It is, of course, an excellent idea for any entity to look ahead and make plans for its future. Buncombe County has worked this year to begin that planning process. The project is currently engaged in its “Launch” phase. In this phase, they will lay down their strategies for developing a vision of what they would like Buncombe to look like in the year 2043 and their plans for involving the public in the process.
Also, during this phase, the County Commissioners appointed 23 people to a Steering Committee that will provide feedback on information, draft policies, and implementation plans. Members serve a 3-year term and may serve no more than two terms. The committee meets from 6:00 – 7:00 PM on the second Tuesday of each month. Steering Committee meetings are open to the public and recorded.
This effort is just getting started, so it would be easy for you to bring yourself up to speed and get in on this at the beginning. Here’s how:
- Review the official Comprehensive Plan overview. (7 minutes)
- Sign-up to receive the weekly newsletter. (30 seconds)
- Review the recording from the first Steering Committee meeting (September 20) for an introduction to the members, a review of their role, and a look at the next steps. (1.5 hours)
- Review the October 12 (1 hour) and November 9 (1 hour) Steering Committee Meeting recordings.
Total: 3 hours, 37 minutes, and 30 seconds! You are as up-to-speed on this program as anyone else now.
If you live here, you have skin in the game. Who do you think will be paying for these consultants? Who will foot the bill to implement whatever plans this committee decides are in the best interest of equity and the homeless? Should we have any reason to believe that conservative values will factor into the planning at all?
This Steering Committee is just another citizens committee. These meetings are where the plans for spending your money and taking away your freedoms are born.
- Could this program spawn an ordinance that will force new home construction powered by solar energy and windmills?
- Is it out of the realm of possibility that the county might pass its own restrictions on gun rights? On ownership and use of gas-powered vehicles?
- What restrictions and welfare programs do you believe would serve us well as we begin to focus on the Utopian society that local government and socialist activists envision for us?
Convince us that this is not what’s in store for us. Otherwise, join us and help push for incorporating conservative values in how our county is ruled.
We encourage every last one of us to complete AT LEAST steps 1 and 2 above. We all have a responsibility to know what “they” are planning. It is not okay for us to allow ourselves to be surprised by the next radical thing our leaders propose. We need to know what’s going to happen and prepare for it however we can.
First Tuesday is seeking a small team of three volunteers to commit to doing the following:
- Complete all 4 of the steps above.
- Begin attending the monthly one-hour meetings of the Steering Committee. Their next meeting is on December 14.
- Prepare a monthly summary of what you have learned from the meetings and newsletters. Highlight what we need to know about what “they” are planning. Suggest how we could prepare ourselves for what’s coming or how we could fight it. Golly, you might even find something that we could help support!
- Let us publish your monthly summaries on our blog and in our newsletter
Partner with a couple of friends to become this team. Or let us know that you would be interested in the possibility of making some new friends by joining this committee! Conservatives must begin participating in local government. Period.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: While browsing across the county website today, we see that there is suddenly a vacancy on this steering committee! Is there someone out there who would be willing to apply? We have inquired about the required qualifications for a viable candidate for a seat on this committee. We’ll share that with whoever is interested as soon as we receive that information.
