Speaking against fiscal nonsense, Asheville City Councilman Dr. Carl Mumpower, continues his 6-1 outvotedness in spite of the last elections. In emails made available as public information this week, Mumpower questioned three uses of government money.
First, he complained that $34,000 in drug confiscation dollars went toward the purchase of ceremonial uniforms for high-ranking officers in the Asheville Police Department. When officers put themselves in harm’s way daily, the money would be better spent on protective gear. Room for improvement remains in providing public safety to the citizens of Asheville. Mumpower stated that once the local open air drug market was shut down, he’d be glad to donate $10,000 for ceremonial uniforms for all officers.
In a second email, he asked how much was being spent on junkets for members of council members. This was in response to the latest in a series of travel updates posted by the city clerk. It announced the mayor would be going to Mexico to meet with the mayor of Valladolid, one of Asheville’s Sister Cities. Another member of council was supposedly going to an Ecocity World Summit in San Francisco. The councilwoman has since backpedaled somewhat, expressing uncertainty about the trip. Last year, the mayor and councilwoman got into an email tiff when the mayor claimed as rightly hers tokens given to the councilwoman while visiting Saumer, France, another Sister City.
Thirdly, he confronted a solicitor of a $100,000 economic development grant, stating forced tax dollars should go toward services that cannot be adequately addressed by the private sector.
These comments were in addition to his habitual pulling of items from the consent agendas for separate no votes. This week, he is asking to pull approval of a contract with a Massachusetts firm for master planning downtown Asheville, an extension of a contract with a consulting firm for managing the city’s sale of lands for smart growth purposes, and approval of co-sponsorship of community celebrations.
