Before proceeding, I must commend the current city council. I was recalling a few years ago when we had radicals onboard who would fund or dictate anything like punks. Things got so bad, the pendulum had to rebound. Now, for the most part, we have a mature group making responsible decisions for the people.

Looking over the proposed budget for the City of Asheville, a few things stood out:

  • There is a small, $2830 line item for Transportation Demand Management. (See page 48.)

    The Transportation Demand Management Division seeks to alter the demand for roadway capacity and increase transportation system efficiency by moving more people in fewer vehicles. A series of strategies are used to decrease the use of the single occupancy vehicle (SOV) and encourage the use of alternatives such as transit, carpooling, vanpooling, bicycling, walking, teleworking, and alternative work schedules.

    Funny. I supposed the role of government in this country was to facilitate choice, and not to force agendas. Accepting I am wrong, I have this great idea. Why don’t we require people to remove and reinstall the engine blocks from their cars before using them. We can say it is for security, like an inspection. We can then require certification for each re-installation. That way, government can collect more revenue, and people will think twice about hopping in the car to do their grocery shopping.

  • I can’t remember why police administrative staffing shot up from 15 FTE’s to 57 between FY 2012-2013 and FY 2013-2014. (See page 34.)
  • As an aside, I always despise the way annoyances where you have to pay to play bureaucratic games are referred to as services. Services should make thriving easier. Anyhoo, I have reference to the city’s Development Services Department.
  • This isn’t in the budget book, but it is related. Asheville City Council is expected to approve an increase in funding for FIRST, Forsyth Initiative for Residential Self Help Treatment, Inc. The city has for some time worked with this agency to staff positions with people who have records or conditions standing in the way of employment. (Was that PC enough?)

    If memory serves, the city just cut back on the amount it was going to use this service, due to challenges that could not be articulated in a PC setting. Now, it is understandable that there could have been personnel changes, maybe temps were assigned above their skill level, or maybe the city was strong-armed into making a stupid decision. The city serves the people, who maybe should be allowed a little more information about weird-looking decisions than some PC mumbo-jumbo and pretending like nothing happened.