Name: Kristen Goldsmith
Profession: Retail manager
In up to three words, describe your political affiliation: Progressive Democrat
In one brief sentence, describe yourself and why you’re running: As a former architect, and current shift worker, I’m focused on sustainable development for Asheville, including affordable housing and fare-free public transit.
General questions
These questions are about problems, challenges or topics facing city government and how you will try to deal with them if elected.
1) Despite pressure from the transit workers union, riders and council repeatedly designating the bus system as a major priority, senior staff have consistently failed to provide it the funds even the city’s own plans say are necessary. How do you plan to deal with this situation?
I will partner with Buncombe County to fully fund the transit master plan, including fare free public transit and the development of park and ride facilities in the County. We also need to be more assertive in insisting that the TDA provide funding for transit, including a downtown circulator, which could be funded immediately using the 25% of monies designated for community projects. Half of Asheville’s workers live outside the city limits because they can’t afford housing in Asheville, and they commute into Asheville for work every single day. Fare free public transit will provide all of Asheville’s workers and residents with the means to get around our city. It will increase economic opportunity, access to services, benefit local businesses, and it will assist in meeting our environmental sustainability goals by taking cars off the road.
2) Despite an incredibly poor environmental record, especially on the storage of dangerous coal ash, Duke Energy has kept gaining power in the city’s sustainability decision-making process. How will you respond to this?
We are in the midst of a climate emergency and Asheville’s residents are demanding renewable energy. We should partner with Buncombe County to install renewable energy infrastructure on our public and commercial buildings, and look for additional ways to reduce our dependency on Duke’s power grid. As leaders at the city level, we must also call on our state legislators to change the legislation that allows Duke to operate as a monopoly, and demand more competition in our energy market.
3) The city of Asheville’s land and facilities are dotted with blatantly racist monuments and memorials, from the confederate regime monuments in Pack Square to paintings like “the white man’s family council” in council chambers. What’s your plan to remove these?
These monuments and murals are a depiction of our past that we have to acknowledge and reconcile. In the case of the paintings in Council Chambers, the answer is simple—take them down. What we choose to display in our halls of power should reflect the values we aspire to—those of equity and inclusion. Failing this, we cannot say that City Hall belongs to everyone. In the case of other memorials around the city, like the Vance memorial in Pack square, I would engage with our communities of color to seek a way forward. Listening to these communities, I would be open to options ranging from removing the monument to renaming and rededicating it.
4) Senior staff have repeatedly ignored council on issues ranging from transit and development to refusing and delaying implementing rules reining in the police department. If elected, what will you do when senior staff outright ignore or defy elected officials?
City Council is the body that outlines the City’s vision and instructs the City Manager to enact plans accordingly. We have to differentiate between cases where the situation on the ground prohibits or limits City Staff from enacting the will of the council from cases of ignoring or defying Council. My impression is that the vast majority of situations fall into the former category. For example, funding the transit master plan turned out to be more expensive than anticipated, due to the increased cost of paratransit. In these cases, Council needs to come back and work with staff to figure out how to get the policies Council approves in place. In cases of outright, intentional defiance of Council, however, those individuals should be dismissed.
5) Mayor Esther Manheimer, with the complicity of much of the current council, has repeatedly tried to silence dissent by enforcing a made-up rule against applause or demanding that locals have to give their addresses (they don’t). What will you do to ensure locals can criticize local government without fear of intimidation or retaliation?
Local residents should be able to address their elected officials without fear of intimidation or retaliation; therefore I will make it explicitly clear that it is not mandatory that residents state where they reside in order to address Council. In the case of the prohibition against disruptions, I believe it is important to balance concerns about applause with concerns about fairness and inclusion. Many locals depend on the City Council livestream, and repeated or extended loud disruptions impair their ability to hear the proceedings. I am strongly in favor of a robust and free public dialog, but I also believe that we must be mindful of the dozens of people for whom the livestream is the only way they’re able to participate in city politics.
Yes/No questions
These questions are about specific proposals Asheville City 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. Answers in this section that do not begin with “Yes” or “No” will not be published.
6. During the year-long hotel moratorium, council is reviewing the city’s rules on hotels. Will you reject final power over hotel approval being given to an un-elected board like planning and zoning?
Yes, I believe we need to fundamentally re-write our zoning ordinances in order to better outline the types of development we want to prioritize in our city, including more affordable housing and office space downtown. We can require developers of large projects to invest in infrastructure upgrades to offset the impact of development, and require that they contribute a portion of the project’s value to a community investment fund that can be used for transit, housing, and infrastructure. By clarifying our zoning policies, we will ensure we see the types of development that benefit the members of our community.
7. The APD is the largest police force per-capita of any major city in the state, has some of the worst racial disparities in enforcement and a long history of targeting the homeless and impoverished. Will you support cutting the APD’s budget by at least $7 million?
No, but I will advocate for reallocating $1 million of APD’s annual budget to fund a crisis intervention task force. This task force would be dispatched through our 911 call center to respond to issues surrounding homelessness, mental health, and addiction-related issues. The task force would be comprised of mental health specialists and registered nurses or EMTs who would be dispatched in pairs to respond to these issues without involving law enforcement, and to provide individuals with access to the services they require. We must stop criminalizing these issues in our community, and instead respond in a compassionate manner. I would also require ongoing de-escalation training for law enforcement officials as well as equity and inclusion training for all first responders, which would be funded within APD’s current budget.
8. Asheville is one of the most unaffordable cities in the country. Instead of giving city-owned land to private developers, will you support the city building housing and turning it over to independent tenant co-ops to own and run directly?
Yes, I support the use of city-owned land for affordable housing and transitioning our public housing into a co-op model. I believe that the city can remain the owner of the land and therefore hold those units affordable in perpetuity, while allowing tenants and residents to manage daily operations.
9. Will you publicly call on the Buncombe County commissioners to abolish the Tourism Development Authority by repealing the hotel tax it relies on for revenue?
No, I believe that as long as we have visitors coming into this city we should be able to tax them and to use that money for projects that benefit the people who live here. I do support a significant change to the allocation of money allotted to advertising and community projects. I believe that 75% of the money collected should be used for community projects and 25% for advertising. As long as that money is coming into our community, I believe that we should be able to capitalize on it so that tourism is not simply an extractive process. The money collected via the occupancy tax should be put into funding projects that improve the city for all of the people that live here, including: fare free public transit, a downtown circulator, more greenways and bike lanes, affordable housing, upgrades to our water system, and parks and recreation.
10. City workers face a major wage gap, with some senior staff raking in $150,000 (or far more) a year while firefighters, water system workers and many others remain desperately underpaid. Will you support a minimum salary of $40,000 (tied to inflation) and a maximum salary cap of $100,000 for city workers and staff?
No, however I do support raising the minimum wage for all City workers to $18 per hour ($37,440 per year), in order to get us closer to a wage that’s livable in the City of Asheville.