Quick hit

by David Forbes November 12, 2014

Asheville City Council dishes out housing grants, passes rezonings, takes criticism and goes behind closed doors in a short meeting

Above: A map of a proposed subdivision on South Charlotte Street, bordering downtown, from city documents.

Compared to the multi-controversy cavalcade that was the last meeting of Asheville City Council, Tuesday night’s affair was (for the most part) comparatively quick and uncontroversial. There were no big fights over naming rights, no coal plant showdowns and no close-ranks defense of the police department’s leadership and city management against its critics. Instead of three hours, the meeting finished up in one.

But that doesn’t mean that the business of the city — for better or worse — didn’t still proceed. Decisions were still made and, especially in the public comment portion at the end, criticism and concerns raised. While the long brawls draw the attention, plenty happens in quick hit meetings like this too.

Houses going up

Somewhat unexpectedly, $425,000 in federal HOME grants were suddenly free when the Henderson County Board of Commissioners rejected a 64-unit affordable housing development because they didn’t approve of density or increased traffic.

So the funds went back to the Asheville Regional Housing Consortium, where the city again had to vote on dispersing them. The proposal was that the funds go to five different projects across the area: Asheville’s Shiloh Taft Development ($140,000 for 10 green homes sold to low-income families), Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministries’ homeless prevention program ($9,326 to assist 28 households facing homelessness), Madison Country rural housing rehab ($50,000 to rehab two to four homes belonging to low or very-low-income families, Mountain Housing Opportunities’ East Haven apartments in Swannanoa ($62,837 towards 60 low-income units) and Housing Assistance Corporations’ Mud Creek Village in Hendersonville ($162,837 toward 66 units of affordable housing).

Resident Judy Strong wondered why volunteers couldn’t do some of the work on the Madison County rehabs, stretching the dollars farther, but Jeff Staudinger, the city’s assistant director of community and economic development and its point person on affordable housing issues, pointed out that a requirement for professional contractors was part of the deal for the federal grants.

Council also received questions about why the funds were going to developments outside city limits, but noted that as the grants were allocated to the regional consortium, they had a duty to spend them throughout the area.

“The federal government disperses these to the Asheville area,” Council member Gordon Smith said.  “This isn’t Asheville-specific, though we are the primary entity that disperses the dollars. But the intent is to have that money to create affordable housing across the four counties.”

Like every matter before Council that evening, approval of the grants sailed through 6-0 (Vice Mayor Marc Hunt was absent from the meeting).

Council also signed off on the redevelopment of a chunk of land on South Charlotte Street. Seized by the city from the predominantly African-American East End neighborhood during urban renewal, the land was again sold in 2005 to the Brandon Knolls company which now wants it developed into six lots for residential housing, combined with a new road leading to them.

“These aren’t ranch houses, they’re a more vertical style of home,” new Interim Planning Director Alan Glines said. “We feel that it meets city goals because it encourages higher-density development where there’s suitable infrastructure. Because the land’s currently vacant, it will contribute to the fabric of that neighborhood.”

No one commented during the public hearing. The staff report endorsing the project asserted that it promotes “affordability and economic mobility.”

“While the lots are not [emphasis in original] designed for affordable units, the lots should be more affordable because of their smaller size and location,” the report reads.

Criticisms and concerns

While the meeting portion of the evening may have proved fairly uneventful however, public comment proved another matter entirely.

Priscilla Ndiaye, chair of the Southside Advisory Board, said she had concerns about rising evictions from public housing, that the city needs to pay attention to people displaced by a changing city.

“It disturbs me to look around and see that there’s more focus on the infrastructure than the people,” Ndiaye said. “I know there are reports saying homelessness has decreased, but when I see the increase of children in the shelters, that lets me know we have a problem.”

The city is partnering with the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville to redevelop Lee Walker Heights, at the same time a controversial overhaul of HACA’s management and funding is moving forward.

“What is going to happen with all those families who are going to be displaced?” she asked. “Within those evictions you have residents who can’t go back into public housing. So where are they can they go? If they apply for other housing, based on their credit report, based on a criminal history, they have nowhere to go. In your plans, when you’re building the city, think about the people.”

Police controversy continues

Jonathan Robert, a frequent critic of the Asheville Police Department’s current leadership and Asheville City Council, called for the censure of Council member Cecil Bothwell.

On Monday, news broke that Lt. Bill Wilke, who’s had public conflicts with Anderson since last year, had found an August memo in his APD personnel file warning him about not securing a replacement for his Army Reserve training and noting that “failure of this nature in the future will result in disciplinary action.” A video of Wilke finding the memo was provided to some local media by the PBA. The Department of Labor investigated the incident and as part of a settlement (which Wilke rejected) the city agreed to remove the memo from his personnel files in City Hall and the APD offices. An Oct. 22 memo from city attorneys to the Department of Labor asserted that the memo was never placed in his official personnel file, agreed never to place it there “in a good faith effort” and that the only copy remained with the city attorney.

Council members have admitted that the APD had a policy that required officers to find replacements which, when applied to officers absent for military training, is against federal law, but claim the rule was repealed in late October and not enforced prior to that. City legal staff and Council members have asserted that the memo didn’t constitute a reprimand and wasn’t related to Wilke’s military service.

In an email, Bothwell wrote that North Carolina Police Benevolent Association Executive Director John Midgette should “piss up a rope” and stay out of the APD’s internal struggles.

Robert asserted that Bothwell should be censured for that remark and his criticism of the dissenting officers.

“I’m here to call for Mr. Bothwell’s censure,” he said. “Bothwell has gone on social media, he’s called police officers liars, he’s called police officers racists.”

“This is conduct unbecoming of a City Council member, it shames me as a citizen of this city,” he continued. “If any of you people on Council had backbone you would censure this man.”

While Council has closed ranks in support of Chief William Anderson and City manager Gary Jackson’s plan to use outside consultants to assess and overhaul the police department, Bothwell has been particularly vocal in his reaction, accusing Anderson’s critics of pursuing a political agenda and asserting that racism plays a role in the backlash against the city’s first African-American police chief.

Bothwell didn’t respond to Robert’s criticism at the meeting. However, shortly after, he emailed the following response to the Asheville Blade:

I stand behind my stated positions concerning recent allegations about the APD. The Wilke memo published by the Asheville Citizen-Times precisely contradicts the reported allegations concerning a ‘reprimand.’ There was no reprimand issued.

Concerning the allegation that I have accused officers of racism in their critiques of Chief William Anderson, that is not the case. I have indicated that racism is surely a factor, and anyone who believes that racism doesn’t exist in our culture, is in denial.

Later that night, Bothwell also emailed an open letter to local media apologizing to Midgette for “my colorful language” and asserting that the incident showed that Wilke was never reprimanded. The letter also asks Midgette to apologize for his criticism of Bothwell.

Keep it quiet

Council also heard from some downtown condo owners upset at the level of noise in the city’s core and calling for the return of a ban on outdoor speakers.

“I and others in the Central Business District have been very deleteriously impacted by this,” Andrew Clark, who owns a condo on the South Slope, said. “We purchased our homes with this protection in place.”

Brian Edwards, who owns a condo on Broadway, also objected, presenting a letter from his building’s condo association asserting that “our residents are severely impacted” by speakers from nearby bars.

“We urge you to stay focused on your mission: creating an environment that is attractive and welcoming,” he said.

Closed doors

While the public meeting itself was fairly short, if the motion for Council’s ensuing closed session was any indication, they might have spent a longer time in the chamber behind the Council dais. On their agenda for that meeting was considering unspecified economic incentives, the possible sale or purchase of property and two lawsuits (involving the Villas development and the state’s attempt to seize the water system). No more word on any of those items yet, though if Council ends up taking any action, they’ll have to declare and vote on it publicly.

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