Readers had a lot to say in 2022 about a host of local issues — from our region’s growth and development to the environment, homelessness and more.
Can Asheville draw on the past to build its future?
“Today, Asheville’s a tourist destination fueled by wealth-take-all capitalism beset with growing urban issues such as parking, pollution, land use, development, affordable housing, crime and allocation of tax revenues. Yet are all these intractable problems with only temporary solutions? Not really.”
The enduring joys of Beaver Lake
“My suggestion is to avoid a head-on attack but clear a small mental runway for insights to land on if they so desire.”
Don’t just celebrate Native American heritage — take it seriously
“Indigenous heritage is not just important for its cultural value: It offers solutions to some of the biggest problems we face as a society today.”
Vote against the bonds and hold our leaders accountable
“Our wealthiest households are not paying their fair share now, and these bonds will simply add to the inequity, asking disproportionately assessed lower-income households to continue to shoulder more than their fair share of the burden.”
Was U.S. Open cash drop the best use of tax dollars?
“Our leaders are allowing dubious choices like spending $1.3 million on vague ads and luxury VIP suites in New York City, while Asheville’s homeless situation is ever more disturbing.”
Bonds will tackle housing and climate change crises
“Our community faces two mounting crises that we must address in concert — housing affordability and climate change. We can do this by providing a wider range of housing options in and around Asheville and our other municipalities, while not contributing to sprawling development patterns that clear forested land, feed gridlock and increase auto emissions.”
Does pushing students to succeed foster achievement or cause harm?
“The time has come to ask ourselves: Why do we push children to succeed so tirelessly? And what does ‘success’ mean, anyway?”
Earth Day 8 walk away with a win
“We sincerely felt that we had no other recourse than to commit this act of civil resistance because of the secrecy and complicity of elected officials and the business community in making this deal.”
Forest Service rejects MountainTrue’s bid to save old-growth forest
“We were willing to match any price bid on the value of the cut timber in exchange for what would amount to a 100-year carbon lease on those acres.”
How citizen resistance derailed plan to dam the French Broad
“The more than a thousand citizen activists who came together as the Upper French Broad Defense Association, bolstered by staunch support from state Rep. Charles Taylor, forced TVA to abandon its plans in 1972.”
Downtown dodged a mall, but substation now looms
“What may have initially made sense on a map fails completely in reality.”
Supreme Court decision highlights right-wing sexual hypocrisy
‘Why should women be the ones who pay the price for an unwanted biological mishap?”
WENOCA chapter endorsements are an environmental disgrace
“So I urge all voters to undertake the due diligence that will enable them to see through the environmentally destructive charade for which the Sierra Club is providing political cover.”
Increased logging will benefit our national forests
“Amid constant change, our forests desperately need intentional manipulations and disturbances. Sure, left alone, Mother Nature will reset these lands for us: But it will be done through ice storms, wildfires and catastrophic, random events.”
Aesthetic anti-capitalism is hurting Asheville’s working class
“Residential construction hasn’t kept up with population growth, and the resulting scarcity pushes up rents and home prices. This means that the folks who make Asheville weird, its artists and young people, are being pushed out.”
Just say no to Raytheon Technologies
“Marrying one of the world’s biggest war corporations has consequences.”
Wilma’s disciples: Three generations of female environmental leaders
“Wilma Dykeman’s shadow covered all of us and inspired us to speak out and support citizens who were becoming more and more concerned about water quality, air quality, land use, land conservation, forest management, etc., in our mountain area.”
Want affordable housing? Get real
“Until the professed advocates of affordable housing and assistance for the homeless get off their BUTS and honestly attack these issues, nothing significant will happen.”
‘Don’t Say Gay’ law denies identities and truths
“Kids’ hearts and minds are at stake, and it is not just the gay and brown ones; the richness of truth, the beauty of a diverse world is denied to every single child when gag orders are placed on shared histories and ways of being.”
Quo vadis, Asheville? City at crossroads must find its way
“Perhaps slash-and-burn capitalism has succeeded in changing Asheville where Raleigh hasn’t.”