Letter: Williams, Smith and Roney understand value of Youth Transformed for Life

Graphic by Lori Deaton

While there are four women vying for seats on Asheville City Council, Gwen Wisler will not be getting my vote. I base this decision largely on Gwen’s lack of advocacy to fund for Youth Transformed for Life, Hillcrest’s summer youth enrichment program. As chair of the Finance Committee, this is an issue she owns.

Dee Williams, Sheneika Smith and Kim Roney, on the other hand, will be getting my support. I believe Dee, Sheneika and Kim understand that sufficiently funding a program like YTL is the best investment our city can make.

While Vijay Kapoor and Rich Lee may have a similar position as Dee, Sheneika, and Kim [regarding] sufficiently funding YTL, Vijay has never served on a board or commission with the city, something that I believe makes sense before making the leap to City Council. And while Rich has, I’ll be voting to make history by working to see Asheville City Council be made up of a record-setting five women. I hope you will join me in doing the same!

Sincerely,

— Timothy S. Sadler
Asheville

Editor’s note: Xpress contacted Wisler about the point raised about her in the above letter, and she provided the following response: “As a member of the Housing and Community Development Committee, I consistently make investments in programs that serve children in public housing, and if it were up to me alone, we would fund them all. Of $158,400 in awards, $75,700 funded youth-centered programs that serve children in public housing, including My Daddy Taught Me That, One Youth at a Time, IRL and 10 more. We received competitive funding requests for triple the available funds. Full disclosure: I also volunteer with IRL, which is an Asheville Middle School after-school program.”

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.

One thought on “Letter: Williams, Smith and Roney understand value of Youth Transformed for Life

  1. Alan Ditmore

    Although Roney was a very distant third place choice for me. Williams, Smith, Roney is probably how I would have voted too, If I was a resident. Though I might also have written my own name into the third slot instead. Or maybe Lulz.

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.