Asheville City Council primary election guide

by David Forbes October 6, 2015

Drawing on your questions, the Blade asks the candidates for Asheville City Council seats about the topics that matter to our city

Above: City Hall by night, photo by Max Cooper

Today is primary election day. If you didn’t vote during early voting, you can cast your ballot today at your polling place (you can look that up here if you wish) from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Asheville’s system for local offices is non-partisan, so the primary will narrow the field of 15 down to six candidates. As there are three open seats, you can vote for up to three candidates. As evidenced by the sheer number of candidates, this is a particularly key time in the city’s history. Our elected officials have, depending on how they use it, a lot of power to shape what happens during the years to come.

Back in August, we asked our readers to submit possible questions for candidates, and you responded overwhelmingly with sharp, insightful queries. Eventually we settled on ten: five general ones about issues facing Asheville, and five Yes/No questions about specific proposals Council has or may consider. We asked about housing, segregation, wages, public space, taxes and more. The responses are presented here for you to judge as you see fit.

If you don’t see us ask about a topic in this questionnaire, don’t despair: we had too many good questions for a single guide, and are saving some really sharp ones for the general election too.

Council candidate guides below, presented in the same order they appear on the ballot.

Corey Atkins (candidate did not respond to questionnaire)