Asheville City Council adds climate change to $26M in COVID-19 aid spending categories
Joel BurgessASHEVILLE - Climate change will now be among 11 areas that could receive $26.3 million in federal pandemic aid managed by the city.
The City Council voted 7-0 Sept. 14 to add climate change to the categories for which it will ask businesses and nonprofits to make project proposals for American Rescue Plan Act money.
The categories are:
- Affordable housing
- Aging resident care
- Infrastructure
- Community communication
- Domestic violence prevention and assistance
- Food systems
- Homelessness services
- City tax and other revenue losses
- Small business recovery
- Climate change
- Workforce development
Councilwoman Kim Roney proposed the addition, saying she was "concerned that we're making a bet" that cities and counties might get other federal climate change money. Instead, that money might get absorbed by the state before it gets to local governments, Roney said.
"Which is why I'm appealing to my colleagues to consider our own climate justice initiative."
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Mayor Esther Manheimer said her reservation was the aid money might be spread too thinly.
"I just wonder how realistic it is that the funds will cover all these different categories. But I defer to staff to say whether or not that is practical," Manheimer said.
The city has already made "tentative" commitments of $5.5 million to homelessness assistance and reimbursement of lost revenues, City Manager Debra Campbell said. Those include $1.6 million to replace lost parking fees and $2 million to help the nonprofit Homeward Bound convert a Days Inn hotel on Tunnel Road into permanent housing for chronically homeless.
The city is also looking to convert another hotel, the Ramada Inn in East Asheville, into an emergency low-barrier shelter. It has not yet committed to the $9.7 million purchase or other expenses that could from more of the $26.3 million in and funding partners, such as Buncombe County.
Still, adding climate change might not have a negative impact, Campbell said, since some categories might not get proposals.
An official request for proposals is planned to go out Sept. 24 and end Nov. 1, said Asheville Internal Auditor Patricia Rosenberg. An information session for those interested in doing projects would happen in October, she said.
In a written report filed with the council agenda, Rosenberg said the funded categories will help with recovery from "devastating economic and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic."
"(And it) provides equitable solutions to repair harm that was exacerbated by the pandemic and build resilience for the future," she said.
Joel Burgess has lived in WNC for more than 20 years, covering politics, government and other news. He's written award-winning stories on topics ranging from gerrymandering to police use of force. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.