{"id":2986,"date":"2017-10-01T14:42:29","date_gmt":"2017-10-01T18:42:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ashevilleblade.com\/?p=2986"},"modified":"2017-10-01T14:42:29","modified_gmt":"2017-10-01T18:42:29","slug":"2017-council-primary-guide-rich-lee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ashevilleblade.com\/?p=2986","title":{"rendered":"2017 Council primary guide \u2014 Rich Lee"},"content":{"rendered":"

Name:<\/strong> Rich Lee<\/p>\n

Profession:<\/strong> Socially-responsible financial planner<\/p>\n

In up to two words, describe your political affiliation:<\/strong> Progressive Democrat<\/p>\n

In one brief sentence, describe yourself and why you’re running:<\/strong> I believe my experience as a community organizer, working to make local government more transparent and responsive to its people, makes me the right choice for the big decisions the city needs to make.<\/p>\n

General questions<\/strong><\/p>\n

These questions are about problems, challenges or topics facing city government and how you will try to\u00a0deal with them if elected.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Of the current top city officials that answer directly to City Council \u2014 City Attorney, City Manager and\u00a0City Clerk \u2014 which ones would you favor retaining or firing? Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m for keeping City Clerk Maggie Burleson, whatever it takes. As for the rest, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s responsible to go in planning to fire someone. Clearly we need city management that\u2019s aligned with the public\u2019s priorities and a city legal department that\u2019s strategic and daring, not \u2013 as is too frequently the case \u2013 an easy bulwark against new ideas. The city\u2019s resistance to moving a nondiscrimination ordinance like Charlotte\u2019s in the run-up to HB2 comes to mind. I support a one-year public audit and review for both offices aimed at really accounting for how they move or fail to move city priorities. After that, we can start a real process with a paper trail. More generally, I think new council members need to be ready to push back against resistance from city staff. The city is a $150 million professionalized bureaucracy and council is more, for lack of a better term, a supervisory board of well intentioned hobbyists. It\u2019s easy to get snowed, to begin to mistake a cautious study or symbolic resolution for needed action, for example. I believe my experience pushing big public goals through this bureaucracy and following the city closely as head of the 6,200 member Asheville Politics group prepares me better for that challenge than most. If I can get big moves on affordable housing, transportation equity, nondiscrimination and other items with the current management, fine. If not, we\u2019ll get the management we need.<\/p>\n

2. The powers granted to the planning and zoning commission are a key point of debate in how Asheville\u00a0should deal with growth and how much of a direct role elected officials should play. Do you think those\u00a0powers should change, If so, how?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m for recent moves like bringing hotel review back under council, but only as a stopgap measure. The fact of the matter is the city needs a clear and de-politicized set of guidelines for developers. Restrictions on hotels should be laid out in the rules. Zoning should be tailored with overlays for different neighborhoods according to their character and infrastructure, and should\u00a0allow for creative solutions to housing problems, like backyard apartments (ADUs) and a pilot experiment with inclusionary zoning in high gentrification-risk neighborhoods. Putting individual development decisions to council is fine when we like the council. But the entire body is two years, a district bill, and mysterious high-dollar donations from turning over completely. Do we want to take the risk that a pro-development council elected in a low-turnout district election wields the same political power? These next two years are the time to get community ideas about growth, development, and equity codified into a total zoning rewrite. Otherwise we\u2019ll be back in the same place, or worse.<\/p>\n

3. Some Pisgah Legal Services attorneys recently criticized city staff’s enforcement of tenant protections,\u00a0asserting that they don’t sufficiently enforce the written ordinance and place additional burdens on\u00a0tenants dealing with bad landlords. How would you change or reinforce the city’s tenant protections and\u00a0their enforcement?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was interested to learn from that conversation that county tenants are more likely than city\u00a0tenants to call in safety concerns, and less likely to fear repercussions as a consequence. It\u00a0seems like fear of losing a lease and being unable to find another rental in the same price range\u00a0in the city is suppressing complaints about slum landlords. And we have a lot of problems here.<\/p>\n

The 2015 Bowen report found hundreds of rental units with \u201cincomplete plumbing\u201d or heating
\nor other serious maintenance problems. As a Council member, I would order a review of the
\nbreakdown in complaints and enforcement. But the problem really seems to be stemming from
\nthe lack of low-rent housing and fears about finding another place. I would use city affordable housing funds to start a lending bank for backyard and basement apartments, and give tax credits like those offered to big developers for any small landlord who keeps his rents below market. Any city dollar would be tied to periodic inspections and other tenant protections. Second, I would secure funding for an emergency eviction-relief pool to cover situations where an unexpected expense puts someone in danger of missing a payment and eviction. The easiest way to fight homelessness is before people lose their home.<\/p>\n

4. In response to a community push that cited the de facto segregation shown in reports like the State of\u00a0Black Asheville, the Buncombe County Commissioners recently supported taking funds intended for a jail\u00a0expansion and instead putting them towards community support and rehabilitation. Do you favor a\u00a0similar shifting of Asheville’s law enforcement funds? If so, to what extent and to what kind of\u00a0programs?<\/strong><\/p>\n

To the first question, an unqualified yes. The police department doesn\u2019t have a large item like\u00a0the jail in its budget like the Sheriff\u2019s office does, but to any extent possible, replacing man-\u00a0hours spent on responding to homeless trespassing or camps with social programs seems like a\u00a0good investment.<\/p>\n

5. What course of action do you favor in dealing with Asheville’s Confederate regime and segregation-<\/strong>
\nera monuments?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think they\u2019ll have to be removed or renamed. State law, of course, bans cities and counties\u00a0from altering monuments without the approval of a state body. We should explore legal\u00a0avenues to act anyway. Since, nationwide, such monuments have become rallying points for\u00a0violent white supremacist groups like the KKK and Neo-Nazis, resulting in at least one death,\u00a0there\u2019s a solid argument that ours are a potential public-safety hazard, legally movable under\u00a0state law. In any event, the city has a lot of work to do to make Asheville a sustaining and\u00a0welcoming place for our declining, embattled black population. The monument debate is\u00a0important, but it shouldn\u2019t overshadow the bigger economic and social picture.<\/p>\n

Yes\/No questions<\/strong><\/p>\n

These questions are about specific proposals Asheville City Council has or may consider, and how you\u00a0<\/strong>would vote on them. The first word of each answer must be Yes or No. An explanation of one\u2019s position\u00a0<\/strong>\u2014 or an alternative proposal \u2014 may follow. Answers in this section that do\u00a0not begin with “Yes” or “No” will not be published.<\/strong><\/p>\n

6. Earlier this year, the local NAACP \u2014 backed by the Southern Coalition for Social Justice \u2014 called for\u00a0<\/strong>several reforms in an attempt to address racial disparities in the APD’s traffic stops. Those reforms\u00a0<\/strong>included: ending regulatory stops for minor issues like expired registration or a busted headlight, written\u00a0consent for a driver agreeing to allow a vehicle search and a transparent investigation into why full stop\u00a0numbers may not have been reported to the SBI. Do you favor the full and immediate adoption of these\u00a0reforms?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes. The department has made some nods toward these recommendations, which hedging on\u00a0others \u2013 pointing out, for example, that other NC cities haven\u2019t fully adopted these\u00a0recommendations either. I\u2019m not persuaded. Asheville has particular racial inequities unlike any\u00a0other city in the state, and we should aim to be a national model for equitable policing, not a\u00a0lowest common denominator, anyway.<\/p>\n

7. Do you favor extending the ban on whole home\/apartment Airbnb-style rentals to areas where the\u00a0<\/strong>practice is currently allowed, such as downtown and the River Arts District?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes. Ultimately, I believe there\u2019s a balance to be struck that eases some Airbnb restrictions while imposing others. For example: On outside investment consortiums buying multiple properties to operate as absentee landlords. But it\u2019s inconceivable to me that the city won\u2019t treat downtown and RAD the same as residential areas \u2013 they are \u2013 while simultaneously pouring tens of millions of dollars into affordable housing and resident-friendly infrastructure in those same areas.<\/p>\n

8. Do you favor the city establishing a rental crisis fund that would give direct monetary assistance to\u00a0<\/strong>those in danger of being pushed out by rapidly rising rents, with priority given to those in the most\u00a0<\/strong>marginalized and rapidly-gentrifying neighborhoods?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes. We have a housing policy almost solely oriented to put funds in the hands of large
\ncommercial developers. In any way possible, those funds would be better used in the hands of
\nlocal landlords and tenants.<\/p>\n

9. Lambda Legal and other civil rights groups have dubbed HB142 a \u201cfake repeal\u201d of the HB2 legislation\u00a0<\/strong>that discriminates against LGBT (especially trans) people and sued to= overturn it. Should the city of\u00a0<\/strong>Asheville formally condemn HB142, pass a non discrimination ordinance in defiance of it and prepare to\u00a0defend that ordinance in court?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes. I would add, the law\u2019s intent is to enshrine trans discrimination and second-class status as\u00a0official state positions. We should absolutely and in every way register our opposition to that.\u00a0Does that mean blindly stumbling into a losing lawsuit? I don\u2019t think so. There are good legal\u00a0groups working on strategies to get around HB142, including a working paper suggesting the city\u00a0could go ahead and pass= a nondiscrimination ordinance on legal grounds, and we should heed\u00a0their advice. I want to win, not just take a futile, symbolic stand.<\/p>\n

10. Should the city of Asheville declare itself a sanctuary city, as some social justice and immigrants\u00a0<\/strong>rights’ advocates have called for?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes. As far as I\u2019m aware, in every important sense, we already are. The city has a Civil Rights\u00a0Ordinance that bars police from cooperating on INS holds or searches. The Sheriff\u2019s Office has a\u00a0similar policy, I believe. As importantly, state conservatives have already marked us as a target\u00a0sanctuary city, meaning we can go ahead and prepare for loss of funding and petty vengeance. I\u00a0do think the city needs to have an honest conversation with the public about what our\u00a0principled stand costs us, and how we\u2019re preparing to maintain public services in the face of it.<\/p>\n

And if there\u2019s a chance to join a legal strategy to protect cities\u2019 sovereignty and immigrants\u00a0rights, we absolutely should. Sanctuary is good public policy, it allows undocumented\u00a0immigrants to approach the police on matters like domestic violence and gang and drug violence\u00a0without fear of deportation. It saves us money on detention holds, an unfunded mandate. And\u00a0it\u2019s the law as spelled out in the Posse Comitatus Act. Reneging on it only makes us less safe,\u00a0poorer, and in violation of our principles as Americans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Name: Rich Lee Profession: Socially-responsible financial planner In up to two words, describe your political affiliation: Progressive Democrat In one brief sentence, describe yourself and why you’re running: I believe my experience as a community organizer, working to make local government more transparent and responsive to its people, makes me the right choice for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ashevilleblade.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Leephoto2017-e1582844318756.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashevilleblade.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashevilleblade.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashevilleblade.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashevilleblade.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashevilleblade.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2986"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ashevilleblade.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3004,"href":"https:\/\/ashevilleblade.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2986\/revisions\/3004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashevilleblade.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashevilleblade.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashevilleblade.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashevilleblade.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}