Asheville City Council had another strange meeting. Dr. Carl Mumpower wished to present a PowerPoint presentation on the follies of expensive, tax-subsidized renovations to the W. C. Reid Center. He requested permission days earlier, and not hearing back from the mayor, threatened to give his presentation during the public comment portion of the discussion. Granted, it is unprecedented for a member of council to present a contrary viewpoint to agenda items via PowerPoint, but Bellamy did not tell Mumpower his request would be denied until he tried to present. Her statement was consistent with policy drafted the last time Mumpower tried to show a PowerPoint slide show supplementary to a scheduled agenda item.
Mumpower’s point, that parental involvement will have a greater impact than bricks and mortar on the welfare and character of children visiting community centers, was boo-hooed by the mayor who thought it outrage and cause to castigate Mumpower.
As emotions broiled, Bellamy quickly called for a vote, eliciting a protest from Mumpower, who didn’t vote because he wasn’t done deliberating. Holly Jones then asked for a vote affirming that the mayor was in control of the meetings. The vote was unanimous.
The second cat fight broke out during a discussion of the Holiday Parade. The City of Asheville was asked to assume sponsorship. Jan Davis had reservations. He recalled instances of partial nudity and profanity at the parade last year. Davis insists on calling the event the Christmas Parade, and says it is intended primarily for children four and five years old. He confirmed with the city’s attorney that the city, due to interpretations of the First Amendment, would not be able to censure such “freedoms of expression.” Attorney Bob Oast said municipalities had been sued for excluding religious faiths from or having too much of one religious faith in their holiday parades.
Mumpower referred to the matter Davis was discussing as a corruption of the Christmas theme. Robin Cape then got offended. One of Asheville’s greatest assets was its diversity. People of all cultures should be able to come together to celebrate the darkest time of the year. Mumpower retorted that her comments were superlative evidence of why government doesn’t need to be involved in the parade business. Tom Hallmark, president of the current sponsor of the parade, the Asheville Merchants Corporation, took offense at being called “corrupted,” too. Mumpower said this just showed how the culture in general was in decline.
Mumpower was pushing buttons so adroitly, at one point, Cape begged the mayor to make him stop campaigning from the dais.
