The good news this election cycle is that true Progressives have a great candidate in Elaine Lite. She has called for a short moratorium on development while we formulate a substantive, development-control plan. Even better, she believes that Asheville’s citizens should decide how many people and how much development we want in our city. All […]

This is in response to recent letter complaining about the Peak Fitness center’s closing [“Feeling a Bit Peaked,” Sept. 26]. We’re very sorry to hear about the closing of one of the only options for indoor exercise for those of us on the north and west sides of town, who now will be forced to […]

Like meeting an old friend, it’s a pleasure to see DDT back in the popular press after all these years, immersed as always in factual errors and misdrawn conclusions. But its reappearance helps to remind us how threats to the environment were dealt with and the progress we’ve made. My first recall of DDT was […]

I’m writing in response to “No More Appetite for This Eatery” [Letters, Oct. 3], submitted by J. Scott of Weaverville. I might understand [Scott’s] reaction if [his/her] visit to this restaurant was new; however, permit me to share with [Scott] and other readers my experiences. I visit this restaurant quite often, more so for lunch […]

How dismaying that Jerry Sternberg, the son of an immigrant, would spew forth such xenophobic, racist, anti-immigrant bile [“The Gospel According to Jerry: Asheville Could Lead the Nation Out of Immigration Quagmire,” Commentary, Oct. 3]. If his German-born Jewish father had not emigrated, he would have been rounded up and deported to the nearest border […]

Many of us have been addressing the important problem of local development from many points of view. Is everyone aware that the old style of clear-cutting, paving and laying out strips is a limited, finite process that must be halted eventually—when no more virgin land exists? We are, effectively, creating a wasteland out of our […]

I find it interesting that our county commissioners are already licking their thumbs to count money from the Ellington project that has yet to be approved. Where did the county’s housing-fund plan initiative come from, and why now? I strongly believe that this is not their idea, but is a result of a lobbying effort […]

A lot of people did a lot of work to get a referendum about the partisan-elections ordinance on the Nov. 6th ballot. Let’s hope all those volunteer efforts to collect over 5,000 signatures on petitions for the referendum aren’t in vain. Often, voters skip ballot issues because the wording of the ballot issue isn’t clear […]

The recent letter by Krys Crimi of Mars Hill [“When the Wolf Is at the Door,” Sept. 26] was yet another installment—and a particularly fine one—in a long series of letters decrying the ruthless manipulations of developers who, seemingly in cahoots with indifferent county commissioners, are ripping up our mountains for the sole purpose of […]

A very important thing I hit upon in my life was this thought that I came across while writing: “to get to a point where one loses so much ground that simply being yourself is considered a revolution.” When it comes to political elections, the emphasis on opinion that I’ve seen in local publications and […]

I support the re-election of Councilman Brownie Newman. Councilman Newman has dedicated his life to supporting healthier neighborhoods and a clean environment in Asheville and Western North Carolina. Prior to serving on Council, he was a leader in passing the N.C. Clean Smokestacks Act, which has aided in greatly reducing pollution from the Progress Energy […]