Progressive Democrats of Buncombe Co Meeting

Meeting was on 02/12/08

We had a few announcements on upcoming events, particularly events next month around the anniversary of the end of five years of occupation in Iraq.

Connie did a presentation on homelessness in Asheville. We started by watching a bit of “When I Came Home” which is a 70 minute film on homelessness among US veterans who have served in wartime. Connie said that couples, singles, educated, non-educated are among the people who are homeless. There is also lots of mental illness and addiction. She said that without an ID, you cannot get into shelter. One shelter is the Rescue Mission, which has a 90 day course for Christians. They have 40 regular beds for these people and serve a lunch and supper. They have 30 emergency slots in their chapel. Another organization is A-HOPE, which does not have overnight beds but people can have a mailbox and have others leave phone messages there. They serve lunch and dinner. Lots of people go through here, but there is no overnight stays. They have a program called Homeward Bound. The program “Room at the Inn” is run from A-HOPE, and this is program where up to 12 women stay a week at a time in local churches. They rotate from church to church every week.

The Salvation Army serves around 60 residents. ABCCM is the veteran’s place, where several hundred stay. There is also the Women’s Shelter, which is off Merrimon Avenue. Connie reported problems with tent slashing, and there are rumors of police brutality.

We had some further discussions about the upcoming primary in May and what direction we might take from here. A couple of people felt that Jim Neal (running for US Senate) was a good candidate and that it might be worthwhile to support him. We had a short discussion on the possibility of seeking an endorsement from Progressive Democrats of America for Neal, and while members attending today supported that, we are not sure that Neal would want an endorsement.

We also discussed candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor. Dan Bassey and Pat Smathers are candidates for Lt. Governor and both are felt to be progressive candidates that are worthwhile supporting. There are also candidates for County Commissioner, with Holly Jones being a progressive that is worthy of our support. No decisions were made on what future actions the Progressive Democrats of Buncombe County might take, and our next meeting is April 8^th at 7 PM at North Asheville Library.

We also have a small box of donated canned goods to contribute to Manna Food Bank. They are getting low on food supplies.

Please post any corrections in the comments.