At the annual State of the City luncheon, Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer referenced the voices of Asheville citizens “from all walks of life” as frequently as she cited experts and economic studies.
Manheimer said, “The job of your City Council is to hear the voice of the people — their words, their views, their vision —and use those to create a plan that reflects the values of our community.”
The slideshow accompanying the mayor’s remarks on Thursday, Oct. 1 included images of Asheville residents holding whiteboards with their answers to questions like “What about Asheville makes you happy?” and “What does Asheville need?”
Based on residents’ input, City Council has created a strategic plan for the upcoming year that focuses on three main goals, said Manheimer:
- Economic growth and sustainability
- Affordability and economic mobility
- High quality of life
Economic growth and sustainability
The city’s efforts to promote economic growth and sustainability center around jobs, infrastructure, partnerships with other governmental entities and community organizations and efficient management of the city’s resources.
Manheimer said Buncombe County has the lowest unemployment rate in the state. She cited the first Asheville 5×5 plan, which began in 2010 and ended in 2015. The plan’s ambitious goals were to create 5,000 new jobs and $500 million in capital investment. At the end of the plan period, those goals had been met and exceeded, with 6,385 jobs created and over $1 billion in capital investment.
To strengthen the community’s infrastructure, Manheimer noted, the city must work in partnership with the county and state. She noted the Lake Craig/Azalea Road improvement project as an example of successful collaborative infrastructure development between the city and various state government agencies.
The city’s recent AAA rating from Standard & Poor’s will allow Asheville to borrow money at the lowest interest rates available in the market. The rating also validates the efficient financial management practices of the city’s finance department and leadership, Manheimer said. She pointed out that Asheville was recently the first municipality in the state to issue a “green bond” to finance infrastructure improvements to protect the city’s water resources.
Affordability and economic mobility
Manheimer referenced a study commissioned by the city in 2014 to assess affordable housing needs in the community. That study showed significant shortages in housing across all price levels, but especially in the affordable category. The city has increased its investment in the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, partnered with Mountain Housing Opportunities, held a Housing Fair to help citizens access information about housing, looked closely at revising regulations controlling short-term rental units and expanded opportunities to develop accessory dwelling units. All of these city initiatives share the goal of reducing pressure on Asheville’s limited supply of housing and increasing the availability of affordable housing.
Manheimer celebrated the city’s action in extending a living wage to all city employees, whether full-time, part-time, seasonal or temporary. She said state law prevents the city from requiring its contractors to pay a living wage to their employees.
The city is also launching a new program to support small and minority- and women-owned businesses. Manheimer said small businesses are the engines fueling the region’s business landscape.
The mayor remains committed to the Mayors’ Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness. This goal will be met, said Manheimer, when “no veterans are sleeping on our city’s streets,” and when veterans have access to permanent housing.
High quality of life
To promote a continued high quality of life in Asheville, Manheimer said the city is implementing the Watch For Me program aimed at enhancing pedestrian and bicyclist safety. Manheimer also pointed to the efforts of new Asheville Police Department Chief Tammy Hooper to bring a new focus to community policing. Like other communities across the U.S., Asheville is working to implement police body cameras, according to Manheimer.
The city has enhanced its communications efforts with an expanded city blog, the online tool SimpliCity and the continued use of the Asheville App. The city also continues to be home to great cultural events like Downtown After Five, the Goombay Festival and Shindig on the Green, said Manheimer.
While Asheville has a lot to celebrate, it faces challenges “like any other community,” she continued.
The mayor reported that revenue challenges faced by the city include the loss of the privilege license tax (as a result of actions by the state legislature) and increases in the cost of providing services. In the current year’s budget, the city increased fees for some city services and increased the property tax rate by 1.5 cents.
Looking to the future
As part of the Capital Improvement Plan 2015 to 2020, the city will add three miles of new sidewalks and resurface four-and-a-half miles of city streets in the upcoming year. The city also will add over five miles of greenways while continuing work on the River Arts District Traffic Improvement Plan, which will eventually realign Riverside Drive and create the French Broad Greenway.
The Livingston Street Complete Streets project will make the corridor safer and more comfortable for pedestrians, bicyclists and transit users.
The 5×5 Vision 2020 plan has just been unveiled, and it aims to attract over $10 million in equity investment and add 3,000 direct jobs with an average annual wage of $50,000. This “may seem like a lofty goal,” said Manheimer, but she pointed out that the previous plan had exceeded goals that had originally seemed very ambitious.
Continued efforts to promote sustainability will include waste reduction plans, the food policy, the clean energy policy and city funding for affordable housing development.
A new fire station in the Five Points neighborhood will improve the department’s response time and enhance residents’ safety, Manheimer reported.
“Asheville strives to be inclusive and to bring all voices to the table,” Manheimer said and asked, “Who has the power to make Asheville better?” The citizens portrayed in her slideshow, and the attendees at the luncheon, responded, “We do.”
Lexington Avenue named one of 15 “Great Places”
Manheimer concluded her remarks with an announcement of Lexington Avenue’s selection as one of America’s Great Places by the American Planning Association, one of only five streets chosen for the honor in 2015.
In a press release, the city provided more information about the award:
As part of National Community Planning Month, APA’s Great Places in America program recognizes streets, neighborhoods, and public spaces in the United States demonstrating exceptional character, quality, and planning—attributes that enrich communities, facilitate economic growth, and inspire others around the country.
Lexington Avenue, the creative epicenter of Asheville, North Carolina, features a diverse mix of more than 200 small shops and businesses—including two modern-day speakeasies and a variety of independent stores and restaurants—and a pedestrian-centered atmosphere with brick sidewalks and a heavy tree canopy. Once a neglected stretch of buildings proposed for redevelopment into a mall, Lexington Avenue instead became an economically thriving thoroughfare as a lively music and arts scene emerged, drawing visitors and tourism profits to the area and giving the street an eclectic, unique character. Recent city planning has emphasized and incentivized adaptive reuse and infill development, further increasing density and activity on Lexington Avenue. The annual Lexington Avenue Arts and Fun Festival and the Downtown After 5 Summer Music Series, along with the abundance of cultural and commercial destinations filling the street, play a crucial role in energizing and maintaining Asheville’s economy.
the goombay festival is NOT an appropriate ‘festival’ for Asheville by any means…it does not even fit into the local culture.
giving the Art Museum $2 MILLION of taxpayer money is NOT good governing either, mayor … sick of the dictators on clown council !!!
Oh, you’ll definitely need to explain that one.
Exactly how is a celebration of African-American and Caribbean culture not appropriate to Asheville?
Never been able to correlate a connection…WHAT is it ? certainly not well known whatever it is…
It likely has to do with the fact that African Americans are — follow me closely here — honoring their African heritage, which is no different from Americans honoring Irish heritage on St. Patrick’s Day or any of the other ethnic festivals that people of European heritage love.
That’s the African connection. Now, as for the Caribbean connection… As I’m sure you’re aware, Asheville’s history as a resort city is closely tied to that of Charleston as a port and center for slave-intensive plantation farming. You are surely also aware of the Low Country’s ties to the Caribbean and its island plantations such as the sugar cane of Haiti and the like. Probably, quite a few of Asheville’s Black citizens can trace their lineage back to Charleston slaves, who could have likewise traced their lineage back to the Caribbean.
Hence, a connection to both Africa and the Caribbean. Which means that the Goombay festival is indeed a part of Asheville’s history and deserves a place in its modern culture.
It’s interesting when people who express their views are reluctant to publicly identify themselves.
… yes and it makes for MUCH more interesting comments from everyone! forums where only real names are allowed never
do well at all, several have folded in AVL alone because of that … open up to ALL comments, knowing they do come from a real person!
‘anonymity’ helps to get the TRUTH out there more than anything else! opens up true freedom of speech !
Sez who?
Quick, we need fees for simply breathing. Oh and please raise my property taxes even more because 25% of my income is simply not enough of a sacrifice to give you. And if I call in to the tax office, I’m treated without compassion or understanding. Merely threats of being sued and my property being stolen to pay for YOUR farce. And what’s even funnier, I go without health insurance while I watch the OVERWEIGHT government employees in social services waddle to work.
I hear ya lulz! government offices around here are FILLED to the MAX with OBESE waddlers! they live a FAT life all the way around!
Does Mountain Xpress even monitor comments anymore?
I’ll take the lack of a reply as a “no.”
NFB, I have been reading along with the comments, and I haven’t seen anything that seemed to rise to the level of requiring moderation. But it sounds as though you have a different take on it. Can you give a little more detail about your objection?
Well, maybe it is just me but references to “fat waddlers” doesn’t strike me as one that really adds much to the level of discussion here — not that there was a particularly lofty level of that to begin with. Just the whole tone of the comments appear to denote the tone of a playground full of third graders at recess. Lack of maturity may not be a terms of service violation here but I’d hardly say many of the comments are exactly civil and it isn’t just this thread.
But as I say, maybe that’s just me.
Thanks for the clarification. Like you, I prefer discussions that are free of insults, whether specific or categorical.
There is a dark side to Asheville & its council & its city manager that few know about. I can show you where they stick their heads in the sand like ostriches when reports come in about brazen and dangerous violations of the building code, but on the other hand a critic of insolent Asheville officials will have the police unleashed on him like wild dogs at lambing time.
If you believe Manheimer really means what she says, or that Ashevillians’ civil rights are safe here in this time of greed and official insolence, come with me. I’ll show you what a proven liar she is, and that the City Building has been converted by the likes of her into an Orwellian bunker.
Ask her and Gary Jackson, and their so-called computer expert Anthony Johnson at APD, just what exactly has been done to stop a stalker — WHOSE NAME AND IDENTITY THEY KNOW — from using the internet AND A LOCAL FORUM CALLED TOPIX to advertise a man’s innocent daughter as a prostitute, and solicit assignations, a good 20 times using her email address and Facebook pages. Ask her. I dare you. Ask Gary Jackson and Anthony Johnson what they have done. THEY HAVE DONE NOTHING! I dare you to ask them.