Will you participate in “Get There AVL – Primary Candidate Forum,” on Thursday, Feb. 27th at Wedge at Foundation located at 5 Foundy St. Yes!

Tell us something about your transportation habits. How do you most often get around Asheville? I am a transit-dependent pedestrian and cyclist who occasionally carpools. I’m excited about installing a removable, wheeled crate on my bike this Spring that will make grocery shopping much easier!

Rank these five projects in order from most important to least important.

Elaborate on your prioritization list. Explain your ranking.

1. A fare-free, regional transit system is at the intersection of equitable access, economic mobility, and environmental sustainability. It is not only doable, it is critical to the health and well-being of our entire community. I first got on the bus during the fare-free trial in 2006 because removing fees as a barrier of entry meant my next biggest concern was, “now I just have to figure out how to get off the bus!” I fell in love with Asheville on the bus: I’ve watched children grow up; I’ve gotten to know my drivers and fellow riders; I’ve navigated our hilly terrain more efficiently by putting my bike on the front of the bus; and I’ve experienced many ways we can and must do transit better. Asheville needs collaboration with Buncombe County and across Western North Carolina, prioritizing truly multimodal accessibility.
2. The Coxe Ave Street Tweaks project, which was always meant to be temporary, now has a year of data to inform next steps. Because the design dramatically slowed vehicular speeds of our neighbors and visitors, improving safety for all commuters, I do not think it’s wise or moral to revert to the street’s original design. It’s time to follow through with permanent solutions that include community input from the neighborhood as well as adjacent neighborhoods commuting through the corridor. 
3. The Southside community has expressed specific needs for their community for years, and neighbors are organizing through Southside Rising. The City needs to acknowledge those needs through additional engagement followed by community-led solutions for Livingston Street. Using participatory democracy and budgeting, which are key tenets of my platform, we can remove barriers to participation and realize a community-led project with a neighborhood that has too long lacked investment in infrastructure.
4. I’m a classically-trained musician who’s training musicians, and I want a home for the Asheville Symphony, but not as currently proposed. Just 5 years ago, the Civic Center Commission proposed rebuilding the Thomas Wolfe with an estimate of $55 million. The new proposal’s price tag has exploded to $110 million at a time when our community’s most pressing needs are being neglected. Asheville just became the first city in North Carolina to officially declare a climate emergency, and we need to act responsibly and urgently. Before we completely overhaul the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, let’s determine what an investment from occupancy taxes towards our resilient future will look like. We need to invest in deeply-affordable housing through creative and collaborative solutions along transit corridors; address our crumbling infrastructure; secure our food and water systems; restore our tree canopy; and connect our neighbors and visitors through an accessible, multimodal network. This network can be built through serious improvements in multimodal infrastructure, including but not limited to: complete streets, sidewalks & pedestrian infrastructure that meet NACTO guidelines; ADA accessibility; separated bike lanes; and signal timing that permits crossings while all vehicular traffic is at a complete stop. 
5. Through coalition, we are demanding multimodal infrastructure that intersects with transformational public safety and environmental justice. This means divesting from vehicular infrastructure like parking so we can invest in people while healing our planet. This work cannot be done alone, which is why I’m sharing in the work by running with Nicole Townsend. Hearing her call to action, I have filed an official complaint with the Human Relations Commission, demanding that the written consent to search protections now provided to Asheville drivers be extended to cyclists and pedestrians as well. Let’s join in collective liberation so we can all commute safely; then we can prioritize building housing and multimodal infrastructure instead of parking spaces!

Please identify one way in which you’ve worked to make Asheville safer for pedestrians, transit users, and / or cyclists. Share the outcome for the community and what you learned. 

When Nathanael and I donated our car to charity in 2008, our intention was to address our dependence on fossil fuels. It was a year-long experiment that became a lifestyle, and the transition wasn’t easy. By changing my habits I’m shifting my attitude, and I understand that we need a social attitude adjustment that addresses the stigmas of using active transportation. 

Asheville has the 3rd highest bike and pedestrian accident ratio in North Carolina. We need experience from those most impacted represented on Council, ensuring prioritization of the budget, planning, and policies. Because not all of my neighbors can get out of their cars yet, and for all those who don’t have a car to rely on, I advocate through Better Buses Together; work in solidarity as a member of Asheville on Bikes; report back from over a dozen civic meetings every month; have attended all but 3 Council meetings over the past 5 years; and I have applied my experience by serving on the Multimodal Transportation Commission and Transit Committee for 4 years, also serving on the Downtown Sub-Committee for Parking & Transportation. My volunteer roles included advising Council and staff on safety issues for dozens of projects and plans, like the Transit Master Plan and equity issues around Vision Zero policy, which is used across the globe to address safety through design but has a variety of issues around enforcement. I’ve learned that the work we need to do requires collaboration. Now I’m asking my friends & neighbors to send me to the Council to ensure follow-through with and for our community to Be ‘Bout it Being Better.

What are your thoughts regarding tactical urbanism projects in Asheville? How does AoB’s Coxe Ave report inform your position? Are you inclined to support or resist future tactical urbanism projects? Articulate your thoughts.

I will enthusiastically support tactical urbanism! My students and their families joined me in participating in the Coxe Avenue tactical urbanism project, which was such a brilliant, participatory action for positive change. The street was previously designed to move cars quickly, and the report shows that needed safety metrics like traffic speed reduction through design, affordable infrastructure, and art is possible. Our community has learned a lot from our first tactical urbanism project, and I’m thankful the Street Tweaks partners like Asheville on Bikes have shared comprehensive review, as have neighbors and local businesses. 

I’m excited about the next project at the intersection of Westwood and Waynesville, an intersection that’s part of my daily commute and will improve safe, multimodal access for my neighborhood. I understand neighbors across the city are ready to participate in community-led solutions like this, so let’s roll!

Investment in ped / bike facilities has been criticized as an agent of gentrification yet according to the US census lower socioeconomic groups use active transportation at disproportionately higher rates as compared to more affluent individuals. What are your thoughts regarding active transportation investment and gentrification? 

I know my fellow Asheville on Bikes folks to be kind and empathetic. I’m going to dig into this one a bit and share my what I’m learning on the journey to advocate with and for our community. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about long-term accountability. I recently knocked on the door of the home where my great-grandmother lived in Kenilworth, and I’m having conversations now with young adult neighbors I taught when they were in elementary school. I feel the pressure as we’re acknowledging our history while writing the next chapter of Asheville’s story. 

Understanding Asheville’s history of redlining, urban renewal, and how our school system has failed our Black students and families means listening to heart-breaking stories of intentional divestment and displacement. Addressing our root issues of poverty will include building bridges and breaking down walls as we remove barriers to participation in community engagement around our budget, planning, and policies. The journey to becoming one of the fastest-gentrifying cities in the country didn’t happen overnight, and addressing the fears of vulnerable neighborhoods will be tremendous work.

We need creative ways to address needs identified in neighborhood plans. That means following up on the input provided by those most impacted by systemic racism, and ensuring frontline communities are represented at the table during every point of decision making. I hear so many neighbors say they’ve gone to meetings and filled out surveys, but nothing came of it. I acknowledge the fear when being labeled an “opportunity zone” means having to ask who benefits from the opportunity. Infrastructure and mobility improvements make a neighborhood more accessible and safer to navigate and therefore more desirable for folks to move in so property taxes to go up. We’re in a challenging situation since neighborhoods are being left behind and neighbors displaced, but we need to invest in preservation of our historic Black neighborhoods. 

One tool we can use to build trust is participatory budgeting, which is currently being implemented in Greensboro and Durham. This is a pool of funds for capital improvements that are decided through a community process outside of the structures of government, which means you can start voting in middle school and the process could be housed in places like community centers, food trucks, and music venues. It funds capital projects (anything you can build). Think sidewalks, pedestrian-activated crosswalk signals, and bus stop infrastructure. My hope is that this will lead to more neighbors joining in the conversation about how our tax dollars are being allocated, and that our youth participating in the decisions will be a contagious cause for celebration!

What is the most impactful transportation investment city council could approve to advance transportation? How do you measure the return on this investment? 

Our occupancy taxes from our tourism industry should be funding the Downtown Circulator identified in the Transit Master Plan. The benefits would be measured in traffic counts for all modes and accounting for parking revenue, which could be increased if the circulator connected with park and ride service centered on the needs of the people of Asheville. A trolley-style service similar to the one in Knoxville would honor our city’s history of having a trolley that my great-great Aunt Faye used here; could be fully electric with a fast-charging system; would be a solution to getting our visitors out of cars while supporting our Downtown businesses and workers; and would look really beautiful in our city.