Name: Grant Millin
Profession: Management Consultant
In up to two words, describe your political affiliation: Democratic Party
In one brief sentence, describe yourself and why you’re running: I am running to help Americans in Asheville ready for the Next New Deal arrive at that tangible, more sustainable, and responsibly innovative civilization standard.
General questions
These questions are about problems, challenges or topics facing city government and how you would try to deal with them if elected.
1) According to recent studies, Asheville has an extremely low amount of available housing and the city’s currently making national lists as an unaffordable place to live. What steps would you pursue to deal with this issue?
Affordable housing is an anti-poverty matter for those Asheville citizens at greatest risk. As a matter of fact when I requested city hall produce its anti-poverty strategy as soon as possible this summer, what I got was a lot of affordable housing and homelessness policy documents. There are tens of thousands of our citizens in poverty or hovering near poverty according to the 2015 COA Bowen housing assessment. Lack of affordable housing is a central poverty driver here in Asheville, just like rising rents and poor opportunities for income growth are poverty drivers across North Carolina and the nation.
The following Federal and state actions need to be resolved while we do what we can inside city limits:
Theoretically existing since 2008 but never fully funded, the 114th congress has now effectively terminated the National Housing Trust Fund.
NC Low Income Housing Tax Credit was allowed to expire this year.
According to the 2015 COA Comprehensive Housing Strategy and Policy Framework:
HUD CDBG funds have been cut 25% since 2010
HUD HOME program funds have been cut 45% since 2010
Politics matter when it comes to affordable housing outcomes.
Also I have requested COA calculate the total annual Asheville renter economic contribution. Renters are mostly the folks experiencing these negative impacts and we make up almost half the Asheville population now. The Asheville renter position needs to be better reinforced and I will be happy to help cover this more should I be elected to city council. Renters United is simply a Facebook Page now, but Renters United is part of the larger Sustain Asheville initiative I will be rolling out.
Another important point to consider is that according to the NC Courts there were 1,229 evictions last year. While down from 1,472 the year before, Pisgah Legal Services confirms most of these destructive evictions are about no other reason than fellow citizens hitting the poverty wall and either not knowing where to turn, or there not being enough nonprofit/government resources to rely on.
2) During the past year, we’ve seen an increasing numbers of concerns raised about de facto racial segregation in Asheville, an issue worsened by the impacts of redlining, racism, urban renewal and the state of public housing. If elected, what specifically would you do to help address this problem?
Discrimination has a broad set of systemic factors and discriminatory abuse can have different appearances to both the responsibly party and the targets. The targets of discriminatory abuse may or may not even know what the abuses are. Along with setting up the WNC Public Advocate Office around the Sustain Asheville / Sustain WNC initiative I would be willing to propose an Asheville anti-discrimination strategy similar to Australia’s anti-racism strategy: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/race-discrimination/projects/national-anti-racism-strategy-and-racism-it-stops-me-campaign
3) From internal disputes and problems with morale to concerns about racial disparities, many are wondering about the state of the Asheville Police Department. What specific steps do you see as necessary to reform the APD and improve relations with the community?
If there’s been no progress in these matters under the new APD chief by time the January city council oaths are taken, we will have a significant challenge. ‘Reform APD’ is a massive concept so that requires a great understanding of what needs to be reformed. I have the government ethics experience to follow up on such matters. Ideally the new APD Chief will be providing more details as to what she is finding before the holidays. If not, that would be disturbing to find there were no news as to the health of the Asheville Police Department and any changes among previously negatively impacted constituencies over the next 60 days.
If little to no positive change has occurred by January—and more importantly there’s enough evidence conditions are getting worse—then I would be one willing to look into US DOJ intervention as a member of council. But we should give Chief Hooper a chance first. This summer and fall have been her chance. In political terms her public support will be waning without some presentation soon. Preferably her findings are positive and can be verified as on the ground improvements.
Also ‘reform’ can mean significant structural corruption, racism, etc. While I am interested in understanding individual cases more, I would need an external authority to describe any structural reform criteria supporting constituency claims of such events before launching into such accusations. I agree widespread external and internal lack of faith in APD is something that goes on city halls Top Ten risk list. I am happy to talk more about my government ethics experiences, but I’d also like to give Chief Hooper reasonable chances to put together her perspective before getting into this more.
Any APD reforms need a team effort, possibly up to Federal intervention if necessary. I am running for city council because I’m not intimidated by the importance or complexity of getting our police services up to new national standards that are really just now forming.
I can say for certain now that I am one of the people who requested an APD evidence-based body camera policy. Specifically I recommended COA make use of the DOJ recommendations in “Implementing a Body-Worn Camera Program: Recommendations and Lessons Learned” (DOJ 2014). Early in September I asked for city hall follow up, but the only thing I see is that this month’s Public Safety Committee meeting was cancelled.
Bureau of Justice Assistance Body Camera Toolkit:
https://www.bja.gov/bwc/ Is city hall deferring body camera policy for the next council? Delay wasn’t what I had in mind. Just good body camera policy. I suggest citizens make their own inquiries now.
4) Wages in Asheville are well below the state average and federal data shows pay for many jobs here remains stagnant despite the tourism boom. If elected, what specific steps would you pursue to help boost local wages?
I recommend many changes to the way we look at merging sustainability and economic development strategy (EDS) in this article:
Teamwork and an open source approach to our challenges can replace AdvantageWest
http://www.grantmillin.com/wnc-open-innovation-eds/
Other than the tough work of EDS in the current climate that I am happy to influence with the knowledge behind my management consulting work, raising the Federal minimum wage to at least $10.10 by 2017 is our best option. The State of North Carolina otherwise controls minimum wage limits for private organizations inside North Carolina municipalities. This is another one of the political choices facing citizens: the Republicans are against mandatory minimum wages. If folks vote Republican or don’t vote on all ballot categories for policies supporting living wages, and don’t urge others to get out and vote in an educated manner, then we end up with less.
5) The last city budget estimated the total cost of the city’s infrastructure needs at around $400 million. What steps would you encourage to address this problem, what funding sources would you use and what would the top priorities be?
I have a Master of Project Management degree and infrastructure issues were the bulk of our case studies. I continue to keep a focus on the value of modern infrastructure, as well as basic human needs and our essential environmental services. For example right now I am working on an alternative to Duke Energy’s WNC Modernization Project called Smart Grid DEEP.
The most recent COA budget document states capital improvement costs could exceed $400 million. I think we should develop a public, open source ‘Infrastructure and ‘Other’ To Do List for Asheville’ to find out what that To Do List looks like and what funding is needed and when based on local priorities.
Just like my other answers, folks need to get educated on who has interest in these matters when it comes to political philosophy and the knowledge base of folks they vote for. According to the Federal Reserve, US household wealth hit $85 trillion this year. If enough of us think the tax and budget priorities of the current GOP-managed 114th congress and State of North Carolina are sufficient, then the unmet needs list will grow and more local taxes, fines, and fees will have to be raised to cover the bare bones.
I happen to have two articles ready on infrastructure/development issues:
Passenger rail to Asheville? Add more value with sustainability innovation
http://www.grantmillin.com/passenger-rail-to-asheville-add-more-value-with-sustainability-innovation/
What will Asheville City Center look like in ten years?
http://www.grantmillin.com/asheville-city-center/
Yes/No questions
These questions are about specific proposals Council has or may consider, and how you would vote on them. The first word of each answer *must* be Yes or No. An explanation of one’s position or an alternative proposal may follow.
1) A majority of Asheville City Council recently approved increased fines and enforcement to strengthen the ban on short-term rentals (i.e. Airbnb and similar sites) in most areas of the city. Do you support this move?
Yes
2) City staff recently proposed a detailed plan to restrict busking in downtown in three major spots, with specific rules on the numbers of performers and the amount of space they can occupy. Do you support this proposal?
No
I think both buskers and in-store merchants are looking for downtown scene solutions. If not this year, the next council will be making a decision on these matters. The Asheville Busker Collective has done a good job at altering perspectives on buskers and I’ve been personally informed. I completely agree buskers are legitimate stakeholders in the Asheville’s community strategy.
3) Do you support a $12.50 minimum wage for all city of Asheville employees, regardless of classification or status?
Yes
This wage increase may cause cuts in other areas if state and Federal returns continue to be rolled back. But if Asheville folks are willing and able to participate in the dignity of work, then that work needs to include that even PT jobs are now critical economic solutions for the worker. These ‘summer jobs’ are most likely serious economic solutions for our people. COA needs to set the bar higher. I just hope the 114th congress will get it soon and agree to the President’s minimum wage increase.
4) Will you approve city funds to support the proposal, backed by the city-county African-American Heritage Commission, for a monument on Pack Square marking the contributions and history of Asheville’s black citizens?
Yes
However I would seek to modify the new monument concept and related programming to include the diverse demographics of Asheville. But along with Native Americans, Hispanics, and other Europeans, African-Americans most certainly have a strong tie into the fabric of WNC history. Obviously the inequities have been strong too. There’s no denying African-American contribution and sacrifices rate increased recognition.
My family purchased T.S. Morrison & Co. (current location of Lexington Avenue Brewery) in 1980 and our efforts were part of the reason there is no Downtown Mall today. T.S. Morrison & Co. opened in 1897 and was the oldest continually operating retail store in Asheville until 2006. The final owner T.S. Morrison & Co. did a fire sale that gutted the store’s ‘old timey’ interior. I did ask the Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County for help in turning T.S. Morrison & Co. into the WNC Heritage Museum in 2006. Unfortunately I was told there were no funds for historical preservation. This heritage museum would be of a diverse cultural nature and I still want to see a WNC Heritage Museum in Asheville.
5) This year’s city budget included a property tax increase, with a majority of the current Council claiming this was necessary due to revenue changes at the state level. Do you support that increase?
No .
As I state in my other responses, the tax and budget priorities and other policy choices at the state and Federal levels can’t be ignored. I urge voters to talk openly with each other and elected officials and appointed public officials at all levels of government about how these macroeconomic matters are unavoidable in cities like Asheville now. Of course what to do about rising rents and stagnant income-generating options are a problem requiring serious government intervention.
I feel I am more then prepared to enact many of the needed tangible positive community innovations. Count on me to challenge these seemingly intractable assumptions about the state and Federal levels being impervious to the needs at the municipal level and somehow separate from realties on the ground here in Asheville and other North Carolina communities.
Here’s something about Bush I’s infamous statement on not raising taxes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read_my_lips:_no_new_taxes