u/giggitygiggity69

Loathe our GA.

Friendly reminder to not spray chemicals as this kills honey bees and other pollinators. Use dunks, citrus, candles, etc. Anything but chemical sprays!

Last Tuesday city council passed more police surveillance through the use of expanding flock cameras, body cameras, etc. through a contract with Axion that supports their "real time intelligence center"

Please push back on this decision, it was passed by every council person except Kim Roney.

If you live in Asheville proper and vote for city council: ashevillenccouncil@ashevillenc.gov - this goes to all city council members.

If you are NOT in Avl proper, you can still contact other representatives, such as county commissioners: https://www.buncombenc.gov/705/County-Commissioners - example: Drew Ball is running for City Council. Where does he stand on this??

You can send something such as:

Dear City Council and/or County Commissioners,

I am shocked and dismayed at the nearly unanimous vote to pass more surveillance in Asheville at Tuesday's City Council meeting. Surveillance across political lines is not favorable and I am failing to see how our local representatives are doing anything to protect our community members from government overreach.

No public input was taken into account and dozens of organizations have publicly denounced what was passed. This very much will influence who I vote for in upcoming elections and almost all of you have lost my vote and confidence.

If there is anything you can do to reverse this vote, I encourage you to do so. Many of us who you allegedly represent are extremely upset by this action.

[Asheville / Buncombe County Member]

You can also sign this petition that consolidated all those again this: https://www.change.org/p/reverse-asheville-city-council-s-decision-on-axon-s-surveillance-tech

Last Plug - Kim Roney is running for Mayor and was the only council member to vote No. Her campaign needs help. You can sign up for volunteer through her website.

This week, Asheville City Council voted to expand surveillance through a Real Time Intelligence Center for the Asheville Police Department. Jeff Jackson sent a letter to the mayor, which was read on record. Here is the YouTube of the meeting, skip to 5:11 where the Mayor of Asheville reads what Jeff Jackson wrote.

He talks about being skeptical, guardrails and narrow or broader ways that technology can be deployed. He says that APD is making the "narrower choice" in regards to facial recognition, data sharing, etc. Winston-Salem, High Point, Buncombe have deployed this already to great success.

Jeff Jackson should not ever be in favor for additional surveillance / police state, esp with a large software company who has been known to share data with immigration, across state lines, etc. Incredibly disappointing. Shame on him and getting in the middle of a very complicated matter that impacts every day citizens while targeting the poor and black & brown bodies. Gross.

Here: https://www.youtube.com/live/AfdrH-a92As?si=7cwD0IaPTPIVcu9d, skip to about 4.5 hrs in:

TL:DR:

• Community members have not seen the proposed contract so everyone is operating in the dark.
• Interim police chief Jackie Stepp outlined the 7.5 year agreement, which will consolidate all of the technology and systems into a bundled package
• Much more policing and surveillance of poor and black & brown bodies
• Interim police chief uses a lot of "trust me bro" language as opposed to to citing actual laws where our data will be protected
• Bo Hess wants to change the name of RTIC to a more palatable description of what this surveillance system does.
• Jeff Jackson wrote a letter pretty much in favor of this that was read by the mayor
• Arizona, Alabama, Texas, Bakersfield - quoting from deep red areas on how RTICs help police individuals.
• Esther manheimer was clearly over it and said "I go to bed at like 9:30" like she just wanted to get tf out of there
• Sara Kent around the 5:22 mark and others spoke against it - she talks about how Axon (software collecting surveillance) has access and will keep a lot of the meta data. No one who spoke was in favor of this program.
• Let only a handful of concerned citizens speak who had waited 5-6 hrs to comment
• No alternatives mentioned such as community-led alternatives for decreasing violence and crime

Please note - I spoke to Jackie 1:1 about police response to ICE and got an extremely lackluster response. She also referenced the BLM protests as riots.

If you live in Asheville proper and vote for city council: ashevillenccouncil@ashevillenc.gov - this goes to all city council members.

If you are NOT in Avl proper, you can still contact other representatives, such as county commissioners: https://www.buncombenc.gov/705/County-Commissioners - example: Drew Ball is running for City Council. Where does he stand on this??

You can send something such as:

Dear City Council and/or County Commissioners,

I am shocked and dismayed at the nearly unanimous vote to pass more surveillance in Asheville at Tuesday's City Council meeting. Surveillance across political lines is not favorable and I am failing to see how our local representatives are doing anything to protect our community members from government overreach.

No public input was taken into account and dozens of organizations have publicly denounced what was passed. This very much will influence who I vote for in upcoming elections and almost all of you have lost my vote and confidence.

If there is anything you can do to reverse this vote, I encourage you to do so. Many of us who you allegedly represent are extremely upset by this action.

[Asheville / Buncombe County Member]

Last Plug - Kim Roney is running for Mayor and was the only council member to vote No. Her campaign needs help. Sign up here.

I love this sub but it's chalk full of "oh we bought something that was reusable" "look at these 25 items I received with NO plastic!! Do I get a lolly pop now?"

No, you do not. The point of this sub is to consume LESS. Your plastic, reusable water bottle that you bought for 5 cents off of Amazon is still exploiting workers, the environment and will ultimately end up in a landfill.

Remember party people:

• Refuse
• Reduce
• Recycle

Not:

• Buy reusable from Amazon or Target
• Give 500,000 presents that exclude plastic (in your photo only)
• Continue to buy pointless and needless things

I appreciate the sentiment here but it's really losing the broader picture which is we are a consumerist culture with one planet we're all trying to live on that is becoming a garbage can. Buy only what you need and change the narrative that more is better.

End rant.