In March of 2021, City Council wanted to have a ‘private’ retreat, in defiance of North Carolina open meeting laws. (Ultimately citizens sued, the City lost, and taxpayers picked up the cost of the citizens’ attorney fees. So residents ended up paying for something City Council should never have tried to do in the first…
Residents deserve to have input into City Council decisions early and often, and it’s the City Government’s job to facilitate that. We have the technology to make public participation in meetings easy, whether people attend in-person or remotely. We have the technology to make public documents easily accessible. We can and should do a much…
A recent article in the Asheville Citizen Times, discussed the large price tag associated with a much needed tax grant/abatement program that the County and City offered last year. I have to say, this was really frustrating. When the County and City first proposed this rebate/grant, I strongly advocated for it to be automatic, based…
Remarks at the Deerfield Voter Education Event, March 28th. It’s notable that although the demographic wasn’t exactly the same as the one at the Buncombe Dems convention, the entire room still a) feels that more hotels are NOT in Asheville’s best interest and b) that City Council isn’t listening to that perspective from its residents.…
It went from a room with every hand raised to one with no hands raised on the last question. No one who attended the Buncombe County Democratic Party Convention believes that City Council wants to hear their views on the economic future of Asheville. How about we change that, together?