RyeCitizensFirst.org launches!

August 3, 2005: Franklin Chu, the Rye Citizens First mayoral candidate, today announced the launch of the organization's informational web site which can be accessed at www.ryecitizensfirst.org. The purpose of the site is to help Rye residents be better informed and more engaged in the campaign leading up to the City elections on November 8th.

"Residents will find the site useful in a number of ways", said Chu. "There's a section called Campaign Commentary where we'll keep people updated on the various issues that surface during the campaign together with our position on these issues." Another section is entitled Setting the Record Straight. "There is so much misinformation out there on important issues-the parking stations for example. Residents will be able to click on Setting the Record Straight and get the facts. We're preparing postings on the parking stations, the Damiano Center and Rye Town Park for starters. These will all be up sometime this month."

Residents will be able to use the site to ask questions of the candidates and even post their own opinions. "People can email us at the site with their questions and we'll respond directly to them", said Chu. "Questions that have general interest will be posted in the Q&A section together with our response for all residents to see. And residents can use the Rye Commentary section to make their views known on City issues, not just to us, but to all who visit the site."

The Rye Citizens First website was custom developed by Tim Howland of Watchdog Systems Management, (www.wdogsystems.com) a full service systems management firm, based in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Watchdog Systems built and deployed the site for Rye Citizens First within three weeks, rather than the industry standard four to six months, and is providing operational support.

Rye Citizens First also plans to use the site to conduct a more formal survey of residents on the issues they think should be addressed during the campaign. "We're developing the survey questions right now and plan to have this section of the site completed by mid August", said Chu. "The feedback from the voters will be invaluable. But one thing we know already is that taxes are still a sore point with Rye residents."

"Over 600 people have signed our petitions", said Chu. "That in itself is a pretty amazing response. Many of these people have told us they are still very concerned about keeping Rye affordable. So we are making a Taxpayer Protection Pledge to the citizens of Rye. No Rye Citizens First candidate will support a tax increase that is greater than the rate of inflation. And if we form the majority, Rye residents will know that the Taxpayer Protection Pledge will ensure that their City taxes will not rise faster than inflation during our four years in office. How can we make this promise? We'll provide more details as the campaign unfolds. But experience shows that if you are not obligated to satisfy the wants of pressure groups and not dependent on them for re-election, you can satisfy the needs of all Rye residents in a much more cost effective manner."

Rye Citizens First is a grass roots organization of civic minded Rye residents whose purpose is to stem the harmful trend towards partisan politics in Rye's City government. Rye Citizens First candidates for City Council, Franklin Chu, Roz Larr, Peggy Peters and Debbie Reisner, are community leaders who have demonstrated their concern for Rye through their past service and who are committed to being the elected representatives of all Rye residents, not simply the members of special interest groups or members of a particular political party.

For further information contact:
Peter Larr, 967-3042, plarr@optonline.net
Norm MacMaster, 967-1332, normanmacmaster@hotmail.com