Amid ongoing recovery efforts, Mayor Esther Manheimer took a moment to reflect on the year and how Tropical Storm Helene transformed everything for Western North Carolina.
Xpress: Pre-Helene, what stands out to you as the most pressing issue City Council faced in 2024?
Manheimer: Affordable housing continues to be a challenging issue for the city both before and after Helene. The storm displaced many from already scarce rental housing, and the challenge of finding affordable housing is even greater than ever.
What 2024 public event, prior to the storm, was most memorable to you and why?
Leading up to the election, the first visit from Gov. Tim Walz to the Salvage Station was a fun community event and my first ride in a motorcade, albeit in a van in the back of the line. So much has happened since that time — a storm, the destruction of Salvage Station, the election.
What impressed you most about the community’s response to the post-Helene recovery efforts?
The community, the people of Asheville and WNC were wonderful, beautiful and inspiring in their immediate response to selflessly help everyone in need. For me, this goodness created a kind of energy that helped me and so many others to push through and do the work that needed to be done.
Is there an interaction you had with a community member, post-Helene, that has made a lasting impression on you? If so, could you share with us some of what was said and how it has inspired your thinking about the next phase of our recovery?
Like your readers, I have had profound interactions with many in our community whether it’s meeting with someone whose business was destroyed, or someone seeking rent relief at Grace Covenant, or crying alongside me at a vigil, or meeting the aunt of a young Helene victim, or a first responder traumatized by the chaos and sadness of working in harm’s way for days on end. These experiences inspire me to work for our people and dedicate myself to the recovery effort that will take months and years.
In the aftermath of Helene, you’ve played an essential role in our community’s recovery. In the process, you’ve interacted with top government officials, including an aerial tour of the region with President Joe Biden. Could you share your reflections on surveying the community by helicopter with the president?
It was my honor and privilege to represent Asheville in accompanying the president and the governor surveying the damage across our region. The president and his staff expressed to me their care and concern for all of us in WNC, and the president talked to me about his personal experience with loss, and his, frankly, vast experience with other natural disasters. I explained to the president the challenges we’re facing and the help we needed and continue to need. The president reassured me that we would receive assistance to recover.
If you could go back to Jan. 1, 2024, and offer yourself advice for the year ahead, what guidance would you give?
I’m not sure I would have believed my Jan. 1, 2024, self, but some advice I knew then and advocated for in June 2024 was a city budget that maintained a 15% reserve. Council struggled with whether to maintain the fund balance at the policy level. This fund balance is the resource we need to cash-flow the extraordinary expense of repairing the water system and other vital facilities. The city will be reimbursed, eventually, but this is a lesson in why these reserve funds are so necessary to maintain.
