Thursday, August 11, 2005

Help re-elect Holly Jones to City Council

Holly Jones is running for re-election to Asheville's City Council. You're all invited to her campaign kick-off party today (Thursday, August 11) from 5-6:30 p.m. at Ashton Park. To quote Holly, "This will be a fun, family-friendly event."

I think Holly has done some great things for Asheville over the past four years, including: helping to create safe, affordable housing, voting against commercial logging in Asheville's watershed, and supporting pedestrian and neighborhood safety.

Unfortunately, I'm in Atlanta, so I'll miss the event tonight. I'd love to hear about it if any other Blogasheville bloggers attend.

4 comments:

Gordon Smith said...

Oh I wish I'd known earlier! I've found Holly to be a heartfelt advocate for liberal interests in Asheville. Her leadership at the YMCA and on issues like the Water Agreement meltdown were excellent. She's got integrity in spades as well.

I'll be voting for her, and then the other seats I'm still deciding...Freeborn? Pelly? One of the cats whose names are unfamiliar because they're new to the Asheville political scene.

Hey AshVegas! Get me informed, will ya?!?

Edgy Mama said...

Great to hear your take, Screwy. I'm a bit mixed about promoting her, because I'm selfish--the election is right after our book club beach weekend, so Holly can't go with us!

ash said...

I'll try, Screwy.

Here's my take -
While I'll like Holly, it's been torture watching her on council as she continually votes against her heart. We saw it most clearly when she voted FOR the Wal-Mart (which I assume is not in interest of local liberals) while at the same time talking about how much she didn't want to do it. She cried through the vote, a sign of her tortured nature.

Why do that? If you feel strongly, vote your heart. But she seems to be trying to satisfy everyone.

Neither Pelly nor Freeborn is "new" to the seen. Both ran last time and lost. Pelly, from Haw Creek in east Asheville, has played an active role in local neighborhood issues, and he has the backing of that bloc, if you want to call it that. It is a powerful group of residents who work to make sure their interests are heard on council. Pelly just missed making the cut last time. He'll have a great shot at it this time.

Freeborn comes across as an educated liberal, but I don't sense a real strong base of support there or campaign structure. I think he's a darkhorse candidate.

I think Robin Cape is the one to watch. She works harder than anyone I've seen in a long time, and she's smart about it. She won a write-in election to the Woodfin water board a couple of years ago when that town's watershed controversy was raging. Winning a write-in election is almost unheard of in Buncombe County because of the work it takes, but she did it.

Gordon Smith said...

Yeah...i meant the other folks were little-knowns...I ran into Freeborn outside our precinct last go round. He was holding up a sign pimping himself. It was a homemade poster with a glaring spelling error. I told him about the grammatical faux pas, and he quickly pulled out his markers, fixed the offending letters, and held up the now-hoopdier-than-ever sign.

I didn't even consider voting for him.

Now Robin Cape is another story altogether. This woman is driven, and unless we find a headless body in her trunk, I'll be voting for her.