The city of Asheville is shifting staff as part of an effort to improve social media and community relations. Asheville Police Department spokesperson Melissa Williams will move into a general community relations role, including overseeing the city’s blog, Facebook and Twitter accounts, while Lt. Wally Welch will take on public information duties at the APD.
Unable to complete revisions to its strategic goals during the February retreat, Asheville City Council met yesterday afternoon, March 8, to finish the job and review the budget process.
Follow live Twitter updates from tonight’s Asheville City Council meeting here.
Tomorrow’s meeting of Asheville City Council sees another go at new development incentives, and a number of workforce or affordable housing developments wrapping up or coming to the city for a partnership.
Asheville City Council Feb. 22, 2011 meeting Ingles expansion vote postponed Development rules tightened The chamber was packed 20 minutes before the Asheville City Council’s Feb. 22 meeting even began. Outside at Pack Square, a crowd rallied before a rainbow flag. Inside, assorted local ministers sat together in a row, recalling prior fights over similar […]
Rep. Heath Shuler defied national trends last year when, as a Democrat in a Republican-leaning district in a year that saw major GOP gains, he defeated Hendersonville businessman Jeff Miller by a 9 percent margin. While Shuler's caucus, the conservative Blue Dogs, lost more than half its membership, he not only survived but went on […]
It promises to be a busy meeting tonight as Asheville City Council considers an equality resolution aimed at protecting the rights of LGBT citizens, as well as a controversial Ingles expansion, among other items. Follow live Twitter coverage here.
At its Feb. 22 meeting, the Asheville City Council faces two major issues — the passage of an equality resolution aimed at securing LGBT rights and the approval of the expansion of an Ingles on Smoky Park Highway.
Rep. Heath Shuler joined most Republicans and 10 other Democrats today to vote in favor of legislation, which he co-sponsored, stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood and ending a federal family-planning program. The amendment passed the House of Representatives 240-185.
The city of Asheville is still warning residents with discolored water not to use it for cooking or drinking. The reddish, dirty color is due to repairs on a broken water main. The city says the number of homes affected is decreasing, but murky water remains in parts of the north, east and west areas of its service.
Rep. Heath Shuler bucked national trends when he won re-election last year. In the new Congress, the conservative Democrat voted against the repeal of healthcare reform, voted to extend the Patriot Act, co-sponsored anti-abortion legislation that originally sought to redefine rape, and has had high-profile disagreements with the Democratic leadership. Shuler talks about all these issues — and more — with Xpress.
For months last year, one topic was foremost on Asheville City Council members’ minds: how to make ends meet. With revenues falling, a lengthy series of work sessions and staff meetings unfolded as the city scrambled to address a $5 million budget shortfall. Eventually, the budget was balanced through a combination of cuts and fee […]
Uninsured local people needing medical care now have another option: the Access 4 All Clinic at the Three Streams Family Health Center (1710 Old Haywood Road in West Asheville), which opened Feb. 2. Established with a grant from Mission Hospitals’ Community Benefits Program, the clinic will serve uninsured Buncombe County residents during nontraditional hours — […]
Whoever emerges from the struggle to succeed outgoing Buncombe Register of Deeds Otto DeBruhl will inherit a well-funded office. DeBruhl is one of the highest-paid registers in the state, with one of the largest, most highly-compensated staffs.
With compensation for the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners among the highest in the state, the county announced a proposal to cut travel compensation and the commissioners’ technology allowance, resulting in savings of $12,400 a year per commissioner. The board will vote on the measure Feb. 15.
A nationwide study of “independent retailer vitality” conducted by the American Booksellers Association and Civic Economics, an a planning firm, ranks the Asheville metro area 53rd in the country, and one of the top 10 in its region and population categories.
On a cold, rainy Friday at Warren Wilson College, Asheville City Council members sat down for their annual retreat. By the time it was over, seven hours later, Council had sworn to “hold the line” on property taxes, looked into an uncertain budget picture and spent most of the time modifying their strategic plan. They also talked about … boats.
At its Feb. 8 meeting, Asheville City Council, on narrow votes, passed two development amendments aimed at curbing the practice of developers slightly modifying a project to bring it back after Council has rejected it.
At its meeting tonight, Feb. 8, Asheville City Council will consider amendments to the Unified Development Ordinance to prohibit developers from bringing projects back with slight modification after Council’s turned them down. The move is partially related to the Caledonia Apartments project.
“Oh, another hotel” isn’t an uncommon refrain heard around Asheville. But for every occupant of those hotels, there’s a tax — one that brings in $7 million a year — and goes not to any government, but to the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority.
City agrees to sell Reid Center to Housing Authority Civic Center renovations planned A political battle that had been brewing for months came to a head at the Asheville City Council’s Jan. 25 meeting. At issue was the city's use of parking revenues to fund the 51 Biltmore project — a complex deal involving the […]
