When she was just 17, Melissa Colin decided to join the military as a combat medic. “When I first went in, I actually really loved it,” Colin recalls. “I had just gotten out of high school; I had to have my parents’ signature and all that.” Shortly after enlisting, however, she was sexually assaulted, which […]
Holding onto hope — even when things appear darkest — was a key aspect of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s message at the height of the struggle for civil rights in the 1950s and ’60s, says local civil rights icon Oralene Simmons. And that notion still rings true today, more than 50 years after King’s […]
More than six years after first approving the project, Asheville City Council is circling back to the mixed-use development known as the RAD Lofts. During a public hearing at Council’s meeting of Tuesday, Jan. 14, officials will be asked to substantially scale back their affordability requirements for 235 housing units at the site. The previously […]
When the taxman comes calling to inspect each of Buncombe County’s 127,000 individual properties for the purpose of establishing their tax value this year, in many cases he won’t be a man at all. Reveal 250, a high-definition camera system deployed using flyover technology, and Cyclomedia, a vehicle-based 360-degree measurement system, will be among the […]
Not everyone is reaping the benefits of the booming industrial hemp sector. Although hard numbers are in short supply, a 2017 survey by the Marijuana Business Daily, a Colorado-based website, found that 81% of cannabis-related business owners nationwide were white. A Thursday, Jan. 9, panel will explore the lack of representation of people of color in the growing industry and some possible solutions.
From new communities to one-on-one engagement, local nonprofits, faith organizations and city-funded initiatives aim to provide housing and support for some of Asheville’s most vulnerable residents.
Downtown traffic is about to get a lot worse, according to Asheville City Council member Sheneika Smith. “Because this project is so massive and we’ve already accommodated for almost 1,000 parking spaces — which is equivalent to, we’ll say, 500 vehicles flowing up and down this major area where our bus terminal is — I […]
Asheville City Council will consider two requests for Land Use Incentive Grants and a Housing Trust Fund Loan request for new affordable housing developments during its Tuesday, Dec. 10, meeting.
During their Dec. 3 meeting, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners were told that while corrective measures to right years of financial mishandling are beginning to take hold, the county’s most recent audit still reflects the previous mismanagement.
A group of West Asheville residents proposed changes to House Bill 972, the law that legalized needle exchanges throughout the state, that would greatly restrict where and the programs operate.
On Nov. 26, Asheville City Council declined to allow tiny home communities in Highway Business zoning districts, saying those areas should be reserved for higher-density, transit-oriented forms of development. Activists with the Sunrise Movement urged Council to pass a climate emergency resolution advanced by the group without changes of any kind. And a group of bear advocates asked the city to help investigate whether local black bears are being caught in illegal snare traps.
Asheville City Council will consider a zoning change that would allow tiny homes on wheels to operate as permanent residences within the city’s Highway Business zoning district during its Nov. 26 meeting.
The Asheville Regional Airport received a boost from the federal government to update its infrastructure and expand the airport’s terminal.
Even as the 10-year anniversary of President Barack Obama’s March 23, 2010, signing of the Affordable Care Act approaches, many consumers still struggle to understand what the law can do for them, says Daniel Murphy of locally owned Hummingbird Insurance. “We talk to people literally every single day who say that they don’t have health […]
After more than 10 years of providing job training and placement services to Asheville residents who face barriers to employment, Green Opportunities now finds itself confronting an uncertain future. A reliance on program-based grant funding, a lack of consistent leadership and $200,000 of accumulated debt have contributed to the nonprofit’s financial woes.
“In my opinion, there are no problems with the TDA. The problems lie elsewhere,” said Vice Chair Himanshu Karvir during the tourism authority’s Nov. 20 meeting. “The problem lies with individuals that have nothing to do with our industry and have no idea how hotels operate, how the TDA operates and what the occupancy tax does for our community.”
Press release from the Alzheimer’s Association Western Carolina Chapter: The Alzheimer’s Association – Western Carolina Chapter is expanding its base of public policy volunteers in Buncombe and Henderson counties to support the organization’s advocacy efforts locally and nationally. Alzheimer’s Ambassadors are needed in Henderson County to serve as an in-district contact for a targeted member […]
Asheville City Council announced that it would consider on a resolution to declare a climate emergency during its upcoming meeting. But representatives from the Sunrise Movement feel that the vote is being pushed through without proper vetting from activists and city staff.
Buncombe County had a 76% response rate during the 2010 census, in line with the state average, but Asheville officials will try to raise participation to 80% next year. The city will join Buncombe’s Complete Count Committee to work alongside county government, area schools and universities, nonprofit and faith communities, business leaders and the media to spread information about the count.
In 2017, the county’s tourism board launched the Transylvania Always initiative, which has since invested thousands of occupancy tax dollars into everything from hiking trail restoration to French Broad River cleanup. “I really don’t know of anywhere else, particularly anywhere else of our small size, that is doing anything similar,” says Clark Lovelace, the TCT’s executive director.
Last year, the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority contributed $75,000 to Chow Chow through its event development incubator fund. Planning is underway for the festival’s second year, which has a projected budget of $700,000. The event is tentatively scheduled for Thursday-Sunday, Sept. 10-13, with final dates to be confirmed in November.
