Asheville – A first-time City Council candidate, Roberto “Bo” Hess has spent years working with and for many local community organizations that serve our most marginalized residents.
Now, looking towards serving Asheville, Hess plans to take his work with veterans, sexual assault survivors, addicts, those with mental illnesses, and the houseless population to the city government.
When I asked him why he felt he was an optimal choice for the position, Hess replied, “What makes me uniquely qualified is that I am a trained problem solver. I work intimately with the people of Asheville and Western North Carolina every day. I know the needs and issues that people are facing, especially those who have been marginalized or are part of vulnerable populations.”
He plans to do this without raising taxes, but rather by allocating the funds we already have with a more intentional approach. Looking at small fixes that would affect large changes for the parts of our community that are currently overlooked.
What does he plan to bring to the table to make those changes a reality? Hess said, “I’m an expert at mental health and addiction. I’m a social worker, I train law enforcement, and I’m a professor. Asheville right now has a unique opportunity to elect someone who is an expert at the issues we need to face: crime, poverty, houselessness, mental illness, and drug addiction. We need to make sure we have all voices at the table.”
As a private citizen, Hess has used his skills as a licensed psychotherapist, licensed clinical addiction specialist, and psychiatric social worker to address needs that are often barriers to an individual’s survival or ability to thrive. As a co-founder of both Arms Around Autism Spectrum Disorder and The Cellphone Project, he has not only helped to identify cracks in our societal foundation but also looked for ways to keep people from sliding through them.
He does that also as co-chair of the Buncombe County District Attorney’s Jail Reduction and Addiction Taskforce and as a crisis response advocate for Our Voice, in addition to other ways in which he reaches out to those in our community who are suffering.
Hess believes that there are solutions that are already in place that we can build upon. But, there are also “novel solutions that we haven’t looked at and that we need strong leadership for.”
“My pillars of my campaign are: Number one, making sure that we have safe streets in our communities. And that keeps us all safe. Two, making sure that we are addressing our homelessness, mental health, and addiction issues in a humane way. Number three is making sure that we are addressing multi-modal transportation. Ensuring that working people can get to their jobs without it costing them an arm and a leg. Making sure that they have a place to park downtown.”
“Making sure that we are enhancing our greenways, our parks, our afterschool programs, and our before-school programs. The surgeon general has labeled loneliness as a public health concern. If we can build an integrated community, that serves us all: less crime, less violence, less domestic violence, and less loneliness.”
“Another pillar is fortifying Asheville’s critical infrastructure. Making sure that no matter what happens, we have the maintenance people, we have emergency communications, we have food, we have power, and we have gas. We have everything we need to sustain, whether it’s a power outage from a natural disaster or one that is man-made, like a terrorist attack. Making sure that we are building resiliency.”
His last pillar is “making sure that every resident has economic stability.” Hess offered examples as “emergency funds, helping people stay in their homes if they are at risk of being evicted, expungement of records to help people get jobs and stay on their feet, and childcare.”
“We need the right people in office to build a coalition so we can create an Asheville for every single resident. We need to make sure that every resident can stay, work, live, and play in the place that they love. Whether they are living in a tent or living in Biltmore Park, we need a thriving Asheville for everyone.”
Bo Hess’ campaign kickoff will be on Friday, February 9th, from 6–9 p.m. at Wedge Brewery on 5 Foundy Street, with remarks at 7:30 p.m. The event will also be a donation drive for ABCCM (Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry) to help feed and clothe Asheville area residents in need.
For more information about Bo Hess and his campaign, visit electbohess.com.