Asheville mayor on the city’s state

Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy gave her second State of the City address on Tuesday, April 3, in City Hall. The 30-minute speech, delivered before a nearly full Council chamber, touched on the city’s accomplishments over the past year and highlighted some of the mayor’s priorities for the near future.

The entire text of Bellamy’s speech is available here. Here are some highlights:

• On environmental sustainability: “The way we used to do business is no longer viable. We must increase our tolerance for sustainable initiatives beyond recycling and other staff-driven programs,” including new requirements for buildings such as LEED certification and the already-implemented Compressed Natural Gas station.

• On development and growth: Bellamy called for a best-practices policy based on the West End/Clingman Avenue neighborhood’s comprehensive development plan, which allowed for affordable housing, infill development and street connectivity.

• On infrastructure: In the past year, the city has allocated funds for repairs on both the water-system infrastructure and some Civic Center repairs.

• On citizen involvement: A call for citizens to get involved in volunteerism and mentoring (“We must begin to bridge the educational gap for our students”), as well as assisting law enforcement by organizing neighborhood watches and reporting crimes to police.

• On affordable housing: Bellamy asked Council to create a task force to develop a plan to incorporate for-profit and nonprofit efforts in an effort to increase the city’s affordable-housing stock.

• On public safety: “We are still seeing prostitutes, drug dealers and speeding occurring in our neighborhoods. … Our police must not only focus on the larger issues, but increasingly address the nuisance issues including panhandling, littering and graffiti in order to send the message that Asheville does not tolerate any type of illegal activities in our community.”

Brian Postelle, staff writer

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