On May 12, Council member Brownie Newman said he liked the Master Plan because it would give appointed boards more power to approve downtown-development projects. “I’ve always been supportive of the idea of delegating more of these decisions to the Planning & Zoning Commission and other bodies,” he said. Council member Robin Cape agreed with […]

With the warm weather come more children playing outside and riding bikes in the street. I live off of a road that is not only busy but also narrow, windy and steep. While some drivers take care to drive slowly, there are many who tear down the road with no regard for other vehicles, much […]

On Saturday, April 25, I gathered with a cluster of good-looking, well-toned and intelligent runners for the annual Mainstay Mountain Medley 10-miler at Green Cove (just south of Hendersonville). The race was everything one hopes for: well-organized, scenic and supportive of a worthy cause. And so I am left with one question, post-event: Where were […]

Hats off to the city of Asheville for recognizing the importance of paying city staff a living wage! They made it happen for employees in 2007, so it only seems appropriate that they [now] extend that courtesy to those folks who do contract work with the city. A living wage [requirement] for city contractors will […]

I believe you made a grave editorial error in agreeing to publish Molton’s cartoon [“Pigdemic”] featured in the May 6 edition of your paper. The cartoon is bigoted. Hinging a commentary using uncreative, overplayed and unrealistic stereotypes is not admirable. But printing it? It’s as if you are endorsing ignorance. I can’t imagine that you […]

Commentator Betty Cloer Wallace opines that “Debilitating hillbilly stereotypes resound internationally and hurt us … both personally and economically” [“Fighting Back,” Commentary, May 6]. Obviously, the Xpress editors were not listening, as the Molton cartoon only two pages before implies that a rural WNC resident named Bubba has conjugal relations with his swine [“Pigdemic,” May […]

I want to say that I really appreciate the format of your online community-events calendar. The events calendar in print is wonderful, but for someone like me, it can be a little overwhelming. It is immensely helpful to be able to find specific events by the day, week or month. Thank you, and keep the […]

The May 6 Edgy Mama column, “Chicken Education,” is another fine example of speciesism. Anne Fitten Glenn’s feeble attempt at humor falls very flat here, simply because she degrades a species [whose members] she doesn’t particularly care for unless they’re dead, cooked and lying on her plate. It may be that chickens, with their “beady […]