Due Submitted: Monday, August 10th

1) Would you like your candidacy to be endorsed by the Sierra Club and Why?

Yes, I would be honored to be endorsed by the local chapter of Sierra Club, and have greatly appreciated its endorsement in the past as your City Councilmember. The Sierra Club’s Environmental Justice Policy and commitment to applying an equity lens make WENOCA a key partner, especially as an authoritarian federal government undermines environmental protections and threatens human rights.

Locally, as we recover from Helene, the realities of climate change have never felt closer to home. We must do everything we can to steward a livable planet for ours and future generations, starting at the local level.

I have led with our community to:

• Champion the passage of a Climate Emergency resolution
• Collaborate with Council colleagues to get Neighborhood Resiliency added to Council’s strategic priorities in 2022, which we expanded to Climate & Neighborhood Resiliency in 2023
• Secure funding for the Urban Forestry Master Plan and hiring the City’s first Urban Forester
• Engage community in the process that strengthened our Climate Justice Map and Neighborhood Vulnerability Index
• Identify vulnerabilities in our Emergency Operations Plan with our Fire Department pre-Helene, then leverage national networks to get first responder support to Asheville that addressed vulnerabilities and saved lives
• Secure seats for local subject matter experts on our Helene recovery boards

No one person can do this work alone. My commitment if elected mayor is to inclusive, transparent processes designed to share the work and the wins. I appreciate the opportunity to work together with WENOCA members to take better care of our neighbors and our mountain home.

2) The French Broad River has been named an “impaired river” and suffered massive flooding. Would you support enhanced storm water regulations to protect the river and its tributaries and reduce future flood damage?

Yes. We must use every tool we can, including regulations, given the challenges with our outdated and overburdened stormwater infrastructure, the releasing of wastewater during storms, and continued agricultural runoff into our watershed. 

Having participated in the French Broad Riverkeeper Partnership, I recognize how  relationships can help to make change upstream too, as participants across sectors share their reasons for taking better care of our watershed, participate through leaderful skillsharing, and own responsibility for meaningful change. 

• Will you ensure environmental improvements and repairs are made to the riverways as part of the parks overhaul including riparian buffers?

Yes. It is imperative that the City of Asheville invest in building resiliency into our recovery. With millions of dollars in federal FEMA, Hazard Mitigation Grant, Public Assistance, Disaster Recovery, and local bond funds being invested in our parks, I will continue to provide accountability, advocate for updated and public-facing dashboards, and vote to appoint local subject matter experts to recovery and advisory boards.

I fully support riparian buffers among the tools the City is using for resilient infrastructure alongside integrated stormwater management. You can learn more about the City’s plans, community engagement, and commitment to Helene recovery in our riverfront parks here. 

I have to add a note here about native plant species! As a volunteer with multiple community-led and organizational efforts to clean and repair our parks, I’ve seen firsthand that native plant species played an important role in preventing further damage through Helene. Summer grasses and blooms at Karen Cragnolin Park were among the first signs of hope the following spring.

• What ideas do you have to improve awareness and efforts about local climate change and ways we can advance or improve efforts to reduce future impacts.

Ensuring the public is aware of challenges and invited to participate in solutions is part of my practice of collaborative governance. Examples of how I apply collaborative governance to engagement on climate change awareness and action include:

• Volunteering in schools to educate and empower our youth
• Inviting neighbors to join me in planting trees and participating in cleanups that protect our rivers and streams
• Amplifying community-led climate and neighborhood resilience efforts
• Supporting community gardens and food system work
• Leading by example through walking, biking, and riding transit 
• Using my network to educate on City budgets, plans, and policies 
• Publishing an annual survey and results for my office’s collaborative legislative agenda.

• Should the city minimize storm water runoff by requiring/incentivizing more green infrastructure, retention or detention basins, rain gardens, or other methods to reduce surface water runoff and flooding?

Yes. One of the ways the City of Asheville can be more proactive is to incentivize green infrastructure during development by implementing and updating community benefits tables for new development while prioritizing infill on major corridors with existing stormwater infrastructure. 

3) Single use plastics are a major contributor to water pollution including micro-plastics found in water samples in the French Broad River. They clog storm drains, the recycling center, and our landfill. Would you vote for a policy requiring the city to reduce its use of single use plastics? What ideas do you have for plastic reduction, single use reduction, and overall waste reduction? 

Yes. I was deeply moved by my water quality testing experience with French Broad Riverkeeper Hartwell Carson. I am eager to support plastic reduction through leadership at the City, and have taken the initiative to recommend solutions such as: compostable waste bags for our offices and in dog parks, bulk purchasing of to-go containers to support local businesses and changes in municipal purchasing tied to supporting local businesses. 

While we work to build a coalition for change at the City, I’m organizing for plastic reduction in the community and private sector too by:

• Amplifying community efforts
• Leaning into my relationships as a former service-industry worker
• Supporting partnership funding for waste reduction
• Requesting Costco source plastic-free to-go containers for local businesses, which they confirmed they already do, in contrast to their competitors, who provide bulk styrofoam and plastic.

The City also plays a role in food waste reduction, with the 2021 audit showing 48% of the City’s waste stream being compostable material. I have supported municipal composting to reduce methane gas, and the pilot program has diverted over a million tons in food waste to date. This year, we launched a new partnership with the County for a composting facility at the landfill, the next step towards municipal composting service.

4) Asheville City is undergoing an Urban Forestry Master Plan. Why is the unused funding in the Tree in Lieu fund not being used for the many areas of the community that would benefit from the planting of the trees? How will you activate these funds and get trees in the ground in your first year? 

It is a shame on the City that we have not yet implemented the Tree Fee in Lieu to restore and maintain the tree canopy. Not having a policy in place is the primary reason given.

The plan is to get a policy in place that results in trees in the ground so funds aren’t diverted into operational expenses. Unfortunately, our People & Environment recovery board has not been able to schedule in-depth conversations about urban forestry, and the Urban Forestry Commission is on pause with all the advisory boards through 2027. As liaison to the Urban Forestry Commission (UFC), I championed the recent, special meeting to expedite a tree fee in lieu of policy recommendation for Council this year. 

Our urban tree canopy is living infrastructure, fundamental to successful storm water mitigation while also alleviating the heat island effect, improving air quality, and impacting quality of life. We have several recommendations for amendments to our Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) by the Urban Forestry Commission (UFC) that can strengthen the connection between our tree canopy, watershed, and entire ecosystem along with the aspirational goals in our Living Asheville Comprehensive Plan for: a Livable, Built Environment; a Healthy Community; and Harmony with the Natural Environment. 

As liaison to the Urban Forestry Commission, I support processes and carry recommendations to the full Council. I also knit connections in my role as liaison to the Human Relations Commission and Neighborhood Advisory Committee, carrying that connected advice forward as a member of Council’s Planning, Economic Development, and Environment Committee.  I recognize the importance of public engagement in shared accountability and shared success, critical to securing funding of our first Urban Forester and the ongoing Urban Forestry Master Plan.

5) Asheville City Council has adopted a plan to expand public transportation, including routes, frequency, and hours of operation.

• Do you support greater coverage and reduced frequency or greater frequency on fewer routes, and which will increase ridership? 
• Is ridership growth important? If so, how do we achieve it? 
• How will transit continue to be funded?

Transit has been a top priority for me my entire time in public service. A core City service, it is at the intersection of equitable access, economic mobility, and environmental stewardship.

Asheville’s transit system needs both coverage and frequency to achieve the stated goal of increased ridership, which has been validated by Jarret Walker consultants working on the Comprehensive Operational Analysis study. The challenge is funding.

The choice before Council this month is, using existing funding, should we increase frequency on some routes by cutting coverage to current routes. The intention is to gain new riders who don’t currently opt into transit commutes, but at the expense of riders who currently use the system. The cuts include:

• W1: Cut Haywood Rd from Brevard to Patton – library / polling place, commercial and residential corridor
• W2: Cut Brevard Rd & Tanger Outlets – Transformation Village shelter, major commercial corridor, connection for future Ferry Road service
• N5: Cut Grove Park Inn & Macon Ave – GPI is a Passport funding partner
• S2: Cut Social Security Office, 4 doctor offices & Kenilworth neighborhood
• S3 & S6: Cut service from Hendersonville up to MAHEC
• N2: Cut Beaverdam Rd

A risk is current transit riders moving further out, increasing sprawl and fossil fuel use through reliance on single-occupancy vehicle trips.

I hope this study and the threat of cuts to service has made more of our community aware that more and dedicated funding is needed. The County and City must work together towards a more reliable, regional system with funding and a transit authority is the right tool to move in that direction. 

The Planning, Economic Development, and Environment Committee of Council made a unanimous recommendation that transit funding be prioritized, and I think the new Strategic Plan could be part of that equation, as well as growing the Passport Program, inviting more funding partners from the business community. As a member of the ART-C Coalition that includes Ed Maggart representing Sierra Club, we have also focused on funding advocacy, especially as the County undertakes their own transit study.

6) The city has a multi-modal commission to better address the mix of transportation modes in the city, including bicycles and pedestrians.  How do you think that commission should prioritize its efforts?

Asheville can significantly reduce the amount of space reserved for moving and parking cars by advancing multimodal infrastructure,  reliable public transit, and park and ride services for workers, which can make housing development more cost effective while making it easier to protect our natural resources. The Multimodal Transportation Commission and subcommittees can be leveraged to expand staff capacity, including studying peer cities and researching funding strategies.

The state has mandated removal of parking minimums, and we have additional opportunities to connect transportation and land use through updates to our UDO and passing recommendations from our GAP Plan, Missing Middle Housing Study  & Displacement Risk Assessment, and Affordable Housing Study.

As a transit-reliant pedestrian and cyclist without a car since 2008, I bring my experience to my role on Council to advocate with and for multimodal commuters. Some short and long-term priorities include:

• Land use priorities and planning for mixed-use, transit-oriented development on major corridors so having a car is not a prerequisite to accessing housing, jobs, groceries, education, and healthcare. These priorities can be set at the City, County, and regional level partnerships with our Economic Development Coalition, Land of Sky, and Metropolitan Planning Organization, and accountability for outcomes can come from individuals and organizations. 

An example: the Ferry Road development will include 650+ housing units as well as commercial/community space and ecosystem preservation connected by greenways and waterways. The development is not yet connected to transit or multimodal transportation options, so residents will be limited to vehicular transportation unless the City and County work together to deliver on accessibility beyond single-occupancy vehicles. Additionally, I have supported transit-oriented housing development and look forward to development of the Talbert lot as another example of transit-oriented development.

• Private-public partnerships to address gaps in ADA accessibility to ensure safe mobility and accessibility for all residents, workers, and visitors. Not only are there legal requirements for ADA accessibility, but we are also top three ranked per capita in the state for accident ratios involving bike/pedestrians,with wheelchair users included in the pedestrian category. We know that safe road design considering the most vulnerable users benefits every commuter, and the GAP plan recommendations will require funding partnerships like the NCDOT repaving effort currently underway on Haywood Road.

• Focus locally, lead regionally, impact globally! During my service on the Governor’s Vehicle-Miles Traveled Reduction Task Force, we focused on reducing single-occupancy vehicle trips because transportation has surpassed energy production as a leading cause of carbon emissions in NC. 

As a member of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, I was thrilled to make the motion to advance commuter rail planning and funding priorities for WNC, though funding wasn’t approved in this state budget. Long-range visioning and planning to reconnect Western North Carolina via commuter rail not only honors our history of the trains and trolleys residents like my aunt used here in the 1930’s, it also represents investment of time and resources in a hopeful future for local commuters, sustainable travel for our visitors, a more resilient economy connecting employees and employers, and a significantly improved environmental footprint compared to the recent, exponential growth of our Asheville-Hendersonville airport.

7) Given that global climate change is with us, Asheville City council has adopted a 100% Renewable Energy Goal by 2030 for all city government operations including adoption of LEED Gold Standard for green buildings and installing solar panels on some city owned buildings and property. The city is missing its target of reducing carbon emissions by 4% per year.

• Do you support the continuation of these programs?  Are you willing to continue to reinvest the savings from these programs into the Green CIP (the nation’s first municipal energy savings capital improvement fund) and to continue to increase energy efficiency and renewable energy? Yes and yes.

• If the city cannot fund the new rooftops needed to support solar goals, what is the alternative? Community solar? Parking lot solar?  I support community solar and our community has proven models for parking lot solar in some of our private businesses in the area. 
• Weaverville now has EV Police Cars. Would you support replacing fossil fuel powered city vehicles, police cars, and buses with electric powered vehicles as they need to be replaced?

Yes. I worked to provide oversight and staff support to limit purchase of diesel vehicles. I’ve also voted against purchase of diesel vehicles when other options were available.

As a member of the Multimodal Transportation Commission and Transit Committee for seven years, I supported staff efforts to present an electric fleet replacement schedule for transit that didn’t move forward to Council due to costs and concern that the technology is not yet advanced enough to handle our terrain. Recent decisions have shifted to purchasing hybrid buses after issues with our Protera bus contract resulted in electric buses not being able to be repaired or used. More advanced technology is and will become available.

The life of electric fleet vehicles is typically longer than fossil fuel vehicles, so the narrative of costs should be– how can we afford not to shift our investment? 

• What other measures would you propose to reduce our carbon footprint and to get the city back on track to meet its goals?

A community benefits table for residential development modeled after our table for hotel development could be designed to meet our Comprehensive Plan goals while also providing a clear path for development of affordable housing. This can include points for deeply-affordable housing units, green-building, renewable energy, multimodal infrastructure, stormwater infrastructure, and food systems.

• Will you help in finding grants that Asheville can apply for to help us with some of our environmental initiatives?

Yes, and I have advocated for expansion of our Sustainability department to achieve success. Our staff are currently knitting our goals into Helene recovery, which includes solar with battery backup at city facilities and funding for Resilience Hubs.

8) Would you be willing to lobby the Tourism Development Authority to help fund more Greenways and Parks in Asheville?

Yes, and my position on public third spaces is published here. As an immediate reform strategy, I have supported staff efforts to lobby the TDA and have personally discussed infrastructure funding with TDA members and staff directly. 

Through Council’s legislative agenda, I have consistently led in requesting updates to our state legislation so that a greater percentage of our hotel occupancy tax could be invested in local infrastructure like multimodal, housing, and parks & rec. I remain concerned about our over-reliance on unchecked tourism that overburdens our infrastructure, extracts our natural resources, and displaces our vulnerable neighbors. Our neighbors on the TDA experience the same issues we do. If we ensure Asheville is a great place to live and work, it will also be a great place to visit.

9) The city is facing an affordable housing shortage. What would you do if elected to address this critical issue?

Market-rate housing is not accessible to families in our community, and our affordable housing is based on area median income (AMI) that doesn’t reflect the working people and their families, so we’re going to have to choose to set standards for deeply-affordable, equity-building housing or further subsidize vehicular transportation infrastructure for commuters. This is why I’m fighting for deeply-affordable housing through cooperative & creative solutions:

• Supporting partners including Haywood Street Community Development, Asheville-Buncombe Community Land Trust, and being the only member of Council to support ARPA funding for the Beloved Tiny Home Village, a model for cottage cluster development
• Sector-based housing, cooperative-ownership models, and tenant rights
• Anti-displacement tools–like the home repair funds we just passed–to preserve existing affordability as part of the Missing Middle Housing Study & Displacement Risk Assessment and Legacy Neighborhood Coalition recommendations
• Zoning updates recommended in our Missing Middle Housing Study to remove barriers to solutions for deeply-affordable housing.

One way to expedite processes towards ambitious goals might look like an overlay map using the transit corridors in the Missing Middle Housing Study to show where we can start immediately and measure outcomes. 

The City is undertaking major updates to the UDO, and more immediate changes like cottage cluster amendments are coming soon. Additionally, I continue to advocate for:

• A community benefits table for residential development
• Updates to our Land-Use Incentive Grants for creative and cooperative solutions that are under review to ensure land use and new development work for our growing city while mitigating displacement and healing historic and current racial disparities in outcomes
• Planning for deeply-affordable housing on transit corridors close to resources with a Buncombe-Asheville Transit System that pools resources locally and regionally to improve location affordability and offset the growing costs of transportation while reducing vehicle miles traveled
• Building coalition for state-wide legislation so we can adopt mandatory inclusionary zoning policy that’s not currently available for all municipalities in North Carolina
• Leveraging partnerships for home ownership in neighborhoods vulnerable to displacement and Black/legacy neighborhoods impacted by Urban Renewal and redlining

It can be challenging to balance the urgency that comes with the great need for housing in our community and the need to move at the speed of equity and intentionality in order to avoid repeating the cycles of harm that the City has caused in the past. Asheville City staff have been working with representatives of the Legacy Neighborhoods Coalition (LNC) to understand their needs and recommendations. bringing their lived and professional experiences to the table as volunteer subject matter experts. Together, I believe we can do great work at the intersection of climate and economic justice through neighborhood resiliency, affordable housing for all, and the healing our community longs for.

I have to mention here my exasperation about unchecked short-term rentals and hope there is shared determination to find solutions. In 2021, I worked with colleagues and staff to negotiate a permitting process that would have removed no less than 300 illegal short-term rentals from major platforms automatically. That negotiation did not have enough Council support at the time, and that window has now closed. I remain curious about what partnership can look like to ensure land-use accountability and protection against illegal, whole-home rentals.

10) Would you support higher density infill development and denser development, and the zoning changes necessary to implement these solutions? Would you support allowing duplexes and townhomes in more neighborhoods and expanding access to Accessory Dwelling Units by increasing their size?

Yes, this is part of our work on the Missing Missing Housing Study & Displacement Risk Assessment and our Affordable Housing Plan.

11) What are the major challenges facing the city of Asheville and what will be your top priorities if elected?

Asheville is in a unique position post-Helene to rebuild more resilient systems and invest in infrastructure that will shape our city for generations to come. 

My vision is to take better care of our neighbors and our mountain home, ensuring this is a great place to live and work by addressing affordability, public safety, and climate and neighborhood resiliency. If elected mayor, I will do this through the responsibilities of guiding agenda setting, serving on the Economic Development Coalition, and ensuring we do the people’s work in public for shared accountability and shared success. 

I witnessed our community capacity to take on incredible challenges through Hurricane Helene, and I have hope because my neighbors care to share the work and the wins ahead! 

12) What do you anticipate will be the most important environmental and environmental justice issues you will face if elected? What actions do you plan to take to address these issues?

• Protecting Our Community Against Data Centers: As a member of the Planning, Economic Development, and Environment Committee, I repeatedly requested and moved to recommend a data center moratorium that passed unanimously at Council on June 23rd, 2026. This blocks new data centers from applying to be built while the City of Asheville studies and protects residents against harmful effects of data centers, including:
  • Straining our electric grid
  • Burdening our water system still being repaired post-Hurricane Helene
  • Taking land needed to prioritize housing
  • Increasing the Heat Island Effect
  • Presenting health risks, including infrasound 
• Advocating at the NC Utility Commission: The NC Utility Commission must ensure accountability for Duke Energy, an energy monopoly that requests rate hikes that profit shareholders while they withdraw from necessary investment in renewable energy. I was the only elected official to participate in the local hearing, and voted unanimously with the Council to submit a letter from the City of Asheville regarding rate hikes. 
• Resilience Hubs & Emergency Response: Extreme rain events will continue to come, and emergency preparedness at the neighborhood level is critical. I worked with Council colleagues to support investing recovery funds into resilience hubs, infrastructure that ensures community health and safety on sunny days while being set up for critical emergency response at the neighborhood level during times of crisis. Through community-led efforts, resilience hubs can be designed with food system security, water filtration backup, solar with battery backup, emergency health supplies, and communications plans.