Mayoral candidate Dalton George held a town hall for the community of Boone through a question-and-answer town hall meeting Thursday evening.
George, the current mayor pro tempore of Boone and an App State alumnus, hosted the town hall along with Boone Town Council member Eric Plaag at Huzzah Books. The event started at 6 p.m. with George introducing himself and his co-speaker, then opening the floor for questions.
“I want people talking more than me. I want to help answer questions. Local government is complicated, but it impacts all of us,” George said.
Sitting on an assortment of chairs around George and Plaag, town hall attendees were invited to speak in an open discussion about local issues. The goal for this model was to “have a conversation,” George said.
The topics included details about addiction recovery and Boone’s social work program — citing Boone as the smallest town to have a social work program in place with law enforcement. Later, they spoke about local construction and preservation efforts. Each topic was discussed extensively by both Plaag and George, with continuous questions from attendees.
“I believe in casual campaigning,” George said, “I live here like everybody else; I get stuck in traffic like everybody else. I shop at Huzzah like everybody else.”
This venue was chosen because of its recent opening and the cultural impact it has by being Boone’s only secular bookstore since Foggy Pines Books closed in 2023. “It’s a necessity to have a bookstore in Boone,” George said.
Huzzah Books hosted 15 community members, including Jerry Williamson, a retired App State English professor, who taught George as a student.
“I’ve known him since he was a teenager,” Williamson said. “He’s phenomenal. He’s a natural-born leader.”
Linda Baker, a senior art education major who met George before the town hall, admired his sociability.
“He seemed personable,” Baker said. “He really knows what he’s talking about.”
The forum continued with a conversation about George’s early achievements, namely, endorsing recovery housing units and renters protection.. The conversation then shifted to rural healthcare and how George is “continuing to explore ways the town can insulate ourselves” from larger government decisions.
George and Plaag also spoke about working with the Watauga County Immigrant Justice Coalition. Their goals are to build trust within Hispanic communities in the High Country, train bilingual police officers and help provide FaithAction IDs.
Next, the councilmen talked about parking, walkability and traffic on Boone’s roadways.
“Our goal is to make Boone a 15-minute city,” George said.
George explained he is against building a larger highway bypass around Boone in order to ease traffic. He explained that a bypass would hurt the ecosystem, and he is ultimately against habitat loss. However, he conceded a highway bypass would be incredibly effective in easing traffic congestion.
Plaag then highlighted the past progress the town council made regarding parking on King Street. The town of Boone is also trying to receive parks and recreation trust fund grants for new green space downtown.
“The answer is not to put 95 parking spaces; the answer is to make people feel safe when walking,” Plaag said.
The event ended with George speaking on Boone housing and Airbnb restrictions. He discussed his open-door policy for anyone in the audience and community to take part in developing Boone for the better.
“If you want to try to change something in the town of Boone, I want to co-government with you. I believe in, fundamentally, that we can govern alongside each other,” George said.
