BID backlash: Vandalism highlights lingering opposition

Last month two local business owners felt the sting of the backlash against a plan to add a downtown tax.

Larry Crosby was running late on the morning of June 6. In the sun’s glare, he didn’t see the words and the symbol spray-painted on his car, so he jumped in and drove off.

“Then my car started to act funny, my tires went completely flat … and I realized my car was unstable,” says Crosby, who is general manager of the Foundry Hotel in downtown Asheville. He pulled over, got out and surveyed the damage. His tires had been slashed; the words “No BID” were emblazoned on the car’s passenger side and a spray-painted letter A inside a circle — an anarchist symbol — adorned the hood.

“It was a very jarring experience,” Crosby says.

The vandalism referred to the business improvement district (BID). It will create an independent board to oversee additional services such as litter removal, landscaping, beautification efforts and a staff of downtown ambassadors or community stewards. The BID will add 9 cents per $100 valuation for downtown property owners — about $360 more per year for a property assessed at $400,000. The estimated annual budget for the BID could reach $1.25 million.

Spearheaded by the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Asheville Downtown Association, the BID was approved by Asheville City Council on June 11 by a 6-1 vote, with Council member Kim Roney voting in opposition.

Twelve days after Crosby’s incident — and after the City Council approved the BID — Eva-Michelle Spicer, co-owner of Spicer Greene Jewelers who was eight months pregnant at the time, was attending a baby shower with her husband, Elliott, and his family.

“I was out of town, celebrating this very joyous occasion. And my best friend, who had come to put some packages inside my house [texted the message], ‘I need you to see this. I need to know what to do,’” Spicer remembers.

The friend had discovered Spicer’s vehicle spray-painted with an anarchist symbol as well as the words, “Eat S—t.”

Crosby and Spicer both hold volunteer positions on the BID’s steering committee.

On June 18, anonymous anarchists released a statement on Abolition Media, a self-described “news site for revolutionary movements,” and claimed responsibility for the acts of vandalism against Crosby and Spicer.

“This action was carried out in response to the above individuals’ affiliation with the proposal of, and advocacy for a ‘business improvement district’ in so-called Asheville, North Carolina,” the statement reads.

“The proposal of this business improvement district seeks to position wealthy property owners in absolute positions of power to assist the state and capital in tightening their grip of social control by ‘cleansing’ the streets of ‘antisocial-behaviors’ and ‘anything deemed out of the ordinary’ via increased surveillance and private security,” the statement continues, quoting language from the initial BID proposal.

“The individuals seeking to implement the business improvement district have names and addresses,” the anonymous statement concludes. “The only way to dissipate fear and tyranny is to transfer it to the enemies (sic) backyard.”

Emails to Abolition Media to contact the authors of the statement have gone unanswered.

For Kit Cramer, Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, the most disturbing aspect of the post is the threat that concludes it.

“It says, ‘This is the way we’re going to do things from now on, we’re going to take it to people’s backyard,” Cramer tells Xpress. “That is so fundamentally wrong to attack people on the basis of their thought process — to attack their homes, their possessions and maybe even themselves. Where does it stop?”

On June 25 at City Hall, Mayor Esther Manheimer spoke about the actions before the City Council’s consent agenda.

“I find it very sad and disheartening,” Manheimer said. “We have a couple of folks that have decided to use intimidation tactics to target folks … that are volunteering their time because they genuinely believe that they’re trying to help make our communities better.”

Manheimer tells Xpress she believes the vandalism has had a chilling effect on people considering applying for voluntary positions like the steering committee that Crosby and Spicer serve on.

“I think people are asking themselves, ‘Can I go into this and take that risk?’” Manheimer says.

While Crosby knows some people opposed the BID, he thought the discussion would remain civil.

“I have worked with community volunteers on the steering committee,” Crosby says. “I have gone to the Council meeting and have spoken twice and I’ve gone to the vote. I’m out here face to face. We can talk like human beings. But vandalism — going to slash my tires — it’s very cowardly.”

Businesses oppose vandalism but question BID

Downtown business owners and residents contacted by Xpress were unanimous in condemning the vandalism.

“Those are direct acts of vandalism about a situation that some people rightfully feel like they were not listened to,” says Evar Hecht, who co-owns handcrafted leather store Shining Rock Goods on Wall Street with his wife, Rebecca Hecht. “The tactics are not the way you go about changing anything. It’s lashing out … and there’s always going to be a few bad actors.”

“I do not think that vandalism or violence is beneficial,” says Petra Buan, a manager at Rosetta’s Kitchen on Lexington Avenue. “It seems like somebody is stupid. I think that we should use our voices and we should have a proper discussion.”

“Regarding the vandalism and threats to the board members, we oppose this behavior,” writes Jen Hampton, lead organizer for the Asheville Food and Beverage United collective, in response to an Xpress email.

“It was a rash act,” says Clare Hanrahan, coordinator of Elder & Sage Community Gardens in downtown Asheville. “It certainly wouldn’t be a tactic I would use. But people are feeling unheard.”

“Community members concerned about public safety “are now offering a reward of  $6,000 for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for vandalizing the two vehicles, an Asheville Police Department press release states. APD encourages anyone with information to contact 828-271-6128.

While downtown business owners and stakeholders say that vandalism is going too far, opposition to the BID lingers, much of it centered on the role and mission of the ambassadors.

Buan believes the ambassadors will move members of downtown’s unhoused community out of sight from visitors and tourists.

“We feed a lot of the houseless people in downtown Asheville,” Buan says. “We’re learning [that the city is] going to be putting up more fences, keeping the houseless people out and restricting access to … our courtyard and our restaurant.” Buan says the restaurant staff frequently gives unhoused people a cup of water and a plate of food.

In an email to Xpress, the Asheville Community Bail Fund, a volunteer-run organization that posts bail for people incarcerated in the Buncombe County Jail, writes that the BID is “an anti-democratic structure that will harm the most vulnerable members of our community.”

City Council has not engaged with BID opponents in any meaningful way, writes Hannah Gibbons, the marketing and communications manager of heirloom and organic seed shop Sow True Seed in reply to an Xpress email.

In her comments, Gibbons references a nonbinding resolution drafted by Council member Maggie Ullman, with input from other Council members and community stakeholders, in response to community members’ concerns about the BID.

It describes the ambassadors as highly visible agents who would “engage … with the public, provide directions and assistance … and connect members of the unhoused community to resources like the Community Responders, Community Paramedics [and] homeless service providers.”

“The discussed values statement (which is not legally binding) is of very little comfort to me,” Gibbons writes. “It is not enough to make us feel heard, valued, or respected as voters and residents.”

Hecht also questions the effectiveness of the ambassadors, who will call on partners, like community paramedics and homeless service providers.

“If those things were actually active and running well, we would be calling them already, we wouldn’t need a third party to [mediate] for us,” Hecht says. “The only call they’re going to be able to make to get an immediate result is going to be to the police,” he states. He says that could result in overpolicing those with mental health and addiction issues.

The BID moves ahead

The city will issue a request for proposals (RFP) to deliver the BID’s services.

“The RFP will be aimed at that gulf between what the requested services are and what the city is providing as baseline services — with the incorporation of some of the elements of the resolution,” Manheimer says.

On June 15, the City of Asheville released an online survey, asking the public to weigh in on the supplemental services that will fall under three categories: safety and hospitality; enhanced cleaning; and special projects which will include “initiatives that enhance the downtown experience.”

“It’s going to take a ton of work in order to get [the BID] functioning to a level where people can feel it,” Cramer says. “I believe that the proof will be in the pudding. And that pudding is going to taste good.”

But for some local businesses and organizations, the idea of an outside provider calling the shots downtown, even with oversight from the City Council, is leaving a bitter taste.

“Downtown businesses and properties will pay an extra tax that is managed by a board that the community has no say in,” Hampton writes. “This board was been made public on the city’s website and then taken down.”

“I think that instead of the BID being a private conglomeration that is taxing people, we should have local businesses pay a little extra to the city coffers,” says Hanrahan. “I think this is the work of the city. It’s a municipal responsibility to keep the streets clean and safe.”

Hecht says he and his wife are considering trying to get on the BID’s board, to steer its direction, or to ensure that there’s transparency.

“You can say, ‘I’m against it,’” Hecht says. “But at some point, you have to say, ‘This is the system that we have now, we’re going to have to work with it.’”

Meanwhile, Roney, the lone Council member to vote down the BID, says she remains concerned about aspects of the project but is ready to move forward.

“It is now  our responsibility to provide accountability and oversight and to engage the public as we secure equitable representation on the board, including both commercial and residential renters most impacted by the new tax,” she writes in an email to Xpress. “The city survey is an opportunity for the community to speak to the priorities on what a third party management company that will run the BID will be contracted to provide.”