Remarks by Aaron Baker
50 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 2
- Play at 1:12:07
“Yeah, thank you for all the work. This is a big undertaking and something we've talked about for a long time, so it's great to see it in its final state. I'm gonna start just by repeating something I said about an anecdote about our former colleague up here, Councilman Mac Morrow. When he was having his final meeting, I went back and was doing a bunch of research in Transylvania Times about his past and the first election he had been in and there was a in 1986 there was a front page article of the Transylvanian Times with all the candidates and their positions and I think two out of the four…”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 1:16:30
“And I have a couple of questions on your alternatives on the sort of payment structure. I notice that in none of, and you suggested maybe like a 30 minutes for free in the general area, but not in the premium spots. Is it?”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 1:17:39
“Right. I just wanted to make sure that wasn't like a, Like you're like, do not do that by any... No, no, I don't.”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 1:17:53
“And then knowing our state and the state laws and things like that, I have a feeling I know the answer to this, but I've been in some other places, other states that have... When they create a on-street paid parking system, they also have a way for residents to park for free in those spots. Is that legal in the state of North Carolina, and have you seen that? Is that something you recommend?”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 1:18:31
“Was that in Blowing Rock? I'm sorry, in Blowing Rock.”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 1:20:17
“Right. Okay. And I had a question in the lumberyard area. This is, I think, probably more for our staff. Whitmire Street is a state-maintained road, correct? But there's not currently on-street parking on Whitmire Street, at least not lined. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah, I'm curious about that because obviously in that area, French Broad is heavily used, basically full, and King Street is heavily used, basically full. Whitmire is right there. It's the next street over. And sometimes you see people park there, but not really. I think we might just need to clarify, like, where is it legal, and then…”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 1:42:06
“I don't have any questions but I do have a suggestion for next time when this comes back up because as I was thinking through this and reading, The biggest question I had was how would this have, if we had this in place, how would it have impacted some buildings that are currently in existence? So I was curious about French Broad Place. I know when that was built, there was some consternation that it was too, the building height was too high.”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 1:42:35
“Yeah, okay, they got a variance, okay. And then there's a building actually behind FLA Church that is I think like, is it three? I know they had a lot of issues, but I'm curious about some real world examples that might help illustrate this for us when this comes back.”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 1:43:16
“I think if we could just have a couple of just real-world examples like that, it might help us put this in better context. It would help me put it in better context.”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 1:50:42
“Yeah, honestly, I'm personally happy to see this. This is a kind of a nationwide trend towards revisiting parking minimums as sort of a standard practice for city planning i know it does it could be perceived as taking a tool out of the tool kit for for planning staff but in reality it gets back to you know treating parking as part of the market, a part of a commodity like anything else, instead of this separate sort of magically different thing. And I think it was interesting that our, when we were having our parking discussion earlier, It was mentioned that if you're a developer and you're…”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 2:08:20
“Yeah, I want to just start by thanking the private donor who donated a substantial amount of money. It takes more money than you think to get the design to this point and having construction ready design documents is really a big step towards increasing the fundraising possibilities for any project and now that we have that we can really go to work on grants and also private fundraising and we know where we stand in terms of the total cost and I just want to take this opportunity to mention some other projects that we have recently completed that were either a combination of private or public…”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 2:11:38
“Yeah, so this came out of the Parks, Trails, and Recreation Committee, which I chair and Lauren Councilman Wise is on as well. And really this was spurred on by the upcoming really exciting project of the Acousta Trail. and we're about to get some big news on that with 65% design being completed at the next meeting of the Acosta Trail Advisory Board. This council has previously designated the existing city trail all the way to Main Street as a part of the Acosta Trail. And we also have this name that we've sort of all assumed that the Estetot Trail was the name for the entire city trail…”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 2:21:51
“Yeah, I'll just say I've been witness to what these improvements can actually do in terms of reducing sewer system overflows. I had a manhole in my neighborhood, which before I was on council, I made a lot of noise about, and I'm sure the mayor was annoyed with me. because there was literally toilet paper in the street after sewer system overflow and it was pretty disturbing to me. And now I can happily say I drive there all the time or walk there all the time and I haven't seen that manhole overflow in years at this point. So this can really do tangible good and I'm excited to see it…”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 2:26:49
“Yeah, I mean, I'll pick it up there. I think when I was running for a second term, one of the questions that Transylvania Times asked was about, you know, what did you learn the most in your time in office or your first term? And the thing I came away with when I was reading through that question was like, actually the uncomfortable moments are the important moments on council. And that's when you, instead of shying away from that, you need to lean into it and be able to have those conversations. And so I appreciate Councilman Lytle saying that. I guess I would say, regarding my comments at…”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 5:27
“Yeah, I'd like to propose that we combine items L2 and M1. I think our discussion is probably going to be referencing one or the other, so I think it's just best if we tackle those at the same time.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 53:19
“Yeah, just want to thank everybody for their work on this. I know it's kind of a dense document, so I know a lot of work went into it. And I'll just repeat what I said last time. I think just encourage staff to really have some proactive outreach to the restaurants and the food service providers we have in town, including the college and other places like that. I know you've already done a little bit of that, but I think just that communication is going to go a long way to not only getting compliance, but also getting it and keeping our restaurants happy with us and not upset. So keep up the…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:21:26
“I'll start with a basic question. So why is... Duke Energy, a multi-billion dollar company with record profits, allowed to put telephone poles in the middle of sidewalks? You may not have an answer, but. This is a thing that happens all over the city, and I know that we have happened to run into issues with Duke asking them to move polls previously and it's like, takes an act of Congress to even get them to consider it. And then when they do consider it, they give you a price tag that's like astronomical. And I just think as a small city that's trying to do what's right for people to move…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:25:38
“Right. Well, I really, I guess I feel like that sidewalk enhancement is, it's a high priority for me. I mean, I travel that way a lot and walking or driving or on a bike and it's pretty clear that the sidewalk infrastructure there is just, I mean, it's probably the worst. we've got in the city. And we're going to have to address it at some point. I understand that's not visible. And it's tough to assign dollars to something like that that's not going to be a completed project. But we do need to plan for it. And we don't have the money to plan for it right now. the on the on the house the…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:30:48
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:55:42
“I will say amen to that. But I also am going to speak on that a little bit further and say that the existence of this Rosenwald Fund and what we did tonight was essentially like a budget exercise. And I think everybody up here is aware that like the most painful things we do all year are budget exercises. And now we're talking about a budget exercise for a single, a neighborhood and a neighborhood with a history of being underfunded by the city. And all of, you know, I mean, that's putting it very lightly. But it makes these conversations extremely difficult and hard and tense. And it creates…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:59:13
“And he asked so many good questions, and we learned a lot through that process. But here we are at the end. I think, again, the chief did such a great job about informing us about the issue. But beyond that, she had policies written and ready to go that I am comfortable saying would keep the citizens of Brevard safe and that our officers would handle that in a good way. But as I learned more about this, I mean, these are not just cameras connected to a server or a server that's located within the police department. You think of them hooked up, they're feeding into a tape machine somewhere…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 2:02:27
“Okay. Just wanted to say that publicly. Still waiting on a response on that. And that is all I have.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 43:55
“Okay. Can I ask a clarifying question on that? So the future budget amendments, could we alter the funding strategy at that point? Yes. Okay. So the motion tonight is really just the total dollar amount?”
City Council · Aug 3, 2026
- Play at 44:44
“Yeah, this project on Cassius Valley Road has been discussed for a while at the housing committee level. It's a great project. The home ownership, we've got several things going on in the city of Brevard right now with affordable housing, We've really hit the gas on all those efforts over the last sort of five or six years. And we've got several different things happening, you know, affordable housing that is for rent, like Fairhaven Meadows, which is being built by the roundabout and should be open by the end of the year. But this is another, goes hand in hand in that with actual home…”
City Council · Aug 3, 2026
- Play at 45:54
“And was the intent of that grant from the county's perspective to actually build the entire section from wherever it needed to go to the development?”
City Council · Aug 3, 2026