In North Carolina, the statewide primary is Tuesday, May 17, 2022. The purpose of a primary is to narrow the field of candidates for the general election in November.
While already a matter of public record, we’d like to recap several actions Asheville city leaders took during their term in office so far. Keep in mind that the Mayor is a member of the City Council. So unless stated differently, references to City Council members include the Mayor:
- None of them have taken a public stand supporting the Asheville Police Department.
- One current City council member is a fearless supporter of the movement calling for steps to reduce the size and funding of the police force. She (Kim Roney) is running for Mayor and must be defeated.
- As reported in our previous edition, the Asheville chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. (You can find these delightful creatures on Facebook here.) have endorsed Roney and N.C. Senate Candidate Taylon Breedon.
- All the Asheville City Council members, except (amazingly) Roney, voted in favor of adding BLM-supporter George Siegel to the Asheville City Board of Education in August of last year. Roney’s objections to the vote appeared to be related to timing and process rather than to the appointment itself.
City Council’s July 14, 2020 Meeting
The City Council’s July 14 meeting’s consent agenda included:
- RESOLUTION NO. 20-125 (scroll down) – RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH THE ASHEVILLE AREA ARTS COUNCIL TO CREATE A BLACK LIVES MATTER MURAL AROUND PACK SQUARE PLAZA.
Current Councilwoman Sheneika Smith and Mayor Esther Manheimer joined Julie Mayfield and the remaining city council representatives to approve the Consent Agenda unanimously.
Under New Business for this meeting, council members weighed in on:
- RESOLUTION NO. 20-128 (scroll down) – RESOLUTION SUPPORTING COMMUNITY REPARATIONS FOR BLACK ASHEVILLE.
This measure also passed unanimously after the council members read the entire resolution aloud into the meeting minutes.
City Council’s July 28, 2020 Meeting
- The July 28, 2020 City Council meeting provided an opportunity for City Manager Debra Campbell to begin pushing the agenda of the “Black AVL Demands (BAD)” group. In addition to defunding the police and making “reparations” to black Asheville, these activists also demand:
- 50% of the APD’s budget should be invested in long-term safety strategies including supporting Black startups/businesses, eliminating the racial opportunity gap in Asheville City Schools, and funding an all-civilian oversight committee with the power to hold the APD and individual officers accountable
- Asheville City Government removes the Vance and Robert E Lee monuments and replace them with monuments that honor the many Black Ashevillians who have built this city.
- Streets named after former slave owners must be replaced with names of historic local black leaders.
At the end of Campbell’s presentation, Councilwoman Julie Mayfield declared, “We are in this moment of great change, and everyone on Council embraces that change and wants to move forward.” Mayfield rode those beliefs to election to the State Senate, to which she now hopes to be re-elected. Her candidacy is opposed by Asheville’s Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed Taylon Breeden and current councilwoman Sandra Kilgore, who appears to see racial injustice everywhere she turns (bless her heart).
- At that same meeting, several resolutions were buried under the consent agenda so that council members would not have to talk about them in the public forum:
- RESOLUTION NO. 20-132 – RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AN EXTENSION OF THE CONTRACTS WITH HOMEWARD BOUND OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA, RED ROOF INN, INC. AND AXIS SECURITY TO SUSTAIN OPERATIONS OF A MOTEL-BASED NON-CONGREGATE SHELTER FOR PERSONS EXPERIENCING UNSHELTERED HOMELESSNESS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.
- RESOLUTION NO. 20-133 – RESOLUTION APPOINTING MEMBERS TO THE VANCE MONUMENT TASK FORCE. (Including future councilwoman Antanette Mosley).
The city council voted unanimously to approve the consent agenda. Current city council members who were also serving at the time of this meeting and who are running for re-election are Mayor Esther Mannheimer and Councilwoman Sheneika Smith.
City Council’s December 8, 2020 Meeting
Newly elected city council members were sworn in on December 1:
- Sandra Kilgore (Now a primary candidate for N.C. Senate District 49, even though her City Council term has not yet ended.)
- Kim Roney (Now a primary candidate for Mayor, even though her City Council term has not yet ended.)
- Sage Turner
Roney did not waste any time placing her thumb on the Asheville Police Department. At this first meeting, she asked to have two police funding items removed from the consent agenda for a separate discussion and vote:
- ORDINANCE NO. 4844 – BUDGET AMENDMENT TO ACCEPT A PRIVATE DONATION FOR THE ASHEVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT FOR TACTICAL DE-ESCALATION TRAINING
- The City Council passed the resolution over the nay vote of Roney. (Scroll to the bottom of page 24 of the meeting minutes.)
- RESOLUTION NO. 20-224 – RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO APPLY FOR, AND ACCEPT IF AWARDED, GRANT FUNDS FROM THE OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS OF THE U.S. DEPT. OF JUSTICE FOR THE 2020 EDWARD BYRNE JUSTICE OF ASSISTANCE GRANT.
- The City Council passed the resolution over the nay votes of Roney and Turner. (Scroll to the bottom of page 25 of the meeting minutes.)
- RESOLUTION NO. 20-225 – RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO APPLY FOR, AND ACCEPT, GRANT FUNDS FROM THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE FOR THE 2020 BULLETPROOF VEST PARTNERSHIP GRANT.
- The City Council passed the resolution over the nay vote of Roney, who clearly must not care about the lives of Asheville Police officers. (Scroll to the bottom of page 25 of the meeting minutes.)
Another item on the consent agenda was undisturbed, and the Council unanimously approved it along with all of the other consent agenda items that Roney did not attempt to torpedo:
- RESOLUTION NO. 20-234 – RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE A MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH RRI WEST MANAGEMENT, LLC. TO SUSTAIN OPERATIONS OF A MOTEL-BASED NON-CONGREGATE SHELTER FOR PERSONS EXPERIENCING UNSHELTERED HOMELESSNESS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.
Be sure to check out Campbell’s plans for defunding the police, beginning on page 27.
The report from the Vance Monument Task Force begins on page 36.
Toward the end of this meeting, 12 individuals spoke in favor of the City Council approving the removal of the Vance Monument; one person voiced opposition. City Council proceeded to vote in favor of removal. Kilgore favored the removal, but she voted against this measure. She was concerned that rushing this action would sow division within the community. The other council members did not share her concern.
This brief post only exposes the tip of the iceberg. Here is a link to documents from more City Council Meetings. See for yourself what else they have done and how the individuals voted. These folks are not interested in diverse viewpoints when those viewpoints are not identical to their own, and they regard conservative and moderate viewpoints as incorrect.
The only way for us to ensure that their reign of indifference ends is to replace them with citizens who do not oppose just about every value that many of us hold dear. Voters who reside within the Asheville city limits can step towards a less activist/nonprofit ruling class in the primary election by casting votes for Cliff Feingold as Mayor and Doug Brown, Alex Cobb, and Andy Ledford for City Council.
Only the top two vote-getters in the mayoral primary will be on the November general election ballot. Only the top six city council race vote-getters will be on the November ballot for the three open council seats.
