Saul Chase Primary Answers
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1. Are you planning to attend “The Step Right Up” on September 22nd?
Yes.
2. Tell us something about your transportation habits. How do you get around Asheville?
My wife Nan and I lived in downtown Boone for 26 years. We deliberately chose to raise our family downtown because we wanted to minimize our need to use a car to get around. When our children were grown, we decided to move to Asheville. We wanted to build our own house, so we looked for a lot, once again, only in downtown. We were very fortunate to find a corner lot on Broad Street, less than a mile from Pack Square, and walking and biking distance to lots of great places in Asheville.
One of my guiding principles is that if something bad happens, just wait, something good will come out of it. The prime example of that in my life is when I tore my ACL playing touch football in 1995. No longer able to run for exercise, I took up biking. Since then I’ve been an avid bicyclist. Virtually every day that weather permits, I ride around the streets of Asheville, pushing the hills hard to get my heart rate up, all the while enjoying Asheville’s beautiful residential neighborhoods.
These bike rides are the reason I’m running for Asheville City Council. They allowed me to see firsthand the deteriorating condition of Asheville’s streets and sidewalks. When the Asheville Citizen-Times quoted Asheville’s Public Works Director Cathy Ball on March 30th saying “repaving might not happen for decades,” I made the decision to run for Asheville City Council.
If I’m shopping for goods I can fit in my backpack, I usually use my bike. For example, I hardly ever take a car to Greenlife, as negotiating getting in and out of that parking lot with a car is to be avoided. I also use my bike to shop downtown, to visit Pack Library and to attend yoga classes on Chestnut Street. I bike to stores on Charlotte Street and Merrimon Avenue, but generally use the sidewalk, always yielding to pedestrians. Since riding on sidewalks is legal in Asheville, bicycle riding on the sidewalks of main corridors should be actively encouraged by the city through a few “Bikes Permitted” signs and information on the City of Asheville website about riding bikes safely on sidewalks.
Nan and I enjoy walking downtown, especially to public events like Bele Chere and Downtown After 5. We celebrate a weekly Sabbath. One of the tenets is to try to not get in the car doing those 24 hours.
3. What recent advancement in Asheville’s transportation infrastructure do you think has had the greatest impact on our community? Why?
The recent improvements to Haywood Street near Clingman Street have made this area safer for bicyclists and pedestrians and made the area more attractive.
The repaving of Interstate 240 has made Asheville’s most important transportation artery much safer, easier on automobile suspensions systems, and a more attractive gateway to Asheville.
4. Even if you haven’t held elected office, you’ve likely been an active member of Asheville’s community.
Please describe one thing you’ve done to make our city friendlier to pedestrians?
Pack Library’s 2010 renovation was a great improvement except for one unfortunate step backward. Before the renovation, one set of the double doors leading into the library from Haywood Street worked automatically, providing easy access for people in wheelchairs and parents pushing children in strollers.
The renovation removed these automatic doors! On a visit to the Pack Library in November of 2010, I held the manual doors open for a person in a wheelchair and for a mother pushing a baby stroller. Both were waiting for someone to come along so they could get through the doors.
The Letter to the Editor that I wrote to the Mountain Xpress about this problem was published on December 7, 2010. I’m pleased that automatic doors are back in place at Pack Library. The text of the letter is attached to the e-mail.
5. As a council member, would you advocate for the implementation of the city’s Bicycle Master Plan? In what specific ways?
Short Term Recommendations
I support the implementation of all the seven proposed bike lanes and shared lane pavement markings listed on page 6.
I also support all eleven bullet points listed on page 1. I’m especially enthusiastic about bullet point #5, regarding developing a maintenance plan that includes a web-based maintenance request form. Presently, too many bike lanes in Asheville are littered with debris.
Short Term Programs and Policies
Bullet Point 5: Undertake a detailed analysis of Asheville’s policies, funding mechanisms and maintenance policies looking for opportunities to better provide for bicycle needs.
Clearly, the major barrier to implementation of the Bicycle Master Plan is scarcity of funds. Asheville’s budget is stretched thin so additional revenues will need to be secured to implement many aspects of the plan. It will be difficult to raise property taxes in the current economic climate, so we must seek out alternative sources of revenue. Here’s a possible source:
Occupancy Taxes
The 4% occupancy tax that visitors to Asheville’s hotels and motels pay does not go to the city of Asheville. Instead, it goes to the Buncombe County Tourist Development Authority. This year, the TDA’s Tourism Product Development Fund will provide $2,000,000 to the Asheville Civic Center for improvements and repairs in preparation for the 2012 Southern Conference Basketball Tournament. This is a sensible investment, as an improved Civic Center will bring more overnight visitors to Asheville.
For this same reason, the TDA should make an annual $750,000 contribution to the Civic Center, as this is the approximate amount that Asheville taxpayers pay each year to subsidize operations at the Civic Center and to fund building upkeep. TDA’s annual contribution will free up $750,000 annually for important projects that we can’t afford now, like fixing roads that present dangers to bicyclists and pedestrians and constructing new bike lanes.
Additionally, if elected I would ask the Asheville City Council to vote for a resolution to be sent to the North Carolina State Legislature asking for an increase in Asheville’s occupancy tax to 6%. (Note: Mecklenburg County’s rate is 8%, and they got the 2012 Democratic Convention.)
The North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association now recommends that 1/3 of occupancy tax funds be used for “tourism related purposes.” Greenways and bike lanes certainly fall into that category, so that extra 2% could mean big money for improving Asheville’s recreational and alternative transportation facilities.
Medium Term Programs and Policies
Overall I can support the objectives outlined in the medium term policies. My one area of concern is utilizing shared lane markings on some of the busier streets listed on page 11 of the report. The traffic on Merrimon Avenue, Biltmore Avenue, McDowell Street and Lakeshore Drive is too intense for cars and bicycles to safely share the road. Instead, I recommend improving the sidewalks along these roads (and installing a sidewalk on Lakeshore Drive) so that they are contiguous and well-maintained, and for bicyclists to ride on the sidewalks instead of on these roads.
6. As a councilmember, would you advocate for the implementation of the Transit Master plan? If you’d advocate for the plan, how would you encourage increasing ridership. If you wouldn’t advocate for the plan, why not?
The major requests of the Transit Master Plan are sensible improvements to Asheville’s bus system. Although Sunday service may be the most requested, reaching the objective of more frequent service seems to me to be the improvement that is fundamental to increasing ridership. One way to accomplish this is to reduce some of the loops that serve only a few customers but increase the overall length of the bus routes.
The goal of implementing express routes, especially during rush hour, is a great way to encourage commuter ridership. The goal of service until 10:00 p.m. will also make bus service more generally attractive.
Improving Asheville’s sidewalks is one of my campaign’s two top priorities. A comprehensive sidewalk system will increase bus ridership.
Given the increasing frequency of inclement weather, more bus shelters are a must. I was disappointed that the bus shelter on Charlotte Street near Chestnut Street was removed because Fuddruckers complained that the shelter blocked visibility of their signs. If elected, I’ll work to get that bus shelter back.
7. What role do you think greenways should play in Asheville’s future?
An important one. Boone’s Greenway is the most beautiful place in Boone. I served as chair of the Boone Greenway Task Force for its first twenty years. I look forward to the opportunity to help expand greenway systems in Asheville as I have so successfully in Boone. Greenways in the mountains of North Carolina are beautiful. We need more of them.
8. Past City Councils invested in planning efforts. Our city has a Sustainability Management Plan, a Greenway Master Plan, a Bicycle Master Plan, a Transit Master Plan, and a Pedestrian Thoroughfare Plan. The next step is to fund the implementation of these plans. In these hard economic times, how would you propose to fund these plans? Or, do these plans need to be cut? If you think the plans need to be trimmed, what plans or pieces of plans should be cut?
I would not support funding new initiatives proposed in these plans until Asheville adequately funds the maintenance of its streets and sidewalks.
9. What is the most compelling reason to improve transportation options in Asheville?
Transportation is the lifeblood of a city. We need to do what we can to keep it moving smoothly. The more options available that do not involve cars, the better.
