Drew Crawford

Updated 12:03 p.m.
Businessman Drew J. Crawford on Friday filed papers at the Mecklenburg Board of Elections to run for a seat on the Davidson Town Board in the Nov. 3 election. Mr. Crawford, who owns Wooden Stone Gallery on South Main Street and has been active in Downtown Davidson Inc., says he hopes to work on transit issues, on preserving and improving downtown,  and on recruiting businesses and jobs.

His filing brings to six the number of candidates vying for the five Town Board seats this fall. All five seats are up for grabs, and at least two will change hands: Commissioners Evan Webster and Bill Johnson told DavidsonNews.net last week they won’t seek re-election.

Last Monday, five other candidates filed to run for the five seats: sitting commissioners Laurie Venzon, Margo Williams and Brian Jenest, and newcomers Connie Wessner and Tim Dreffer.

‘THINKING ABOUT DOWNTOWN’

Mr. Crawford is a 2001 Davidson College graduate in political science and chemistry who taught high school science before opening Wooden Stone gallery in 2004. He has since expanded Wooden Stone to a second location, in Salisbury. He has lived in Davidson for 12 years, he said.

He sits on the boards of Davidson Community Players, Davidson College Friends of the Arts and Downtown Davidson Inc., where he is treasurer. He also helped found Davidson’s annual Art on the Green festival.

He said he supports the 2009 priorities that the current Town Board laid out during its January retreat, including the North Corridor Commuter Rail line and other transit issues, business recruiting, development and promotion of the Exit 30 area and downtown.

“Given the current priorities of the Town of Davidson, I believe that the Davidson Town Board will benefit from my experience as a person who, everyday, thinks about what can make downtown a more vibrant place – socially, culturally and economically,” Mr. Crawford said in a statement Saturday.

In a phone interview later, he told DavidsonNews.net that he decided to run because they thinks the town needs to do more to act on its goals of improving downtown and the business climate.

In February, the town brought the director of the non-profit Downtown Davidson Inc. into Town Hall as a department head. “That was a great show of support” for the town’s goals, Mr. Crawford said. “But they didn’t execute a plan. Five months later, we’re still working on a plan.”

Candidate filings for local elections continue until next Friday, July 17.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE

See previous articles about 2009 election filings on DavidsonNews.net in category “Election 2009.”