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Chapel Hill Town Council candidate Matt Czajkowski has never been a publicly elected official, but he said he's had his share of experience in the public sector.
Boasting a Harvard Business School master's of business administration, he's been the chief financial officer of two companies and now holds the same post at Aldagen Inc., a biotechnology company.
"I just have lived in a world where I've had to deal with the public sector at every level," Czajkowski said.
If elected, he wants to work on the transparency of policies and decision-making, such as the approval process for retail development.
He calls the current process "opaque and fickle" and said it should incorporate a timetable.
Czajkowski said he's heard developers tell him it's almost impossible to get a plan approved in Chapel Hill. He said this perpetuates the problem of empty storefronts downtown.
"The issue is that West Franklin just doesn't have the vitality."
Czajkowski and his wife celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary at the Franklin Hotel a few weeks ago, but when he stood on the balcony, he said there wasn't much to see.
"I watched a couple get very aggressively solicited by a panhandler," Czajkowski said.
He views panhandling and loitering as two downtown issues that need to be addressed by the council.
He said existing ordinances allow police to take a more aggressive initiative with loiterers. But Czajkowski said the council hasn't taken a strong stance in support of that.
"Homelessness is a condition, and we all have a moral obligation to remedy that condition," he said.
Another problem Czajkowski sees downtown is parking. He thinks people aren't as likely to visit this part of Chapel Hill because finding a parking space is difficult.
"It just pains me to see … that I find myself drawn to downtown Carrboro and not to downtown Chapel Hill," he said.
He also said the lack of grassy areas in town adds to its unattractiveness.
But Czajkowski thinks Carolina North, the University's proposed satellite campus, has the potential to add positively to Chapel Hill.
"The people of Chapel Hill have to be hyperactive of that particular piece of property, otherwise the University is going to bulldoze it all and put up a parking lot," he said.
He said Carolina North could be a hub for innovation - reflecting the town's ideals.
"Chapel Hill north has the potential to be a place where we find a cure for one kind of cancer."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
