From Staff Reports

Asheville City Councilwoman Kim Roney, the chief proponent of “Defund the Police” on council, announced March 3 that she is running for mayor of Asheville.

“So many of us in Asheville are struggling to make ends meet as the cost of living rises, while a tourism industry that’s off-the-rails strains our natural resources, burdens our infrastructure, and displaces our most vulnerable neighbors,” Roney said in her announcement.

“We need an equitable transition through the overlapping emergencies of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, systemic racism and economic uncertainty. 

“I’m running because the work we must do to achieve our aspirational goals and ensure a resilient community includes urgent action to take better care of the planet and each other, which means addressing:

“• Affordability: Investing in creative and cooperative solutions for deeply-affordable housing and keeping neighbors from becoming unhoused; coordinating with the County for a fare-free Buncombe-Asheville Transit System at the intersection of equitable access, economic mobility, and environmental sustainability; securing our food and water systems; and supporting local businesses and cooperatives focused on MWBE certification, workplace development, and living wages.

• Public Safety: Answering the calls to invest in long-term safety strategies; diversifying our public safety response through partnerships to address issues with opioid/overdose crisis, homelessness response, and mental health, including the Buncombe Community Paramedicine pilot program; developing and acting on a plan for neighbors experiencing unsheltered homelessness to get us moving from the crisis we’re in towards solutions designed for housing as a human right and ending homelessness; following through with our commitments to Reparations; and responding appropriately to our stated Climate Emergency.

“• An Improved Public Meeting Process, as is the purview of the Mayor’s Office: Ending the current Council check-in process and shifting to a public pre-meeting model similar to the one used by the Buncombe County Commission because the difficult conversations we need to have as a community should happen in the sunshine, not behind closed doors; increasing accessibility of public documents and engagement opportunities; supporting advisory boards instead of dissolving them; commiting to an organizational equity audit; and appointing a Mayor’s Youth Council.

“In my second year on Council, plus seven years in the audience and on advisory boards, I’ve seen how the current process is designed to support a system that excludes people while decisions are being made about us without us. 

“By running for mayor, I’m inviting the people of Asheville to move me from one hot seat to a hotter one, not because I can fix this by myself, but because I’m committed to a process that allows all of us to share in the necessary work ahead of us. Our greatest resource is each other, let’s #BeBoutitBeingBetter

“Share early voting schedules and locations, and mark your calendar for the Primary: Tuesday, May 17th, 2022,” Roney said in concluding her announcement.

Meanwhile, local FOP President Rondell Lance said of Roney’s candidacy for mayor in a March 11 interview, “From what we’ve seen and know. No. 1, she voted against the grant for ballistic vests for law enforcement. Right there, it shows where she stands with law enforcemejt. She’s on the bandwagon for ‘defund’ —  and the national narrative.

What’s more, Lance said, “If she (Roney) was to become mayor, it’d be a sad day for law and order and for the citizens of Asheville....

“Roney as mayor? The thing that could affect Buncombe County the most, as far as law enforcement and as far as restoring law and order in the community and restoring better treatment of the victims and holding the perpetrators to the same standard of the law — no matter who you are — as elsewhere in the United States, is we’ve got to elect Doug Edwards as district attorney. That will change BC more than anything else. Roney, if she became mayor, it’d become a fight. It’d be a challenge every day with her. We’d need others on council saying we’re not going down this  path.

“I think she’s too extreme for local Democrats. No, I will not vote to give the men and women of law enforcement new ballistic votes. Who in there right mind would say that. That shows how extreme she is. I’m against doing something that would save an officer’s life. If she;d do that with police officers, what would she do with us.

“She’s clearly against the betterment of the Asheville Police Department and against community safety,” Lance said.

Besides Roney, Mayor Esther Manheimer, who has announced her plan to seek re-election, will be facing a challenge from Clifford O. Feingold, D.D.S, who is touted as a moderate Republican, as well as from Democrat Michael Hayes, who bills himself as a “social justice activist.”