Cost of living is the biggest problem facing working people in Asheville, especially when it comes to the essentials: housing and health care. What are your plans take to make these human rights accessible to people in Asheville?

Housing affordability is the most urgent cost-of-living issue facing Asheville’s working class. My focus is on expanding deeply affordable and workforce housing tied to local wages, protecting existing affordable housing, and using city tools like zoning, public land, and incentives to increase supply at multiple income levels.

I support missing middle housing, multi-family construction, and partnerships with nonprofit and mission-driven developers to create housing that people who work here can actually afford. Preventing displacement is as important as building new units.

While healthcare is largely controlled at the state and federal level, the city can support access by stabilizing housing, reducing transportation barriers, and supporting a workforce that includes healthcare workers themselves. Housing stability is a public health intervention, and city policy should reflect that reality.

North Carolina consistently ranks as one of the worst states to be a worker. How have you engaged with labor movements and unions? What are their biggest concerns and how will you help address them as a City Councilor?

I have engaged with workers and labor concerns primarily through my work with small businesses, artists, and service workers, many of whom operate without traditional labor protections. The biggest concerns I hear are housing costs, unpredictable work conditions, lack of benefits, and instability during economic shocks.

As a City Councilor, I would focus on policies that stabilize workers’ lives, including housing affordability, reliable transit, fair city wages, and recovery investments that protect jobs rather than displace them. I support the city being a responsible employer and contractor, with fair wages and clear labor standards.

As a campaign, my team and I have committed to working exclusively with a union printer for our campaign materials, and have met with both the labor and progressive caucus, and are open to meeting with other labor movements. While NC remains a right-to-work state, I believe that labor organizing is having a strong moment and is picking up steam, especially with the statewide AFL-CIO now led by Braxton Winston.

The city should continue to engage with unions and worker organizations in good faith, particularly around public employment, construction, and service contracts, like the local firefighters association, the IAFF Local 332. Strong worker protections and a stable workforce are essential to a functioning city.

Our communities are not safe when people can be snatched from the street by unidentified ICE agents. What are you doing to combat ICE raids? What are the best strategies available to city council?

I believe that fear-based enforcement undermines public safety and destabilizes communities. People should not be afraid to go to work, take their children to school, or access basic services because of immigration enforcement tactics.

At the city level, the most effective strategies include limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement beyond what is legally required, ensuring city services are accessible regardless of immigration status, and clearly communicating residents’ rights. Trust between residents and local government is essential, especially during emergencies and disasters.

City Council also plays a critical role in supporting community organizations that provide legal aid, education, and rapid response support to immigrant families, including groups like Siembra NC, CIMA, and Pisgah Legal Services. These partnerships help ensure people know their rights and can access assistance when they need it most.

Public safety is built through stability, trust, and access to services, not intimidation. City leadership should be clear about standing for dignity, safety, and inclusion.

City Council decides the budget. What programs or investments would you expand, and what would you cut or deprioritize, to better serve working-class residents of Asheville?

I would prioritize investments that directly reduce cost pressures on working-class residents, including affordable housing, climate resilience, infrastructure reliability, and fair wages for city workers. Preventing displacement, fixing infrastructure before it fails, and reducing future disaster costs are fiscally responsible choices.

I would scrutinize programs that rely on short-term fixes, lack clear performance metrics, or repeatedly push costs into the future. Asheville cannot afford inefficiency when working people are already stretched thin.

Rather than austerity for its own sake, my approach is to reduce preventable costs, improve accountability, and ensure public dollars deliver real outcomes. Budgets should reflect lived realities, not just spreadsheets.

What is the most important issue affecting Asheville beyond what is covered here, and what is your plan for addressing it?

The most important issue beyond those already discussed is implementation. Asheville has no shortage of plans or studies. What we lack is consistent follow-through at the scale and speed required to meet the moment.

I plan to focus on execution, accountability, and coordination across departments and partners. People feel the impact of delays, not intentions. Whether it is housing, recovery, transit, or climate resilience, success depends on turning commitments into action.

My leadership approach is grounded in collaboration, data, and outcomes. Asheville does not need more promises. It needs results.

Members of the Democratic Socialists of America “reject an economic order sustained by private profit, alienated labor, discrimination, environmental destruction, and violence in defense of the status quo.” Do you share this belief? Have you acted on these beliefs? If elected, how would these values guide your decisions as a City Councilor?

Yes, in substance. I reject an economic order where private profit comes before working people, where discrimination is normalized, and where environmental harm is treated as the cost of doing business. At the city level, that means a simple standard. Do our policies shift stability and power toward workers, renters, and historically excluded communities, or do they protect the status quo.

I have acted on these values, and I have led on them. I was the principal author and strategist behind Asheville’s municipal reparations framework, and I wrote the public policy that became the unanimous 2020 reparations resolution. That work was designed to be community driven and focused on addressing generational wealth disparities and institutional harm. Nationally, I also wrote the policy and helped design the community led process that produced Tulsa’s official municipal apology for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. That process centered residents, and the effort later received public support from leaders including Jesse Jackson, but the policy and the pathway were driven by the work I wrote and organized.

On City Council I also pushed tangible changes like raising wages for city workers, Ban the Box to reduce discriminatory hiring barriers, building equity capacity inside local government, and reforms to make contracting and city decisions more fair, transparent, and accountable.

Cost of living is the biggest problem facing working people in Asheville, especially when it comes to the essentials: housing and health care. What are your plans take to make these human rights accessible to people in Asheville?

Housing and health care should be treated as human rights, and the cost of living crisis in Asheville is a policy choice as much as it is a market outcome. The city cannot control every variable, but it does control the rules, the land, the budget priorities, and the speed and fairness of decision making. That is where I would act.

On housing, my plan is to increase supply while locking in affordability and preventing displacement. That starts with missing middle housing, ADUs, and clear, standards based approvals that allow housing to be built when it meets objective rules. Delay is a hidden tax that drives up rent, so I support a public permitting dashboard with service targets, stronger pre application checklists, and accountability for timelines. We also already have a community land trust, and I want to scale it as permanent affordability infrastructure with a steady pipeline of land and units. The city should use public land strategically, partner with the land trust and other mission driven builders, and use shared equity and deed restricted affordability so that when public dollars or public assets are involved, the result is permanent affordability and long term protections. I will also prioritize anti displacement strategies tied to redevelopment and stabilization in historically impacted neighborhoods.

On health care, the city does not run hospitals, but it can expand access and reduce barriers through partnership and planning. I will work with Buncombe County, federally qualified health centers, and local providers to expand neighborhood level care, including more clinic capacity where people live, mobile services, and better coordination for uninsured and underinsured residents. I support stronger behavioral health response so crises are met with care instead of punishment, and I will align homelessness response with treatment pathways and supportive housing. The city can help by making it easier to locate clinics and supportive services and by investing in the basics that shape health directly, living wages, safe infrastructure, water reliability, and public spaces that work.

The through line is simple. Use the levers the city actually controls to make housing cheaper and faster to produce, make affordability permanent when the public is investing, prevent displacement, and bring health services closer to people with clear accountability for outcomes.

North Carolina consistently ranks as one of the worst states to be a worker. How have you engaged with labor movements and unions? What are their biggest concerns and how will you help address them as a City Councilor?

I have engaged with labor in a direct, accountable way. In my first City Council race in 2015, I earned the endorsement of the AFL CIO. In office, I did not just vote for worker measures, I led on them. I pushed to raise the city’s living wage and I led the effort to raise firefighter pay. At the time, these were not always popular positions inside City Hall, but I believed then and I believe now that a city that runs on working people has a moral and practical obligation to pay them fairly and treat them with respect.

The biggest concerns I hear from workers and union members are pay that does not match the cost of living, rising housing costs that erase wage gains, understaffing and burnout, safety and equipment needs, fair scheduling, and whether the city uses its contracting power to reward low road employers. There is also real frustration that too many decisions get made without workers at the table.

As a City Councilor, I will address those concerns by continuing to raise standards inside city government and using the city’s purchasing and contracting power to lift standards across the local economy. That means strong wage and benefit expectations for city contractors where the law allows, responsible bidder rules that do not reward labor violations, clear labor and safety requirements on major projects, and transparent enforcement when contractors break the rules. It also means protecting staffing and equipment for frontline workers like firefighters, and making sure city decisions on development and budgeting are aligned with working people’s reality, especially housing stability and reliable basic services. I will meet regularly with labor and worker organizations and treat their input as essential to how we set policy, not as an afterthought.

City Council decides the budget. What programs or investments would you expand, and what would you cut or deprioritize, to better serve working-class residents of Asheville?

With a roughly thirty million dollar budget gap, we should treat this as a belt tightening year and protect the core systems that keep Asheville functioning. I would hold the line by pausing or deferring a wide range of non infrastructure spending and avoiding new recurring commitments until we stabilize the base budget.

I would protect and prioritize water and sewer reliability, stormwater, roads and sidewalks, drainage, slope stability, and emergency communications, along with the staffing capacity that delivers these projects and keeps permitting and inspections moving. Cutting these areas usually costs more later and turns preventable failures into emergencies.

To create real savings that carry into the next budget, I would phase lower priority items later in the budget cycle with clear triggers and council oversight instead of fully funding them on day one. I would also hold the line on overhead by extending tight controls on discretionary travel, training, non essential purchases, and administrative expansion.

I would scrutinize and reduce spending that does not produce measurable benefits for working people. That includes corporate style incentives or subsidies without enforceable public benefits, repeated consultant driven work that does not accelerate real delivery, and vanity projects that concentrate resources while neighborhoods struggle with basics. For large service contracts, I would push performance based terms and transparent cost drivers so increases are earned through outcomes, not treated as automatic.

The guiding principle is simple. Protect infrastructure and delivery capacity, pause and phase non essentials for one year, and use discipline and accountability to lower the baseline so the next budget starts in a stronger position.

What is the most important issue affecting Asheville beyond what is covered here, and what is your plan for addressing it?

The most important issue beyond what is covered here is government performance and implementation. Values matter, but results matter too, and working people suffer when city systems are slow, inconsistent, or unreliable. Asheville cannot recover or stay livable if the city cannot execute.

My plan is to rebuild an execution culture that delivers. I served five years on City Council and I led with results year after year, starting within my first two weeks in office. I know how to move policy from debate to implementation, and how to hold systems accountable for delivery.

As a Councilor, I will set clear performance targets for permitting, inspections, and basic service response, and I will publish public dashboards so residents can track timelines, costs, and progress. I will strengthen internal project management so capital projects and recovery work are delivered on time and on budget, and I will push predictable, standards based rules that speed up approvals when projects meet objective requirements. I will focus relentlessly on infrastructure reliability and resilience, with transparent milestones so neighborhoods know what is getting fixed, where, and by when.

If the city can execute, we can make progress on everything else. If it cannot, nothing else will matter. Results matter!

Members of the Democratic Socialists of America “reject an economic order sustained by private profit, alienated labor, discrimination, environmental destruction, and violence in defense of the status quo.” Do you share this belief? Have you acted on these beliefs? If elected, how would these values guide your decisions as a City Councilor?

I believe that an economic system driven solely by private profit, without strong democratic safeguards and accountability, produces harm. Our history clearly outlines those dangers, from worker exploitation to environmental destruction and inequitable access to basic necessities. Government has a distinct and necessary role: to correct market failures, protect the public interest, and ensure that everyone has access to the essentials of a dignified life.

I have acted on these beliefs by supporting strong public services, worker protections, environmental safeguards, and policies that prioritize people over profit. I believe local governments must operate transparently and democratically to counter the worst impacts of unchecked corporate power, particularly where monopolies control essential services like health care and energy.

As a City Councilor, these values guide me toward pragmatic, people-centered governance, using the tools available to local government to regulate fairly, invest wisely, and ensure public decisions serve the common good, not narrow private interests. I also believe it’s important to remain accessible and accountable to residents.

Cost of living is the biggest problem facing working people in Asheville, especially when it comes to the essentials: housing and health care. What are your plans take to make these human rights accessible to people in Asheville?

The cost of living (especially due to housing, health care, and energy) is a defining challenge for working people in Asheville. While North Carolina limits local authority, cities still have real tools to expand access and affordability, and it’s important they advocate for stronger protections at the state and federal levels as well

On housing, I support increasing supply, especially for lower-income residents, while protecting existing affordable housing and using public land and public investment to create long-term affordability. The county’s Coxe Avenue affordable housing development is one example of this approach in action. These efforts also include zoning reforms, infrastructure alignment, and strong partnerships with nonprofit and public housing providers; tools I’ve worked on directly as a member our county’s Affordable Housing Subcommittee.

On health care, local governments must ensure access wherever possible through public health investment, preventive care, and services that reduce barriers for uninsured and underinsured residents. As a County Commissioner, I’m proud we provide free vaccines and essential services through our health department. These necessities should be treated as public goods, not profit centers. I’ve also consistently stood with Mission Hospital workers to demand accountability, safe staffing, and quality care.

On energy, I’ve spent much of my career working in the environmental movement to hold Duke Energy accountable for rising rates and over-reliance on fossil fuels. We need affordable, clean energy that protects residents from volatile costs, while also reducing emissions and putting the public interest ahead of corporate profit.

North Carolina consistently ranks as one of the worst states to be a worker. How have you engaged with labor movements and unions? What are their biggest concerns and how will you help address them as a City Councilor?

My support for labor and collective bargaining is long-standing and personal. As a student at NC State, I marched for collective bargaining rights for public sector employees and worked to support university workers. My first job was a union job at UPS, where I experienced firsthand how unions deliver fair wages and benefits. Our union even registered me to vote.

I’ve been a union member through multiple stages of my career, including with the Progressive Workers Union at Sierra Club, and I am currently a proud union member at my current job NRDC, where I voted in favor of forming the union and aligning with The Washington-Baltimore News Guild CWA Local 32035. While working in nonprofit management at a previous employer, I was an early collaborator in a years-long effort to unionize in order to improve working conditions, even when it came at personal professional cost.

As a City Councilor, I will continue to support worker protections, fair wages, safe working conditions, and the right to organize. I will work with unions to understand their concerns and ensure city policy reflects respect for labor in a state with a long history of worker suppression.

City Council decides the budget. What programs or investments would you expand, and what would you cut or deprioritize, to better serve working-class residents of Asheville?

The City Council’s most important responsibility is the budget, and it’s where values meet reality. Asheville faces a significant projected budget shortfall, and those constraints must be taken seriously to maintain effective government and public trust.

I believe that local government should be a force for good, delivering high-quality, reliable public services. As a County Commissioner during a difficult post-disaster budget season, I helped ensure no workers lost their jobs across county government and local schools, while also supporting cost-of-living increases. Our workforce is our strongest asset.

On City Council, I would prioritize investments that directly improve life for residents: housing stability, worker support, public health, transportation, and core services. At the same time, I would be disciplined about deprioritizing spending that does not measurably improve residents’ quality of life.

My budget priorities reflect both the climate crisis and long-term fiscal responsibility. I support investing in staff capacity to deliver already-funded bike, pedestrian, and greenway projects; planning and sustainability staff to improve flood resilience; clean water and watershed protection; building efficiency and clean-energy upgrades; and fleet electrification. These investments reduce long-term costs, improve safety, and cut pollution.

Local government staff deserve a living wage that allows them to live in the community they serve. Beyond that, rather than expanding ongoing obligations without stable funding, new revenue should focus on one-time or cost-saving investments that strengthen resilience and affordability. Asheville deserves strong public services and also shared public goods that support a vibrant, joyful and healthy community, while creating dignity and beauty. Our neighbors deserve both bread and roses.

What is the most important issue affecting Asheville beyond what is covered here, and what is your plan for addressing it?

Beyond these issues, the most pressing challenge is preserving democratic institutions and public trust during a time of national political instability and rising authoritarianism. Local government must be steady, transparent, and accountable, especially when higher levels of government fail to act responsibly.

My approach is pragmatic and coalition-focused. I work across jurisdictions and political lines to protect our community, secure resources, and deliver results, whether in Raleigh, Washington, or regional partnerships. This is not about symbolic gestures, but about using diplomacy, persistence, and democratic processes to improve people’s lives. That is what I’ve done as a Buncombe County Commissioner and that is what I will do on Asheville City Council.

Strong local democracy is our best defense and our best tool for building a more just future.