“I’m just doing my bit just like anybody else, trying in my way to participate in what I would hope will be a more democratic self-government,” Williamson says. “It’s not that hard to get on the ballot. It is hard to get elected. The difference is money.”

Williamson invites voters to be more critical of the campaign materials they receive and to play a more active role in civic engagement. He urges the public to consider how and from where other candidates are collecting their funds.

Due to his fears that other candidates are relying on real estate developers to provide funding that will ultimately be detrimental to the community’s best interest, Williamson says he has signed documents drawn up by the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance pledging to neither raise nor spend money in this election.

“The relationship between money and politics has to be broken. It has to be re-imagined and reconstructed as public financing of our public elections,” Williamson says. “Otherwise, we’re going to be stuck forever with people with money and power controlling our government.”

The closest he has to campaign literature is flyers that he prints for free at the public library. Instead of signs and “political campaign junk,” he is relying on word of mouth and a short Cambridge Community Television video to spread awareness of his candidacy.

However, it appears these methods of campaigning are not as effective as Williamson would wish. His name seems to be relatively unknown in the Harvard Square area.

“I haven’t heard of him,” says Andrew F. Hammond, a Cambridge resident for 13 years.

Likewise, Mark T. Szretter, another area resident, has not heard of Williamson, but the issues at the forefront of his mind in this election align with Williamson’s platform.

“It would be nice for candidates to pay more attention to issues younger residents care about. They’ve done a poor job with the MBTA communicating what’s happening,” Szretter said, referring to the changes to the Red Line. “It was something I feel I wasn’t consulted on, and it totally affects my life,”

Although Williamson is not a big name in the upcoming election, he is still excited and committed to running for City Council this year.

“For forty years I’ve seen the things I love be destroyed and stepped on. For a while, I thought it couldn’t get worse,” Williamson says. “But it could. You always have to fight.”

—Staff writer Julia K. Nguyen can be reached at julianguyen@college.harvard.edu.