beacon of prosperity, entrepreneurship and a destination not just for day trippers and retirees (and these are both positive things), but for young families and skilled labor that can only boost our amazing city.

    In the process of doing so, we cannot and should not lose our small town feel, historic charm and our spirit of community.

    This means we need a major change to how city government functions. I'm not talking about personalities as I truly believe most people in city government has the city's best interests at heart. But we operate on an antiquated system where we are spending way more than we take in, raiding infrastructure budgets, utility budgets, and refusing to enforce certain laws to not set on the toes of old monied interests and to support pet projects, however noble, that we cannot afford.

    We need to attract high-tech, high paying industries and enterprises more aggressively to the city with lower utility rates by stop raiding the budget. We need more transparency on where the money is being spent, why out-of-town landowners are allowed to maintain trashed properties because of connections to City Hall, longer City Council sessions to address the public, and overall more transparency in our government.

    In short, we need to stop working in the existing framework and revamp the way city government works so that we can fully emerge in this new modern age while maintaining our values and historic heritage.

    I hope to be a part of that as your City Council member.

     Ceres for Washington NC City Council | Putting Taxpayers FIRST!