Steve Rasmussen
Age: 52
Education: Princeton University
Current employment: H.P. and web developer for Coven Oldenwilde and Quadrivia
Expertise: Technical, community contacts, and public speaking
Vision for growth and development in Asheville: “The old days of fueling our local economy on luxury condos, sprawling subdivisions, and speculative real-estate flips have gone the way of the housing bubble, and expecting to rely on the return of that kind of growth in any significant measure is as unrealistic as wishing for the good-paying factory jobs of 30 years ago to come back. Fortunately, Asheville is already prepared, in theory at least, for the new post-recession reality: As a community, we have embraced a clear and practical vision for sustainable, ‘smart’ growth and development as expressed in our comprehensive ‘2025 Plan’ and our related master plans for downtown, parks and greenways, etc.
Sustainability is our best hope for survivability in these challenging times. But it requires constantly deepening our understanding of how to apply it. It isn’t just about LEED standards of landscaping buffers: As our 2025 Plan’s Vision chapter explains, sustainability is a ‘balancing of economic objectives, social goals, and environmental resources in a way that works for both present and future generations.’ Rather than a single-minded focus on maximizing financial profit and revenue—which addicts communities to repeated self-destructive cycles of boom-bust growth—sustainability requires that we diversify our planning perspective, and instead strive to maximize what’s often termed the ‘triple bottom line’ of environment, equity, and economics.”
Professional affiliations: N/A
Resources:
Application
Statement of Interest
Responses
Source PDF at ashevillenc.gov
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