Elections, 09

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by Zachary Fligel
on Sunday, October 25, 2009

Terry Bellamy is already our mayor for about 2-3 years now. She is the more experienced than the other two people running against her, Who have none or very little experience at all! She's endorsed by the Sierra Club and AFD association. I think getting Asheville to have better transit and bicycles will be good for the environment and for the people who do not drive everywhere. The bus frequency should be improved between the most used bus stops. Keeping some funding for existing local festivals would be a good thing. It also would be a good idea for the city to limit support for the less important and for non-local festivals. I agree with her on the budget issue but presently the city is over budget. If the city does start to cut back on some spending, it will be cutting service hours of operations and some special events. Which, more than likely, is going to happen if you ask me.

For the city council I like Esther E. Manheimer, and Gordon Smith. I agree with Manheimer on how we should deal with the graffiti. The graffiti does ruin our downtown buildings and it makes our town look bad.

The reason cleaning up the is a good thing is because, it will make people not want to come to visit or move here. I agree with her on the greenway option. I think it will be a nice option for Asheville, because it will help out local business. This will also help people who ride bikes to have safer bike rides. I agree with her on the Master plan, but if the city cannot afford it, then it should be put on hold or eliminated. Better transit will be a good thing and so will environment-friendly buses and, more frequent stops between the most used bus stops. Keeping a small amount of funding for local festivals will be a good option. But we should be careful not to overfund these projects. I agree with her on the budget subject, and not rising taxes as a money maker.

I also like Gordon D. Smith for city council because he has good experience and he is for clean energy. I like that he is for more greenways and bicycles lanes. We need more bicycles lanes so bikes are less likely to interfere with traffic. I like that he likes to keep our tax dollars in Asheville and, not send it some where else. I like that thinks that graffiti should be cleaned up as soon as possible and, not just let it sit their.

I do think that the city for now should not have district elections because, Asheville is not large enough of a city. Later, in the future when Asheville will probably be larger of a city. I do agree with Smith on the budget issue. The best thing on the plan is putting our taxes where they can really help us. Which would be infrastructure and tourism especially since tourism a vital source to our economy. I am a little sketchy about raising the hotel occupancy tax. The reason is that it might keep people who are on budget from coming here. That would not be good.

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