Asheville leaders react to high neighborhood violence data: 'Not treating with urgency'

ASHEVILLE - Elected officials reacted to new revelations about city violence that show downtown — the focus of intense public discourse over safety and the recipient of additional public resources such as policing — is less dangerous than poorer neighborhoods outside the city center.

Those public housing neighborhoods, managed by the Asheville Housing Authority, have high concentrations of children and frequent gunshots, a new investigation by the Citizen Times shows. Residents of the neighborhoods have long called for assistance, City Council member Antanette Mosley said Feb. 20, two days after publication of the investigation that compares violence downtown to that in other neighborhoods.

"For years housing authority residents have cried out for the same consideration that every other community member living in Asheville receives," Mosley said. "They deserve responsiveness, respect and recognition."

Council member Kim Roney reacted to the analysis, saying she has pushed for more funding for organizations that specialize in interrupting violence, closing racial opportunity gaps, and providing safe spaces for children, but she was stymied by city staff.

"We're talking about families impacted and kids losing their lives," Roney said. "We're not treating this with the urgency to show that we care, and I know we care."

She said the "ripple effect" in such communities is tremendous — "because when it happens to one family, it's happening to whole neighborhoods, whole streets. So, it's wrecking our families and our communities."

Pressure over downtown

Local officials in 2023 faced pressure from restaurateurs, hotel owners, and other downtown business owners, as well as downtown-facing activist groups and national and local media over what they described as a "deteriorating" and increasingly "lawless" downtown.

Asheville and Buncombe County officials reacted with police sweeps of homeless residents, the addition of deputy patrols, private security guards in city parking garages and the allocation of other taxpayer resources.

But the newly published Citizen Times analysis shows over the last six years neighborhoods such as Pisgah View in West Asheville and Hillcrest near downtown had far more gunshots than downtown, and at least twice as many violent crimes when comparing size and the number of housing units. New Asheville Police Department Chief Mike Lamb backed the analysis, saying the city's public housing communities, such as Pisgah View and Hillcrest, have more violence. Housing authority neighborhoods such as those once had a special police unit that were good at curbing violent crime, Lamb said, adding that given the resources he would restore the unit.

Compared to the entire city, those communities have a much younger and more minority-based population, with 41% of residents under the age of 18 and 53% of them Black.

After the investigation's publication, the Citizen Times reached out to the seven council members and City Manager Debra Campbell.

Mayor Esther Manheimer responded saying that the city in efforts to reimagine public safety after 2020 racial justice protests, added services such as non-police community responders and an agreement with Sheriff Quentin Miller to assist with downtown patrols. Those measures and increased pay for a police force facing persistent vacancies have helped bring down crime in the city as it emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, she said in an emailed statement.

"The hard work is not over and we continue to look for opportunities to use our officers, first responders, and community supporters to prevent and push back against violent crime in any and all areas of our community," Manheimer said.

The mayor did not respond to a follow-up question as to whether resources should have gone first to the communities with the worst violence.

Public safety response 'waned'

Council member Maggie Ullman said officials have seen the public safety response had "waned" downtown and in housing authority communities. But she said significant strides were made in 2023 to address safety downtown.

"In 2024, I expect we'll further expand our community responder program of firefighters and rebuilt police units to serve neighborhoods in the most need."

Asked about prioritization between downtown and the other neighborhoods, Ullman said downtown is bigger with an unusually large population of people who do not live there but come in to work. Because of that it needs different kinds of support, she said.

Council member Sheneika Smith and Campbell declined to comment. As city manager, Campbell is hired and fired by the council members and carries out and the Council's policy directions. She also manages the daily affairs of the city, such as overseeing department heads for APD, public works and water.

Vice Mayor Sandra Kilgore and fellow council member and Sage Turner did not respond to messages. Turner and Roney are running for reelection, competing now in a March 5 eight-way nonpartisan primary.

Pisgah View and Hillcrest residents interviewed for the investigation spoke of being afraid to allow their children outside because of the frequency of gunshots. Pisgah View resident Blade Johnson said he allows his grandchildren to play on a small stretch of sidewalk.

Johnson, 55, said he has seen the new patrols downtown, but that they should be "right here," in Pisgah View.

On Aug. 10, 2023, following rising pressure on downtown, five of the seven council members sent an open letter to the media and public saying they would make a 60-day Downtown Safety Initiative a permanent city program. They highlighted increased sidewalk clean-ups as well as police citations and arrests.

Mosley and Roney did not sign the letter, with Mosley saying she as traveling and unable to review it and Roney putting out her own letter days later. Roney criticized the original memo for failing to mention gun violence or youth and intimate partner violence.

In her Feb. 20 interview Roney said the city should focus on underlying causes of violence and focus resources on the neighborhoods highlighted in the investigation. The council member said that would mean using violence interrupters to reach out to potential shooters and boosting education and employment.

"If we care deeply about the young people that are experiencing the opportunity gap and are more vulnerable to violent crime to intimate partner violence to gun violence, we should find community driven relational responses," she said.

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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. Got a tip? Contact Burgess at [email protected], 828-713-1095 or on Twitter @AVLreporter. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville leaders on community violence: 'Not treating with urgency'