BY LAURIE DENNIS

William E. “Bill” Jackson Jr. did not initially intend to file for mayor.

He was concerned about several issues and how the current Town Board had handled them, such as the pace of development and public ownership of cable TV services. Mr. Jackson sought to convince “two prominent citizens” to make a run at the mayor’s seat.

“When I couldn’t get them to do it, I decided to do it myself, so that there would be a clear choice on the ballot,” said the lifelong political activist.

In his first venture at elected office on the town level, he chose not to seek a seat on the board of commissioners but to run instead for mayor.

“The mayor has a big hand in setting the agenda of town meetings,” he explained. “The mayor has ‘the bully pulpit.’ That’s what interests me. To run for the Town Board did not interest me at all.”

After spending years as an outsider trying to push the board, Mr. Jackson now wants to be an insider trying to lead it, running under the slogan, “Keep Davidson Special.”

Mr. Jackson said he would try to shake up the way things are done in Town Hall. He proposes a reevaluation of all development projects before the board, and intends to put a stop to industrial and large-scale commercial growth. He would also pursue the reversal of a recent board vote to form a cable consortium. In general, he hopes to use his mayoral bully pulpit to battle what he perceives as outside interests seeking to overrun Davidson.

EXIT 30 IRE

The single issue that most spurred Mr. Jackson to put his name on the ballot is the construction underway at I-77’s Exit 30. He views plans to build two hotels, a seven story tower of condominiums and a proposed seven-story office/retail tower as “ill conceived” and “a disaster.” He thinks the construction will result in traffic snarls and is concerned how all the new development will fit with the recently opened private school, Davidson Day, in the same area.

More importantly, he considers it a mistake to let the entrance to a small college town be dominated by seven-story towers rather than the church steeple of Davidson College Presbyterian Church.

“This is the gateway to my alma mater,” said the Class of 1957 alum. “This is the gateway to my town.”

In other words, it’s the large scale of the development and what he considers to be its unattractive design that most concerns him.

“I think it will be a shock for prospective college students and their parents to see the development at Exit 30 and realize this is not a quaint little town after all,” he said.

DEVELOPMENT PHILOSOPHY

This is not the first time Mr. Jackson has fought development in Davidson. In 1998, he helped form a committee, “Preserve Small Town Davidson,” that opposed the development now known as the New Neighborhood in Old Davidson. Though Mr. Jackson now praises the resulting mixed-use area anchored by St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, nine years ago he fought vociferously against it.

“We helped to keep large oak trees in the area and to keep the Gamble house as a residence,” Mr. Jackson said, referring to the historic Wallace Gamble home on Concord Road. He added that he also worked to prevent a convenience store from being placed at the corner of Concord Road and St. Alban’s Lane.

“It became a remarkably attractive development,” Mr. Jackson admitted, “for which I give (developer) Doug Boone the major credit, but also credit is due to the Episcopalians.”

Preserve Small Town Davidson went on to oppose plans near Main Street to realign streets for a proposed Harris Teeter grocery store on what became a two-story building housing the CVS pharmacy.“We fought Harris Teeter on that location,” Mr. Jackson said, though he is not opposed to plans for the Harris Teeter at Exit 30 today.Underlying Mr. Jackson’s opposition to development projects has been a concern to keep Davidson “a small college town.”“I’m not opposed to residential development,” he said. “I favor small commercial development. But I’m flat against more industrial development.”If elected mayor, he would seek to prevent any new industries coming to town. “And I would use any influence I could command to stop in its tracks all commercial development at Exit 30 that has not already been passed by the board,” he added.

Furthermore, Mr. Jackson, who claims to be “very well connected in Raleigh” as an active member of the Democratic Party, said he would turn to the Democratic-controlled state legislature to seek authority for Mecklenburg County to impose “impact fees” on developers. The legislature has been unwilling in the past to authorize the county, much less the Town of Davidson, to have this power.

“I would ask some members of the Mecklenburg delegation in Raleigh ? and perhaps the Governor ? to support special legislation allowing Mecklenburg and/or Davidson to level impact fees on homebuilders,” he explained, adding that he realizes such legislation would face stiff opposition from lobbyists. He said the fees could be used for a wide variety of amenities, from sidewalks to sewer lines.

Mr. Jackson’s concerns about growth in Davidson affect his views on extending a commuter rail line from Charlotte to this region. While he favors commuter rail as a mode of transportation, he said he would vehemently oppose a line that ended at Davidson, as he thinks that would turn the town into a commuter parking lot.

Plus, he is concerned that the proposed line to Davidson would require an extension of Concord Road across Main Street to the railroad tracks. “That will help destroy the downtown ‘skyline,’” he said. “But, in reality, I’ll be amazed if it ever comes out here.”

TRANSPORTATION

Mr. Jackson views congestion of local roads with concern, especially when it comes to large dump trucks and construction vehicles driving down thoroughfares.

“I would seek to ban all heavy construction vehicles from the town of Davidson,” he said, though he acknowledged that Davidson is not the controlling authority of a road like Main Street, which is part of State Highway 115, or even of Concord Road. “You could do that by harassing them with tickets. You could seek a special legislative request (to decrease road weight limits).”

He views with skepticism the town board’s emphasis on “connectivity,” or efforts to increase road connections and avoid cul-de-sacs.

“Connectivity sometimes makes good sense to reduce congestion,” Mr. Jackson conceded. However, he considers connectivity to have failed Davidson in terms of the recent connection of South Street to the covered bridge entrance to the new Antiquity subdivision in Cornelius. He considers the opening to have been timed to the convenience of Cornelius and the detriment of Davidson, and he tried unsuccessfully to rally support among neighborhood residents for a lawsuit to block the street opening.

Somewhat contradictorily, though Mr. Jackson wants to relieve congestion in Davidson, he does not favor long-range state plans to build a Main Street bypass by extending Davidson-Concord Road around the college to a new connection with 115.

“I’m opposed to the idea of a super highway that would skirt this area,” he said.

CABLE CONSORTIUM

Mr. Jackson has been an outspoken critic of the town board’s efforts to form a consortium with Mooresville to take over cable and internet service to the area. The two towns are in the final stages of planning for the purchase, which is expected in mid-December. The system is available because of the 2002 bankruptcy of Adelphia, the former private provider.

Mr. Jackson is a creditor in the bankruptcy case, as he produced the political talk show “Crosshairs” for Adelphia Cable.

“Adelphia owes me money, but I’m never going to see a cent,” he said.

Mr. Jackson testified against the consortium at a hearing before the Local Government Commission’s executive committee, where he pointed out that elections in both Davidson and Mooresville could result in boards without majority support for the cable takeover. He has suggested that if elected mayor, he would consider putting a halt to financing for the consortium.

Supporters and town officials have warned that if Davidson backs out of the cable deal, it could be liable for millions of dollars already spent, which could require a tax increase. Mr. Jackson has said it could be worth taking the loss. He opposes the purchase because he says it is too expensive and inappropriate for the board to take on.

“I object to my town increasing its debt eight times without a public referendum over buying a cable company with Mooresville,” he said. “Secondly, I don’t think the town has any business managing a cable company that will soon be obsolete.”

KIMBROUGH LAND SWAP

The cable vote is, to Mr. Jackson, an example of a highhanded attitude by the current board, an attitude he says he would change as mayor.

The other example he cites of this is the 2004 vote to swap land with developer Lawrence Kimbrough for an exemption to the town’s affordable housing requirement. Board members have said the swap gave the town, at a critical moment, the trailhead for its new greenway, but Mr. Jackson has repeatedly noted that the vote was an unscheduled item of business on the board agenda and thus “raises disturbing questions” about how the board conducts itself.

In addition, Mr. Jackson sees the Kimbrough land swap as an example of how the board has undermined its own efforts at creating affordable housing, by allowing exceptions to the requirement.

Mr. Jackson objects, in minute detail, to how board members and staff interact with private businesses and citizens who come before them. He has suggested that town planners work too closely with developers. He says if elected he would scrutinize the planning department, and would relish contesting planning department actions large and small.

BACKGROUND

Mr. Jackson, 72, is a fixture at the Soda Shop on Main Street, where he can often be found sitting in the back booth, beneath a photo of himself as a Davidson College cross country runner. It was the college that first brought him to the area.

“I care deeply about this spot on earth,” he said.

Mr. Jackson was born on a peach farm in Moore County, near Pinehurst, and still has a particular fondness for a good Piedmont peach. He chose Davidson College based on the recommendations of his high school social studies and the minister at his Presbyterian church. He was at first “a C student, by and large,” but then encountered a new professor of political science, Dr. Harold Ford.“I took everything he offered,” Mr. Jackson said. “He was terrific.”Though he graduated with a degree in economics, politics became his passion.

He earned master’s degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Columbia University. He soon landed in Washington, D.C., where he worked in the administrations of John F. Kennedy and Jimmy Carter, specializing in relations with the Soviet Union and arms control.

During that era, he spent a second stint in Davidson, teaching political science classes at the college in 1968-73. He later served as a scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. and a senior fellow at the J.W. Fulbright Institute of International Relations in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  He also worked for several prominent legislators, including Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) and Sen. Ed Muskie (D-Maine).

In 1991, Mr. Jackson moved back to the Davidson area to be near family. He initially taught political science as an adjunct professor at UNC-Charlotte but now works primarily as a freelance writer on national and international issues, writing primarily for the Huffington Post and Editor & Publisher. He and his wife, Judith, the former manager of the college guest house, live on South Downing Street. They have two adult children, a daughter (who was born in Davidson) and a son.

This is the second time that Mr. Jackson has sought elected office. In 1996, he ran unsuccessfully to challenge incumbent Sue Myrick in the 9^th Congressional District.He sees himself as the underdog in the mayor’s race, facing a candidate (John Woods) who has served five terms as a commissioner.

“I’m an antidote to Mr. Woods,” he said, “not in terms of character, because he’s a decent guy, but in terms of public policy.”