No Race In The Mountains

Apathy More An Issue Than Skin Color In Western N.C. Mayoral Election

(CBS) 
Just ask Pat Beachboard. The 46-year-old native Ashevillian and hospital employee says that a black bear recently paid her house a visit and demolished the grill on her side porch. She blames developers.

"They're taking away a lot of the animals' homes," she says. "They need to look up the definition of mountain: it's a habitat for animals."

The steady influx of people has made the Asheville metropolitan area's housing the most expensive in the state relative to income, according to the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index.

Bellamy, who works as a marketing and development manager at the nonprofit Mountain Housing Opportunities, says her top priority as mayor is affordable housing. She wants more of it, especially in the center of the city, so people can live close to work and health care facilities.

Dunn, however, is critical of some affordable housing proposals when they fit into an urban trend known as smart growth, i.e. building upward and inward. Smart growth, he argues, requires higher building costs because land becomes scarcer. Even worse, he says, such development often infringes upon single-family neighborhoods.

"That's not quality of life," says Dunn, who was elected to the city council four years ago. "I still think there's something about elbow room that's an American dream."

The issue may prove to be the most divisive – and decisive – in the election. Dunn must fight the perception that he is pro-development and anti-affordable housing, a wrap he says simply isn't true. Bellamy must battle the stigma of "affordable housing," a term which conjures for some the image of taxpayer-subsidized projects, primarily for minorities.

Because of Asheville's mostly segregated neighborhoods, the issue of affordable housing may force race back into the mayoral conversation. Al Whitesides, a 61-year-old retired banker who was recently elected to Asheville's school board, says he does not believe residents will vote based solely on race but concedes it is an undercurrent.

"It's gonna be an issue," says Whitesides, who is African-American. " It's below the radar screens. People won't talk about it."

What people will talk about are their frustrations. In addition to development fears and housing woes, many residents have grown wary of their local politicians. Low wages, drug dealing and an inadequate civic center are just a few of the lingering problems that have stalled in the city council.

Kathleen Balogh, the president of the local League of Women Voters, says that while more voters will probably show up for the general election than the primary, the turnout will probably still be low.

"People don't tend to turn out for the local election, which I think is a sha