https://smokymountainnews.com/opinion/i ... EzPAQAMtKY
Here is Smoky Mountain News Scott McLeod trying to carry the water for the current mayor and town council, trying his best not to make the last four years sound like a complete, total failure.
First of all Scott, your statement "what many don’t realize is that a town board can’t just, on a whim, say no to a new development. If the proposal meets town zoning and planning guidelines, then it would be grounds for a lawsuit if the town turned such a proposal down".
What many don't realize the zoning and land development guidelines were changed, from a quasi judicial process of approval, where citizens can decide how they want their old established neighborhoods to look like, to a rubber stamp process called an Administrative process, on large scale development. Density, or the number of units per acre, is too high. Both can be discretionary and are not requierd by state law 160D. Our town planner took the advice of the liberal left UNC School of Government to change this process.
Scotts statement, "And Waynesville needs housing of all types, including rental apartments. No, it’s not affordable for everyone", means all these 1000 expensive condos, apartments and town homes won't be for local people. Asheville and Buncombe County has become the armpit of society, so people are living in nicer surrounding counties and driving over there to work.
Scott's statement, "among them are exaggerated claims regarding crime rates and that some unnamed group of outsiders are making decisions for the town. These claims are just not true". Lets look at the most recent neighborhood scout ratings for Waynesville..especially property crime. Still a big fat 0, out of 100 being the safest rating.
https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/nc/waynesville/crime
Two of the town council members, Anthony Sutton and Jon Feichter were endorsed by the radical left Super PAC Down Home/People's Action in the 2019 election. Sutton, Feichter and Chuck Dickson have tried to implement every item on their marxist platform over the past four years, low barrier (no rules) shelters supplied with needles called Harm Reduction, social workers riding in police cars to supervise police, smartgrowthamerica.org (the great real estate reset), not speaking out against pre-trial release or no bail, and even public drinking on the streets, which were all issues the new Team Waynesville candidates fought, along with citizens of the town.
Then Scott goes on to write his communist maifesto, "you'll own nothing but be happy", synopsis of "Piven and Clowerd" creating a crisis so the government can solve it, so we'll all be happy and equal.
Scott's last sentence is telling, "In short, the American political system helped create today’s problems, and only the American political system can solve them". Scott is talking about the communist political system, where we are controlled by the government, not a free trade, democratic Republic, where the citizens govern themselves.
Vote Team Waynesville and protect your freedoms! They are running on transparency and inclusion.
Vote for Joey Reece-Mayor
Stephanie Sutton- Town Council
Peggy Hannah- Town Council
Tre' Franklin- Town Council
and Ken Hollifield- Town Council
