Mayoral Candidates,
Week 6
Terry Bellamy
William Boyd
Chuck Cloninger
H.K. Edgerton
Dave Goree
Mickey Mahaffey
Brian Peterson
Bill Porter
Charlie Worley
Terry Bellamy
 We
need to take better care of our citizens - from their education,
through their working lives, to their retirement. I want to help
our citizens to enjoy the benefits of Asheville's high quality of
life opportunities. That's why I support:
- Increasing the availability of attractive, safe and affordable
housing.
- Encouraging partnerships with our school system, local
non-profits and our retired population to support the academic
success of our youth.
- Working to increase the number of jobs opportunities.
- Supporting our existing businesses and industries.
- Increasing our transportation options.
- Working towards cleaning our air.
- Creating a more walkable city.
- Making needed infrastructure improvements.
- Promoting smart growth development.
- Reducing sprawl patterns.
Our community needs a Mayor that can effectively deal with change
and challenges, work with a diverse population, and model within
themselves the ethical qualities expected of a Mayor. I believe
that as Mayor, I will lead our community in making key decisions
that will positively affect our future. Please vote for me, Terry
M. Bellamy, on October 9th for Mayor. Thank you.
William Boyd
Mr. William Boyd did not respond to a letter inviting him to
participate in The Candidates' Forum. No other means to contact
him were available through the information provided at the Board
of Elections.
Chuck Cloninger
- Led the fight to ban billboards
- Will crackdown on graffiti and vandalism
- Strong advocate of Smart Growth and protection of neighborhoods
- 6 years on Asheville City Council
- Vice Mayor, elected by fellow City Council Members
H.K. Edgerton
During the past week, I spoke with a member of the Shriners and
heard how the Shriners were run out of town. They spent many dollars
in our local economy, but the treatment that they got here prompted
them to take their convention to Hickory. The same has happened
with the Honda Hooters and the Harley Davidson folks-they too received
the same kind of reception from our current City administration.
Under my administration, these people who have filled our restaurants
for years and who have helped our economy will be welcomed.
The incumbents who are running in this election are responsible
for this loss of business. They are responsible for our loss of
water and for increasing water rates. They are responsible for driving
away two Super Wal-Marts and for bringing on higher property taxes
which hurt our senior citizens. They have consistently made bad
economic decisions, and it's time to stop voting for them.
This City needs more than an average mayor. This City needs a Great
Mayor-one that will speak on behalf of business and the neighborhoods.
This City needs a Mayor that it can trust. I am born and raised
in Asheville. I have planned all my life to be Mayor. I understand
the modus operandi on this City. There are people in Asheville who
are capable of moving our City forward. I will surround myself with
these people, and I will do what must be done. I am the Mayor that
will lead by example-and I am the Mayor who will keep my word.
Dave Goree
We, the people of Asheville, should not return any of
the current members of Council to office, or reward one of them
by electing them Mayor. They ran off our good jobs through annexations,
they ran off our racers by allowing our racetrack to be closed,
they ran off our Honda Hoot by being stupid, they ran off our Harley
rally and they may have run off our Asheville Smoke. How many hundreds
of millions of our dollars have they thrown away?
We, the Asheville Freedom Team, have several ideas for bringing
new "Big Events" to Asheville and getting back some of
the ones they wasted. I propose to bring a downtown street race
to Asheville, hopefully to include SCCA Trans-Am, Toyota Atlantic,
and the Grand-Am series prototypes. I also propose that The Buncombe
County Golf Course is a perfect location for the USGA Public Links
tournament. (the USGA Women's Amateur at Biltmore Forest CC showed
that WNC will support high level golf) I will also, as Mayor, make
contact with the Honda Rider's Club of America and wrestle the Honda
Hoot back from Knoxville, once the current three year contract expires.
These are ways to build good jobs in Asheville by building the image
of our area as a modern city. We can do this without net City expense.
If these events are operated reasonably we may even make money.
Why vote for more of the same? Are you happy with more of
the same? As I have walked this city meeting voters, I find many
of Asheville's citizens are not happy with the way our City is run.
If you are not happy, vote for change. Vote for The Asheville
Freedom Team. Vote for Dave Goree for Mayor. Vote for Bernard Carman
and Kevin Rollins for City Council. Vote for Freedom. Vote for
lower taxes. Vote for REAL CHANGE.
Don't vote for more of the same.
Mickey Mahaffey
Imagine Asheville in 4 years. What will it look like? Who will live
here? Will it be full of trees and green spaces or spread out in
a sprawl of concrete and big box stores? Will we have clean air
to breathe? Will we walk or bike down the street, greeting our neighbors
and feeling a sense of community, or will downtown be more congested
by cars, full of exhaust and stacked with new parking decks? Will
our city be segregated along racial, cultural, and economic lines?
Will people who work in Asheville be able to afford the cost of
living in this city, or will living our city have a price tag that
only wealthy people can afford?
We have the opportunity to decide. Asheville is at a critical turning
point. I believe our city can become a model of sustainability,
diversity, justice, and community.
I want to bring as many citizens as possible into the process of
shaping Asheville's future. I've heard incredible ideas and visions
for our community the people of this city. Clean air and water;
clean, efficient public transportation; affordable housing and livable
wages; full participation of diverse groups in decision-making;
sustainable development-these are the issues on people's minds.
Asheville needs dialogue and action on these issues, and as mayor
I'd seek to facilitate a radical renewal of participatory democracy.
I believe in the old-time barnraising model of community-building:
all of us bringing our unique contributions and working together
to solve the problems we face.
Brian Peterson
If elected as mayor of Asheville, my top priorities will be:
- Protect and Improve Our Neighborhoods
- Improve Basic City Services
- Spend Our Tax Dollars Wisely
- Support Balanced Economic Development
- Promote Open and Responsive Government
For more information or to help, please call me at 251-0800 work
or at 251-1477 home. My e-mail address is brian.peterson@grimesandteich.com
Bill Porter
 Taxes
= Double Jeopardy
Walter Williams, PhD, a prominent black economist, stated that
"If you tax something you will get less of it. And, if you
subsidize something you will get more of it."
Its mistake Several years ago the US Congress put a 10% luxury
tax on the sale of airplanes, autos and boats over $80,000. This
was a soak the "rich" scheme. The theory was that the
poor would benefit while the wealthy paid the tax. Unfortunately
for the poor, the wealthy did not pay the tax, but instead they
purchased their boats overseas and avoided the tax altogether. When
the "wealthy" shifted their boat buying overseas all but
one East Coast boatyard was closed and thousands of workers lost
their jobs. In summary the "wealthy" were inconvenienced,
but the workers lost their jobs, as their employers went out of
business. After 2 or 3 years Congress acknowledged its mistake and
repealed the "Luxury Tax Law", but it was too late to
save the shipyard companies and the worker's jobs.
In the past 2 weeks, our state legislature voted to increase the
sales tax by ½%. This will reduce consumer buying power and
our standard of living. Employers seeking to relocate will be reluctant
to subject their employees to a lower standard of living and will
chose another state. As Asheville struggles to attract more businesses
with its already high taxes and high utility rates, the state has
only made our desire to attract more businesses more difficult.
Charlie Worley
As the primary election approaches, we cannot help but be affected
by recent events. The terrorist attack on our nation has had a great
personal impact on each of us. The impact on the nation's economy
and how that will ultimately affect our community concerns us.
In the face of such a national tragedy, our individual priorities
have been re-examined. As a community, our priorities have changed.
Some of those things that seemed important to us yesterday are not
as important today. Our next mayor will have to deal with the effects
that national issues have on Asheville. We will have to work closely
with our neighbors around us and will have challenges yet unknown
as the entire nation goes through change. We will need strong, solid,
balanced and experienced leadership over the next four years.
I ask that you look at my record of service to our community: service
on City Council since 1991; service on the Water Authority (Chairman
- 2 years); current service on the Land of Sky Regional Council
(Executive Committee), and on the North Carolina Joint Regional
Forum (current Chairman). I have been devoted to helping our community
through volunteer service on numerous special committees, boards
and commissions. For a complete overview of my experience, see my
web site at www.charlieworley.org.
I am committed to our community and to representing ALL the people
that live here. I have demonstrated solid, balanced leadership,
the kind that ensures a prosperous, safe haven for our families.
I urge you to vote on October 9th. There has rarely been a time
when strong leadership mattered more to our community.
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