Letter: Williams is passionate to create positive social change

Graphic by Lori Deaton

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

SHARE

Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

About Letters
We want to hear from you! Send your letters and commentary to letters@mountainx.com

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

5 thoughts on “Letter: Williams is passionate to create positive social change

  1. 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.

  2. 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:

      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.

  3. 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.)

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.