{"id":2304,"date":"2015-08-31T08:28:48","date_gmt":"2015-08-31T12:28:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/\/?p=2304"},"modified":"2018-04-27T15:13:30","modified_gmt":"2018-04-27T19:13:30","slug":"meet-city-councilor-at-large-candidate-matt-tomasulo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/city-government\/meet-city-councilor-at-large-candidate-matt-tomasulo","title":{"rendered":"Meet City Councilor At-Large Candidate, Matt Tomasulo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"200px-MattTomasulo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The City of Raleigh will hold elections for Mayor and City Council on October 6th.<\/p>\n

Matt Tomasulo<\/b>\u00a0is a\u00a0candidate for one of the two at-large City Council seats currently held by incumbents\u00a0Mary Ann Baldwin<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Russ Stephenson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The DLA asked Matt\u00a0a series of questions.<\/p>\n

Here are his\u00a0answers:<\/p>\n

What factors need to be balanced in providing for downtown Raleigh’s growth as a vital, sustainable, creative environment for both residents and businesses?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Raleigh is a great place to live, to work, to play – but we can\u2019t stand on the sidelines – we need to continue to challenge ourselves and keep moving Raleigh forward. \u00a0I believe we can only do that with a city government that truly listens to its citizens. \u00a0From speaking with residents, too many people feel disconnected from our city today – but they don\u2019t have to be. \u00a0For the past 5 years I\u2019ve been traveling around the country, building a nationwide movement called Walk [Your City] that connects people to their communities, street by street and block by block.\u00a0 I learned that improving a city doesn\u2019t have to be complicated or expensive – you just have to listen, to learn, to adapt. You just need the courage to take risks and approach challenges creatively.<\/p>\n

I believe that fundamentally, cities aren\u2019t about policies or projects – they\u2019re about people. \u00a0I\u2019ve traveled the country and I\u2019ve seen some incredible communities. \u00a0But I\u2019ve never seen anywhere with as much potential as we have right here in Raleigh.<\/p>\n

Our city can do so much more to bring citizens into the conversation about how to turn our hopes and dreams of today into a city of tomorrow.\u00a0 There are conversations about bike sharing, sidewalks, patios, affordable housing, and transportation, where critical voices are missing.\u00a0 Raleigh leaders don\u2019t have all the answers – and that\u2019s ok. \u00a0But what\u2019s not ok is the way certain voices are not heard.<\/p>\n

Urban planner Mike Lydon coined the term \u201ctactical urbanism\u201d to describe projects like your \u201cWalk [Your City]\u201d project. \u00a0\u00a0He suggests that \u201cInstead of creating huge, costly 20-year master plans for civic improvements, cities can try a piece-by-piece \u201csee what works\u201d approach, incorporating public feedback.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0How would you approach balancing your guerrilla pop up style with the traditionally risk-averse attitudes of city government?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Projects like mine, and other Tactical Urbanism projects are now becoming a tool to test, study and make longer term investments and impacts.\u00a0 The term I like is \u201ctest before you invest\u201d. \u00a0Despite the initial headlines, all of my work now is sanctioned and part of broader, health, safety and\/or accessibility planning for pedestrians. \u00a0As more information and decisions come to the table faster these days, this approach can begin to help government act faster, with lower risk, while achieving critical feedback and understanding faster.<\/p>\n

What other ideas for citizen – initiated improvements and fixes would you promote if elected to a Raleigh City Council, at-large position?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

There are a lot of grassroots projects happening right now in Raleigh. \u00a0Some projects I am really appreciative of are the \u201ccool walkings\u201d<\/a> work that Donna Belt is organizing in concert with the city, to provide temporary crosswalks as art where there are not any. \u00a0This simple project is a great example of working WITH the city as a citizen to test something that could really grow across all corners of Raleigh. \u00a0Additionally, a lot of the urban food projects, from community gardens to food trucks fit into this conversation for me as well. \u00a0Folks across Raleigh know their neighborhoods well and see positive opportunities to improve them, and we have the opportunity to be a great partner in figuring out how we can do that at scale.<\/p>\n

What three adjectives would you use to describe what you love best about downtown Raleigh, and what is needed most to further develop those aspects?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Community-driven<\/span>: \u00a0The quality of life, enthusiasm and support for \u201cRaleigh\u201d right now is at an all time high. \u00a0People are engaged, care about where they live and where Raleigh is going.\u00a0 Its exciting to see so many folks contributing to neighborhood projects and putting real energy into making Raleigh a better place, and we need to continue supporting those efforts – whether it be a community garden or little retail shop.<\/p>\n

Dynamic<\/span>: \u00a0So much is happening right now in Raleigh, it is an excited place to be. \u00a0You can certainly feel the energy in Raleigh. \u00a0The people here are excited and we have momentum. \u00a0We need to keep up with that energy and need to make decisions by utilizing a test before you invest mindset – using data to confidently keep up with our changing needs at the pace of our changing city.<\/p>\n

Pedestrian-friendly<\/span>: \u00a0The more infrastructure and opportunity that people have to ditch their car, the easier growth will be. \u00a0The City has done a great job of providing infrastructure to increase the experience, safety, and accessibility for people on foot. \u00a0Ground floor retails is starting to pick up and with more and more folks living downtown, we are starting to see some real street activity that brings the city to life. \u00a0I\u2019d love to see more investment in public space, particularly for the diverse neighborhoods that are developing in, around and outside of downtown.<\/p>\n

Candidate’s website:\u00a0www.mattforraleigh.com<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The City of Raleigh will hold elections for Mayor and City Council on October 6th. Matt Tomasulo\u00a0is a\u00a0candidate for one of the two at-large City Council seats currently held by incumbents\u00a0Mary Ann Baldwin\u00a0and\u00a0Russ Stephenson. The DLA asked Matt\u00a0a series of questions. Here are his\u00a0answers: What factors need to be balanced in providing for downtown Raleigh’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2304"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2304"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2694,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2304\/revisions\/2694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}