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Budgets, Pools, Schools, and Bathrooms

Council’s Strategic Priorities

Friends and neighbors, it’s budget season at City Hall and our City Council retreat is this week.

What are Strategic Priorities? Each year at the City Council retreat, Council sets our strategic priorities for the coming year which influence our City’s budget, plans, and policies. In addition to our Asheville Comprehensive Plan, the priorities guide the Council and staff work in every meeting and through our work plans.

Current Strategic Priorities:

  • Reimagine Public Safety
  • Reparations
  • Equitable, Affordable Housing & Stability
  • Homelessness Response
  • Improve & Maintain Infrastructure & Core Services
  • Climate & Neighborhood Resilience

When and Where? The Council budget retreat was Feb. 22-23rd from 9am-4:30pm in the banquet hall on the 2nd floor of the Harrah’s Cherokee Civic Center, 87 Haywood Street, 28801. Next public hearing: May 28th at 5pm.

Disrupting the Racial Opportunity Gap
Asheville Peak Academy is showing great outcomes in reducing the racial opportunity/achievement gap impacting Black students in our schools, check out the story here!

Here is the ARPA/COVID-19 funding request timeline from the perspective of my role on Council:

  • Sept. 7, 2023: Email from Peak staff requesting ARPA funds
  • Sept: Identify potential revenue streams, including Strategic Partnership Funds (SPF) focused on closing racial opportunity gap
  • Oct. 13th: Equity & Engagement Committee (E&E) votes on $50,000 for Peak and to identify additional SFP funds
  • Nov. 7th: Conversation with City Manager on process for support, hear Peak will need to apply and meet ARPA requirements
  • Nov. 30th: Staff unclear, vote again at E&E to identify funds
  • Jan: Council conversations resurface about ARPA, Roney supports
  • Jan. 16th: At E&E, staff do not recommend additional SPF funds
  • Jan. 16th: Staff denies Roney’s request to meet with ARPA facilitator
  • Jan. 18th: Council Agenda Briefing – ARPA process review
  • Jan. 22nd: Peak on record in public comment at Council
  • Feb. 13th: Council discussion on remaining ARPA funds, Roney recommends both 24-7 bathrooms and Peak request, majority support
  • Feb. 15th: Roney re-elevates original email from Peak staff to City Manager, requesting necessary path to formally apply for ARPA
  • Feb 27th: Peak funding request is scheduled for Council agenda, passes unanimously.

The Deep End

On February 21st, I attended the community event at Lucy Herring Elementary regarding the future of the pool at Malvern Hills Park. When I got there, I heard and shared concern–instead of talking about the pool, we were talking about issues with the meeting process. There wasn’t a presentation scheduled, translation providers weren’t able to participate, and there was no way for questions to be meaningfully answered for the packed room. Neighbors asked to reconfigure the meeting structure so everyone could be heard. That’s when kids gathered together to chant, “Save our pool!” and the room gathered into a circle of neighbors facing each other, able to see and hear each other. The conversation was still tense, but these are some of the things I heard from the conversation:

  • The City should provide more detailed information about the project and estimates in a single, accessible location on the City’s website.
  • There are still questions about legacy zoning clauses and impact on code compliance that need answers.
  • Neighbors expect a timeline for reopening the pool to be provided so additional funding streams might be explored, including private-public partnerships.
  • The Parks & Rec staff were asked to extend deadlines and re-open public input survey options.
  • We haven’t forgotten that the Southside recently lost the historic Walton Street Pool, and we know our pools are public assets that benefit the whole community.

I’m committed to neighborhood resiliency, to prioritizing making this a great place to live and work, which means investing in public facilities for affordable, family-friendly activities to connect with each other and nature. More to come! Stay tuned with the neighborhood as they organize through this petition.

About that bathroom…

On February 13th, Council voted 5-1 to invest federal funds into installing a permanent, 24/7 bathroom Downtown. Some reasons I decided to support it:

  • People who live, work, and visit Downtown need access to a bathroom at all hours of the day.
  • Lack of bathroom access creates public health issues.
  • It’s ADA-accessible.
  • It’s a matter of human dignity and improves quality of life.
  • This model is designed for high-traffic use and ease of maintenance.
  • There are other public bathrooms Downtown but they aren’t open 24/7 and would cost double the amount within 5 years due to staffing projections.
  • Upfront, it looked cheaper to just open and staff one of the existing facilities. Doing our due-diligence, estimates showed that opening existing facilities instead would be double the cost within 5 years, not to mention the anticipation of staffing issues and closures. That means no bathrooms again which isn’t just fiscally irresponsible, it’s untenable. The Portland Loo model is the most responsible option we have at this time.

Sharing the Work Together

Read the thermometer, be the thermostat!  In advance of the Council retreat, I’ve published my 2nd Collaborative Legislative Agenda.

My top ten priorities from the survey for 2024:

  • Expand Buncombe Community Paramedic programming for behavioral health crises.
  • Continue recommendations in NAEH report to reduce homelessness by 50%
  • Listen to grassroots, community groups, and impacted individuals through the Reparations process.
  • Restore living wage policy for City staff so they can live in communities they serve.
  • Partner for anti-displacement as equitable, affordable housing strategy.
  • Pursue new, untapped revenue streams and get more of our hotel occupancy taxes funding infrastructure.
  • Tie action on Climate Justice Initiative to existing neighborhood plans.
  • Lean into property tax mitigation to address disproportionate impact on historic Black and vulnerable neighborhoods.
  • Advance constitutional rights of pedestrians, cyclists, and all modes excluded from Written Consent to Search.
  • Review City housing policies/incentives to address disparities across race and gender.

I’m dedicated to sharing work to #BeBoutitBeingBetter, to providing information on decisions being made in City Hall and how we can participate. Thank you for sharing the work to take better care of each other and our mountain home.

With gratitude, Kim Roney