Cignotti-Sission-DeVries ticket upfront and open with voters

David Cignotti, candidate for Wrightsville Beach mayor, and Bill Sisson and Walter DeVries, candidates for the board of aldermen, have participated in numerous meet-and-greets with Wrightsville Beach voters. The most recent of which was at 22 North late Thursday night, Oct. 29, where everyone flashing an I Voted sticker was invited to attend for a “thank you for voting” soiree.
Each one of these meet-the-candidate opportunities represents a unique aspect of the small-town campaigns: the ability of each and every voter to meet their community’s potential leaders.
At a similar event earlier this month, voters milled about the dimmed lights of King Neptune, expressing their support for the three candidates, mostly because of what they called the candidates’ approachable personality and tough stance on key issues.
“They want to improve the quality of our life here downtown,” said Tim Taylor, a local resident and a supporter of the Cignotti-Sisson-DeVries (CSD) ticket.
Taylor cited what he perceives to be the newly formed dangers posed by patrons of the downtown bar district and the proposed solutions that the CSD ticket offers.
“It’s not the same town that it used to be,” Taylor added. “We need to let them (tourists) know that they’re welcome here but they need to respect it.”
Taylor’s words echoed what has become DeVries’ campaign slogan: “Share our beach, yes, but abuse it, no!”
Taylor told a story that’s heard all too frequently from the people who live downtown. Often, Taylor said, he wakes up to find bags of trash in his yard and beer bottles strewn about his driveway.
He believes Wrightsville Beach needs leaders with fresh ideas. He wants politicians who can instill a sense of safety back into the bar district while maintaining the robust economic generator.
DeVries has put forward ideas like putting police officers on Segways and increasing foot patrols to create a bigger presence.
Cignotti says that if elected mayor he will push for holding homeowners who rent to unruly tenants accountable, issuing citations to people who blatantly ignore ordinances and increasing foot-patrols and cameras.
Abbott Shea, a student at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and resident of Wrightsville Beach, has been urging other young people in the community to register and vote. He too was found in King Neptune that night, voicing his all-out support for the CSD ticket.
He said that he was first turned-on to the CSD ticket when Cignotti and Sisson approached him and introduced themselves, showing Shea that they wanted to open a line of communication.
“If I have a problem, then I want to be able to approach them and be taken seriously,” he said. “If we have to live by the rules made by the powers that be then we have to decide who the powers that be are.”

—Brian Freskos