“It should be pointed out very clearly that doing nothing is not an option.” — Asheville City Council member Jan Davis Steppin’ out is steppin’ up at the Asheville Civic Center. Remember the Asheville Civic Center? Not long ago, it was the subject of yet another city task force. But after poking and prodding the […]

“The adaptive reuse of the Civic Center is the only option that will give Asheville a performing-arts center and a new arena … for less than the price of a [stand-alone] performing-arts center.” — Task force member Sidney Powell on Option 1 On the long and winding road toward resolving the persistent dilemma that is […]

Spending less than $15 million would be “not even a Band-Aid — it would be washing a wound with water.” — Civic Center Commission Chair Max Alexander The forward momentum that had taken the Asheville Civic Center Task Force to congenial agreement on two options for the aging facility at its February meeting slowed noticeably […]

Tom Gallaher, president of Heritage Directions Development and preservation were key topics in Asheville’s recent City Council and mayoral races. In that spirit, Xpress spoke with heritage-development consultant and six-year Asheville resident Tom Gallaher about his adopted home and about how to evaluate and preserve a community’s heritage. Gallaher, who is president of the Heritage […]

Can you have it all? That seemed to be the unspoken question at the second meeting of the city’s latest Civic Center Task Force on Nov. 21, which featured a panel made up of various promoters and others who stage events in the facility. There was no clear consensus on an answer, but the panelists […]

Novelty seems to have a fatal attraction for American consumers. In the voting booth, however, those same citizens tend to favor familiar names and faces. In Congress, for example, re-election rates for incumbents seeking another term have ranged from 95 to 98 percent in recent years, according to Jeffrey Bernstein, a political science professor at […]

From Cinderella to Shrek, royal love stories have been a childhood staple. But one regal tale of the heart, the story of two princes who decide to marry each other, has landed a pair of grown-ups — UNCA’s head librarian and a North Carolina congressman — in a rhethorical jousting match that’s now playing out […]

Community Forum on the Future of the Civic Center When: Thursday, Sept. 8, Civic Center Banquet Room Co-sponsors: Asheville Civic Center Commission, League of Women Voters of Asheville-Buncombe County, Mountain Xpress Civic Center Tour (5:30 p.m.): A firsthand look at key problem areas. Open to the public; convene in the lobby. Weighing the Options (6:30 […]

When Phillip Gibson was hired as French Broad Riverkeeper in 2001, he had four goals: educate, involve, plan, act. But he soon found that his first order of business was convincing people about what a Riverkeeper isn’t. A lot of people, he explains, were afraid “that I was going to be invading private property or […]

Buncombe County has made striking progress recently in tackling the perennial problem of animal overpopulation and homelessness. Last year, the county passed an ordinance requiring that all dogs and cats be spayed or neutered (with exceptions for service animals and those whose owners obtain a $100 unaltered-animal permit). And the highly successful Humane Alliance Spay/Neuter […]

The following bills addressing animal-related issues are pending in the current legislative session. The bill’s descriptive title is quoted, followed by additional information in parentheses. This list is not necessarily all-inclusive. The “crossover” date for bills which do not involve budgetary appropriations is May 19 — the date by which the bill must be passed […]

A constitutional amendment approved last November by the narrowest of margins — and voted down in many parts of Western North Carolina — brings the promise of new economic development. But if things don’t go as planned, taxpayers who didn’t have a say in a project to begin with could end up being stuck with […]

It’s no secret that North Carolinians will elect a governor and a goodly number of other candidates next month. But few of those voters know they’ll also be asked to weigh in on three proposed amendments to the state constitution. Although these have mostly flown beneath the radar, they could have significant effects on communities […]

There’s at least one piece of mail you can expect to receive in the next few days that you’d be well advised not to toss into the recycling bin until after Nov. 2. It’s the 2004 Judicial Voter Guide, designed to provide an unfiltered look at the candidates for the state’s highest judicial bodies: the […]