Name: Shane McCarthy
Profession: Construction Manager
In up to three words, describe your political affiliation: Progressive Democrat
In one brief sentence, describe yourself and why you’re running: I’m an Asheville native who has lived through our city’s problems first hand, I have an education and work experience in Civil engineering and Construction, and I’m running for City Council to build affordable rental housing and boost home ownership, make our transportation system work for our workers, build renewable power and protect our environment, and protect our neighborhoods from the impacts of tourism.
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?
One of my top priorities on City Council will be implementing our transit master plan so the bus runs later and more frequently. Right now, some routes run just once an hour, and end too early to get our service, retail, hospitality, and healthcare workers home. These are the people who keep our city running, and I’m committed to make our bus system work for them. Now for the hard part: the money has to come from somewhere. I believe that the funding plan proposed by Keith Young and Julie Mayfield is the best option we currently have to fund the bus system. Another option put forward is a sales tax increase. I do not support this because sales taxes are regressive – they take more money out of poor people’s pockets. Another proposal is an alcohol tax. I would support this, but it isn’t viable in the short term since it requires state approval. We don’t have the time – transit can’t wait.
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?
On City Council, I will commit Asheville to be carbon neutral by 2030, with or without Duke’s help. That means building local solar power, lobbying the state to break Duke’s energy monopoly, retrofitting buildings and low-income homes for energy efficiency, transitioning to an electric city fleet, and discouraging gas installations in buildings. I also want to keep Duke from influencing our renewable energy committees and task forces. When the Energy Innovation Task Force (EITF) was being reorganized last fall, I was part of a group that called on city council to keep the committee accountable to council and to the people, rather than to Duke energy. Unfortunately, Duke still has a significant presence in our committees – that won’t be the case under my leadership.
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?
I believe that confederate monuments and racist paintings have no place in our public squares or in the council chambers. They should be removed. I would also support the re-naming of streets and parks named after Asheville’s slaveholders, such as Patton Avenue.
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?
If city staff isn’t implementing ordinances and resolutions that are lawfully passed by City Council, they aren’t doing their job. It’s simple: if they aren’t doing their job, when I’m on City Council, they will find themselves looking for a new job.
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?
Rules for Council meetings should be consistent with the law and with organizational guidelines. When I’m on City Council, I will not consent to meeting rules that are made in an arbitrary fashion, and I will speak up if rules are being applied inconsistently, or in a manner that makes it more difficult for constituents to speak. It’s essential that we are able to freely express our concerns to our representatives. I also support increasing transparency and accountability across our City government, including moving to an elected school board and live-streaming and recording school board meetings.
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, City Council should be accountable for hotel development. We need to shift new development away from employers that pay low wages. There is only one major hotel in that is Living Wage Certified. If we’re going to allow more hotels in the future, we must demand that they meet the needs of the community. The hotel industry has to work for Asheville, not the other way around, and City Council should have a direct say on that.
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. While our police department has documented problems including discriminatory policing, I do not believe removing $7 million from the budget is the way to solve this problem. For example, equipping our officers with body cameras certainly did not decrease the budget. Cameras aren’t cheap, but the year after that change was made, there was a 60% drop in officer use of force incidents, and citizen complaints against officers were cut in half. I support measures that will increase police accountability and bolster civil rights. Let’s start by extending the new written consent to search policy to pedestrians and cyclists, because your rights shouldn’t be different if you can’t afford a car.
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. The Bowen report, an assessment of Asheville’s housing needs, showed that the biggest need is housing that’s affordable to people on very low incomes or at risk of homelessness. Developers aren’t building this kind of housing – it’s just not profitable. Fortunately, the city has the tools and financing mechanisms to just build it ourselves. I advocated for this policy in a letter to the Mountain Xpress in April, and I’m glad that several other candidates are now supporting this idea during this campaign. Housing Co-ops are a time-tested way to manage housing developments, and I am open to the possibility of using them to run city-developed housing.
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 do not support the abolition of the occupancy tax, since many of our local businesses, workers, and cultural institutions depend on the capital projects portion of the occupancy tax for their livelihood. I support reforming the TDA to put more money into local projects, and less into advertising. Currently, only 25% of the $25 million in occupancy tax revenue goes towards local projects, the rest goes to advertising. I will lobby our county and state officials to increase the proportion for local projects. I will also lobby the TDA to expand its investments to funding our transit system, pedestrian facilities, and other infrastructure projects that benefit locals.
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. One of my first priorities will be raising minimum city employee pay to $15 per hour, because it is absurd and unacceptable that firefighters are putting their lives on the line for less than a living wage. However, Asheville has rampant upper-level employee turnover in positions like police chief and school superintendent. Capping employee salaries at $100,000 would be counterproductive and would make it more difficult to attract and retain key staff.