Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy appeared at a news conference yesterday in Raleigh as part of a new coalition called the Partnership for North Carolina’s Future. Members of the partnership are advocates for increased state investments in school construction, affordable housing, roads, land and water conservation, and water and sewer services. Yesterday, the group urged the General Assembly to begin preparing for what they called a “population tsunami.”
According to Tom Lambeth, a member of the partnership and chair of the Rural Economic Development Center, four million new people are expected to settle in North Carolina from 2000 to 2030 — which would be like our state absorbing almost the entire population of South Carolina.
“Whether it’s rapid growth, poor roads, worn-out school buildings, or aging sewer lines and the lack of clean water, this state needs to make the necessary investment to repair, replace and get ready,” Bellamy said at the news conference.
Noting that the state is falling behind in the face of this population pressure, Lambeth highlighted the following stats:
• More than 178,000 K-12 students go to school every day in mobile units.
• More than 3,000 miles of streams and rivers do not meet clean water standards.
• More than 100,000 acres of forests, farmlands and natural areas are lost annually to development.
• Jammed roads and long-delayed highway construction plague cities and towns statewide.
• Rural communities with inadequate and aging water and sewer services that create potential public health hazards.
• More than two million people living in substandard housing or housing they can’t afford, which contributes to health problems in children.
— Rebecca Bowe
Hmmm, well I have an idea. Why don’t we take every square foot of land, steep grade or not, parking and roads or not, and squeeze as many houses on them as we can, before we do any infrastructure work. Putting the cart before the horse is a win-win way to approach these new demographics.
In addition, lets allow DOT to orchestrate their I-26 spaghetti corridor fixation which will further enhance the logistical quagmire. The timing will be impeccable. Fun for all.
i say lets blow up both the 26 and the 40 on either side of asheville, and then set up roadblocks with armed rednecks from madison county to cllect tolls from the tourists.
@All: I say let’s just hang out on the internet and complain about how things aren’t as good as they used to be.
Will all this development ruin our beloved little city? Yes, of course it will. Just like our beloved little city ruined a beloved small town, and just like that small town ruined a pristine wilderness. That’s the price of civilization.
But, I do agree wholeheartedly that we need to do everything in our power to make sure that all of this is being done as intelligently as possible to benefit the entire community. Ours can be a great city of we do a little planning before allowing rampant and unchecked development.
“If we don’t get no tolls, then we don’t eat no rolls.”
….and of the expected 4 million influx of new “North Carolinians” 3,999,999 are expected to be illegals…..whom all will share the same values for. ….TACOS!!!! ….infrastructure, what’s that??…..NO PROBLEM…..got any hot sauce man?
How about creating some disincentives for all the people moving here, such as taxing their retirement annuity at a higher rate, buying up the farmland to prevent it from being developed and setting some limits on how many building permits we will issue per year.
Let them come, I say. Sell them land for exhorbitant prices, let them gouge out the hills for homesites and charge them through the nose for new homes and when they have their lawns coming in nicely, build new hills right on top of them and start over.
As I was resting in bed last nite, barely able to see the blades of the ceiling fan spinning round and round, I had an epiphany about what to do with this “population tsunami.” All we need to do is hurry up and get a war going with Iran ,too. Then we will have to draft. Industry will love it, and we can just kill off as much of the population that isn’t rich enough to buy these houses or avoid the draft or kill- his -wife -and- get- away- with -it. Simple!