I support Bill Branyon for County Commissioner District 1.
Bill will work to:
• Investigate how Raytheon Technologies’ subsidiary Pratt & Whitney was approved for almost $100 million dollars in varied tax incentives to build a fossil-fuel-intensive airplane parts plant here, particularly when our county has said that mitigating the worsening effects of climate change is a high priority.
• Uncover how the approval process for the P&W plant did not include authentic public discussion or input and how the one public comment session held on its approval (with all callers but one opposed) was followed by the county commissioners’ unanimous approval of $27 million in local tax incentives, with no response to public concern or questions.
• Make every decision as a commissioner with climate change in mind.
• Implement a countywide referendum on development.
• Take a humanitarian and community safety approach to the crisis of homelessness.
• Institute rent controls in selected areas and a $17/hour minimum wage.
• Support our public school educators by advocating for reduced class size, increasing teacher pay and providing adequate funding for teaching assistants and for substitutes.
• Work with labor and management to follow the example set by Mission Hospital nurses and promote unionization of many sectors of the Buncombe County economy, including the restaurant and hotel sector. Also work to transcend Raleigh’s prohibition against unionization for government employees, including teachers, city and county workers.
Check out: branyonforcommissioner.org.
Early voting begins on Thursday, April 28, and ends on Saturday, May 14. Primary day is Tuesday, May 17.
— Tom Craig
Asheville
“Institute rent controls in selected areas and a $17/hour minimum wage.”
State law prohibits local municipalities from instituting rent controls or implementing minimum wages above the federal standard.
“Implement a countywide referendum on development.
•Take a humanitarian and community safety approach to the crisis of homelessness.”
What does the second one mean, particularly in light of the first one? Would said referendum potentially prohibit the construction of housing that could help alleviate the homeless crisis?
“Also work to transcend Raleigh’s prohibition against unionization for government employees, including teachers, city and county workers.”
How, given the General Assembly is gerrymandered to ensure continued Republican control?