Prior to the Asheville City Council retreat, Councilman Cecil Bothwell published eleven goals, which were printed in the Mountain Xpress. In short, they are:

  1. Publicly-financed elections, in which a candidate’s ability to raise money will be matched by taxpayer contributions to his opponent(s).
  2. Differential water rates, which would rid Asheville of unfair legislation preventing it from doing what all other cities with water systems can.
  3. A “robust regional transportation plan” to demonstrate enough cars will be removed from the roads to cancel the DOT’s plans, for years postponed by environmentalists, to widen I-26.
  4. No more downtown parking spaces.
  5. Shrunken fuel budgets for city departments.
  6. A simplified the UDO in presentation with no call for relief from unreasonable demands.
  7. A revolving loan system for retrofits.
  8. Asheville to become a sanctuary city for persons from other countries lacking legal paperwork.
  9. Legal prostitution.
  10. Decriminalized drugs.
  11. Empowered public housing residents, through other means than drug legalization.