How did Xpress readers process all the local news and changes this year? Here’s a look at the topics that generated the most commentaries, letters to the editor and online comments in Xpress in 2019.
Fewer trees can create a better canopy (with fewer bears)
“By letting the urban forest become too dense over the last several generations, and by failing to clear away the underbrush bears love, we have invited them back in from the wilderness.”
Play skewers, then unites Asheville’s left and right
“And if that isn’t enough, you’ll also get to see one of your current or former City Council members do stand-up comedy.”
It’s no longer a throwaway world: The Gospel According to Jerry
“It’s difficult to change our ways. For instance, almost no one worried about gas guzzlers when gas cost 19 cents a gallon.”
Farmers can fix WNC’s health and hunger crisis
“Sourcing more of our food locally would simultaneously boost the region’s economic stability, food security and health.”
Elitism and scapegoating won’t solve Asheville’s congestion, affordable housing and sprawl
“Housing is in short supply and unaffordable. Rather than take an honest and comprehensive look at the issues, barriers and contributors to the problems, however, we in Asheville have smugly chosen the easy way out.”
When neighbors attack: How Asheville Nextdoor discussions go south
“So much for the popular Nextdoor mantra, ‘When neighbors start talking, good things happen’; a more accurate one might be, ‘When judgmental locals start talking, local places get unfairly dissed.'”
Children, unplugged: The joys of a (mostly) screen-free summer
“Summer is our only chance to give our kids’ growing bodies and minds a break from all of the detrimental side effects of screen time.”
My education at the University of Mammon: The Gospel According to Jerry
“I grew up in the depths of the Great Depression, when money seemed to be the driving factor for almost everyone around me, because nobody had any.”
Likin’ our lichens: Sustainably harvesting Usnea in WNC
“We are fortunate to live in an Usnea-rich bubble, but over-harvesting or other unsustainable collection practices could threaten the beard lichens’ very survival.”
Man of the hour: The rise of Mark Meadows
“Oddly enough, the future of the Republican stranglehold on North Carolina and the nation can be glimpsed through Meadows and the 11th District.”
As state reimagines Medicaid, local nonprofits may have role to play
“Clearly, we already have both the expertise and the commitment to improve lives in our region. What we need is more funding and better coordination among our health care system, county public health and social service agencies, and nonprofit community partners.”
Lifting the green veil to overcome plant blindness
“As a culture, we suffer from plant blindness, largely ignoring the green organisms all around us that spend their days quietly gathering sunlight.”
Stopping Asheville’s tree-loss crisis makes climate sense for city
“Our trees and their arboreal cohorts all across Asheville could be —should be — our city’s most effective and affordable defense against the dangerous flooding, erosion and temperature extremes that climate change is increasingly inflicting on us.”
A call for equity in clean energy plans
“A major investment in electric public transportation will make a huge difference in equity and in achieving our goal of 100% renewable energy! So I invite all who value both social and environmental justice to insist on funding for great, electrified public transportation.”
Turning on to cycling the city and local greenways
“The way Asheville on Bikes and Blue Ridge Bicycle Club see it, the more people on the road, the more people need safety education.”
Beyond sustainability — restoring, repairing and creating resiliency in our community
“We need to have as much say as possible over the decisions that affect our lives, the money that informs our projects, the food that we eat and every system we touch,” writes Lee Warren, executive director of the Organic Growers School. “Relocalizing means taking back our power in every possible way.”
What Rolling Stone missed about Asheville’s music scene
Elevated national attention aside, there’s always been a danger in allowing New York-based media to define Appalachia.
Parsing the R-word: The Gospel According to Jerry
“I was shocked and dismayed by the optics when, while watching the Michael Cohen congressional hearing, Mark Meadows, our own 11th District representative, paraded an African-American lady before the assemblage like a life-size cardboard cutout.”
Generations of failure: A plea to reform Asheville City Schools
“Oversight in this kind of system — where the board is appointed by a body with no regulatory authority, in a process closed to school employees, families and the community as a whole — is more than a little messed up. It is completely unaccountable, open to all kinds of corruption and anti-democratic, not to mention a lousy use of resources.”
Xpress calls for greater transparency in local government
Our community has learned a lot about the limits of open government law over the past year, as indictments of former Buncombe County employees Wanda Greene, Mandy Stone, Jon Creighton and Michael Greene revealed corruption and embezzlement concealed from both the public and the media over many years.