Candidate Biography (submitted by campaign):

Mayor Bellamy is a native of Asheville and graduated from UNC-Charlotte and is working on a master's degree at Western Carolina University. She is married to her best friend, Lamont Bellamy, and they have two amazing children, Seth and Imani.

Ms. Bellamy has a long history of devoting herself to making Asheville a better place to live and work. Some examples include serving on the Asheville City Council, Metropolitan Swage District, and Land of the Sky Regional Council.

Some of Mayor Bellamy's Most Recent Activities:

• Elected Mayor of Asheville in November 2005 making her the youngest Mayor in North Carolina, the youngest Mayor ever elected in Asheville, and the first African-American Mayor of Asheville.
• Spearheaded the receipt of U.S. Department of Justice's "Weed and Seed" funding for our West Riverside Neighborhood.
• Recognized by "One Youth at A Time" as their Volunteer of the Year for her work with disadvantaged youth.
• Actively worked in Washington, and around the country, to leverage nearly one million dollars for our "Homeless Coalition," improvements to our earth-friendly mass transit, the Asheville Police Department and our largest community center, the Reid Center for Creative Arts.
• Guided our city through the dismal, September 2008 fuel crisis by working closely with the governor and industry to bring much needed gasoline to the Asheville area.
• Met with President Barack Obama within the first 60 days of his administration to help formulate effective cooperation between local and federal government.
• Appointed by former Governor Easley to the 21st Century Transportation Committee.
• Serves on the boards of the North Carolina League of Municipalities, Metropolitan Sewage District, HUB Community Economic Development and Alliance and the Asheville Chamber of Commerce.
• Became an Advisory Board Member of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte College of Arts and Science.

The City of Asheville is the vibrant home of a growing and wonderfully diverse population.  My goals for our continued success are tailored to compliment our cities unique character, charms and challenges. The essentials of this strategy for the next four years are unchanged from those that have guided my last term: A plan designed to help bring the most prosperity to the most people. Past successes, deriving from my focus on common-sense government programs that really work, include a 30% increase in public safety funding leading to an overall decrease in crime, investing more than $40-million in our water system infrastructure, developing and enhancing recreational facilities, parks and greenways, upgrading the city's building code and designing exciting yet practical new plans for future improvements.  Equally important for our communities' prospects is continued investments in our youth, the aged and the underprivileged.

I plan to continue working with city council, business owners and our citizens to creation new living-wage jobs for locally trained people, expand the successful Weed and Seed project, complete several, too long-unfinished, development projects while implementing our well crafted Master Plans, provide more help for our still under-supported school system as well as carry on with my citywide commitment to a sustainable, healthier environment.  Lastly, I will make every effort to strengthen our future capital resources so we will be able to afford the long-term cost of ensuring that Asheville continues to prosper. I invite all those dedicated citizens who support my very achievable vision to view http://www.mayorbellamy.com for more details about my positions and to find specific types of action they can take to help our Asheville be an even better place to live.