Had enough of Stewart David’s letters

Geez-o-pete. Again? Is or is not Stewart David and his cadre of chain letter writers the most published submitters of Letters to the Editor ever? Is David a stakeholder at MX or have something on Jeff Fobes? To me it seems that anything Stewart sends in gets published. I am just sick of being beat […]

Ron Moore is the right choice

On May 6, I will cast my vote for District Attorney Ron Moore in the Democratic primary. Over 20 years ago my husband and I decided to raise our family in Asheville. We were attracted to this safe, progressive community because of the people and the natural beauty. I continue to be awed by every […]

Hi-Fi Cafe nourishes community

Every Tuesday afternoon a group of Asheville Middle School students and I walk a block and a half from the middle school to the Asheville Downtown Market, where we gather on a couple of cozy sofas in a corner of the Hi-Fi Cafe to talk philosophy. Our group of young philosophers, Plato’s Cafe, is part […]

Don’t evict Hi-Fi Cafe

I cannot tell you how shocked I was to read about the eviction of Hi-Fi Cafe at the Downtown Market.  There are no businesses of this style in this area.  The quality of this little coffee bar, both the food and the coffee, is exceptional. I have been a regular customer there for two years […]

Building owners respond to Hi-Fi Cafe concerns

Charlie and Troy Ball provided the following response to reader concerns about Hi-Fi Cafe and their plans for the building they own at 45 S. French Broad Ave.: There have been a lot of questions regarding our plans for the building at 45 S. French Broad. While we are founders and co-owners of Asheville Distilling, […]

Bullying needs to stop

I felt compelled to write a letter to the editor after reading about the horrible incident at Candler Elementary School. A 9-year-old boy, who loves My Little Pony, brought a backpack to school that had a character on [it]. His classmates called him vicious names and teased and tormented him. I won’t get into all […]

Duke can do better on tree trimming

Every four to five years Asplundh Tree Expert Co.,  the tree pruning company hired by Duke Energy, comes to WNC to trim trees back from the power lines.  Duke Energy claims that “maintaining trees and vegetation along their power lines helps to ensure reliability, minimize outages and enhance safety for customers, Duke’s employees and contractors.”  […]

Elevator operator left out

In the Mountain Xpress, an article was published by writer Kristin D’ Agostino [“Going Up?” Feb. 19] about the elevator in the Flatiron Building in which she only mentions or refers to three of its four elevator operators. Neil Mobberly works the morning shift from 7:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and Brian Moretti works the […]

Downtown needs more grocery stores

We have all these new grocery stores opening in Asheville, yet we have NO grocery stores for the residents in the downtown business district. The French Broad Food Co-Op and Amazing Savings [recently renamed Hopey & Co.] are too far to walk and too close to drive and find parking. This affect’s Battery Park Residents, […]

Kudos to Xpress’ award-winning designers

I was pleased to see the announcement on your website that Xpress won four North Carolina Press Association awards this year and the accompanying article in your March 5 issue [”Xpress wins four North Carolina Press Awards”]. Congratulations to the current and former Xpress writers who won awards. However, I am disappointed that Xpress has […]

Add Milestone Press to your list of WNC publishers

As an outdoor regional writer, I appreciated your article on WNC presses [“Pressing Matters: WNC’s Small But Mighty Publishing Houses,” Feb. 26 Xpress]. But I would like to add Milestone Press to your list of regional presses. Mary Ellen Hammond and Jim Parham have been publishing quality outdoor adventure guidebooks for our region for 22 […]

Polluters are the real criminals

It was just over two years ago when Greenpeace activists went into the coal plant in South Asheville and hung banners. They did it to point out that coal is destroying our mountains, destroying our air, causing climate change and poisoning our water and our lands. They were arrested for this action. And yet, the […]

Voicing support for Ron Robinson

I’m writing as a citizen and resident of Jackson County to voice my support for Ron Robinson for N.C. Senate, 50th District. The seat is currently occupied by tea party extremist, Jim Davis. As a person deeply concerned about the degradation of our natural environment, I see candidate Robinson as someone I can trust to […]

Eyes on the prize

I hope that I am not alone in my supreme discomfort at the casual discussions our City Council is having regarding placing a larger surveillance network of cameras in downtown. Is this a surveillance network that we will hand operation over to the police, whose department is mired in malfeasance and investigation? Draconian broad surveillance […]

Bison aren’t self-sacrificing

Mark Bennett’s sales pitch for bison consumption [“Reviving the Herd,” Feb. 5, Xpress] contained several erroneous statements. First, he claimed that unlike beef cattle, bison don’t need hormones or antibiotics. Cattle kept in confined agricultural operations are given hormones to cause rapid unnatural weight gain in order to maximize profits, and antibiotics because close confinement […]

Coggins developmen­t not transparen­t

My family and I have owned property adjacent to the Coggins’ property on Old Farm School Road referenced in the article, [“Colliding Visions,” Jan. 22, Xpress] for 70 years. The majority of people who live in the Old Farm School area oppose Case Enterprise’s proposed development, constituting nearly 400 housing units and commercial properties. However, […]

Developmen­t laws need to be enforced

Thank you, David Forbes, for the well-written account of the repeated run-off violations from Beverly-Grant’s strip-mall development on Merrimon Avenue (“Muddy Waters,” Jan. 29, Xpress ).  As much as I respect Shannon Tuch, director of Asheville’s development services, I must strongly disagree with her statement that Beverly-Grant is “really trying” [to keep its pollution on-site]. […]

Hoping for more mobility

I feel bad for Louise Harrison, the reader who responded [”Thankful for Mountain Mobility,” Feb. 5, Xpress] to my letter about the shortcomings of Mountain Mobility, [”Mountain Mobility Can Do More,” Jan. 28, Xpress]. Again, I am grateful for their transport to my many doctor appointments and to food shopping. If Ms. Harrison had a […]