As a longtime environmental and social justice activist, it is my honor to endorse Dee Williams for Asheville City Council.
Dee is a lifelong resident of the city of Asheville, has owned and successfully operated multiple businesses as an African-American woman, has a background as a LEED-certified contractor and overall is a person deeply passionate about creating positive social change.
It’s for these issues that I’m proud to announce my support for Dee and ask you to consider doing the same as well.
— Timothy S. Sadler Asheville
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5 thoughts on “Letter: Williams is passionate to create positive social change”
NFB
Well, yeah. I guess I can see that Dee Williams is passionate about change, but not social change.
Change. Well, the most constant thing about Dee Williams has been her change. She has run for office countless time. She has run as a Democrat, as a Republican, as an independent. She once ran as a part of Chris Peterson’s attempt to create a city political machine to be a rubber stamp for development. Just two years ago she ran on a slate with local regressive Carl Mumpower and now she is running as a Green party candidate.
It has become impossible to determine just where she will be in political philosophy in any given campaign and before one falls for her latest incarnation one might want to investigate her past runs, not to mention her tenure at the Opportunity Corporation.
James Cassara
Given the increased crime in our city why does Ms. Williams oppose additional funding for the police department? It makes absolutely no sense.
luther blissett
“Given the increased crime in our city”
Is that a given? There’s an uptick in serious violent crime, but a relatively low base magnifies percentage increases, and a single year-on-year increase doesn’t make a trend, and could just be regression to the mean. The open-data AvlCrime project on neighborhood statistics shows a broader time-series, and its creator Patrick Conant has also raised questions about Chief Hooper’s numbers on officers per capita:
I share NFB’s skepticism about Ms Williams’s latest political reincarnation, but she’s hardly out on a limb among council candidates on the broader argument about police funding, the deployment of additional officers, and the Chief’s resistance to public questioning. Vijay Kapoor wants to address problems with officer retention before funding new hires. Rich Lee has backed the Mance report on racial disparity in traffic stops and questioned whether a new downtown unit would keep itself busy by going after the homeless. Weird to single Ms Williams out.
James Cassara
Thank you for the information. Perhaps it is because Ms. Williams has been the most vocal (as near as I can tell) regarding police funding. I have no ax to grind regarding Ms. Williams whom I don’t even know. But I see our police department, which certainly deserves some criticism, at a critical point in which everything we can do to support them, including increased funding, should be considered.
NFB
Well, I would suggest that for some of the other candidates who oppose more funding for the police department it is a matter of conscience. One can certainly disagree with the conclusion that those consciences led them to, but that it is a sincerely held belief.
In the case of Ms. Williams, given her constantly changing political personas it is hard to believe that this is anything other than pandering to a flaky, Green party left mentality. (and that doesn’t even get into her past with the Opportunity Corporation or Eastview Homes.)
Well, yeah. I guess I can see that Dee Williams is passionate about change, but not social change.
Change. Well, the most constant thing about Dee Williams has been her change. She has run for office countless time. She has run as a Democrat, as a Republican, as an independent. She once ran as a part of Chris Peterson’s attempt to create a city political machine to be a rubber stamp for development. Just two years ago she ran on a slate with local regressive Carl Mumpower and now she is running as a Green party candidate.
It has become impossible to determine just where she will be in political philosophy in any given campaign and before one falls for her latest incarnation one might want to investigate her past runs, not to mention her tenure at the Opportunity Corporation.
Given the increased crime in our city why does Ms. Williams oppose additional funding for the police department? It makes absolutely no sense.
“Given the increased crime in our city”
Is that a given? There’s an uptick in serious violent crime, but a relatively low base magnifies percentage increases, and a single year-on-year increase doesn’t make a trend, and could just be regression to the mean. The open-data AvlCrime project on neighborhood statistics shows a broader time-series, and its creator Patrick Conant has also raised questions about Chief Hooper’s numbers on officers per capita:
http://ashevilleblade.com/?p=2693
I share NFB’s skepticism about Ms Williams’s latest political reincarnation, but she’s hardly out on a limb among council candidates on the broader argument about police funding, the deployment of additional officers, and the Chief’s resistance to public questioning. Vijay Kapoor wants to address problems with officer retention before funding new hires. Rich Lee has backed the Mance report on racial disparity in traffic stops and questioned whether a new downtown unit would keep itself busy by going after the homeless. Weird to single Ms Williams out.
Thank you for the information. Perhaps it is because Ms. Williams has been the most vocal (as near as I can tell) regarding police funding. I have no ax to grind regarding Ms. Williams whom I don’t even know. But I see our police department, which certainly deserves some criticism, at a critical point in which everything we can do to support them, including increased funding, should be considered.
Well, I would suggest that for some of the other candidates who oppose more funding for the police department it is a matter of conscience. One can certainly disagree with the conclusion that those consciences led them to, but that it is a sincerely held belief.
In the case of Ms. Williams, given her constantly changing political personas it is hard to believe that this is anything other than pandering to a flaky, Green party left mentality. (and that doesn’t even get into her past with the Opportunity Corporation or Eastview Homes.)