Letter writer: City Council candidate Julie Mayfield is a skillful leader and mediator

Twenty years ago, I met Julie Mayfield outside a room filled with sworn enemies ready for a fight. Environmentalists and landowners had long been at odds over how Georgia’s Cumberland Island should be managed. Somehow, Julie had brought them all together. Everyone was itching for a showdown. Instead, Julie invited them to sit together and talk. It was a long shot. But it worked. They set aside their hostilities and forged an agreement —thanks to Julie’s skillful leadership and mediation.

Julie has always been a fierce and fearless champion of the environment, social justice and public health. But she has also been an equally skilled mediator who can bring people together and find common ground.

As executive director of the region’s largest environmental nonprofit, Julie is already a proven leader and voice for our mountains. For the past decade, she has spearheaded efforts to make Asheville a healthier, more vibrant and more just and sustainable community for everyone.

She’s a bulldog. No one is more tenacious in tackling tough issues head-on and devoting every ounce of time and energy toward a workable solution. I want her in our corner, fighting for our community on Asheville’s City Council.

— Will Harlan
Barnardsville