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By Gregory Childress
gchildress@heraldsun; 918-1046
Chapel Hill -- On Monday, mayoral candidate Kevin Wolff continued to pound home his message that Chapel Hill would be better off with him as mayor while keeping fellow moderate Matt Czajkowski in the council seat he currently holds.
But Wolff's insistence that Czajkowski needs a moderate ally on the town's left-leaning council appeared to wear on Czajkowski during a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Orange-Durham-Chatham counties.
Afterward, neither would discuss Wolff's campaign strategy, and Czajkowski refused an attempt by Wolff to engage him in conversation.
Wolff began banging away at Czajkowski right out of the starting gate, contending that a vote for Matt is a "wasted vote."
"Vote for me ... and you will gain that other moderate voice," Wolff said.
He also hinted at some other underlying but undisclosed riff between the two men, announcing that he did not approve of certain tactics and "will not play these games."
When asked to explain, Wolff declined comment.
And Czajkowski would only say in his closing statement that the voters of Chapel Hill would have to decide "who is running a clean campaign."
The two men, along with Augustus Cho and council incumbent Mark Kleinschmidt are vying to replace Mayor Kevin Foy, who did not seek re-election.
And although the four candidates fielded tough questions about growth and development, taxes and how they manage their personal finances, the tension between Czajkowski and Wolff was hard to ignore.
In response to a question from the audience about why he would single out one candidate on which to make personal attacks, Wolff said there was nothing personal about his strategy to campaign against Wolff.
"I'm attacking the position he is taking and that's to run for mayor," Wolff said.
Czajkowski said he plans to keep the campaign about the issues.
"I trust the voters of this community to make up their minds about who they want leading this community," Czajkowksi said.
On the issues, the two men clashed on the first question. Candidates were asked to talk about ways to make the town's streets more pedestrian friendly so that they can better coexist with cars.
Wolff said he didn't think the town had a problem with cars and pedestrians. He said the town's public bus system has actually caused more deaths than cars in recent years.
"I say we take a hard look at our bus system and the accidents that have occurred," Wolff said. "Actually, this is a vehicular safe town in a relative sense."
But Czajkowski said the town's traffic problem is at a crisis stage.
"We have to start fixing the problem by first admitting we have one," he said.
On growth and development issues, the candidates were asked if they would like to see a more urban Chapel Hill with more projects similar to the controversial Greenbridge and East 54 developments.
Cho said Southern Village and Meadowmont are two good examples of the kinds of development the town should pursue.
Wolff said the East 54 project was out of character for the town and he hopes the council will never approve such a project again.
When asked about what they value most about Chapel Hill, Kleinschmidt said Franklin Street and the process by which the community makes decisions.
Czajkowski said he values the town's intellectual diversity and its diversity of accomplishments.
For Wolff, it's the university, which he considers the town's "most beautiful asset."
And Cho likes Chapel Hill's "fresh air" and being an alum of UNC.
