Name: Sage Turner
Profession: Finance & Project Manager, French Broad Food Co+op
In up to three words, describe your political affiliation: Liberal, registered Democratic
In one brief sentence, describe yourself and why you’re running: As a longtime community volunteer, I am alarmed by our community members increasingly being priced out, pushed out, and struggling to feel prioritized; I am committed to working on solutions.
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?
We have to get serious about funding, prioritizing, and implementing the Transit Master Plan. There may be an item on the ballot this November that will allow residents to vote on raising property taxes to fund transit. I’d prefer us to look at more strategic sources, including partnership with the County on financial assistance to meet our transit goals. I chair the downtown parking and transportation committee; we’ve been working on strategies to grow parking incomes from visitors, which in turn increases transit funding (from 500k – 1.2M in the recent past.) We also need to continue to push for tourism tax dollars to help fund transit capital needs so we can focus our funds on operational needs.
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?
I understand the Climate Bill of Rights was in part to help break the Duke monopoly; that without it, Duke can only move us to 90% renewables. Our own adopted Climate Emergency Resolution calls for 100% renewables by 2042 city wide, meaning Duke must either comply with our goals or expect competition. Now we need to create renewable roll out plans and await the signature counts from Community Roots to be finalized.
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?
The right to remove confederate statues is on my list of items to challenge the NCGA on, alongside needed changes to what we can require of housing developers. Cities within Dillon Rule states need express permission to mandate municipal rules. It’s time for a greater strategy that prioritizes what we are willing to challenge, how, and at what risk. We also need to vote into higher offices those who value our rights to make these changes and will urge other members of the general assembly to do so.
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?
Being pulled over in Asheville is a very different experience for some community members. Often, being pulled over is a result of profiling, outdated registration or a faulty brake light, and can quickly escalate to a search that violates one’s sense of safety and privacy, while perpetuating racism and distrust between community and police. Council made the right call to adopt written consent; we now need to expand it to pedestrians and activities outside vehicles.
All community members should feel at ease and without fear while coming and going in their community.
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?
We should not be asking addresses to verify residents’ right to speak up. Not only is it unjust, but we’ve also pushed out so many community members due to lack of affordability; we’d be limiting the input of those who care about our city. Perhaps we can look at technological solutions to include input of attendees and those watching at home. There are tools that exist for this that allow a user to access a phone app or website to weigh in on the question and tally input immediately. It would help give voice to those that can’t be present and to those that don’t feel up for making a public comment but still wish to participate.
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. If we could include all the community’s goals into written policy, we could look at changing the review process. At this time, while we await the moratorium process and conclusions, it is unclear if that is an option so the review by Council should stand.
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. I support system-wide changes, a true community policy model, de-escalation training, anti-bias training, and with regard to finances, monitoring the police budget to see if there is overspending or overstaffing and can be reined in and or reduced.
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?
No. I’d have to learn more about this potential model and hear from the community on their thoughts on this and their thoughts on the cost of this new department of city government that includes hiring architects, designers, project managers, and construction financing experts who would be needed on full-time permanent staff for this new department. I support Co-ops and cooperative ownership of housing in general though and would like to see our city have more of these options. HUD has funding models specifically for cooperative housing; Asheville is yet to have this model built. Let’s do it.
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 have, however, written an op-ed that called for the County Commission to utilize its power to reduce the tax rate to 4% if the ratio does not get changed to 50/50. If the rate was 4%, the CVB would get $12.5M to advertise with, down from $19M. And, if the ratio was moved to 50/50, the CVB would get $12.5M to advertise and local gov would get the other $12.5M. In both situations the CVB gets $12.5M and in one scenario, the public gets $12.5M, too. The County Commission holds the power right now to call the TDA out on this choice.
As a member of the Community Leadership Council of the TMIP – Tourism Management Investment Plan, I am consistently pushing for a better ratio and an expansion of the definition of capital. I also support moving the rate to 8% and the new funding being used to move our city to renewables and superfunding transit.
Other items I want and advocate for: adding more community members that experience the impacts of tourism to the TDA board; community input on the visitors we are trying to attract, including families and more diverse persons; establishing community benefits agreements with lodging uses to come together on wage and affordability issues.
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. I support moving the wage floor to $31,200 ($15/hr) or higher to accommodate for inflation as mentioned in the question. It is unrealistic to think we will remain competitive in the national market with a 100k ceiling. I would support looking at a ratio that monitors the highest paid in relation to the lowest paid and caps that ratio. We have lost key leadership, particularly in areas of need like affordable housing, due to opportunities in other cities for higher pay.