Tensions run high over tackling Asheville’­s graffiti

Local business owners raised their voices and things got, by the moderator’s own admission, “a little out of hand” at Friday morning’s Council of Independent Business Owners meeting when it came to the issue of graffiti. With the district attorney, city leaders and a state representative on hand, opinions differed — sometimes sharply — on possible solutions and who should foot the bill.

Asheville City Council preview: dueling futures

As a renewed push to move the Interstate 26 connector forward continues, Asheville City Council gets its turn on Tuesday, March 25, to consider a joint resolution seeking to make the long-delayed highway overhaul a reality, even as a number of community groups vocally oppose the plan. Council will also consider what to do with vacant property on Haywood Street across from the Basilica of St. Lawrence, another contentious issue.

The group behind the I-26 push

After being off the radar for years, both the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners and Asheville City Council are voting to push the Asheville section of Interstate 26 connector forward. This new push is in part the result of a small group of local officials and leaders who have met to draft a new resolution and make some sort of I-26 overhaul a reality.

Designing frameworks­: Council readies for legislatur­e’s return

Last year, relations between the North Carolina General Assembly and the city of Asheville were marked by hostility, public wars of words and even a lawsuit. At a special meeting yesterday, March 18, however, multiple Asheville City Council members expressed a desire to improve things this year, even though looming legislation could cost the city further revenue. They also signed off on efforts to better coordinate the city’s own lobbying efforts in Raleigh.

A plan for everything

Late last month, Asheville City Council passed the Haywood Road Vision Plan, a years-long effort by community members and city staff to outline the future of the corridor. It’s not a one-time event either: Such plans for different areas of the city are a main way city leaders hope to shape the Asheville of tomorrow, and it’s a plan they want to extend to more neighborhoods. Sometimes, however, these plans can also prove controversial.

Haywood Road overhaul: Asheville City Council takes up plan for area’s future

After months of development, a new plan for the future of West Asheville’s major corridor comes to Asheville City Council at its next meeting, Feb. 25. The plan calls for a new form of zoning, improved pedestrian infrastructure and keeping the area’s historic feel to make “a neighborhood leader for sustainability in the city.” If successful, other neighborhoods might get similar development overhauls.

Asheville City Council: To Moog or not to Moog

Asheville City Council passed $90,000 in incentives for Moogfest this evening, both in cash and services, with the possibility of a partnership continuing for years. However, while its proponents touted it as an important investment in the city’s future growth, one Council member asserted that it’s an unreasonable amount of taxpayer dollars to go to an event not entirely open to the public.