Former Buncombe County Manager Wanda Greene has reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors and a settlement with the county.
![](https://mountainx.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/IMG_1516-330x220.jpg)
Former Buncombe County Manager Wanda Greene has reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors and a settlement with the county.
2019 prediction: Town of Biltmore Forest will greatly expand its influence in county government by allowing trees to vote.
Twelve years: That’s how long humanity has left to hold global warming below the key level of 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to an October report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In light of that sobering reality, these developments from 2018 had the biggest potential impact on Asheville’s contribution to climate change.
As the investigation into former County Manager Wanda Greene ground on into 2018, Buncombe County witnessed steady turnover in many of its top positions.
Asheville has gotten whiter over the past two decades. The proportion of African-American residents in the city dropped from 17.6 percent in 2000 to 12.3 percent in 2016, a change city officials attribute to a combination of white influx and black exodus. For the people of color who remained in Asheville, 2018 proved a mixed bag.
Even after a full year of developments in the criminal investigation into former County Manager Wanda Greene, Buncombe County has still not reached the end of this tumultuous chapter in its history. Citizens did, however, witness many developments in the case throughout 2018.
Asheville’s human population growth has been matched by an increase in the number of vehicles on the region’s roads. Efforts to accommodate the resulting traffic — or move people around the city in different ways — were at the heart of many new developments in 2018.
Asheville is an activist’s town, and 2018 controversies in local government, including the ongoing fallout from the investigation into former County Manager Wanda Greene and the police beating of Asheville resident Johnnie Rush, gave local residents plenty of reasons to seek change.
The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners will discuss a settlement related to the county’s civil lawsuit against former County Manager Wanda Greene and her son, former county employee Michael Greene, on Wednesday, Jan. 2.
As the Democratic Party retook control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections, Buncombe Dems managed to hold onto a few key positions in local elections — perhaps most notably that of county sheriff. Politics also seeped into the Board of Commissioners race, where Republicans fell short in their bid to flip the party composition of the board.
Former Buncombe County Manager Mandy Stone has agreed to a plea deal with federal prosecutors for her part in an alleged kickback scheme that has snared three former county officials.
Assistant City Attorney John Maddux, who serves as the city staff liaison to the Noise Ordinance Appeals Board, admitted that he currently had no good solution to the problem of commercial noise. However, he did propose numerous changes to the noise ordinance aimed at streamlining complaint resolution.
Change proved the only constant among staff members in Asheville city government during 2018. Firings, resignations, reassignments and new hires left the city’s bureaucracy radically changed from its makeup at the start of the year.
With apologies to Jane Austen, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a resident of Western North Carolina in possession of little fortune must be in want of affordable housing. In 2018, governments and organizations throughout the area tried to tackle the problem with a range of creative solutions.
On Dec. 19, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners met in closed session to winnow 33 applications it has received for the position to a more manageable number. The county is still accepting applications.
Upgrades to the tangled web of interchanges from the I-26 intersection at Interstate 40 through the gnarled conduit of traffic on the Bowen Bridge have been on the N.C. Department of Transportation’s radar since at least 1989. Along the way, business groups, community members, environmental advocates, designers and elected officials have all weighed in with differing visions about how the project should function and look — and whether it should happen at all.
A 170-room proposal on Fairview Road was voted down 6-1, with only Vice Mayor Gwen Wisler dissenting, while a public hearing on a 56-room project on Biltmore Avenue was continued at the developer’s request until March 26. Council members Vijay Kapoor and Julie Mayfield raised concerns about the former hotel’s place in longer-term plans for Asheville.
The Asheville Police Department has released additional data sets at the city’s online open data portal. A new survey ranks Asheville #20 on the list of America’s best retirement destinations. And the NCDOT is planning a public meeting to discuss proposed improvements to an Interstate 40 interchange near Black Mountain.
ASHEVILLE, N.C.
Two lodging projects will be up for debate: a 56-room hotel spread across four buildings on Biltmore Avenue downtown and a 170-room project on Fairview Road in Biltmore Village. The first proposes to convert three historic houses into accommodations and construct a new five-story structure with a restaurant, while the second would build a new six-story building.
Miller pledged to live up to his campaign promises of promoting the idea of a “community of we” and seeking ways to work together. “We must treat people with dignity and respect,” he emphasized. “We also request that you treat us with dignity and respect.