TERRY BELLAMY "If you really understand the lives our students are forced to live..."

On May 30, 2003, Asheville, North Carolina elementary school principal Linda Allison and a group of her teachers and staff made a dramatic plea for their children. In a letter addressed to the police chief, mayor and City Council, the educators asked for help keeping the students safe. The focus of their concern was the well-being of those young students who lived in a nearby public housing apartment community, Deaverview Apartments.

"We, the teachers and administrators of Johnston Elementary School, are informing you of our deep concern for the safety and well being of the children and families of the Deaverview...," the letter began. "The murder that occurred there on Saturday is just one of many violent incidents that these students have witnessed."

Allison and her staff described the dangerous lack of safety at Deaverview in painful detail. "These families have had their doors kicked in, random shootings with bullets piercing their walls and fires started on their outside doors. Some of our students have been used as "ponies" to run drugs.. [They] are not able to lead normal childhoods as they cannot safely ride their bikes, play in the yards and go over to other children's homes..."

Allison and her staff also explained the damage these living conditions were having on the young students in school. "Many of them come to school with the evidence of living in "trauma" as some of them are generally over-anxious, hyper-vigilant, depressed, and angry, all of which have a direct correlation with and impact on their behavior and learning."

Home visits, the educators wrote, were difficult, because drug dealers would rush up to cars, or block them from leaving. Big Brothers/Big Sisters volunteers had specifically requested that they not be matched with children from Deaverview, out of fears for their own safety.

"We wholeheartedly believe that if you really understand the lives our students are forced to live at Deaverview, that you will do everything you can to protect our students. These are children of poverty but they are wonderful, creative, intelligent and precious."

In speaking out, they were also fighting for many other children in their community. About 10 percent of the city's population lives in public housing (as well as a much higher percent of minority children), and similar conditions are allowed to exist through official policies of neglect in other public housing developments and neighborhoods. Of course, most in the small Southern city of Asheville couldn't begin to imagine the extent of violence, drugs and brutal neglect found in larger cities across America.

Nearing the end of her first term, Vice-Mayor Terry Bellamy was the youngest, and only African-American, member of the Asheville City Council. Widely regarded as neither liberal nor conservative, she frequently brokered agreements between opposing political factions. Terry Bellamy—a Sunday school teacher, new mother and a member of PROTECT—was a woman who had lived in public housing as a child and later returned to work for a youth enrichment program there.

According to City Council minutes, the Johnston Elementary School letter was the last straw for Bellamy. For three years, she had tried unsuccessfully to focus Council's attention on the dangerous conditions at Deaverview and other communities. At a Council retreat, she presented her own slide presentation, with photos of overgrown, glass-strewn playgrounds. She lobbied the state legislature to shorten Housing Authority board terms, in an effort to increase accountability. She opposed funding cuts for a popular public housing program known for fielding an exciting marching band and high-stepper group in the annual Christmas parade.

Her efforts were met with indifference, or worse, empty rhetoric.

But this time, Bellamy saw an opening. The City's annual budget was about to come before City Council, and three members had complaints. One wanted free bus passes for City employees. Another wanted a cut in recycling fees. Bellamy wanted to make children safer.

As vice-mayor, Bellamy once again brokered a deal between liberals and conservatives. But this time it was a surprise. On June 24, 2003, Bellamy shocked the political establishment with what the media termed a "budget revolt." As the mayor and two other Council members sat stunned and red-faced, Bellamy explained that her faction had forged an alternative budget. The parks and recreation budget would be cut, firefighters would get Social Security benefits, recycling fees would go down... and three new community police officers would be hired and sent to Deaverview Apartments immediately.

The Mayor expressed his dismay and disappointment in the "budget process." Others complained about the irresponsibility of it all. The chief of police said his HUD grant might be endangered. But it was over. Terry Bellamy had the muscle and the votes. The children of Deaverview would not have to wait any longer for help.

Ask Terry Bellamy today what she's accomplished and she'll make no grand claims. She flinches visibly at the idea that police alone can solve the problem. She never misses a chance to emphasize that public housing communities are not the only dangerous, neglected neighborhoods. She wants to increase youth programs, and she has strong opinions about which usual suspects should not be given public money to do that job.

Linda Allison is now the new principal at another elementary school across town. As much a hero as ever, she rides the school bus every morning from another crime-plagued housing development. She says that her children are so stressed and agitated when they get on the bus in the morning it takes her calming presence to get them to school somewhat ready to learn.

Meanwhile, Terry Bellamy's job might be getting easier. Following the local newspaper's article on the new police at Deaverview, one City Council member—who had voted to cut youth enrichment programs and opposed the new officers—released his own 12-point plan for improving public housing. Local talk radio began interviewing public housing reformers from South Carolina.

And Terry Bellamy emerged from November's elections—where the burning municipal issues of development, greenspaces and clean air dominated all debate—the top vote-getter... a favorite with both liberals and conservatives. We're proud that she's on our side!