Many thanks to Zoe Rhine for her excellent opinion piece in the Dec. 11 Mountain Xpress, titled “Of Time and the River: Should the River Arts District Be Rebuilt?”
A generation ago, the original driver for a redesigned River Arts District (RAD) was Karen Cragnolin, executive director of a then-new organization called RiverLink. The idea was to celebrate a thriving arts community along the riverfront and to keep tourists in Asheville one day longer.
In April 1989, an intensive four-day workshop comprising many stakeholders gathered in downtown Asheville “to create a master plan for revitalizing the urban riverfront, which would explore mixed-use potential and would be environmentally sound, economically possible, and integrated with ongoing urban development in Asheville.”
After many changes, successes and millions of dollars invested, Hurricane Helene has forced us back to the drawing board. I propose another city/county/Land-of-Sky-led workshop or series of workshops involving many stakeholders, from Rosman to Hot Springs, to design RAD 2.0.
— Jim Stokely
Reems Creek
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