Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Since Ashvegas City Councilman Carl “The Power of Mum” Mumpower likes to spam us with his e-mails railing on his fellow council members (Holly Jones is a popular target), we figured it would be fun to share with you all some of his ramblings. He’s always quotable. The general topic of his notes – the ongoing war of words with Buncombe County commissioners over the city’s water system.
Here you go – the set-up is that city, county and state officials met Monday to jabber on about the water system:
In that the potential for serious water negotiations continues to degrade to some form of “water follies,” I wanted to share a brief note of follow-up to yesterday’s session.
It was apparent that the local legislative delegation came to the table with an eye on political pandering and populism versus a sincere wish to support fair resolution of our water issues. The degree of spin brought to the table represented a disappointing model of leadership by these seasoned politicians.
The county commission, in turn, persisted in their willingness to define “compromise” as “I give 10 percent and you give 90 percent.” Each of their proposals represents little more than a recycling of a continuing theme – we want control of Asheville’s water assets for pennies on the dollar and are willing to go to whatever lengths of public manipulation and misinformation necessary to achieve that end.
The core issues of (1) treating Asheville like all other cities who own their water assets or (2) pay us for the value of those assets continue to be ignored through the distractions of decoy issues. Yesterday, ultra-exceptions (Charlotte which is essentially the whole County of Mecklenburg and in no way similar to Asheville), Civic Centers (this complex issue is not easily resolved on its own much less by being added to the equally daunting complexities of our water issues) and honor bound references to Sullivan Act I (passed 75+ years ago during an major depression, the cause of much of the disrepair of our water system, and as dated and dysfunctional as most of the lines it covers today) dominated the table over authentic issues with a potential to get us to a better place.
In deference to the process and people involved, I assumed a largely passive position yesterday. I do not intend to repeat this error. Going forward, it will be my intention to do the following~
*Confront our legislative delegation and the county commission whenever (and it happened over and over again yesterday) they insult the process with simplistic judgments, misinformation, or deception.> In that they were given pretty much a free rein yesterday to indulge themselves, I will not be receptive to be muzzled in my own efforts going forward.
*Keep an eye on the core issues of treating Asheville like other cities, fairly compensating us for giving up control of our water assets, and the inequities of the punitive legislation of Sullivan Acts II and III pressed by our local legislative delegation.
*Take the personal and political risks of a minority position against a vocal majority at the table who are bullying the process and indulging personal and political agendas over a sincere negotiation process.
I regret any inconvenience my position may add to your efforts to resolve our water issues. The word honor was paradoxically brought to the discussion yesterday – I would feel less than honorable if I remained passive in the face of the continued shenanigans that are guiding our water negotiations.
