Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
“Once again, I am Terry Bellamy, mayor-elect of Asheville.”
Bellamy sounded out every word Tuesday night, rolling each around her mouth like a sugary treat before chomping down and feasting on it. The crowd of exuberant supporters around her relished it, too. They punctuated every Bellamy declaration with zealous claps, nods and cheers.
It was, as they say, a moment. A moment of history – Bellamy as the first African-American mayor of Ashvegas. A moment of mandate – Bellamy seized that moment declare that, in fact, voters handed her a mandate that she plans to use to create more affordable housing, attract more jobs to the city, work on lowering drop out rates in schools and finding solutions to the scourge of drugs.
I’m not sure that a 30 percent turnout and a 57-43 percent victory over fellow council member Joe Dunn is a mandate. But Bellamy’s making the most of her win, regardless. Making the most of a moment of high emotion for a city teetering on the edge of drowning in development and thirsting for strong leadership.
This is all well and good. But how do things look in the cold light of dawn?
There will be no easy solutions to most of the issues Bellamy and fellow council members Holly Jones, Carl Mumpower, Brownie Newman, Jan Davis, newcomer Robin Cape and a seventh to be named later will face. Bellamy is just one of seven votes, with no extra authority or power, though she will be able to set a tone and an agenda. And she’ll have a core of fellow Democrats working with her. She’ll still have to show an ability to compromise, negotiate and be creative.
So far, I haven’t heard of any specific plans, except that Bellamy wants to set up more committees. That’s fine. I’m looking for specifics. Preferrably specifics that don’t include just throwing more money at creating new drug programs or throwing more money into the city’s affordable housing trust fund. Because we all know what that means – higher taxes.
The real issue, though, the issue Bellamy didn’t mention Tuesday night, was the critical issue of growth. How will Bellamy and the new council shape Ashvegas growth, now a nearly out-of-control stallion breaking down walls and stampeding neighbors? What’s the plan?
Will the new council come up with a creative solution to deal with a crumbing Civic Center? How will the new council tweak the city’s zoning ordinances? What will happen to the downtown parking deck plan? How will Bellamy and council work with other local and regional governments?
So many questions. Mayor-elect, here’s your moment. What will you make of it?
Thanks to Bellamy, Newman, Jones (and I am a progressive Dem), West Asehville is being destroyed re: ‘affordable’ housing which is nothing more than a ‘mandate’ to crush citizen’s input re: what they don’t want (a 44 unit housing project on a busy dead end street, namely, Virginia Avenue. Join W.A.N.A.: West Asheville Neighborhood Association: because no neighborhood is safe while the Asheville City Council is in session.
[email protected]
Just asking, Screwy. Don’t get me wrong. But when politicians start claiming “mandate,” i get more than a little nervous about their ulterior motives. how far are they going to push the envelope?
also, everyone out there expecting Terry to act the good liberal better check themselves – she’s a religious conservative running under the most convenient banner, an issue we’ll be delving into soon…
Ash,
When Bush did what? Your verb needs a reality transplant.
Anyhoo, of course he didn’t. But nothing that comes out of the D.C. political spin cycle ought to be used in defining objective reality. Nor should we try to impose national definitions to local races. In this town, in this context, Bellamy’s win is a landslide mandate with a side of righteous pie.
Screwy, did Bush have a mandate when he won office, twice?
Waz, I would guess the MOM folks couldn’t get past Freeborn’s lackluster non-run two years ago. He wanted to “see what it was like” and filed but waged no campaign. Since they endorse early, they had no primary results to depend on.
Not the smartest political start, but an answer to your question.
Mandate? Maybe that’s a tad on the presumptuous side, but a 14 point margin certainly looks more like one than the 3 point margin Bush got (the lowest margin for a second term president since….well, look it up) and the 32% turnout is higher than average for a City Council election thus taking the wind totally out of the sails of the CIBO whiners who claimed that the progressives only won the primary due to the low turnout.
Council’s most visceral conservative loses by 14 points, and its most sanctimonious conservative wins only by finishing third more than 1200 votes behind Robin Cape and more than 3100 behind Holly Jones two candidates firmly in the progressive camp. This more than suggests had progressives who were so strongly backing Jones and Cape had not split their third vote between Freeborn, Pelly, and Thomson that Mumpower would probably be leaving Council as well. It looks like Mr. Oozing feigned sincerity owes his second term to having so many progressives winning the primary.
Mandate? Maybe not, but clearly the voters of Asheville felt that the current council wasn’t listening to them.
ok, ok, I’ll bite.
What do you consider a mandate then? And no cheeky responses about your last trip to Scandals.
I believe the definition of mandate is a clear/authoritative decision in which case Bellamy’s win counts as one.
I think the question actually being asked is, Does Terry Bellamy have permission to pursue her agenda? The answer is yes. She’ll have to get her leadership on and make it happen. I’m a big fan of affordable housing and smart growth, so I’d love to see more of both.
Go Terry, You’ve got my mandate.
Don’t get carried away with the “Mayoral Mandate,” the numbers don’t support any sort of mandate and, thankfully, the position of mayor of Asheville carries no more than one vote – no more, no less. The mayor does not set the agenda, craft a budget or propose local legislation with any more authority than any other member of City Council. It’s a two-year ribbon-cutting assignment that ensures little more than having your postage-stamp sized photo appear over and over in the Chamber of Commerce newsletter. Bellamy has yet to define what she stands for, and the newly elected council faces the same challenges as its predecessors – establish some form of vision for Asheville, and exercise the leadership to achieve that vision. Sadly, both vision and leadership do not appear to stand out among these council members. Until the elected “leadership” of Asheville exhibits some tangible leadership that does not travel further on the backs of taxpayers, I’ll hold my applause.
Big up’s to Vegas for damn good blogging leading up to the big election. Good work man.
Looking for poll results last night, 1st click AC-T = nothing; 2nd click to wlosers.com = nothing, 3rd and final click to Vegas baby. All info I needed.
A question for you. Why did the match our mountains ticket of Cape-Jones include Thomson? I wondered if Cape-Jones-Freebird had joined together could they have bumped Mump?
You guys are in for some long meetings. Bellamy always seemed slow to committ to me.
I’ve been so excited to hear about the elections in Asheville (esp my buddy Holly). I hope this new body can make some positive changes for the town – including finding a way for middle-income families like mine to be able to afford to work and live there and not be forced to move elsewhere.
you’re right – a 14% margin of victory with a 30% voter turnout is not a mandate by any means. i’m not a linguist, but it does seem like the word “mandate” lost most of it’s oomph when bush used it in a victory speech to describe his 51/48 victory over kerry. not only has the word been weakened, it’s been cheapened and exploited by the right, paving the way for years and years of misuse.
i decided a long time ago after seeing a doctor who recommended a vitamin c enema over a penicillin shot to get rid of a nasty cold that “holistic” approaches in general are extremely overrated.
Nice compilation of the looming issues. Yes, Terry, now it’s time to show us what you’re made of, girl.