2009 Candidate Survey Responses & Voter Guide

Candidate for City Council: Robin Cape (incumbent, running as write-in)

1. What are your top three policy priorities for your term, if elected?

Building a strong community than can be resilient in the face of the many challenges we face is of primary import to me. Council’s role in this is in the relationships we build with other local governments, corporate and non profit partners. We must mutually support the mission and operational focus of all those who seek to improve our community. It is important that council policies do not create undue barriers to our partners efforts and that we can leverage our individual strengths for the benefit of all.

Council’s must understand its role in creating and enforcing policies and ordinances that support communities and developments that are inclusive for ALL of our citizens and can provide safe, healthy living opportunities for families, children, the elderly and others.

I will continue to work to improve the quality of our infrastructure and the built environment to create a community that reduces its energy consumption, pollution and use of resources. We can do this and create a strong healthy economy, employ a growing workforce and uphold our community values.
 

2. An estimated 16-20% of Buncombe County’s children and youth live in poverty; a number expected to rise during this recession. What role, if any, does council play in addressing the impact of child poverty (e.g. hunger, health, nutrition, education) in the region?

Our role as an agency for the distribution of the federal CDBG Funding needs to focus on providing affordable housing, family support systems to avoid homelessness and other child focused community efforts. We need to reinstitute the City’s Housing Trust Fund to its original funding levels also. I support the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding to reduce the risk to families currently facing homelessness and to make sure that they are relocated in housing as rapidly.

I am also working on a project known as Reading, Riding and Retrofit, that synergizes community efforts around the school system creating an educational experience that will prepare our children for the future they will inherit and the new emerging economy.. We can simultaneously create jobs for their parents and providers that improve the energy performance of the schools and utilize the ARRA stimulus funding goals.
 

3. How effective has the City been in addressing youth crime, including gang-related activity? Are there other intervention and prevention strategies the City should invest in?

This is one of the most difficult issues we face as the influence of youth gang involvement is a not restricted to just our. I believe that we have improved relationships between the Public Housing, police, local government and the community; we have a long way to go to make our neighborhoods safe for children to grow up and avoid gang involvement.. Youth related crime can not be deterred by arrest and incarceration alone, but the backlog within the judicial system has been a hindrance to setting strong boundaries for repeat offenders who seduce the youth into their lifestyles. I am hopeful that the Nuisance Court model that City Council is starting will offer strong, public consequences for first time and minor offenders that will deter the youth from continuing down that path.

We must also employ other opportunities such as we have seen be effective in Burton Street and the Weed and Seed Program. These community based options can offer alternatives and models by building strong, connected neighborhoods, youth employment, positive recreational opportunities, and a culture of hope.
 

4. What is your assessment of the City’s public transportation system? Would you propose changes?

Though we have made some improvements in Ashevile’s bus system we are still a long way from being able to offer the type of system that can provide a positive alternative to the automobile. A huge roadblock to improving local alternative transportation is the funding and the federal priorities that continuously focus transportation spending on the traditional highway and pavement options. The City can do and is trying a variety of things that can help us move forward on this issue. First, the recently completed transportation plan is identifying the most effective and useful routes and we will be increasing service on those routes from 1 hour to ½ hour increments. Additionally, I would propose that we increase our attention to identifying areas of the city as Transportation Corridors ( Patton and Smokey Park Highway, Tunnel Road, and other currently underutilized commercial areas) we we can create ordinances, incentives, and infrastructure that will encourage density and quality mixed use developments that can be serviced by a variety of alternative transportation options, buses, greenways, bikeways, sidewalks, etc.
 

5. The Asheville-Buncombe Living Wage Campaign calculates that a single person needs to earn $11.35/hr to have economic self-sufficiency in Asheville. Should the City ensure that all City employees and contractors make a living wage? Why or why not?

Yes I believe that the city has a leadership role to play in paying all City employees and contractors a living wage. I have supported this and will continue to do so. As an organization who must follow contracting rules that often force us to only accept the “lowest” bid in contracts, we are effectively forcing local contractors to meet these low bid requirements by keeping the wages of their employees low. This is not good for jobs in the community and not a responsible organizational practice.
 

6. What further role, if any, should council play in the I-26 Connector debate?

The 1-26 debate is currently on hold for at least a year and I believe that there is not a current role for council to play except to insist that the mandates for a quality community outcome be an integral part of the decision making process. Currently, the conversation has been distorted by the unrealistic demands that DOT forced upon the Asheville Design Center Proposal of 4-B. At this point I would like to see DOT do the traffic counts to justify the scope and scale of this project. I also believe that we are facing a new paradigm of transportation and that just because this project started 15 years or more ago it does not mean that it is the project that is in the best interest of our communities future. It may be that this “slow down” in the decision making process will bring us an option that better addresses future conditions rather than building upon past conditions.
 

7. Describe your vision for increasing affordable housing options in Asheville. How do the existing locations of the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville fit your vision?

As a member of the Housing and Community Development Committee of the City I have followed and support the Affordable Housing Task force as they have researched this issue. I support a change in the City’s Housing Trust fund that prioritizes multi-family residential and rental units as our primary focus. this particular focus would increase the number of units available and the niche that is most in need of this type of housing. The current locations of the Housing authority offer some unique opportunities if we collaborate and create redevelopment options that increase stock, mixed income residents and decrease the “corralling” of poor and disadvantage community members in single locations. I supported and am encouraged by the recent HOPE IV study that the City and the Housing Authority did that identifies the feasibility of remodeling and transforming some of the Housing Authority properties.
 

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