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Asheville mayor aspires to create diverse ‘city of neighbors’ |
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Tuesday, 10 April 2007 |
By DAVID FORBES
Asheville will draw strength from its diversity, while cracking down on nuisances, rethinking environmental initiatives, forming neighborhood councils and acknowledging that its needs are different from those of surrounding Buncombe County, Mayor Terry Bellamy asserted in her April 3 state-of-the-city address.
The aforementioned points are part of what Bellamy termed her dedication “to making Asheville a city of neighbors, where diverse cultures and perspectives can come together for the good of the community.”
She added that she believes Asheville’s future to be defined by
“growth and opportunity — and even though growth and change can be
difficult and even painful at times, the end result can and hopefully
will result in a better future.”
In previous years, state-of-the-city addresses were given to
organizations that requested them, but Bellamy said that she felt it
was time for that to change.
“I chose to give the address here first because it is important that
the citizens of Asheville have the opportunity to hear the status of
the city and my vision for the future from the source where policies
are made,” she said.
Issues around crime and police enforcement received significant
attention in the speech, as Bellamy called for Asheville’s police to
address nuisances.
“Our police must not only focus on the larger issues, but increasingly
address the nuisance issues including panhandling, littering and
graffiti in order to send a message that Asheville does not tolerate
any type of illegal activities in our community,” she said. She added
that she would push for more officers in individual neighborhoods — as
well as increased resources.
The city needs to have a police force that reflects the city, Bellamy noted.
“We must make sure that we are providing opportunities for all people
in the Asheville Police Department to advance within its ranks — it is
important for the police department to mirror Asheville’s demographics
on the patrol level and within the advanced ranks.”
After the speech, Bellamy told the Daily Planet that the city will be
using trainers from other cities and educational programs to help
achieve this goal.
“We’ll be providing more information on how to deal with the
African-American community,” Bellamy said. “We’ll also be providing
assistance with information about taking the exams for advanced ranks.”
These plans, Bellamy said, will work in conjunction with another goal, “to turn Asheville into a city of neighbors.”
To that end, the city has hired a new Neighborhood Coordinator, Kristin
Harkey, to address concerns from residents of Asheville’s neighborhoods.
“I am asking that you, as Asheville citizens, work to get your neighborhood organized,” Bellamy said.
Harkey will also, Bellamy confirmed after the speech, lead the city’s
initiative to form neighborhood councils throughout Asheville.
Organizing Asheville’s neighborhoods will not just be for purposes of
communication about government services, Bellamy said in her speech, as
the neighborhood organizations will also be expected to work hand in
hand with police.
“Develop a neighborhood organization to discuss things happening in
your neighborhood. Second, get to know who lives in your neighborhood,
so that you will be able to watch out for each other. Third, complete
neighborhood walks together along with an officer to know what is
happening in the community. Fourth, report all illegal activities to
the police, each time that you see them occurring.”
Meanwhile, Bellamy also said she was reconsidering her former
opposition to certain environmental initiatives — such as requiring the
city’s new or renovated buildings to meet the LEED energy standards.
“The way we used to do business is no longer viable. We must increase
our tolerance for sustainable initiatives beyond recycling and other
staff-driven programs — that’s something I, as mayor, must do too,”
Bellamy noted. “We have to be open to and embrace new requirements and
incentives for environmentally sustainable and LEED certified
buildings. In order to do so, as council and staff we must educate our
community so the average citizen understands sustainability, green
terms and their impacts.”
She emphasized that the city has opened natural-gas stations and
created an Environmental and Sustainable Development Committee to
advise council on environmental issues.
Previously, Bellamy had opposed the requirement of LEED certification
on the city’s buildings because of concerns about the cost.
In response to calls from some for the city and county governments to
pursue consolidation of the two into one unit, Bellamy countered that
Asheville’s needs are fundamentally different in many ways.
“I do not believe that our region should be limited to just one big,
local governmental entity,” Bellamy said. “The needs of our urbanized
areas are very different than the needs of our more rural areas, which
is precisely why two governing agencies provide different levels of
service in Buncombe County. Asheville has not urbanized to the point
that it encompasses all of Buncombe County, which is typically the
paradigm associated with consolidation. Our citizens’ needs are not
uniform.”
In other plans, Bellamy said that Asheville will seek to incorporate
more public housing into mixed-income developments, to adapt better to
the future. The city will also seek more partnerships with developers
to deal with issues of constraints placed by state law on the city’s
ability to annex.
In the future, the city will seek to develop a comprehensive
affordable-housing plan to deal with issues of rising costs and
decreased funds for public housing, Bellamy said.
“Our community needs a comprehensive affordable-housing plan that looks
at rental housing, home ownership, savings initiatives and foreclosure
prevention,” she noted. “A plan that will need the support of Council
as well as bankers. A plan that needs the support of non-profit and
for-profit developers to implement. This plan must be a comprehensive
in nature and well thought out in practice.”
In her concluding remarks, she asserted that Asheville will not be
harmed by the diversity of cultures and viewpoints within its borders.
“I’m here to say that our diversity only holds us back as much as we
permit it to, and as the mayor of Asheville, diversity will be the key
to our unity and our success — a success unlike any other place on
earth,” Bellamy said, before ending the speech with a call for “God to
continue to bless Asheville as He holds us in the hollow of His hand.”
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