Asheville developer Antonio O. “Tony” Fraga had already shared his audacious vision with neighbors and tenants of the Haywood Park property he’s looking to redevelop. Last week he unveiled it for the media as a prelude to launching the laborious process of gaining the necessary city approvals. Can he build it?: Yes, he can, says […]
Author: Hal L. Millard
Showing 127-147 of 335 results
Sharing the wealth
Tax time is bearing down on both businesses and individuals like a runaway semi, but a whole host of local institutions won’t be paying a penny this year. No need to get indignant about it, though, because without those institutions, life here in Western North Carolina wouldn’t be nearly as good, argues former Asheville Mayor […]
Full slate for Downtown Commission
When development is proposed downtown, Asheville’s Downtown Commission gets first crack at it before developers seek approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council. Upcoming meetings will include review of a massive new downtown redevelopment of Haywood Park proposed by developer Tony Fraga.
Asheville Affiliates seek nonprofits to aid
The Asheville Affiliates is now accepting applications from Asheville-area nonprofit organizations to host one of several fundraising events in the coming months.
State, local unemployment continues to rise
Lose your job recently? Having a hard time finding a new one? Join the club.
The Biz
A lot of entrepreneurs launch a business to fulfill a dream. Some, however, go a step further, using their original startup as a steppingstone to bigger things. Felicia Thurman of Asheville fits squarely in the latter category. Driven: Felicia Thurman, 23, is passionate about her new pedicab service, which is slated to open May — […]
Downtown parking: A spot of one’s own
City parking, no matter the city, can often be an iffy proposition, especially in a place as vibrant and popular with tourists as Asheville. But that doesn’t mean there’s not enough spots to go around, Council member Brownie Newman told fellow members before they unanimously accepted a parking study conducted by Cary, N.C., firm Kimley-Horn & Associates at Council’s March 25 meeting.
Local, state unemployment on the rise
Unemployment in the Asheville metro area shot up in January as the state’s overall unemployment rate also saw a rise, according to the latest stats from the N.C. Employment Security Commission.
Askville: Madam president
While Hillary Clinton campaigns to become America’s first female president, Suzanne DeFerie has already made history—becoming the first woman president and CEO of an Asheville-based bank. Suzanne Deferie. Photo by Jonathan Welch Before assuming her new responsibilities at Asheville Savings Bank on Jan. 1, DeFerie, 51, had paid her dues, serving 16 years as executive […]
Mumpower refuses to back down on FISA immunity
Bucking his own party, Asheville City Council member and 11th District Republican Congressional candidate Carl Mumpower proclaimed “I am not for sale” in a Good Friday press release decrying his party’s and the Bush administration’s attempts to grant retroactive immunity to telecoms as part of the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Asheville City Council
At its March 11 meeting, the Asheville City Council unanimously approved an 11-story, mixed-used building planned for downtown’s south end. Movin’ on up: The planned 11-story Zona Village North One condos will add more vertical scale to downtown’s southside, joining the 15-story Zona Loft planned nearby. Slated to include condos as well as office and […]
The Biz
Whatever your line of work, you’ve probably been forced to attend a company retreat at some point. And too often, they’re events to be endured rather than genuinely enjoyed. Are we having fun yet?: Psychotherapist and corporate-retreat leader Marla Chalnick aims to make the oft-dreaded retreats a meaningful experience. Whether it’s dry speeches or fire-walking […]
City Council brouhaha: Bellamy dumped from committee chair (updated with video)
Asheville City Council members voted to remove Mayor Terry Bellamy from her lead oversight role in personnel matters at its March 11 meeting. The matter, which was added to the agenda at the beginning of the meeting, didn’t sit well with Bellamy or Council member Carl Mumpower, who called the maneuver “reprehensible.”
The Biz
There are many roads to prosperity, but most folks don’t think of dead farm animals and livestock poop as particularly promising raw materials. One local firm, though, is building a booming business helping the state’s agricultural industry turn these and other organic waste byproducts into sweet, loamy compost that slashes costs while helping protect the […]
Asheville City Council: March 11 meeting preview
Recognition of local Nobel laureates from the Asheville-based National Climatic Data Center will kick off Asheville City Council’s March 11 meeting.
Coming soon to a national park near you: loaded guns?
The next time you go camping in the Smokies, you might want to think twice about complaining to your noisy neighbor. If proposed federal rule changes are approved, he could be packing heat. Loaded guns—whether concealed or not—have long been a no-no in national parks, but the Department of the Interior and at least 50 […]
Economic development: A team approach
In the past, the city’s Office of Economic Development has often been at odds with other local organizations that also seek to grow the local economy. But that’s changing, says Sam Powers, Asheville’s economic-development director. Bringing home the bacon: It takes a lot of groups to grow the area’s economy, and Asheville’s Economic Development Director, […]
City Hall explained
Ever wonder about the inner workings of Asheville city government? Your chance to find out is coming up. The city will host its 2008 Citizens Academy beginning April 10.
Introducing the Homeless Management Information System
Representatives from the Carolina Homeless Information Network (CHIN) will provide an orientation on Monday, March 3 to community members and stakeholders interested in learning about the Homeless Information Management System (HMIS). The orientation will take place at 11 a.m. in the fifth floor conference room in Asheville City Hall.
Asheville City Council
They’re the bane of many city residents: drivers who ignore the posted speed limits on Asheville’s residential streets. But outside of more police enforcement, the methods used to slow speeders down often is too costly and too slow to come about because of a complicated and time-consuming process necessary to erect traffic-calming measures such as […]
The Biz
As soon as you walk into Shoji Retreats, a local mountaintop spa, the owners want to make sure that when you walk out afterward, you’ve experienced bliss. And the winners are: Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Rick Lutovsky gets ready to honor six local firms at the “We’re for Business” awards Feb. 20. Photo […]