I am running for re-election in continued pursuit of these community goals.

I am proud of Buncombe County’s many tangible accomplishments over the last few years which include:

• Dedicated investment in public educators and new schools
• Investment in sustainability and farmland conservation
• Innovation in human services, focused on delivering excellent service to citizens
• Renewed commitment to public health principles and greenway infrastructure
• Focus on jobs retention and recruitment

Since serving on the Board of Commissioners, Holly has played a key role in the adoption of: a steep slopes ordinance; a county sustainability program; a greenway master planning effort; and the return of televised public comment. In budget adoptions, she has fought for strong investments in public education and public safety, and their infrastructure. She is tireless advocate for affordable housing and public health.

I am proud to count myself as a participant in our country’s long tradition of progressive change. I am proud to live in a community that elected the first female candidate, Lillian Exum Clement, to a state legislature in the Southeastern United States. For the past sixteen years I have worked for the YWCA of Asheville, whose mission is the empowerment of women and the elimination of racism. I bring those same core values to my work as a public official. I also identify with the mission and core values of Democracy for America, which is to support fiscal accountability and socially progressive policies at all levels of government.

Health and human services make up the largest percentage of the Buncombe County budget and thus requires leadership in touch with the needs and priorities being addressed with these dollars. Furthermore, the services delivered in this arena have huge impacts on the daily lives of working families in Buncombe County. I am the candidate who is in touch daily with the real world issues being addressed by this sector. In terms of success, over the last decade social services in Buncombe County have experienced strong and visionary leadership, resulting in effective partnerships to deliver much needed aid to our most vulnerable. The community partnerships established by DSS with entities such as AB Tech, Mission Hospital, ABCCM, demonstrate a deep commitment by the department to address the root causes of poverty and joblessness and not simply deliver federally mandated services.

The area for improvement I would highlight has to do with the issue of the consolidation of social services and health services. While a valid idea in theory, its ultimate effectiveness is dependent on broad community buy-in. I am concerned this has not happened sufficiently and the consolidation effort has been driven primarily by short-term cost savings. Given that the consolidation is a done deal, I would like to champion its true effectiveness with the community in terms of service delivery and cost efficiencies.

It’s clear the piecemeal approach that we have taken to land use and community planning is inadequate to address the challenges of growth. We need a shared vision for how our community and region will grow and develop. The County Commission is the logical body to lead a community-wide process for creating a shared vision and plan for our future. I will make creating a regional plan a top priority on the County Commission. While I believe the specifics of that plan must be based on input from the whole community, core concerns that are important to me include:

Fostering walkable, bikeable and transit friendly neighborhoods throughout the county.
Strong incentives for green building.
Provisions to assure creation of affordable housing.
Creation of a county-wide network of protected natural areas and greenways.
Preservation of working family farms.
Strengthening the economic vibrancy of the downtown areas of all our municipalities.

I do not support growth for the sake of growth, but I think it’s unrealistic to think that people are going to stop moving to Asheville in the near future. Our goal must be to assure that we shape a pattern of development that reflects our community goals and values. By insisting that new development be as green and energy efficient as possible, improving the energy efficiency of the existing built environment and creating new sources of clean energy, we can place our community on the path of sustainability. Similarly, we should focus new growth in areas within our existing developed landscape, rather than on our best remaining farmland and natural areas.

The pursuit of such development is a great forward step in green job creation. The Buncombe County commission has a leadership role in job creation in our community and I would pursue this avenue of green job creation aggressively. One final concrete example of the marriage of environmental stewardship and economic growth is the promotion of local farmers. Growth of this local food industry is a winner environmentally and economically (not to mention promoting healthier eating habits) and I would advocate Buncombe County pursuing policies that support it.